Universe Today (Page 237)

Astronaut Drops a Mirror During a Spacewalk. Now There’s Another Piece of Space Junk Oops. Dropping a mirror on Earth is only minor cause for concern, perhaps about the potential of some upcoming bad luck. Dropping a mirror while on a spacewalk means creating a potentially dangerous new piece of space junk, all while thousands of people watch it happen, streaming live.   A small mirror came loose from … Continue reading “Astronaut Drops a Mirror During a Spacewalk. Now There’s Another Piece of Space Junk” The post Astronaut Drops a Mirror During a Spacewalk. Now There’s Another Piece of Space Junk appeared first onRead More →

The Bare Minimum Number of Martian Settlers? 110 So you want to colonize Mars, huh? Well Mars is a long ways away, and in order for a colony to function that far from Earthly support, things have to be thought out very carefully. Including how many people are needed to make it work. A new study pegs the minimum number of settlers at … Continue reading “The Bare Minimum Number of Martian Settlers? 110” The post The Bare Minimum Number of Martian Settlers? 110 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Canada is Going to be Building Canadarm3 for the Artemis Missions When you need a robotic arm in space, you call in the experts. Over the past several decades, the Canadian Space Agency has expertly provided robotic arms for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. And now it will build the next-generation of robotic systems for going to the Moon, called Canadarm3. The CSA says … Continue reading “Canada is Going to be Building Canadarm3 for the Artemis Missions” The post Canada is Going to be Building Canadarm3 for the Artemis Missions appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

A Simulation of Sunsets on Other Worlds: From Venus to Titan A new tool from NASA Goddard allows us to witness what a sunset would look like on other bodies in the Solar System, from Venus to Uranus. The post A Simulation of Sunsets on Other Worlds: From Venus to Titan appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Learning to Live Sustainably on the Red Planet: Habitat Mars As the only Mars analog environment in the Southern hemisphere, Habitat Marte is conducting research that will allow humans to live on Mars someday The post Learning to Live Sustainably on the Red Planet: Habitat Mars appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Do We Now Understand Why the Moon’s Near and Far Sides Look So Dramatically Different? The Moon is easily the most well-studied object in the Solar System, (other than Earth, of course.) But it still holds some puzzles for scientists. Why, for instance, is one side of the Moon so different from the other? The Moon is tidally-locked to Earth, so prior to space-flight, we only knew the one side. … Continue reading “Do We Now Understand Why the Moon’s Near and Far Sides Look So Dramatically Different?” The post Do We Now Understand Why the Moon’s Near and Far Sides Look So Dramatically Different?Read More →

Weekly Space Hangout: June 24, 2020 — Elizabeth Howell & Nicholas Booth, The Search for Life on Mars This week we are airing Fraser’s pre-recorded interview with Elizabeth Howell and Nicholas Booth, co-authors of the new book The Search for Life on Mars: The Greatest Scientific Detective Story of All Time. Their book documents our quest to find life on the Red Planet. Long-time viewers of the WSH will remember Elizabeth as one … Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: June 24, 2020 — Elizabeth Howell & Nicholas Booth, The Search for Life on Mars” The post Weekly Space Hangout: June 24, 2020 — Elizabeth HowellRead More →

NASA Changes its Mind. It Will be Using Previously Flown Crew Dragons and Falcon 9 NASA has announced that starting next year, SpaceX will be able to reuse its Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 boosters to send astronauts to the ISS. The post NASA Changes its Mind. It Will be Using Previously Flown Crew Dragons and Falcon 9 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Another Collection of Newly Forming Planetary Systems. This Time from the Gemini Planet Imager Over the next decade, several very powerful telescopes will come online. Observing time on these ‘scopes will be in high demand, and their range of targets will span a whole host of topics in astronomy, astrophysics, and cosomology. One of the topics near the top of the list is exoplanets. But how will astronomers know … Continue reading “Another Collection of Newly Forming Planetary Systems. This Time from the Gemini Planet Imager” The post Another Collection of Newly Forming Planetary Systems. This Time from the Gemini Planet Imager appeared first onRead More →

How an Advanced Civilization Could Exploit a Black Hole for Nearly Limitless Energy A black hole as a source of energy? We know black holes as powerful singularities, regions in space time where gravity is so overwhelming that nothing—not even light itself—can escape. About 50 years ago, British physicist Roger Penrose proposed that black holes could be a source of energy. Now, researchers at the University of Glasgow … Continue reading “How an Advanced Civilization Could Exploit a Black Hole for Nearly Limitless Energy” The post How an Advanced Civilization Could Exploit a Black Hole for Nearly Limitless Energy appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

Last Year’s Total Solar Eclipse on Earth, Seen From the Moon On July 2, 2019, the Moon cast its shadow on the surface of the Earth. This time, the shadow’s path travelled across the South Pacific Ocean. It also passed over some of Argentina and Chile. For surface dwellers in the path, the Moon briefly blocked the Sun, turning night into day. But for one “eye” … Continue reading “Last Year’s Total Solar Eclipse on Earth, Seen From the Moon” The post Last Year’s Total Solar Eclipse on Earth, Seen From the Moon appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Curiosity Sees Earth and Venus in the Night Skies on Mars Normally the images from NASA’s Curiosity rover, currently sitting near “Bloodstone Hill” on Mars, are of alien vistas and rock outcroppings that conspiracy theorists constantly try to anthropomorphize into UFOs.  However, the rover is also excellently positioned to capture a unique perspective of an alien sky.  And that is exactly what it did recently when … Continue reading “Curiosity Sees Earth and Venus in the Night Skies on Mars” The post Curiosity Sees Earth and Venus in the Night Skies on Mars appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Calculate the Number of Alien Civilizations in the Milky Way for Yourself. A new online tool created by a team of physicists allows users to calculate how many alien civilization could be out there for themselves! The post Calculate the Number of Alien Civilizations in the Milky Way for Yourself. appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Amazing View of How Dust Storms Grow on Mars In 2018, Mars experienced one of its global dust storms, a phenomenon seen nowhere else. As science would have it, there were no fewer than six spacecraft in orbit around Mars at the time, and two surface rovers. This was an unprecedented opportunity to watch and study the storm. Martian Global Dust Storms (GDS) occur … Continue reading “Amazing View of How Dust Storms Grow on Mars” The post Amazing View of How Dust Storms Grow on Mars appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

New Hubble Photos of Planetary Nebulae Planetary nebulae are astronomy’s gateway drug. Their eye-catching forms make us wonder what process created them, and what else is going on up there in the night sky. They’re some of the most beautiful, ephemeral looking objects in all of nature. The Hubble Space Telescope is responsible for many of our most gorgeous images of … Continue reading “New Hubble Photos of Planetary Nebulae” The post New Hubble Photos of Planetary Nebulae appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Astronomers Just Detected Either the Least Massive Black Hole, or a Strange and Massive Neutron Star Somewhere around 2.5 solar masses is the line between black holes and neutron stars. Now we’ve found an object right on the edge. The post Astronomers Just Detected Either the Least Massive Black Hole, or a Strange and Massive Neutron Star appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Pluto and Other Kuiper Belt Objects Started Out With Water Oceans, and Have Been Slowly Freezing Solid for Billions of Years It seems unlikely that an ocean could persist on a world that never gets closer than 30 astronomical units from the Sun. But that’s the case with Pluto. Evidence shows that it has a sub-surface ocean between 100 to 180 km thick, at the boundary between the core and the mantle. Other Kuiper Belt Objects … Continue reading “Pluto and Other Kuiper Belt Objects Started Out With Water Oceans, and Have Been Slowly Freezing Solid for Billions of Years” The post Pluto and OtherRead More →

Another Starship Test Ends in an Explosion At their Boca Chica test facility, SpaceX tested another Starship prototype (SN7) to the point of failure, which resulted in another explosive release of cryogenic liquid nitrogen. The post Another Starship Test Ends in an Explosion appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

There’s no evidence that dark matter interacts with any other force but gravity Most of the universe is made of one of two kinds of mysterious substances, called dark matter and dark energy. From all the evidence, these two cosmic components only interact with “normal” matter through the gravitational force. And a recent nuclear experiment reveals no presence of any dark contamination in the bonds between atomic nuclei … Continue reading “There’s no evidence that dark matter interacts with any other force but gravity” The post There’s no evidence that dark matter interacts with any other force but gravity appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

Planets Form in Just a Few Hundred Thousand Years Astronomers like to observe young planets forming in circumstellar debris disks, the rotating rings of material around young stars. But when they measure the amount of material in those disks, they don’t contain enough material to form large planets. That discrepancy has puzzled astronomers. The answer might come down to timing. A new study suggests … Continue reading “Planets Form in Just a Few Hundred Thousand Years” The post Planets Form in Just a Few Hundred Thousand Years appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →