Universe Today (Page 387)

NASA’s Still Trying to Get InSight’s Mole Working Again. Progress is Slow. The InSight lander has been on Mars for 213 Sols on its mission to understand the interior of the red planet. It’s armed with a seismometer, a temperature and wind sensor, and other instruments. But it’s primary instrument, arguably, is the Mole, or the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3.) And the Mole has … Continue reading “NASA’s Still Trying to Get InSight’s Mole Working Again. Progress is Slow.” The post NASA’s Still Trying to Get InSight’s Mole Working Again. Progress is Slow. appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

NASA Telescopes Reveal the Atmosphere of A Strange Hybrid Exoplanet Out there in space is an unusual exoplanet name Gliese 3470 b (GJ 3470 b.) It’s a strange world, kind of like a hybrid between Earth and Neptune. It has a rocky core like Earth, but is surrounded by an atmosphere made of hydrogen and helium. That combination is unlike anything in our own Solar … Continue reading “NASA Telescopes Reveal the Atmosphere of A Strange Hybrid Exoplanet” The post NASA Telescopes Reveal the Atmosphere of A Strange Hybrid Exoplanet appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Hubble has a Brand New Picture of the Massive Star Eta Carinae. It Could Detonate as a Supernova Any Day Now 7500 light years away is an object that (almost) needs no introduction: Eta Carinae. If you haven’t heard of it you should be following Universe Today more. Eta Carinae is a well-known and often-studied object in astronomy, partly because it’s prone to the kind of violent outbursts that really grab your attention. Humanity started its … Continue reading “Hubble has a Brand New Picture of the Massive Star Eta Carinae. It Could Detonate as a Supernova Any Day Now” The post Hubble has aRead More →

Dr. Avi Loeb Thinks the Government Should set its Sights on Big Ideas in Space Exploration In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing, a Harvard Professor and former White House science advisor recommend that the US government remain invested in research and space exploration. The post Dr. Avi Loeb Thinks the Government Should set its Sights on Big Ideas in Space Exploration appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

SpaceX has Lost Contact With 3 of its Starlink Satellites Back in May 23rd, 2019, SpaceX launched the first batch of its Starlink constellation, a fleet of satellites that will fulfill Elon Musk’s promise to provide broadband satellite-internet access to the entire planet. The deployment of these sixty satellites was the first in a series of six planned launches that would see around 720 satellites … Continue reading “SpaceX has Lost Contact With 3 of its Starlink Satellites” The post SpaceX has Lost Contact With 3 of its Starlink Satellites appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Carnival of Space #618 This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Brian Wang at his Next Big Future blog. Click here to read Carnival of Space #618 And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry … Continue reading “Carnival of Space #618” The post Carnival of Space #618 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Airplane Contrails are Contributing to Global Warming Too To the scientifically uninitiated, it might seem like a frivolous idea: That those slight, wispy clouds that trail behind jet aircraft at such high altitudes could contribute to climate change. But they do. Scientists love to measure things, and when they measured these contrails, which is short for condensation trails, they found bad news. Though … Continue reading “Airplane Contrails are Contributing to Global Warming Too” The post Airplane Contrails are Contributing to Global Warming Too appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

“Eight Years to the Moon:” Read a Book Excerpt Editor’s note: “Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions” is a new book, just out today, written by Universe Today’s Nancy Atkinson, with a foreword by Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart. The book tells the unique personal stories of over 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make … Continue reading ““Eight Years to the Moon:” Read a Book Excerpt” The post “Eight Years to the Moon:” Read a Book Excerpt appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Who Wants to be a Trillionaire? Mission to Psyche Could Uncover Tons of Precious Metals! NASA’s Psyche mission is sure to find some interesting things when it explores a metal asteroid, like quadrillions of dollars worth of precious metals! The post Who Wants to be a Trillionaire? Mission to Psyche Could Uncover Tons of Precious Metals! appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Ep. 536: Everyday Relativity Relativity is used in more day to day situations than you may realize. In this episode, we will count (some of) the ways. This episode is brought to you live from the All-Stars Star Party in Indian Wells, California. We usually record Astronomy Cast every Friday at 3:00 pm EST / 12:00 pm PST / … Continue reading “Ep. 536: Everyday Relativity” The post Ep. 536: Everyday Relativity appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Astronomers See Evidence of Supermassive Black Holes Forming Directly in the Early Universe Super-Massive Black Holes (SMBH) are hard to explain. These gargantuan singularities are thought to be at the center of every large galaxy (our Milky Way has one) but their presence there sometimes defies easy explanation. As far as we know, black holes form when giant stars collapse. But that explanation doesn’t fit all the evidence. … Continue reading “Astronomers See Evidence of Supermassive Black Holes Forming Directly in the Early Universe” The post Astronomers See Evidence of Supermassive Black Holes Forming Directly in the Early Universe appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

Meet the Comet Interceptor. It’ll Wait Patiently In Space for a Comet, Then Pounce On It The ESA has announced a new mission to explore a comet. The Comet Interceptor mission will have a spacecraft wait in space until a pristine comet approaches the inner Solar System. Then it will make a bee line for it, and do some ground-breaking science. The Comet Interceptor is unique among space missions. Its exact … Continue reading “Meet the Comet Interceptor. It’ll Wait Patiently In Space for a Comet, Then Pounce On It” The post Meet the Comet Interceptor. It’ll Wait Patiently In Space for a Comet, ThenRead More →

The Latest Insanely Beautiful Image of Jupiter Captured by Juno There’s something about Jupiter that mesmerizes those who gaze at it. It’s intricate, dazzling clouds are a visual representation of the laws of nature that’s hard to turn away from. And even though the Juno spacecraft has been at Jupiter for almost three years now, and has delivered thousands of images of the gas giant’s … Continue reading “The Latest Insanely Beautiful Image of Jupiter Captured by Juno” The post The Latest Insanely Beautiful Image of Jupiter Captured by Juno appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

A Fast Radio Burst has Finally Been Traced Back to its Source: the Outskirts of a Galaxy 4 Billion Light-Years Away An Australian-led research effort has managed to pinpoint the location of the first non-repeating Fast Radio Burst, which could have immense implications for astronomy. The post A Fast Radio Burst has Finally Been Traced Back to its Source: the Outskirts of a Galaxy 4 Billion Light-Years Away appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Earth To Mars In 100 Days? The Power Of Nuclear Rockets The Solar System is a really big place, and it takes forever to travel from world to world with traditional chemical rockets. But one technique, developed back in the 1960s might provide a way to dramatically shorten our travel times: nuclear rockets. The post Earth To Mars In 100 Days? The Power Of Nuclear Rockets appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

NASA is Going Back to Saturn’s Moon Titan, this Time With a Nuclear Battery-Powered Quadcopter The official announcement has been made. NASA is sending the Dragonfly, its rotary-winged flying robot, to Titan. We’ll have to control our excitement for a while, though. The launch date isn’t until 2026. The Dragonfly is a technological marvel. It’ll have 8 rotors that operate in 4 pairs, and it’ll be powered by a Multi-Mission … Continue reading “NASA is Going Back to Saturn’s Moon Titan, this Time With a Nuclear Battery-Powered Quadcopter” The post NASA is Going Back to Saturn’s Moon Titan, this Time With a Nuclear Battery-Powered QuadcopterRead More →

French Scientists Claim to Have Created Metallic Hydrogen A team of French scientists recently claimed to have created metallic hydrogen in a laboratory, a claim which is triggering both enthusiasm and skepticism The post French Scientists Claim to Have Created Metallic Hydrogen appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Eruption of the Raikoke Volcano, Seen From Space The Raikoke Volcano, dormant for a very long time, has awoken from its slumber. The volcanic island is in the Kuril Island chain, near the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. Unlike its more volcanically active neighbours, Raikoke has been dormant since 1924. Thanks to astronauts on the International Space Station, we have gorgeous photos of the … Continue reading “Eruption of the Raikoke Volcano, Seen From Space” The post Eruption of the Raikoke Volcano, Seen From Space appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Our Complete Guide to the July 2019 Total Solar Eclipse You couldn’t order up a geekier celestial scene from the cosmos. Next Tuesday on July 2nd, the second of three seasons begins for 2019, with the only total solar eclipse of the year spanning the southern tip of South America, including the nations of Chile and Argentina. As an extra-special part of the spectacle, however, the path of totality for the eclipse passes right over the La Silla observatory complex in the Atacama Desert. The post Our Complete Guide to the July 2019 Total Solar Eclipse appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

The Most Efficient Way to Explore the Entire Milky Way, Star by Star At this year’s Global Trajectory Optimization Competition (GTOC), a team from the ESA presented a model for how humanity could settle the Milky Way galaxy. The post The Most Efficient Way to Explore the Entire Milky Way, Star by Star appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →