Universe Today (Page 391)

Maybe the Elusive Planet 9 Doesn’t Exist After All Oh Planet Nine, when will you stop toying with us? Whether you call it Planet Nine, Planet X, the Perturber, Jehoshaphat, “Phattie,” or any of the other proposed names—either serious or flippant—this scientific back and forth over its existence is getting exhausting. Is this what it was like when they were arguing whether Earth is … Continue reading “Maybe the Elusive Planet 9 Doesn’t Exist After All” The post Maybe the Elusive Planet 9 Doesn’t Exist After All appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

SN4, We Hardly Knew You. Another Starship Prototype Lost! SpaceX suffered yet another setback when their SN4 prototype exploded into a fireball during a static fire test of its single Raptor engine. The post SN4, We Hardly Knew You. Another Starship Prototype Lost! appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Due to Weather Delay, NASA & SpaceX Push Historic Launch to Saturday This Saturday, NASA and SpaceX will make their second attempt to send astronauts to the ISS from US soil for the first time since 2011! The post Due to Weather Delay, NASA & SpaceX Push Historic Launch to Saturday appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Mars Doesn’t Have Much of a Magnetosphere, But Here’s a Map Even though Earthling scientists are studying Mars intently, it’s still a mysterious place. One of the striking things about Mars is all of the evidence, clearly visible on its surface, that it harbored liquid water. Now, all that water is gone, and in fact, liquid water couldn’t survive on the surface of the Red Planet. … Continue reading “Mars Doesn’t Have Much of a Magnetosphere, But Here’s a Map” The post Mars Doesn’t Have Much of a Magnetosphere, But Here’s a Map appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

A New Kind of Supernova Explosion has been Discovered: Fast Blue Optical Transients For the child inside all of us space-enthusiasts, there might be nothing better than discovering a new type of explosion. (Except maybe bigger rockets.) And it looks like that’s what’s happened. Three objects discovered separately—one in 2016 and two in 2018—add up to a new type of supernova that astronomers are calling Fast Blue Optical … Continue reading “A New Kind of Supernova Explosion has been Discovered: Fast Blue Optical Transients” The post A New Kind of Supernova Explosion has been Discovered: Fast Blue Optical Transients appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

How to Make the Food and Water Mars-Bound Astronauts Will Need for Their Mission New technologies are being developed that will ensure astronauts have plenty of drinking water and food wherever resupply missions are not readily available The post How to Make the Food and Water Mars-Bound Astronauts Will Need for Their Mission appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Powerful Telescope Confirms There’s an Earth-Sized World Orbiting Proxima Centauri There is an Earth-sized planet only four light years from Earth. Whether it has life is yet to be known. The post Powerful Telescope Confirms There’s an Earth-Sized World Orbiting Proxima Centauri appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

On Mars, mud flows like lava One of the most striking features on Earth are the curious flows of lava as it cools, forming undulating ropes of rock known by the Hawaiian word pahoehoe. New research simulating conditions on Mars now reveals that the red planet has its own kind of pahoehoe…but made of mud. By and large, Mars is cold … Continue reading “On Mars, mud flows like lava” The post On Mars, mud flows like lava appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

This Rocket Engine’s Thrust Chamber was 3D-printed and Only has Three Parts This week, European engineers hot-fire tested a fully 3D-printed thrust chamber that could one day power the upper stages for rockets. The chamber has just three parts, and was constructed using additive layer manufacturing, another name for 3D printing.   This hot-fire test lasted 30 seconds and was carried out on May 26, 2020 at … Continue reading “This Rocket Engine’s Thrust Chamber was 3D-printed and Only has Three Parts” The post This Rocket Engine’s Thrust Chamber was 3D-printed and Only has Three Parts appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

At cosmic distances, even the speed of light is really slow The speed of light is the absolute fastest thing in the universe, clocking in at a whopping 299,792,458 meters per second. At that speed, a beam of light could travel around the Earth’s entire equator in a mere 0.13 seconds. That’s…fast. And yet, when it comes to cosmic distances, it’s incredibly, frustratingly, boringly slow. The post At cosmic distances, even the speed of light is really slow appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Extremely Hot Exoplanets Can Have Extreme Weather, Like Clouds of Aluminum Oxide and Titanium Rain Thanks to the success of the Kepler mission, we know that there are multitudes of exoplanets of a type called “Hot Jupiters.” These are gas giants that orbit so close to their stars that they reach extremely high temperatures. They also have exotic atmospheres, and those atmospheres contain a lot of strangeness, like clouds made … Continue reading “Extremely Hot Exoplanets Can Have Extreme Weather, Like Clouds of Aluminum Oxide and Titanium Rain” The post Extremely Hot Exoplanets Can Have Extreme Weather, Like Clouds of Aluminum Oxide and Titanium RainRead More →

What Are Some Clues to the Climates of Exoplanets? Researchers from the Carl Sagan Institute have created a new model for assessing the habitability of exoplanets that orbit different types of stars The post What Are Some Clues to the Climates of Exoplanets? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

The Solar System Might Not Exist if There Wasn’t a Huge Galactic Collision with the Milky Way Billions of Years Ago The Milky Way has a number of satellite galaxies; nearly 60 of them, depedending on how we define them. One of them, called the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy (Sgr d Sph), may have played a huge role when it comes to humans, our world and our little civilization. A collision between the Milky Way and … Continue reading “The Solar System Might Not Exist if There Wasn’t a Huge Galactic Collision with the Milky Way Billions of Years Ago” The post The Solar SystemRead More →

A Massive Rotating Disc Discovered in the Early Universe If we want to understand how the Universe evolves, we have to understand how its large structures form and evolve. That’s why astronomers study galaxy formation. Galaxies are enormous structures of stars, planets, gas, dust, and dark matter, and understanding how they form is critical to understanding the Universe itself. In 2017, astronomers working with … Continue reading “A Massive Rotating Disc Discovered in the Early Universe” The post A Massive Rotating Disc Discovered in the Early Universe appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

This Dwarf Galaxy is all by Itself In these days of social distancing, it appears this beautiful little galaxy is leading by example, sitting all by itself in the middle of a cosmic void. KK 246, also known as ESO 461-036, is a dwarf irregular galaxy, and ESA aptly described this picture as looking like “glitter spilled across a black velvet sheet.” … Continue reading “This Dwarf Galaxy is all by Itself” The post This Dwarf Galaxy is all by Itself appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

How Will we Receive Signals From Interstellar Probes, Like Starshot? A new study takes a look at the challenges of sending and receiving data over interstellar distances using tight-beam lasers The post How Will we Receive Signals From Interstellar Probes, Like Starshot? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Spot SpaceX’s Crew Dragon After Wednesday’s Historic Launch How to see SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Demo One mission in orbit Wednesday night. The post Spot SpaceX’s Crew Dragon After Wednesday’s Historic Launch appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Tiny Cardboard Aircraft Could Fly in the Skies of Mars What would be the best method for exploring planetary atmospheres, such as at Mars, Venus or even Earth? One group of researchers are developing tiny, levitating “nanocardboard” aircraft that could hover in alien skies. They would fly like dust floating in beams of sunlight – but intelligently, and with a purpose. “It’s exciting because it’s … Continue reading “Tiny Cardboard Aircraft Could Fly in the Skies of Mars” The post Tiny Cardboard Aircraft Could Fly in the Skies of Mars appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

NASA and SpaceX Gearing Up For Historic Crew Dragon Launch This Week NASA and SpaceX are gearing up for the Demo-2 mission this week, which will see the Crew Dragon launch from the Kennedy Space Center and rendezvous with the ISS. The post NASA and SpaceX Gearing Up For Historic Crew Dragon Launch This Week appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

The Coast of Antarctica is Starting to Turn Green The Antarctic Peninsula is the northernmost part of Antarctica, and has the mildest climate on the continent. In January, the warmest part of the year, the temperature averages 1 to 2 °C (34 to 36 °F). And it’s getting warmer. Those warm temperatures allow snow algae to grow, and now scientists have used remote sensing to map … Continue reading “The Coast of Antarctica is Starting to Turn Green” The post The Coast of Antarctica is Starting to Turn Green appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →