Universe Today (Page 398)

The Incredible Challenge of Landing Heavy Payloads On Mars It’s too bad Mars is such an interesting place, because it’s actually one of the most difficult places to visit in the Solar System, especially if you want to bring along a lot of luggage. That planet is a graveyard of missions that didn’t quite make it. As our ambitions grow, and we think about … Continue reading “The Incredible Challenge of Landing Heavy Payloads On Mars” The post The Incredible Challenge of Landing Heavy Payloads On Mars appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Weekly Space Hangout: March 20, 2019 – Dr. Michael Zemcov of NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain) Dr. Paul M. Sutter (pmsutter.com / @PaulMattSutter) Dr. Kimberly Cartier (KimberlyCartier.org / @AstroKimCartier ) Dr. Morgan Rehnberg (MorganRehnberg.com / @MorganRehnberg & ChartYourWorld.org) Dr. Michael Zemcov is a research professor at Rochester Institute of Technology’s Center for Detectors and the School of Physics and Astronomy. Dr. Zemcov’s primary focus is … Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: March 20, 2019 – Dr. Michael Zemcov of NASA’s SPHEREx Mission” The post Weekly Space Hangout: March 20, 2019 – Dr. Michael Zemcov of NASA’s SPHEREx Mission appeared first onRead More →

Six People Have Begun a 122-Day Simulated Mission on the Moon The SIRIUS-19 experiment recently kicked off, with six cosmonauts entering a simulated lunar environment (where they will spend the next 122 days conducting experiments). The post Six People Have Begun a 122-Day Simulated Mission on the Moon appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Almost 13,000 Years Ago, a Comet Impact Set Everything on Fire A new discovery in South America has added further weight to the Young Dryas Impact theory, which states that a sudden shift in its climate 12,800 years ago was due to a comet hitting Earth. The post Almost 13,000 Years Ago, a Comet Impact Set Everything on Fire appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

SpaceX Tests the Starship’s Hexagonal Heatshield. Starhopper Tests Could Come as Early as This Week The milestones just keep coming for SpaceX. After the recent successful test flight of the Crew Dragon capsule, another of SpaceX’s ventures is about to meet its own milestone. The SpaceX Starhopper could have its first test flight as soon as this week. SpaceX hasn’t exactly come right out and announced that they will test … Continue reading “SpaceX Tests the Starship’s Hexagonal Heatshield. Starhopper Tests Could Come as Early as This Week” The post SpaceX Tests the Starship’s Hexagonal Heatshield. Starhopper Tests Could Come as Early as This WeekRead More →

Spot Failed Soviet Venus Probe Kosmos 482 in Earth Orbit A ghost from the old Soviet space program may return to Earth in the coming years. Mimicking a campy episode of the 70s series The Six Million Dollar Man, a Soviet Venus lander stranded in Earth orbit will eventually reenter the atmosphere, perhaps as early as late 2019. Fortunately, this isn’t the “Venus Death Probe” … Continue reading “Spot Failed Soviet Venus Probe Kosmos 482 in Earth Orbit” The post Spot Failed Soviet Venus Probe Kosmos 482 in Earth Orbit appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Messier 81 – the Bode Galaxy Welcome back to Messier Monday! Today, we continue in our tribute to our dear friend, Tammy Plotner, by looking at the Bode’s Galaxy – also known as Messier 81! During the 18th century, famed French astronomer Charles Messier noticed the presence of several “nebulous objects”  while surveying the night sky. Originally mistaking these objects for … Continue reading “Messier 81 – the Bode Galaxy” The post Messier 81 – the Bode Galaxy appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Astronomy Cast Ep. 522: Judging Age & Origins, part 1 – Earth Rocks People always want to know how old everything is. And more specifically, they want to know how we know how old everything is. Well, here at Astronomy Cast, it’s our job to tell you now only what we know, but how we know what we know. And today we’ll begin a series on how we … Continue reading “Astronomy Cast Ep. 522: Judging Age & Origins, part 1 – Earth Rocks” The post Astronomy Cast Ep. 522: Judging Age & Origins, part 1 – Earth Rocks appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

Astronomy Cast Bonus Episode: Dust with Dr. Paul Sutter Download MP3 Recorded during the Astrotour to Costa Rica, Fraser talks to Dr. Paul Matt Sutter about the nature of dust and BICEP 2’s claim of discovering primordial gravitational waves. We usually record Astronomy Cast every Friday at 3:00 pm EST / 12:00 pm PST / 20:00 PM UTC. You can watch us live on … Continue reading “Astronomy Cast Bonus Episode: Dust with Dr. Paul Sutter” The post Astronomy Cast Bonus Episode: Dust with Dr. Paul Sutter appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Carnival of Space #603 This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Allen Versfeld at his Urban Astronomer blog. Click here to read Carnival of Space #603. 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 #603” The post Carnival of Space #603 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Which Habitable Zones are the Best to Actually Search for Life? A new study conducted by an international team of scientists examines what the term “habitable zone” means and how next-generation telescopes will test our assumptions. The post Which Habitable Zones are the Best to Actually Search for Life? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

SLS Rocket Promises To Do Better The SLS rocket found its future launch manifest severely curtailed in a new budget request. This leaves the long overdue rocket with uncertain long term prospects. The post SLS Rocket Promises To Do Better appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Progress for the Skylon. Europe agrees to continue working on the air-breathing SABRE engine The ESA and Reaction Engines recently took another step towards the realization of the hypersonic SABRE engine. The post Progress for the Skylon. Europe agrees to continue working on the air-breathing SABRE engine appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Do You See the “Cosmic Bat” in NGC 1788? 2,000 light years away, in the Orion constellation, lurks an eerie looking creature, made of glowing gas lit up by young stars: the Cosmic Bat. It’s real name is NGC 1788. It’s a reflection nebula, meaning the light of nearby stars is strong enough to light it up, but not strong enough to ionize the … Continue reading “Do You See the “Cosmic Bat” in NGC 1788?” The post Do You See the “Cosmic Bat” in NGC 1788? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

This Star has been Kicked Out of the Milky Way. It Knows What It Did. Every once in a while, the Milky Way ejects a star. The evicted star is typically ejected from the chaotic area at the center of the galaxy, where our Super Massive Black Hole (SMBH) lives. But at least one of them was ejected from the comparatively calm galactic disk, a discovery that has astronomers rethinking … Continue reading “This Star has been Kicked Out of the Milky Way. It Knows What It Did.” The post This Star has been Kicked Out of the Milky Way. It Knows What It Did.Read More →

The Iridium Flare Era is About to End Fast-forward to 2019, and the age of the predictable Iridium flare may be coming to an end. Already, scrolling through Heavens-Above reveals very few Iridium flares for the coming months, and these familiar nighttime flashes may become a thing of the past come 2020. The post The Iridium Flare Era is About to End appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

New Ring of Dust Discovered in the Inner Solar System Discovering new things in space is a regular occurrence. Astronomers keep finding more distant objects in the outer reaches of the Solar System. Worlds like ‘The Goblin,’ ‘FarOut,’ and ‘FarFarOut‘ are stretching the limits of what our Solar System actually is. But finding new things in the inner Solar System is rare. “It’s not every … Continue reading “New Ring of Dust Discovered in the Inner Solar System” The post New Ring of Dust Discovered in the Inner Solar System appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

This is the Final Photograph from Opportunity Sad. But beautiful. NASA has shared Opportunity’s final photograph from the surface of Mars. The rover’s final resting place is in Endeavour Crater, and barring any statistically unlikely event, it will sit there for centuries, millennia, or even longer. And instead of a tombstone, we have this final image. The image is a panorama, captured … Continue reading “This is the Final Photograph from Opportunity” The post This is the Final Photograph from Opportunity appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Weekly Space Hangout: Mar 13, 2019 – Dr. Luisa Rebull, Spitzer, and Star Formation Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain) Dr. Paul M. Sutter (pmsutter.com / @PaulMattSutter) Dr. Kimberly Cartier (KimberlyCartier.org / @AstroKimCartier ) Dr. Morgan Rehnberg (MorganRehnberg.com / @MorganRehnberg & ChartYourWorld.org) Dr. Luisa Rebull is an astronomer studying the properties of young stars, specifically evolution of rotation rates, disks, accretion rates, and Li abundances. She is an Associate … Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: Mar 13, 2019 – Dr. Luisa Rebull, Spitzer, and Star Formation” The post Weekly Space Hangout: Mar 13, 2019 – Dr. Luisa Rebull, Spitzer, and Star Formation appeared first onRead More →

This is What It’ll Look Like When the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies Collide Billions of Years from Now What happens when two galaxies collide? The Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy are on a collision course, and in about 4.5 billion years, they will meet. Now astronomers using the Hubble have provided some visual insight into what that collision might look like. When two galaxies collide, it’s highly unlikely that any stars will … Continue reading “This is What It’ll Look Like When the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies Collide Billions of Years from Now” The post This is What It’ll Look Like WhenRead More →