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Seeding the Milky Way with Life Using Genesis Missions Claudius Gros, the founder of Project Genesis, makes the case that when it comes to extrasolar planets, the rules of planetary protection need not apply. The post Seeding the Milky Way with Life Using Genesis Missions appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Cassini Saw Rain Falling at Titan’s North Pole The Cassini mission to Saturn ended in September 2017, but the data it gathered during its 13 year mission is still yielding scientific results. On the heels of a newly-released global image of Saturn’s moon Titan comes another discovery: Rainfall at Titan’s north pole. Climate models developed by scientists during Cassini’s mission concluded that rain … Continue reading “Cassini Saw Rain Falling at Titan’s North Pole” The post Cassini Saw Rain Falling at Titan’s North Pole appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
CERN is Planning to Build a Much Larger Particle Collider. Much, Much, Larger. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, wants to build a particle collider that will dwarf the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The LHC has made important discoveries, and planned upgrades to its power ensures it will keep working on physics problems into the future. But eventually, it won’t be enough to unlock the secrets of … Continue reading “CERN is Planning to Build a Much Larger Particle Collider. Much, Much, Larger.” The post CERN is Planning to Build a Much Larger Particle Collider. Much, Much, Larger. appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →
Astronomers Aren’t Pleased About a Russian Plan to Put Billboards in Space It was bound to happen. While the rest of us look up at the night sky, and wonder at what we’re seeing, ponder how it all fits together, and strain ourselves trying to understand how our origins are intertwined with all that we see, others don’t. They look up at the magnitude of the night … Continue reading “Astronomers Aren’t Pleased About a Russian Plan to Put Billboards in Space” The post Astronomers Aren’t Pleased About a Russian Plan to Put Billboards in Space appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →
Weekly Space Hangout: Jan 16, 2019: Paul MacNeal of JPL’s Annual Invention Challenge Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain) Dr. Pamela Gay (astronomycast.com / cosmoquest.org / @starstryder) Dr. Morgan Rehnberg (MorganRehnberg.com / @MorganRehnberg & ChartYourWorld.org) This week’s guest Paul MacNeal, a mechanical systems engineer at JPL, created the Annual Invention Challenge twenty-one years ago after helping his son with an extra credit assignment. Since then, teams of high … Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: Jan 16, 2019: Paul MacNeal of JPL’s Annual Invention Challenge” The post Weekly Space Hangout: Jan 16, 2019: Paul MacNeal of JPL’s Annual Invention Challenge appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →
There’s Life on the Moon! China’s Lander Just Sprouted the First Plants The Chang’e-4 mission accomplished another first by being the first mission to grow plant life on the Moon. Unfortunately, the experiment was short-lived. The post There’s Life on the Moon! China’s Lander Just Sprouted the First Plants appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
The Prototype for the Starship has been Assembled, Hop Tests Could be Happening Soon In an announcement sure to make you quiver with delight, Elon Musk says that SpaceX could begin short-hop test flights of its Starship prototype as early as next Spring. The Starship, which looks like something from a 1950’s sci-fi novel cover (awesome!) is intended to carry people to the Moon and Mars. When the spacecraft … Continue reading “The Prototype for the Starship has been Assembled, Hop Tests Could be Happening Soon” The post The Prototype for the Starship has been Assembled, Hop Tests Could be Happening Soon appeared first onRead More →
Jupiter Meets Venus at Dawn in a Close Conjunction You might be asking yourself: Where have all the planets gone? With Mars past its epic opposition in 2018 and still lingering in the evening sky, all other naked eye planets are loitering in the early dawn for January 2019. Sure, it’s cold outside this month for folks up north, but January dawn skies offer … Continue reading “Jupiter Meets Venus at Dawn in a Close Conjunction” The post Jupiter Meets Venus at Dawn in a Close Conjunction appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Titan’s Thick Clouds Obscure our View, but Cassini Took these Images in Infrared, Showing the Moon’s Surface Features Saturn’s moon Titan is a very strange place. It’s surrounded by a dense, opaque atmosphere, the only moon in the solar system with an atmosphere to speak of. It has lakes of liquid methane on its surface, maybe some cryovolcanoes, and some scientists speculate that it could support a form of life. Very weird life. … Continue reading “Titan’s Thick Clouds Obscure our View, but Cassini Took these Images in Infrared, Showing the Moon’s Surface Features” The post Titan’s Thick Clouds Obscure our View, but Cassini TookRead More →
A New Technique to Figure Out How Old Stars Are Our understanding of the universe, and of the Milky Way, is built on an edifice of individual pieces of knowledge, all related to each other. But each of those pieces is only so accurate. The more accurate we can make one of the pieces of knowledge, the more accurate our understanding of the whole thing … Continue reading “A New Technique to Figure Out How Old Stars Are” The post A New Technique to Figure Out How Old Stars Are appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Bizarre Double Star System Flipped its Planetary Disk on its Side An international research team recently found a binary star system with a debris disk that orbits around their poles. The post Bizarre Double Star System Flipped its Planetary Disk on its Side appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Incredible Descent Video of the Chinese Lander to the Lunar Far Side On January 2nd, 2019, China’s Chang’e-4 lander made a successful landing on the far side of the Moon. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP) report that after 9 days on the surface, the mission is in good shape. The Yutu-2 rover has been deployed and has begun exploring … Continue reading “Incredible Descent Video of the Chinese Lander to the Lunar Far Side” The post Incredible Descent Video of the Chinese Lander to the Lunar Far Side appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →
Habitable Planets Around Red Dwarf Stars Might not get Enough Photons to Support Plant Life A new study shows that planets orbiting red dwarf stars may not get enough radiation to support photosynthesis. The post Habitable Planets Around Red Dwarf Stars Might not get Enough Photons to Support Plant Life appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Astronomers See the Exact Moment a Supernova Turned into a Black Hole (or Neutron Star) On June 17th 2018, the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey’s twin telescopes spotted something extraordinarily bright in the sky. The source was 200 million light years away in the constellation Hercules. The object was given the name AT2018cow or “The Cow.” The Cow flared up quickly, and then just as quickly it was … Continue reading “Astronomers See the Exact Moment a Supernova Turned into a Black Hole (or Neutron Star)” The post Astronomers See the Exact Moment a Supernova Turned into a Black Hole (or Neutron Star)Read More →
Neutrino Telescopes Look Deep in the Earth and Deep into Space Neutrino telescopes are another kind of telescope to go alongside telescopes for visible light, x-rays, infrared, ultraviolet, microwave, radio, gamma ray and gravity waves. The post Neutrino Telescopes Look Deep in the Earth and Deep into Space appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Giant Streak Structure Found in Venus’ Cloudtops A team of researchers in Japan has discovered a gigantic streak structure in the cloud tops of Venus. The discovery is based on observations of Venus by the Japanese spacecraft Akatsuki. The findings were published in January 9th in the journal Nature Communications. Venus is unlike any other planet in the Solar System. The entire … Continue reading “Giant Streak Structure Found in Venus’ Cloudtops” The post Giant Streak Structure Found in Venus’ Cloudtops appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
In the far Future our Sun will Turn Into a Solid Crystalline White Dwarf. Here’s How it’ll Happen New research using some of the latest Gaia mission data has revealed what happens to stars like our Sun once they become white dwarfs. The post In the far Future our Sun will Turn Into a Solid Crystalline White Dwarf. Here’s How it’ll Happen appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Uh oh, Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 is Down On January 8th, an important piece of equipment on the Hubble Space Telescope went down. The Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) suspended its operations because of a hardware. The Hubble team is investigating the anomaly, and during this time the space telescope’s other instruments are working normally and continuing their science operations. The WFC3 was … Continue reading “Uh oh, Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 is Down” The post Uh oh, Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 is Down appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Canadian Telescope Finds 13 More Fast Radio Bursts Including the Second One Ever Seen Repeating Canadian scientists using the CHIME (Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment) have detected 13 FRBs (Fast Radio Bursts), including the second-ever repeating one. And they think they’ll find even more. CHIME is an innovative radio telescope in the Okanagan Valley region in British Columbia, Canada. It was completed in 2017, and its mission is to act … Continue reading “Canadian Telescope Finds 13 More Fast Radio Bursts Including the Second One Ever Seen Repeating” The post Canadian Telescope Finds 13 More Fast Radio Bursts Including the Second One Ever Seen RepeatingRead More →
Our Complete Guide to the January 21st Total Lunar Eclipse By now, you’ve heard the news. One of the top astronomy events for 2019 is coming right up on the night of January 20th into the morning of the 21st with a total eclipse of the Moon. There’s lots of hype circulating around this one, as it assumes the meme of the “SuperBloodWolf Moon eclipse” … Continue reading “Our Complete Guide to the January 21st Total Lunar Eclipse” The post Our Complete Guide to the January 21st Total Lunar Eclipse appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
