Universe Today (Page 411)

Mice That Spend a Month in Space Were Able to Reproduce Once They Got Back to Earth A team of Japanese researchers have used sperm from mice that spent time aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to fertilize female mice back on Earth. While previous research has shown that freeze-dried mouse sperm stored in space can experience radiation damage, these results show that the sperm from live mice may not suffer the … Continue reading “Mice That Spend a Month in Space Were Able to Reproduce Once They Got Back to Earth” The post Mice That Spend a Month in Space Were Able to ReproduceRead More →

Astronomers Have Found a Place With Three Supermassive Black Holes Orbiting Around Each Other Astronomers have spotted three supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the center of three colliding galaxies a billion light years away from Earth. That alone is unusual, but the three black holes are also glowing in x-ray emissions. This is evidence that all three are also active galactic nuclei (AGN,) gobbling up material and flaring brightly. … Continue reading “Astronomers Have Found a Place With Three Supermassive Black Holes Orbiting Around Each Other” The post Astronomers Have Found a Place With Three Supermassive Black Holes Orbiting Around Each Other appeared first onRead More →

WFIRST Gets its Coronagraph, to Block the Light of Stars and Reveal Their Planets The coronagraph instrument, which will help NASA’s WFIRST mission to search for exoplanets, just passed a major milestone! The post WFIRST Gets its Coronagraph, to Block the Light of Stars and Reveal Their Planets appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Shape-shifting Robots Like These Could Be Just What We Need to Explore Titan When it comes to space exploration, it’s robots that do most of the work. That trend will continue as we send missions onto the surfaces of worlds further and further into the Solar System. But for robots to be effective in the challenging environments we need to explore—like Saturn’s moon Titan—we need more capable robots. … Continue reading “Shape-shifting Robots Like These Could Be Just What We Need to Explore Titan” The post Shape-shifting Robots Like These Could Be Just What We Need to Explore Titan appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

Astronauts Explore Caves on Earth, Learning the Skills They’ll Need for the Moon and Mars We’re accustomed to astronauts pulling off their missions without a hitch. They head up to the International Space Station for months at a time and do what they do, then come home. But upcoming missions to the surface of the Moon, and maybe Mars, present a whole new set of challenges. One way astronauts are … Continue reading “Astronauts Explore Caves on Earth, Learning the Skills They’ll Need for the Moon and Mars” The post Astronauts Explore Caves on Earth, Learning the Skills They’ll Need for the Moon and MarsRead More →

This Summer’s Asteroid Near-Miss Helped Greenlight NASA’s NEOCam Mission to Search the Skies for Killer Spacerocks Last July, a once-in-a-lifetime event happened. Not the good kind; the football-field-sized-asteroid near-miss kind. And that near miss is the catalyst for a renewed effort from NASA to detect more dangerous space-rocks that might threaten Earth. Last summer’s near-miss asteroid was named 2019 OK, and it passed within about 77,000 km (48,000 miles) of Earth. … Continue reading “This Summer’s Asteroid Near-Miss Helped Greenlight NASA’s NEOCam Mission to Search the Skies for Killer Spacerocks” The post This Summer’s Asteroid Near-Miss Helped Greenlight NASA’s NEOCam Mission to Search the SkiesRead More →

Weekly Space Hangout: September 25, 2019 – Seth Lockman & Aaron Lockman: The Astronomy Brothers Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain) Dr. Kimberly Cartier (KimberlyCartier.org / @AstroKimCartier  ) Carolyn Collins Petersen (TheSpaceWriter.com / @spacewriter ) Moiya McTier (MoiyaMcTier.com) This week we are joined by brothers Seth and Aaron Lockman who recently launched their new podcast, Astronomy Brothers, on September 9. Seth is Communications Director at bluShift Aerospace in Maine and … Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: September 25, 2019 – Seth Lockman & Aaron Lockman: The Astronomy Brothers” The post Weekly Space Hangout: September 25, 2019 – Seth Lockman & Aaron Lockman: The Astronomy BrothersRead More →

Lockheed Wins the Contract to Build Six More Orion Capsules NASA and Lockheed Martin have finalized their contract for the delivery of the 6 to 12 Orion capsules that will take astronauts back to the Moon. The post Lockheed Wins the Contract to Build Six More Orion Capsules appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Just How Feasible is a Warp Drive? At a presentation at this year’s AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum, engineer Joseph Agnew spoke of the progress being made on the Alcubierre Warp Drive. The post Just How Feasible is a Warp Drive? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Messier 92 – the NGC 6341 Globular Cluster Located in the Hercules constellation, roughly 26,700 light-years from Earth, is the globular cluster known as Messier 92. The post Messier 92 – the NGC 6341 Globular Cluster appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

SpaceX Starship Gets Some Fins Elon Musk has provided another update on the construction of the Starship prototype, which now includes steerable tail fins. The post SpaceX Starship Gets Some Fins appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Better Than Earth? Are There Superhabitable Worlds In The Milky Way? I’ve said many times in the past that the Earth is the best planet in the Universe. No matter where we go, we’ll never find a planet that’s a better home to Earth life than Earth. Of course, that’s because we, and all other Earth life evolved in this environment. Evolution adapted us to this … Continue reading “Better Than Earth? Are There Superhabitable Worlds In The Milky Way?” The post Better Than Earth? Are There Superhabitable Worlds In The Milky Way? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Planet Mars, From Pole to Pole A new image from the ESA’s Mars Express Orbiter shows exactly how different regions in Mars are from one another. From the cloudy northern polar region all the way to the Helles Planitia down in the south, Mars is a puzzle of different terrain types. At the heart of it all is what’s known as … Continue reading “Planet Mars, From Pole to Pole” The post Planet Mars, From Pole to Pole appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Carnival of Space #630 This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Brian Wang at his Next Big Future blog. Click here to read Carnival of Space #630 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 #630” The post Carnival of Space #630 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Elliptical Galaxy Messier 110 Has a Surprising Core of Hot Blue Stars Messier 110 (NGC 205) is a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy. It’s a dwarf elliptical galaxy, a common type of galaxy often found in galaxy clusters and groups, and it contains about 10 billion stars. Like all dwarf ellipticals, it doesn’t have the characteristic shape of galaxies like Andromeda or the Milky Way, with their … Continue reading “Elliptical Galaxy Messier 110 Has a Surprising Core of Hot Blue Stars” The post Elliptical Galaxy Messier 110 Has a Surprising Core of Hot Blue Stars appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

Venus Could Have Supported Life for Billions of Years A new study by a team of NASA scientists indicates that Venus could have been habitable for billions of years (and still would be today) were it not for all the resurfacing! The post Venus Could Have Supported Life for Billions of Years appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Rosetta Saw Collapsing Cliffs and Other Changes on 67P During its Mission It seems that comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko is not the stoic, unchanging Solar System traveller that it might seem to be. Scientists working through the vast warehouse of images from the Rosetta spacecraft have discovered there’s lots going on on 67P. Among the activity are collapsing cliffs and bouncing boulders. Rosetta spent almost two years at 67P, … Continue reading “Rosetta Saw Collapsing Cliffs and Other Changes on 67P During its Mission” The post Rosetta Saw Collapsing Cliffs and Other Changes on 67P During its Mission appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

Hayabusa 2 has one Last Lander it’s Going to Throw at Ryugu JAXA recently released photos of their Hayabusa2 mission deploying target markers to the surface of the asteroid Ryugu. The post Hayabusa 2 has one Last Lander it’s Going to Throw at Ryugu appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Enceladus Causes Snowfall On Other Moons of Saturn Radar evidence shows that geysers on Enceladus are ejecting water that turns to snow. The snow not only falls back on Enceladus’ surface, but also makes its way to its neighboring moons, Mimas and Tethys, making them more reflective. Researchers are calling this a ‘snow cannon.’ The Cassini spacecraft carried a powerful radar designed to … Continue reading “Enceladus Causes Snowfall On Other Moons of Saturn” The post Enceladus Causes Snowfall On Other Moons of Saturn appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Musk Shares the Latest Progress on the Starship Prototypes Elon Musk just released new images that showcase the progress being made on the Starship prototypes The post Musk Shares the Latest Progress on the Starship Prototypes appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →