Universe Today (Page 412)

Carnival of Space #623 This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Allen Versfeld at his Urban Astronomer blog. Click here to read Carnival of Space #623. 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 #623” The post Carnival of Space #623 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Bright Fireball Explodes Over Ontario, Meteorite Fragments Might Have Reached the Ground A meteorite recently was spotted in the Great Lakes region and could have left fragments in the area around Bancroft, Ontario. The post Bright Fireball Explodes Over Ontario, Meteorite Fragments Might Have Reached the Ground appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Rock Almost Rolled Into This Crater on the Moon… Almost The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter recently spotted a boulder that had rolled downhill inside the Antoniadi crater, very nearly landing in another, smaller crater. The post Rock Almost Rolled Into This Crater on the Moon… Almost appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Snowball Exoplanets Might Be Better for Life Than We Thought When astronomers discover a new exoplanet, one of the first considerations is if the planet is in the habitable zone, or outside of it. That label largely depends on whether or not the temperature of the planet allows liquid water. But of course it’s not that simple. A new study suggests that frozen, icy worlds … Continue reading “Snowball Exoplanets Might Be Better for Life Than We Thought” The post Snowball Exoplanets Might Be Better for Life Than We Thought appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

All Life on Earth is Made up of the Same 20 Amino Acids. Scientist Now Think They Know Why A new study has shown that the building blocks of life (amino acids) may have come together more easily than we thought The post All Life on Earth is Made up of the Same 20 Amino Acids. Scientist Now Think They Know Why appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

The Light Sail is Working… It’s Working! Good news from The Planetary Society: LightSail 2’s solar sail is functioning as intended. After launching on June 25th, then deploying its solar sail system on July 23rd, mission managers have been working with the solar sail to optimize they way LightSail 2 orients itself towards the Sun. Now The Planetary Society reports that the … Continue reading “The Light Sail is Working… It’s Working!” The post The Light Sail is Working… It’s Working! appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

How Habitable is Titan? NASA is Sending the Titan Dragonfly Helicopter to Find Out There are few places in the Solar System which are as fascinating as Saturn’s moon Titan. It’s a world with a thicker atmosphere than Earth. Where it’s so cold that it rains ammonia, forming lakes, rivers and seas. Where water ice forms mountains.  Like Europa and Encleadus, Titan could have an interior ocean of liquid … Continue reading “How Habitable is Titan? NASA is Sending the Titan Dragonfly Helicopter to Find Out” The post How Habitable is Titan? NASA is Sending the Titan Dragonfly Helicopter to Find Out appeared first onRead More →

NASA Promised More Smaller, Earth-size Exoplanets. TESS is Delivering. When NASA launched TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) in 2018, it had a specific goal. While its predecessor, the Kepler spacecraft, found thousands of exoplanets, many of them were massive gas giants. TESS was sent into space with a promise: to find smaller planets similar in size to Earth and Neptune, orbiting stable stars without … Continue reading “NASA Promised More Smaller, Earth-size Exoplanets. TESS is Delivering.” The post NASA Promised More Smaller, Earth-size Exoplanets. TESS is Delivering. appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

The Moon is Older Than Scientists Thought The most comprehensive and widely-held theory of how the Moon formed is called the ‘giant impact hypothesis.’ That hypothesis shows that about 150 million years after the Solar System formed, a roughly Mars-sized planet named Theia collided with Earth. Though the timeline is hotly-debated in the scientific community, we know that this collision melted Theia … Continue reading “The Moon is Older Than Scientists Thought” The post The Moon is Older Than Scientists Thought appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Why Is The Moon’s South Pole So Important? It’s All About Water As NASA prepares to return to the Moon by 2024 as part of its Artemis program, the agency is focusing its efforts on exploring the Moon’s polar regions. These are areas of the Moon which seem to have a lot of water mixed in with the regolith. Some of these craters are permanently in shadow, … Continue reading “Why Is The Moon’s South Pole So Important? It’s All About Water” The post Why Is The Moon’s South Pole So Important? It’s All About Water appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

Watch this Amazing Video of Hayabusa 2 Picking Up a Sample from the Surface of Ryugu A new video shows Japan’s Hayabusa 2 sample return spacecraft collecting samples from asteroid Ryugu. The spacecraft has been at Ryugu for months now, and it’s all been leading up to this. In the video, you can clearly see airborne asteroid dust and particles swirling around in the low gravity. It’s especially cool because the … Continue reading “Watch this Amazing Video of Hayabusa 2 Picking Up a Sample from the Surface of Ryugu” The post Watch this Amazing Video of Hayabusa 2 Picking Up a Sample from theRead More →

Check Out This Super-Cool Quad Video of the Falcon Re-Entry. Two Sonic Booms! Elon Musk has posted a four-panel video of the Falcon re-entry on his Twitter feed and it’s driving even jaded space-watchers into a frenzy. With all of SpaceX’s success, it’s easy to forget what a long road it’s been to get to this point. Remember in 2001 when Musk wanted to send experimental greenhouses to … Continue reading “Check Out This Super-Cool Quad Video of the Falcon Re-Entry. Two Sonic Booms!” The post Check Out This Super-Cool Quad Video of the Falcon Re-Entry. Two Sonic Booms! appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

Carnival of Space #622 This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Brian Wang at his Next Big Future blog. Click here to read Carnival of Space #622 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 #622” The post Carnival of Space #622 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Messier 91 – the NGC 4548 Barred Spiral Galaxy Located in the constellation Virgo The post Messier 91 – the NGC 4548 Barred Spiral Galaxy appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

As Meteorites Slice Through the Atmosphere, They’re Sculpted Into Cones A new study reveals why many meteors, when they enter Earth’s atmosphere, become cone-shaped as they heat up. The post As Meteorites Slice Through the Atmosphere, They’re Sculpted Into Cones appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Great News! The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Might be Named for Vera Rubin The U.S. House of Representatives have passed a bill to change the name of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST.) Instead of that explanatory yet cumbersome name, it will be named after American astronomer Vera Rubin. Rubin is well-known for her pioneering work in discovering dark matter. The new official name of the telescope is … Continue reading “Great News! The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Might be Named for Vera Rubin” The post Great News! The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Might be Named for Vera Rubin appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

Thanks to Gaia, we Now Know Exactly How Big Europa is The ESA’s Gaia mission recently allowed astronomers to catch a glimpse of Europa as it passed in front of a star, leading to new discoveries about this fascinating moon. The post Thanks to Gaia, we Now Know Exactly How Big Europa is appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Fossilized Clams Had Evidence of a Meteorite Impact Inside Them When an extraterrestrial object slams into the Earth, it sends molten rock high into the atmosphere. That debris cools and re-crystallizes and falls back down to Earth. Tiny glass beads that form in this process are called microtektites, and researchers in Florida have found microtektites inside fossilized clams. This story starts over 10 years ago … Continue reading “Fossilized Clams Had Evidence of a Meteorite Impact Inside Them” The post Fossilized Clams Had Evidence of a Meteorite Impact Inside Them appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

What Did the Early Milky Way Look Like? In the very early days of our Universe, just over 13 billion years ago, there was very little structure. There were stars, and they were forming at a rapid rate, kicking off what’s known as the Stelliferous Era. But the enormous, majestic galaxies that we see today, including our Milky Way galaxy, hadn’t formed yet. … Continue reading “What Did the Early Milky Way Look Like?” The post What Did the Early Milky Way Look Like? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Planetary Society Deploys LightSail 2’s Solar Sail. What Does The Future Hold For Solar Sails? Where you can travel in space depends on how much propellant you’ve got on board your rocket and how efficiently you can use it. But there’s a source of free propellant right here in the Solar System – the Sun – which is streaming out photons in all directions. You just need to catch them. … Continue reading “Planetary Society Deploys LightSail 2’s Solar Sail. What Does The Future Hold For Solar Sails?” The post Planetary Society Deploys LightSail 2’s Solar Sail. What Does The Future Hold For Solar Sails?Read More →