Universe Today (Page 415)

Barfing Neutron Stars Reveal Their Inner Guts We don’t really understand neutron stars. Oh, we know that they are – they’re the leftover remnants of some of the most massive stars in the universe – but revealing their inner workings is a little bit tricky, because the physics keeping them alive is only poorly understood. But every once in a while two … Continue reading “Barfing Neutron Stars Reveal Their Inner Guts” The post Barfing Neutron Stars Reveal Their Inner Guts appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

You Could Travel Through a Wormhole, but it’s Slower Than Going Through Space A new study reveals that traveling through a wormhole may actually be possible, but don’t count on it saving you any time! The post You Could Travel Through a Wormhole, but it’s Slower Than Going Through Space appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Ep. 527: Ancient Astronomy of the American Southwest Ancient peoples had no light pollution, and they knew the night skies very well. In fact, they depends on them to know when to plant and when to harvest. Today Pamela talks about the archeoastronomical sites of the American Southwest. We usually record Astronomy Cast every Friday at 3:00 pm EST / 12:00 pm PST … Continue reading “Ep. 527: Ancient Astronomy of the American Southwest” The post Ep. 527: Ancient Astronomy of the American Southwest appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Carnival of Space #608 It’s that time again! This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Pamela Hoffman at the Everyday Spacer blog. Click here to read Carnival of Space #608. 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. … Continue reading “Carnival of Space #608” The post Carnival of Space #608 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

What Will the James Webb Space Telescope See? A Whole Bunch of Dust, That’s What When it comes to the first galaxies, the James Webb Space Telescope will attempt to understand the formation of those galaxies and their link to the underlying dark matter. In case you didn’t know, most of the matter in our universe is invisible (a.k.a. “dark”), but its gravity binds everything together, including galaxies. So by … Continue reading “What Will the James Webb Space Telescope See? A Whole Bunch of Dust, That’s What” The post What Will the James Webb Space Telescope See? A Whole Bunch of Dust, That’s WhatRead More →

The First Molecule that was Possible in the Universe has been Seen in Space It takes a rich and diverse set of complex molecules for things like stars, galaxies, planets and lifeforms like us to exist. But before humans and all the complex molecules we’re made of could exist, there had to be that first primordial molecule that started a long chain of chemical events that led to everything … Continue reading “The First Molecule that was Possible in the Universe has been Seen in Space” The post The First Molecule that was Possible in the Universe has been Seen in Space appeared first onRead More →

The World’s Biggest Aircraft – the Rocket-Launching Stratolaunch – Completes its First Test Flight Stratolaunch recently conducted the first test flight of its air-carrier plane, the largest and heaviest aircraft in the world. The post The World’s Biggest Aircraft – the Rocket-Launching Stratolaunch – Completes its First Test Flight appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Methane-Filled Lakes on Titan are “Surprisingly Deep” The Cassini mission to Saturn and its moons wrapped up in 2017, when the spacecraft was sent plunging into the gas giant to meet its end. But there’s still a lot of data from the mission to keep scientists busy. A team of scientists working with Cassini data have made a surprising discovery: Titan’s methane-filled … Continue reading “Methane-Filled Lakes on Titan are “Surprisingly Deep”” The post Methane-Filled Lakes on Titan are “Surprisingly Deep” appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

TESS Just Found its First Earth-Sized World NASA’s new planet-hunting telescope, TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), just found its first Earth-sized world. Though the Earth-sized planet, and its hot sub-Neptune companion, were first observed by TESS in January 2019, it’s taken until now to confirm their status with ground-based follow-up observations. The discovery is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. When TESS … Continue reading “TESS Just Found its First Earth-Sized World” The post TESS Just Found its First Earth-Sized World appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Astronomers Find a Chunk of a Comet Inside a Meteorite The early days of the Solar System are hard to piece together from our vantage point, billions of years after it happened. Now a team of scientists have found a tiny chunk of an ancient comet inside an ancient meteorite. They say it sheds light on the early days of the Solar System when planets … Continue reading “Astronomers Find a Chunk of a Comet Inside a Meteorite” The post Astronomers Find a Chunk of a Comet Inside a Meteorite appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Astro-Challenge: Spotting Slender Moons Up for a challenge? Some of the toughest targets for a backyard observer involve little or no equipment at all. Northern hemisphere Spring brings with it one of our favorite astronomical pursuits: the first sighting of the extremely thin, waxing crescent Moon. This unique feat of visual athletics may be fairly straight forward… but it’s tougher than you think. The angle of the evening ecliptic in the Spring is still fairly high for mid-northern latitudes, taking the Moon up and out of the weeds as a waxing crescent. The post Astro-Challenge: Spotting Slender Moons appeared first on Universe Today. Universe TodayRead More →

SpaceX’s Starlink Constellation Construction Begins. 2,200 Satellites Will go up Over the Next 5 years Musk recently announced that SpaceX will begin deploying the first batch of its internet satellites next year and continuing until 2024. The post SpaceX’s Starlink Constellation Construction Begins. 2,200 Satellites Will go up Over the Next 5 years appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Despite the Crash, SpaceIL is Going Back to the Moon with Beresheet 2 Beresheet, the unlikely lander built with donations to a non-profit group, crashed into the Moon. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a historic accomplishment in its own way. Now SpaceIL, the non-profit behind Beresheet, wants to send another lander to the Moon. The Beresheet lander crashed into the Moon last week, on its final descent. … Continue reading “Despite the Crash, SpaceIL is Going Back to the Moon with Beresheet 2” The post Despite the Crash, SpaceIL is Going Back to the Moon with Beresheet 2 appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

Curiosity has Finally Sampled a Clay-Rich Region on Mars It’s hard to believe that MSL Curiosity has been on Mars for almost seven years. But it has, and during that time, the rover has explored Gale Crater and Mt. Sharp, the central peak inside the crater. And while it has used its drill multiple times to take rock samples, this is the first sample … Continue reading “Curiosity has Finally Sampled a Clay-Rich Region on Mars” The post Curiosity has Finally Sampled a Clay-Rich Region on Mars appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

NASA Wants to Send a Low-Cost Mission to Explore Neptune’s Moon Triton A team of researchers from NASA and the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) recently proposed a low-cost mission to explore Neptune’s largest moon, Triton. The post NASA Wants to Send a Low-Cost Mission to Explore Neptune’s Moon Triton appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Weekly Space Hangout: Apr 17, 2019 – Dr. Dorothy Oehler Talks “No Methane on Mars?” Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain) Dr. Kimberly Cartier (KimberlyCartier.org / @AstroKimCartier ) Dr. Morgan Rehnberg (MorganRehnberg.com / @MorganRehnberg & ChartYourWorld.org) Dr. Dorothy Z. Oehler is a planetary geologist and Precambrian paleontologist. She is interested in using martian geomorphology to better understand the history of the planet and identify regions where accumulations of organic materials … Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: Apr 17, 2019 – Dr. Dorothy Oehler Talks “No Methane on Mars?”” The post Weekly Space Hangout: Apr 17, 2019 – Dr. Dorothy Oehler Talks “No Methane on Mars?”Read More →

Carnival of Space #607 This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Allen Versfeld at his Urban Astronomer blog. Click here to read Carnival of Space #607. 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 #607” The post Carnival of Space #607 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Scientists are Trying to Figure Out Why InSight’s “Mole” Can’t Dig Any Deeper Engineers at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) are busy working with a replica InSight Lander to see if they can understand what’s blocking the lander’s mole. The mole is the short name for the lander’s Heat Probe, which is hammering its way into the Martian surface. The Heat Probe … Continue reading “Scientists are Trying to Figure Out Why InSight’s “Mole” Can’t Dig Any Deeper” The post Scientists are Trying to Figure Out Why InSight’s “Mole” Can’t Dig Any Deeper appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

The Closest Star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri, has a Planet in the Habitable Zone. Life Could be There Right Now A new study by a team from the Carl Sagan institutes shows how life could survive the harsh radiation on neighboring exoplanets like Proxima b. The post The Closest Star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri, has a Planet in the Habitable Zone. Life Could be There Right Now appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

SpaceX Does it Again with Second Retrieval of Falcon Heavy Rocket This week, SpaceX conducted the first commercial launch of the Falcon Heavy (and second launch overall) and managed to bring all the boosters back, and even the payload fairings! The post SpaceX Does it Again with Second Retrieval of Falcon Heavy Rocket appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →