Universe Today (Page 415)

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 →

Voyager and Pioneer’s Grand Tour of the Milky Way A new study takes a look at where the Voyager and Pioneer probes might one day venture to as they make their way through our galaxy The post Voyager and Pioneer’s Grand Tour of the Milky Way appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Beresheet Crashed. The Israeli Beresheet spacecraft has crashed into the Moon. The craft, whose name is Hebrew for “in the beginning” made its descent to the Moon but failed to stick its landing. If it had been successful, it would have put Israel in elite company, and made them only the fourth country to have a soft … Continue reading “Beresheet Crashed.” The post Beresheet Crashed. appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Space Weather Forecasts can now give Satellites One Whole Day of Warning when a Killer Solar Storm is Inbound Earth’s fleet of satellites is in a vulnerable position. When solar activity increases, high-energy particles are directed toward Earth. Our large fleet is in the direct path of all that energy, which can damage them or render them inoperable. But now we have another tool to help us protect our satellites. A new study published … Continue reading “Space Weather Forecasts can now give Satellites One Whole Day of Warning when a Killer Solar Storm is Inbound” The post Space Weather Forecasts can now give SatellitesRead More →

Weekly Space Hangout: Apr 10, 2019 – Dr. Ian O’Neill Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain) Dr. Kimberly Cartier (KimberlyCartier.org / @AstroKimCartier ) Dr. Morgan Rehnberg (MorganRehnberg.com / @MorganRehnberg & ChartYourWorld.org) This week we welcome our good friend Dr. Ian O’Neill to the Weekly Space Hangout. Long time viewers of the WSH will recognize Ian from our early days when he was a regular contributor … Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: Apr 10, 2019 – Dr. Ian O’Neill” The post Weekly Space Hangout: Apr 10, 2019 – Dr. Ian O’Neill appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Two Solar Eclipses Seen From the Surface of Mars by Curiosity The Curiosity rover recently witnessed eclipses involving the moons of Phobos and Deimos from the Martian surface. The post Two Solar Eclipses Seen From the Surface of Mars by Curiosity appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

It’s Finally here. The First Ever Image of a Black Hole “We have taken the first picture of a black hole.” EHT project director Sheperd S. Doeleman of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. What was once un-seeable can now be seen. Black holes, those difficult-to-understand singularities that may reside at the center of every galaxy, are becoming seeable. The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) … Continue reading “It’s Finally here. The First Ever Image of a Black Hole” The post It’s Finally here. The First Ever Image of a Black Hole appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

SOFIA Follows the Sulfur for Clues on Stellar Evolution A high-flying space telescope is shedding light on where some of the basic building blocks for life may have originated from. A recent study led by astronomers currently at the University of Hawaii, including collaborators from the University of California Davis, Johns-Hopkins University, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Appalachian State University, and several international partners, including funding from NASA, looked at a lingering mystery in planet formation: the chemical pathway of the element sulfur, with implications for its role in the formation of planets and life. The post SOFIA Follows the Sulfur for CluesRead More →

The World’s Glaciers are Down by 9 Trillion Tonnes of Ice in the Last Half Century Things are not looking good for Earth’s glaciers. Usually, when it comes to climate change and melting ice, we think of the Earth’s polar regions. But they’re not the only important ice formations, and they’re not the only ice that’s melting due to climate change. New research published on April 8th, 2019, shows that the … Continue reading “The World’s Glaciers are Down by 9 Trillion Tonnes of Ice in the Last Half Century” The post The World’s Glaciers are Down by 9 Trillion Tonnes of Ice in theRead More →

Metal Asteroid Psyche Might Have Had Volcanoes of Molten Iron Imagine a time in the Solar System’s past where the asteroids were not solid rock, but blobs of molten iron. It sounds strange, but that may have been the case. And in the right conditions, some of those asteroids would have sprouted volcanoes. One of those asteroids, Psyche, is the destination for a NASA mission. … Continue reading “Metal Asteroid Psyche Might Have Had Volcanoes of Molten Iron” The post Metal Asteroid Psyche Might Have Had Volcanoes of Molten Iron appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Messier 83 – the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy Located in the direction of the Hydra constellation, over 15 million light years from Earth, is the barred spiral galaxy known as Messier 83. The post Messier 83 – the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Hayabusa2 Fires an Anti-Tank Warhead at Asteroid Ryugu Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft recently struck the asteroid Ryugu with an explosive payload, which will help it collect samples that could teach us more about how the Solar System and life came to be. The post Hayabusa2 Fires an Anti-Tank Warhead at Asteroid Ryugu appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Ep. 525: 100 Years of the International Astronomical Union Even though they might be scattered around our planet, astronomers have way to come together to work out issues that face their entire field of study. It’s called the International Astronomical Union, and they’re the ones who work out the new names for stars, and sometimes de-planet beloved Kuiper Belt Objects. We usually record Astronomy … Continue reading “Ep. 525: 100 Years of the International Astronomical Union” The post Ep. 525: 100 Years of the International Astronomical Union appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →