Universe Today (Page 416)

NASA Has a New Method For Cooling Down Electronics Crammed Together in a Spacecraft Engineers at NASA Goddard have completed flight tests on their revolutionary new cooling system, which has the potential to lead to smaller electronics. The post NASA Has a New Method For Cooling Down Electronics Crammed Together in a Spacecraft appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Carnival of Space #635-636 This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Allen Versfeld at his Urban Astronomer blog. Click here to read Carnival of Space #635-636. 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 #635-636” The post Carnival of Space #635-636 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Our Guide to the November 11th, 2019 Transit of Mercury Across the Sun One of the finest spectacles in astronomy is to witness the passage of one object in front of another. This can transpire as an eclipse, an occultation, or a rare event known as a planetary transit. We get a shot at seeing just such a singular event next Monday on November 11th, as a transit … Continue reading “Our Guide to the November 11th, 2019 Transit of Mercury Across the Sun” The post Our Guide to the November 11th, 2019 Transit of Mercury Across the Sun appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

The Lowest Mass Black Hole has Been Found, only 3.3 Times the Mass of the Sun A team of astronomers recently discovered the smallest black hole to date, which indicates that there may be far more out there than we previously thought. The post The Lowest Mass Black Hole has Been Found, only 3.3 Times the Mass of the Sun appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Asteroid Hygiea is Round Enough That it Could Qualify as a Dwarf Planet, the Smallest in the Solar System Using the Very Large Telescope, an international team of astronomers observed Hygeia and determined it could be the smallest dwarf planet to date! The post Asteroid Hygiea is Round Enough That it Could Qualify as a Dwarf Planet, the Smallest in the Solar System appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

NASA is Now Considering a Pluto Orbiter Mission NASA’s New Horizons mission taught us a lot about Pluto, the ice dwarf planet. But the spacecraft sped past Pluto so quickly, we only got high-resolution images of one side of the planet, the so-called “encounter side.” New Horizons gave us a big leap in understanding, but in a way, it asked more questions than … Continue reading “NASA is Now Considering a Pluto Orbiter Mission” The post NASA is Now Considering a Pluto Orbiter Mission appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Mars 2020 Stands Up on its Wheels For The First Time The Mars 2020 rover recently passed a milestone at NASA JPL, where it stood on its wheels and legs for the very first time. The post Mars 2020 Stands Up on its Wheels For The First Time appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Return to the Moon with Blue Origin’s Rockets and Lunar Lander Made Out of LEGO Indulge your inner man-child (or woman-child) with these LEGO versions of the Blue Origin Blue Moon lunar lander, New Glenn rocket, and launch tower. This new design is currently gathering supporters on the LEGO Ideas website. If it gets enough supporters, LEGO will review it and possibly build it. The kit is based around the … Continue reading “Return to the Moon with Blue Origin’s Rockets and Lunar Lander Made Out of LEGO” The post Return to the Moon with Blue Origin’s Rockets and Lunar Lander Made Out of LEGORead More →

This is the Machine Astronauts Trained on to Land on the Moon Faking the Moon landings was a huge undertaking. In order to fool the degenerate critical thinkers out there, NASA had to think of every detail. Right down to fake machines for the astronauts to train on. I mean, even the astronauts had to think it was real, or they’d ruin everything, amirite? Shortly after President … Continue reading “This is the Machine Astronauts Trained on to Land on the Moon” The post This is the Machine Astronauts Trained on to Land on the Moon appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

Clouds On Jupiter Rising Up Above the Surrounding Atmosphere Though it looks like it to us, Jupiter’s clouds do no form a flat surface. Some of its clouds rise up above the surrounding cloud tops. The two bright spots in the right center of this image are much higher than the surrounding clouds. Jupiter’s atmosphere is a swirling, colourful, chaotic mix-up of currents and … Continue reading “Clouds On Jupiter Rising Up Above the Surrounding Atmosphere” The post Clouds On Jupiter Rising Up Above the Surrounding Atmosphere appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

New Telescope Instrument Will Watch the Sky with 5,000 Eyes Dark Energy is the mysterious force driving the expansion of the Universe. We don’t know what dark energy is, even though it makes up about 68% of the Universe. And the expansion is accelerating, which only adds to the mystery. A new instrument called the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will study dark energy. It’s … Continue reading “New Telescope Instrument Will Watch the Sky with 5,000 Eyes” The post New Telescope Instrument Will Watch the Sky with 5,000 Eyes appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

NASA is Testing a Rover That Could Search For Water Ice on The Moon NASA has plans to send the VIPER rover to the South Pole of the Moon to look for water ice, in preparation for sending astronauts there in 2024. The post NASA is Testing a Rover That Could Search For Water Ice on The Moon appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Weekly Space Hangout: October 30, 2019 – Evelyn MacDonald on Finding Earth-Like Planets Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain) Dr. Brian Koberlein (BrianKoberlein.com / @BrianKoberlein) Beth Johnson (@planetarypan) Michael Rodruck (@michaelrodruck) Tonight we welcome Evelyn MacDonald to the show in a PRERECORDED INTERVIEW with Fraser during which she discusses her thesis-turned-published-journal-article, something which rarely occurs. Evelyn MacDonald is a recent Physics graduate from McGill University. For her thesis, … Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: October 30, 2019 – Evelyn MacDonald on Finding Earth-Like Planets” The post Weekly Space Hangout: October 30, 2019 – Evelyn MacDonald on Finding Earth-Like Planets appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

X-37B Lands After 780 Days in Orbit Doing ??? The X-37B, the US Air Force’s experimental, Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) has come back down to Earth after 780 days. It landed at the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility on Oct. 27, 2019, at 3:51 a.m. after breaking its own record for time in space. The X-37B has now spent 2,865 total days in … Continue reading “X-37B Lands After 780 Days in Orbit Doing ???” The post X-37B Lands After 780 Days in Orbit Doing ??? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

SpaceX is Sure They’ll be Able to Land Starship on the Moon in 2022 As the president of SpaceX said at the 2019 IAC, the company hopes to conduct missions to the Moon by 2022, and to send people there by 2024 The post SpaceX is Sure They’ll be Able to Land Starship on the Moon in 2022 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

InSight’s Heat Probe Has Bounced Back Out Of Its Hole This is sad news. After finding what seemed like a solution to the Mole’s difficulties on Mars, engineers are stymied again. The Mole, or Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3) has bounced half-way out of its hole. It’s like Groundhog Day on Mars. If the Mole bounces out of its hole, it means six … Continue reading “InSight’s Heat Probe Has Bounced Back Out Of Its Hole” The post InSight’s Heat Probe Has Bounced Back Out Of Its Hole appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Astronomers See the Wreckage from a Collision Between Exoplanets The history of our Solar System is punctuated with collisions. Collisions helped create the terrestrial planets and end the reign of the dinosaurs. And a massive collision between Earth and an ancient body named Theia likely created the Moon. Now astronomers have found of evidence of a collision between two exoplanets in a distant solar … Continue reading “Astronomers See the Wreckage from a Collision Between Exoplanets” The post Astronomers See the Wreckage from a Collision Between Exoplanets appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Breakthrough Listen and NASA Team Up to Look for Signs of Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence! Breakthrough Listen recently entered into a partnership with members of the NASA TESS mission team to search for aliens! The post Breakthrough Listen and NASA Team Up to Look for Signs of Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence! appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Skylon’s SABRE Engine Passes a Big Test Reaction Engines Ltd. recently passed a major milestone with the development of their SABRE engine, which could lead to spaceplanes that don’t rely on rocket boosters. The post Skylon’s SABRE Engine Passes a Big Test appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

New Horizons Team Pieces Together the Best Images They Have of Pluto’s Far Side Pluto was discovered in 1930 by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. For decades, not much detail was known about the erstwhile planet. We assumed it was a frozen, dormant world. Once the Hubble was operational, we started to become more acquainted with Pluto. We discovered that Pluto has moons, although their planet-moon arrangement is unusual. Then in … Continue reading “New Horizons Team Pieces Together the Best Images They Have of Pluto’s Far Side” The post New Horizons Team Pieces Together the Best Images They Have of Pluto’s Far Side appeared first onRead More →