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Astronomy & Space news
Infant exoplanet weighed by Hipparcos and Gaia
The mass of a very young exoplanet has been revealed for the first time using data from ESA's star mapping spacecraft Gaia and its predecessor, the quarter-century retired Hipparcos satellite.
Ice confirmed at the Moon's poles
In the darkest and coldest parts of its polar regions, a team of scientists has directly observed definitive evidence of water ice on the Moon's surface. These ice deposits are patchily distributed and could possibly be ancient. ...
NASA's InSight passes halfway to Mars, instruments check in
NASA's InSight spacecraft, en route to a Nov. 26 landing on Mars, passed the halfway mark on Aug. 6. All of its instruments have been tested and are working well.
Michigan meteor could help researchers understand near-Earth object threats
The bright flashes that lit up the evening skies near Detroit, Michigan earlier this year were not the only signs of the meteor that disintegrated in the atmosphere on 17 January 2018. The meteor explosion was also captured ...
Astronomers detect synchronous X-ray and radio mode switching of the pulsar PSR B0823+26
Water-worlds are common: Exoplanets may contain vast amounts of water
Scientists have shown that water is likely to be a major component of those exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars) which are between two to four times the size of Earth. It will have implications for the search of life ...
First science with ALMA's highest-frequency capabilities
The ALMA telescope in Chile has transformed how we see the universe, showing us otherwise invisible parts of the cosmos. This array of incredibly precise antennas studies a comparatively high-frequency sliver of radio light: ...
Lockheed Martin gives first look into where astronauts may live on missions to deep space
A massive cylindrical habitat may one day house up to four astronauts as they make the trek to deep space.
Six things about Opportunity's recovery efforts
NASA's Opportunity rover has been silent since June 10, when a planet-encircling dust storm cut off solar power for the nearly-15-year-old rover. Now that scientists think the global dust storm is "decaying"—meaning more ...
Magnetized inflow accreting to center of Milky Way galaxy
Are magnetic fields an important guiding force for gas accreting to a supermassive black hole (SMBH) like the one that our Milky Way galaxy hosts? The role of magnetic fields in gas accretion is little understood, and trying ...
Another way for stellar-mass black holes to grow larger
Astronomers identify some of the oldest galaxies in the universe
Astronomers have identified some of the earliest galaxies in the Universe.
Hubble paints picture of the evolving universe
Astronomers using the ultraviolet vision of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have captured one of the largest panoramic views of the fire and fury of star birth in the distant universe. The field features approximately 15,000 ...
Sprawling galaxy cluster found hiding in plain sight
MIT scientists have uncovered a sprawling new galaxy cluster hiding in plain sight. The cluster, which sits a mere 2.4 billion light years from Earth, is made up of hundreds of individual galaxies and surrounds an extremely ...
Study of material surrounding distant stars shows Earth's ingredients 'pretty normal'
The Earth's building blocks seem to be built from 'pretty normal' ingredients, according to researchers working with the world's most powerful telescopes. Scientists have measured the compositions of 18 different planetary ...
Iron and titanium in the atmosphere of an exoplanet
Exoplanets, planets in other solar systems, can orbit very close to their host stars. When the host star is much hotter than the sun, the exoplanet becomes as hot as a star. The hottest "ultra-hot" planet was discovered last ...
Unusual doughnut-shaped jet observed in the galaxy NGC 6109
In a massive region of space, astronomers find far fewer galaxies than they expected
University of California astronomers, including three from UCLA, have resolved a mystery about the early universe and its first galaxies.
Unraveling the stellar content of young clusters
About twenty-five percent of young stars in our galaxy form in clustered environments, and stars in a cluster are often close enough to each other to affect the way they accrete gas and grow. Astronomers trying to understand ...
SpaceX vows manned flight to space station is on track
Tech magnate Elon Musk's SpaceX vowed Monday to send its first astronauts into orbit on schedule next year—part of a drive to restore America's dominance of the space race.
Historic space weather could clarify what's next
Historic space weather may help us understand what's coming next, according to new research by the University of Warwick.
Hydrogen sulfide detected in the protoplanetary disk of GG Tauri A
NASA spacecraft rockets toward sun for closest look yet
A NASA spacecraft zoomed toward the sun Sunday on an unprecedented quest to get closer to our star than anything ever sent before.
NASA poised to blast off first spacecraft to explore Sun
The first ever spacecraft to fly directly toward the Sun is poised to blast off Saturday, on a mission to plunge into our star's sizzling atmosphere and unlock the mysteries of the center of the solar system.
Swift's telescope reveals births, deaths and collisions of stars through through 1 million snapshots in UV
Imagine if the color camera had never been invented and all our images were in black and white. The world would still look beautiful, but incomplete. For thousands of years, that was how humans saw the universe. On Earth, ...
In search of the best telescope location, astronomer heads to high places
It is a tale of North and South with an astronomical twist, with a UNSW astronomer and a UNSW PhD alumnus heading from Antarctica to the Tibetan Plateau to help find the best site for a new, 12-metre optical telescope.
Image: Hubble's treasure chest of galaxies
Galaxies abound in this spectacular Hubble image; spiral arms swirl in all colors and orientations, and fuzzy ellipticals can be seen speckled across the frame as softly glowing smudges on the sky. Each visible speck of a ...
Image: Planet of clouds
From the vantage point of space, astronaut Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency reminds us of the the beauty and wonder of our planet.
Five reasons to forget Mars for now and return to the moon
Hopes of colonising Mars rest on the premise that we could terraform the red planet, making it habitable for humans with a breathable atmosphere and clement temperatures. However, a recent study cast doubt on the idea, concluding ...
Launch of wind tracking satellite delayed—by adverse winds
The launch of a European satellite that will be the first to directly measure wind speeds around the world has been delayed—because of bad weather.
New technology could improve radiation risk warnings for future deep-space astronauts
New technology that detects radiation from the sun in real time and immediately predicts subsequent health risks could protect astronauts on future deep-space missions, according to a new study.
First satellite to measure global winds set for launch
A satellite designed to measure Earth's global wind patterns is set to be hoisted into orbit Tuesday from the Arianespace launch site in French Guiana.
Three top Russian space industry execs held for 'fraud' (Update)
Three top executives of the Russian space company Energia, which designs and manufactures the Soyuz and Progress spacecrafts, have been arrested for alleged fraud, investigators said on Sunday.
New telescope chases the mysteries of radio flashes and dark energy
South Africa is becoming one of the world's most important radio astronomy hubs, thanks in large part to its role as co-host of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Now a new telescope is being unveiled that will be built at ...
What is NASA's Heat Melt Compactor?
Dealing with trash is a challenge wherever people work and live, and space is no exception. Astronauts produce a couple of pounds of trash per crew member per day. To better manage this, NASA is developing a new trash processing ...
Image: Sun's magnetic field modeled
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) scientists used their computer models to generate a view of the Sun's magnetic field on August 10, 2018.
Oort clouds around other stars should be visible in the cosmic microwave background
For decades, scientists have theorized that beyond the edge of the solar system, at a distance of up to 50,000 AU (0.79 ly) from the sun, there lies a massive cloud of icy planetesimals known as the Oort Cloud. Named in honor ...
Donald Trump's Space Force plans analysed by a sci-fi expert
The US leadership has plans to introduce a "US Space Force" by 2020. Already announced by president Donald Trump in June, US vice president Mike Pence outlined further details of the plan at a press conference on August 9. ...
Former 'Mars czar' reviews latest news on the red planet
Since June, we've heard major news about two indicators of possible life on Mars and become absorbed with the fate of the rover Opportunity, shrouded in one of the planet's global dust storms. We've also looked back on rover ...
Aboriginal traditions describe the complex motions of planets, the 'wandering stars' of the sky
(Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story may contain images and voices of people who have died.)
Tiny ASTERIA satellite achieves a first for CubeSats
A miniature satellite called ASTERIA (Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics) has measured the transit of a previously-discovered super-Earth exoplanet, 55 Cancri e. This finding shows that miniature ...
Image: DLR's Rollin' Justin robot
This Friday 17 August, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst will be directing this humanoid robot Rollin' Justin – based in the DLR German Aerospace Center establishment in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany – from aboard the International ...
Researchers develop sub-7-nm memory device without nanofabrication
Scientists have developed some of the tiniest magnets to date, just 3-7 nanometers (nm) in size. Due to their small dimensions and high thermal stability, as well as the simple self-assembly process used to make them, the ...
Quantum simulation reveals mobility edge in a low-dimensional disordered landscape
A recent flood of research scholarship on electronic transport in low-dimensional (2-D or 1D) materials like graphene or carbon nanotubes reflects the tremendous potential of these materials to unveil a deeper understanding ...
New research suggests evolution might favor 'survival of the laziest'
If you've got an unemployed, 30-year-old adult child still living in the basement, fear not.
Understanding of light momentum: Researchers shine a light on 150-year old mystery
The idea that light has momentum is not new, but the exact nature of how light interacts with matter has remained a mystery for close to 150 years. New research from UBC's Okanagan campus, recently published in Nature Communications, ...
Laughing gas may have helped warm early Earth and given breath to life
More than an eon ago, the sun shone dimmer than it does today, but the Earth stayed warm due to a strong greenhouse gas effect, geoscience theory holds. Astronomer Carl Sagan coined this "the Faint Young Sun Paradox," and ...
Less drain on freshwater supplies with seawater fuel discovery
Researchers have found that seawater can replace freshwater to produce the sustainable fuel Bioethanol, reducing the need to drain precious resources.
New method of genome editing not only gives the user complete spatiotemporal control but also treads lightly on DNA
A major obstacle to in-cell genome editing is, well, the cell itself.
Researchers target protein that protects bacteria's DNA 'recipes'
Bacteria cause many serious illnesses, from food poisoning to pneumonia. The challenge for scientists is that disease-causing bacteria are extraordinarily resilient. For example, when bacteria like Escherichia coli (E. coli) ...
A common ancestral gene causes body segmentation in spiders and insects
Scientists have pinpointed a key gene that controls segmentation during spider development, which reveals a further similarity to the control of segmentation in insects, a study in eLife reports.
New Antarctic rift data has implications for volcanic evolution
New data revealing two tectonic plates fused to form a single Antarctic Plate 15 million years later than originally predicted and this extra motion has major implications for understanding of the tectono-volcanic activity ...
Plant protein complex plays large role in important growth and development process
A little-studied plant cellular complex plays an essential role in a biological process—vacuole fusion—critical to plant growth and development, according to new research from North Carolina State University. The findings ...
Enigmatic African fossils rewrite story of when lemurs got to Madagascar
Discovered more than half a century ago in Kenya and sitting in museum storage ever since, the roughly 20-million-year-old fossil Propotto leakeyi was long classified as a fruit bat.
Researchers unravel the path of electrical discharges on phenomenally small scales
Innovations in microscale electronics, medicine, combustion and scores of other technologies depend on understanding and predicting the behavior of electricity on the smallest of length scales. Scientists already have a good ...
Stalagmite study offers clues about Earth's past magnetic polarity shifts
A large team of researchers from China, Taiwan and Australia has found evidence of faster-than-expected shifts in Earth's magnetic polarity several thousand years ago. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National ...
Ecosystems are getting greener in the Arctic
In recent decades, scientists have noted a surge in Arctic plant growth as a symptom of climate change. But without observations showing exactly when and where vegetation has bloomed as the world's coldest areas warm, it's ...
Improved thermal-shock resistance in industrial ceramics
Ceramic materials are used in nuclear, chemical and electrical power generation industries because of their ability to withstand extreme environments. However, at high temperatures, ceramics are susceptible to thermal-shock ...
Trapdoor spider 'stunt double' study reveals summer wasp threat
Curtin researchers using 'stunt spiders' found male trapdoor spiders leaving their burrows to mate faced predators such as birds, lizards and rodents all year round while wasps posed a threat only in summer.
Transforming carbon dioxide
A team of researchers at the University of Delaware's Center for Catalytic Science and Technology (CCST) has discovered a novel two-step process to increase the efficiency of carbon dioxide (CO2) electrolysis, a chemical ...
Superior photocatalysts—covalent, crystalline triazine frameworks
They are especially good photocatalysts for the production of hydrogen by splitting water with solar energy: covalent organic frameworks based on triazines. For this application, the frameworks need to be in a nice regular ...
Optogenetics – controlling neurons with light – may lead to cures for PTSD, Alzheimer's
Through the emerging field of optogenetics, a technology that allows genetically modified neurons in living tissue to be precisely controlled by means of light, scientists are attempting to gain a better understanding of ...
Oil and gas rigs could help at-risk corals thrive
Rigs, shipwrecks and other structures in the North Sea could play a vital role in holding coral populations together and increasing their resilience, researchers say.
Researchers discover key to mass producing beneficial plant compounds
Purdue University scientists have discovered the switch in plants that turns off production of terpenoids, compounds that play roles in plant physiology and are used by humans in everything from fragrances and flavoring to ...
Mapping of cells and proteins improved with combined help of gamers and AI
Building on a map that shows hundreds of thousands of microscopic images of human cells, an international research team is working with the gaming community and with artificial intelligence to gain a more granular understanding ...
Study suggests less rainfall in western U.S. likely major contributor to increase in wildfires
A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the U.S. has found that reduced rainfall in western parts of the U.S. may be playing a more important role than increased temperatures in spreading more and bigger ...
Super-resolution microscopy: Getting even closer to the limit
Ralf Jungmann is interested in processes that take place within unbelievably tiny spatial dimensions. Jungmann holds a professorship in experimental physics at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich, and heads a ...
Gut bacteria provide key to making universal blood
In January, raging storms caused medical emergencies along the U.S. East Coast, prompting the Red Cross to issue an urgent call for blood donations. The nation's blood supply was especially in need of O-type blood that can ...
Portable freshwater harvester could draw up to 10 gallons per hour from the air
For thousands of years, people in the Middle East and South America have extracted water from the air to help sustain their populations. Drawing inspiration from those examples, researchers are now developing a lightweight, ...
What's behind the retreating kelps and expanding corals?
Climate change and other external forces are causing rapid marine community shifts in Japan's coastal ecosystems. Better understanding of species distribution dynamics, as driven by these factors, can improve conservation ...
Leaves possess a molecular compass
Leaves provide us with food, forest canopies and football fields. Every leaf grows from only a few cells.
Bringing salvaged wooden ships and artifacts back to life with 'smart' nanotech
Thousands of shipwrecks litter the seafloor all over the world, preserved in sediments and cold water. But when one of these ships is brought up from the depths, the wood quickly starts deteriorating. Today, scientists report ...
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