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Astronomy & Space news
NASA's Perseverance captures dust-filled Martian whirlwind
The lower portion of a Martian dust devil was captured moving along the western rim of Mars' Jezero Crater by NASA's Perseverance rover on Aug. 30, 2023, the 899th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The video, which was ...
Space Exploration
Sep 29, 2023
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A search for links between two of the universe's most spectacular phenomena has come up empty—for now
Every so often, astronomers glimpse an intense flash of radio waves from space—a flash that lasts only instants but puts out as much energy in a millisecond as the sun does in a few years. The origin of these "fast radio ...
Astronomy
Sep 29, 2023
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India space chief unfazed by Moon mission's apparent end
As hopes dim of further contact with India's moon rover, the country's space chief has said he was satisfied with the prospect of calling its successful lunar mission to an end.
Space Exploration
Sep 29, 2023
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Testing, testing, testing: How researchers make sure the LSST Camera is the best it can be
Building the world's largest digital camera ever made for astronomy, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time Camera, is no simple task—that much is obvious.
Astronomy
Sep 29, 2023
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We should find extraterrestrial life within 60 light-years if Earth is average, professor claims
In 1960, while preparing for the first meeting on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), legendary astronomer and SETI pioneer Dr. Frank Drake unveiled his probabilistic equation for estimating the number of ...
Astrobiology
Sep 29, 2023
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Is it life, or is it volcanoes?
Astronomers are working hard to understand biosignatures and how they indicate life's presence on an exoplanet. But each planet we encounter is a unique puzzle. When it comes to planetary atmospheres, carbon is a big piece ...
Astrobiology
Sep 29, 2023
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Pre-pilot survey explores dozens of candidate ultra-diffuse galaxies
By analyzing the data from the WALLABY pre-pilot survey, astronomers from the University of Western Australia and elsewhere, have inspected 78 candidate ultra-diffuse galaxies in the Eridanus supergroup. The study was detailed ...
Living on the edge: Supernova bubble expands in new Hubble time-lapse movie
Though a doomed star exploded some 20,000 years ago, its tattered remnants continue racing into space at breakneck speeds—and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has caught the action.
Astronomy
Sep 28, 2023
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DECam captures the stunning layers of shell galaxy NGC 3923 and nearby gravitational lensing
Much like humans, galaxies are shaped by the environment in which they form. While no two are exactly alike, they can be divided into three main types: spiral, elliptical and irregular. Of these types, elliptical galaxies ...
Astronomy
Sep 28, 2023
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Keck Cosmic Web Imager offers best glimpse yet of the filamentous network that connects galaxies
Like rivers feeding oceans, streams of gas nourish galaxies throughout the cosmos. But these streams, which make up a part of the so-called cosmic web, are very faint and hard to see. While astronomers have known about the ...
Astronomy
Sep 28, 2023
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Growth of 'baby galaxies' witnessed with James Webb Space Telescope
Scientists have theorized how galaxies evolve, but details in their early phase of formation remained shrouded in celestial clouds of mystery.
Astronomy
Sep 28, 2023
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Ethics rules needed for human research on commercial spaceflights, panel says
New guidelines are needed to assure that research on human subjects performed on commercial spaceflights is conducted ethically, a panel of experts say in a commentary appearing in the September 28 issue of the journal Science. ...
Space Exploration
Sep 28, 2023
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Meteorite discovery: Unusual finds by South African farmer add to space rock heritage
Meteorites—fragments of rock that have fallen to Earth from space in spectacularly fiery meteors—have been the subject of public fascination, awe, myths and even religious worship for thousands of years.
Astronomy
Sep 28, 2023
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Blue Origin to remain grounded for now following crash probe
US aviation regulators said Wednesday that Blue Origin must complete "21 corrective actions" before it can resume launches, closing a probe into an uncrewed crash last year that set back Jeff Bezos's space company.
Space Exploration
Sep 28, 2023
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Extreme weight loss: Star sheds unexpected amounts of mass just before going supernova
A newly discovered nearby supernova whose star ejected up to a full solar mass of material in the year prior to its explosion is challenging the standard theory of stellar evolution. The new observations are giving astronomers ...
Astronomy
Sep 27, 2023
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Giant mid-infrared outburst detected from a distant young stellar object
By conducting a blind search for large amplitude mid-infrared variables in the Wide Infrared Sky Explorer (WISE) archive, Chinese astronomers have serendipitously discovered a giant mid-infrared outburst from a distant young ...
The revisited mass of the Milky Way is much smaller than expectations from cosmology
Thanks to the latest Gaia satellite catalog from the European Space Agency (ESA), an international team led by astronomers from the Paris Observatory–PSL and the CNRS has achieved the most accurate measurement of the mass ...
Astronomy
Sep 27, 2023
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Study pinpoints which areas of New York City are sinking, rising
Parts of the New York City metropolitan area are sinking and rising at different rates due to factors ranging from land-use practices to long-lost glaciers, scientists have found. While the elevation changes seem small—fractions ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 27, 2023
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Likely asteroid debris found upon opening of returned NASA probe
After a seven-year wait, NASA scientists on Tuesday finally pried open a space probe carrying the largest asteroid samples ever brought back to Earth, finding black debris.
Space Exploration
Sep 27, 2023
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Biotechnospheres as part of planetary intelligence and the search for extraterrestrial civilizations
To safeguard Earth's biosphere, scientists have turned toward Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the hope that it may help to protect biodiversity. Yet this hope has been challenged by AI's appetite for water and energy rooted ...
More news
New simulations shed light on origins of Saturn's rings and icy moons
Chinese astronauts may build a base inside a lunar lava tube
Vega's fuel-free CubeSats will use wings to keep in formation
Study sheds new light on strange lava worlds
NASA's OSIRIS-REx capsule arrives in Houston
Listening to the radio on the far side of the moon
Gaia is now finding planets—could it find another Earth?
The darkest parts of the moon are revealed with NASA's new camera
Other news
A new highly precise measurement of the hypertriton lifetime
Ultrafast quantum simulation of large-scale quantum entanglement
Physicists coax superconductivity and more from quasicrystals
Self-healing of synthetic diamonds observed at room temperature
Did animal evolution begin with a predatory lifestyle?
Using a cutting enzyme and an RNA repair enzyme to modify RNA virus genomes
Sand dunes reveal atmospheric wind patterns on Mars
New low-density exoplanet discovered with TESS
SpaceX sets up 200th reflight with Cape Canaveral launch Saturday night
Protein may hold key to preventing a tick-borne disease
New model describes synchronized cilia movement driven by border regions
Redesigning hydrogels to shine a new light on cell responses in the body
