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Astronomy & Space news
Large radio bubble detected in galaxy NGC 4217
An international team of astronomers has performed radio observations of a star-forming galaxy known as NGC 4217. The observational campaign detected a large radio bubble in the galaxy's halo. The finding was reported in ...
Nuclear rockets could travel to Mars in half the time, but designing the reactors that would power them isn't easy
NASA plans to send crewed missions to Mars over the next decade—but the 140 million-mile (225 million-kilometer) journey to the red planet could take several months to years round trip.
Space Exploration
16 hours ago
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The earliest galaxies formed amazingly fast after the Big Bang. Do they break the universe or change its age?
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the largest and most powerful space telescope built to date. Since it was launched in December 2021 it has provided groundbreaking insights. These include discovering the earliest ...
Astronomy
Oct 4, 2024
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Investigating the possibility of using asteroid material to grow edible biomass for astronauts
A team of engineers and planetary scientists at Western University's Institute for Earth and Space Exploration, in Canada, has found that it might be possible to produce food for space travelers by feeding bacteria asteroid ...
ESA's Hera spacecraft set for asteroid 'crime scene investigation'
Europe's Hera probe is tentatively scheduled to launch Monday on a mission to inspect the damage a NASA spacecraft made when it smashed into an asteroid during the first test of Earth's planetary defenses.
Space Exploration
Oct 4, 2024
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Traces of antimatter in cosmic rays reopen the search for 'WIMPs' as dark matter
One of the great challenges of modern cosmology is to reveal the nature of dark matter. We know it exists (it constitutes more than 85% of the matter in the universe), but we have never seen it directly and still do not know ...
Astronomy
Oct 4, 2024
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Solar flares may cause faint auroras across top of Northern Hemisphere
Solar storms may cause faint northern lights across fringes of the northern United States over the weekend as forecasters monitor for possible disruptions to power and communications.
Space Exploration
Oct 4, 2024
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Winds of change: Webb reveals forces that shape protoplanetary disks
Every second, more than 3,000 stars are born in the visible universe. Many are surrounded by what astronomers call a protoplanetary disk—a swirling "pancake" of hot gas and dust from which planets form. The exact processes ...
Planetary Sciences
Oct 4, 2024
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Gravitational lens confirms the Hubble tension
We've known the universe is expanding for a long time. The first solid paper demonstrating cosmic expansion was published by Edwin Hubble in 1929, based on observations made by Vesto Slipher, Milton Humason, and Henrietta ...
Astronomy
Oct 4, 2024
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The sun unleashes its strongest flare this cycle
Yesterday the sun released a huge solar flare, and it's heading toward Earth. It's nothing to worry about since it's nowhere near as large as the Carrington Event of 1859, but it is large enough to give us some amazing aurora.
Astronomy
Oct 4, 2024
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What's the best material for a lunar tower?
Physical infrastructure on the moon will be critical to any long-term human presence there as both America and China gear up for a sustained human lunar presence. Increasingly, a self-deploying tower is one of the most essential ...
Space Exploration
Oct 4, 2024
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ESA's Hera mission takes flight toward the asteroid deflected by NASA's DART probe two years ago
The European Space Agency's Hera mission will set off from Cape Canaveral on 7 October on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It will travel several hundred million kilometers to reach the double asteroid Didymos in autumn 2026.
Space Exploration
Oct 4, 2024
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Hubble observes a peculiar galaxy shape
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the galaxy, NGC 4694. Most galaxies fall into one of two basic types. Spiral galaxies are young and energetic, filled with the gas needed to form new stars and sporting spiral ...
Astronomy
Oct 4, 2024
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Daylight saving is about to start. But why do the days get longer?
The days are getting longer and in Australia, the switch to daylight saving time is almost upon us (for about 70% of the population, anyway).
Planetary Sciences
Oct 4, 2024
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Successful Vulcan launch early Friday would unlock lucrative future for ULA
United Launch Alliance is footing the bill for the second ever launch of its Vulcan Centaur rocket, so it can finally see the payouts for the backlog of $3.1 billion worth of national security missions, something ULA cannot ...
Space Exploration
Oct 4, 2024
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X-rays advance understanding of Earth's core-mantle boundary and super-Earth magma oceans
Researchers at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have revealed new details about Earth's core-mantle boundary and similar regions found in exoplanets.
Planetary Sciences
Oct 3, 2024
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Mercury's magnetic landscape mapped in 30 minutes
As BepiColombo sped past Mercury during its June 2023 flyby, it encountered a variety of features in the tiny planet's magnetic field. These measurements provide a tantalizing taste of the mysteries that the mission is set ...
Space Exploration
Oct 3, 2024
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2-billion-year-old rock could help understand very early life on Earth and the hunt for evidence of life on Mars
Pockets of microbes have been found living within a sealed fracture in a 2-billion-year-old rock. The rock was excavated from the Bushveld Igneous Complex in South Africa, an area known for its rich ore deposits. This is ...
Astrobiology
Oct 3, 2024
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NASA's laser comms demo makes deep space record, completes first phase
The Deep Space Optical Communications tech demo has completed several key milestones, culminating in sending a signal to Mars' farthest distance from Earth.
Space Exploration
Oct 3, 2024
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A new era of solar observation: International team produces global maps of coronal magnetic field
For the first time, scientists have taken near-daily measurements of the sun's global coronal magnetic field, a region of the sun that has only been observed irregularly in the past. The resulting observations are providing ...
Planetary Sciences
Oct 3, 2024
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More news
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New triple star system sets shortest orbital period record
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NASA powers down Voyager 2 plasma instrument to extend mission
NASA prepares for Lunar Terrain Vehicle testing
New solar wind plasma sensor will help track space weather
Scientists discover planet orbiting closest single star to our sun
FAA confirms SpaceX Falcon 9 is grounded because of Crew-9 launch issue
NASA's instruments capture sharpest image of Earth's radiation belts
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Lunar gravity measurements hint at a partially molten mantle layer
SpaceX shuts down launches after problem with Crew-9 mission's 2nd stage
Earth will have a temporary 'mini moon' for two months
Climate lessons from the fall of a Pacific chiefdom
Drier winter habitat impacts songbirds' ability to survive migration
