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Astronomy & Space news
The longstanding mystery of Mars' moons—and the mission that could solve it
The two small moons of Mars, Phobos (about 22km in diameter) and Deimos (about 13km in diameter), have been puzzling scientists for decades, with their origin remaining a matter of debate. Some have proposed that they may ...
Space Exploration
19 hours ago
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Asteroid will pass in front of bright star Betelgeuse to produce a rare eclipse visible to millions
One of the biggest and brightest stars in the night sky will momentarily vanish as an asteroid passes in front of it to produce a one-of-a-kind eclipse.
Astronomy
Dec 8, 2023
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Image: Hubble captures a cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud
This striking Hubble Space Telescope image shows the densely packed globular cluster known as NGC 2210, which is situated in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The LMC lies about 157,000 light-years from Earth and is a so-called ...
Astronomy
Dec 8, 2023
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Scholars say it's time to declare a new epoch on the moon, the 'Lunar Anthropocene'
Human beings first disturbed moon dust on Sept. 13, 1959, when the USSR's unmanned spacecraft Luna 2 alighted on the lunar surface. In the following decades, more than a hundred other spacecraft have touched the moon—both ...
Space Exploration
Dec 8, 2023
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New dark matter theory explains two puzzles in astrophysics
Thought to make up 85% of matter in the universe, dark matter is nonluminous and its nature is not well understood. While normal matter absorbs, reflects, and emits light, dark matter cannot be seen directly, making it harder ...
Astronomy
Dec 7, 2023
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UFOs: How astronomers are searching the sky for alien probes near Earth
There has been increased interest in unidentified flying objects (UFOs) ever since the Pentagon's 2021 report revealed what appears to be anomalous objects in US airspace, dubbed unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). Fast ...
Astronomy
Dec 7, 2023
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China scores a big win in race with US for influence on the moon
China notched a diplomatic victory in its race against the U.S. for influence in space, with Egypt agreeing to support Beijing's plan for a proposed project on the moon.
Space Exploration
Dec 7, 2023
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Four eruptive young stellar objects discovered
By analyzing the data from the SPICY catalog and from NASA's WISE spacecraft, an international team of astronomers has discovered four new eruptive young stellar objects (YSOs). The finding was presented in a research paper ...
Large exomoons unlikely around Kepler-1625 b and Kepler-1708 b, astronomers say
Only two of the more than 5,300 known exoplanets have so far provided evidence of moons in orbit around them. In observations of the planets Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b from the Kepler and Hubble space telescopes, researchers ...
Astronomy
Dec 7, 2023
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To the moo-n: Cow dung fuels Japan's space ambitions
Japan's space industry opened potentially an udder-ly new chapter on Thursday with a start-up testing a prototype rocket engine that runs on fuel derived purely from a plentiful local source: cow dung.
Space Exploration
Dec 7, 2023
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Earth may have had all the elements needed for life—contrary to theories that they came from meteorites
For many years, scientists have predicted that many of the elements that are crucial ingredients for life, like sulfur and nitrogen, first came to Earth when asteroid-type objects carrying them crashed into our planet's surface.
Astrobiology
Dec 7, 2023
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Famed Halley's comet passes aphelion this weekend
It's lonely out there in the frozen outer solar system. On Saturday, December 9th, that most famous of all comets 1P/Halley reaches a hallmark point on its 75-year journey through the solar system, reaching aphelion or its ...
Astronomy
Dec 7, 2023
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For its final trick, Chandrayaan-3 brings its propulsion module to Earth orbit
On August 23, ISRO's Vikram lander detached from its propulsion module and made a soft landing near the moon's south pole region. The lander then deployed its Pragyan rover, and for two weeks the endearing little solar-powered ...
Space Exploration
Dec 7, 2023
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Measuring the distances to galaxies with space telescopes
One of the James Webb Space Telescope's science goals is to understand how galaxies in the early universe formed and evolved into much larger galaxies like our own Milky Way. This goal requires that we identify samples of ...
Astronomy
Dec 7, 2023
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Psyche gamma-ray instrument hums to life, marking next generation for space exploration
Set 6.5 feet (2 meters) away from NASA's Psyche spacecraft on the tip of a boom, the mission's gamma-ray spectrometer (GRS) hummed to life on Nov. 6 for the first time since launch in mid-October. The GRS is one half of the ...
Space Exploration
Dec 7, 2023
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Communicating with a relativistic spacecraft gets pretty weird
Someday, in the not-too-distant future, humans may send robotic probes to explore nearby star systems. These robot explorers will likely take the form of lightsails and wafercraft (a la Breakthrough Starshot) that will rely ...
Space Exploration
Dec 7, 2023
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Astronomers calculate which exoplanets are most likely to have water
Astronomers know of about 60 rocky exoplanets orbiting in the habitable zones of their stars. When they try to determine how habitable these planets might be, detecting water in their atmospheres plays a huge role. But what ...
Planetary Sciences
Dec 7, 2023
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Video: Tracking human emissions from space
The Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring (CO2M) mission will be the first satellite mission to measure how much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere through human activity.
Planetary Sciences
Dec 7, 2023
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PACE testing and preparation continues for launch in early 2024
Engineers are executing a comprehensive performance test to ensure the PACE spacecraft is ready for launch. NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission will study what makes Earth so different from every ...
Planetary Sciences
Dec 7, 2023
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Black holes are missing in the early universe, and computers are after them
As far as the eye can see, galaxies fill the images of the deep universe. What processes determined their shapes, colors and populations of stars? Astronomers think that primordial black holes were the engines of galaxies' ...
Astronomy
Dec 6, 2023
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More news
Digging deeper to find life on ocean worlds
NASA finds likely cause of OSIRIS-REx parachute deployment sequence
Was going to space a good idea?
New warm Jupiter exoplanet discovered
Will wide binaries be the end of MOND?
Europa clipper could help discover if Jupiter's moon is habitable
Exploring the limitations of asteroid crater lakes as climate archives
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Conjoined 'racetracks' make new optical device possible
NASA's interstellar mapping probe prepares for a 2025 launch
Red sprites are best seen from space
Mapping Mars: Deep learning could help identify Jezero Crater landing site
Does Betelgeuse even rotate? Maybe not
Tracking undetectable space junk
Lift-off for EIRSAT-1, Ireland's first ever satellite
Diamond quantum sensors measure neuron activity
Researchers unveil comprehensive collection of rhodamine-based fluorescent dyes
New compound could lead to therapeutics that selectively kill cancer cells
