Coming in hot: NASA's Chandra checks habitability of exoplanets

Using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's (European Space Agency's) XMM-Newton, astronomers are exploring whether nearby stars could host habitable exoplanets, based on whether they emit radiation that could destroy ...

Ancient bacteria might lurk beneath Mars' surface

In a first-of-its-kind study, a research team, including Northwestern University's Brian Hoffman and Ajay Sharma, found that ancient bacteria could survive close to the surface on Mars much longer than previously assumed. ...

Distant quasar J0439+1634 explored in X-rays

Using ESA's XMM-Newton spacecraft, an international team of astronomers has conducted X-ray observations of the most distant known gravitationally lensed quasar—J0439+1634. Results of the study, published December 20 on ...

Quasars as the new cosmic standard candles

In 1929, Edwin Hubble published observations that galaxies' distances and velocities are correlated, with the distances determined using their Cepheid stars. Harvard astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt had discovered that a ...

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