Gaia is now finding planets—could it find another Earth?

The ESA launched Gaia in 2013 with one overarching goal: to map more than one billion stars in the Milky Way. Its vast collection of data is frequently used in published research. Gaia is an ambitious mission, though it seldom ...

Physicists uses light to build complex structures

Ph.D. candidate Petr Steindl creates complex structures of light using single photons. As a teenager, he wanted to study Czech poetry but decided on quantum physics. "Looking back, I am glad I switched fields," he says. On ...

These are the fastest stars in the galaxy

Until recently, there were only ten known stars on trajectories that will allow them to escape the Milky Way galaxy, thrown astray by powerful supernova explosions. A new study using data from ESA's Gaia survey this June ...

Origami heat shield: Reusable for reentries

A novel origami-based heat shield developed with ESA support is planned to be tested with an actual atmospheric reentry from space. Named Pridwen, after the legendary shield of King Arthur, this reusable design will spring ...

Scientists measure a debris flow in unprecedented detail

Debris flows are fast-moving and highly variable mixtures of soil, rock, water, and trees that can wreak havoc on downslope communities. Small debris lags behind larger particles, but it is not clear how this sorting occurs ...

Shear ultrasound shaking found to lower friction between solids

When high-frequency shaking occurs at an interface between two solids, recent experiments have revealed that the frictional forces between the objects can be weakened. Through a simple new experiment detailed in The European ...

page 23 from 35