MIT Engineers Devise the Best Way to Deflect an Incoming Planet-Killer Asteroid
MIT engineers devise a decision map to identify the best mission type to deflect an incoming asteroid. On April 13, 2029, an icy chunk of…
Astronomy
Secrets of Titan’s Atmosphere Revealed – Galactic Cosmic Rays Affect Saturn’s Largest Moon
Planetary scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) revealed the secrets of the atmosphere of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. The team found…
Hubble Spots a Majestic Spiral or a Smudged Fingerprint
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is no stranger to spiral galaxies. The telescope has brought us some of the most beautiful images ever taken of…
10 Amazing Discoveries About the Sun From NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory
In February 2020, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory — SDO — is celebrating its 10th year in space. Over the past decade the spacecraft has kept…
Solar Orbiter Science Instrument Sends First Measurements to Ground Control
First measurements by a Solar Orbiter science instrument reached the ground on Thursday February 13, 2020, providing a confirmation to the international science teams that…
Rare Corona of the Planet Jupiter Caught in Stunning Image
Stars are surrounded by something known as a corona — a diffuse aura of plasma that appears to surround them in the sky. For the…
Astronomers Discover Eleven Dangerous Asteroids That Could Impact the Earth
Three Leiden astronomers have shown that some asteroids that are considered harmless for now, can collide with Earth in the future. They did their research…
Looking for Aliens Who Might Be Looking for Us – Advanced Civilizations May Exist in Our Galaxy
Data from a massive search for cosmic radio emission released February 14, 2020, by the Breakthrough Listen Initiative — the most comprehensive survey yet of…
Very Large Telescope Captures Unprecedented Dimming of Betelgeuse
Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have captured the unprecedented dimming of Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star in the constellation of Orion. The stunning…
‘Pale Blue Dot’ Revisited – Iconic View of Earth From 3.7 Billion Miles Away Updated
A recent update to this historic portrait shows Earth as a tiny speck surrounded by the vastness of space. For the 30th anniversary of one…
Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Breakthrough Listen Releases 2 Petabytes of Data From SETI Survey
Analysis of a portion of the data looks at nearby stars that could see Earth transiting sun. On Friday (February 14, 2020), the Breakthrough Listen…
Bizarre Cosmic Pairing Discovered by Citizen Scientists Puzzles Astronomers
Brown dwarfs traversing space together, but separated by billions of miles, puzzle scientists. Citizen scientists have uncovered a bizarre pairing of two brown dwarfs, objects…
Hubble Space Telescope Spots Ghostly Spiral With Open Arms
The spiral galaxy NGC 2008 sits center stage, its ghostly spiral arms spreading out towards us, in this image captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space…
Giant Exoplanets Form Differently Than ‘Failed Stars’ – Mass-ive Distinction
A team of astronomers led by Brendan Bowler of The University of Texas at Austin has probed the formation process of giant exoplanets and brown…
Supercharged Light Pulverizes Asteroids – Cascade of Destruction
Radiation from dying stars is luminous enough to easily spin up orbiting asteroids to break-up speed New study led by University of Warwick astronomer computes…
Details Revealed of Asteroid So Heavily Cratered It’s Been Dubbed the “Golf Ball Asteroid”
A tilted orbit may explain the asteroid Pallas’ highly cratered surface. Asteroids come in all shapes and sizes, and now astronomers at MIT and elsewhere…
77-Year-Old Amateur Astronomer Discovers Rare Galaxy Double Nucleus
Allen Lawrence, wrapping up a long career as an electrical engineer, was serious about moving his astronomy hobby beyond the 20-inch telescope he’d hauled to…
Nature’s Grand Design – Hubble Spots a Grand Design Spiral Galaxy
This eye-catching galaxy is known as NGC 5364. Unmistakably a spiral, NGC 5364 is also something known as a grand design spiral galaxy — a…