Space and astronomy news
Venus is unique—almost—in our Solar System because it’s what’s known as a “super-rotator.” That means that Venus’ atmosphere rotates faster than the planet itself. Only Saturn’s moon Titan has the same characteristic.
Scientists have been trying to figure out what causes this super-rotation, and now an international team of researchers might have figured it out.
Continue reading “The Atmosphere On Venus Rotates Faster than the Planet, and Now Astronomers Think They Know Why”
Jupiter is the Boss.
Well, in terms of planets in our Solar System it is. It’s played a huge role in shaping the Solar System due to its mass and its gravity. Here’s a few ways it’s shaped our system:
Continue reading “Astronomers Find a Planet With Three Times the Mass of Jupiter”
In response to the Covid-19 global pandemic, schools and universities around the world have shut their doors and told their students to go home. Most of them continued their educational mission, but through remote remote learning platforms rather than in-person lectures.
Some of these universities and schools maintained this status for only a few weeks, while some kept this as the default state for the rest of their spring semester.
Continue reading “When Universities Reopen, Will Students Return?”
Saturn’s moon Titan is alone among the Solar System’s moons. It’s the only one with any atmosphere to speak of. Other moons may have thin, largely insignificant atmospheres, like Ganymede with its potential oxygen atmosphere. But Titan’s atmosphere is dense, and rich in nitrogen.
A new study shows that Titan’s atmosphere and winds might produce dust devils similar to Earth’s.
Continue reading “There Might Be Dust Devils On Titan Too”
The full ramifications of the recent novel coronavirus pandemic are not yet known, and probably won’t be known or even felt for quite some time. Entire industries have been shifted and shuttered over the course of only a few tumultuous weeks due to Covid-19. Some industries and professions have been able to adapt quickly, some have had to close down or to send their workers home, while others are faltering and collapsing.
Continue reading “How Will Covid-19 affect the Future of Science?”
‘Oumuamua caused quite a stir when it visited our Solar System in 2017. It didn’t stay long, however, and when it was spotted with the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii on October 19th, it was already leaving. But its appearance in our part of the Universe spawned a lot of conjecture on its nature and its origins.
Continue reading “Astronomers Finally Think They Understand Where Interstellar Object Oumuamua Came From and How it Formed”
After a lot of hard work spanning many years, a team of scientists have discovered something surprising. They’ve found abundant bacterial life in tiny cracks in undersea volcanic rock in the Earth’s crust. The bacteria are thriving in clay deposits inside these tiny cracks.
This discovery is generating new excitement around the hope of finding life on Mars.
Continue reading “Seriously, Life Really Does Get Around. It was Found in Rocks Deep Beneath the Seafloor”
The pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus is creating all kinds of chaos for human society. But for the dear old Earth, and the humans and creatures that breathe its air, it’s a bit of a reprieve. Mirroring what happened in China during lock-down, Europe is now seeing the same drop in air pollution.
Continue reading “Because of Coronavirus Lockdowns, Europe is Having the Same Drop in Pollution that we Saw in China”
Say hello to Space Foam.
The ESA has a science lab on the International Space Station called Columbus. Inside that lab is the Fluid Science Laboratory, dedicated to studying the behaviour of fluids in microgravity. Currently, that lab is being used to study a substance most of us probably don’t spend much time thinking about: foam.
Continue reading “This is Foam, Made in Space”
Imagine a planet where it rained iron. Sounds impossible. But on one distant exoplanet, which is tidally locked to its star, the nightside has to contend with a ferrous downpour.
Continue reading “Your Umbrella is Insufficient on a Planet Where it Rains Iron”