Universe Today (Page 134)

The Crew of the ISS has Found the Source of the Station's Air Leak

By Matthew Williams - October 21, 2020 05:14 PM UTC | Space Exploration

The ISS crew has found the source of the elusive leak using (wait for it!) tea leaves! The hole is now patched, but a permanent fix is still needed.

We use the Transit Method to Find other Planets. Which Extraterrestrial Civilizations Could use the Transit Method to Find Earth?

By Brian Koberlein - October 21, 2020 04:38 PM UTC | Exoplanets

We have found more than 4,000 planets orbiting other stars. Life on distant worlds could find us in the same way.

The Oxygen Supply has Failed in the Russian Zvezda Module of the ISS. Don't Worry, the Astronauts aren't in Danger, but the Station is Showing its Age

By Matthew Williams - October 20, 2020 10:20 PM UTC | Space Exploration

Crews aboard the ISS are working to repair the leak, which posed no significant risk. Unfortunately, it shows that the ISS is getting on in years!

Success! OSIRIS-REx Touches Asteroid Bennu to Collect Samples

By Nancy Atkinson - October 20, 2020 09:37 PM UTC | Missions

Wow, Betelgeuse Might Be 25% Closer than Previously Believed

By Evan Gough - October 20, 2020 04:17 PM UTC | Stars

It's still possible to detect the site of the 2017 kilonova explosion

By Paul Sutter - October 20, 2020 03:37 PM UTC | Extragalactic

Watch "Live" as NASA's OSIRIS-REx Nabs an Asteroid Sample

By Nancy Atkinson - October 20, 2020 02:27 PM UTC | Missions

You'll Experience 200 Times More Radiation Standing on the Moon than Standing on the Earth

By rcrewe - October 19, 2020 08:23 PM UTC | Planetary Science

NASA and Seven Countries Sign the Artemis Accords for the Exploration of the Moon. Russia Declined to Participate

By Evan Gough - October 19, 2020 05:44 PM UTC | Space Policy

What's Happening with Betelgeuse? Astronomers Propose a Specialized Telescope to Watch the Star Every Night

By Matthew Williams - October 19, 2020 04:59 PM UTC | Stars

An international team of astronomers recommends creating "Betelgeuse Scope" to monitor this mysterious star find out why it has been acting so strangely of late!

The galaxy with 99.99% dark matter isn't so mysterious any more

By Paul Sutter - October 19, 2020 03:00 PM UTC | Extragalactic

NASA Announces 14 New "Tipping Point" Technologies for its Lunar Exploration

By Matthew Williams - October 18, 2020 09:24 PM UTC | Space Exploration

NASA recently awarded contracts to fourteen companies to develop technologies that will help them return to the Moon, and stay there!

We actually don't know how fast the Milky Way's supermassive black hole is spinning but there might be a way to find out

By Brian Koberlein - October 17, 2020 02:35 PM UTC | Black Holes

The stars at the center of our galaxy could tell us just how fast our closest supermassive black hole is spinning.

Great Barrier Reef Has Lost Half of its Coral Over the Last 25 Years

By Nancy Atkinson - October 17, 2020 11:36 AM UTC | Planetary Science

Impatient? A Spacecraft Could Get to Titan in Only 2 Years Using a Direct Fusion Drive

By Andy Tomaswick - October 16, 2020 11:30 PM UTC | Space Exploration

InSight's 'Mole' is Now Completely buried!

By Evan Gough - October 16, 2020 07:06 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Operating a Rover in Real-time From a Distance

By Andy Tomaswick - October 16, 2020 03:44 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Pluto has Snowcapped Mountains, But Why?

By Evan Gough - October 16, 2020 03:32 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Summer is Dust Devil Time on Mars

By Nancy Atkinson - October 16, 2020 12:26 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Elon Musk Shares a View of Starship With Three Raptor Engines Installed

By Matthew Williams - October 15, 2020 09:13 PM UTC | Space Exploration

The SN8 Starship prototype just got its three Raptor engines, and is now preparing to test fire them. After that, it's smooth sailing towards the 15 km (50,000 ft) hop test!

Weekly Space Hangout: October 14, 2020, Drs. Jane Huang & Jonathan Williams, Protoplanetary Disks

By nancygraz - October 15, 2020 05:17 PM UTC | Stars

This week we are joined by Dr. Jane Huang and Dr. Jonathan Willams from the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA). Dr. Huang, Dr. Williams, and their team recently discovered some surprising information about the size and shape of some protoplanetary disks.

Astronomers Report They've Detected the Amino Acid Glycine in the Atmosphere of Venus

By Evan Gough - October 15, 2020 03:53 PM UTC | Astrobiology

China's Mars-bound Tianwen-1 Takes a Selfie

By Evan Gough - October 14, 2020 06:19 PM UTC | Missions

Starman Just Made his Closest Approach to Mars

By Matthew Williams - October 14, 2020 06:16 PM UTC | Space Exploration

In a interesting bit of SpaceX news, Starman and his cherry Tesla Roadster made their first flyby of Mars, and will be passing by Earth in less than a month!

This Martian Lava Tube Skylight is 50 Meters Across. The Biggest Lava Tube on Earth is Only 15 Meters Across

By Evan Gough - October 14, 2020 04:58 PM UTC | Planetary Science

The Most Comprehensive 3D Map of Galaxies Has Been Released

By Matthew Williams - October 14, 2020 03:20 PM UTC | Extragalactic

Using the largest survey ever conducted, a team of astronomers from the IfA have created the largest 3D catalog of the Universe ever!

BepiColombo Mercury Mission to Make First Venus Flyby Tonight

By David Dickinson - October 14, 2020 03:11 PM UTC | Missions

The Mercury-bound BepiColombo spacecraft will observe Venus during tonight's pass, on the hunt for phosphine and sulfur-dioxide.

We're Made of Starstuff. Especially From Extremely Massive Stars

By Evan Gough - October 14, 2020 01:05 PM UTC | Stars

Do Ripples on the Surface of the Sun tell us that a Flare is Coming?

By Paul Sutter - October 13, 2020 05:26 PM UTC | Solar Astronomy

This is a Landslide... on the Moon

By Nancy Atkinson - October 13, 2020 05:07 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Astronomers Watch a Star Get Spaghettified by a Black Hole

By Brian Koberlein - October 13, 2020 04:17 PM UTC | Black Holes

When a black hole consumes a star, it does so by turning it into spaghetti first. Astronomers have seen it happen.

An Exoplanet So Hot There Are 7 Different Kinds of Gaseous Metals in its Atmosphere

By Evan Gough - October 13, 2020 03:22 PM UTC | Exoplanets

Comet P1 NEOWISE Makes a Brief Late October Appearance

By David Dickinson - October 13, 2020 01:17 PM UTC | Observing

The Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) caught another intriguing object on August 2, 2020 as part of its extended sky survey mission, as Comet C/2020 P1 NEOWISE is set to become a fine binocular object in late October and early November.

How to See What's on the Other Side of a Wormhole Without Actually Traveling Through it

By Paul Sutter - October 12, 2020 04:50 PM UTC | Physics

Black Holes Make Complex Gravitational-Wave Chirps as They Merge

By Brian Koberlein - October 12, 2020 01:17 PM UTC | Black Holes

When black holes collide, they emit chirps of gravitational waves even after they have merged.

The Moon is the Perfect Spot for SETI

By Matthew Williams - October 11, 2020 05:44 PM UTC | Astrobiology

A recent white paper submitted to the PSA Decadal Survey 2023-2032 recommends that a lunar observatory be built that can search the Universe for signs of intelligent life!

Want the Fastest Solar Sail? Drop it Into the Sun First

By Matthew Williams - October 10, 2020 07:20 PM UTC | Space Exploration

A new study from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy shows how a "Sun Diver," a light sail that dives closer to the Sun, could make these promising spacecraft much faster!

Radio Astronomers are Worried About Mega-Constellations and the Square Kilometer Array

By Matthew Williams - October 10, 2020 04:46 PM UTC | Observing

With all the satellite constellations heading to space in the near future, there are concerns they will interfere with radio telescopes like the Square Kilometre Array (SKA)

Just How Bad are Superflares to a Planet's Habitability?

By Evan Gough - October 09, 2020 06:11 PM UTC | Solar Astronomy

Matter makes up exactly 31.5±1.3% of the Universe

By Fraser Cain - October 09, 2020 01:20 PM UTC | Cosmology

Simulation Helps Explain Saturn's Mysterious Hexagon

By Nancy Atkinson - October 09, 2020 12:32 PM UTC | Planetary Science

An Amazing Sky Mosaic Courtesy of Stellina...and a New Telescope from Vaonis

By David Dickinson - October 09, 2020 12:31 PM UTC | Telescopes

Check out this stunning new deep-sky panoramic and new light-weight 'smartscope,' courtesy of Vaonis.

The Solar System has a second plane where objects orbit the Sun

By Paul Sutter - October 09, 2020 05:07 AM UTC | Planetary Science

Planets Don't Wait for Their Star to Form First

By Evan Gough - October 08, 2020 06:26 PM UTC | Exoplanets

Weekly Space Hangout: October 7, 2020, Dr. David Warmflash Discusses Mixed-Reality Surgical System

By nancygraz - October 08, 2020 04:19 PM UTC | Space Exploration

This week we welcome back to the show Dr. David Warmflash. Since he was last with us, David has been named as Co-Principal Investigator and Medical Director for a new NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBRI) Phase I study titled "Mixed-Reality Holographic Training System to Enable High-Value Surgical and Complex Medical Procedures by Astronauts."

Gravitational-Wave Lensing is Possible, but it's Going to be Incredibly Difficult to Detect

By Brian Koberlein - October 08, 2020 03:06 PM UTC | Physics

Because gravitational waves travel at the speed of light, they can be lensed just as light waves are. But observing this effect will be difficult.

Time Flies. NASA Releases a Mosaic of TESS' View of the Northern Sky After Two Years of Operation

By Evan Gough - October 08, 2020 02:56 PM UTC | Missions

Astronomers Will Be Able to Use the World's Biggest Radio Telescope to Search for Signals from Extraterrestrial Civilizations

By Andy Tomaswick - October 08, 2020 01:28 PM UTC | Astrobiology

7% of the Stars in the Milky Way's Center Came From a Single Globular Cluster That Got Too Close and Was Broken Up

By Evan Gough - October 07, 2020 06:01 PM UTC | Milky Way

The Air Leak on the International Space Station is Worse Than Previously Believed

By Matthew Williams - October 06, 2020 11:59 PM UTC | Space Exploration

The crew aboard the ISS have managed to narrow the search for the leak, which NASA and Roscosmos both insist does not pose a danger to the crew or their operations