Universe Today
Scientists are Trying to Figure Out Why InSight's "Mole" Can't Dig Any Deeper
The Closest Star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri, has a Planet in the Habitable Zone. Life Could be There Right Now
A new study by a team from the Carl Sagan institutes shows how life could survive the harsh radiation on neighboring exoplanets like Proxima b.
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SpaceX Does it Again with Second Retrieval of Falcon Heavy Rocket
This week, SpaceX conducted the first commercial launch of the Falcon Heavy (and second launch overall) and managed to bring all the boosters back, and even the payload fairings!
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Voyager and Pioneer's Grand Tour of the Milky Way
A new study takes a look at where the Voyager and Pioneer probes might one day venture to as they make their way through our galaxy
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Beresheet Crashed.
Space Weather Forecasts can now give Satellites One Whole Day of Warning when a Killer Solar Storm is Inbound
Weekly Space Hangout: Apr 10, 2019 - Dr. Ian O'Neill
Two Solar Eclipses Seen From the Surface of Mars by Curiosity
The Curiosity rover recently witnessed eclipses involving the moons of Phobos and Deimos from the Martian surface.
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It's Finally here. The First Ever Image of a Black Hole
SOFIA Follows the Sulfur for Clues on Stellar Evolution
A high-flying space telescope is shedding light on where some of the basic building blocks for life may have originated from. A recent study led by astronomers currently at the University of Hawaii, including collaborators from the University of California Davis, Johns-Hopkins University, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Appalachian State University, and several international partners, including funding from NASA, looked at a lingering mystery in planet formation: the chemical pathway of the element sulfur, with implications for its role in the formation of planets and life.
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The World's Glaciers are Down by 9 Trillion Tonnes of Ice in the Last Half Century
Metal Asteroid Psyche Might Have Had Volcanoes of Molten Iron
Messier 83 - the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy
Located in the direction of the Hydra constellation, over 15 million light years from Earth, is the barred spiral galaxy known as Messier 83.
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Hayabusa2 Fires an Anti-Tank Warhead at Asteroid Ryugu
Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft recently struck the asteroid Ryugu with an explosive payload, which will help it collect samples that could teach us more about how the Solar System and life came to be.
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Ep. 525: 100 Years of the International Astronomical Union
Now We Know That Dark Matter Isn't Primordial Black Holes
A new study by an international team of scientists has tested Hawking's theory of dark matter, and ruled out that it is not likely to be made up of tiny black holes.
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Mars Express Saw the Same Methane Spike that Curiosity Detected from the Surface of Mars
The Starhops Have Begun!
After a minor delay, SpaceX has conducted the first successful hop test of their Starship Hopper, a key step in validating the systems that will go into the full-scale prototype.
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Carnival of Space #605
Weekly Space Hangout: Apr 3, 2019 - Dr. David Chudwin
India Destroyed a Satellite With a Missile Last Week, and Pieces Were Thrown Into an Orbit That Risks the International Space Station
Last week, India shot down one of its own satellites with a missile. According to NASA, the resulting debris field is an "unacceptable" threat to the ISS.
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Mars Helicopter Completes More Test Flights. It's Almost Ready to go to Mars
Starhopper Tests Have Gotten Delayed Because of "Ice Formation in the Cryogenic Propellant Prevalves"
A technical issue has led to the "hop test" of the miniature version of the SpaceX Starship to be delayed once more. However, the company is still on track with their overall development of the system.
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The Wait is Almost Over. We'll Finally See a Picture of a Black Hole's Event Horizon on April 10th
See the Moon Photobomb Saturn in an Amazing Capture
It's always awe-inspiring to see the clockwork motion of the heavens, transpire in real time. In a slow motion Universe, occultations give us the chance to see the cosmos pull off a celestial hat trick. This happen in a blink of an eye type event such as when the Moon, a planet or an asteroid winks out a distant star, or transpire as a leisurely affair as the Moon covers, then uncovers the disk of a planet.
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Ground-Based Telescope Directly Observes the Atmosphere of an Extrasolar Planet, and Sees Swirling Clouds of Iron and Silicates
Satellites Watched a Huge Fireball Explode Above the Bering Sea Late Last Year
NASA's Terra satellites recently spotted a fiery meteorite in Earth's atmosphere, which exploded above the Bering Sea.
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Rivers on Mars Flowed for More Than a Billion Years
Ep. 524: Judging Age & Origins, part 3 - Beyond Our System
SpaceX Releases a New Render of What the All-Steel Starship Will Look Like Returning to Earth
SpaceX has released an impressive new image that shows its proposed Starship reentering the atmosphere of Earth.
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Weekly Space Hangout: March 27, 2019 - Dr. Amanda Hendrix, Director of NASA's TREX
Maybe Self-Replicating Robot Probes are Destroying Each Other. That's Why We Don't See Them
A new study takes a look at the Fermi Paradox by considering the possibility that alien von Neumann probes could be devouring themselves.
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Carnival of Space #604
Asteroid Bennu has Already Thrown Material off into Space 11 Times Since OSIRIS-REx Arrived
The OSIRIS-REx mission has revealed some interesting things about the asteroid Bennu, which includes the 11 plumes it witnessed in the past 3 months.
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Ep. 523: Judging Age & Origins, Pt. 2 Across the Solar System
Messier 82 - the Cigar Galaxy
Located in the vicinity Ursa Major constellation, roughly 12 million light years from Earth, is the starburst galaxy known as the Messier 82 (aka. the Cigar Galaxy).
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Pulsar Seen Speeding Away From the Supernova That Created it
Recent observations have revealed a pulsar that appears to have been accelerated by the very supernova explosion that created it.
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LIGO Just Got a Big Upgrade, Will Begin Searching for Gravitational Waves Again on April 1st
After undergoing upgrades, the LIGO observatory will be going back online this April, with "almost daily" detections of gravitational wave events expected.
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The Incredible Challenge of Landing Heavy Payloads On Mars
Weekly Space Hangout: March 20, 2019 - Dr. Michael Zemcov of NASA's SPHEREx Mission
Six People Have Begun a 122-Day Simulated Mission on the Moon
The SIRIUS-19 experiment recently kicked off, with six cosmonauts entering a simulated lunar environment (where they will spend the next 122 days conducting experiments).
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Almost 13,000 Years Ago, a Comet Impact Set Everything on Fire
A new discovery in South America has added further weight to the Young Dryas Impact theory, which states that a sudden shift in its climate 12,800 years ago was due to a comet hitting Earth.
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SpaceX Tests the Starship's Hexagonal Heatshield. Starhopper Tests Could Come as Early as This Week
Spot Failed Soviet Venus Probe Kosmos 482 in Earth Orbit
Messier 81 - the Bode Galaxy
Astronomy Cast Bonus Episode: Dust with Dr. Paul Sutter
Astronomy Cast Ep. 522: Judging Age & Origins, part 1 - Earth Rocks
Carnival of Space #603
Which Habitable Zones are the Best to Actually Search for Life?
A new study conducted by an international team of scientists examines what the term "habitable zone" means and how next-generation telescopes will test our assumptions.
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SLS Rocket Promises To Do Better
The SLS rocket found its future launch manifest severely curtailed in a new budget request. This leaves the long overdue rocket with uncertain long term prospects.
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