Universe Today (Page 167)

Finally! Voyager 2 is Now in Interstellar Space

By Matthew Williams - December 12, 2018 03:46 PM UTC | Space Exploration

The Voyager 2 recently crossed the outer boundary of the heliosphere, where it joins the Voyager 1 spacecraft in interstellar space

Get Ready for the 2018 Geminid Meteors

By David Dickinson - December 12, 2018 05:56 AM UTC | Observing

When it comes to meteor showers, the calendar year always seems to save the best for last. We're referring to the Geminid meteor shower, one of the sure fire bets for dependable meteor showers. In fact, in recent years, the Geminids have been upstaging that other yearly favorite: the August Geminids.

InSight Uses its Seismometer to "Hear" the Sound of Wind on Mars

By Matthew Williams - December 11, 2018 07:03 PM UTC | Planetary Science

The InSight lander recently used two its instruments to record vibrations caused by Martian wind, effectively capturing what it sounds like on the surface of Mars.

OSIRIS-REx Has Already Found Water on Bennu

By Evan Gough - December 11, 2018 03:55 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Carnival of Space #590

By susie - December 10, 2018 05:37 PM UTC | Site News

A Rapid Rise in Temperature Led to the Worst Extinction in our Planet's History

By Evan Gough - December 10, 2018 04:52 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Astronomy Cast Ep. 509: Fiction to Fact: 3D Printers

By susie - December 10, 2018 02:21 PM UTC | Site News

Mercury-Bound BepiColombo is About to Start Using the Most Powerful Ion Engines Ever Sent to Space

By Evan Gough - December 07, 2018 04:33 PM UTC | Space Exploration

The Draco Constellation

By Matthew Williams - December 07, 2018 02:39 PM UTC | Observing

Located in the northern hemisphere, between the two "dippers", is the Draco constellation - one of the 48 compiled by Ptolemy and one of the 88 recognized by the IAU.

InSight's Robot Arm is Ready to go to Work

By Evan Gough - December 07, 2018 01:30 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Astronomers Count all the Photons in the Universe. Spoiler Alert: 4,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Photons

By Paul Sutter - December 06, 2018 09:58 PM UTC | Cosmology

Ice loss in Greenland is Accelerating

By Evan Gough - December 06, 2018 05:20 PM UTC | Planetary Science

On the Astronomy Trail in Nebraska

By David Dickinson - December 06, 2018 05:14 AM UTC | Site News

Most of us think of distant sites such as Death Valley, the Kalahari Desert or the Canary Islands when it comes to dark skies. And while it's true that many observers are now traveling farther and farther away from home in search of truly dark skies, that trip need not be as far as you think. We had the opportunity to visit one such often overlooked dark sky gem: the state of Nebraska

New SPECULOOS Telescope Sees First Light. Soon it'll be Seeing Habitable Planets Around Ultra-Cool Stars

By Evan Gough - December 05, 2018 06:29 PM UTC | Exoplanets

Good News: a SpaceX Cargo Resupply is Off to the Space Station. Bad News: Failed Hydraulics in the Grid Fins Caused the First Stage Booster to Crash Into the Ocean

By Matthew Williams - December 05, 2018 05:39 PM UTC | Space Exploration

SpaceX's sixteenth Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-16) successfully launched a Dragon spacecraft to orbit, but the first stage didn't quite stick the landing.

The Large Hadron Collider has been Shut Down, and Will Stay Down for Two Years While they Perform Major Upgrades

By Evan Gough - December 05, 2018 04:23 PM UTC | Physics

Weekly Space Hangout: Dec 05, 2018: Dr. Pamela Gay talks CosmoQuest Hangoutathon!

By susie - December 05, 2018 02:15 PM UTC | Site News

A Meteor may have Exploded in the Air 3,700 Years Ago, Obliterating Communities Near the Dead Sea

By Evan Gough - December 04, 2018 04:27 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Building Gas Stations and McMurdo Scale Outposts on the Moon

By nextbigfuture - December 04, 2018 04:00 PM UTC | Space Exploration

New Gravitational Waves Detected From Four More Black Hole Mergers. Total Detections up to 11 Now

By Matthew Williams - December 04, 2018 03:50 PM UTC | Black Holes

The LIGO and Virgo collaborations recently announced the detection of four more gravitational wave events, bringing the total to eleven.

Carnival of Space #589

By susie - December 04, 2018 01:26 PM UTC | Site News

SpaceX Uses a Thrice-Launched Booster to Send 64 Satellites Into Space.

By Matthew Williams - December 03, 2018 07:51 PM UTC | Space Exploration

OSIRIS-REx has Finally Caught up with Asteroid Bennu. Let the Analysis and Sample Collection Commence!

By Evan Gough - December 03, 2018 05:42 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Micrometeorite Damage Under the Microscope

By Matthew Williams - December 03, 2018 04:12 PM UTC | Planetary Science

A new study by a team from MIT has shed light on the physical processes that take place when tiny particles (like micrometeorites) hit a surface while traveling at high speeds.

Astronomy Cast Ep. 508: 2018 Holiday Gift Guide

By susie - December 03, 2018 04:00 PM UTC | Site News

Messier 73 - the NGC 6994 Star Cluster

By tammy-plotner - December 03, 2018 09:00 AM UTC | Milky Way

Located in the Aquarius constellation, some 2,500 light-years from Earth, is the four star cluster known as Messier 73

A New Atomic Clock has been Built that Would be off by Less than a Second Since the Big Bang

By Evan Gough - December 01, 2018 01:51 PM UTC | Physics

Prehistoric Cave Paintings Show That Ancient People Had Pretty Advanced Knowledge of Astronomy

By Matthew Williams - November 30, 2018 07:19 PM UTC | Site News

According to a new study that examined ancient cave paintings and archaeological sites, it appears that prehistoric humans had a greater understanding of astronomy than we thought.

Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria has been Found on the Space Station's Toilet

By Evan Gough - November 30, 2018 05:23 PM UTC | Astrobiology

A 2018 Outburst From the December Andromedids?

By David Dickinson - November 30, 2018 02:53 AM UTC | Observing

A relatively obscure meteor shower may put on a surprise performance in early December 2018. Chances are, you've never heard of the Andromedids, though it's worth keeping an eye out for these swift-moving meteors over the next week.

There Could be Hundreds of Interstellar Asteroids and Comets in the Solar System Right Now That we Could Study

By Matthew Williams - November 29, 2018 02:38 PM UTC | Planetary Science

According to a new study, there could be hundreds of identifiable objects in our Solar System like 'Oumuamua, some of which we could study in just a few years!

Now that TESS is Operational, Astronomers Estimate it'll Find 14,000 Planets. 10 Could Be Earthlike Worlds in a Sunlike Star's Habitable Zone

By Evan Gough - November 29, 2018 01:55 PM UTC | Exoplanets

We May Soon Be Able To See the First, Supergiant Stars in the Universe

By Paul Sutter - November 28, 2018 04:18 PM UTC | Stars

We Have the Technology. Airplanes Could Spray Particles into the Atmosphere to Battle Climate Change. But Should We?

By Evan Gough - November 28, 2018 03:29 PM UTC | Space Policy

One of the Most Exciting Parts of InSight is Actually the Tiny Cubesats Tagging Along for the Ride and Their Role in the Mission

By Matthew Williams - November 28, 2018 01:21 PM UTC | Missions

A very important, but perhaps overlooked, aspect of the InSight mission was the first-ever deployment of CubeSats (MarCO) to deep space.

Weekly Space Hangout: Nov 28, 2018: David Eicher's "Mission Moon 3-D"

By Fraser Cain - November 28, 2018 08:36 AM UTC | Site News

Astronomy Cast Ep. 507: From Fiction to Fact : Ion Drive

By susie - November 27, 2018 08:52 PM UTC | Site News

Hubble's First Picture After Returning to Service. The Telescope is Fully Operational Again with Three Working Gyros

By Evan Gough - November 27, 2018 05:08 PM UTC | Telescopes

InSight Deploys its Solar Cells, Prepared for Surface Operations on Mars!

By Matthew Williams - November 27, 2018 03:39 PM UTC | Planetary Science

The InSight Lander, which had touched down on the Martian surface just hours before, has deployed its solar cells and is ready to begin science operations!

Some of the Stars in this Cluster are Almost as Old as the Universe Itself While Others Formed in a Second Generation. It Looks Young and Old at the Same Time

By Evan Gough - November 27, 2018 01:39 PM UTC | Stars

InSight Lander Touches Down! Begins Mission to Unlock the Secrets of Mars

By Matthew Williams - November 26, 2018 07:28 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Earlier today, after a seven month journey through space, NASA's InSight Lander mission touched down on the Martian surface.

Carnival of Space #588

By susie - November 26, 2018 03:22 PM UTC | Site News

Messier 72 - the NGC 6981 Globular Cluster

By tammy-plotner - November 26, 2018 02:30 PM UTC | Milky Way

The Earth's Wandering Poles Could Have Caused the Ice Age

By Matthew Williams - November 25, 2018 06:26 PM UTC | Planetary Science

A new study by a team of Rice University geophysicists indicates that the Earth's wandering poles could have triggered the last ice age.

Name Change Alert! SpaceX's BFR is Now Just Called "Starship"

By Matthew Williams - November 23, 2018 06:53 PM UTC | Space Exploration

Massive Triple Star System Creates this Bizarre Swirling Pinwheel of Dust. And it Could be the Site of a Gamma Ray Burst

By Matthew Williams - November 22, 2018 05:12 PM UTC | Stars

An international team of astronomers recently located a triple star system in our galaxy that will someday unleash a massive gamma-ray burst.

Lakes on Mars Filled up so Quickly They Would Overflow Catastrophically Carving Canyons Within Weeks

By Matthew Williams - November 21, 2018 07:48 PM UTC | Planetary Science

According to a new study, ancient lakes on Mars filled up so quickly that they overflowed, carving canyons in the surface that are still visible today.

Astronomers Detect Water in the Atmosphere of a Planet 179 Light-Years Away

By Evan Gough - November 21, 2018 07:47 PM UTC | Exoplanets

Astronomers Find One of the Sun's Sibling Stars. Born From the Same Solar Nebula Billions of Years Ago

By Matthew Williams - November 21, 2018 05:30 PM UTC | Stars

The AMBRE project, an international consortium of astronomers, was able to find a star that formed with our Sun (and is almost identical) about 184 light-years away

It's Decided, the Mars 2020 Rover Will Land in Jezero Crater

By Evan Gough - November 21, 2018 02:18 PM UTC | Planetary Science