Universe Today
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What Is an Earthquake?
Earthquakes are a regular part of our planet's geological activity, with over 3 million happening a year. But to human societies, they are a powerful force of nature!
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What Are Cosmic Voids?
We talked about the biggest structures in the Universe, but what about the opposite? The biggest empty spaces in the Universe, the cosmic voids that separate the clusters of galaxies.
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Photobomb: The Moon Occults Aldebaran Wednesday
How about that Hunter's Supermoon this past weekend, huh? Follow that Moon, as it's meeting up with the Hyades again this week, and occults (passes in front of) Aldebaran Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
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Antares 'Return to Flight' Blastoff Soars to Stellar Success
NASA WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY, VA - The 'Return to Flight' blastoff of Orbital ATK's upgraded Antares rocket soared to a stellar success this evening, Oct. 17, on a space station bound mission to stock the orbiting outpost with two and a half tons of science and supplies.
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What is Binding Energy?
When it comes to everything from stellar objects to atoms and chemical compounds, binding energy is the measure of what holds it together - and what would be needed to split it apart.
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Antares Return to Flight Set for Magnificent Monday Night Launch - Watch Live
NASA WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY, VA - The 'Return to Flight' blastoff of Orbital ATK's upgraded Antares rocket will have to wait one more day to come to fruition with a magnificent Monday night launch - after a technical scrub was called this afternoon, Oct. 16, at NASA's Virginia launch base due to a faulty cable.
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What are Volcanoes?
Volcanoes are a powerful force of nature, and can be found all over the Solar System. In addition to hot lava, they also spew forth cold water and ice.
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What is the Wettest Place on Earth?
Several different locations around the world have been called the "wettest place on Earth" at one time or another. Here are some of the top contenders!
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The Moon Is Getting Slammed Way More Than We Thought
A new study of the current rate of meteoroid impacts on the Moon suggests that those iconic astronaut boot prints we thought would be around for 2 million years may instead disappear after something like 80,000!
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Antares Raised to Launch Position for Sunday Night Launch to ISS
After a two year stand down, an upgraded commercial Antares rocket was rolled out to the NASA Wallops launch pad on Virginia's eastern shore and raised to its launch position today in anticipation of a spectacular Sunday night liftoff, Oct. 16, to the International Space Station (ISS) on a critical resupply mission for NASA.
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The Hidden Glaciers Of Mars
New photos taken by the Mars Express probe reveal evidence of buried glaciers in a region that separates the planet's southern highlands and the northern lowlands.
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The Universe's Galaxy Population Just Grew Tenfold
New research from a team of UK scientists shows how the early Universe had 10 times more galaxies than previously thought!
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Weekly Space Hangout - October 14, 2016: Europe Crashes the Mars Party
Astronomy Cast Ep. 424: Lightning
We Land on Mars in Just 2 days!
An Exoplanet With Huge Rings Intrigues
A new study by a team of researchers has shed further light on J1407b, a distant exoplanet that is believed to have a ring system 100 times as big as Saturn's
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Exclusive Photos Of The Recently Found 30-Ton Argentine Meteorite
Shouldn't We Fix the Earth First?
Fraser gives 5 answers to the question, "why should we explore space when we have so many problems here on Earth?"
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Carnival of Space #478
This Weekend: A Hunter's Full Moon Kicks Off Supermoon Season
Ready for some lunar action of proxigean proportions? This weekend's Full Moon ushers in that most (infamous?) of internet ready cultural memes: that of the Supermoon. This moniker stands above the Blood, Mini, and Full Moons both Black and Blue as the Full Moon of the year that folks can't seem to get enough of, and astronomers love to hate.
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Opportunity Blazes Through 4500 Sunsets on Mars and Gullies are Yet to Come!
The longest living Martian rover ever - Opportunity - has just surpassed another unfathomable milestone - 4500 Sols (or days) exploring the Red Planet !! That's 50 times beyond her "warrantied" life expectancy of merely 90 Sols.
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A New Dwarf Planet Joins The Solar System Family
Relying on data collected by the Dark Energy Survey, astronomers have found evidence of a new dwarf planet that is the farthest object from our Sun to date.
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Turns out Proxima Centauri is Strikingly Similar to our Sun
Contrary to what we previously though, Proxima Centauri has some striking similarities to our Sun, which includes a solar cycle
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President Obama Puts US All In For Mars
President Obama has always been a strong supporter of science, and now he has reaffirmed his support for a mission to Mars.
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SpaceX's Space Coast Launch Facilities Escape Hurricane Matthew's Wrath, May Resume Launches this Year
SpaceX's key launch facilities on the Florida Space Coast escaped the wrath of Hurricane Matthew's 100 mph wind gusts late last week, suffering only some exterior damage to the satellite processing building, a company spokesman confirmed to Universe Today.
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X-Rays Are Coming From The Dark Side of Venus
A new study takes a look at observational evidence obtained about Venus during its 2012 transit of the Sun, which shows unexpected x-rays coming from the planet
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How Do Supernovae Fail?
You know what's scarier than a supernova? A supernova that fails, imploding into a black hole, vanishing from the Universe.
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What was Sputnik One?
On October 4th, 1957, history was forever changed with the Soviet launch of Sputnik-1, the first artificial satellite to be launched into orbit
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Launch of GOES-R Transformational Weather Satellite Likely Delayed by Hurricane Matthew
Next month's launch of GOES-R - a new and advanced transformational weather satellite that will vastly enhance the quality, speed and accuracy of weather forecasting - will likely be delayed a few days due to lingering storm related effects of deadly Hurricane Matthew on launch preparations at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Universe Today confirmed with launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA).
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Hurricane Matthew Grazes Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral
The Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) and the major population centers along the Florida Space Coast were spared from major damage to infrastructure, homes and business after the deadly Cat 4 Hurricane Matthew grazed the region with 107 mph winds rather than making a direct impact as feared.
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Is Proxima Centauri b Basically Kevin Costner's Waterworld?
New research suggests that Proxima b could be a lot more watery than we suspect, with roughly half the planet's mass made up of water
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Weekly Space Hangout - October 7, 2016: James Webb: Standing on the Shoulders of Hubble
Astronomy Cast Ep. 423: Cyclones
Imminent Impact of Deadly Cat 4 Hurricane Matthew Forces Closure of Kennedy Space Center and Mass Coastal Evacuations
The imminent impact of the already deadly Category 4 Hurricane Matthew along the Florida Space Coast tonight, Thursday, October 6, has forced the closure of NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and mass evacuations along the US East coast from Florida, to Georgia to the Carolinas.
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What is Galactic Evolution?
Galaxies have a natural life cycle, which began shortly after the Big Bang and will likely continue for several trillion years.
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Celebrate International Observe the Moon Night on Saturday, Oct. 8 2016!
JPL Predicts Mars' Global Dust Storm To Arrive Within Weeks
A NASA researcher thinks he has figured out how to predict global dust storms on Mars.
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Can you buy Land on the Moon?
Despite the vagaries of international law, no matter what a slick business person tells you, there is no land for sale on the Moon. NONE!
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Where Are All The Alien Robots?
As you know, I'm obsessed about the Fermi Paradox. Where are all the aliens? But an even stranger question is: where are all the robot aliens?
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Celebrate the Power of Naked-Eye Observing With New Book
Check out my new book "Night Sky with the Naked Eye" that explores all the wonderful things you can see in the heavens without any special equipment.
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First Antares Liftoff in 2 Years Targeted for Dazzling Nighttime Leap from Virginia on Oct. 13
The first Antares rocket liftoff in nearly two years is now being targeted for Oct. 13 on what is sure to be a dazzling nighttime leap from NASA's Virginia launch base - and potentially offering a thrilling skyshow to millions of US East Coast spectators, if all goes well.
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Satellite Views Show Hurricane Matthew Moving Towards U.S.
What Were the First Lunar Landings?
Before the historic Apollo-11 mission sent the first astronauts to the Moon, several robotic missions were mounted to the lunar surface as well.
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Carnival of Space #477
What are Cepheid Variables?
Discovered in the late 18th century, Cepheid Variable stars have become an important tool for measuring the size of the Universe.
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New Shepard Defies The Odds And Sticks Landing
Seeing Double: Jupiter Returns at Dawn
Missing Jove? The largest planet in our is currently on the far side of the Sun, and just passed solar conjunction on September 26th, 2016. October now sees Jupiter slowly return to the dawn sky. Follow that gas giant, as an interesting set of double shadow transits transpires in late October leading in to early November.
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