esa Archives

January 15, 2025January 15, 2025 by Matt Williams

Recent Observations Challenge our Understanding of Giant Black Holes

Artist's impression of a white dwarf embedded in the disk of a giant black hole. Credit: NASA/Sonoma State University, Aurore Simonnet

Black holes are among the most mysterious and powerful objects in the Universe. These behemoths form when sufficiently massive stars reach the end of their life cycle and experience gravitational collapse, shedding their outer layers in a supernova. Their existence was illustrated by the work of German astronomer Karl Schwarzschild and Indian-American physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar as a consequence of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. By the 1970s, astronomers confirmed that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) reside at the center of massive galaxies and play a vital role in their evolution.

However, only in recent years were the first images of black holes acquired by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). These and other observations have revealed things about black holes that have challenged preconceived notions. In a recent study led by a team from MIT, astronomers observed oscillations that suggested an SMBH in a neighboring galaxy was consuming a white dwarf. But instead of pulling it apart, as astronomical models predict, their observations suggest the white dwarf was slowing down as it descended into the black hole – something astronomers have never seen before!

January 15, 2025January 15, 2025 by Evan Gough

The Gaia Mission’s Science Operations are Over

ESA’s Milky Way-mapper Gaia has completed the sky-scanning phase of its mission, racking up more than three trillion observations of about two billion stars and other objects over the last decade to revolutionise our view of our home galaxy and cosmic neighbourhood.

The ESA has announced that Gaia’s primary mission is coming to an end. The spacecraft’s fuel is running low, and the sky-scanning phase of its mission is over. The ground-breaking mission has taken more than three trillion observations of two billion objects, mostly stars.

January 12, 2025January 12, 2025 by Mark Thompson

BepiColombo Just Completed its Sixth Flyby of Mercury. Here are the Best Images

It’s not unusual for space probes to complete gravitational flyby manoeuvres en route to their destination. It’s a bit more unusual when the flyby is at the destination planet. ESA’s BepiColombo spacecraft is manoeuvring around Mercury into its final orbit. With each flyby it gets closer and closer and closer until its finally captured by Mercury’s gravity in 2026. During the latest flyby, stunning images of the nearest planet to the Sun were captured from just a few hundred km. Checkout the best and most stunning images of Mercury yet.

January 3, 2025January 3, 2025 by Andy Tomaswick

Student Team Designs 2U CubeSat with Big Ambitions

CubeSats can be used in many different scenarios, and one of their most important uses is providing an easy path to understanding how to design, plan, and launch a mission. That was the idea behind AlbaSat, a 2U CubeSat currently under development by a team at the University of Padova with an impressive four different functional sensors packed into its tiny frame.

December 31, 2024December 31, 2024 by Andy Tomaswick

A New Mission Watches Meteoroids Hit the Far Side of the Moon

Sometimes, it’s hard to remember that Earth is constantly being bombarded by literally tons of space debris daily. The larger bits form what we know as shooting stars, and most burn up in the atmosphere. Still, throughout our planet’s history, giant versions have caused devastation unlike anything else seen on this planet. Tracking these types of objects is typically done from the Earth, but a new mission set out by researchers in Italy has a novel idea – why not try to learn more about potential impactors by watching them hit the far side of the Moon?

December 11, 2024December 11, 2024 by Matt Williams

Could the ESA’s PLATO Mission Find Earth 2.0?

Artist's impression of the ESA's PLATO mission. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab

Currently, 5,788 exoplanets have been confirmed in 4,326 star systems, while thousands more candidates await confirmation. So far, the vast majority of these planets have been gas giants (3,826) or Super-Earths (1,735), while only 210 have been “Earth-like” – meaning rocky planets similar in size and mass to Earth. What’s more, the majority of these planets have been discovered orbiting within M-type (red dwarf) star systems, while only a few have been found orbiting Sun-like stars. Nevertheless, no Earth-like planets orbiting within a Sun-like star’s habitable zone (HZ) have been discovered so far.

This is largely due to the limitations of existing observatories, which have been unable to resolve Earth-sized planets with longer orbital periods (200 to 500 days). This is where next-generation instruments like the ESA’s PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO) mission come into play. This mission, scheduled to launch in 2026, will spend four years surveying up to one million stars for signs of planetary transits caused by rocky exoplanets. In a recent study, an international team of scientists considered what PLATO would likely see based on what it would see if observing the Solar System itself.

December 4, 2024December 4, 2024 by Matt Williams

China Plans to Retrieve Mars Samples by 2031

The launch of the Tianwen-1 mission, Wenchang City, south China's Hainan Province, July 23, 2020. Credit: CFP

China’s growing presence in space has been undeniable since the turn of the century. Between sending the first “taikonaut” to space in 2003 (Yang Liwei), launching the first Chinese robotic mission to the Moon (Chang’e-1) in 2007, and the deployment of their Tiangong space station between 2021-2022, China has emerged as a major power in space. Accordingly, they have bold plans for the future, like the proposed expansion of their Tiangong space station and the creation of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) by 2035.

In their desire to become a space power that can rival NASA, China also has its sights on Mars. In addition to crewed missions that will culminate in a “permanent base,” they intend to conduct a sample-return mission in the near future. This will be performed by the Tianwen-3 mission, which is currently scheduled to launch in 2028 and return samples to Earth by 2031. In a recent article, the Tianwen-3 science team outlined their exploration strategy, including the methods used to retrieve the samples, the target locations, and how they’ll be analyzed for biosignatures that could indicate the presence of past life.

November 21, 2024November 21, 2024 by Mark Thompson

Here’s What We Know About Earth’s Temporary Mini-Moon

For a little over a month now, the Earth has been joined by a new ‘mini-moon.’ The object is an asteroid that has been temporarily accompanying Earth on its journey around the Sun. By 25th November it will have departed but before then, astronomers across the world have been turning their telescopes to study it. A new paper of 2024 PT5 reveals its basaltic nature – similar to volcanic rocks on Earth – with a composition that makes it similar to lunar material. There have been many close encounters to Earth allowing many of its secrets to be unveiled.

November 20, 2024November 20, 2024 by David Dickinson

How Scientists Repurposed a Camera on ESA’s Mars Express Mission

A camera aboard the Mars Express orbiter finds a new lease on life.

Sometimes, limitations can lead to innovation. A recent paper highlights how researchers are utilizing the VMC (Visual Monitoring Camera) aboard the European Space Agency’s (ESA) venerable Mars Express orbiter.

The work is a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the University of the Basque Country.

October 31, 2024October 31, 2024 by Evan Gough

This is What it Sounds Like When the Earth’s Poles Flip

Ever wondered what a geomagnetic excursion sounds like? The ESA does. Image Credit: ESA

Is there something strange and alien confined deep inside the Earth? Is it trying to break free and escape into the heavens? No, of course not.

But in a new soundscape from the ESA, it sure sounds like it.