On 25 January 2024, the L-class Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) flagship mission and the M-class EnVision mission cleared another important hurdle in the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Science Programme. Venus…
Category: Astronomy
Earth Sciences Isn’t Just For Earth
Extending their expertise into the solar system, Earth scientists aid in the exploration of our planetary neighbors, including the search for signs of extraterrestrial life. W. Bruce Banerdt dreamed of…
Astronomers reveal a new link between water and planet formation
Researchers have found water vapour in the disc around a young star, which is exactly where planets may be forming. Water is a key ingredient for life on Earth and…
The automated method helps researchers quantify uncertainty in their predictions
Pollsters trying to predict presidential election results and physicists searching for distant exoplanets have at least one thing in common: They often use a tried-and-true scientific technique called Bayesian inference.…
Using AI to Enhance Satellite Imagery to Monitor Our Planet
A new method to assess different satellite designs using a powerful AI technique to monitor our planet from space has been released. Designing and operating Earth observation satellites involves trade-offs between…
Heaviest pair of black holes ever seen weighs 28 billion times more than the sun
Two supermassive black holes found in collision-created “fossil galaxies” are so massive that they refuse to collide and merge. The discovery could explain why, although supermassive black hole mergers are…
Twente Consortium Develops Vibration-free Cooling for Measuring Gravitational Waves
Observations of gravitational waves by existing observatories and the new Einstein Telescope are made with laser beams. These are sent into ten-kilometre-long tunnels in two directions and reflected by mirrors…
Do We Have Cosmic Dust to Thank for Life on Earth?
It might be that what set prebiotic chemistry in motion and kept it going in the early days of the Earth was dust from outer space accumulating in holes melted…
Earth as a test object
Physicists at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich wanted to know whether the planned LIFE space mission could really detect traces of life on other planets. Yes, it can.…
Black Hole Fashions Stellar Beads on a String
An international team of astronomers has discovered one of the most powerful eruptions from a black hole ever recorded. A black hole – artistic impression. Image credit: Alius Noreika /…
