The shimmering green, red and purple curtains of the northern and southern lights — the auroras — may be the best-known phenomena lighting up the nighttime sky, but the most…
Category: Space
NASA’s IXPE Marks Two Years of Groundbreaking X-ray Astronomy
On Dec. 9, astronomers and physicists commemorated two years of landmark X-ray science by NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) mission. A gif of IXPE deploying in space before starting…
NASA Sensor Produces First Global Maps of Surface Minerals in Arid Regions
The mission has also demonstrated a range of additional capabilities in its 17 months in orbit, including detecting plumes of methane and carbon dioxide being emitted by landfills, oil facilities, and other…
NASA’s Webb Stuns With New High-Def Look at Exploded Star
Like a shiny, round ornament ready to be placed in the perfect spot on a holiday tree, supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) gleams in a new image from NASA’s…
NASA’s MAVEN Observes the Disappearing Solar Wind
In December 2022, NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) mission observed the dramatic and unexpected “disappearance” of a stream of charged particles constantly emanating off the Sun, known as…
Webb finds icy complex organic molecules around protostars
NGC 1333 is an extremely active star-forming region. This Hubble image shows how dust obscures most of the star formation. Radio telescopes have found iCOMs around young protostars in this…
Giant Doubts About Giant Exomoons
Discovery of giant exomoons around the planets Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b called into question. Just as it can be assumed that the stars in our Milky Way are orbited by planets,…
Astronomy toolkit allows users to create their own sky map, find the weirdest stars and explore the surface of the moon
The EXPLORE lunar tools include a ‘pedestrian view’ for visualising the exploration of the lunar surface. Credit: EXPLORE Consortium / TerriaJS / Smithsonian / NASA / GSFC / ASU /…
Next-gen Gravitational Wave Detectors Will Provide “Remarkable Scientific Payoff”
Next-generation gravitational wave detectors capable of revealing processes from the creation of our Universe obtainable by no other means are being developed by UK astronomers. Artist impression of the Cosmic…
Interpreting the Afterglow of a Black Hole’s Breakfast
An entirely new way to probe how active black holes behave when they eat has been discovered by an international team of astronomers. ALMA, located in the Chilean Atacama desert,…
