Dark matter is a ghostly substance that astronomers have failed to detect for decades, yet which we know has an enormous influence on normal matter in the universe, such as…
Category: Space
Astronomers find evidence that blue supergiant stars can be formed by the merger of two stars
Artistic image of a binary system of a red giant star and a younger companion that can merge to produce a blue supergiant. Credit: Casey Reed, NASA An international piece…
Heat to blame for space pebble demise
This meteoroid broke up by thermal stresses just before entering Earth’s atmosphere, creating a cluster of meteors over Norway on October 30, 2022, recorded by Allsky7 station AMS119 operated by…
Citizen Scientist Group Finds 15 Rare ‘Active Asteroids’
Not all asteroids are alike. Some of them, known as “active” asteroids, sport comet-like tails of gas and dust. Studying active asteroids could reveal clues to how the solar system…
Key test drive of Orion on NASA’s Artemis II to aid future missions
Credit: NASA Astronauts will test drive NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the first time during the agency’s Artemis II test flight next year. While many of the spacecraft’s maneuvers like big…
Astronomers discover a rare eclipsing X-ray binary
OGLE IV, Swift UVOT, and Swift XRT light curves for Swift J010902.6-723710. Credit: Gaudin et al, 2024 An international team of astronomers reports the detection of a rare eclipsing Be/X-ray…
Astrophysicist’s research could provide a hint in the search for dark matter
Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Coe (NASA JPL/Caltech and STScI) Dark matter is one of science’s greatest mysteries. It doesn’t absorb, reflect or emit light, so we can’t see it.…
As Voyager 1’s mission draws to a close, one planetary scientist reflects on its legacy
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain For nearly 50 years, NASA’s Voyager 1 mission has competed for the title of deep space’s little engine that could. Launched in 1977 along with its…
Explaining a Supernova’s ‘String of Pearls’
Physicists often use the Rayleigh-Taylor instability to explain why fluid structures form in plasmas, but research from the University of Michigan suggests that that may not be the full story…
What the climate of Arrakis can tell us about the hunt for habitable exoplanets
Credit: BFA / Warner Bros Frank Herbert’s Dune is epic sci-fi storytelling with an environmental message at its heart. The novels and movies are set on the desert planet of…
