In space, there are clouds that contain gas and dust ejected from stars. Our solar system was formed 4.6 billion years ago from such a molecular cloud. Most of these…
Category: Space
Newborn moon may have had many mini-siblings in Earth orbit long ago
When Earth and our moon were much closer together than they are now, the duo could have had tiny companions, or a disk revolving around them in orbits around the…
NASA says chances are growing that astronauts may switch from Boeing to a SpaceX ride back to Earth
This photo provided by NASA shows Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft which launched astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station docked to the Harmony module’s forward port on…
Image: Doomed star Eta Carinae
Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt Eta Carinae may be about to explode. But no one knows when—it may be next year, it may be 1 million…
NASA moon probe plays laser tag with Japanese lunar lander
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been playing a very interesting game of hide-and-seek with Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), which touched down on the lunar surface on…
Astronomy ‘Olympics’ is being hosted in Africa for the first time: Four big talking points
The South African Astronomical Observatory in Sutherland, in the country’s Northern Cape province. Credit: IAU General Assembly 2024 Cutting-edge telescopes, gravitational waves, black holes and our solar system’s central star,…
SpaceX knocks out company’s 50th Space Coast launch of the year
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain SpaceX shot up three Falcon 9 rockets from three launch pads last weekend once the Federal Aviation Administration gave its grounded rocket the OK to return…
Scientists pin down the origins of the moon’s tenuous atmosphere
The barely-there lunar atmosphere is likely the product of meteorite impacts over billions of years, a new study finds. While the moon lacks any breathable air, it does host a…
Scientists discuss why we might not spot solar panel technosignatures
Conceptual image of an exoplanet with an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. Structures on the right are orbiting solar panel arrays that harvest light from the parent star and convert it into…
Scientists pin down the origins of the moon’s tenuous atmosphere
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain While the moon lacks any breathable air, it does host a barely-there atmosphere. Since the 1980s, astronomers have observed a very thin layer of atoms bouncing…
