Filipp at his laptop. Credit: Filipp Romanov. Astronomy is increasingly becoming an online affair. Recent discoveries of interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS and R2 SWAN have highlighted this fact, when both were…
Category: Planetary Science
Simulations show Saturn’s moon Enceladus shoots less ice into space than previous estimates
Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus loses ice mass to space by cryovolcanic geyers, and new TACC supercomputer simulations have improved estimates of ice mass loss. These findings help with understanding and…
Icy planetesimal with high nitrogen and water content discovered in white dwarf’s atmosphere
Artist’s impression of white dwarf WD 1647+375 accreting icy planetary fragments from a pluto-like world, creating the chemical signature idenfitifed in this study. Credit: Snehalata Sahu / University of Warwick…
JWST searches for stars in a glowing gas cloud
Stars, gas and cosmic dust in the Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud glow in near-infrared light, captured by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera). In this light, astronomers see more of the region’s…
Rogue planet SIMP-0136 displays strong auroral activity similar to Northern Lights
An artistic impression of SIMP-0136. Credit: Dr. Evert Nasedkin Strong Northern Lights-like activity is the standout feature of today’s weather report, which is coming at you from a strange, extrasolar…
Double launch day complete with SpaceX, ULA successes
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A busy week on the Space Coast saw two rockets launch within hours of one another as both SpaceX and United Launch Alliance had missions to…
Gravitational wave detectors affected by daylight savings time
Aerial view of the LIGO observatory in Hanford, Washington. Credit: LIGO Observatory Interference from human activity has always been a sticking point in astronomical observations. Radio astronomy is notoriously sensitive…
NASA launches mission to study sun-fueled solar bubble
Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett A NASA mission to study the heliosphere—the sun’s magnetic bubble that shields our solar system—and develop a better understanding of space weather was launched from the agency’s…
