The sparkling band of the Milky Way Galaxy backdrops the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope, located at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R.T. Sparks When Albert Einstein introduced his theory…
Category: Planetary Science
WEAVE spectrograph uncovers dual nature of galaxy shock
WEAVE decomposition of gas in Stephan’s Quintet, overlaid on a JWST image. The red highlights gas shocked by the collision, while green and blue shows star-forming regions. The purple areas…
The dark energy pushing our universe apart may not be what it seems, scientists say
This Dec. 14, 2023 image made available by NOIRLab shows meteors from the Geminid meteor shower streaking across the sky above the Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National…
Oldest direct evidence of hot water activity on Mars found
A sample of the Martian meteorite known as Black Beauty. Credit: Curtin University/Aaron Cavosie New Curtin University-led research has uncovered what may be the oldest direct evidence of ancient hot…
2 million mph galaxy smash-up seen in unprecedented detail
WEAVE data overlaid on a James Webb Space Telescope image of Stephan’s Quintet, with green contours showing radio data from the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope. The orange and…
Origin of life research finds RNA can favor both left- and right-handed proteins
A diagram of left-handed and right-handed versions of the amino acid isovaline, found in the Murchison meteorite. Credit: NASA The mystery of why life uses molecules with specific orientations has…
Chandra and Hubble tune into ‘flame-throwing’ Guitar Nebula
Outline of the guitar shape in the X-ray and optical image. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Stanford Univ./M. de Vries et al.; Optical: (Hubble) NASA/ESA/STScI and (Palomar) Hale Telescope/Palomar/CalTech; Illustrated outline: NASA/CXC/K. DiVona;…
New DESI data shed light on gravity’s pull in the universe
DESI observes the sky from the Mayall Telescope, shown here during the 2023 Geminid meteor shower. Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Sparks Gravity has shaped our cosmos. Its attractive influence turned tiny differences…
How we’ll land large payloads on the Red Planet
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Back in 2007, I talked with Rob Manning, engineer extraordinaire at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and he told me something shocking. Even though he had successfully…
A new way to detect daisy worlds
Daisy Worlds are planets where the biosphere regulates the environment to keep it habitable. Earth is one, sort of. Can we use information theory to identify agnostic biosignatures from these…
