Resolving long-standing mysteries about the first parallaxes in astronomy
In 1838, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel won the race to measure the first distance to a star other than our Sun via the trigonometric parallax—setting the first scale of the universe.
View ArticleAccessing the arches of chaos in the solar system for fast transport
Space manifolds form the boundaries of dynamic channels to provide fast transport to the innermost and outermost reaches of the solar system. Such features are an important element in spacecraft...
View ArticleSpace mining is not science fiction, and Canada could figure prominently
In this era of climate crisis, space mining is a topic of increasing relevance. The need for a net-zero carbon economy requires a surge in the supply of non-renewable natural resources such as battery...
View ArticleHow scientists are 'looking' inside asteroids
Asteroids can pose a threat to life on Earth but are also a valuable source of resources to make fuel or water to aid deep space exploration. Devoid of geological and atmospheric processes, these space...
View ArticleRare 4000-year comets can cause meteor showers on Earth
Comets that circle the Sun in very elongated orbits spread their debris so thin along their orbit or eject it out of the solar system altogether so that their meteor showers are hard to detect. From a...
View ArticleHow the universe is reflected near black holes
In the vicinity of black holes, space is so warped that even light rays may curve around them several times. This phenomenon may enable us to see multiple versions of the same thing. While this has...
View ArticleEuclid telescope ready for extreme space environment
ESA's Euclid mission has reached a new milestone in its development with successful testing of the telescope and instruments showing that it can operate and achieve the required performance in the...
View ArticleResearchers recreate deep-Earth conditions to see how iron copes with extreme...
Far below you lies a sphere of solid iron and nickel about as wide as the broadest part of Texas: the Earth's inner core. The metal at the inner core is under pressure about 360 million times higher...
View ArticleEarliest known report of ball lightning phenomenon in England discovered
Researchers have discovered what appears to be the earliest known account of a rare weather phenomenon called ball lightning in England.
View ArticleTo navigate the heavens, take a seat
Students and visitors have undoubtedly wondered about the peculiar, spherical sculpture on the rooftop of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. With its giant metallic rails looping...
View ArticleGaia snaps photo of Webb at L2
Both spacecraft are located in orbits around the Lagrange point 2 (L2), 1.5 million km from Earth in the direction away from the Sun. Gaia arrived there in 2014, and Webb in January 2022.
View ArticleFuture of Earth's defense is ground-based planetary radar
Powerful radar systems have played a major role in the study of planets, moons, asteroids, and other objects in our Solar System for several decades, and now have a "unique role" to play in planetary...
View Article3D reconstruction reveals star formation activities of two dust clouds
Using tens of thousands of stars observed by the Gaia space probe, astronomers from MPIA and Chalmers have revealed the 3D shapes of two large star-forming molecular clouds, the California Cloud and...
View ArticleHow superwinds help drive galactic development
Galactic superwinds—large outflows of gas created by a combination of supernova explosions and stellar winds—are closely connected to a galaxy's earliest stages of development and evolution, including...
View ArticleLooking back from beyond the moon: How views from space have changed the way...
A photograph taken by NASA's Orion spacecraft has given us a new perspective on our home planet.
View ArticleResearch student helps build radio source catalog
Bailee Wolf, a student at The Ohio State University, has a tool to better process radio data, and it could help future spacecraft navigate through the solar system.
View ArticleNew NASA DART data prove viability of asteroid deflection as planetary...
NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) was Earth's first attempt at launching a spacecraft to intentionally collide with and deflect an asteroid as a planetary defense technique. On September...
View ArticleTeam builds and tests calibrator for NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope...
A vital subsystem for NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope was recently delivered to Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado, and installed in the spacecraft's Wide Field Instrument (WFI). Called the...
View ArticlePossible first evidence for supermassive stars at the origin of globular...
Globular clusters are the most massive and oldest star clusters in the universe. They can contain up to 1 million stars. The chemical composition of these stars, born at the same time, shows anomalies...
View ArticleAn 800-year-old mathematical trick could help with lunar navigation
Kamilla Cziráki, a geophysics student at the Faculty of Science of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), has taken a new approach to researching the navigation systems that can be used on the surface of the...
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