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Tech - Universe Today - 55 minutes ago

A Glittering Stellar Nursery Shines In New JWST Image

This sparkling scene of star birth was captured by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. What appears to be a craggy, starlit mountaintop kissed by wispy clouds is actually a cosmic dust-scape being eaten away by the blistering winds and radiation of nearby, massive, infant stars.

Tech - Universe Today - 6 hours ago

The Murchison Widefield Array Just Doubled In Size - What Could It Find Now?

Radio astronomy took another step forward recently, with the completion of Phase III of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Western Australia. We’ve reported before on how the MWA has investigated everything from SETI signals to the light from the earliest stars. WIth this upgrade, the MWA will continue to operate with much needed improvements while the radio astronomy awaits the completion of the successor it helped enable - the Square Kilometer Array (SKA).

Tech - Universe Today - 17 hours ago

Juno Detects Callisto's "Footprints" in Jupiter's Aurorae

Jupiter hosts the brightest and most spectacular auroras in the Solar System, and its largest moons (the Galileans) create their own auroral signatures known as “satellite footprints” in the planet’s atmosphere. Until now, astronomers had detected the auroral signatures of three Galileans (Io, Europa, and Ganymede), but not Callisto. Thanks to an international team, close-up images of Callisto's footprints have been seen at last.

Tech - Universe Today - 22 hours ago

The JWST's New Contribution To Understanding The Cosmic Dawn: MINERVA

The JWST is performing a new multi-wavelength survey called MINERVA (Medium-band Imaging with NIRCam to Explore ReVolutionary Astrophysics). It'll study four extragalactic fields in greater detail and depth, and will help us understand the Cosmic Dawn.

Tech - Universe Today - 1 day ago

Clues In A Dusty Disk Point The Way To A Potential Exoplanet

Astronomers struggle to detect small exoplanets directly. One tool they use is to search for the effects these planets have on debris disks around stars. Clues in these disks tell astronomers where they can find sub-Jupiter mass exoplanets.

Tech - Universe Today - 1 day ago

Catch the Final Total Lunar Eclipse of 2025 Sunday Night

Live in the eastern hemisphere? If skies are clear, you have a chance to see a remarkable sight this Sunday night into Monday morning: the ‘Blood Moon’ of a total lunar eclipse. The eclipse favors the Indian Ocean region in its entirety. Europe sees the eclipse already underway at Moonrise, while Australia catches it in progress at Moonset. Only the Americas sit this one out in person... though you can still catch it live online.

Tech - Universe Today - 1 day ago

BlueDOGs Might Evolve From Little Red Dots

One of the most difficult parts of astronomy is understanding how time affects it. The farther away you look in the universe, the farther back you look in time. One way this complicates things is how objects might change over time. For example, a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy in the early universe might appear one way to our modern telescopes, but the same supermassive black hole might appear completely differently a few billion years later. Understanding the connection betwe...

Tech - Universe Today - 1 day ago

Astronomers Use a Double-Lensing Technique to Study a Supermassive Black Hole

An international team of astronomers led by Matus Rybak (Leiden University, Netherlands) has proven, thanks to accidental double zoom, that millimetre radiation is generated close to the core of a supermassive black hole. Their findings have been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Tech - Universe Today - 1 day ago

The Butterfly Star And Its Planet-Forming Disk

The so-called Butterfly star gets its name from its edge-on appearance. The star's protoplanetary disk blocks out starlight revealing a nebula, or butterfly wing, on each side. Deeper JWST observations show the disk is tilted and asymmetrical, which affects how planets form.

Tech - Universe Today - 2 days ago

Ionic Liquids Could Form Naturally And Replace Water As A Biological Solvent

Water is key to life as we know it. But that doesn’t mean its key to life everywhere. Despite the fact that the ability to house liquid water is one of the key characteristics we look for in potentially habitable exoplanets, there is nothing written in stone about the fact that life has to use water as a solvent as opposed to other liquid options. A new paper from researchers at MIT, including those who are developing missions to look for life on Venus, shows there might be an alternative - ioni...

Tech - Universe Today - 2 days ago

Webb's Images of Early Galaxies are Providing Fresh Insights into the Early Universe

Images taken with the MIRI infrared camera on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have made it possible to observe the first galaxies in long-wavelength infrared light for the first time. Alongside a recent study published in Astronomy and Astrophysics, these images provide new insights into how the first galaxies formed over 13 billion years ago.

Tech - Universe Today - 2 days ago

Red Galaxies Provide New Insights into the Birth of the Universe

Images taken with the MIRI infrared camera on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have made it possible to observe the first galaxies in long-wavelength infrared light for the first time. Alongside a recent study published in Astronomy and Astrophysics, these images provide new insights into how the first galaxies formed over 13 billion years ago.

Tech - Universe Today - 2 days ago

Chandra Peers Into A Supernova's Troubled Heart

NASA's Chandra Reveals Star's Inner Conflict Before Explosion - https://chandra.si.edu/press/25_releases/press_082825.html

Tech - Universe Today - 3 days ago

Metals Are Critical To Life - We Should Screen Exoplanets For Them

Life is complicated, and not just in a philosophical sense. But one simple thing we know about life is that it requires energy, and to get that energy it needs certain fundamental elements. A new paper in preprint on arXiv from Giovanni Covone and Donato Giovannelli from the University of Naples discusses how we might use that constraint to narrow our search for stars and planets that could potentially harbor life. To put it simply, if it doesn’t have many of the constituent parts of the “buildi...

Tech - Universe Today - 4 days ago

Cosmic Butterfly Unlocks Secrets of How Rocky Planets Form

Deep in the constellation Scorpius, about 3,400 light years from Earth, a spectacular cosmic butterfly is revealing fundamental secrets about how worlds like our own came to exist. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have peered into the heart of the Butterfly Nebula and discovered clues that could transform our understanding of rocky planet formation.

Tech - Universe Today - 4 days ago

Photochemistry and Climate Modeling of Earth-like Exoplanets

What role can the relationship between oxygen (O2) and ozone (O3) in exoplanet atmospheres have on detecting biosignatures? This is what a recent study submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysics hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated novel methods for identifying and analyzing Earth-like atmospheres. This study has the potential to help scientists develop new methods for identifying exoplanet biosignatures, and potentially life as we know it.

Tech - Universe Today - 4 days ago

Scientists Solve the Mystery of Why Similar Asteroids Look Different Colours

When NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft returned from its mission to asteroid Bennu in 2023, it brought back more than just ancient space rocks, it delivered answers to puzzles that have baffled astronomers for years. Among the most intriguing questions was why asteroids that should look identical through telescopes appear strikingly different colours from Earth.

Tech - Universe Today - 5 days ago

What Technosignatures Would Interstellar Objects Have?

The recent discovery of the third known interstellar object (ISO), 3I/ATLAS, has brought about another round of debate on whether these objects could potentially be technological in origin. Everything from random YouTube channels to tenured Harvard professors have thoughts about whether ISOs might actually be spaceships, but the general consensus of the scientific community is that they aren’t. Overturning that consensus would require a lot of “extraordinary evidence”, and a new paper led by Jam...

Tech - Universe Today - 5 days ago

3I/ATLAS's Coma Is Largely Carbon Dioxide

All (or at least most) astronomical eyes are on 3I/ATLAS, our most recent interstellar visitor that was discovered in early July. Given its relatively short observational window in our solar system, and especially its impending perihelion in October, a lot of observational power has been directed towards it. That includes the most powerful space telescope of them all - and a recent paper pre-printed on arXiv describes what the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) discovered in the comet’s coma. It ...

Tech - Universe Today - 5 days ago

Scientists Crack the Code of the Galaxy's Most Mysterious Steam Worlds

Imagine worlds where water exists in forms so exotic that they defy our everyday understanding of matter, where the familiar liquid we drink every day transforms into something that behaves like neither gas nor liquid. These aren't science fiction fantasies, but real planets that represent some of the most common worlds in our Galaxy, and scientists at UC Santa Cruz have just developed new models to understand them.

Tech - Universe Today - 5 days ago

New Insights into Coronal Heating and Solar Wind Acceleration

What processes are responsible for our Sun’s solar wind, heat, and energy? This is what a recent study published in Physical Review X hopes to address as a team of researchers presented evidence for a newly discovered type of barrier that the Sun exhibits that could help explain the transfer of energy to heat within the Sun’s outer atmosphere. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the underlying mechanisms for what drives our Sun and what this could mean for learning ...

Tech - Universe Today - 5 days ago

Scientists Discover Unusual Plasma Waves in Jupiter's Aurora

In the cold darkness above Jupiter's poles, where temperatures plummet to hundreds of degrees below zero, something remarkable is happening that challenges our understanding of planetary science. Using data from NASA's Juno spacecraft, researchers have uncovered a completely new type of plasma phenomenon that creates auroras that can only be seen with specialised instruments, revealing that our Solar System's largest planet operates by rules we never knew existed.

Tech - Universe Today - 5 days ago

Binary Star Evolution as a Driver of Planet Formation

What can binary star systems teach astronomers about the formation and evolution of planets orbiting them? This is what a recent study published in Nature hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated past studies that claimed a specific binary star system could host a planet demonstrating a retrograde orbit, meaning it orbits in the opposite direction of the star’s rotation. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand binary and multiple star systems, specifically ...

Tech - Universe Today - 5 days ago

The ESA Restores Communications with JUICE at Venus

The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) suffered a communications anomaly on its way Venus for a gravity-assist maneuver. Thanks to swift and coordinated action by the teams at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) and Airbus, communications were restored in time to prepare for its upcoming flyby with Venus.

Tech - Universe Today - 6 days ago

World's Most Powerful Solar Telescope Captures Breathtaking Image of Solar Flare

On August 8, 2024, the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii achieved a historic milestone by capturing the sharpest images ever taken of a solar flare. The unprecedented observations revealed coronal loops in stunning detail. The arches of superheated plasma following the Sun's magnetic field lines were captured at such resolution that it’s possible to see individual structures as narrow as 21 kilometres across.

Tech - Universe Today - 6 days ago

Habitable Planet Potential Increases in the Outer Galaxy

What can the Galactic Habitable Zone (GHZ), which is a galaxy’s region where complex life is hypothesized to be able to evolve, teach scientists about finding the correct stars that could have habitable planets? This is what a recent study accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated a connection between the migration of stars, commonly called stellar migration, and what this could mean for finding habitable planets ...

Tech - Universe Today - 6 days ago

A Massive Virtual Radio Telescope Spots A Ribbon-like Jet Of Super-heated Plasma

Astronomers used a powerful virtual radio telescope to observe a distant active galaxy. The observations revealed a ribbon-like jet of super-heated plasma. The plasma reaches temperatures of more than 10 trillion Kelvin, indicating that a pair of supermassive black holes are energizing the center of the galaxy.

Tech - Universe Today - 7 days ago

A New Method For Producing Oxygen Using Magnets

Since sending the first human into space in the 1960s, the solution to one key challenge has remained elusive: the efficient and reliable production of oxygen in space. On the International Space Station, this problem is addressed by heavy and energy-intensive systems that are not ideal for long-duration space missions.

Tech - Universe Today - 7 days ago

"Soot Planets" Might Be More Common Than "Water Worlds"

According to astronomers, water worlds, though admittedly not those containing Kevin Costner, are one of the most common types of planets in our solar system. This is partly due to low density estimates and the abundance of water ice past the “snow line” orbit of a star. But a new paper led by Jie Li and their colleagues at the University of Michigan, suggests there might be an alternative type of planet that fits the density data but is made up of a completely different type of material - soot.

Tech - Universe Today - 7 days ago

Astronomers Discover One of the Most Massive Binary Stars in the Galaxy

Deep in one of our Galaxy's most spectacular star forming regions, astronomers have undertaken the most detailed look yet at a pair of stellar giants that rank among the heaviest stars ever directly measured in the Milky Way. The binary system NGC 3603-A1, located 25,000 light years from Earth, consists of two massive stars locked in an incredibly tight orbital dance.

Tech - Universe Today - 7 days ago

Ancient "Molten Rock Raindrops" Reveal When Jupiter Was Born

Hidden within meteorites that fall to Earth are tiny spheres that have puzzled scientists for decades. These mysterious droplets, called chondrules, are time capsules from the birth of our Solar Syste and now, a team from Japan and Italy have used them to pinpoint exactly when Jupiter formed, solving a long standing planetary mystery.

Tech - Universe Today - 7 days ago

The Great Filter Part 4: We’ve Got a Chance

Wait wait wait. There are other, less stressful options. I don’t want to end on such a downer note. There is hope for us yet!

Tech - Universe Today - 8 days ago

Revolutionary Model Reveals How Real Universe Structure Affects Cosmic Evolution

For nearly a century, cosmologists have relied on a simplified model of the universe that treats matter as uniform particles that don't interact with each other. While this approach helped scientists understand the Big Bang and the expansion of space, it ignores a fundamental reality, that our universe is anything but uniform. Stars cluster into galaxies, matter collapses into black holes, and vast empty voids stretch across space, all constantly interacting through gravity and other forces.

Tech - Universe Today - 8 days ago

White Dwarf Stars Could Create Surprisingly Common Long Lived Habitable Zones

When most stars like the Sun die, they don't go out with a bang, they fade away as white dwarf stars, Earth-sized remnants that slowly cool over billions of years. For decades, it was thought these stellar corpses were poor candidates for hosting life because they cool predictably, giving any orbiting planets only brief windows in the "habitable zone" where liquid water could exist. But new research suggests this assumption may be fundamentally wrong.

Tech - Universe Today - 8 days ago

TESS Spotted 3I/ATLAS Two Months Before It Was Discovered - It Was Even Active Then

One of the advantages of having so many telescopes watching large parts of the sky is that, if astronomers find something interesting, there are probably images of it from before it was officially discovered sitting in the data archives of other satellites that noone thought to look at. That has certainly been the case for our newest interstellar visitor, 3I/ATLAS, which, though discovered in early July, had been visible on other telescopes as early as May. We previously reported on Vera Rubin’s...

Tech - Universe Today - 8 days ago

A New Theory of the Universe’s Origins Without Inflation

How exactly did the universe start and how did these processes determine its formation and evolution? This is what a recent study published in Physical Review Research hopes to address as a team of researchers from Spain and Italy proposed a new model for the events that transpired immediately after the birth of the universe. This study has the potential to challenge longstanding theories regarding the exact processes that occurred at the beginning of the universe, along with how these processes...

Tech - Universe Today - 9 days ago

Asteroid Bennu Is Like A Time Capsule From The Early Solar System

New research based on samples from asteroid Bennu show that the asteroid contains materials from throughout the Solar System. Some of its materials are from even more distant realms: the asteroid contains stardust from stars that existed long before our Solar System did.

Tech - Universe Today - 9 days ago

The Great Filter Part 3: This is the End

What about the middle stages? The march from single-celled organisms doing their single-celled thing to intelligent creatures that can wield tools and leave feedback reviews about them?

Tech - Universe Today - 9 days ago

GJ 1132 b Doesn't Have An Atmosphere, According To New JWST Data

Astronomers sometimes find conflicting data when trying to answer a question. This is a normal part of the scientific process, and it simply means that more data is needed to prove or disprove the theory they are trying to test. One prominent example of conflicting data in recent exoplanet research was that of planet GJ 1132 b, which either had or didn’t have an atmosphere, depending on which data set was being used. A new paper from researchers using more observational time on the James Webb Sp...

Tech - Universe Today - 9 days ago

Parabolic Flights to Test Electrolyzer for Future Moon and Mars Missions

What can parabolic flights teach scientists and engineers about electrolyzers and how the latter can help advance human missions to the Moon and Mars? This is the goal of a recent grant awarded to the Mars Atmospheric Reactor for Synthesis of Consumables (MARS-C) project, which is sponsored by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). The $500,000 award for this research is part of NASA’s TechLeap Prize program with the goal of testing experimenta...

Tech - Universe Today - 9 days ago

Mystery Objects in the Distant Universe Challenge Galaxy Formation Ideas

The early Universe continues to spring surprises on astronomers. In a recent study of dim, distant objects, astronomers at the University of Missouri found at least 300 of them that look way too bright. That means they're forming stars much earlier than expected, or something else is going on. Whatever it is could affect our understanding of events in the infant cosmos.

Tech - Universe Today - 9 days ago

A Blaze of Glory: SpaceX's Starship Goes the Distance in 10th Flight Test

After a string of setbacks, SpaceX executed the most successful flight test of its Starship launch system to date, featuring a first-of-its-kind payload deployment and a thrilling Indian Ocean splashdown.

Tech - Universe Today - 9 days ago

JWST Improves Its Detection Techniques, But Fails To Find Planets at Epsilon Eridani

Sometimes in science a negative result is just as important as a positive one. And sometimes data artifacts get the better of even the best space observatories. Both of those ideas seem to hold true for the James Webb Space Telescope’s recent observation of Epsilon Eridani, one of our nearest stars, and one that has decades worth of debate about whether there is a planet orbiting it or not. Unfortunately, while JWST’s NIRCam did find some interesting features, they were too close to a noise sour...

Tech - Universe Today - 9 days ago

Could Exoplanets Help in the Search for Dark Matter?

According to a recent study by a team from the University of California, Riverside, exoplanets could be used by astronomers to investigate Dark Matter - the mysterious mass that makes up 85% of matter in the Universe.

Tech - Universe Today - 9 days ago

NASA's Perseverance Rover Studies Giant Sand Ripples on Mars

NASA's Perseverance rover has turned its attention to towering sand formations called megaripples at a site named Kerrlaguna on Mars. These windblown features, standing up to 1 metre tall, are providing new insights into how wind shapes the red planet today and could even help prepare for future human missions to Mars.

Tech - Universe Today - 9 days ago

Catching Ghost Particles in Real Time

Scientists at the South Pole have developed revolutionary new algorithms that can track mysterious particles coming from space called neutrinos in just 30 seconds, helping astronomers around the world hunt for the sources of cosmic radiation. This breakthrough technology has already eliminated some promising candidates and is transforming our ability to solve one of the universe's greatest mysteries.

Tech - Universe Today - 9 days ago

The Mystery of the Vanishing Star

A star 3,000 light years away pulled off the ultimate disappearing act, dimming by 97% for eight months before mysteriously returning to full brightness. This unexpected vanishing trick has finally been solved by astronomers who discovered a massive dust disk and a hidden companion star orchestrating one of the rarest eclipsing events ever observed, a one in a million phenomenon that won't happen again until 2068.

Tech - Universe Today - 9 days ago

High-Mass Stars Are Fed By Elongated Streamers Of Gas

Stars with eight or more stellar masses are termed high-mass stars. There are questions around how these stars can become so massive, since as they form they lose mass through stellar winds and radiation. New research shows that elongated streams of gas that feed these stars explains their high masses.

Tech - Universe Today - 9 days ago

The Exposed Core Of This Supernova Is A Headscratcher

For the first time, astrophysicists have spotted a supernova right before it explodes. This is a rare glimpse inside a massive star before it meets its doom. The star was stripped down to its core, and the observations confirm theories that show stars have onion-like layers.

Tech - Universe Today - 9 days ago

The Great Filter Part 2: We’ve Made It Through

Now versions of the Great Filter argument had been around for decades (just like Fermi was not the first person to ask where everybody is), but the most comprehensive form of the argument comes from Robin Hanson in 1996.

Tech - Universe Today - 10 days ago

Researchers Pinpoint A Non-Repeating FRB To Within A Few Light Years

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are some of the most powerful signals in the universe. They can emit as much power in a few milliseconds as our Sun does in several days. Despite their strength, we still don’t have a definitive answer to what causes them. That is partly because, at least for the ones that only happen once, they are really hard to point down. But a new extension to the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) might provide the resolution needed to determine where non-repeat...

Tech - Universe Today - 10 days ago

A Promising New Method for Detecting Supernovae at Record Speed

A new study led by the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) in Barcelona presents a new method and protocol for detecting supernovae within days. Their findings are crucial to astronomers hoping to learn more about these powerful events and the life cycles of stars.

Tech - Universe Today - 10 days ago

New Study Rocks Jupiter's Giant Impact Theory

Scientists thought they had Jupiter figured out until NASA's Juno spacecraft peered inside our Solar System’s largest planet and discovered something completely unexpected. Jupiter doesn't have the solid, well defined core that researchers had imagined, instead, Jupiter's core is mysteriously fuzzy and blurred, defying everything we thought we knew about how giant planets form. Now, powerful computer simulations are overturning the leading theory about how this strange structure came to be, sugg...

Tech - Universe Today - 10 days ago

Space Rocks Tell Tale of Shared Ancient Past

Asteroids floating through our Solar System are debris left over from when our planetary neighbourhood formed 4.6 billion years ago. Scientists study these ancient fragments as time capsules that reveal secrets about our Solar System's earliest days. Now, new research has uncovered a surprising connection between two completely different types of asteroids that may actually share the same dramatic origin story.

Tech - Universe Today - 10 days ago

Roman Space Telescope Joins Earth's Asteroid Defence Team

When NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launches in October 2026, it won't just be peering into the distant universe to study dark energy and exoplanets. This powerful observatory will also serve as Earth's newest guardian, helping scientists track and understand potentially dangerous asteroids and comets that could threaten our planet.

Tech - Universe Today - 11 days ago

The Great Filter Part 1: The Legacy of Fermi’s Paradox

Where is everybody? For decades that question was merely a part of physics legend, the kind of thing grad students overhear when their advisors take them out to dinner.

Tech - Universe Today - 11 days ago

The "Wow!" Signal Gets An Update - It Was Even Strong Than We Thought

The “Wow!” signal has been etched red marker in the memory of advocates for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) since its unveiling in 1977. To this day, it remains one of the most enigmatic radio frequency signals ever found. Now a new paper from a wide collection of authors, including some volunteers, provides some corrections, and some new insights, into both the signal and its potential causes.

Tech - Universe Today - 11 days ago

Finding Life Using Old Instruments In New Ways

A Ph.D. student and his supervisor at Imperial College London have developed a simple way to test for active life on Mars and other planets using equipment already on the Mars Curiosity rover and planned for future use on the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover.

Tech - Universe Today - 11 days ago

NASA Researchers Show How Ceres Could Have Once Been Habitable

The dwarf planet is cold now, but new research paints a picture of Ceres hosting a deep, long-lived energy source that may have maintained habitable conditions in the past.

Tech - Universe Today - 11 days ago

How the Apollo Missions Unlocked the Origins of the Moon

You know, if you think about it, and trust me we’re about to, the Moon is kind of weird.

Tech - Universe Today - 12 days ago

Advancing Lunar Habitats with Thermoelectric Power Generation

How can thermoelectric generators (TEGs) help advance future lunar surface habitats? This is what a recent study published in Acta Astronautica hopes to address as a team of researchers from the Republic of Korea investigated a novel technique for improving power efficiency and reliability under the Moon’s harsh conditions. This study has the potential to help mission planners, engineers, and future astronauts develop technologies necessary for deep space human exploration to the Moon and beyond...

Tech - Universe Today - 12 days ago

New Study Suggests We Should Search for "Spillover" from Extraterrestrial Radio Communications

New analysis of human deep space communications suggests the most likely places to detect signals from an extraterrestrial intelligence.

Tech - Universe Today - 12 days ago

The Moon’s Dirty Past

How do you tell how old an astronomical object is? I mean, the next time the Moon is in the sky, take a look at it. How would you even begin to answer that question?

Tech - Universe Today - 13 days ago

A Bone Loss Experiment is Headed For the ISS

The 33rd SpaceX commercial resupply services mission for NASA, scheduled to lift off from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in late August, is heading to the International Space Station with an important investigation for the future of bone health.

Tech - Universe Today - 14 days ago

Stem Cells Preserved in Space Have Produced Healthy "Space Mice"

Using stem cells from mice, researchers from Kyoto University tested the potential damage spaceflight can have on spermatazoa stem cells and the resulting offspring. After six months aboard the ISS, the stem cells were used to successfully produce healthy offspring.

Tech - Universe Today - 14 days ago

What is the Moon Made Of? (Hint: It’s Not Cheese)

A set of instruments shut off almost 50 years ago are still producing useful results. It’s the seismometers left by the Apollo missions to monitor moonquakes, which as the name suggests are earthquakes but on the Moon.

Tech - Universe Today - 14 days ago

Halley-Like Comets Could Have Seeded Earth With Water

Comets are like the archeological sites of the solar system. They formed early on, and their composition helps us understand what the area around the early Sun was like, potentially even before any planets were formed. A new paper from researchers at a variety of US and European institutions used the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) to capture detailed spatial spectral images of comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, which is very similar to the famous Halley’s comet, and might hold clues to where the wate...

Tech - Universe Today - 14 days ago

Another Earth-like Exoplanet Crossed Off The List: The JWST Shows That GJ 3929b Has No Atmosphere

In 2022, astronomers announced the discovery of GJ 3929b. It's a rocky planet, similar to Earth in both mass and size. Astronomers have examined the planet with the JWST and concluded that it's a barren world with no atmosphere.

Tech - Universe Today - 15 days ago

Uranus' 29th Moon Can't Hide From The JWST

The JWST has found another moon orbiting Uranus. It's the planet's 29th known moon, and it bears the uninspiring, temporary name S/2025 U1. It's too small and faint to be detected by the Hubble, or by Voyager 2, the only spacecraft to visit the ice giant.

Tech - Universe Today - 15 days ago

The Stunning Astrogeology of the Apollo Missions

Neil Armstrong almost made a mistake. He had found an interesting rock sticking out of a formation. Curious to see what the rock was made of, he needed to examine its interior more closely. So he reached for his hammer and took a swing.

Tech - Universe Today - 15 days ago

Sensors Could Permanently Fly In The "Ignorosphere" Using Novel Propulsion Technique

Earth’s atmosphere is large, extending out to around 10,000 km from the surface of the planet. It’s so large, in fact, that scientists break it into five separate sections, and there’s one particular section that hasn’t got a whole lot of attention due to the difficulty in keeping any craft afloat there. Planes and balloons can visit the troposphere and stratosphere, the two sections closest to the ground, while satellites can sit in orbit in the thermosphere and exosphere, allowing for a platfo...

Tech - Universe Today - 15 days ago

A New Model for Early Black Hole Formation Could Revolutionize Cosmologicy

A new theoretical study by University of Virginia astrophysicist Jonathan Tan, a research professor with the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Astronomy, proposes a comprehensive framework for the birth of supermassive black holes.

Tech - Universe Today - 15 days ago

NASA Commanded Psyche To Turn Around And Capture Images Of Earth And The Moon

New images from NASA's Psyche spacecraft show that its cameras are working just fine. By pointing them at Earth and the Moon, NASA was able to test the spacecraft's cameras and science instruments. Since both bodies reflect light like Psyche, and since their spectra are familiar, it's a valuable opportunity to test and calibrate the instruments.

Tech - Universe Today - 15 days ago

Roman's High-Latitude Time-Domain Survey Will Find Tens of Thousands of Supernovae

For thousands of years, humanity viewed the skies as unchanging, except for a few “wandering stars” (that we now know are planets). As we improved our ability to perceive the cosmos with light-gathering telescopes and electronic detectors, we realized that the universe is full of things that change in brightness, whether it be an exploding star or a matter-gulping black hole. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is poised to deliver an avalanche of such transients, including thousands of “st...

Tech - Universe Today - 15 days ago

NASA Roman Core Survey Will Trace Cosmic Expansion Over Time

For thousands of years, humanity viewed the skies as unchanging, except for a few “wandering stars” (that we now know are planets). As we improved our ability to perceive the cosmos with light-gathering telescopes and electronic detectors, we realized that the universe is full of things that change in brightness, whether it be an exploding star or a matter-gulping black hole. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is poised to deliver an avalanche of such transients, including thousands of “st...

Tech - Universe Today - 15 days ago

These Rare Star Systems Are A New Tool To Understand Brown Dwarfs

The discovery of an extremely rare quadruple star system could significantly advance our understanding of brown dwarfs, astronomers say. Brown dwarfs in wide binary orbits offer a chance to determine their properties more clearly.

Tech - Universe Today - 16 days ago

SpaceX to Launch Secret X-37B Space Plane Thursday

The hunt will be on shortly, to once again recover a clandestine mission in low Earth orbit. SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon-9 rocket from launch pad LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center Thursday night August 21st, with the classified USSF-36 mission. The U.S. Space Force has announced that this is the eighth mission for its fleet of two Orbital Test Vehicles (OTV-8). This is the automated ‘mini-space shuttle’ about the size of a large SUV that launches like a rocket, and lands like a plane.

Tech - Universe Today - 16 days ago

Using Video Game Techniques To Optimize Solar Sails

Sometimes inspiration can strike from the most unexpected places. It can result in a cross-pollination between ideas commonly used in one field but applied to a completely different one. That might have been the case with a recent paper on lightsail design from researchers at the University of Nottingham that used techniques typically used in video games to develop a new and improved structure of a lightsail.

Tech - Universe Today - 16 days ago

Using Video Game Techniques To Optimze Solar Sails

Sometimes inspiration can strike from the most unexpected places. It can result in a cross-pollination between ideas commonly used in one field but applied to a completely different one. That might have been the case with a recent paper on lightsail design from researchers at the University of Nottingham that used techniques typically used in video games to develop a new and improved structure of a lightsail.

Tech - Universe Today - 16 days ago

Tidal Forces and Orbital Evolution of Habitable Zone Planets

How do tidal forces determine a planet’s orbital evolution, specifically planets in the habitable zone? This is what a recently submitted study hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated how tidal forces far more powerful than experienced on Earth could influence orbital evolution of habitable zone planets with highly eccentric orbits around low-mass stars. This study has the potential to help researchers better understand the formation and evolution of exoplanets, spe...

Tech - Universe Today - 16 days ago

It's Official: Asteroids Ryugu and Bennu Are Siblings

Some scientists thought that the asteroids Ryugu and Bennu were from the same family. Now that they have samples and JWST spectra from both, the verdict is in: They're both from the Polana collisional family, a diverse and widespread family of asteroids.

Tech - Universe Today - 16 days ago

Tracking the Interstellar Objects 1I/'Oumuamua, 2I/Borisov, and 3I/Atlas to their Source

In a recent paper, researchers followed the trajectories of 1I/`Oumuamua, 2I/Borisov, and 3I/ATLAS - three installer objects that have entered the Solar System in the past decade - to constrain their possible origin. Through a series of Monte Carlo simulations, they came up with predictions of where they came from and how old they are.

Tech - Universe Today - 17 days ago

A Distant Star Explodes While Swallowing Its Black Hole Companion

Astronomers have discovered what may be a massive star exploding while trying to swallow a black hole companion, offering an explanation for one of the strangest stellar explosions ever seen.

Tech - Universe Today - 17 days ago

Moon Flybys Could Save Fuel On Interplanetary Missions

The Three Body Problem isn’t just the name of a viral Netflix series or a Hugo Award winning sci-fi book. It also represents a really problem in astrodynamics - and one that can cause headaches to mission planners in terms of its complexity, but also one that offers the promise of an easier way to enter stable orbits that might otherwise be possible. A new paper from researchers at the Beijing Institute of Technology shows one way those orbital maneuvers might be enhanced while exploring planeta...

Tech - Universe Today - 17 days ago

A 3D Printed Alumnium Mirror Could Enable Enhance CubeSat Observations

Compact, reflective, easy to manufacture mirrors are a critical component for advancing astronomical technology in space. Mirrors are a key component in most telescopes, though they are notoriously hard to manufacture with the necessary precision, especially at large scales. A new paper from researchers in the UK uses additive manufacturing to make a thin, flexible, and lightweight mirror out of aluminum and analyzes its properties to see if it will be useful in applications such as CubeSats.

Tech - Universe Today - 17 days ago

Where are the Interstellar Objects 1I/'Oumuamua, 2I/Borisov, and 3I/Atlas Headed Now?

In a recent paper, researchers followed the trajectories of 1I/`Oumuamua, 2I/Borisov, and 3I/ATLAS - three installer objects that have entered the Solar System in the past decade - to constrain their possible origin. Through a series of Monte Carlo simulations, they came up with predictions of where they came from and how old they are.

Tech - Universe Today - 17 days ago

Detecting Exoplanet Magnetic Fields From The Moon

Exoplanets with and without a magnetic field are predicted to form, behave, and evolve very differently. In order to understand the exoplanet population, and to make progress understanding habitability, astronomers need to understand and constrain exoplanets' magnetic fields. Detecting them may best be done from the Moon.

Tech - Universe Today - 18 days ago

Astronomers Search for Dark Matter Using Far Away Galaxies

Physicists from the University of Copenhagen have begun using the gigantic magnetic fields of galaxy clusters to observe distant black holes in their search for an elusive particle that has stumped scientists for decades.

Tech - Universe Today - 20 days ago

How Did Jupiter's Galilean Moons Form?

We already know a decent amount about how planets form, but moon formation is another process entirely, and one we’re not as familiar with. Scientists think they understand how the most important Moon in our solar system (our own) formed, but its violent birth is not the norm, and can’t explain larger moon systems like the Galilean moons around Jupiter. A new book chapter (which was also released as a pre-print paper) from Yuhito Shibaike and Yann Alibert from the University of Bern discusses th...

Tech - Universe Today - 20 days ago

A Cosmic Noon Puzzle: Why Did Cosmic Noon Galaxies Emit So Many Cosmic Rays?

The Universe's early galaxies were engulfed in halos of high-energy cosmic rays. It's likely because they had tangled and turbulent magnetic fields. These fields accelerate cosmic rays to higher energies.

Tech - Universe Today - 20 days ago

China’s Crewed Lunar Lander Passes Key Test Milestone

China took a step closer to the Moon, with the first short test for their crewed lunar lander. The test was completed on Wednesday, August 6th at a facility in China’s northern Hebei Province, and lasted just under 30 seconds. The tethered test successfully demonstrated the integration and performance of key systems, simulating descent, guidance, control and engine shutdown. This marks the first test for a China’s Manned (crewed) Space Agency (CMSA’s) human-rated lander.

Tech - Universe Today - 20 days ago

Researchers Simulate What a Black Hole "Shadow" Looks Like

Supercomputer simulations are helping scientists sharpen their understanding of the environment beyond a black hole’s "shadow," material just outside its event horizon.

Tech - Universe Today - 21 days ago

JPL Is Ready To Test Mars Samples - If They're Ever Returned

Taking a walk is great for inspiration. There have been numerous studies about how people think more clearly on walks, and how new ideas come to them more frequently while doing so. That’s part of the reason some of the most famous minds in history included a daily walk in their schedule. Just such an inspiration must have happened recently to Nicholas Heinz, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. On a hike in Arizona he found a rock that could be used as an analog ...

Tech - Universe Today - 21 days ago

How Climate Change Will Reshape Space Weather's Impact on Satellites

Climate change isn't just transforming weather on Earth's surface, it’s also fundamentally altering how space weather affects the thousands of satellites orbiting our planet. New research reveals that rising carbon dioxide levels will dramatically change how geomagnetic storms impact the upper atmosphere, creating both opportunities and challenges for the satellite industry in the decades ahead.

Tech - Universe Today - 21 days ago

How Gecko Feet Could Save Space Travel

Space is getting dangerously crowded. More than 50,000 pieces of debris larger than 10 centimetres are currently hurtling around Earth at breakneck speeds, turning Earth orbits into veritable minefields. Dead satellites, rocket fragments, and collision debris pose such a serious threat that the International Space Station regularly performs emergency manoeuvres to dodge potential impacts. Now, an international team of researchers thinks they've found an elegant solution to this growing crisis an...

Tech - Universe Today - 21 days ago

New Theory Points to the Universe's Greatest Fireworks Show

What if the universe began with a fireworks show? A new theory suggests that supermassive black holes, the mysterious giants found at the heart of galaxies, were born from the universe's very first stars in a spectacular flash of light that ionised all of space before vanishing forever. This dramatic "Pop III.1" model could finally explain how these giant stellar remnants grew so impossibly large so quickly after the Big Bang, while potentially solving several major puzzles plaguing modern astro...

Tech - Universe Today - 21 days ago

Moonquakes Will Pose Risks To Long-term Lunar Base Structures

Our Moon is a seismically active world and its long history of quakes could affect the safety of permanent base structures there. That's one conclusion from a study of quakes along the Lee-Lincoln fault in the Taurus-Littrow valley where the Apollo 17 astronauts landed in 1972. “The global distribution of young thrust faults like the Lee-Lincoln fault, their potential to be still active and the potential to form new thrust faults from ongoing contraction should be considered when planning the lo...

Tech - Universe Today - 21 days ago

Researchers Simulate What a Black Hole "Shadow" Look Like

Supercomputer simulations are helping scientists sharpen their understanding of the environment beyond a black hole’s "shadow," material just outside its event horizon.

Tech - Universe Today - 21 days ago

The JWST Shows Us That TRAPPIST-1d Is Not As Earth-Like As We Hoped

The exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 d intrigues astronomers looking for possibly habitable worlds beyond our Solar System because it is similar in size to Earth, rocky, and resides in an area around its star where liquid water on its surface is theoretically possible. But according to a new study using data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, it does not have an Earth-like atmosphere.

Tech - Universe Today - 22 days ago

Mystery of the "Little Red Dots" May Finally Be Solved

Deep in the darkness, tiny red specks of light have been driving astronomers to distraction. These mysterious "little red dots" discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope shouldn't exist, they’re impossibly compact yet blazingly bright, defying our understanding of how galaxies form. Now, Harvard researchers believe they've solved this billion year old puzzle with a theory involving the universe's rarest structures; dark matter halos.