Titan is Saturn’s largest moon, and the second biggest in the solar system. It’s a world unto itself; nearly as big as Mercury, with a nitrogen atmosphere with higher surface pressure than Earth. The Cassini spacecraft swept past the giant moon an incredible 127 times over its 13-year tour of the Saturn system, taking close-up […]
Two New Beasts for an Explosive Zoo
And you thought gamma-ray bursts were spectacular! Well, they are: Those titanic stellar explosions vastly outshine complete galaxies and shoot out tenuous jets at near-light speed. But a new class of objects, known as Fast Blue Optical Transients (FBOTs) for their rapid flares and blue-hot color, compare to gamma-ray bursts as dinosaurs compare to jaguars. […]
The Solar System Might Not Exist if There Wasn’t a Huge Galactic Collision with the Milky Way Billions of Years Ago
The Milky Way has a number of satellite galaxies; nearly 60 of them, depedending on how we define them. One of them, called the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy (Sgr d Sph), may have played a huge role when it comes to humans, our world and our little civilization. A collision between the Milky Way and […]
How Will we Receive Signals From Interstellar Probes, Like Starshot?
In a few decades, the Breakthrough Starshot initiative hopes to send a sailcraft to the neighboring system of Alpha Centauri. Using a lightsail and a directed energy (aka. laser) array, a tiny spacecraft could be accelerated to 20% the speed of light (0.2 c). This would allow Starshot to make the journey to Alpha Centauri […]
Tiny Cardboard Aircraft Could Fly in the Skies of Mars
What would be the best method for exploring planetary atmospheres, such as at Mars, Venus or even Earth? One group of researchers are developing tiny, levitating “nanocardboard” aircraft that could hover in alien skies. They would fly like dust floating in beams of sunlight – but intelligently, and with a purpose. “It’s exciting because it’s […]
The WFIRST Space Observatory Becomes the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. But Will it Ever Fly?
An artist’s rendering of NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), now the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which will search for exoplanets that are small rocky as well as Neptune sized at a greater distance from their host stars than currently possible. It will also study multiple cosmic phenomena, including dark energy and other […]
The sun may have formed because a small galaxy passed by the Milky Way
By Leah Crane Hubble Space Telescope image of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA A small galaxy called Sagittarius has been shaping the Milky Way for billions of years. Every time it has passed close to our galaxy, it has caused huge bursts of star formation that may even […]
How To Watch Mercury, Venus, And The Moon All Unite In This Week’s Skies
Every once in a while, the night sky provides a spectacular feast for our eyes. It only happens once every 11 years, but occasionally, all five naked-eye planets are visible at once. Mercury is always the toughest to spot due to its proximity to the Sun, but occasions where an even brighter object is nearby […]
Virgin Orbit to Attempt Its First Rocket Launch From Jumbo Jet
Strap a rocket to the underside of a plane. Fly it up several miles. Drop it. The engine ignites, and the rocket and its payload zoom to space. That is what Virgin Orbit, one of the multitude of companies started by Richard Branson, plans to do Monday. It is a demonstration of a new rocket […]
Ask Ethan: How Would You Explain The Big Bang To A Child?
If you’ve ever had a conversation with an inquisitive, curious child, you might have experienced that they all end the same way. They’ll begin by asking where something comes from or how something works, a behavior you very much want to encourage. But then, when you answer that, there’s the inevitable follow-up. Your answer now […]