Most alien civilisations risk fuelling global warming on their planets
By Ibrahim Sawal Climate change might be a common problem for inhabited planets NASA, ESA, M. Kornmesser Most planets inhabited by advanced civilisations would be likely to face catastrophic climate change as a result of burning fuel, researchers have found. Human activity has had a geological impact on Earth, putting it into a new epoch known […]
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Touches Down, Prepares for Flight
The first helicopter on Mars is officially on Martian soil. NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity touched down on the surface of the Red Planet after being dropped by its mother ship, the Perseverance rover, the space agency announced late Saturday (April 4). The helicopter’s first flight is just over a week away. “#MarsHelicopter touchdown confirmed! Its 293 million mile […]
Roman Space Telescope: Planets in the Tens of Thousands
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is the instrument until recently known as WFIRST (Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope), a fact I’ll mention here for the last time just because there are so many articles about WFIRST in the archives. From now on, I’ll just refer to the Roman Space Telescope, or RST. Given our focus […]
Uranus: Detection of X-rays and their Implications
Just as Earth’s atmosphere scatters light from the Sun, both Jupiter and Saturn scatter X-rays produced by our star. In a new study using data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, we now learn that Uranus likewise scatters X-rays, but with an interesting twist. For there is a hint — and only a hint — that […]
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot has a Dark Secret. It Feeds on Smaller Storms
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot – the largest and most powerful of all the storms in the solar system – has been churning for hundred of years. Recently dozens of smaller storms have slammed into the Red Spot. Those smaller storms only caused superficial damage – and may have ended up feeding the beast itself. While […]
Here’s Why Black Holes Are Crullers, Not Donuts
It’s been over 100 years since the first solution for a black hole was discovered in General Relativity. For generations, scientists argued over whether these objects were physical, existing all throughout our Universe, or whether they were mere mathematical artifacts. In the 1960s, Roger Penrose’s Nobel-winning work demonstrated how black holes could realistically form in […]
The Debris Cloud From a Supernova Shows an Imprint of the Actual Explosion
Computer models are continuing to play an increasing role in scientific discovery. Everything from the first moments after the Big Bang to potential for life to form on other planets has been the target of some sort of computer model. Now scientists from the RIKEN Astrophysical Big Bang Laboratory are turning this almost ubiquitous tool […]
2I/Borisov: A Remarkably Pristine Interstellar Comet
The beauty of comet 2I/Borisov, the second interstellar object discovered in our Solar System, is that it looks and acts more or less like, well, an interstellar comet, without the puzzling characteristics of its predecessor, the still controversial ‘Oumuamua. 2I/Borisov’s cometary nature is clear in the latest observations from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large […]
The Race to Find Alien Moons
In 1655 Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens set up a refractor telescope of his own construction and aimed it at Saturn. He thought the planet was encircled by a single solid ring and planned to observe its tilt, which astronomers knew changed over several years. Instead he saw something unexpected in his viewfinder: a giant moon, […]
Is there an ancient black hole at the edge of the solar system?
Hints of a hefty source of gravity beyond Pluto sparked the search for a possible “Planet Nine”. Now, some astronomers think it could instead be a black hole from the big bang, offering a rare glimpse into the early universe Space 31 March 2021 By Stuart Clark Ruby Fresson BEYOND the giant planets of the […]