Astronomy

New peer-reviewed research reporting strange lights in the pre-space-age sky is sparking curiosity and controversy

Image: The Red Spider Nebula (Webb)

The European Space Agency has announced it is establishing a new presence in Tokyo, Japan, its first in Asia.

Theorists have found that a “warm” version of cosmic inflation is consistent with known physics, linking it to the hunt for dark matter

Asteroids spin. Most of them do so rather slowly, and up until now most theories of asteroid rotation have failed to explain exactly why. A new paper from Wen-Han Zhou at the University of Tokyo and his co-authors might finally be able to fully explain that mystery as well as a few others related to asteroid rotation. Their work was presented at the Joint Meeting of the Europlanet Science Congress and the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Science in late September and could impact our understanding of how best to defend against a potentially hazardous asteroid.

Civets enrich coffee beans they eat and excrete with two fatty acids often used in dairy products, study finds

The noperthedron has a surprising property—which disproves a long-standing conjecture

Image: This image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission show Hurricane Melissa as it barrelled through the Caribbean Sea

The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission is about to get its fourth satellite, with Sentinel-1D now ready for liftoff. Launch will take place with an Ariane 6 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana and live coverage will be shown on Tuesday, 4 November, at 22:02 CET (18:02 at Kourou).

Could scientists find life in the clouds of exoplanet atmospheres? This is what a recently submitted manuscript hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how the biosignatures of microbes could be identified in exoplanet atmospheres and clouds. This study has the potential to help scientists develop new methods for finding life on exoplanets, either as we know it or even as we don’t know it.

A team led by a University of Maryland astronomer detected large complex organic molecules in ices outside of the Milky Way for the first time, offering a glimpse into the chemistry of the early universe.

Category 5 Hurricane Melissa’s exceptional strength and slow pace could make it more destructive than Hurricane Gilbert, which hit Jamaica in 1988

Astronomers have discovered a ready-to-image super-Earth candidate less than 20 light-years away.

The post A Super-Earth Candidate Less Than 20 Light-Years Away appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

We cannot see directly beyond the cosmic microwave background, which means we can't directly observe the first 380,000 years of the Universe. But there are indirect ways we might observe this period.

Among over-50s, women seem to require less exercise than men to get the same reduction in heart disease risk, suggesting health guidelines need to be updated

Among over-50s, women seem to require less exercise than men to get the same reduction in heart disease risk, suggesting health guidelines need to be updated

If we admit that quantum numbers are the true essence of reality – not particles, space or time – then a surprising and beautiful new vision of reality opens up to us

If we admit that quantum numbers are the true essence of reality – not particles, space or time – then a surprising and beautiful new vision of reality opens up to us

This is only the second time we’ve had more than two Category 5 storms in a single Atlantic hurricane season