Astronomy

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken its first look at China's Chang'e 6 spacecraft on the moon's far side.

Not content with shapes in two or three dimensions, mathematicians like to explore objects in any number of spatial dimensions. Now they have discovered shapes of constant width in any dimension, which roll like a wheel despite not being round

Not content with shapes in two or three dimensions, mathematicians like to explore objects in any number of spatial dimensions. Now they have discovered shapes of constant width in any dimension, which roll like a wheel despite not being round

Tribalism can be toxic, yet we need more of it if we are to meet today’s global challenges, argues one anthropologist. His research reveals how to create a “teratribe”

Tribalism can be toxic, yet we need more of it if we are to meet today’s global challenges, argues one anthropologist. His research reveals how to create a “teratribe”

“I feel that my larger purpose at NASA, which I've felt since I came on as an intern, is to leave NASA a better place than I found it." — Mallory Carbon, Management and Program Analyst, NASA Headquarters

In order to explain the presence of these heavier elements today, it’s necessary to find phenomena that can produce them. One type of event that fits the bill is a gamma-ray burst (GRB) – the most powerful class of explosion in the universe.

A robot named Musashi with a human-like "skeleton" and "musculature" can perform basic driving tasks – but this isn’t the safest approach to autonomous transport

A robot named Musashi with a human-like "skeleton" and "musculature" can perform basic driving tasks – but this isn’t the safest approach to autonomous transport

Meteoroids are difficult objects for aerospace and geophysics researchers like us to study, because we can’t usually predict when and where they will hit the atmosphere. But on very rare occasions, we can study artificial objects that enter the atmosphere much like a meteoroid would.

By combining two approaches to quantum computing into one device, Google has been able to simulate the behaviour of magnets in detail - and found discrepancies with our current understanding of certain magnet systems

By combining two approaches to quantum computing into one device, Google has been able to simulate the behaviour of magnets in detail - and found discrepancies with our current understanding of certain magnet systems

A young star that astronomers have studied for decades has been found to be part of a duo, encircled by a disk of material within which planets may have just begun coalescing.

Why is the sky near

A low-mass star races through the Milky Way at over a million miles per hour, a journey that began with either the supernova explosion of a vampire star or an encounter with black holes.

Australian conservationists introduced juvenile cane toads ahead of invasions to help prepare native monitor lizards

A new study with data from the James Webb Space Telescope found that galaxies may have started forming spirals far earlier than astronomers previously thought.

The post Spiral Galaxies May Be a Dime a Dozen in the Early Universe appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Is baby Skynet already here? We need robust laws now to withstand eliminating humans from nuclear decision-making

The two black holes at the heart of the galaxy OJ 287 are true behemoths with masses of 18.35 billion and 150 million times the mass of our Sun.

Sweltering heat in Greece, ozone-damaging chemicals on the decline and an investigation of what space does to our body are all in this week’s news roundup.