Astronomy

Up to 200 worlds investigated by NASA's exoplanet-hunting TESS satellite could be bigger than predicted, a finding that could impact our search for alien life.

Astronomers unveiled a striking view of the new interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS on its journey toward the inner solar system.

These are the best telescopes for professional astrophotography and will allow you to capture high-definition images of planets, nebulas and galaxies.

On July 17, 1975, an American Apollo crew and a Soviet Soyuz crew met up in Earth orbit for the first time, setting the foundation for continued cooperation in space over the past 50 years.

These modern-day Gorn are a major upgrade on the lizard man Captain Kirk battled in the Original Series.

NASA moved its payload adapter at the Space Flight Center in Huntsville to prepare for the upcoming Artemis IV mission

The left-hand side of the moon will appear lit by direct sunlight, with the right bathed in shadow.

NASA and Boeing are still working on the thruster issues that Starliner experienced on its first crewed flight last year, and the spacecraft's next mission will likely launch without astronauts.

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Space weather ‘reporter’ Vigil will be the world’s first space weather mission to be permanently positioned at Lagrange point 5, a unique vantage point that allows us to see solar activity days before it reaches Earth. ESA’s Vigil mission will be a dedicated operational space weather mission, sending data 24/7 from deep space. 

Vigil’s tools as a space weather reporter at its unique location in deep space will drastically improve forecasting abilities. From there, Vigil can see ‘around the corner’ of the Sun and observe activity on the surface of the Sun days before it rotates into view from Earth. It can also watch the Sun-Earth line side-on, giving an earlier and clearer picture of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) heading toward Earth. 

Radiation, plasma and particles flung towards Earth by the Sun can pose a very real risk to critical infrastructure our society relies on. This includes satellites for navigation, communications and banking services as well as power grids and radio communication on the ground. 

A report by Lloyd’s of London estimates that a severe space weather event, caused by such an outburst of solar activity, could cost the global economy 2.4 trillion dollars over five years.  

ESA’s response to this growing threat is Vigil, a cornerstone mission of the Agency’s Space Safety Programme, planned for launch in 2031. Vigil’s data will give us drastically improved early warnings and forecasts, which in turn help protect satellites, astronauts and critical infrastructure on the ground that we all depend on. 

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A comparison of cut marks on bones reveals that Neanderthal groups living fairly close to each other had their own distinct ways of butchering animals

A comparison of cut marks on bones reveals that Neanderthal groups living fairly close to each other had their own distinct ways of butchering animals

What's happened in Hebes Chasma on Mars?

What is going on with this galaxy?

Why isn't this ant a big sphere?

As the Sun set, a bright Full Moon rose on July 10.

Stars are forming in Lynds Dark Nebula

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The Milky Way is surrounded by about 60 satellite galaxies. The famous ones are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. But according to a new simulation, the Milky Way could have 80 and even 100 satellite galaxies that we haven't detected so far. These galaxies will be hard to find. They've had most of their mass stripped by the gravity of the Milky Way's halo. But new telescopes like Vera Rubin should be able to spot them.

Sometimes in order to support an idea, you first have to discredit alternative, competing ideas that could take resources away from the one you care about. In the scientific community, one of the most devastating ways you can do that is by making the other methods appear to be too expensive to be feasible, or, better yep, prove they wouldn’t work at all due to some fundamental limitation. That is what a recent paper by Dr. Slava Turyshev, the world’s most prominent proponent of a Solar Gravitational Lens (SGL) telescope mission, does. He examines how effective alternative telescope technologies would be at creating a 10x10 pixel map of an exoplanet about 32 light years away. Unsurprisingly, there’s only one that is able to do so without giant leaps and bounds in technology development - the SGL telescope.