Astronomy

If you have looked at the sky and seen a group of

It came from outer space.

Why is there a spiral around the North Pole of Mars?

Face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 and open star cluster NGC 6939 share

Stars are forming in Lynds Dark Nebula

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As the Axiom-4 mission approaches its two-week mark before returning to Earth, the private space mission crew discusses science and pierogis.

Scientists had assumed that the ice in space was purely amorphous, but new experiments show it can have a partly crystalline structure similar to ice on Earth.

"You can think of it as a cosmic pool game. We might miss the pocket if we don't consider all the variables."

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An AI system trained on videos of operations successfully guided a robot to carry out gall bladder surgery on a dead pig, with minimal human assistance

An AI system trained on videos of operations successfully guided a robot to carry out gall bladder surgery on a dead pig, with minimal human assistance

The search for habitable exoplanets boils down to the search for water. Exoplanet scientists lack the technological capability to detect surface water on exoplanets from great distances, so instead they can only search for planets in habitable zones where surface water is likely. But what if we could directly detect the surface water itself?

With the recent first light milestone for the Vera Rubin observatory, it's only a matter of time before one of astronomy’s most long-awaited surveys begins. The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) is set to start on November 5th, and will scan the sky of billions of stars for at least ten years. One of the most important things it hopes to find is evidence (or lack thereof) of primordial black holes (PBHs), one of the primary candidates for dark matter. A new paper from researchers at Durham University and the University of New Mexico looks at the difficulties the LSST will have in finding those enigmatic objects, especially the statistical challenges, and how they might be overcome.

It's cold in space, but overheating is a bigger problem than low temperatures. That's because the only way to regulate a spacecraft's heat is through radiation, or slowing down its computing. Engineers have tested a new type of heat sink in space that contains a wax-based phase change material that melts within the normal operating temperature range of the electronics, absorbing heat and then helping to radiate it away. The heat sink was part of a CubeSat launched in August 2024.

When the JWST was being built, some labelled it as the Hubble's successor. In some ways it is, even though the Hubble is still performing important science observations. When the two telescopes team up, we get the best of both.

An international team of scientists led by the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) proposed a new method for living beyond Earth. Their experiment demonstrated how bioplastic structures can be grown using algae, which would be rugged enough to survive the hostile Martian environment.