Space isn't remote at all. It's only an hour's drive away if your car could go upwards.

— Fred Hoyle

Astronomy

Why Some People Follow Authoritarian Leaders—And The Key to Stopping It

Scientific American.com - Thu, 04/03/2025 - 8:00am

To protect democracy and counteract the allure of authoritarianism, reduce people's sense of fear and insecurity, psychology research says

Categories: Astronomy

NASA proves its electric moon dust shield works on the lunar surface

Space.com - Thu, 04/03/2025 - 8:00am
New NASA shielding technology that protects against damaging lunar dust just passed a trial run on the moon, marking an important milestone in the agency's lunar aspirations.
Categories: Astronomy

Webb Scans Asteroid 2024 YR4, it's 60 Meters Across

Universe Today - Thu, 04/03/2025 - 7:42am

The Torino scale assess’ the risk of a near-Earth object impacting Earth. The list has just had a new addition, asteroid 2024 YR4 which poses a risk to Earth in 2032. The risk has been downgraded to 0% but there’s still value in studying asteroids that are going to come close to Earth. The James Webb Space Telescope just joined in the study by observing the asteroid to provide a new estimate of its size and showed that it’s spinning rapidly.

Categories: Astronomy

New Plan for Particle Physics Megaproject Leaves out Funding Details

Scientific American.com - Thu, 04/03/2025 - 7:00am

A long-awaiting report from CERN explores the feasibility of building a supersized successor to the Large Hadron Collider

Categories: Astronomy

Here are SPHEREx's First Images

Universe Today - Thu, 04/03/2025 - 6:49am

The news is always full of images from the Hubble Space Telescope and more recently the James Webb Space telescope but there is a new kid on the block. NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope was launched back in early March and we can already see its first image. The telescope has six detectors and together they can capture a region of sky 20 times wider than the Moon. The first images are uncalibrated but they give a hint as to the capabilities of the instrument.

Categories: Astronomy

Ozempic weight loss is deemed less praiseworthy than lifestyle changes

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Thu, 04/03/2025 - 6:41am
People seem to be less impressed when others lose weight with the drug Ozempic than when they achieve it via lifestyle changes
Categories: Astronomy

Ozempic weight loss is deemed less praiseworthy than lifestyle changes

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Thu, 04/03/2025 - 6:41am
People seem to be less impressed when others lose weight with the drug Ozempic than when they achieve it via lifestyle changes
Categories: Astronomy

Extreme weather could disrupt China's renewable energy boom

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Thu, 04/03/2025 - 6:00am
As China’s vast electrical grid relies more on wind, solar and hydropower, it faces a growing risk of power shortages due to bad weather – and that could encourage the use of coal plants
Categories: Astronomy

Extreme weather could disrupt China's renewable energy boom

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Thu, 04/03/2025 - 6:00am
As China’s vast electrical grid relies more on wind, solar and hydropower, it faces a growing risk of power shortages due to bad weather – and that could encourage the use of coal plants
Categories: Astronomy

What's the difference between a young exoplanet and an old one?

Space.com - Thu, 04/03/2025 - 6:00am
A new study compares young and old exoplanets to uncover how worlds shrink, migrate and evolve over time — offering insights into long-standing astronomical mysteries like the "hot Neptune desert" and the "radius valley."
Categories: Astronomy

Secretive Russian military satellites release mystery object into orbit

Space.com - Thu, 04/03/2025 - 5:00am
A trio of secretive Russian satellites launched earlier this year has released a mysterious object into orbit, sparking interest among space trackers and analysts.
Categories: Astronomy

Lunar Dust and Duct Tape

APOD - Thu, 04/03/2025 - 4:00am

Lunar Dust and Duct Tape


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

How hidden lakes threaten Antarctic Ice Sheet stability

ESO Top News - Thu, 04/03/2025 - 4:00am

For decades, satellites have played a crucial role in our understanding of the remote polar regions. The ongoing loss of Antarctic ice, owing to the climate crisis, is, sadly, no longer surprising. However, satellites do more than just track the accelerating flow of glaciers towards the ocean and measure ice thickness.

New research highlights how ESA’s CryoSat mission has been used to uncover the hidden impact of subglacial lakes – vast reservoirs of water buried deep under the ice – that can suddenly drain into the ocean in dramatic outbursts and affect ice loss.

Categories: Astronomy

Studying Uranian Moons using Passive Radar Sounding

Universe Today - Wed, 04/02/2025 - 11:58pm

How can Uranus be used to indirectly study its moons and identify if they possess subsurface oceans? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated using passive radar sounding methods from Uranus to study its five largest moons: Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon. This study has the potential to help researchers better understand the formation and evolution of Uranus and its largest moons despite a spacecraft not currently visiting Uranus.

Categories: Astronomy

Galaxies Were Already Dying Just 700 Million Years After the Big Bang

Universe Today - Wed, 04/02/2025 - 8:13pm

When galaxies run out of primordial hydrogen and helium, they cease star formation, shifting to primarily long-lived red stars. These galaxies are considered "red and dead." It usually takes billions of years for galaxies to run out of hydrogen, but now astronomers using JWST have found examples of galaxies that have already stopped forming stars just 700 million years after the Big Bang, much earlier than predicted by cosmological models.

Categories: Astronomy

'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Season 3 teaser trailer promises more gimmicky hijinks in the final frontier (video)

Space.com - Wed, 04/02/2025 - 5:59pm
Paramount+ will serve up a balanced blast of silly and serious sci-fi stories with Season 3 of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."
Categories: Astronomy

Atlas V rocket will launch Amazon's 1st big batch of Project Kuiper internet satellites on April 9

Space.com - Wed, 04/02/2025 - 5:00pm
Amazon's first big batch of Project Kuiper broadband satellites will lift off a week from now, if all goes according to plan.
Categories: Astronomy

Why Aurora Physicists Are Excited about Fram2’s Private Astronauts

Scientific American.com - Wed, 04/02/2025 - 4:45pm

The commercial astronauts onboard SpaceX’s Fram2 mission are flying closer to Earth’s poles than anyone has before, offering an intriguing opportunity for auroral science

Categories: Astronomy

'Red Planet,' 'Top Gun' and 'Batman Forever' star Val Kilmer dies at 65

Space.com - Wed, 04/02/2025 - 4:36pm
Kilmer leaves a legacy of engaging film roles including Batman and even a Mars astronaut.
Categories: Astronomy

25 years on, Vin Diesel's 'Pitch Black' still outshines every other Riddick film — and we think we know why

Space.com - Wed, 04/02/2025 - 4:00pm
As the cult classic sci-fi monster movie turns 25, we look at why it eclipses everything Vin Diesel's antihero has done since.
Categories: Astronomy