Astronomy

For the first time, astrophysicists have spotted a supernova right before it explodes. This is a rare glimpse inside a massive star before it meets its doom. The star was stripped down to its core, and the observations confirm theories that show stars have onion-like layers.

Now versions of the Great Filter argument had been around for decades (just like Fermi was not the first person to ask where everybody is), but the most comprehensive form of the argument comes from Robin Hanson in 1996.

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are some of the most powerful signals in the universe. They can emit as much power in a few milliseconds as our Sun does in several days. Despite their strength, we still don’t have a definitive answer to what causes them. That is partly because, at least for the ones that only happen once, they are really hard to point down. But a new extension to the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) might provide the resolution needed to determine where non-repeating FRBs come from - and its first discovery was one of the brightest FRBs of all time, which helped researchers track it with an unprecedented level of precision, as described in a new paper in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Scientists have retreated to deep beneath the French Alps to broaden the hunt for dark matter particles that could be "WIMPier than WIMPS."

Altair, Vega and Deneb can be seen shining with the Milky Way throughout August.

NASA's Perseverance rover captured a striking new image of massive, wind-carved sand formations known as "megaripples" during its latest exploration stop on the Red Planet.

Several countries now offer at-home vaginal swabs to detect HPV status in place of traditional cervical cancer screening, but urine tests seem to work just as well

Eczema can be very distressing for children – and now it seems that its roots may at least partly lie in their mothers experiencing high levels of stress during pregnancy

It will take the most sensitive instruments ever imagined to reveal ripples from the Big Bang, but they could change our understanding of the entire universe.

A new NASA-IBM algorithm called Surya could be a major leap in space weather forecasting.

Here's where to find very dark skies in the U.S. and Canada.

The Milky Way is a spectacular sight in the summer skies but why does it look so much more brilliant than it does in the winter?

NASA has opened a new Orion Mission Evaluation Room at the Johnson Space Center to analyze in-flight spacecraft data and provide support for Artemis 2 and other future missions to the moon.

The USS Enterprise, a 'Star Trek' spaceship, is created from pumpkins as part of a German contest.

Houseplants become rechargeable night-lights after injection with tiny phosphor particles

The Butterfly Nebula, which is a planetary nebula resulting from the death of a sun-like star, has been caught creating large dust grains that could form planets.

If you're a student or between 18 and 24 years old, you can get nearly 73% off an annual subscription to Peacock and enjoy a huge selection of fantastic documentaries, movies, sports, and entertainment.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket flew for a record 30th time early Thursday morning (Aug. 28), sending 28 Starlink satellites to orbit from Florida.

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In Tenerife, Spain, stands a unique duo: ESA’s Izaña-1 and Izaña-2 laser-ranging stations. Together, they form an optical technology testbed of the European Space Agency that takes the monitoring of space debris and satellites to a new level while maturing new technologies for commercialisation.  

Space debris is a threat to satellites and is rapidly becoming a daily concern for satellite operators. The Space Safety Programme, part of ESA Operations, managed from ESOC in Germany, helps develop new technologies to detect and track debris, and to prevent collisions in orbit in new and innovative ways. 

One of these efforts takes place at the Izaña station in Tenerife. There, ESA and partner companies are testing how to deliver precise orbit data on demand with laser-based technologies. The Izaña-2 station was recently finalised by the German company DiGOS and is now in use.  

To perform space debris laser ranging, Izaña-2 operates as a laser transmitter, emitting high-power laser pulses towards objects in space. Izaña-1 then acts as the receiver of the few photons that are reflected back. The precision of the laser technology enables highly accurate data for precise orbit determination, which in turn is crucial for actionable collision avoidance systems and sustainable space traffic management. 

With the OMLET (Orbital Maintenance via Laser momEntum Transfer) project, ESA combines different development streams and possibilities for automation to support European industry with getting two innovative services market-ready: on-demand ephemeris provision and laser-based collision avoidance services for end users such as satellite operators. 

A future goal is to achieve collision avoidance by laser momentum transfer, where instead of the operational satellite, the piece of debris will be moved out of the way. This involves altering the orbit of a piece of space debris slightly by applying a small force to the object through laser illumination.  

The European Space Agency actively supports European industry in capitalising on the business opportunities that not only safeguard our satellites but also pave the way for the sustainable use of space. 

What's hovering above the Sun?