Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

— Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law

Astronomy

Farewell, Blue Ghost! Private moon lander goes dark to end record-breaking commercial lunar mission

Space.com - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 3:00pm
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost moon lander went dark in the lunar night on Sunday (March 16) as expected, bringing an end to its historic mission.
Categories: Astronomy

'Starship Troopers' big-screen reboot coming from 'District 9' director Neill Blomkamp — would you like to know more?

Space.com - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 2:00pm
After a long wait and a bunch of disappointing straight-to-DVD sequels, Starship Troopers is still trying to live forever with a theatrical reboot now in development.
Categories: Astronomy

Giant Exoplanets Have Elliptical Orbits. Smaller Planets Follow Circular Orbits

Universe Today - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 1:30pm

We are so familiar with our solar system that we often presume it is generally how star systems are built. Four little planets close to the star, four large gas planets farther away, and all with roughly circular orbits. But as we have found ever more exoplanets, we've come to understand just how unusual the solar system is. Large planets often orbit close to their star, small planets are much more common than larger ones, and as a new study shows, orbits aren't always circular.

Categories: Astronomy

Space photo of the day: Brilliant comet shines at sunset over observatory in Chile

Space.com - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 1:20pm
The stunning comet C/2024 G3 lights up the sunset sky over Chile's Very Large Telescope in this spectacular photo.
Categories: Astronomy

Most quakes on Mars happen during the summer – and we don’t know why

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 1:00pm
NASA’s InSight lander recorded surprisingly large quakes that indicate Mars is more seismically active than we first thought. Mysteriously, they only happen during Martian summers
Categories: Astronomy

Most quakes on Mars happen during the summer – and we don’t know why

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 1:00pm
NASA’s InSight lander recorded surprisingly large quakes that indicate Mars is more seismically active than we first thought. Mysteriously, they only happen during Martian summers
Categories: Astronomy

7 excellent Irish sci-fi movies to leave Hollywood green with envy this St. Patrick's Day

Space.com - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 1:00pm
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a spirited selection of sci-fi films born from the Emerald Isle.
Categories: Astronomy

James Webb Space Telescope sees four giant alien planets circling nearby star (images)

Space.com - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 12:59pm
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has directly imaged four planets orbiting the host star HR 8799 about 130 light-years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus.
Categories: Astronomy

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Launch

NASA Image of the Day - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 12:19pm
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov onboard, Friday, March 14, 2025, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission is the tenth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. McClain, Ayers, Onishi, and Peskov launched at 7:03 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy to begin a six-month mission aboard the orbital outpost.
Categories: Astronomy, NASA

LHC finds intriguing new clues about our universe's antimatter mystery

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 12:00pm
Analysing the aftermath of particle collisions has revealed two new instances of “CP violation”, a process that explains why our universe contains more matter than antimatter
Categories: Astronomy

LHC finds intriguing new clues about our universe's antimatter mystery

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 12:00pm
Analysing the aftermath of particle collisions has revealed two new instances of “CP violation”, a process that explains why our universe contains more matter than antimatter
Categories: Astronomy

Should Kids Do Chores?

Scientific American.com - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 12:00pm

They may tell us they hate chores, but kids who help around the house report feeling accomplished and competent, not to mention happy

Categories: Astronomy

What the extraordinary medical know-how of wild animals can teach us

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 12:00pm
Birds do it, chimps do it, even monarch butterflies do it – and by paying more attention to how animals self-medicate, we can find new treatments for ourselves
Categories: Astronomy

What the extraordinary medical know-how of wild animals can teach us

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 12:00pm
Birds do it, chimps do it, even monarch butterflies do it – and by paying more attention to how animals self-medicate, we can find new treatments for ourselves
Categories: Astronomy

Hera Swings Past Mars, Sees Deimos From a New Angle

Universe Today - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 11:56am

Gravitational slingshots are now a common part of space missions where the trajectory of a spacecraft is altered using the gravity of another body. These often bring fabulous opportunities for an extra bit of bonus science such as that demonstrated by ESA’s Hera mission on its way to asteroid Dimorphos. It’s following up on the DART 2022 impact but to get there, it’s used the gravity of Mars. It came within 5,000 km of the red planet and on its way, was able to take a look at Mars’ smaller moon Deimos from its far side.

Categories: Astronomy

World's First Carbon Capture Plant Powered Directly by Wind Planned

Scientific American.com - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 11:30am

A planned project in Texas could be the world’s first direct air capture development to rely primarily on electricity produced on site by wind power

Categories: Astronomy

New Form of Parkinson’s Treatment Uses Real-Time Deep-Brain Stimulation

Scientific American.com - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 11:00am

A new form of “adaptive” deep-brain stimulation adjusts itself based on the brain’s unique signals

Categories: Astronomy

Exploding Stars May Have Caused Two of Earth's Mass Extinctions

Universe Today - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 10:47am

Supernova explosions are powerful enough to cause mass extinctions if they're close enough. But can we tie supernovae to any of Earth's five mass extinctions? New research shows supernovae could be responsible for the Late Devonian and Late Ordovician mass extinctions.

Categories: Astronomy

Four Ways the COVID-Causing Virus Changed Science

Scientific American.com - Mon, 03/17/2025 - 10:45am

After 150,000 articles and 17 million genome sequences, what science has taught us about SARS-CoV-2

Categories: Astronomy