Feed aggregator
Airborne microplastics could be making climate change worse
Tiny plastic particles drifting in Earth’s atmosphere could have a significant warming effect, a new study finds
Honey has been used as medicine for centuries – does it really work?
Honey has been used as medicine for centuries – does it really work?
A lost ancient script reveals how writing as we know it really began
A lost ancient script reveals how writing as we know it really began
Tiny frozen world unexpectedly appears to have an atmosphere
Tiny frozen world unexpectedly appears to have an atmosphere
Why NASA’s Artemis moon program could fall victim to SpaceX’s AI ambitions
Massive investments in AI may bring synergy and revenue to SpaceX, or could create problems for it and NASA, especially if the AI bubble pops
Hubble Spots a Starry Spiral
Hubble Spots a Starry Spiral
In this new picture from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, a spiral galaxy glittering with star clusters is the center of attention. NGC 3137 is located 53 million light-years away in the constellation Antlia (the Air Pump). As a nearby spiral galaxy, this target offers astronomers an excellent opportunity to study the cycle of stellar birth and death, as well as giving researchers a glimpse of a galactic system similar to our own.
NGC 3137 is of particular interest to astronomers because it travels through space with a group of galaxies that is thought to be similar to the Local Group, the galaxy group that contains our Milky Way. Similar to the Local Group, the NGC 3175 group contains two large spiral galaxies: NGC 3137 and NGC 3175, which Hubble has also observed. In the Local Group, the largest members are the Milky Way galaxy and Andromeda, another spiral galaxy. In addition to two large spiral galaxies, both groups also contain a number of smaller dwarf galaxies, although it’s not yet known how many of these tiny companions the NGC 3175 group has; researchers have found more than 500 dwarf galaxy candidates. By studying this nearby galaxy group, astronomers can learn about the dynamics of our own galactic home.
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker and the PHANGS-HST Team
Hubble Spots a Starry Spiral
In this new picture from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, a spiral galaxy glittering with star clusters is the center of attention. NGC 3137 is located 53 million light-years away in the constellation Antlia (the Air Pump). As a nearby spiral galaxy, this target offers astronomers an excellent opportunity to study the cycle of stellar birth and death, as well as giving researchers a glimpse of a galactic system similar to our own.
NGC 3137 is of particular interest to astronomers because it travels through space with a group of galaxies that is thought to be similar to the Local Group, the galaxy group that contains our Milky Way. Similar to the Local Group, the NGC 3175 group contains two large spiral galaxies: NGC 3137 and NGC 3175, which Hubble has also observed. In the Local Group, the largest members are the Milky Way galaxy and Andromeda, another spiral galaxy. In addition to two large spiral galaxies, both groups also contain a number of smaller dwarf galaxies, although it’s not yet known how many of these tiny companions the NGC 3175 group has; researchers have found more than 500 dwarf galaxy candidates. By studying this nearby galaxy group, astronomers can learn about the dynamics of our own galactic home.
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker and the PHANGS-HST Team
What you need to know about hantavirus, the infection at the center of a deadly cruise ship outbreak
Hantavirus spreads through contact with rodents and causes rare infectious diseases that can lead to kidney failure or a buildup of fluid in the lungs
Astronomers Find Atmosphere Around a Pluto-like World
Observations — including from an amateur astronomer — show that the Plutino 2002 XV93 has a thin wisp of air around it.
The post Astronomers Find Atmosphere Around a Pluto-like World appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
For NASA’s TESS, Stellar Eclipses Shed Light on Possible New Worlds
4 min read
For NASA’s TESS, Stellar Eclipses Shed Light on Possible New WorldsA study of NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) data on stellar pairs undergoing mutual eclipses has uncovered more than two dozen candidate exoplanets, or worlds beyond our solar system. This method allows the mission to locate planets it couldn’t otherwise detect.
A gas giant planet looms in the foreground at right, illuminated by a pair of stars, in this artist’s concept of a world in a binary system. NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) has found planets in two binary star systems by looking for stellar dimming as the planets cross in front of one of the stars. Astronomers have now demonstrated a new method of finding planets in these systems by focusing on the timing of the stars’ mutual eclipses. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)
To date, TESS has discovered 885 confirmed exoplanets and identified more than 7,900 candidates, nearly all found because the planets pass in front of their stars from our perspective. These events, called transits, produce a small, regular dip in the brightness of the planet’s host star. TESS also observes tens of thousands of eclipsing binary stars — two orbiting stars that alternately eclipse each other from our vantage point. Astronomers can detect the gravitational tug of exoplanets in these systems by carefully measuring the exact timing of many eclipses. Prior to the new study, discoveries by NASA’s retired Kepler mission and other facilities had recorded 16 transiting worlds around binary stars, while TESS had found an additional two.
“Identifying transits in binary systems clearly is challenging, but we’d like to know more about the range of planets that can form around two gravitationally bound stars,” said study lead Margo Thornton, a doctoral candidate at UNSW (University of New South Wales) in Sydney. “So we developed a survey to search for planets using stellar eclipses that is not limited to the orientation of the planet’s orbit.”
A paper describing the findings published May 4 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
For planets located in binary systems, the orientation of the planet’s orbit can tell us about how that system formed. Some models of planet formation in binary systems suggest planets mainly form near the plane formed by the two orbiting stars, increasing the likelihood of binaries hosting transiting worlds. But other models indicate a much more disorderly formation process, with the stellar pair stirring its young planets into wider and more tilted paths much less likely to undergo transits.
The timing of stellar eclipses can gradually change through tidal and rotational interactions between the stars, the effects of general relativity, and the presence of other unseen masses, such as planets, in the system. All of these forces cause the entire orbital plane of the binary to rotate, or precess, and this in turn alters the eclipse timing.
“The key to calculating all of these different influences is the long, rich set of observations available from TESS,” said co-author Benjamin Montet, a Scientia associate professor at UNSW Sydney. “After analyzing 1,590 binaries with at least two years of TESS data, we found 27 with candidate planets that now await confirmation.”
Explore how observations of stellar eclipses can expand the capabilities of NASA’s TESS, leading to the discovery of new candidate planets it couldn’t otherwise detect. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Francis Reddy
Since science operations began in 2018, TESS has tiled the sky by observing large swaths, called sectors, for nearly a month. Currently, the mission’s cameras capture a single image of the entire sector, measuring 24 by 96 degrees, about every 3 minutes, with even faster observations of selected targets.
The masses of the new candidates remain uncertain, but the team estimates the smallest world may hold as little 12 Earth masses, with the largest topping out around 3,200 Earths, or about 10 times Jupiter’s mass. Confirming these planets will require future ground-based observations that precisely measure the velocities of the host stars, which will reveal the slight gravitational tugs of any possible planets.
“The TESS mission was built to find transiting planets, and it’s great to see how the same measurements are driving discoveries far beyond its original mission,” said Allison Youngblood, the TESS project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The mission’s continuing data collection is a treasure trove that enables new findings across a wide range of astronomical topics, from asteroids in the solar system to active galaxies powered by black holes in the distant universe.”
You could discover the next exoplanet! Join the Planet Hunters TESS citizen science project, and you’ll learn how to read light curves — plots of light data from distant stars — to find telltale signals from orbiting exoplanets.
By Francis Reddy
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
301-286-1940
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
UNSW Sydney: New Star Wars-like planet candidates with two suns discovered
Share Details Last Updated May 04, 2026 Related TermsFor NASA’s TESS, Stellar Eclipses Shed Light on Possible New Worlds
4 min read
For NASA’s TESS, Stellar Eclipses Shed Light on Possible New WorldsA study of NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) data on stellar pairs undergoing mutual eclipses has uncovered more than two dozen candidate exoplanets, or worlds beyond our solar system. This method allows the mission to locate planets it couldn’t otherwise detect.
A gas giant planet looms in the foreground at right, illuminated by a pair of stars, in this artist’s concept of a world in a binary system. NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) has found planets in two binary star systems by looking for stellar dimming as the planets cross in front of one of the stars. Astronomers have now demonstrated a new method of finding planets in these systems by focusing on the timing of the stars’ mutual eclipses. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)To date, TESS has discovered 885 confirmed exoplanets and identified more than 7,900 candidates, nearly all found because the planets pass in front of their stars from our perspective. These events, called transits, produce a small, regular dip in the brightness of the planet’s host star. TESS also observes tens of thousands of eclipsing binary stars — two orbiting stars that alternately eclipse each other from our vantage point. Astronomers can detect the gravitational tug of exoplanets in these systems by carefully measuring the exact timing of many eclipses. Prior to the new study, discoveries by NASA’s retired Kepler mission and other facilities had recorded 16 transiting worlds around binary stars, while TESS had found an additional two.
“Identifying transits in binary systems clearly is challenging, but we’d like to know more about the range of planets that can form around two gravitationally bound stars,” said study lead Margo Thornton, a doctoral candidate at UNSW (University of New South Wales) in Sydney. “So we developed a survey to search for planets using stellar eclipses that is not limited to the orientation of the planet’s orbit.”
A paper describing the findings published May 4 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
For planets located in binary systems, the orientation of the planet’s orbit can tell us about how that system formed. Some models of planet formation in binary systems suggest planets mainly form near the plane formed by the two orbiting stars, increasing the likelihood of binaries hosting transiting worlds. But other models indicate a much more disorderly formation process, with the stellar pair stirring its young planets into wider and more tilted paths much less likely to undergo transits.
The timing of stellar eclipses can gradually change through tidal and rotational interactions between the stars, the effects of general relativity, and the presence of other unseen masses, such as planets, in the system. All of these forces cause the entire orbital plane of the binary to rotate, or precess, and this in turn alters the eclipse timing.
“The key to calculating all of these different influences is the long, rich set of observations available from TESS,” said co-author Benjamin Montet, a Scientia associate professor at UNSW Sydney. “After analyzing 1,590 binaries with at least two years of TESS data, we found 27 with candidate planets that now await confirmation.”
Explore how observations of stellar eclipses can expand the capabilities of NASA’s TESS, leading to the discovery of new candidate planets it couldn’t otherwise detect. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Francis ReddySince science operations began in 2018, TESS has tiled the sky by observing large swaths, called sectors, for nearly a month. Currently, the mission’s cameras capture a single image of the entire sector, measuring 24 by 96 degrees, about every 3 minutes, with even faster observations of selected targets.
The masses of the new candidates remain uncertain, but the team estimates the smallest world may hold as little 12 Earth masses, with the largest topping out around 3,200 Earths, or about 10 times Jupiter’s mass. Confirming these planets will require future ground-based observations that precisely measure the velocities of the host stars, which will reveal the slight gravitational tugs of any possible planets.
“The TESS mission was built to find transiting planets, and it’s great to see how the same measurements are driving discoveries far beyond its original mission,” said Allison Youngblood, the TESS project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The mission’s continuing data collection is a treasure trove that enables new findings across a wide range of astronomical topics, from asteroids in the solar system to active galaxies powered by black holes in the distant universe.”
You could discover the next exoplanet! Join the Planet Hunters TESS citizen science project, and you’ll learn how to read light curves — plots of light data from distant stars — to find telltale signals from orbiting exoplanets.
By Francis Reddy
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
301-286-1940
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
UNSW Sydney: New Star Wars-like planet candidates with two suns discovered
Share Details Last Updated May 04, 2026 Related TermsLAGEOS: An Earth Science Mission Built for Enduring Precision
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Technicians at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center helped complete prelaunch testing of the Laser Geodynamic Satellite (LAGEOS). LAGEOS was the first satellite devoted exclusively to laser ranging studies.NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
On May 4, 1976, a spacecraft resembling a disco ball entered orbit almost 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) above Earth. This shiny, two‑foot‑wide (60‑centimeter) sphere called the Laser Geodynamics Satellite, or LAGEOS, is covered with 426 retroreflectors—small mirrored prisms designed to bounce laser light directly back to where it came from. Beneath its aluminum exterior sits a dense brass core that makes LAGEOS incredibly heavy (900 pounds or 400 kilograms) for its size.
That weight was intentional. The satellite’s high mass and compact, spherical design allow it to follow an exceptionally stable orbit, perfect for satellite laser ranging. From stations around the world, scientists fire pulses of laser light at LAGEOS and measure how long the light takes to return. Because the speed of light is known so precisely, researchers can calculate the distance to the satellite within just a few millimeters.
Historic concept art illustrating how the LAGEOS satellite reflects laser light emitted from a ground station on Earth.NASA
Over these last 50 years, these ultra‑precise measurements have helped track the slow movements of Earth’s tectonic plates, monitor tiny shifts in the planet’s crust, and measure motion along major fault lines. LAGEOS’s data have sharpened our understanding of Earth’s shape and refined models of the planet’s gravity field. LAGEOS has even contributed to tests of Einstein’s theory of general relativity by helping confirm predicted effects on the orbits of massive bodies around Earth.
In 1992, the Italian Space Agency–built LAGEOS II, a near‑twin of the original LAGEOS satellite, was launched aboard space shuttle Columbia. With two satellites to compare, scientists could make even more accurate measurements. Together, they have become long-term benchmarks for Earth science.
Despite being among the oldest scientific satellites still in service, LAGEOS is still going strong. Its simple, maintenance-free design, along with minimal drag in its high orbit, means that it will likely continue to circle the globe for millions of years.
Get details of the history, design, and scientific results of LAGEOS See Carl Sagan's message to the future hidden inside LAGEOS Explore More 6 min read Now 40, NASA’s LAGEOS Set the Bar for Studies of Earth Article 10 years ago 19 min read Every Flight is a Mission to Planet EarthObserving Earth from space is one of the NASA’s longest-standing science experiments. This photo essay…
Article 15 years ago 5 min read The Legacy of NASA’s Voyager Mission Article 9 years agoLAGEOS: An Earth Science Mission Built for Enduring Precision
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Technicians at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center helped complete prelaunch testing of the Laser Geodynamic Satellite (LAGEOS). LAGEOS was the first satellite devoted exclusively to laser ranging studies.NASA/Goddard Space Flight CenterOn May 4, 1976, a spacecraft resembling a disco ball entered orbit almost 3,700 miles (6,000 kilometers) above Earth. This shiny, two‑foot‑wide (60‑centimeter) sphere called the Laser Geodynamics Satellite, or LAGEOS, is covered with 426 retroreflectors—small mirrored prisms designed to bounce laser light directly back to where it came from. Beneath its aluminum exterior sits a dense brass core that makes LAGEOS incredibly heavy (900 pounds or 400 kilograms) for its size.
That weight was intentional. The satellite’s high mass and compact, spherical design allow it to follow an exceptionally stable orbit, perfect for satellite laser ranging. From stations around the world, scientists fire pulses of laser light at LAGEOS and measure how long the light takes to return. Because the speed of light is known so precisely, researchers can calculate the distance to the satellite within just a few millimeters.
Historic concept art illustrating how the LAGEOS satellite reflects laser light emitted from a ground station on Earth.NASAOver these last 50 years, these ultra‑precise measurements have helped track the slow movements of Earth’s tectonic plates, monitor tiny shifts in the planet’s crust, and measure motion along major fault lines. LAGEOS’s data have sharpened our understanding of Earth’s shape and refined models of the planet’s gravity field. LAGEOS has even contributed to tests of Einstein’s theory of general relativity by helping confirm predicted effects on the orbits of massive bodies around Earth.
In 1992, the Italian Space Agency–built LAGEOS II, a near‑twin of the original LAGEOS satellite, was launched aboard space shuttle Columbia. With two satellites to compare, scientists could make even more accurate measurements. Together, they have become long-term benchmarks for Earth science.
Despite being among the oldest scientific satellites still in service, LAGEOS is still going strong. Its simple, maintenance-free design, along with minimal drag in its high orbit, means that it will likely continue to circle the globe for millions of years.
Get details of the history, design, and scientific results of LAGEOS See Carl Sagan's message to the future hidden inside LAGEOS Explore More 6 min read Now 40, NASA’s LAGEOS Set the Bar for Studies of Earth Article 10 years ago 19 min read Every Flight is a Mission to Planet EarthObserving Earth from space is one of the NASA’s longest-standing science experiments. This photo essay…
Article 15 years ago 5 min read The Legacy of NASA’s Voyager Mission Article 9 years ago300-year-old experiment could become world's best dark matter detector
300-year-old experiment could become world's best dark matter detector
What we know—and what we don’t—about marijuana’s health effects
Marijuana is far from a “silver bullet” for various illnesses, but it has some promising applications, scientists say