When it comes to atoms, language can be used only as in poetry.
The poet, too, is not nearly so concerned with describing facts
as with creating images.

— Niels Bohr

Feed aggregator

Nearby super-Earth K2-18 b may be a water-rich ocean planet: 'This has certainly increased the chances of habitability'

Space.com - 3 hours 38 min ago
The search for life beyond the solar system is heating up. Though biosignatures around super-Earth K2-18b remain unconfirmed, the JWST has found the planet could be a water-rich ocean world.
Categories: Astronomy

Watch SpaceX launch Crew-11 astronauts to the ISS for NASA today

Space.com - 9 hours 37 min ago
The four astronauts of SpaceX's Crew-11 mission are scheduled to launch toward the International Space Station today (July 31), and you can watch the action live.
Categories: Astronomy

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - 9 hours 38 min ago

Is the Helix Nebula looking at you?


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

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APOD - 9 hours 38 min ago

Why was this collision so strange?


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - 9 hours 38 min ago

Have you ever watched a lightning storm in awe?


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - 9 hours 38 min ago

Globular star cluster


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - 9 hours 38 min ago

Meteors from the


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - 9 hours 38 min ago


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - 9 hours 38 min ago

Our Sun frequently erupts in loops.


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

Cosmic Rays Could Support Life Just Under the Ice

Universe Today - Wed, 07/30/2025 - 8:58pm

If you've ever dreamed of traveling through space as an explorer, you know there'll be some serious "downside dangers". One of them is cosmic rays. These high-speed particles slam through anything, including our bodies, damaging DNA and ripping molecules apart. As dangerous as they sound to unprotected spacefarers, they could actually help microscopic life survive hiding under the icy surfaces of places like Europa or Enceladus.

Categories: Astronomy

Mars Glaciers Have More Water Content than Previously Thought

Universe Today - Wed, 07/30/2025 - 8:58pm

On the slopes of Martian mountains and craters clings what appears to be flowing honey, coated in dust and frozen in time. In reality, these features are incredibly slow-moving glaciers, and their contents were once thought to be mostly rock enveloped in some ice.

Categories: Astronomy

Why Land Detection Is Critical for Confirming Exoplanetary Life

Universe Today - Wed, 07/30/2025 - 8:58pm

How can identifying land on exoplanets help scientists better understand whether an exoplanet could harbor life? This is what a recently submitted study hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how identifying land on exoplanets could help dispel waterworld false positives, which occur when the data indicates an exoplanet contains deep oceans (approximately 50 Earth oceans), hence the name “waterworld”. This study has the potential to help scientists develop more efficient methods for classifying exoplanets and their compositions, specifically regarding whether they contain life as we know it, or even as we don’t know it.

Categories: Astronomy

What if a Baby Was Born Space?

Universe Today - Wed, 07/30/2025 - 8:58pm

If humans are planning to live off-world and colonise planets like Mars, that includes having children. But deep space and the surface of Mars aren't Earth, and there are several hazards that a gestating foetus will face, mainly microgravity and galactic cosmic rays. In a new paper, a researcher breaks down pregnancy into 10 sequential stages, evaluating what the implications of those conditions would be at each step. The author suggests that radiation would be the bigger risk.

Categories: Astronomy

How Satellites Are Silencing the Universe

Universe Today - Wed, 07/30/2025 - 8:58pm

Imagine if every time you turned on your phone, it accidentally jammed radio telescopes trying to detect alien signals. That's essentially what's happening as thousands of internet satellites flood Earth's orbit, creating electronic noise that's drowning out the whispers from black holes, distant galaxies, and the Big Bang itself. A massive new study reveals that our quest to connect every region of the planet is accidentally sabotaging our ability to answer the biggest questions in science and the problem is getting worse with every satellite launch.

Categories: Astronomy

How Space Construction Will Transform Life on Our Planet.

Universe Today - Wed, 07/30/2025 - 8:58pm

Imagine 3D printing an entire building from Moon dust, or having robots construct disaster relief shelters while humans stay safely away from danger. Imagine construction sites where materials never run out because they're literally made from the dirt beneath your feet, and where every structure is built with manufacturing level precision. What sounds like science fiction is becoming reality as engineers solve the ultimate construction puzzle, building on other planets. The innovations being pioneered for lunar bases and Martian colonies are about to transform every construction site on our home planet.

Categories: Astronomy

The Future Of Astronomy Might Be On the Moon

Universe Today - Wed, 07/30/2025 - 8:58pm

But wait, before you build that moon casino we need to talk about a couple things. One, you really have to figure out how the roulette wheel is going to work in a low gravity environment. Second, we’re going to need you to keep the noise down.

Categories: Astronomy

Tracking Deep Space Probes With GEO Satellites Improves Uptime

Universe Today - Wed, 07/30/2025 - 8:58pm

In astronomy, larger distances are both a blessing and a curse. They can cause issues like longer communication times, which also requires more powerful equipment, and positioning uncertainty that can affect the outcomes of measurements, especially in the outer reaches of the solar system. However, they can also be useful for a specific type of measurement called interferometry, where two systems a far distance apart can provide accurate location measurements to a third system - the same principle that GPS uses. A new paper looks at potentially using the same technique to track deep space probes rather than cars on a freeway and finds that, while it is around the same accuracy level, it is able to provide that same location data for more than double the amount of time.

Categories: Astronomy

AI Uncovers Subsurface Entrances on the Moon

Universe Today - Wed, 07/30/2025 - 8:58pm

How can artificial intelligence (AI) be used to locate lunar pits and skylights, which are surface depressions and openings, respectively, that serve as entrances to lava caves and lava tubes? This is what a recent study published in Icarus hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated using machine learning algorithms to more efficiently identify pits and skylights on lunar volcanic regions (lunar maria) of the Moon. This study has the potential to help researchers develop new methods in identifying key surface features on planetary bodies that could aid in both robotic and human exploration.

Categories: Astronomy

Lava Existed in the Moon's Subsurface Longer than Previously Thought

Universe Today - Wed, 07/30/2025 - 8:58pm

New research on the samples collected by China's Chang'e-5 mission is revolutionizing our understanding of how the Moon cooled. A team led by Stephen M. Elardo, an Assistant Professor from the University of Florida, found that lava on the near side of the Moon likely came from a much shallower depth than previously thought, contradicting previous theories on how the Moon formed and evolved.

Categories: Astronomy

Is the Moon Best Left Alone?

Universe Today - Wed, 07/30/2025 - 8:58pm

I’m not exaggerating when I say that our studies of the Moon have unlocked the mysteries of the universe.

Categories: Astronomy