These earthly godfathers of Heaven's lights, that give a name to every fixed star, have no more profit of their shining nights than those that walk and know not what they are.

— William Shakespeare

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How Climate Change Will Reshape Space Weather's Impact on Satellites

Universe Today - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 4:29pm

Climate change isn't just transforming weather on Earth's surface, it’s also fundamentally altering how space weather affects the thousands of satellites orbiting our planet. New research reveals that rising carbon dioxide levels will dramatically change how geomagnetic storms impact the upper atmosphere, creating both opportunities and challenges for the satellite industry in the decades ahead.

Categories: Astronomy

How Gecko Feet Could Save Space Travel

Universe Today - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 4:29pm

Space is getting dangerously crowded. More than 50,000 pieces of debris larger than 10 centimetres are currently hurtling around Earth at breakneck speeds, turning Earth orbits into veritable minefields. Dead satellites, rocket fragments, and collision debris pose such a serious threat that the International Space Station regularly performs emergency manoeuvres to dodge potential impacts. Now, an international team of researchers thinks they've found an elegant solution to this growing crisis and it's inspired by a humble house gecko's amazing ability to walk on walls.

Categories: Astronomy

New Theory Points to the Universe's Greatest Fireworks Show

Universe Today - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 4:29pm

What if the universe began with a fireworks show? A new theory suggests that supermassive black holes, the mysterious giants found at the heart of galaxies, were born from the universe's very first stars in a spectacular flash of light that ionised all of space before vanishing forever. This dramatic "Pop III.1" model could finally explain how these giant stellar remnants grew so impossibly large so quickly after the Big Bang, while potentially solving several major puzzles plaguing modern astronomy, from the Hubble Tension to the nature of Cosmic Dawn itself.

Categories: Astronomy

Moonquakes Will Pose Risks To Long-term Lunar Base Structures

Universe Today - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 4:29pm

Our Moon is a seismically active world and its long history of quakes could affect the safety of permanent base structures there. That's one conclusion from a study of quakes along the Lee-Lincoln fault in the Taurus-Littrow valley where the Apollo 17 astronauts landed in 1972. “The global distribution of young thrust faults like the Lee-Lincoln fault, their potential to be still active and the potential to form new thrust faults from ongoing contraction should be considered when planning the location and assessing stability of permanent outposts on the Moon,” said Smithsonian senior scientist emeritus Thomas R. Watters, lead author of the paper.

Categories: Astronomy

Researchers Simulate What a Black Hole "Shadow" Looks Like

Universe Today - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 4:29pm

Supercomputer simulations are helping scientists sharpen their understanding of the environment beyond a black hole’s "shadow," material just outside its event horizon.

Categories: Astronomy

The JWST Shows Us That TRAPPIST-1d Is Not As Earth-Like As We Hoped

Universe Today - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 4:29pm

The exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 d intrigues astronomers looking for possibly habitable worlds beyond our Solar System because it is similar in size to Earth, rocky, and resides in an area around its star where liquid water on its surface is theoretically possible. But according to a new study using data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, it does not have an Earth-like atmosphere.

Categories: Astronomy

Mystery of the "Little Red Dots" May Finally Be Solved

Universe Today - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 4:29pm

Deep in the darkness, tiny red specks of light have been driving astronomers to distraction. These mysterious "little red dots" discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope shouldn't exist, they’re impossibly compact yet blazingly bright, defying our understanding of how galaxies form. Now, Harvard researchers believe they've solved this billion year old puzzle with a theory involving the universe's rarest structures; dark matter halos.

Categories: Astronomy

A Simple Instrument Could Find Martian DNA - If It Exists

Universe Today - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 4:29pm

Mars still holds the promise of being one of the first places in the solar system humanity will colonize. However, if there was evolutionarily distinct, extant life on the planet, it might sway the heart of even the most ardent Mars colonization fans. So astrobiologists are in a race against time to try to determine whether or not such life exists, before the entire planet becomes an analogue of the Earth’s biosphere, if only unintentionally, and only a shadow of the ones that exists here. A new paper from the Christopher Temby and Jan Spacek of the Agnostic Life Finder (ALF) team discusses one of the most promising ways to prove definitively that life exists on the Red Planet - finding polyelectrolyte polymers - in other words, DNA.

Categories: Astronomy

The Vibrational Lives of Black Holes

Universe Today - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 4:29pm

When black holes are disrupted by things like infalling matter or gravitational waves, they vibrate like a bell struck with a clapper. The vibrations decay over time as the black hole returns to an equilibrium state. Astrophysicists can measure these vibrations to learn more about the black hole.

Categories: Astronomy

Supernovas are hard to detect. Scientists just found a way to spot them hours after they explode

Space.com - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 4:15pm
Astronomers have learned how to find supernova explosions in their earliest stages, giving us an unprecedented look at how these stars blow up.
Categories: Astronomy

Pixar's 'Elio' stars get space food tips from a real-life astronaut in this exclusive bonus clip (video)

Space.com - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 3:14pm
The family-friendly animated outer space flick scores its home video release starting today (Aug. 19).
Categories: Astronomy

'NASA is science': How real space exploration inspired Moleskine's new NASA-themed notebook collection (interview)

Space.com - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 3:00pm
We chatted to Moleskine President Ward Simmons about their new NASA-inspired notebook collection.
Categories: Astronomy

New moon discovered orbiting Uranus is its smallest one

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 2:20pm
The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a new moon that is small and dim in orbit around Uranus. The discovery brings the planet's total to 29, and scientists say there are probably more to be found
Categories: Astronomy

New moon discovered orbiting Uranus is its smallest one

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 2:20pm
The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a new moon that is small and dim in orbit around Uranus. The discovery brings the planet's total to 29, and scientists say there are probably more to be found
Categories: Astronomy

Brain implant lets man 'experience joy' for the first time in decades

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 2:00pm
A device that has been likened to a pacemaker for the brain has given a man with severe depression great relief
Categories: Astronomy

Brain implant lets man 'experience joy' for the first time in decades

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 2:00pm
A device that has been likened to a pacemaker for the brain has given a man with severe depression great relief
Categories: Astronomy

Scientists find tiny new moon around Uranus with the James Webb Space Telescope (photos, video)

Space.com - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 12:58pm
Astronomers using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have discovered a newfound moon orbiting icy Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun.
Categories: Astronomy

See a razor-thin crescent moon join Jupiter and Venus in the predawn sky on Aug. 20

Space.com - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 12:23pm
See the waning crescent moon rendezvous with Jupiter and Venus in the eastern sky on Aug. 20.
Categories: Astronomy

Mining for renewable tech inflicts huge damage. Is there a solution?

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 12:00pm
Collecting the materials needed for renewable technologies is causing enormous environmental damage and could soon extend to the deep sea and even asteroids. Innovative solutions are poised to turn the crisis around
Categories: Astronomy

Mining for renewable tech inflicts huge damage. Is there a solution?

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Tue, 08/19/2025 - 12:00pm
Collecting the materials needed for renewable technologies is causing enormous environmental damage and could soon extend to the deep sea and even asteroids. Innovative solutions are poised to turn the crisis around
Categories: Astronomy