Space News & Blog Articles

The complex molecules required for life on Earth might never have formed if it wasn’t for cosmic dust.

Suppose you slammed together two neutrons at near-luminous speed. The resulting collision would create a cascade of particles from protons, electrons, and neutrinos to more exotic fare. We can't predict the exact number or type of particles produced, but we do know one thing: the total charge of all the particles would be zero. This is because charge is a conserved quantity, and since the neutrons have zero total charge, their resulting particles must have the same.

The Butterfly Nebula is one of those cosmic objects that demands our attention, and even our fascination. It's also known as NGC 6302 or the Bug Nebula, but whatever name we use, the stunning spectacle of ionized gases draws our human eyes in. In fact, Butterfly and its nebulae brethren may be more responsible for generating public enthusiasm in astronomy than any other type of object.

Remember back in 2018 when there was a discovery of a briny “lake” underground near the Martian south pole? Pepperidge Farm probably does, and anyone that works there that’s interested in space exploration will be disappointed to hear that, whatever might be causing the radar signal that finding was based on, it’s most likely not a lake. At least according to new data collected by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and published recently in Geophysical Research Letters by lead author Gareth Morgan of the Planetary Science Institute and his colleagues.

A first ever detection of a coronal mass ejection from a small red dwarf could have big consequences for life on any nearby planets.

I once filmed down a salt mine in North Yorkshire, descending into a dark matter laboratory buried deep underground where scientists wait for the rarest of collisions, dark matter particles interacting with ordinary matter. They're still waiting. But above ground, looking outward rather than inward, Professor Tomonori Totani from the University of Tokyo may have found what those underground detectors haven’t, dark matter revealing itself through light.

Studying the light from stars tells us their temperature, composition, age, and evolutionary state. But the red giant companion to Gaia BH2, a black hole system discovered in 2023, tells a contradictory story that doesn't make sense until you consider stellar violence!

The evolution of each individual galaxy is shaped by its surroundings, according to new research. The Deep Extragalactic Visible Legacy Survey (DEVILS), an endeavour of ICRAR and the University of Western Australia, has released its first data. It includes catalogues of morphological, redshift, photometric and spectroscopic data, as well as group environments and halo data for thousands of galaxies.

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS) in Japan recently accomplished something truly unprecedented. With the help of colleagues from the University of Tokyo and the Universitat de Barcelona, the team conducted the world's first Milky Way simulations that accurately represented more than 100 billion stars over 10,000 years. The simulation not only represented 100 times more individual stars than previous models, but was also produced 100 times faster.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope continues its inexorable march toward launch. It recently completed another series of tests that brings it a few steps closer to a launch pad in Florida. This time, the telescope was split into two separate parts - an inner portion and an outer portion, each of which went through separate tests throughout the fall.

What is the importance of studying explosive volcanism on Venus? This is what a recent study published in the *Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets* hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the potential altitudes of explosive volcanism on Venus. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the present volcanic activity on Venus, along with gaining insight about its formation and evolution and other planetary bodies throughout the solar system and beyond.

Star formation should be a relatively straightforward process. Dense clouds of molecular hydrogen collapse under gravity, fragmenting into cores that grow into protostars. These infant stars are cold, deeply embedded in their parent clouds, and shouldn't produce ultraviolet radiation. They're not hot enough. Yet when astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope's MIRI instrument to observe five young stars in the Ophiuchus molecular cloud, 450 light years away, they found clear evidence of UV radiation affecting molecular hydrogen in outflows around these protostars.

What can star variability—changes in a star’s brightness over time—teach astronomers about exoplanet habitability? This is what a recent study accepted to *The Astronomical Journal* hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the interaction between a star’s activity and exoplanetary atmospheres. This study has the potential to help astronomers better understand how star variability plays a role in finding habitable exoplanets, specifically around stars that are different from our Sun.

How can star populations help astronomers re-evaluate the search for intelligent extraterrestrial life, also called technosignatures? This is what a recently submitted study hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the parameters of identifying locations of technosignatures, also called extraterrestrial transmitters. This study has the potential to help astronomers constrain the criteria for finding intelligent life in both our galaxy and throughout the universe.

There is a growing movement worldwide to establish a human presence in orbit, on the Moon, and beyond. This presents many challenges, ranging from the technological and logistical to the biological and medical. After all, if people are going to be living and working in space for extended periods, we need to know what the effects will be on the human mind and body. While considerable research has been conducted aboard the International Space Station (ISS), most notably NASA's Twins Study, much more remains to be done before outposts in space can be realized.

What can equatorial jet streams on gas giant planets teach scientists about gas giant planetary formation and evolution? This is what a recent study published in *Science Advances* hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the mechanisms of jet streams on gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) and ice giants (Uranus and Neptune). This study has the potential to help scientists better understand not only the formation and evolution of giant planets in our solar system, but exoplanets, too.

What can an ancient supernova teach scientists about Earth and celestial objects? This is what a recently submitted study to *Astronomy & Astrophysics* hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the interaction of the remnants of supernova that occurred 10-million years ago with Earth. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand how Earth is influenced by celestial objects and what this could mean for the future of life on Earth, along with potentially habitable worlds beyond Earth.

Have scientists finally confirmed the existence of the first exomoon? This is what a recent study accepted for publication in *Astronomy & Astrophysics* hopes to address as a large international team of researchers investigated new methods for identifying an exomoon orbiting a gas giant exoplanet. This study has the potential to help scientists develop new methods for finding exomoons, the latter of which has yet to be confirmed.

Touch a metal door handle on a dry day and you might get a small static shock, an annoying but harmless release of built up electrical charge. Now imagine that same phenomenon happening constantly in the swirling dust devils that race across the Martian surface. A team of scientists have just detected these electric discharges on Mars for the first time.

Picture an astronaut on the Moon in 2035, reaching for a crisp lettuce leaf grown in lunar soil simulant, gazing upon Earth which is visible through the window. It sounds like science fiction, but a global collaboration of scientists is making this vision increasingly tangible, developing the agricultural technologies that will sustain human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

Chemical rockets have taken us to the Moon and back, but traveling to the stars demands something more powerful. Space X’s Starship can lift extraordinary masses to orbit and send payloads throughout the Solar System using its chemical rockets but it cannot fly to nearby stars at thirty percent of light speed and land. For missions beyond our local region of space, we need something fundamentally more energetic than chemical combustion, and physics offers or in other words, antimatter.