All supernovae are massively energetic stellar explosions. The classic supernovae are massive stars that explode near the end of their lives, leaving behind either a neutron star or a black hole, and a remnant made of expanding gas and dust. But supernovae are not all the same. Some occur in binary systems, and they're called Type 1a supernovae. As it turns out, some of these Type 1a SNe can detonate twice.
When astronomers first discovered exoplanets, they found massive ones orbiting large stars. The technology to detect smaller planets around low-mass, dim red dwarfs took time to develop. By the mid-2000s, HARPS (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher) was specifically targeting M dwarfs and in 2009 discovered the least massive exoplanet at the time.
In 2014 and 2016, the Himawari-8 and -9 satellites were launched into orbit. Owned and operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), these satellites monitor global weather patterns and atmospheric phenomena using their multispectral Advanced Himawari Imagers (AHIs). In a recent study, a team led by the University of Tokyo presented infrared images that capture changes in Venus' atmosphere, revealing unseen temperature patterns in its cloud tops. The results show that meteorological satellites can complement observations of Venus' atmosphere by robotic missions and ground-based telescopes.
Astronomy news always seems to break over coffee, on laptop startup. That was the case Wednesday morning, when word of a curious new object started flashing across the message boards.
China's Tianwen-2 probe continues on its journey to rendezvous with a Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) before heading to the Main Asteroid Belt. The second in China's interplanetary exploration program (which translates to "Questions to Heaven"), this mission will obtain samples from asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa and return them to Earth. From there, China plans to send the probe to rendezvous with the Main Belt comet 311P/PANSTARRS to explore it using its 11 onboard instruments. Yesterday, the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA) released images the probe took of Earth and the Moon.
The NASA/ESA Cassini-Huygens mission explored Saturn and its moons from 2004 to 2017, providing the most detailed images and data on the system ever taken. This included Saturn's largest moon, Titan, which the probe examined closely during its many flybys, and with the deployment of the Huygens lander to its surface. The mission provided new insight into Titan's atmosphere, its methane cycle, and its rich prebiotic environment, and the organic chemistry taking place on its surface. Its findings even led to speculation about the possibility of life on Titan, possibly as methanogenic organisms living in its vast methane lakes.
Scientists have launched menstrual cups into space for the first time, testing whether these reusable devices can withstand the extreme conditions of space travel. The AstroCup mission represents a key step toward giving female astronauts sustainable menstrual health options during long duration missions to the Moon and Mars.
Scientists have developed a new method to identify and map plastic waste in urban areas using satellite imagery, offering new hope for tracking pollution and improving waste management in cities worldwide. The team of researchers led by Elena Aguilar from the San Diego State University, discovered that common plastic materials have unique "fingerprints" when viewed through special infrared light sensors. Just as different materials reflect sunlight differently to our eyes, plastics reflect infrared light in distinctive patterns that satellites can detect. The WorldView-3 satellite, orbiting high above Earth, captures these invisible signatures with remarkable precision, down to areas as small as 4 meters across. This breakthrough could revolutionise how we monitor urban waste, particularly in areas where traditional ground based surveys are difficult or dangerous to conduct.
We've sent some pretty interesting payloads to space since the first satellite (Sputnik 1) launched on October 4th, 1957. As access to space has increased, thanks largely to the commercial space industry, so too have the types of payloads we are sending. Consider the Nyx capsule created by German aerospace startup The Exploration Company, which launched on June 23rd from the Vandenberg Space Force Base atop a Falcon-9 rocket as part of a rideshare mission (Transporter-14). The payload for this flight (dubbed "Mission Possible") included the ashes and DNA of more than 166 deceased people provided by Celestis, a Texas-based memorial spaceflight company.
If you could see the Universe through a radio-wave "eye", you'd detect mini-halos of relativistic particles creating radio emissions around some galaxy clusters. Astronomers long figured those halos are relative "recent" happenings in the nearby Universe and didn't occur in the early epochs of cosmic history. That's all changed now that the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio observatory in Europe has revealed newborn galaxies in the early Universe already surrounded by a halo of particles. It's a rare look at what such clusters were like soon after they formed.
What can Earth-sized exoplanets teach scientists about the formation and evolution of exoplanets throughout the cosmos? This is what a recently submitted study hopes to address as an international team of researchers announced the discovery of an Earth-sized exoplanet that exhibits temperatures and a density comparable to Earth. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of Earth-sized exoplanets and what this could mean for finding life beyond Earth.
What can the pH level of the subsurface ocean on Enceladus tell us about finding life there? This is what a recent study accepted to Icarus hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated the potential pH level of Enceladus’ subsurface ocean based on current estimates. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the composition of Enceladus’ subsurface ocean and what this can mean for finding life as we know it.
How accurate are the exoplanet radius measurements obtained by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)? This is what a recent study accepted to The Astrophysical Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how hundreds of exoplanetary radii measured by TESS during its mission might be incorrect and the data could be underestimating the radii measurements. This study has the potential to help astronomers develop more efficient methods more estimating exoplanetary characteristics, which could influence whether or not they are Earth-sized.
Distant exoplanets can be dodgy to spot even in the best of observations. Despite the challenges, a team of astronomers just reported the discovery of a gas giant exoplanet that lies about 400 light-years from Earth. It's called TOI-4465 b and it takes 12 hours to transit across the face of its star during its 102-day orbit.
What is the importance of studying and utilizing lunar polar volatiles during the Artemis program, and specifically for first crewed mission, Artemis III? This is what a recent study presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated using lunar polar volatiles for in situ resource utilization (ISRU) purposes. In geology, volatiles are substances that vaporize at low temperatures, and examples include water, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. In the case of the Moon, key volatiles are water located in permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) at the lunar south polar region.
Spacecraft violently shake, rattle, and roll on their way into space aboard a giant explosion. Therefore, they must also be tested to make sure they can withstand those forces before getting to their orbit for deployment. One of NASA’s major observatories recently completed part of its trials, with the core portion of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope successfully completing its shock and vibration testing a few weeks ago.
Scientists are constantly finding new ways to look at things, and that’s especially true for objects that represent an outlier of their specific type. Adjectives like “biggest”, “brightest”, or “fastest spinning” all seem to attract scientific studies - perhaps because they’re an easier sell to funding agencies. No matter the reason, that means we typically get a lot of good science on specific objects that represent their particular class of objects well, and a new paper from Ozcan Caliskan from Istanbul University in Turkey hits that nail on the head when it comes to the most massive known white dwarf star.
Quasars provide some of the most spectacular light shows in the universe. However, they are typically exceedingly rare since they are caused by massive astrophysical forces that don’t happen very often. So it came as quite a surprise when scientists found a group of 11 of them hanging on in the same general area, in what appeared to be equivalent to the galactic countryside. A new paper from Yongming Liang and their co-authors at the University of Tokyo and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan describes this finding, which they dubbed the Cosmic Himalayas, and some of the weird astronomical circumstances that place the discovery in context.
By 2028, NASA intends to land the "first woman and first person of color" on the Moon as part of the Artemis III mission. This will be the first time humans have been to the lunar surface since the Apollo astronauts last walked there in 1972. Along with international and commercial partners, NASA hopes that Artemis will enable a "sustained program of lunar exploration and development," which could include long-term facilities and habitats on the Moon. Given the expense of launching heavy payloads, sending all the equipment and materials needed to the Moon is impractical.
How do you search for a substance that doesn't give off any kind of light, but has a gravitational influence that shapes galaxies? That's the challenge researchers face as they try to find and explain the mysterious substance called dark matter. They're wrestling with an invisible "something" that appears to make up much of all matter in the Universe.
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