Our planet hasn’t always been the warm, inviting place we know today. At least five times in its history, Earth froze over, locked in the grip of an ice age. Scientists sometimes refer to these periods as “Snowball Earth.” The popular idea is that everything was covered with ice, making life difficult, if not impossible. But, there’s new evidence that during at least one of these icy periods, parts of Earth’s surface could have been more like a giant mushy ball of slush.
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Europe's JUICE mission has to squeeze into a 1-second launch window. Here's why.
Europe's Jupiter mission JUICE has only one second a day to launch to hit the correct trajectory that will take it to the gas giant planet in eight years' time.
Earth-observing satellite captures rare photos of Jupiter and its moons
The European Earth-observing satellite Pleiades Neo snapped a rare sequence of images capturing the giant planet Jupiter and its moons.
How to watch the launch of Europe's JUICE mission to Jupiter on April 13
Europe's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission is set to launch for its 8-year cruise to the solar system's largest planet on Thursday at 8:15 EDT (1215 GMT) and you can watch it live via Space.com.
Scorpio
Scorpio is one of the 12 zodiac constellations and is located in the southern sky. It is best seen during the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere and during the winter months in the Southern Hemisphere. The constellation is represented by a scorpion, and its brightest star is Antares, which is a red giant star located about 600 light-years away from Earth.
Mystery Bursts Give Astronomers a View into Galaxy Halos
Flashes of radio waves — whose exact sources are still a bit of a mystery — are helping astronomers learn about the hot gas that surrounds the Milky Way.
Newfound asteroid is a long-term 'quasi-moon' of Earth
A newfound asteroid called 2023 FW13 has been Earth's companion for centuries, astronomers say.
Unistellar eQuinox 2 telescope review
A smart telescope designed for beginners and pros, the Unistellar eQuinox 2 provides excellent views and photos of the cosmos.
'Star Wars: Dark Droids' brings robotic horror to the galaxy far, far away
Marvel Comics reveals a first look at new "Star Wars: Dark Droids" horror comic book series at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
Mother of Dragons: Astronomers Peer Inside the “Dragon Cloud”
How did the most massive stars form? Astronomers have debated their origins for decades. One of the biggest problems facing these theories is the lack of observations. Massive stars are relatively rare, and so it’s hard to catch them in the act of formation. But new observations of the so-called Dragon cloud may hold the clue to answering this mystery.
A Rocket-Powered Spaceplane Completes a Successful Test Flight
Access to space is getting easier and more accessible as more and more platforms are coming online that can significantly decrease the cost of getting into Earth’s orbit or even beyond. Now, another company has taken a step forward in making inexpensive, reusable access to space a reality. Dawn Aerospace, which operates out of the US, New Zealand, and the Netherlands, has successfully tested a prototype spaceplane.
Olympus 8x25 WP II binocular review
The portable Olympus 8x25 WP II boasts an excellent optical system for clear views of the moon and bright targets with superb contrast.
Machine Learning Tidies Up the Cosmos
Amanda Morris, a press release writer at Northwestern University, describes an important astronomical effect in terms entertaining enough to be worth reposting here: “The cosmos would look a lot better if the Earth’s atmosphere wasn’t photobombing it all the time.” That’s certainly one way to describe the air’s effect on astronomical observations, and it’s annoying enough to astronomers that they constantly have to correct for distortions from the Earth’s atmosphere, even at the most advanced observatories at the highest altitudes. Now a team from Northwestern and Tsinghua Universities have developed an AI-based tool to allow astronomers to automatically remove the blurring effect of the Earth’s atmosphere from pictures taken for their research.
New 'warm Jupiter' exoplanet discovered by NASA's planet-hunting satellite
Things could be heating up for a newly discovered warm Jupiter planet. The exoplanet planet around 1,000 light years away could snuggle up to its star but only if another planet plays matchmaker.
Europe's JUICE Jupiter mission launches April 13. Here's what it will teach us
The JUICE mission will begin its trek to the gas giant Jupiter on Thursday, April 13. When will it arrive, and what will it discover about the solar system's largest planet and its icy ocean moons?
The Mandalorian season 3 episode 7 review: The sharp turn fans were hoping for
The seventh chapter of The Mandalorian season 3 is a game-changer for the series as a whole and teases the big menace to come in future seasons and other shows.
The EMM's Hope: Novel discoveries and a changing orbit set to contribute more unprecedented data to the space community
The Emirates Mars Mission is helping scientists form a new understanding of the Red Planet's atmosphere, including its intriguing auroras.
Mission control GO for Juice launch
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At ESA’s mission control, before the launch comes the pre-launch briefing – and the all-important group photo. This is the team that will fly Juice to Jupiter with four planetary flybys of Earth and Venus, then switching orbit from Jupiter to its largest moon, Ganymede, followed by a tour of the icy, complex Jovian system comprising a whopping 35 lunar flybys.
Best free Star Trek: TNG & Picard 3D prints
Star Trek: Picard may be ending with season 3, but you don’t have to wave goodbye to the captain. Here are ten free 3D prints to make every day Picard day.
Will SpaceX's Starship go orbital for the 1st time on April 17?
SpaceX has identified April 17 as a target date for the first orbital test flight of its Starship vehicle, though regulatory approvals still need to come through.
Watch SpaceX launch a Starship to Mars in this gorgeous new animation
SpaceX's massive new Starship vehicle launches toward Mars in a stunning new video that captures the ambition of Elon Musk's deep-space vision.
