Space News & Blog Articles

Scientists from the University of Minnesota have discovered something extraordinary in Jupiter's polar regions that has never been seen before, a completely new type of plasma wave that creates aurora unlike anything we observe on Earth.

For astrobiologists, the search for life beyond our Solar System could be likened to where one would look in a vast desert where there's water. The most intriguing targets are planets called sub-Neptunes, which get their name because they're larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. What makes them fascinating is that their size and mass suggest they're packed with water but not the kind of water we know.

On August 8, 2024, the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii achieved a historic milestone by capturing the sharpest images ever taken of a solar flare. The unprecedented observations revealed coronal loops in stunning detail. The arches of superheated plasma following the Sun's magnetic field lines were captured at such resolution that it’s possible to see individual structures as narrow as 21 kilometres across.

The ESA's JUpiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is on its way to conduct detailed studies of Jupiter and its three icy moons, Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. To pick up speed and reach Jupiter by July 2031, the probe will conduct a gravity-assist maneuver with Venus on Sunday, August 31st. According to the ESA, the mission suffered an anomaly with its communications system, which temporarily severed its connection with Earth. Fortunately, a coordinated response by teams at the ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) and Airbus (JUICE's manufacturer) restored communications in time for the probe's flyby.

Astronomers have observed the distant active galaxy OJ 287 for many years. It's a BL Lac object, a type of active galactic nuclei known for their extreme variability. They display rapid and pronounced variability in their brightness across multiple wavelengths.

What can the Galactic Habitable Zone (GHZ), which is a galaxy’s region where complex life is hypothesized to be able to evolve, teach scientists about finding the correct stars that could have habitable planets? This is what a recent study accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated a connection between the migration of stars, commonly called stellar migration, and what this could mean for finding habitable planets within our galaxy. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the astrophysical parameters for finding habitable worlds beyond Earth and even life as we know it.

In space, the one thing more important than ensuring access to food, water, and waste disposal (combined!) is the need for a steady supply of breathable air. Where the International Space Station (ISS) and other missions in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) can be resupplied regularly, missions operating in deep space will need to produce their own. There are several ways to go about this. One way is to use bioregenerative life support systems (BLSSs), which utilize photosynthetic organisms (like cyanobacteria) that take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen gas and edible algae.