Dark matter doesn’t really do much of anything in the present-day universe. But in the early days of the cosmos there may have been pockets of dark matter with high enough density that they provided a source of heat for newly forming stars. Welcome to the strange and wonderful world of “dark stars.”
Space News & Blog Articles
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NASA picks 2 companies to build spacesuits for astronauts on the moon and in Earth orbit
NASA has selected two companies to make spacesuits for its Artemis moon program and future International Space Station missions.
Compare Sand Dunes Across the Solar System, From Venus to Pluto
One of the most interesting things we can learn from studying the planets and bodies of our Solar System is how much they have in common. Mars has polar ice caps and features that formed in the presence of water. Venus is similar to Earth in size, mass, and composition and may have once been covered in oceans. And countless icy bodies in the Solar System experience volcanism and have active plate tectonics, except with ice and water instead of hot silicate magma. Another thing they have in common, which may surprise you, is sand dunes!
James Webb Space Telescope will release its 1st science-quality images July 12
We now have a date for our first real images from NASA's next-generation observatory.
Groundbreaking sets stage for space shuttle Endeavour launch-like display
It is a sight that gave astronauts a reason to pause, and soon it will be one that the public can see for themselves at the California Science Center: a space shuttle standing poised for launch.
NASA's Mars MAVEN spacecraft spent 3 months on the brink of disaster
In February, one of NASA's Mars spacecraft slipped into a safe mode that nearly ended the mission.
What the Voyager space probes can teach humanity about immortality as they sail for trillions of years
Both Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, carry little pieces of humanity in the form of their Golden Records.
Physicists just rewrote a foundational rule for nuclear fusion reactors that could unleash twice the power
Future fusion reactions inside tokamaks could shine even brighter than before, thanks to groundbreaking new research to find the maximum density of the hydrogen plasma fuel that powers them.
Looking ahead to Webb’s first images
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope will release its first full-colour images and spectroscopic data on 12 July 2022.
New and improved satellites will help track storms this hurricane season
Atlantic hurricane season begins today (June 1), and several new weather satellites will collect valuable data to improve hurricane forecasting this year.
Euclid gains solar power and protection
Video: 00:02:54
Spacecraft are not so different to humans – whilst the Sun can be a great source of vital energy, both people and machines must also be protected from its harmful effects.
In this video, engineers at Thales Alenia Space in Turin are attaching a combined sunshield and solar panel module to the main body of ESA’s Euclid spacecraft. This process took place on 23 May 2022 and lasted an entire day.
The module has two functions: whilst the solar panels will provide the spacecraft with power, the sunshield will shade the instrument-carrying payload module from the Sun’s intense radiation.
The video also includes interviews with the ESA and Thales Alenia Space Euclid project managers, who tell us more about the importance of the sunshield and Euclid’s ambitious goals.
Euclid is a space telescope designed to explore the dark Universe. It will make a 3D-map of the cosmos (with time as the third dimension) by observing billions of galaxies out to 10 billion light-years, across more than a third of the sky. In doing so, Euclid will tackle some of the most fundamental questions in cosmology – questions like: How did the Universe originate? Why is the Universe expanding at an accelerating rate? What is the nature of dark matter? What is dark energy?
The previous step in Euclid’s journey, taking place on 24 March 2022, involved attaching Euclid’s payload module to its supporting service module. Next up, engineers will add the communications antenna and then Euclid will be complete. Finally, Euclid will be taken to Cannes where the complete spacecraft will be tested to check that it is ready for launch from Europe’s Spaceport in French
Vortex 10x50 Crossfire HD binocular review
With sharp optics and a chest harness included, the Vortex 10x50 Crossfire HD binocular is an excellent value mid-range option for stargazing and more.
Euclid gains solar power and protection
Image: Euclid gains solar power and protection
NASA's sun-grazing Parker Solar Probe will zip through its 12th stellar closeup today
NASA's sun-grazing spacecraft will make its 12th close flyby of our star on Wednesday (June 1), marking the halfway point of the mission.
NASA to make big announcement about Artemis moon spacesuits today. Watch the reveal live.
NASA will apparently announce today (June 1) who's going to make the spacesuits for its Artemis moon program, and you can watch the big reveal live.
Launch of NASA's CAPSTONE cubesat moon mission delayed to June 13
The launch of NASA's CAPSTONE moon mission has been pushed back another week, to no earlier than June 13.
June: Pre-dawn Planet-Palooza
Download this month's Sky Tour podcast to find out where and when to spot a rare alignment of five planets in the sky before dawn.
Plato’s cave: vacuum test for exoplanet detection
Image: Plato’s cave: vacuum test for exoplanet detection
Could we Detect Dark Matter’s Annihilation Within Globular Clusters?
A team of astronomers studied two nearby globular clusters, 47 Tucanae and Omega Centauri, searching for signals produced by annihilating dark matter. Those the searches turned up empty, they weren’t a failure. The lack of a detection placed strict upper limits on the mass of the hypothetical dark matter particle.
Why are Uranus and Neptune Different Colors? Haze
Way back in the late 1980s, the Voyager 2 spacecraft visited Uranus and Neptune. During the flybys, we got to see the first close-up views of those ice giants. Even then, planetary scientists noticed a marked color difference between the two. Yes, they both sport shades of blue. But, if you look closely at Uranus, you see a featureless pale blue planet. Neptune, on the other hand, boasts interesting clouds, dark banding, and dark spots that come and go. They’re all set against a darker blue backdrop.
Hubble Sees Two Spiral Galaxies Together
Two peculiar spiral galaxies are in the latest image release from the Hubble Space Telescope. The two galaxies, collectively known as Arp 303, are located about 275 million miles away from Earth. IC 563 is the odd-shaped galaxy on the bottom right while IC 564 is a flocculent spiral at the top left.
