Roughly 1,000 light-years from Earth, there is a cosmic structure known as IRAS 23077+6707 (IRAS 23077) that resembles a giant butterfly. Ciprian T. Berghea, an astronomer with the U.S. Naval Observatory, originally observed the structure in 2016 using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS). To the surprise of many, the structure has remained unchanged for years, leading some to question what IRAS 2307 could be.
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Maybe Ultra-Hot Jupiters Aren’t So Doomed After All
Ultra-hot Jupiters (UHJs) are some of the most fascinating astronomical objects in the cosmos, classified as having orbital periods of less than approximately 3 days with dayside temperatures exceeding 1,930 degrees Celsius (3,500 degrees Fahrenheit), as most are tidally locked with their parent stars. But will these extremely close orbits result in orbital decay for UHJs eventually doom them to being swallowed by their star, or can some orbit for the long term without worry? This is what a recent study accepted to the Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as a team of international researchers investigated potential orbital decays for several UHJs, which holds the potential to not only help astronomers better understand UHJs but also the formation and evolution of exoplanets, overall.
Safety first: NASA pledges to use AI carefully and responsibly
NASA will keep safety front of mind while harnessing the ever-growing power of artificial intelligence, agency officials stressed.
Could Alien Solar Panels Be Technosignatures?
If alien technological civilizations exist, they almost certainly use solar energy. Along with wind, it’s the cleanest, most accessible form of energy, at least here on Earth. Driven by technological advances and mass production, solar energy on Earth is expanding rapidly.
Live coverage: SpaceX to launch Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
A Falcon 9 stands ready for a Starlink mission at Cape Canaveral’s pad 40. File photo: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.
SpaceX will continue the expansion of its Starlink internet satellite mega-constellation with two planned Falcon 9 launches from Florida this week as the company boasts hitting more than three million users.
Finding The Age Of A Contact Binary “Moon”
There are millions of asteroids floating around the solar system. With so many of them, it should be no surprise that some are weirdly configured. A recent example of one of these weird configurations was discovered when Lucy, NASA’s mission to the Trojan asteroids, passed by a main-belt asteroid called Dinkinesh. It found that Dinkinesh had a “moon” – and that moon was a “contact binary”. Now known as Selam, it is made up of two objects that physically touch one another through gravity but aren’t fully merged into one another. Just how and when such an unexpected system might have formed is the subject of a new paper by Colby Merrill, a graduate researcher at Cornell, and their co-authors at the University of Colorado and the University of Bern.
SpaceX launching 23 Starlink satellites tonight on 2nd leg of spaceflight doubleheader
SpaceX is set to launch 23 of its Starlink satellites from Florida tonight (May 22), the second mission in less than 24 hours for the company.
Sega Toys Homestar Matataki star projector review
The Sega Toys Homestar Matataki star projector will bring twinkling stars and 'natural sounds' into your room.
Satellites capture smoke pouring from hundreds of wildfires across North America (photos)
NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites have captured the smoke pouring out of hundreds of wildfires blazing across Canada and Mexico since last week.
Webb Telescope Finds Most Distant Black Hole Merger
A new JWST study has found evidence of two galaxies colliding 740 million years after the Big Bang.
Russian space weapon ban shot down by UN Security Council
The United Nations Security Council has voted against a resolution introduced by Russia and China that would ban member states from placing weapons of any kind in outer space.
AI finds hidden galactic evolution clues in over 100 galaxies. Here's how
Scientists enlisted AI to help peruse a massive dataset in search of neutral carbon absorbers in galaxies, which can reveal lots about galaxy evolution.
First Space Station missions for new ESA astronauts
Video: 00:18:15
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher announces the first two astronaut missions for the new ESA astronaut class of 2022 on the first day of the Space Council, held in Brussels on 22 and 23 May 2024.
Why Did Galileo Get Such a Puny Crater?
Galileo was one of the first people to study the Moon through a telescope. You'd think he'd get more than 10-mile-wide crater for his efforts. But of course, there's more to the story.
Scientists find weird link between a solar mystery and feeding black holes
The solar dynamo that drives sunspots and solar flares could be located near the surface of the sun scientists find, solving a 400-year-old solar mystery and providing a weird link to black holes.
Churning spacetime and destroyed stars help reveal how fast supermassive black holes spin
Black holes are such a drag! Especially for the guts of stars they've destroyed and the fabric of spacetime they pull along with them.
ESA signs contracts for commercial space cargo return service
ESA has signed two contracts with European industry to develop a commercial service capable of transporting cargo to and from the International Space Station in low Earth orbit by 2030.
Boeing Starliner's 1st astronaut launch delayed again, this time with no new flight date
The 1st astronaut mission aboard Boeing's Starliner will not lift off May 25 as planned. NASA has not yet revealed the cause, but a helium leak has been ongoing in the spacecraft.
Space debris could be dealt with more cheaply than previously thought, new NASA report suggests
A new report by NASA outlines the most promising approaches to keeping the space around Earth safe and usable for future generations.
