Astronomers have determined that the Milky Way's outer halo is filled with "magnetic donuts" that are as wide as 100,000 light-years. The discovery could shed light on how cosmic magnetic fields form and evolve.
Space News & Blog Articles
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Earth-size planet discovered around cool red dwarf star shares its name with a biscuit
Astronomers have discovered an Earth-size planet orbiting a red dwarf star, making just the second planetary system seen around one of these tiny, cool, dim, but common, stars.
Three of the Oldest Stars in the Universe Found Circling the Milky Way
Mention the Milky Way and most people will visualise a great big spiral galaxy billions of years old. It’s thought to be a galaxy that took shape billions of years after the Big Bang. Studies by astronomers have revealed that there are the echo’s of an earlier time around us. A team of astronomers from MIT have found three ancient stars orbiting the Milky Way’s halo. The team think these stars formed when the Universe was around a billion years old and that they were once part of a smaller galaxy that was consumed by the Milky Way.
Supernova-filled galaxy dazzles in new Hubble Telescope image
The Hubble Space Telescope recently imaged an actively star-forming galaxy named UGC 9684.
A Rotating Spacecraft Would Solve So Many Problems in Spaceflight
If you watch astronauts in space then you will know how they seem to float around their spaceship. Spaceships in orbit around the Earth are in free-fall, constantly falling toward surface fo the Earth with the surface constantly falling away from it. Any occupant is also in free-fall but living like this causes muscle tone to degrade slowly. One solution is to generate artificial gravity through acceleration in particular a rotating motion. A new paper makes the case for a rotating space station and goes so far that it is achievable now.
NASA details plan to build a levitating robot train on the moon
NASA's plan to build a train track on the moon is part of the agency's Innovative Advanced Concepts program, which aims to develop "science fiction-like" projects for future space exploration.
SOHO’s view of the 11 May 2024 solar storm
Video: 00:00:29
Over the weekend of 10–12 May 2024, Earth was struck by the largest solar storm in more than a decade. While many of us enjoyed colourful auroras lighting up Earth’s protective atmosphere, spacecraft had to endure being buffeted by incredibly strong solar winds and electromagnetic radiation.
White Dwarfs are Often Polluted With Heavier Elements. Now We Know Why
When stars exhaust their hydrogen fuel at the end of their main sequence phase, they undergo core collapse and shed their outer layers in a supernova. Whereas particularly massive stars will collapse and become black holes, stars comparable to our Sun become stellar remnants known as “white dwarfs.” These “dead stars” are extremely compact and dense, having mass comparable to a star but concentrated in a volume about the size of a planet. Despite being prevalent in our galaxy, the chemical makeup of these stellar remnants has puzzled astronomers for years.
Saturn-Sized Exoplanet Isn’t Losing Mass Quickly Enough
We have discovered over 5,000 planets around other star systems. Amongst the veritable cosmic menagerie of exoplanets, it seems there is a real shortage of Neptune-sized planets close to their star. A new paper just published discusses a Saturn-sized planet close to its host star which should be experiencing mass loss, but isn’t. Studying this world offers a new insight into exoplanet formation across the Universe.
Satellite images of Rafah illustrate Palestinians fleeing the city
Satellite imagery of Rafah, Gaza, provided by commercial company Planet Labs, offers a spaceborne view of the Israel-Hamas war.
Big decision! Curiosity rover keeps following possible Mars river remnant
After much debate, the Curiosity Mars rover team decided to continue following an intriguing channel rather than send the robot on an off-road detour.
Gravitational Lenses Could Pin Down Black Hole Mergers with Unprecedented Accuracy
Gravitational wave astronomy has been one of the hottest new types of astronomy ever since the LIGO consortium officially detected the first gravitational wave (GW) back in 2016. Astronomers were excited about the number of new questions that could be answered using this sensing technique that had never been considered before. But a lot of the nuance of the GWs that LIGO and other detectors have found in the 90 gravitational wave candidates they have found since 2016 is lost.
Blue Origin targeting May 19 for 1st crewed spaceflight since 2022
Blue Origin is targeting Sunday (May 19) for the six-person NS-25, the company's first crewed spaceflight since August 2022.
TRAPPIST-1 Outer Planets Likely Have Water
The TRAPPIST-1 solar system generated a swell of interest when it was observed several years ago. In 2016, astronomers using the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST) at La Silla Observatory in Chile detected two rocky planets orbiting the red dwarf star, which took the name TRAPPIST-1. Then, in 2017, a deeper analysis found another five rocky planets.
Car-size asteroid gives Earth a close shave in near-miss flyby (video, photo)
A car-sized asteroid flew very close to Earth on Tuesday morning (May 14), just two days after being discovered.
Explore the Star Clusters of Centaurus
This large constellation abounds in deep-sky delights, including many fine open star clusters.
Boeing Starliner launch slips to May 21 to verify helium leak fix
Artist’s illustration of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in orbit. Credit: Boeing
Launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket carrying Boeing’s Starliner capsule is slipping another four days, from Friday to next Tuesday, to give engineers time to make sure a helium leak in the crew ship’s propulsion system has been resolved, officials said Tuesday.
Sun unleashes massive X8.7 solar flare, biggest of current cycle, from super-active monster sunspot (video)
A monster sunspot on the sun's surface just won't quit, erupting yet again this week with a whopping X8.7-class solar flare on Tuesday (May 14).
Jupiter's mysterious moon Amalthea spied crossing the Great Red Spot (photo)
NASA's Juno spacecraft has spotted the elusive fifth moon of Jupiter transiting the giant planet's Great Red Spot, giving astronomers a rare view of this small but intriguing natural satellite.
New York Times best-selling author revisits 1986 space shuttle tragedy in 'Challenger' (interview)
Adam Higginbotham was out with his first book when he got the idea. "People often asked me whether I remembered where I was when I heard the news about Chernobyl." He didn't, but recalled Challenger.
