Featured Posts
ABC
22 May 2018, 03:30 UTC
An "alien asteroid" that circles the sun in the giant gas planet Jupiter's orbital path, but hurtling in the opposite direction, is the first-known permanent resident of our solar system that astronomers have concluded originated in another star system. Researchers said on Monday a close examination of the asteroid's orbit indicated it formed elsewhere and was captured by gravitational forces when our solar system — the sun, planets and various other objects — formed from a swirling cloud of gas and dust about 4.5 billion years ago.
This 'alien asteroid' might be the oldest object in the solar system
22 May 2018, 03:30 UTC
An "alien asteroid" that circles the sun in the giant gas planet Jupiter's orbital path, but hurtling in the opposite direction, is the first-known permanent resident of our solar system that astronomers have concluded originated in another star system. Researchers said on Monday a close examination of the asteroid's orbit indicated it formed elsewhere and was captured by gravitational forces when our solar system — the sun, planets and various other objects — formed from a swirling cloud of gas and dust about 4.5 billion years ago.
ABC
21 May 2018, 19:05 UTC
"Discoverer of exploding stars" — now there's an impressive title for your resume. You can be just that by getting involved with the Supernova Sighting project, which is running this week alongside Stargazing Live. Supernova Sighting is enlisting citizen scientists to check out images snapped by the SkyMapper telescope, located at the Siding Spring Observatory in NSW. By getting involved, you'll be helping cosmologists like Anais Moller and Brad Tucker from the Australian National University, who are running the project, unravel the physics behind these cataclysmic explosions and get a better handle on the expansion of the universe.
You can discover violent blasts made by dying stars — no telescope required
21 May 2018, 19:05 UTC
"Discoverer of exploding stars" — now there's an impressive title for your resume. You can be just that by getting involved with the Supernova Sighting project, which is running this week alongside Stargazing Live. Supernova Sighting is enlisting citizen scientists to check out images snapped by the SkyMapper telescope, located at the Siding Spring Observatory in NSW. By getting involved, you'll be helping cosmologists like Anais Moller and Brad Tucker from the Australian National University, who are running the project, unravel the physics behind these cataclysmic explosions and get a better handle on the expansion of the universe.
Sky and Telescope
21 May 2018, 18:27 UTC
A Long March-4C rocket roared to life last night, lighting up the night skies over China and opening up the next chapter of lunar exploration. Aboard the rocket: an innovative lunar relay orbiter and a ground-breaking radio astronomy experiment. The launch occurred at 21:28 UT from Xichang Space Center in Sichuan, China. This orbiter is part of China's ambitious first attempt to deploy a lander and rover on the farside of the Moon later this year. All lunar landings to date, including the Apollo missions and China's 2013 Yutu Jade Rabbit lander and rover, have been conducted on the Moon's near side, within sight of Earth and radio communications. Chang'e 4, however, will land and rove on the farside of the Moon, requiring a dedicated relay.
Radio Experiment Launches With China’s Moon Orbiter
21 May 2018, 18:27 UTC
A Long March-4C rocket roared to life last night, lighting up the night skies over China and opening up the next chapter of lunar exploration. Aboard the rocket: an innovative lunar relay orbiter and a ground-breaking radio astronomy experiment. The launch occurred at 21:28 UT from Xichang Space Center in Sichuan, China. This orbiter is part of China's ambitious first attempt to deploy a lander and rover on the farside of the Moon later this year. All lunar landings to date, including the Apollo missions and China's 2013 Yutu Jade Rabbit lander and rover, have been conducted on the Moon's near side, within sight of Earth and radio communications. Chang'e 4, however, will land and rove on the farside of the Moon, requiring a dedicated relay.
The New York Times
21 May 2018, 12:31 UTC
An asteroid that cohabits an orbit with Jupiter came from outside the solar system.
Alien Asteroids Are Here. Get Used to Them.
21 May 2018, 12:31 UTC
An asteroid that cohabits an orbit with Jupiter came from outside the solar system.
Scientific American
21 May 2018, 12:00 UTC
Astronomers Spot Potential "Interstellar" Asteroid Orbiting Backwards Around the Sun
21 May 2018, 12:00 UTC
Aeon
21 May 2018, 10:00 UTC
The largest and deepest body of water known to us has never been sailed upon; it has no islands or shores, no wind-churned waves, no sunlight-silvered surface. This dark ocean can’t be found on any map of Earth – it’s more than 300 million miles away, on Europa, one of at least 69 moons that orbit Jupiter. Data from the Galileo spacecraft, which flew past Europa 11 times between 1995 and 2003, revealed that an immense salty sea lies beneath this moon’s smooth icy surface. Estimated to be 60 miles deep – about eight times the maximum depth of the Pacific – it has two to three times as much water as all of Earth’s oceans combined.
Our aquatic universe
21 May 2018, 10:00 UTC
The largest and deepest body of water known to us has never been sailed upon; it has no islands or shores, no wind-churned waves, no sunlight-silvered surface. This dark ocean can’t be found on any map of Earth – it’s more than 300 million miles away, on Europa, one of at least 69 moons that orbit Jupiter. Data from the Galileo spacecraft, which flew past Europa 11 times between 1995 and 2003, revealed that an immense salty sea lies beneath this moon’s smooth icy surface. Estimated to be 60 miles deep – about eight times the maximum depth of the Pacific – it has two to three times as much water as all of Earth’s oceans combined.
SPACE.com
20 May 2018, 16:23 UTC
With an experiment launching to the International Space Station on Monday May 21st 2018, scientists will be able to create a temperature that is 10 billion times colder than the vacuum of space to focus in on atoms' weird quantum behaviour.
NASA Is Launching a Box of Lasers to Make the Coldest Spot In the Universe
20 May 2018, 16:23 UTC
With an experiment launching to the International Space Station on Monday May 21st 2018, scientists will be able to create a temperature that is 10 billion times colder than the vacuum of space to focus in on atoms' weird quantum behaviour.
Centauri Dreams
18 May 2018, 16:06 UTC
Ronald Bracewell developed the concept of autonomous interstellar probes in the 1960's. Such craft would be capable not only of taking numerous scientific readings but of communicating with any civilizations it encounters. In this article James J Wentworth discusses the feasability of sending probes to distant stars.
Immortal Interstellar Probes
18 May 2018, 16:06 UTC
Ronald Bracewell developed the concept of autonomous interstellar probes in the 1960's. Such craft would be capable not only of taking numerous scientific readings but of communicating with any civilizations it encounters. In this article James J Wentworth discusses the feasability of sending probes to distant stars.
Astrobiology Magazine
18 May 2018, 11:00 UTC
Two nearby supernovae that exploded about 2.5 and eight million years ago could have resulted in a staggered depletion of Earth’s ozone layer, leading to a variety of repercussions for life on Earth. In particular, two-and-a-half million years ago the Earth was changing dramatically. The Pliocene, which was a hot and balmy epoch, was ending and the Pleistocene, an era of repeated glaciation known as the Ice Age, was beginning. Natural variations in Earth’s orbit and wobble likely accounted for the change in climate, but the simultaneous event of a supernova could provide insight on the diversification of life during this epoch.
