Category Archives: Phys.org

X-ray astronomy is a somewhat neglected corner of the more general field of astronomy. The biggest names in telescopes, like Hubble and James Webb, don’t even touch that bandwidth. And Chandra, the most capable space-based X-ray observatory to date, is far less well-known. However, some of the most interesting phenomena in the universe can only be truly understood through X-rays, and it’s a shame that the discipline doesn’t garner more attention.

Solar power satellite (SPS) advocates have been dreaming of using space resources to build massive constructions for decades. In-space resource utilization (ISRU) advocates would love to oblige them, but so far, there hasn’t yet been enough development on either front to create a testable system. A research team from a company called MetaSat and the University of Glasgow hope to change that with a new plan called META-LUNA, which utilizes lunar resources to build (and recycle) a fleet of their specially designed SPS.

At the center of most large galaxies, including our own Milky Way, sits a supermassive black hole. Interstellar gas periodically falls into the orbit of these bottomless pits, switching the black hole into active galactic nucleus (AGN)-mode, blasting high-energy radiation across the galaxy.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were barely known outside space circles when they strapped in for what was supposed to be a quick test flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule last June. Nine months later, they’ve captured the world’s attention—and hearts—as NASA’s stuck astronauts.

Following its arrival at Pariacabo harbor in Kourou, French Guiana, ESA’s Biomass satellite has been rolled out of its shipment container, which kept it protected throughout its two-week voyage from France across the Atlantic Ocean to South America.

A combination of cosmic processes shapes the formation of one of the most common types of planets outside of our solar system, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State. The research team used data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to study young sub-Neptunes—planets bigger than Earth but smaller than Neptune—that orbit close to their stars. The work provides insights into how these planets might migrate inward or lose their atmosphere during their early stages.

Powering spacecraft with solar energy may not seem like a challenge, given how intense the sun’s light can feel on Earth. Spacecraft near the Earth use large solar panels to harness the sun for the electricity needed to run their communications systems and science instruments.

An international team has discovered a giant spiral disk galaxy in the early cosmos which is three times larger than similar galaxies of the same epoch.

NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program has returned to Wānaka, New Zealand, for two scheduled flights to test and qualify the agency’s super pressure balloon technology. These stadium-sized, heavy-lift balloons will travel the Southern Hemisphere’s mid-latitudes for planned missions of 100 days or more.

The International Space Station supports a wide range of scientific activities, from looking out at our universe to breakthroughs in medical research, and is an active proving ground for technology for future moon exploration missions and beyond.

An international team of astronomers reports the detection of two new brown dwarfs orbiting distant stars using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The newfound objects are about 30 times more massive than Jupiter. The finding was detailed in a paper posted on March 7 to the arXiv preprint server.

Research led by Jilin University and Texas A&M University has documented the first known case of cinnabar-stained teeth in antiquity. Analysis of a burial from approximately 2,200 years ago in the Shengjindian Cemetery, Turpan, China, revealed red pigment on a young woman’s teeth. Testing confirmed the substance as cinnabar, a mercury sulfide mineral historically used in burial practices, shamanism, and early medicine. Findings suggest long-distance trade connections and significant cultural meaning behind the pigment’s use.

I’ve long been fascinated by the fundamental mystery of our universe’s origin. In my work, I explore an alternative to the traditional singularity-based models of cosmology. Instead of a universe emerging from an infinitely dense point, I propose that a flat universe and its time-reversed partner—an anti-universe—can emerge together from nothing through a smooth, quantum process.

It’s lights out for the first private lunar lander to pull off a fully successful moon mission.

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured its first direct images of carbon dioxide in a planet outside the solar system in HR 8799, a multiplanet system 130 light-years away that has long been a key target for planet formation studies.

If SpaceX gets its way, the Space Coast will get a lot more rocket rumbles and sonic booms as the company increases Falcon 9 launches and builds out new landing pads at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Kennedy Space Center.

To learn more about the deepest reaches of our own galaxy and the mysteries of star formation, Japanese researchers have created a deep learning model. The Osaka Metropolitan University-led team used artificial intelligence to pore through the vast amounts of data being acquired from space telescopes, finding bubble-like structures that had not been included in existing astronomical databases.

A pair of US astronauts stuck for more than nine months on the International Space Station will be returned to Earth on Tuesday evening, NASA said.

Just over a day after blasting off, a SpaceX crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, delivering the replacements for NASA’s two stuck astronauts.

Greece is riding a weather “rollercoaster,” with weekend temperatures spiking to a record high for March just ahead of a forecast bout of snow and frost, meteorologists said on Sunday.