As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

space

SPACE: Has Life From Earth Already Gone to the Stars?

by

A pair of Harvard astrophysicists have proposed a wild theory of how life might have spread through the universe. Imagine this: Millions or billions of years ago, back when the solar system was more crowded, a giant comet grazed the outer reaches of our atmosphere. It was moving fast, several tens of miles above the Earth’s surface — too high to burn up as a fireball, but low enough that the atmosphere slowed it down a little bit. Extremely hardy microbes were floating up there in its path, and some of those bugs survived the collision with the ball of … Read more

SPACE: Planets Come in Two Flavors

by

Scientists have discovered over 4,000 exoplanets outside of our Solar System, according to NASA’s Exoplanet Archive. Some of these planets orbit multiple stars at the same time. Certain planets are so close to their star that it takes only a handful of days to make one revolution, compared to the Earth which takes 365.25 days. Others slingshot around their star with extremely oblong orbits, unlike the Earth’s circular one. When it comes to how exoplanets behave and where they exist, there are many possibilities. And yet, when it comes to sizes of planets, specifically their mass and radius, there are … Read more

Are the 2020s “The Decade of Mars”?

by
Mars - Pixabay

The 2010s saw big advances in Mars exploration, but the new decade may bring even more exciting news — the possible discovery of Red Planet life. Scientists learned a great deal about the history and evolution of Mars in the last 10 years. NASA’s Curiosity rover mission led the charge, determining that at least some parts of the planet were capable of supporting Earth-like life for long stretches in the ancient past. “It’s been a very successful and very enlightening mission, in terms of figuring out that Mars was a habitable planet,” Curiosity project scientist Ashwin Vasavada, of NASA’s Jet … Read more

SPACE: What Are Fast Radio Bursts, And What Causes Them?

by

Mysterious ultra-fast pinpricks of radio energy keep lighting up the night sky and nobody knows why. A newly discovered example of this transient phenomenon has been traced to its place of origin — a nearby spiral galaxy — but it’s only made things murkier for astronomers. The problem concerns a class of blink-and-you’ll-miss-them heavenly events known as fast radio bursts (FRBs). In a few thousandths of a second, these explosions produce as much energy as the sun does in nearly a century. Researchers have only known about FRBs since 2007, and they still don’t have a compelling explanation regarding their … Read more

Why Aren’t We Finding Alien Life?

by
alien - deposit photos

If we discovered evidence of alien life, would we even realize it? Life on other planets could be so different from what we’re used to that we might not recognize any biological signatures that it produces. Recent years have seen changes to our theories about what counts as a biosignature and which planets might be habitable, and further turnarounds are inevitable. But the best we can really do is interpret the data we have with our current best theory, not with some future idea we haven’t had yet. This is a big issue for those involved in the search for … Read more

SPACE: Jupiter’s Red Spot Persists

by
Jupiter - Yay Images

Despite the apparent shrinkage of clouds in Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, the storm itself is still going strong, new research suggests. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot represents the most powerful storm in the solar system. While earlier studies have suggested that the storm has been shrinking since at least the 1800s, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, argued Nov. 25 at a conference of the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics that there is no evidence that the vortex that powers the cloud formation is changing. “I don’t think its fortunes were ever bad,” Philip Marcus, a professor of … Read more

SPACE: The Decade in Astronomy

by

As the 2010s come to a close, it’s time to revisit how some of the biggest space science stories shaped the decade. From the rise of TESS to flybys of Pluto and Cassini’s dramatic demise, the past ten years have produced some incredible science. Here are some of our favorite discoveries from the decade. 2010 Saw Cosmic Chases and Cosmic Rays The Deep Impact spacecraft proved to be an overachiever in 2010, chasing down a second comet after it had already observed one. After Deep Impact visited Comet Tempel 1 in 2005, NASA realized the spacecraft still had enough fuel … Read more

SPACE: Milky Way’s Giant Black Hole May Have a Friend

by
black holes - deposit photos

Do supermassive black holes have friends? The nature of galaxy formation suggests that the answer is yes, and in fact, pairs of supermassive black holes should be common in the universe. I am an astrophysicist and am interested in a wide range of theoretical problems in astrophysics, from the formation of the very first galaxies to the gravitational interactions of black holes, stars and even planets. Black holes are intriguing systems, and supermassive black holes and the dense stellar environments that surround them represent one of the most extreme places in our universe. The supermassive black hole that lurks at … Read more

SPACE: NASA Releases “Treasure Map” of Mars

by

NASA’s wish to follow the water on Mars just got a helping hand. Scientists have released a new global map showing water ice that is as little as 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) below the Red Planet’s surface. With data in hand, the research team located at least one promising landing spot for future astronaut missions: a big zone in the northern hemisphere’s Arcadia Planitia. This area has a lot of water ice close to the surface and is in the ideal location for a human Mars mission, because it is in a temperate, midlatitude region with plenty of sunlight, the … Read more

SPACE: Crossing the Event Horizon

by
black hole - pixabay

You’ve managed to travel tens of thousands of light-years beyond the solar system. Bravely facing the depths of the great interstellar voids, you’ve witnessed some of the most achingly beautiful and outrageously powerful events in the universe, from the births of new solar systems to the cataclysmic deaths of massive stars. And now for your swan song, you’re going big: you’re about to take a dip into the inky blackness of a giant black hole and see what’s on the other side of that enigmatic event horizon. What will you find inside? Read on, brave explorer. First, we need to … Read more