We live inside the Milky Way galaxy which is joined as it drifts through space by two satellite galaxies, the Magellanic Clouds. A star cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud known as R136 has been the subject of a fascinating discovery. A team of astronomers have discovered 55 high-speed stars that have been ejected from …
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Jupiter is well known for its Great Red Spot, a feature that was discovered by Galileo over 400 years ago! Astronomers have been tracking the size and shape of it for over a century but the most accurate measurements have come from the Hubble Space Telescope. Every time Earth and Jupiter are at their closest, …
Continue reading "Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Jiggles"
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China’s space program has advanced considerably since the turn of the century. In addition to developing heavy-launch vehicles like the Long March 5 and building a modular space station in orbit, China has also embarked on an ambitious program of lunar exploration (Chang’e) – which has launched six robotic missions to explore the Moon’s surface …
Continue reading "China Releases its First Roadmap for Space Science and Exploration Through 2050."
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The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) has been shrouded in mystery since its maiden flight in 2011. Designed by Boeing and operated by the U.S. Space Force (USSF), this remotely operated, reusable space plane is designed to operate in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), 240 to 800 km (150 to 500 mi) above the Earth, and test …
Continue reading "Space Force’s X-37B will Perform “Never Before-Seen Maneuvers” in Orbit"
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Ever since the advent of space exploration we have seen some amazing images of the planets. New technology often brings with it a new perspective and we have been reminded of this again just recently with images from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and New Horizons spacecraft. The two objects simultaneously imaged Uranus from different …
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NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft today began its six-year cruise to the Jupiter system, with the goal of determining whether one of the giant planet’s moons has the right stuff in the right setting for life. The van-sized probe was sent into space from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at 12:06 …
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The early Universe continues to offer surprises and the latest observations of infant galaxies are no exception. Astronomers found a surprisingly Milky Way-like galaxy that existed more than 13 billion years ago. That was a time when the Universe was really just an infant and galaxies should still be early in their formation. A well-formed …
Continue reading "It’s Like Looking into a Mirror, 13 Billion Years Ago"
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Cosmology has had several ground-breaking discoveries over the last 100+ years since Einstein developed his theory of relativity. Two of the most prominent were the discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) in 1968 and the confirmation of gravitational waves in 2015. Each utilized different tools, but both lent credence to the Big Bang Theory, …
Continue reading "How Gravitational Waves Could Let Us See the First Moments After the Big Bang"
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When NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission arrived at asteroid Bennu, its primary mission was to grab a sample and bring it home to Earth. But researchers also tracked its movements carefully throughout the encounter, and this data could help physicists probe for additional forces in the Universe. Although additional forces haven't been found, the observations help set constraints on what's possible. The spacecraft's upcoming encounter with Apophis will continue the experiment.
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Perhaps you’ve heard of the popular Netflix show and the science fiction novel on which it is based, The Three-Body Problem, by Chinese science fiction author Liu Cixin. The story’s premise is a star system where three stars orbit each other, which leads to periodic destruction on a planet orbiting one of them. As Isaac …
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