Gas clouds in the Milky Way's Galactic Center (GC) contain copious amounts of star-forming gas. But for some reason, few massive stars form there, even though similar gas clouds elsewhere in the galaxy easily form massive stars. The clouds also form fewer stars overall. Are they a new type of molecular cloud?
When the Sun rages and storms in Earth's direction, it changes our planet's atmosphere. The atmosphere puffs up, meaning satellites in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) meet more resistance. This resistance creates orbital decay, dragging satellites to lower altitudes. One researcher says we can change the design of satellites to decrease their susceptibility.
A team of astronomers have captured spectacular images of what appears to be a gas giant planet in the process of formation, located 430 light years away from Earth. The discovery, led by researchers at the University of Galway, provides rare visual evidence of how planets are born within swirling disks of dust and gas around young stars.
How can radio astronomers successfully identify extraterrestrial radio signals while discerning them from Earth-based radio signals? This is what a recent study published in The Astronomical Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how machine learning could be used to search for extraterrestrial technosignatures while simultaneously identifying radio contamination from human radio signals. This study has the potential to help radio astronomers develop more efficient methods in searching for and identifying radio signals from extraterrestrial civilizations.
Astronomers have discovered that supermassive black holes in the early universe were far more powerful than previously thought, blasting jets of material across incredible distances at nearly the speed of light. This groundbreaking discovery, made using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, offers new insights into how these cosmic monsters shaped the universe during its most dynamic period.
The Sun's surface has unveiled a new secret: ultra fine magnetic "curtains" that create striking patterns of bright and dark stripes across the solar photosphere. Thanks to groundbreaking observations from the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, scientists have captured the sharpest ever images of these previously unseen structures, revealing magnetic field variations at scales as small as 20 kilometres.
As astronomers found more and more exoplanets in recent years, they've observed an unusual gap in the population. It's called the Neptunian Desert, a curious scarcity of Neptune-sized exoplanets orbiting close to their stars. Researchers just discovered an exoplanet in the Neptunian Desert around a Sun-like star. Can it help explain the Desert?
Since 2001, NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter has been studying the Martian surface and atmosphere to look for evidence of past or present water and ice, and study the planet's geology and radiation environment. As the longest-running mission to orbit another planet, this robotic probe has taken some impressive images of the Red Planet and its major surface features. In a new panorama, the Mars Odyssey orbiter captured a spectacular view of Arsia Mons, peeking above a dense canopy of clouds just before dawn. This marks the first time one of Mars' volcanoes has been imaged on the planet's horizon.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured an extraordinary image of an unusually cold exoplanet in what scientists describe as a "chaotic" and "abnormal" planetary system. The discovery offers new insights into how planetary systems can develop in dramatically different ways from our own Solar System.
In this series we are exploring NASA's top five challenges as detailed in its Civil Space Shortfall Ranking, which is basically NASA's Christmas wish list. These are the technologies that NASA believes we need to develop if we want to go to space…and stay there.
When the Mariner 9 flew past Mars in 1972, scientists were treated to the first evidence that water once flowed on the surface of Mars. Subsequent missions confirmed this theory based on the study of features that form in the presence of water (flow channels, delta fans, and sedimentary deposits), the presence of hydrated minerals and clays in impact basins, and the discovery of subsurface ice and permafrost across the planet. These findings indicate that Mars once had an atmosphere thick enough to maintain temperatures to maintain surface water in a liquid state.
Astronomers recently used a pair of powerful telescopes to zero in on a cosmic battle occurring some 11 billion light-years away from Earth. The combatants are a pair of galaxies charging at each other over and over again, at velocities upwards of 500 kilometers per second. According to one of the scientists studying the scene, one galaxy is cutting into the heart of the other with a blast of radiation. “We hence call this system the ‘cosmic joust,’” said study co-lead Pasquier Noterdaeme of the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris.
The COSMOS scientific collaboration has released the largest map of the Universe ever created. It contains almost 800,000 galaxies, some from the Universe's earliest times. The map challenges some of our ideas about the early universe.
Getting to Mars takes a really long time, about 9 months using today's rocket technology. This is because regular rocket engines burn fuel and oxygen together (like a car engine), but they're not very efficient. The fundamental problem is that spacecraft must carry both fuel and oxidiser since there's no air in space to support combustion. This creates a vicious circle: the more fuel you carry to go faster, the heavier your spacecraft becomes, requiring even more fuel to accelerate that extra weight. To go faster, you'd need massive amounts of fuel, making the rockets incredibly expensive and heavy. Current chemical propulsion systems are just about at their theoretical limits, with little room for improvement in efficiency.
In this series we are exploring NASA's top five challenges as detailed in its Civil Space Shortfall Ranking, which is basically NASA's Christmas wish list. These are the technologies that NASA believes we need to develop if we want to go to space…and stay there.
In this series we are exploring NASA's top five challenges as detailed in its Civil Space Shortfall Ranking, which is basically NASA's Christmas wish list. These are the technologies that NASA believes we need to develop if we want to go to space…and stay there.
In this series we're exploring NASA's top five challenges as detailed in its Civil Space Shortfall Ranking, which is basically NASA's Christmas wish list. These are the technologies that NASA believes we need to develop if we want to go to space…and stay there.
In this series we are exploring NASA's top five challenges as detailed in its Civil Space Shortfall Ranking, which is basically NASA's Christmas wish list. These are the technologies that NASA believes we need to develop if we want to go to space…and stay there.
With the federal government cutting funds for research, scientific organizations are facing a budget crunch. This includes astrophysics and cosmology, where researchers test theories fundamental to our understanding of the Universe. A good example is the search for Dark Matter (DM), which usually consists of smashing protons in particle accelerators to find evidence of this elusive particle. According to a recent study that appeared in the Physical Review Letters, black holes could represent a cheaper, natural alternative.
The monster black hole lurking at the center of galaxy M87 is an absolute beast. It is one of the largest in our vicinity and was the ideal first target for the Event Horizon Telescope. Scientists have taken a fresh look at the supermassive black hole using those iconic Event Horizon Telescope images and have now figured out just how fast this monster is spinning and how much material it's devouring.
Japan's private space company ispace experienced another setback on Thursday 5th June when its Resilience lunar lander crashed into the surface of the Moon, marking the company's second consecutive failed landing attempt in just over two years.
All Rights Reserved. 2025. SpaceZE.com
