The Solar System’s hundreds of moons are like puzzle pieces. Together, they make a picture of all the forces that can create and modify them and the forces that shape our Solar System. One of them is Miranda, one of 28 known moons that orbit the ice giant Uranus. Miranda is its smallest major moon, at 471 km in diameter.
Saturn’s moon, Titan, is an anomaly among moons. No other moons have surface liquids, and aside from Earth, it’s the only other Solar System object with liquids on its surface. However, since Titan is so cold, the liquids are hydrocarbons, not water. Titan’s water is all frozen into a surface layer of ice.
In May 2023, the ESA’s Exomars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), currently in orbit around Mars, sent a signal to Earth to simulate a possible extraterrestrial transmission. As part of the multidisciplinary art project “A Sign in Space,” the purpose was to engage citizen scientists in helping to decode it. The campaign was inspired by Cosmicomics by Italian writer/journalist Italo Calvino, a series of short stories exploring various scientific principles. The project is partnered with the SETI Institute, the Green Bank Observatory, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF).
Though there are no firm plans for a crewed mission to Mars, we all know one’s coming. Astronauts routinely spend months at a time on the ISS, and we’ve learned a lot about the hazards astronauts face on long missions. However, Mars missions can take years, which presents a whole host of problems, including astronaut nutrition.
In 1181, Japanese and Chinese astronomers saw a bright light appear in the constellation Cassiopeia. It shone for six months, and those ancient observers couldn’t have known it was an exploding star. To them, it looked like some type of temporary star that shone for 185 days.
This idea really is quite a fascinating one. Currently a trip to Mars would require large amounts of air, water and other resources to sustain human life but would also expose travellers to harmful levels of radiation. A wonderful solution has been proposed in a new paper recently published by researchers from Ukraine. They propose that asteroids which already travel relatively close by Earth, Mars and even Venus already could be used to hop between the planets. They are already making the journey anyway and so perhaps the cosmos already provides the solution to interplanetary travel.
To northern sky watchers, Vega is a familiar sight in the summer sky. It’s one of the brightest stars in the sky and in 2013, astronomers detected a large ring of rocky debris surrounding the planet. The prospect of planets suddenly became a real possibility so astronomers turned the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) on the star. The hunt achieved 10 times the sensitivity of previous ground based searches but alas no planets were discovered.
The TRAPPIST-1 system is a science-fiction writer’s dream. Seven Earth-sized worlds orbit a red dwarf star just 40 light-years away. Three of those worlds are within the habitable zone of the star. The system spans a distance less than 25 times that of the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Oh, what epic tales a TRAPPIST civilization would have! That is, if life in such a system is even possible…
Exoplanets are a fascinating aspect of the study of the Universe. TRAPPIST-1 is perhaps one of the most intriguing exoplanet systems discovered to date with no less than 7 Earth-sized worlds. They orbit a red dwarf star which can unfortunately be a little feisty, hurling catastrophic flares out into space. These flares could easily strip atmospheres away from the alien worlds rendering them uninhabitable. A new piece of research suggests this may not be true and that the rocky planets may be able to maintain a stable atmosphere after all.
Infrared astronomy has revealed so much about the Universe, ranging from protoplanetary disks and nebulae to brown dwarfs, aurorae, and volcanoes on together celestial bodies. Looking to the future, astronomers hope to conduct infrared studies of supernova remnants (SNRs), which will provide vital information about the physics of these explosions. While studies in the near-to-mid infrared (NIR-MIR) spectrum are expected to provide data on the atomic makeup of SNRs, mid-to-far IR (MIR-FIR) studies should provide a detailed look at heated dust grains they eject into the interstellar medium (ISM).
Moons are the norm in our Solar System. The International Astronomical Union recognizes 288 planetary moons, and more keep being discovered. Saturn has a whopping 146 moons. Every planet except Mercury and Venus has moons, and their lack of moons is attributed to their small size and proximity to the Sun.
Remember that amazing “first image” of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A) black hole at the heart of the Milky Way? Well, it may not be completely accurate, according to researchers at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). Instead, the accretion disk around Sgr A* may be more elongated, rather than the circular shape we first saw in 2022.
The odds are good that we are not alone in the Universe. We have found thousands of exoplanets so far, and there are likely billions of potentially habitable planets in our galaxy alone. But finding evidence of extraterrestrial life is challenging, and even the most powerful telescopes we currently have may not produce definitive proof. But there are telescopes in the pipeline that may uncover life. It will be decades before they are built and launched, but when they are, which systems should they target first? That’s the question answered in a recent paper.
China has some bold plans for space research and exploration that will be taking place in the coming decades. This includes doubling the size of their Tiangong space station, sending additional robotic missions to the Moon, and building the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) around the lunar south pole. They also hope to begin sending crewed missions to Mars by 2033, becoming the first national space agency to do so. Not to be left behind in the commercial space sector, China is also looking to create a space tourism industry that offers suborbital flights for customers.
The arrival of spacecraft on alien worlds uses a number of different techniques from giant air bags to parachutes and small rockets. The use of rockets can pose a problem to onboard technology though as the dust kicked up can effect sensors and cameras and the landing site can be disturbed in the process. A team of researchers have developed a new instrument that can measure the dust that is kicked up on landing to inform future instrument design.
The source of Earth’s water is an enduring mystery that extends to exoplanets and the notion of habitability. In broad terms, Earth’s water was either part of the planet from the beginning of its formation in the solar nebula or delivered later, maybe by asteroids and comets.
Sending an object to another star is still the stuff of science fiction. But some concrete missions could get us at least part way there. These “interstellar precursor missions” include a trip to the Solar Gravitational Lens point at 550 AU from the Sun – farther than any artificial object has ever been, including Voyager. To get there, we’ll need plenty of new technologies, and a recent paper presented at the 75th International Astronautical Congress in Milan this month looks at one of those potential technologies – electric propulsion systems, otherwise known as ion drives.
Neutron stars and black holes are the remnants of dead stars. They typically form as part of a supernova explosion, where the outer layers of an old star are violently cast off while the core of the star collapses to form the remnant. This violent origin can have significant consequences for both the remnant and the surrounding environment.
It was 1969 that humans first set foot on the Moon. Now, over 50 years later we are setting sights on building lunar bases. The ability to complete that goal is dependent on either transporting significant amounts of material to the Moon to construct bases or somehow utilising raw lunar materials. A team of Chinese researchers have developed a technique to create bricks from material that is very similar to the soil found on the Moon. The hope is that the lunar soil can in the future, be used to build bricks on the Moon.
Everybody knows that for life to thrive on any world, you need water, warmth, and something to eat. It’s like a habitability mantra. But, what other factors affect habitability? What if you relaxed the conditions conducive to life? Would it still exist? If so, what would it be?
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