ESA's Gaia mission has been collecting data on millions of space objects like stars and asteroids to build an extensive cosmic record. Now, to take it up a notch, it needs your eyes.
Space News & Blog Articles
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Machine Learning Finds 140,000 Future Star Forming Regions in the Milky Way
Our galaxy is still actively making stars. We’ve known that for a while, but sometimes it’s hard to understand the true scale in astronomical terms. A team from Japan is trying to help with that by using a novel machine-learning technique to identify soon-to-be star-forming regions spread throughout the Milky Way. They found 140,000 of them.
If Titan Has the Chemistry For Life, Dragonfly Could Find it
The highly-anticipated Dragonfly robotic rotocraft mission to Saturn’s moon Titan is scheduled to launch in 2027. When it arrives in the mid-2030s, it will hover and zoom around in the thick atmosphere of Titan, sampling the air and imaging the landscape. What could be more exciting than that!?
Mysterious radio signal reveals intricate core of distant galaxy cluster
Astronomers have discovered several fascinating features in galaxy cluster Abell 1213 such as a central galaxy with a 1.66 million light-year-long radio "tail" and remains of galactic mergers.
Spot dwarf planet Ceres during the new moon tonight (March 21)
The dark skies of the new moon will offer skywatchers the chance to spot Ceres tonight (March 21), as the dwarf planet reaches opposition.
Watch Rocket Lab launch 2 satellites, recover booster early on March 22
Rocket Lab plans to launch two satellites early Wednesday morning (March 22), on a mission that includes a booster recovery at sea. Watch it live here.
This Galaxy Is Powerful, But Lonely Too
A large elliptical galaxy spewing a black hole–powered jet might have eaten its neighbors, leaving it on its own.
Astronauts that hibernate on long spaceflights is not just for sci-fi. We could test it in 10 years.
First hibernation studies with human subjects could be feasible within a decade, a European Space Agency (ESA) researcher thinks.
Watch solar tornado as tall as 14 Earths hurl plasma cloud into space (video)
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured what might be 'the tallest tornado' in the solar system swirling across the north pole of the sun.
Journey through Jezero
Video: 00:03:03
Explore the fascinating landing site of NASA’s Perseverance rover in this fly-through video, featuring new views of Jezero crater and its surroundings from ESA’s Mars Express and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Asteroid Analysis Reveals Prebiotic Compounds
Prebiotic compounds previously found in meteorites have now turned up in pristine samples from the asteroid Ryugu, confirming their extraterrestrial origin.
JWST Sees Organic Molecules Swirling Around a Newborn Star
One of the most interesting questions we can ask is, “How did life form?”. To answer it, scientists go back to look at the basic chemical building blocks of life. Those are water, carbon-based organic molecules, silicates, and others. The James Webb Space Telescope offered a peek at the gases, ice particles, and dust surrounding a newborn star and found organic molecules exist there.
The Favorite Solar System Moons of Planetary Geologists; An In-Depth Discussion
The moons of our Solar System have garnered quite a lot of attention in the last few years, especially pertaining to astrobiology and the search for life beyond Earth. From the Galilean moons of Jupiter to the geysers of Enceladus to the methane lakes on Titan, these small worlds continue to humble us with both their awe and mystery. But do the very same scientists who study these mysterious and intriguing worlds have their own favorite moons? As it turns out, seven such planetary geologists were kind enough to share their favorite Solar System moons with Universe Today!
Two moons of Uranus may have active subsurface oceans
The Uranus moons Ariel and Miranda may have active oceans blasting plumes of particles into space, a new look at data collected by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft suggests.
Virgin Orbit pauses operations amid financial troubles
Virgin Orbit’s carrier aircraft, a modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet, takes off from Mojave Air and Space Port in California with a LauncherOne rocket under its left wing. Credit: Virgin Orbit
Virgin Orbit announced last week it is pausing operations after sustained financial losses, furloughing most of the company’s approximately 750 employees as officials seek funding to keep the small satellite launch provider afloat.
Remnants of a Relict Glacier Found Near the Equator on Mars
New results presented at the 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference could change our approach to Mars exploration. Scientists studying the surface of Mars discovered a relict glacier near the planet’s equator. The relict glacier could signal the presence of buried water ice at the planet’s mid-latitudes.
Win a free copy of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1 in this Facebook giveaway!
Space.com and Paramount are teaming together to offer a chance to win a free Blu-Ray Steelbook edition of the critically-acclaimed first season.
How much water lurks beneath an exoplanet's surface? New tool could help astronomers tell
A new method could allow astronomers to assess exoplanets' likely subsurface water stores, aiding the search for worlds capable of supporting life as we know it.
1st map of moon water could help Artemis astronauts live at the lunar south pole
Astronomers have completed the first map of water distribution on the moon, including that more water is found in shaded lunar regions than in sunlit ones.
Sci-Fi Christmas is Ruined! Planet Vulcan Doesn’t Exist
Fans of Star Trek were over the Moon when, in 2018, astronomers with the Dharma Planet Survey (DPS) announced the possible detection of 40 Eridani b, an extrasolar planet in the star system 40 Eridani. Located just 16.3 light-years away, this triple-star system happens to be where the planet Vulcan was located in the popular franchise. Based on radial velocity measurements of the system’s primary star (40 Eridani A), the discovery team estimated that “Vulcan” was a rocky planet several times the mass of Earth (a Super-Earth) with an orbital period of 42 days or so.
