Space News & Blog Articles

We successfully plugged the hole in the ozone layer that was discovered in the 1980s by banning ozone depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). But, it seems we might be unintentionally creating another potential atmospheric calamity by using the upper atmosphere to destroy huge constellations of satellites after a very short (i.e. 5 year) lifetime. According to a new paper by Leonard Schulz of the Technical University of Braunschweig and his co-authors, material from satellites that burn up in the atmosphere, especially transition metals, could have unforeseen consequences on atmospheric chemistry - and we’re now the biggest contributor of some of those elements.

Why is it important to know about exoplanets having their atmospheres stripped while orbiting F-type stars? This is what a recent study submitted to *The Astronomical Journal* hopes to address as an international team of scientists conducted a first-time investigation into atmospheric escape on planets orbiting F-type stars, the latter of which are larger and hotter than our Sun. Atmospheric escape occurs on planets orbiting extremely close to their stars, resulting in the extreme temperature and radiation from the host star slowly stripping away the planet’s atmosphere.

It's a well-known fact that Jupiter plays a vital role in the dynamics of the Solar System. As the largest planet beyond the "Frost Line," the boundary where volatiles (like water) freeze, Jupiter protects the planets of the inner Solar System from potential impacts by asteroids and comets. In addition to this "guardian" role, Jupiter has also been an "architect" planet that affected the evolution of the early Solar System and the orbits of its planets. According to new research from Rice University, Jupiter reshaped the Solar System by carving rings and gaps in the protoplanetary disk, leading to the formation of late-stage meteorites.

We are truly lucky to live in an age where modern instruments - like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) - exist and are pulling back the veil on the period known as the Cosmic Dark Ages (aka. the Epoch of Reionization). Thanks to its sophisticated suite of infrared optics and spectrometers, Webb has observed some of the earliest galaxies in the Universe, shedding new light on the formation history and evolution of the cosmos. Alas, there are still many unanswered questions about the first stars (Population III), galaxies, and black holes formed.

A nearby dwarf galaxy could teach astrophysicists something new about dark matter and black holes. It's named Segue 1 and it's about 75,000 light years away. Segue 1 is one of the Milky Way's smallest and dimmest satellite galaxies. It has about 600,000 solar masses and is only as bright as about 300 Suns.

Gravitational wave telescopes work in a very different way than optical or radio telescopes, but they do have one thing in common: they are tuned to a specific range of frequencies.

As a kid you ever play that game Guess Who? If you haven’t, it’s actually kinda fun. You have two players, each with a board in front of them. On the board are a bunch of flip cards with different characters. You have to guess your opponent’s secret identity through a process of elimination. You ask if they’re a kid or an adult, or a boy or a girl, or if they’re wearing glasses or bald. If you ask the right questions, and eliminate the correct possibilities, you’re left with only one remaining option: your opponent’s secret identity.

In partnership with NASA, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works has executed the first test flight of the X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft. This week's first flight was subsonic, but eventually the plane will demonstrate technologies aimed at reducing sonic booms to gentle thumps.

Black holes it seems, are recyclers and a team of scientists have just caught them in the act. Two gravitational wave detections from late 2024 have revealed black holes with bizarre spins and lopsided masses, the telltale signs of cannibalism on a universal scale.

New images from the James Webb Space Telescope have revealed NGC 6537, the Red Spider Nebula in unprecedented detail, complete with sprawling legs, a glowing heart, and possibly a hidden companion lurking at its core.

Our Sun seems pretty calm these days with a largely stable regular solar cycle revealed by sunspots and flare activity but billions of years ago, it was quite simply a menace. Scientists have just captured evidence of what the Sun and early Solar System might have looked like, and it's more violent than we imagined.

The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is slated to be the next Great Observatory for the world. Its main focus has been searching for biosignatures in the atmospheres of at least 25 Earth-like exoplanets. However, to do that, it will require a significant amount of effort with only a coronagraph, the currently planned primary instrument, no matter how powerful that coronagraph is. As new paper from Fabien Malbet of the University of Grenoble Alpes and his co-authors suggest an improvement - add a second instrument to HWO’s payload that will be able to astrometrically track planets down to a precision of .5 micro-arcseconds (µas). That would allow HWO to detect Earth-size planets around hundreds of nearby stars - dramatically increasing the number of potential candidates for atmospheric analysis.

Can water-rich exoplanets survive orbiting white dwarf stars, the latter of which are remnants of Sun-like stars? This is what a recent study accepted to *The Astrophysical Journal* hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated the likelihood of small, rocky worlds with close orbits to white dwarfs could harbor life. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand the conditions for finding life as we know it, or don’t know it, and where to find it.