Wading through the wealth of data from ESA’s Gaia mission, scientists have uncovered a ‘sleeping giant’. A large black hole, with a mass of nearly 33 times the mass of the Sun, was hiding in the constellation Aquila, less than 2000 light-years from Earth. This is the first time a black hole of stellar origin this big has been spotted within the Milky Way. So far, black holes of this type have only been observed in very distant galaxies. The discovery challenges our understanding of how massive stars develop and evolve.
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More Views of the 2024 Eclipse, from the Moon and Earth Orbit
It’s been just over a week since millions of people flocked to places across North America for a glimpse of moonshadow. The total solar eclipse of April 8th, 2024 was a spectacular sight for many on the ground. From space, however, it was even more impressive as Earth-observing satellites such as GOES-16 captured the sight of the shadow sweeping over Earth.
NASA requests proposals to reduce cost, timeline of Mars Sample Return mission
This illustration shows a concept for multiple robots that would team up to ferry to Earth samples of rocks and soil being collected from the Martian surface by NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover.
Credit: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech
NASA is going back to square one when it comes to many aspects of its Mars Sample Return mission in response to independent reviews that showed ballooning costs and significant schedule delays.
Baby Stars Discharge “Sneezes” of Gas and Dust
I’m really not sure what to call it but a ‘dusty sneeze’ is probably as good as anything. We have known for some years that stars surround themselves with a disk of gas and dust known as the protostellar disk. The star interacts with it, occasionally discharging gas and dust regularly. Studying the magnetic fields revealed that they are weaker than expected. A new proposal suggests that the discharge mechanism ‘sneezes’ some of the magnetic flux out into space. Using ALMA, the team are hoping to understand the discharges and how they influence stellar formation.
The 2024 solar eclipse was a teachable moment in more ways than one
The total solar eclipse of 2024 was an epic experience to share with my daughter. It was one part celestial event, one part college prep.
Iconic British meteorite 'Winchcombe' found to have a smashing past
A detailed analysis of the Winchcombe meteorite has found evidence that its parent asteroid was altered by water before being smashed apart multiple times.
How Did Pluto Get Its Heart? Scientists Suggest an Answer
The most recognizable feature on Pluto is its “heart,” a relatively bright valentine-shaped area known as Tombaugh Regio. How that heart got started is one of the dwarf planet’s deepest mysteries — but now researchers say they’ve come up with the most likely scenario, involving a primordial collision with a planetary body that was a little more than 400 miles wide.
The Milky Way’s Role in Ancient Egyptian Mythology
Look through the names and origins of the constellations and you will soon realise that many cultures had a hand in their conceptualisation. Among them are the Egyptians who were fantastic astronomers. The movement of the sky played a vital role in ancient Egypt including the development of the 365 day year and the 24 hour day. Like many other cultures they say the Sun, Moon and planets as gods. Surprisingly though, the bright Milky Way seems not to have played a vital role. Some new research suggests that this may not be the case and it may have been a manifestation of the sky goddess Nut!
Object that slammed into Florida home was indeed space junk from ISS, NASA confirms
The small object that crashed through the roof of a Florida home last month was indeed part of a pallet jettisoned from the ISS three years ago, NASA has confirmed.
Venus is leaking carbon and oxygen, a fleeting visit by BepiColombo reveals
BepiColombo spotted an outpour of carbon and oxygen atoms in Venus' fragile magnetic environment
I flew Boeing's Starliner spacecraft in 4 different simulators. Here's what I learned (video, photos)
Boeing Starliner astronauts spent hundreds of hours in simulators preparing for Crew Test Flight, which lifts off May 6. I got a brief taste of what they experienced.
NASA's Mars sample return plan is getting a revamp: 'The bottom line is that $11 billion is too expensive'
NASA is asking its various research centers as well as private industry for new ideas about how to get Mars samples back to Earth relatively quickly and cost-effectively.
NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara missed the total solar eclipse, but saw Earth 'moving' below her during spacewalk (photos)
NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara missed watching an eclipse from the ISS by days. But she did participate in the 4th all-woman spacewalk, and has a unique story about a baby octopus.
NASA Struggles to Find Way Forward for Mars Sample Return
NASA's Perseverance mission has been collecting samples for later retrieval and return to Earth. Now, it's unclear how we'll get those samples home.
You Can't Know the True Size of an Exoplanet Without Knowing its Star's Magnetic Field
In 2011, astronomers with the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) consortium detected a gas giant orbiting very close to a Sun-like (G-type) star about 700 light-years away. This planet is known as WASP-39b (aka. “Bocaprins”), one of many “hot Jupiters” discovered in recent decades that orbits its star at a distance of less than 5% the distance between the Earth and the Sun (0.05 AU). In 2022, shortly after the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) it became the first exoplanet to have carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide detected in its atmosphere.
These 3 stars are losing weight fast — thanks to stellar winds way stronger than the sun's
Astronomers have measured the stellar winds of three sun-like stars for the first time, finding that the objects are losing mass at a rate as great as 67 times the speed at which our star sheds matter.
Do black holes hide the secrets of their ancestors?
Some black holes are so massive they were likely created as smaller black holes that merged. Maybe we can use such black hole "children" to learn about the black hole "ancestors."
See What Happens When Stars Collide
A star in the constellation Norma appears to have been created when two stars merged.
Planetary defenders assemble!
Image: Planetary defenders assemble!
ESA accelerates the race towards clean energy from space
ESA accelerates the race towards clean energy from space
The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission – The Missing Puzzle Piece
Video: 00:02:35
Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two CubeSats – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos, a double asteroid system that is typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth.
