gear Push settings
Our planet's magnetic field is the first and ultimate shield that guards life from the elements of space, particularly radiation. It's enough to look at Mars, which also had a magnetic field but only for 500 million years, to see what could happen were it absent: what was once a "blue planet", filled with vasts oceans of liquid water, maybe even vegetation and other life forms, is now a barred red rock. This invisible, protective shield likely existed shortly after the planet formed 4.5 billion years ago, when it was still a big blob of molten rock. It was only after the super hot iron liquid core lost enough heat to freeze (more properly said, it solidified) did the field become strong enough to allow life to foster. Previous studies estimated this happened sometime between 500 million and 2 billion years ago. A more refined analysis by University of Liverpool places the timeline between 1 billion and 1.5 billion years ago.
A few days ago, we were telling you about some spectacular features on Ceres, the dwarf planet / largest object in the asteroid belt. NASA's astronomers were puzzled by some white patches on Ceres' surface, which they initially presumed to be ice. Now, they believe those patches are actually salt.
A novel mathematical model can weigh the mass of a pulsar - a rapidly rotating magnetized neutran star - using principles of nuclear physics, rather than gravity. Up until now, the mass of a star could only be determined in relation with other bodies, based on the gravitational pull these exerted. Now, using the new model scientists will be able to study pulsars in isolation, allowing for more precise measurements than ever before.
NASA's New Horizons shuttle wasn't only taking mind blowing photos of Pluto, it was also peeking at Pluto's moons, especially Charon - the largest one. The latest set of images analyzed by NASA researchers revealed quite a busy past, filled with violence and geologic activity.
Hurricane Joaquin is an active tropical cyclone that severely impacted large parts of the Bahamas and is currently threatening Bermuda, although its extremities will also pass through other areas in the Atlantic, including Britain. Now, according to NASA data, the hurricane will be experiencing a phenomenon called eyewall replacement.
It’s a great day to be a space fan: NASA has just released all the photos taken by Apollo astronauts on lunar missions; digitized and grouped by the roll of film they were shot on, that’s over 8,400 images, featuring the blurry moon, the missed shots, and above all, the great features from a great […]
At the European Planetary Science Conference in Nantes, France, NASA presented some spectacular maps and observations about Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, and the largest of the minor planets within the orbit of Neptune. Astronomers analyzed data coming from the Dawn spacecraft, which entered orbit around Ceres on 6 March 2015.
Two days ago, NASA made a spectacular announcement: they found liquid water on Mars, confirming suspicions and clues from years ago. But while they make a compelling case for the water, it would still be better to examine it on the spot, except there's a slight problem with that: NASA can't immediately investigate the water on-site, using the Curiosity rover or anything else, because it's bound by international treaties.
During an extraordinary conference hosted by NASA, a team of researchers report that flowing briny water is flowing out of Martian mountain slopes. Let that sink in for a moment. Now, time to pull yourself together and check out some more details.
Another boost for India's low-cost, but extremely promising, space program took place this morning after the country launched its first space observatory in space. Blasting from the spaceport of Sriharikota, close to Chennai, the Astrosat telescope was deployed without any difficulties in Earth's orbit, some 650 km above. Along with it, some six satellites piggybacked, four belong to the US, one to Canada and the last to Indonesia.
A rosy, star-forming nebula thousands of light years away from Earth is "blossoming" in a dazzling cosmic spectacle. Messier 17, also known as the Omega Nebula, the Swan Nebula and the Horseshoe Nebula was shot in some remarkable photos revealed by the European Space Agency.
Veteran astronaut Scott Kelly launched in March, 2015 aboard a Soyuz rocket for a record breaking one-year stay at the ISS. Instead of three to six months, Kelly along with his Russian colleague, Mikhail Korniyenko, will spend 12 months so scientists can assess how his body responds to the stress. For instance, we know that living in microgravity atrophies muscles and deteriorates vision. Kelly isn't too worried, though. When not busy operating the International Space Station, Kelly is engaged in one of the most pleasing hobbies (for those of us living back on Earth, that is): space photography. Here are just a couple of his most amazing shots shared by Kelly on his facebook or twitter account. He updates these very frequently, even a couple of times a day, so be sure to tune in for some more gems.
That's what I call fatal attraction: two supermassive black holes are "dancing", drawn together by each other's humongous gravitational attraction, set for a collision that will likely send ripples through the very fabric of space-time.
This may be the most annoying video game in history.
I know, I know, we've spoiled you with awesome photos of Pluto already, this couldn't possibly surprise you, could it? Well, I dare say NASA has done it again - this new batch of New Horizons images is absolutely breathtaking.
While the name might fool you at first glace, black holes are anything but empty.
Saturn's moon, Enceladus, is covered in a thick icy crust, but beneath it might lie an ocean of liquid water despite there are minus 201 degrees Celsius on the surface. This is a theoretical assumption, which is however backed by very solid indirect evidence. Gushing plums of water from the moon's south pole also point to this conclusion. If this is true, Enceladus can be envisioned like a gourmet candy: a hot core (maybe chocolate?), surrounded by a layer or water, and all covered in a crunchy crust of ice.
NASA recently uploaded a strikingly beautiful photograph on their website showing a petrified sand dune on Mars. The image was actually pieced together from several shots taken using Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) on August 27th. From end to end, the panorama spans a full 135 degrees of other-worldly awesomeness, with east to the left and southwest to the right.
An ocean of magma could explain why Jupiter's moon Io has volcanoes in the "wrong place". This would also mean that Io has an ocean of liquid water beneath its surface and might be potentially habitable.
The gargantuan cluster is 9.8 billion light years away from us, houses at least 27 galaxies and has a combined mass equal to 400 trillion Suns.
New close-ups of Pluto’s surface have been revealed by NASA today, revealing a stunning variety of features on the frozen planetoid. A range of majestic mountains surrounds seemingly endless plains, and now, we get to see them all with unprecedented quality. It’s so spectacular that even NASA’s investigators were surprised. “Pluto is showing us a […]
Scottish manufacturer Ballantines comes to the aid of space-dwellers the world round (and beyond) with a new, high-tech glass that promises to make getting hammered with style in space a reality.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope jointly used their instruments to identify the oldest galaxy yet seen. Dubbed EGS8p7, this unusually luminous galaxy was formed just 600 million years after the Big Bang. When you peer that far into space and time, you're bound to find some freaky stuff. EGS8p7 did no disappoint. Already, the 13.2 billion-year-old galaxy is raising questions about how we think the Universe evolved during its infancy.
It's ludicrous, but it might just be crazy enough to work. On Monday, during the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics SPACE conference, Masahiro Ono unveiled one of NASA's most recent concepts: hitching a ride on a comet. In short, once a spacecraft is close enough it would launch a tether with a harpoon on the other side, attach to the comet or asteroid then basically reel in until touch down. Once there the probe stays put, recharging its batteries by harvesting energy all while performing some science experiments. When it's done, the probe can detach in search of a new piggyback ride.
Cryogenic sleep is usually the stuff of science fiction, most recently featured in the award winning blockbuster Interstellar. Of course, the most epic display of cryosleep can be found in Alien, in my humble opinion. Nevertheless, the theme is the same: cosmic voyagers are suspended in a sort of low metabolic state where vital functions are kept to a bear minimum by cooling the body, while not actually killing the person. It's quite useful, especially when you consider interstellar travel involving years, decades or even perhaps centuries of traveling. It's no wonder then that NASA is interested in actually turning this into a real-life application.
A month ago the New Horizon spacecraft made a historic flyby over Pluto, marking the first time a man-made instrument has ventured this far in the planetary solar system. The journey took nine years, which might seem like a lot, but you need to remember we're talking about nine billion miles. That's quite fast, around 4 km/second actually. To get a sense of the kind of velocity involved, Clay Bavor - a Google product VC - made this GIF showing what flying at 11,278 metres would like from the cockpit of a Boeing 747, a SR-71 Blackbird and, finally, New Horizons. It quite speaks for itself.
Hubble has recently captured a dazzling image of a "cosmic butterfly" - the planetary nebula (PN) M2-9. The star has not only ejected its outer layers, but exposed its inner core, which is now illuminating the layers in a spectacular and violent display.
Buzz Aldrin, the second man to ever set foot on the Moon and one of the most respected and vocal astronauts, will serve as a research professor for aeronautics and senior faculty adviser for the Florida Institute of Technology. He will be spearheading the "Buzz Aldrin Space Institute", whose main purpose will be to create a plan for a permanent settlement on Mars by 2040.
Although we've yet to discover life forms on any other planet, astronomers are confident that not only we'll be able to discover alien life, but we'll be able to chart its spread through the Universe.
Gas giants like Saturn or Jupiter may have formed not from a planetary core, but rather from tiny pebbles that stuck together. This theory would solve one of the biggest problems about our understanding of planetary formation: the timeline. The previous model was called core accretion: you have a planetary core of rock and ice that […]
The Cassini shuttle, that has been in Saturn’s orbit since 2004, took some spectacular images of the rather elusive moon, along with geophysical measurements. A crater-riddled, icy landscape covers Saturn’s moon Dione, but that doesn’t take away anything from its charm. Though it’s nowhere near as famous as some of Saturn’s other moons – especially Titan – […]
A company from Japan wants to become the first to advertise a product on the moon. The sports drink producer, Pocari Sweat, has contacted SpaceX - an American company that regularly ferries cargo to the International Space Station and is close to sending astronauts to the International Space Station - to land a canned sports drink. This would mark a milestone in human history: the first ad on the moon - both disturbing and interesting at the same time. Maybe any kind of interest in moon exploration (who knows what happens when you try to land a can on the moon?) in this moment is welcomed. Maybe.
Hailing from the University of Sydney, professor Lewis is set to deliver a talk at the National Science Week in the city today, and said the futuristic concept was actually embedded in Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity.
I’m not a big fan of selfies, but when you’re on Mars, you can take all the selfies you want! NASA’s Curiosity Rover has taken some pretty cool of itself – and the Martian surroundings. This latest picture was taken by the rover at “Buckskin” – the 7th rock the rover will sample for analysis. […]
A while ago, we were telling you about the Indian Orbiter Mission to Mars – the cheapest Mars mission ever. The probe made history as it entered Martian orbit, and is still sending high quality data back to Earth, as well as amazing pictures. Now these photographs focus on the Ophir Chasma, a giant canyon on […]
Thoth Technology, a Canadian company, was granted an US patent for a space elevator. Technically, though, it's not exactly a space elevator since cargo and astronauts would only be ferried about 12 miles above sea level into the stratosphere. From here, a shuttle would carry the cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station or some other dropzone in space (maybe even the moon) for a third of the cost it currently takes
An exciting "infant Jupiter" rich in methane has been discovered using an Earth-bound telescope. The newly found planet might reveal how planets like Jupiter formed and developed during their early stages.
If we want to send people to Mars, we're going to need some bigger engines - and that's exactly what NASA's building right now. In fact, we're going to need the most complex engine ever built by mankind.
SpaceVR started a Kickstarter campaign today with the goal of sending a 3D, 360-degree camera to the ISS. This camera will collect footage that you can then view in virtual reality goggles. Space-views from the comfort of your home? Yes please!
As we were telling you yesterday, astronauts aboard the International Space Station were preparing for the first meal that involved space-grown veggies. It's a remarkable moment, which might pave the way for future space exploration... and it's delicious!
Scientists analyzing data from the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory in Arizona spotted a huge lava lake on Io, one of Jupiter’s largest moons. We’ve known for a while that Io is quite an amazing (and hellish) place; it’s the most geologically active place in the solar system, with extreme geologic activity occurring as a result of tidal […]
Mars is now a cold and dry place, but it wasn't always like this - the Red Planet used to have a lot of water on its surface. Now, researchers have discovered one of the very last places where (potentially habitable) liquid water existed on Mars.
Back in 2013, we were telling you about about a small agricultural project on the International Space Station - now, the space veggies are ready to be harvested; for the first time, astronauts will be eating food grown in space.
An amateur radio enthusiast from the UK has managed to have a quick chat with the International Space Station using a device he built in his shed. Adrian Lane, of Gloucestershire, sent out a call signal to the ISS and was absolutely shocked when they actually replied to him. “They came back to me and […]
We call it the "dark side" of the Moon, but that's a rather improper name - a better one would be the "far side", because it's not dark at all. As if to prove that point, NASA just released images of the moon that would be impossible to capture from Earth, highlighting the far side illuminated completely.
Distillers have long been interested in the particularities of the aging process, and how to mature the drink to bring out that specific, mellow flavor we search for in a glass of quality whiskey. Japanese based distillers Suntory set their hopes high for what they feel is the next big thing for whiskey aging - as high as the ISS, to be specific. They announced earlier this week that several samples of their beverage will be sent to the ISS with the intent to study the "development of mellowness in alcoholic beverage through the use of a microgravity environment."
NASA scientists have taken grainy images of a peculiar asteroid nicknamed the "Space Peanut". The asteroids measures 1.2 miles across and made its closest approach at 7.2 million kms from Earth - 19 times closer than the Moon.
In its most recent flyby, NASA’s Cassini space probe discovered some strange red streaks on Tethys – one of Saturn’s 62 known moons. “Like graffiti sprayed by an unknown artist, unexplained arc-shaped, reddish streaks are visible on the surface of Saturn’s icy moon Tethys. As the Saturn system moved into its northern hemisphere summer over the […]
Scott Kelly has been in space for 6 months, and will stay for a full year. The American veteran astronaut actually commands the International Space Station, and his Twitter account is an absolute delight, with often updates on what’s happening on the ISS and glorious pictures of the Earth, as it’s seen from outer space. […]
Two different Philae instruments, known as Ptolemy and COSAC (Cometary Sampling and Composition), hunted for organic compounds— the building blocks of life as we know it — on and around Comet 67P. While the initial data burst received from the lander did hint at the existence of organics on its surface, the data was limited and its meaning not very clear. The new data is much more interesting.
