Space: Exploration Space: The Solar System
Published

NASA's Lucy to fly past thousands of objects for Earth gravity assist      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Mission engineers will track NASA's Lucy spacecraft nonstop as it prepares to swoop near Earth on Oct. 16 to use this planet's gravity to set itself on a course toward the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Heaviest element yet detected in an exoplanet atmosphere      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have discovered the heaviest element ever found in an exoplanet atmosphere -- barium. They were surprised to discover barium at high altitudes in the atmospheres of the ultra-hot gas giants WASP-76 b and WASP-121 b -- two exoplanets, planets which orbit stars outside our Solar System. This unexpected discovery raises questions about what these exotic atmospheres may be like.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Hubble spots ultra-speedy jet blasting from star crash      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have made a unique measurement that indicates a jet, plowing through space at speeds greater than 99.97 percent of the speed of light, was propelled by the titanic collision between two neutron stars.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

'Wobbling black hole' most extreme example ever detected      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have identified a peculiar twisting motion in the orbits of two colliding black holes, an exotic phenomenon predicted by Einstein's theory of gravity. Their study reports that this is the first time this effect, known as precession, has been seen in black holes, where the twisting is 10 billion times faster than in previous observations.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Black hole spews out material years after shredding star      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have observed a black hole burping up stellar remains years after it shredded and consumed the star.

Space: The Solar System
Published

New abiotic pathway for the formation of oxygen      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have now found evidence that double ionised sulphur dioxide contribute to the formation of oxygen molecules. This could, in particular, explain the presence of oxygen in sulphur dioxide-rich atmospheres of several of Jupiter's moons.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Black hole discovered firing jets at neighboring galaxy      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A team of astronomers has discovered a unique black hole spewing a fiery jet at another galaxy. The black hole is hosted by a galaxy around one billion light years away from Earth named RAD12.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Broccoli gas: A better way to find life in space      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Broccoli, along with many other plants and microorganisms, emit gases to help them expel toxins. Scientists believe these gases could provide compelling evidence of life on other planets.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Astronomers find a 'cataclysmic' pair of stars with the shortest orbit yet      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have discovered a stellar binary, or pair of stars, with an extremely short orbit, appearing to circle each other every 51 minutes. The system seems to be one of a rare class of binaries known as a 'cataclysmic variable,' in which a star similar to our sun orbits tightly around a white dwarf -- a hot, dense core of a burned-out star.

Space: Exploration Space: The Solar System
Published

Collision may have formed the Moon in mere hours, simulations reveal      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Most theories claim the Moon formed out of the debris of a collision between the Earth and an object about the size of Mars, called Theia, coalescing in orbit over months or years. A new simulation puts forth a different theory -- the Moon may have formed immediately, in a matter of hours, when material from the Earth and Theia was launched directly into orbit after the impact.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Cosmic ray protons reveal new spectral structures at high energies      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Discovered in 1912, cosmic rays have been studied extensively and our current understanding of them is compiled into what is called the Standard Model. Recently, this understanding has been challenged by the detection of unexpected spectral structures in the cosmic ray proton energy spectrum. Now, scientists take this further with high-statistics and low-uncertainty measurement of these protons over a broader energy range using the CALorimetric Electron Telescope, confirming the presence of such structures.

Space: The Solar System
Published

Exploring Jupiter's moon, Europa, possible with silicon-germanium transistor technology      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Europa is more than just one of Jupiter's many moons -- it's also one of most promising places in the solar system to look for extraterrestrial life. Under 10 kilometers of ice is a liquid water ocean that could sustain life. But with surface temperatures at -180 Celsius and with extreme levels of radiation, it's also one of the most inhospitable places in the solar system. Exploring Europa could be possible in the coming years thanks to new applications for silicon-germanium transistor technology research.

Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Potential first traces of the universe's earliest stars      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Astronomers may have discovered the ancient chemical remains of the first stars to light up the Universe. Using an innovative analysis of a distant quasar observed by the 8.1-meter Gemini North telescope on Hawai'i, the scientists found an unusual ratio of elements that, they argue, could only come from the debris produced by the all-consuming explosion of a 300-solar-mass first-generation star.

Space: Exploration Space: The Solar System
Published

Lunar glass shows Moon asteroid impacts mirrored on Earth      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A research team has found asteroid impacts on the Moon millions of years ago coincided precisely with some of the largest meteorite impacts on Earth, such as the one that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Webb reveals a galaxy sparkling with the universe's oldest star clusters      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), researchers have identified the most distant globular clusters ever discovered. These dense groups of millions of stars may be relics that contain the first and oldest stars in the universe. The early analysis of Webb's First Deep Field image depicts some of the universe's earliest galaxies.

Space: Exploration Space: The Solar System
Published

New evidence for liquid water beneath the south polar ice cap of Mars      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international team of researchers has revealed new evidence for the possible existence of liquid water beneath the south polar ice cap of Mars.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Milky Way's graveyard of dead stars found      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The first map of the 'galactic underworld' -- a chart of the corpses of once massive suns that have since collapsed into black holes and neutron stars -- has revealed a graveyard that stretches three times the height of the Milky Way, and that almost a third of the objects have been flung out from the galaxy altogether.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Astronomers map distances to 56,000 galaxies, largest-ever catalog      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have assembled the largest-ever compilation of high-precision galaxy distances, called Cosmicflows-4.

Space: Exploration Space: The Solar System
Published

Layering, not liquid: Astronomers explain Mars' watery reflections      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers believe bright reflections beneath the surface of Mars' South Pole are not necessarily evidence of liquid water, but instead geological layers.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Mysterious ripples in the Milky Way were caused by a passing dwarf galaxy      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Using data from the Gaia space telescope, a team has shown that large parts of the Milky Way's outer disk vibrate. The ripples are caused by a dwarf galaxy, now seen in the constellation Sagittarius, that shook our galaxy as it passed by hundreds of millions of years ago.