When you go to space, it’s going to change your brain. Count on it. That’s because space travelers enter microgravity, and that challenges everything the brain knows about gravity. The experience alters their brain functions and “connectivity” between different regions. It’s all part of the ability of our brains and nervous systems to change in response to changes in the environment, or because of traumatic brain stress or injuries.
Continue reading “This is Your Brain on Spaceflight”The Event Horizon Telescope Gazes into the Heart of a Distant Quasar
Oftentimes in astronomy, it takes a village of telescopes and people to make an amazing find. In the case of the quasar NRAO 530, it took a planet full of radio dishes ganged together to peer into its heart. Then, it took a major collaboration of scientists to figure out what the instruments were telling them.
Continue reading “The Event Horizon Telescope Gazes into the Heart of a Distant Quasar”Scientists are Simulating Europa in the Lab, Learning What They Can Before Clipper Arrives in 2030
What’s the best way to learn about Europa before we actually land a mission there? A team of scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory created a mini version of this icy world in the lab. It’s giving them some fascinating insights into how that moon’s icy surface behaves and providing useful information for planners of the upcoming Europa Clipper flyby mission.
Continue reading “Scientists are Simulating Europa in the Lab, Learning What They Can Before Clipper Arrives in 2030”Seeing a Mirror Image of the Milky Way From Billions of Years Ago
Ever wonder what our Milky Way Galaxy looked like in its early history? Astronomers using the Webb Telescope (JWST) found another galaxy that’s almost a mirror image of our galaxy as an infant. It’s nicknamed “The Sparkler”. That’s because it has about two dozen glittering globular clusters orbiting around it. There are also a few dwarf galaxies there, being swallowed up by the galaxy.
Continue reading “Seeing a Mirror Image of the Milky Way From Billions of Years Ago”Astronomers Make a New Map of all the Matter (and Dark Matter) in the Universe
There’s a lot of matter in the Universe, but not all of it is visible to us. Matter is, essentially, anything that has mass and takes up space. That includes us, the planets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies. It also includes dark matter. It’s all spread out through space.
Continue reading “Astronomers Make a New Map of all the Matter (and Dark Matter) in the Universe”Face-on View of Galaxy NGC 4303 Reveals its Arms are Filled with Active Star Formation
Galaxies fill a lot of roles in the universe. The most obvious one is star formation factories. Without that activity, the cosmos would be a very different place. The European Southern Observatory and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array recently zeroed in on the galaxy NGC 4303. Their goal: to take a multi-wavelength view of its star formation activity.
Continue reading “Face-on View of Galaxy NGC 4303 Reveals its Arms are Filled with Active Star Formation”Soon We’ll Detect Extreme Objects Producing Gravitational Waves Continuously
The cosmic zoo contains objects so bizarre and extreme that they generate gravitational waves. Scorpius X-1 is part of that strange collection. It’s actually a binary pair: a neutron star orbiting with a low-mass stellar companion called V818 Scorpii. The pair provides a prime target for scientists hunting for so-called “continuous” gravitational waves. Those waves should exist, although none have been detected—yet.
Continue reading “Soon We’ll Detect Extreme Objects Producing Gravitational Waves Continuously”Newly Found Stars are Technically in the Milky Way, but They’re Halfway to Andromeda
We all know our galaxy, the Milky Way, is big. Really big. But, exactly how far out does it extend? Where are the outer limits? Astronomers aren’t exactly sure, precisely. However, a study of galaxies in the Virgo Cluster accidentally turned up a population of stars in the outer part of the Milky Way. They may answer those questions.
Continue reading “Newly Found Stars are Technically in the Milky Way, but They’re Halfway to Andromeda”An Ongoing Study of Jupiter’s Cloudtops Has Been Going on for 40 Years
Some of the most useful discoveries about distant objects take time to complete. For example, several generations of planetary scientists have been studying the clouds of Jupiter since the late 1970s. Their observations focused on the planet’s upper troposphere. The results show unexpected patterns in how the temperatures of Jupiter’s belts and zones change over time.
Continue reading “An Ongoing Study of Jupiter’s Cloudtops Has Been Going on for 40 Years”Navigation Could be Done on the Moon Just by Looking at Nearby Landmarks
When humans start living and working on the Moon in the Artemis missions, they’re going to need good navigational aids. Sure, they’ll have a GPS equivalent to help them find their way around. And, there’ll be LunaNet, the Moon’s equivalent to the Internet. But, there are places on the lunar that are pretty remote. In those cases, explorers could require more than one method for communication and navigation. That prompted NASA Goddard research engineer Alvin Yew to create an AI-driven local map service. It uses local landmarks for navigation.
Continue reading “Navigation Could be Done on the Moon Just by Looking at Nearby Landmarks”