Posted on by Evan Gough

Some of the Stars in this Cluster are Almost as Old as the Universe Itself While Others Formed in a Second Generation. It Looks Young and Old at the Same Time

Hubble captured this image of star cluster NGC 1866 with its Wide Field Camera 3. It's an unusual cluster full of both old and young stars. The orange/red stars are older stars, and the blue stars are younger stars. Image: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Hubble captured this image of star cluster NGC 1866 with its Wide Field Camera 3. It's an unusual cluster full of both old and young stars. The orange/red stars are older stars, and the blue stars are younger stars. Image: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Star clusters are not rare. They’re one of the most common arrangements of stars in the Universe. But star cluster NGC 1866, as seen in this image from Hubble, is different than its brethren. Most clusters are populated by stars the same age, BUT NGC 1866 is like an all-ages club.
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Posted on by Evan Gough

Europe’s Vision of a Future Moon Base. Made out of Moon Dust.

An illustration of a Moon base that could be built using 3D printing and ISRU, In-Situ Resource Utilization. Credit: RegoLight, visualisation: Liquifer Systems Group, 2018
An illustration of a Moon base that could be built using 3D printing and ISRU, In-Situ Resource Utilization. Credit: RegoLight, visualisation: Liquifer Systems Group, 2018

We all know that the time is past due for a Moon base. But the cost of sending everything needed from Earth to build a base is prohibitive. Earth’s gravity well is too deep and too strong to get everything there with rockets. So what’s the solution?

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Posted on by Evan Gough

Astronomers Detect Water in the Atmosphere of a Planet 179 Light-Years Away

The HR 8799 system contains the first exoplanet be directly imaged. Image Credit: NRC-HIA/C. MAROIS/W. M. KECK OBSERVATORY
The HR 8799 system contains the first exoplanet be directly imaged. Image Credit: NRC-HIA/C. MAROIS/W. M. KECK OBSERVATORY

Gathering detailed information on exoplanets is extremely difficult. The light from their host star overwhelms the light from the exoplanet, making it difficult for telescopes to see them. But now a team using cutting-edge technology at the Keck Observatory has taken a big leap in exoplanet observation and has detected water in the atmosphere of a planet 179 light years away.

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Posted on by Evan Gough

It’s Decided, the Mars 2020 Rover Will Land in Jezero Crater

After 5 years and 60 candidates, NASA has chosen Jezero crater as the landing site for the Mars 2020 rover. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL/MSSS/Brown University
After 5 years and 60 candidates, NASA has chosen Jezero crater as the landing site for the Mars 2020 rover. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL/MSSS/Brown University

Jezero crater is the landing spot for NASA’s upcoming 2020 rover. The crater is a rich geological site, and the 45 km wide (28 mile) impact crater contains at least five different types of rock that the rover will sample. Some of the landform features in the crater are 3.6 billion years old, making the site an ideal place to look for signs of ancient habitability.

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Posted on by Evan Gough

Strange Grooves on Phobos Were Caused by Boulders Rolling Around on its Surface

Phobos, a moon of Mars.
Japan is sending a spacecraft to Phobos to study it and collect samples for return to Earth. A German rover will be part of the fun. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Back in the 1970s, NASA’s Mariner and Viking Missions were sent out to explore other planets in our Solar System. All three of them (there were two Viking missions) captured images of Mars’ moon Phobos during their travels. They were our first images of the tiny, potato-shaped moon, and the images held a mystery: strange linear grooves on the moon’s surface.
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Posted on by Evan Gough

Huge Asteroid Impact Crater Found Just Under the Ice in Greenland

The newly-discovered crater is 31 km. across, larger than Paris. Image: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
The newly-discovered crater is 31 km. across, larger than Paris. Image: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

An international team of scientists have discovered what lay hidden under Arctic ice for thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years. Using data primarily from NASA’s Operation IceBridge, they discovered one of the 25 largest impact craters anywhere on Earth. And its discovery may re-ignite an old climate debate.

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Posted on by Evan Gough

Lunar Outpost Shows off their New Rover that will Crawl the Moon, Searching for Resources

The space technology start-up Lunar Outpost has unveiled their Lunar Prospector rover, which is designed to explore the Moon for resources. Image: Lunar Outpost
The space technology start-up Lunar Outpost has unveiled their Lunar Prospector rover, which is designed to explore the Moon for resources. Image: Lunar Outpost

Space technology company Lunar Outpost has unveiled their new Lunar Prospector rover that will explore the surface of the Moon to search for and map resources. The Lunar Prospector is designed to drill for and analyze sub-surface samples. The first of the smallish robots was recently demonstrated on simulated Lunar regolith at the Colorado School of Mines.
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Posted on by Evan Gough

So Cool! Japanese Space Research Center will be Suspended Over a Moonlike Crater

The robotics research center will be suspended 18 meters above the man-made "crater", which is actually an old mine site. Image: Clouds Architecture Office.
The robotics research center will be suspended 18 meters above the man-made "crater", which is actually an old mine site. Image: Clouds Architecture Office.

The architectural design behind Japan’s new space research center is mind-boggling. The futuristic building will incorporate elements of spacecraft design, which emphasize light weight and high functionality. The whole thing will be suspended over a man-made, Moon-like crater.

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Posted on by Evan Gough

Honey, Where’s the Space Sperm? It’s in Low-Earth Orbit, Dear

Space sperm. A new company called SpaceLife Origin wants to store your sperm and eggs in space. Image: SpaceLife Origin.
Space sperm. A new company called SpaceLife Origin wants to store your sperm and eggs in space. Image: SpaceLife Origin.

It’s always wise to be prepared for a disaster, but space sperm is taking it a little too far. Having things like food, water, and medicines on hand constitutes a reasonable level of preparation. But now one company wants to freeze your eggs and sperm in space.

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Posted on by Evan Gough

Gaia Spots an Enormous Ghost Galaxy Right Next Door that’s Being Dismantled by the Milky Way

From left to right: Large Magellanic Cloud, the Milky Way, and Antlia 2, our next door neighbor and so-called ghost galaxy. Credit: V. Belokurov based on the images by Marcus and Gail Davies and Robert Gendler
From left to right: Large Magellanic Cloud, the Milky Way, and Antlia 2, our next door neighbor and so-called ghost galaxy. Credit: V. Belokurov based on the images by Marcus and Gail Davies and Robert Gendler

Astronomers combing through data from the ESA’s Gaia spacecraft have discovered what they’re calling a ghost galaxy. The galaxy, named Antlia 2 (Ant 2) is an extremely low-density dwarf galaxy that was formed in the early days of the universe. And it is being stripped of its mass by the tidal forces of the Milky Way.
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