Astronomy
Virgin Orbit’s first air-launched rocket launch fails
The reason people use the aphorism “it isn’t rocket science” is because rocket science is hard. Virgin Orbit, a spin-off…
Pulsars Confirm One of Einstein’s Best Ideas, That Freefall Really Feels Like You’re Experiencing a Lack of Gravity
A team of European researchers observed a pulsar with two orbiting white dwarfs to confirm Einstein's "most fortunate thought."
Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 2608, Surrounded by Many Many Other Galaxies
Meet NGC 2608, a barred spiral galaxy about 93 million light years away, in the constellation Cancer. Also called Arp…
Newborn Exoplanets can be Completely Stripped of Their Atmosphere by Stars
Newborn exoplanets can have a tough life. They may form an atmosphere, but that atmosphere can be doomed. Their stars…
Spacecraft was able to measure how long neutrons last before they decay
Using NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft's close encounters with Venus and Mercury, researchers were able to measure the lifetime of neutrons, an…
Tiny Cubesat Detects an Exoplanet
A team of MIT researchers have observed a Super-Earth using a CubeSat, making it the smallest satellite to study an…
New Pictures of Phobos, Seen in the Infrared
NASA's Mars Odyssey Orbiter doesn't get a lot of headlines lately. It was sent to Mars in 2001, to detect…
Scientists are much better at predicting when the Sun is going to become more active
The sun constantly cycles between periods of activity and periods of inactivity, and a new technique allows scientists to better…
Well. It Looks Like James Webb is Getting Delayed Again, but it Should Still Launch in 2021
This is probably one of the least surprising announcements to come out of the coronavirus pandemic. During a virtual meeting…
New Horizons is so Far From Earth That the Positions of the Stars Look a Little Different From its Perspective
From its current position in the Kuiper Belt, the New Horizons spacecraft recently conducted a parallax experiment that is not…