Astronomy Archives

May 14, 2020May 19, 2020 by Matt Williams

Space Force is About to Launch its Mysterious X-37B Spaceplane Again

In this image, the X-37B is being encapsulated in its fairing atop an Atlas V rocket. Photo Credit: USAF

There has been quite a bit of buzz in the past few years about the US Space Force (USSF), especially now that they are recruiting! The sixth and youngest branch of the US Armed Forces, Space Force was created in 2019 when the Air Force Space Command (AFSC) was broken off from the US Air Force (USAF) and made into an independent service branch.

There’s been even more buzz about the USAF’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), a reusable robotic spaceplane whose official purpose is still highly classified! And now, the USAF and the U.S. Space Force have come together to launch the X-37B on its sixth mission (OTV-6). In just two days, this spaceplane will take off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to perform a number of tasks (some of which we know about!)

May 13, 2020May 13, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

Time Travel Into The Future Is Totally Possible

The ESA's CHEOPS launching aboard a Soyuz-FG rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. Image Credit: ESA - S. Corvaja

Believe it or not, time travel is possible.

In fact, you’re doing it right now. Every single second of every single day you are advancing into your own future. You are literally moving through time, the same way you would move through space. It may seem pedantic, but it’s a very important point. Movement through time is still movement, and you are reaching your own future (whether you like it or not).

May 12, 2020May 14, 2020 by Brian Koberlein

One Step Closer to Interstellar Travel. A Successful Microgravity Test of a Graphene Light Sail

Artist concept of lightsail craft approaching the potentially habitable exoplanet Proxima b. Credit: PHL @ UPR Arecibo

If we want to travel to the stars, we’re going to have to be creative. Conventional rockets aren’t nearly powerful enough to allow us to journey across light-years in a reasonable time. Even nuclear rockets might not be enough. So what’s humanity to do? The answer could be a light sail.

May 12, 2020May 12, 2020 by Evan Gough

Spacecraft and Ground Telescopes Work Together to Give us Stunning New Pictures of Jupiter

A Hubble Telescope image of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. A new effort is combining Hubble, Juno, and Gemini Observatory images in an effort to understand Jupiter's stormy behaviour. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and M.H. Wong (UC Berkeley) and team

It’s difficult to imagine the magnitude of storms on Jupiter. The gas giant’s most visible atmospheric feature, the Great Red Spot, may be getting smaller, but one hundred years ago, it was about 40,000 km (25,000 miles) in diameter, or three times Earth’s diameter.

Jupiter’s atmosphere also features thunderheads that are five times taller than Earth’s: a whopping 64 km (40 miles) from bottom to top. Its atmosphere is not entirely understood, though NASA’s Juno spacecraft is advancing our understanding. The planet may contain strange things like a layer of liquid metallic hydrogen.

Now a group of scientists are combining the power of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Gemini Observatory and the Juno spacecraft to probe Jupiter’s atmosphere, and the awe-inspiring storms that spawn there.

May 11, 2020May 11, 2020 by Evan Gough

Newly Reprocessed Images of Europa Make This World Even More Interesting and Mysterious

A "colorized" image of Europa from NASA's Galileo spacecraft, whose mission ended in 2003. The whiteish areas are believed to be pure water ice. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute

Jupiter’s moon Europa is the smoothest object in the Solar System. There are no mountains, very few craters, and no valleys. It’s tallest features are isolated massifs up to 500 meters (1640 ft) tall.

But its surface is still of great interest, both visually and from a science perspective. And with a future mission to Europa in the works—possibly with a lander—a detailed knowledge of the surface is essential. It may have surface features called penitentes, that could be up to 15 meters (49 t) tall, posing a serious hazard for any lander.

May 10, 2020May 10, 2020 by Matt Williams

Closest Black Hole Found, Just 1,000 Light-Years From Earth

This artist’s impression shows the orbits of the objects in the HR 6819 triple system. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada

Black holes are invisible to the naked eye, have no locally detectable features, and even light can’t escape them. And yet, their influence on their surrounding environment makes them the perfect laboratory for testing physics under extreme conditions. In particular, they offer astronomers a chance to test Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, which postulates that the curvature of space-time is altered by the presence of a gravity.

Thanks to a team of astronomers led by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the closest black hole has just been found! Using the ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, the team found this black hole in a triple system located just 1000 light-years from Earth in the Telescopium constellation. Known as HR 6819, this system can be seen with the naked eye and could one of many “quiet” black holes that are out there.

May 9, 2020May 24, 2020 by Matt Williams

Space Force is Recruiting, Here’s their New Video

The US Space Force has revealed their uniforms. Image Credit: US Space Force

“Maybe your purpose on this planet… isn’t on this planet!”

These spine-tingling words cap off the US Space Force’s (USSF) new recruitment video, which hit the airwaves earlier this week. After giving a rundown of what the USSF’s responsibilities are, the video culminates with that beautiful tagline, in which people are invited to find their place off-world!

While this video is pretty short and sweet, it represents a significant milestone in the development of the USSF as an independent branch of the US Armed Forces – a process that began in earnest just a few years ago.

May 8, 2020May 8, 2020 by Evan Gough

A Cool Idea to Catch Up With an Interstellar Visitor

Artist’s impression of the first interstellar asteroid/comet, "Oumuamua". This unique object was discovered on 19 October 2017 by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

Poor, dim-witted humanity.

We used to think we were the center of everything. That wasn’t that long ago, and even though we’ve made tremendous advancements in our understanding of our situation here in space, we still have huge blind spots.

For one, we’re only now waking up to the reality of interstellar objects passing through our Solar System.

May 8, 2020May 8, 2020 by Matt Williams

Galaxies Like the Milky Way are the Best for Life

The core of the Milky Way. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Stolovy (SSC/Caltech)

Scientists have speculated that given the sheer number of galaxies in our Universe – modern estimates are as high as 2 trillion – that there must be infinite opportunities for life to emerge. It has also been theorized that galaxies (like stars) have habitable zones, where star systems located too close to the core or too far out in the spiral arms will be exposed to too much radiation for life to emerge.

But are certain types of galaxies more likely to produce intelligent life? Not that long ago, scientists believed that giant elliptical galaxies – which are substantially larger than spiral galaxies (like the Milky Way) – are a far more likely place to find advanced civilizations. But according to new research from the University of Arkansas, these galaxies may not be the cradles of civilization they were previously thought to be.

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May 8, 2020 by David Dickinson

Review: Galileo and the Science Deniers by Mario Livio

So, you think you know Galileo? A new book out from Simon and Schuster publishing looks at the exploits of one of the most famous astronomers there ever was: Galileo Galilei. Galileo and the Science Deniers by Dr. Mario Livio not only looks at the life and times of the famous astronomer, but busts some of the most famous myths surrounding Galileo, and looks at his greatest discoveries and tempestuous clash with the Roman Catholic Church and its aftermath. Livio also connects the science denialism of the day with comparisons to modern clashes between politics and science.