Astronomy Archives

August 21, 2022August 21, 2022 by Andy Tomaswick

Another of the Lucy Mission’s Asteroids has a Moon

There is still so much we don’t know about the asteroids. Various missions have already been sent to some near Earth and in the asteroid belt, but there are just so many that it is hard to keep track of them all. Lucy, NASA’s mission to the Trojan asteroids, is supposed to help with that, but even it doesn’t know what it is getting into. Apparently, there are even more things to explore than the mission designers initially thought when it launched. Rather than visiting seven asteroids as originally envisioned, the discovery of another asteroid in orbit around Polymede means the mission will be visiting nine asteroids in total.

August 20, 2022August 20, 2022 by Scott Alan Johnston

The First Crops on Mars Should be Alfalfa and Cyanobacteria. Then Comes Tastier Plants

Mark Watney can keep his potatoes. Real astronauts should grow alfalfa.

August 19, 2022August 14, 2022 by Paul M. Sutter

Has JWST Found Proto-Globular Clusters?

This image from VISTA is a tiny part of the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey that is systematically studying the central parts of the Milky Way in infrared light. On the right lies the globular star cluster UKS 1 and on the left lies a much less conspicuous new discovery, VVV CL001 — a previously unknown globular, one of just 160 known globular clusters in the Milky Way at the time of writing. The new globular appears as a faint grouping of stars about 25% of the width of the image from the left edge, and about 60% of the way from bottom to top. Credit: ESO/D. Minniti/VVV Team

The James Webb Space Telescope continues to deliver surprise after surprise. Next up, a team of astronomers have identified likely candidates for proto-globular clusters. Clusters like these can help astronomers understand the evolution and ultimate fate of galaxies like our own.

August 19, 2022August 19, 2022 by David Dickinson

Ancient Coin Discovery With An Astronomical Mystery

What does the ancient coin found recently off the shores of Israel depict?

You never know what discoveries are waiting to be found in old records or artwork. A recent archaeological find sent us down just such an astronomical rabbit-hole, leading us to ideas that are fun and interesting to consider.

August 18, 2022August 14, 2022 by Paul M. Sutter

Lucy’s Solar Array is Fixed! (Mostly)

Artist’s concept of the Lucy spacecraft flying by Eurybates, one of the six diverse and scientifically important Trojans to be studied. . Credit: SWRI

How do you fix the solar array of a spacecraft millions of miles away from the Earth hurdling through the void at thousands of miles per hour? Very carefully, that’s how.

August 18, 2022August 18, 2022 by Anton Pozdnyakov

Ukraine Crowdfunded a $17M Reconnaissance SAR Satellite

Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation signed a contract with ICEYE to provide the Government of Ukraine with the SAR reconnaissance data and full capabilities of one of ICEYE’s satellite already in orbit. The deal was closed with the money from the Foundation’s crowdfunding initiative.

August 18, 2022August 18, 2022 by Matt Williams

A New Image From Webb Shows Galaxy NGC 1365, Known to Have an Actively Feeding Supermassive Black Hole

The barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Judy Schmidt

The James Webb Space Telescope continues to deliver stunning images of the Universe, demonstrating that the years of development and delays were well worth the wait! The latest comes from Judy Schmidt (aka. Geckzilla, SpaceGeck), an astrophotographer who processed an image taken by Webb of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365. Also known as the Great Barred Spiral Galaxy, NGC 1365 is a double-barred spiral galaxy consisting of a long bar and a smaller barred structure located about 56 million light-years away in the southern constellation Fornax.

August 17, 2022August 26, 2022 by Paul M. Sutter

R136 is the Most Massive Star Astronomers Have Ever Found. We Just got Some new Images of it

A cluster of massive stars seen with the Hubble Space Telescope. The cluster is surrounded by clouds of interstellar gas and dust called a nebula. The nebula, located 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Carina, contains the central cluster of huge, hot stars, called NGC 3603. Recent research shows that galactic cosmic rays flowing into our solar system originate in clusters like these. Credits: NASA/U. Virginia/INAF, Bologna, Italy/USRA/Ames/STScI/AURA

Meet R136a1, the most massive star known. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, it’s a hulking behemoth weighing somewhere between 150 and 200 times the mass of the Sun. Understanding the upper limit of stars helps astronomers piece together everything from the life cycles of stars to the histories of galaxies.

August 15, 2022August 15, 2022 by Scott Alan Johnston

Lunar Rocks Have Earth's Noble Gases Trapped Inside. More Evidence That the Moon Came From the Earth

Piecing together the history of the Solar System from the traces left behind isn’t easy. Bit by bit, however, we’re working it out. This month, new research examining the composition of lunar meteorites offers compelling evidence that the Moon and the Earth were formed from the same material, perhaps in the aftermath of a cataclysmic collision some 4.5 billion years ago.

August 13, 2022August 13, 2022 by Paul M. Sutter

MIT Researchers Propose Space Bubbles to Stop Climate Change

Artist's conception of bubbles used to reduce sunlight to combat climate change (Image credit: MIT)

Climate change is a real problem. Human caused outputs of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane are the main driver of an unprecedented rise in global average temperatures at a speed never before seen in the Earth’s geologic record. The problem is so bad that any attempts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions may be too little and too late. And so a team based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have proposed a radical new solution: bubbles…in space.