Universe Today (Page 425)

Cassini Data Has Revealed a Towering Hexagonal Storm at Saturn's Northern Pole

By Evan Gough - September 07, 2018 02:29 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Data from the Cassini mission has revealed a massive hexagonal shaped storm high in the stratosphere of Saturn's north pole.

This is the Exact Spot that ESA's SMART-1 Crashed Into the Moon in 2006

By Matthew Williams - September 06, 2018 07:06 PM UTC | Missions

Thanks to images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, it is now known exactly where the ESA's SMART-1 mission landed on the Moon.

Exploring the Ice Giants: Neptune and Uranus at Opposition for 2018

By David Dickinson - September 06, 2018 09:31 AM UTC | Planetary Science

Have you seen all of the planets for yourself? This week is a good time to check off the most difficult of the major planets off of your life list, as Neptune reaches opposition for 2018 on Friday, September 7th at at ~18:00 Universal Time (UT)/2:00 PM EDT.

Europan Space Whales Anyone? Planets Covered by Deep Oceans Can Still Have Life on Them

By Matthew Williams - September 05, 2018 04:24 PM UTC | Astrobiology

According to a new study by a pair of researchers, planets covered in deep oceans (aka. "water worlds") may be more habitable than previously thought.

Forming Dense Metal Planets like Mercury is Probably Pretty Difficult and Rare in the Universe

By Matthew Williams - September 05, 2018 02:18 PM UTC | Exoplanets

A new study by a team of Swiss astronomers indicates that Mercury-like planets, which have a high iron-to-rock ration, are probably a rare thing the Universe.

Estimating When Life Could Have Arisen on Earth

By Matthew Williams - September 05, 2018 01:04 PM UTC | Astrobiology

A new study by a team of Canadian researchers places new constraints on when life first emerged on Earth, which could implications for the study of exoplanets someday.

Carnival of Space #577

By susie - September 04, 2018 01:28 PM UTC | Site News

Aerojet Rocketdyne Tests Out its New Advanced Ion Engine System

By Matthew Williams - September 03, 2018 08:38 PM UTC | Space Exploration

In partnership with NASA, Aerodyne Rocketdyne recently conducted a successful test of their new Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) ion engine.

How the Next Generation of Ground-Based Super-Telescopes will Directly Observe Exoplanets

By Matthew Williams - September 02, 2018 05:28 PM UTC | Exoplanets

According to a new study by an international team of scientists, astronomers will be able to directly observe exoplanets using next-generation telescopes.

Telescope Pierces into One of the Biggest Nebulae in the Milky Way to Reveal its Newly Forming (and Nearly Dying) Stars

By Matthew Williams - August 31, 2018 03:14 PM UTC | Stars

A recent survey conducted using the ESO's VISTA telescope revealed newly-formed stars and stars nearing their death in the Carina Nebula.

This is the Habitat in Hawaii Helping Astronauts Preparing to Explore Mars

By Matthew Williams - August 31, 2018 02:01 PM UTC | Space Exploration

The NASA-funded Hawai'i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (Hi-SEAS) program is preparing astronauts for long-term missions to Mars, which could include a lot of cave exploring!

Carnival of Space #576

By susie - August 30, 2018 04:40 PM UTC | Site News

Another Juno Flyby, Another Amazing Sequence of Images of Jupiter

By Matthew Williams - August 30, 2018 01:36 PM UTC | Planetary Science

With its latest flyby of Jupiter, the Juno mission took more pictures with its JunoCam, which citizen scientists have once again processed to create a breathtaking image of the planet's atmosphere.

New Horizons Sees its Next Target for the First Time: Ultima Thule. Flyby Happens January 1, 2019

By Matthew Williams - August 29, 2018 03:26 PM UTC | Missions

Earlier this month, the New Horizons team managed to capture the first images of Ultima Thule, the Kuiper Belt Object that it will rendezvous on Jan. 1st, 2019

Construction on the Orion Capsule is Done. Next it'll be Sent to Florida for Final Assembly

By Matthew Williams - August 29, 2018 01:52 PM UTC | Space Exploration

The Orion space capsule that will send astronauts on a flyby of the Moon just arrived at the Kennedy Space Center for final assembly.

Are We Witnessing the Start of Solar Cycle 25?

By David Dickinson - August 29, 2018 01:52 PM UTC | Solar Astronomy

What's up with the Sun? As we've said previous, what the Sun isn't doing is the big news of 2018 in solar astronomy. Now, the Sun sent us another curve ball, with the strange tale of growing sunspot AR 2720.

Hayabusa's Target Itokawa Formed 4.6 Billion Years Ago, But Then it Was Smashed Up About 1.5 Billion Years Ago

By Matthew Williams - August 28, 2018 05:06 PM UTC | Planetary Science

According to new research by a team of Japanese researchers, samples from the Itokawa asteroid provide new clues to the asteroid's evolutionary timeline.

Look at all the Aerosols Pushed into the Atmosphere, from Fires, Volcanoes and Pollution. Even Sea Salt Thrown into the Air from Hurricanes

By Matthew Williams - August 28, 2018 02:02 PM UTC | Planetary Science

Using the Goddard Earth Observing System Forward Processing (GEOS FP) model, NASA recently released a visualization that showed all the aerosols that existed in our atmosphere on a single day.

This is a 3D map of 400,000 Hot Massive Stars Located Within 10,000 Light-Years From the Sun, Thanks to Gaia!

By Matthew Williams - August 27, 2018 01:56 PM UTC | Stars

The latest gem to come from the second release of Gaia data is a 3D map that shows the positions of 400,000 stars within 10,000 light years.

We're in the Milky Way's Second Life. Star Formation was Shut Down for Billions of Years

By Matthew Williams - August 26, 2018 03:23 PM UTC | Milky Way

According to a new study, the Milky Way Galaxy experienced two periods of star formation, with a two-billion dormancy period in between.