https://phys.org/space-news/ en-us The latest science news on astronomy, astrobiology, and space exploration from Phys.org. Earth's city lights streak by in this long-exposure photo taken by NASA astronaut Don Pettit on Oct. 24, 2024. The green glow of Earth's atmosphere is also visible on the horizon. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-image-astronaut-captures-photo-earth.html Space Exploration Thu, 07 Nov 2024 15:39:28 EST news650216363 A Chinese rover has found new evidence to support the theory that Mars was once home to a vast ocean, including tracing some ancient coastline where water may once have lapped, a study said Thursday. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-chinese-rover-evidence-ancient-martian.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 07 Nov 2024 14:56:32 EST news650213785 The Hubble Space Telescope was carried to space inside the space shuttle Discovery and then released into low-Earth orbit. The James Webb Space Telescope was squeezed inside the nose cone of an Ariane 5 rocket and then launched. It deployed its mirror and shade on its way to its home at the sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-space-robot-giant-telescope.html Astronomy Space Exploration Thu, 07 Nov 2024 14:37:04 EST news650212621 Scientists have developed a new method to compute how tides affect the interiors of planets and moons. Importantly, the new study looks at the effects of body tides on objects that don't have a perfectly spherical interior structure, which is an assumption of most previous models. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-spectral-method-tidal-effects-planet.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 07 Nov 2024 14:08:02 EST news650210881 A team of astrophysicists, led by scholars from the Institute for Advanced Study, has developed an innovative technique to search for black hole light echoes. Their novel method, which will make it easier for the mass and the spin of black holes to be measured, represents a major step forward, since it operates independently of many of the other ways in which scientists have probed these parameters in the past. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-astrophysicists-echoes-illuminate-black-holes.html Astronomy Thu, 07 Nov 2024 12:59:04 EST news650206742 Proba-3 is such an ambitious mission that it needs more than one single spacecraft to succeed. In order for Proba-3's Coronagraph spacecraft observe the sun's faint surrounding atmosphere, its disk-bearing Occulter spacecraft must block out the fiery solar disk. This means Proba-3's Occulter ends up facing the sun continuously, making it a valuable platform for science in its own right. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-proba-constantly-sun-energy-output.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 07 Nov 2024 12:57:49 EST news650206663 Using the CHIME telescope, an international team of astronomers has detected a new repeating fast radio burst (FRBs) source in the outskirts of a quiescent galaxy. The finding of a new FRB, which experienced 22 repeating bursts, was reported in a research paper published October 30 on the pre-print server arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-astronomers-fast-radio.html Astronomy Thu, 07 Nov 2024 11:30:01 EST news650200879 The Hubble Classification, also known as the Hubble Sequence, is a widely recognized method for systematically categorizing galaxy morphology. Galaxies are classified into elliptical, lenticular, and spiral (or barred spiral) galaxies. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-image-exceptionally-rare-triple-galaxy.html Astronomy Thu, 07 Nov 2024 11:19:02 EST news650200741 When we think of exoplanets that may be able to support life, we home in on the habitable zone. A habitable zone is a region around a star where planets receive enough stellar energy to have liquid surface water. It's a somewhat crude but helpful first step when examining thousands of exoplanets. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-stellar-threats-impact-habitable-zone.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 06 Nov 2024 15:56:04 EST news650130961 Since their discovery in 2007, fast radio bursts—extremely energetic pulses of radio-frequency light—have lit up the sky repeatedly, leading astronomers on a chase to uncover their origins. Currently, confirmed fast radio bursts, or FRBs, number in the hundreds, and scientists have assembled mounting evidence for what triggers them: highly magnetized neutron stars known as magnetars (neutron stars are a type of dead star). https://phys.org/news/2024-11-mighty-radio-linked-massive-galaxies.html Astronomy Wed, 06 Nov 2024 13:10:39 EST news650121031 In 1963, the Arecibo Observatory became operational on the island of Puerto Rico. Measuring 305 meters (~1000 ft) in diameter, Arecibo's spherical reflector dish was the largest radio telescope in the world at the time—a record it maintained until 2016 with the construction of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China. In December 2020, Arecibo's reflector dish collapsed after some of its support cables snapped, leading the National Science Foundation (NSF) to decommission the observatory. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-arecibo-observatory.html Astronomy Wed, 06 Nov 2024 12:49:03 EST news650119741 Tiny grains from a distant asteroid are revealing clues to the magnetic forces that shaped the far reaches of the solar system more than 4.6 billion years ago. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-asteroid-grains-outer-solar.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Wed, 06 Nov 2024 12:14:04 EST news650117641 Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international team of astronomers have observed a giant spiral galaxy designated ADF22.A1. Results of the observational campaign, published October 29 on the pre-print server arXiv, provide more insights into its inner structure. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-astronomers-jwst-alma-explore-giant.html Astronomy Wed, 06 Nov 2024 10:09:42 EST news650110179 One thing we've learned in recent decades is that exoplanets are surprisingly common. So far, we've confirmed nearly 6,000 planets, and we have evidence for thousands more. Most of these planets were discovered using the transit method. though there are other methods as well. Many stars are known to have multiple planets, such as the TRAPPIST-1 system with seven Earth-sized worlds. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-additional-exoplanets.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 05 Nov 2024 16:29:02 EST news650046541 A new generation of space materials left Earth on November 5 as they head to the International Space Station (ISS) to undergo testing in the brutal conditions of low Earth orbit. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-generation-space-materials-blast-iss.html Space Exploration Tue, 05 Nov 2024 12:26:36 EST news650031991 On Nov. 9, 2024, the world will mark Carl Sagan's 90th birthday—but sadly without Sagan, who died in 1996 at the age of 62. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-viewpoint-carl-sagan-scientific-legacy.html Astronomy Tue, 05 Nov 2024 12:23:17 EST news650031785 The first human tissue samples from Oxford's Space Innovation Lab (SIL) have been launched and are on their way to the International Space Station, where they will be used to study the effects of space microgravity on the human aging process. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-space-lab-international-station.html Space Exploration Tue, 05 Nov 2024 10:04:53 EST news650023488 As ESA's Hera mission for planetary defense departed its homeworld, it looked back to Earth to show the moon orbiting around it. In this sequence of images the terrestrial disk gradually shrinks as the spacecraft recedes away from it, and the moon moving around Earth changes from a half to full moon. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-moon-goodbye-hera.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Tue, 05 Nov 2024 10:04:05 EST news650023442 On November 26, 2018, NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transport (InSight) mission landed on Mars. This was a major milestone in Mars exploration since it was the first time a research station had been deployed to the surface to probe the planet's interior. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-scientists-figured-martian-soil-crusty.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 05 Nov 2024 10:02:09 EST news650023321 Many people think of the James Webb Space Telescope as a sort of Hubble 2. They understand that the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has served us well but is now old and overdue for replacement. NASA seems to agree, as they have not sent a maintenance mission in over 15 years, and are already preparing to wind down operations. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-hubble-webb-team-dont.html Astronomy Tue, 05 Nov 2024 10:01:56 EST news650023313 The gravitational field of a rotating black hole is powerful and strange. It is so powerful that it warps space and time back upon itself, and it is so strange that even simple concepts such as motion and rotation are turned on their heads. Understanding how these concepts play out is challenging, but they help astronomers understand how black holes generate such tremendous energy. Take, for example, the concept of frame dragging. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-energy-black-holes.html Astronomy Tue, 05 Nov 2024 09:59:02 EST news650023141 NASA's Voyager mission launched in the 1970s. Today, it's making history as it conducts new science. But how are two spacecraft from the '70s not just surviving, but thriving farther out in space than any other spacecraft has been before? https://phys.org/news/2024-11-kickin-70s-nasa-voyager-mission.html Space Exploration Tue, 05 Nov 2024 09:10:01 EST news650020046 SpaceX sent up 6,000 pounds of cargo on a resupply mission to the International Space Station on Monday night with the rocket booster's return trip bringing a sonic boom to parts of Central Florida. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-spacex-space-station-resupply-mission.html Space Exploration Tue, 05 Nov 2024 09:09:47 EST news650020182 Using the Gemini-South telescope, astronomers have performed high-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy of stars in a Galactic globular cluster known as Gran 5. They found that this cluster harbors two stellar populations with different metallicities. The finding was reported in a paper published October 28 on the pre-print server arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-globular-cluster-gran-hosts-stellar.html Astronomy Tue, 05 Nov 2024 09:00:02 EST news650019248 A trio of geologists and environmental scientists from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the University of Minnesota has found evidence suggesting that the Haasttse-baad Tessera formation on Venus was likely formed due to two large impacts early in the planet's history. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-venus-haasttse-baad-tessera-formation.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 05 Nov 2024 09:00:02 EST news650019008 A study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics marks a significant milestone in our understanding of the formation and dynamical evolution of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters (spherical and very compact stellar agglomerates typically populated by 1–2 million stars). https://phys.org/news/2024-11-3d-view-formation-evolution-globular.html Astronomy Tue, 05 Nov 2024 08:56:55 EST news650019410 Recent findings from the International Space Station address wound healing, fine motor control in space, and radiation resistance by the station's Glowbug gamma-ray telescope. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-latest-space-station-science-reveals.html Space Exploration Tue, 05 Nov 2024 03:59:13 EST news650001549 The world's first wooden satellite has blasted off on a SpaceX rocket, its Japanese developers said Tuesday, part of a resupply mission to the International Space Station. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-world-wooden-satellite-space.html Space Exploration Tue, 05 Nov 2024 03:54:22 EST news650001252 Perhaps the greatest tool astronomers have is the ability to look backward in time. Since starlight takes time to reach us, astronomers can observe the history of the cosmos by capturing the light of distant galaxies. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-webb-longstanding-galaxy.html Astronomy Mon, 04 Nov 2024 15:52:12 EST news649957926 On Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, NASA's Parker Solar Probe will complete its final Venus gravity assist maneuver, passing within 233 miles (376 km) of Venus's surface. The flyby will adjust Parker's trajectory into its final orbital configuration, bringing the spacecraft to within an unprecedented 3.86 million miles of the solar surface on Dec. 24, 2024. It will be the closest any human-made object has been to the sun. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-venus-flyby-nasa-parker-solar.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Mon, 04 Nov 2024 14:43:03 EST news649953781