More about Bennu
Why asteroid 2024 YR4 is unlikely to hit Earth in 2032 and how scientists keep track
The threat of a newly discovered asteroid has risen slightly in the past few weeks, as the world's telescopes rush to track its course. But the chance of an impact is still quite slim.
on other worlds
Debris
Spacefarers may contaminate other worlds—but scientists have plans to keep the cosmos clean
In his inauguration speech in January, United States President Donald Trump declared the US would "plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars."
What is space junk and why does it pose an increasing risk for Earth? An expert explains
Year after year, humanity is setting new records for the amount of stuff we're sending into the Earth's orbit, spurred mostly by Starlink's orbital domination. We're getting more eyes (satellites) on the sky, but we're also creating an increasing amount of space junk that has scientists on edge.
Museum fossils go to space
The recent launch of Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket marked several historic milestones. The 21-year-old crew member Karsen Kitchen set a record for the youngest woman to cross the Kármán line, the boundary 62 miles overhead that separates Earth's atmosphere from everything beyond it. It was...
Shielding
Hydrogels could be ideal radiation protection for astronauts
It's a key problem that will need to be addressed if humans are to attempt deep-space, long-duration missions. Not only is radiation exposure a dangerous health risk to humans, but it also poses a hazard to equipment and operating systems. Now, a team at Ghent University in Belgium are testing a...
Radio silence broken--by airplanes
Unexpected TV signal leads to a new method for filtering out unwanted radio frequencies
Astronomers sifting through data from the Murchison Widefield Array, a radio telescope in Western Australia, found themselves confronting an unexpected mystery.
Spaceflight Propulsion
Engineers develop a fully 3D-printed electrospray engine that can power tiny satellites
An electrospray engine applies an electric field to a conductive liquid, generating a high-speed jet of tiny droplets that can propel a spacecraft. These miniature engines are ideal for small satellites called CubeSats that are often used in academic research.
Research sheds light on using multiple CubeSats for in-space servicing and repair missions
As more satellites, telescopes, and other spacecraft are built to be repairable, it will take reliable trajectories for service spacecraft to reach them safely. Researchers in the Department of Aerospace Engineering in The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign...
How NASA's Lunar Trailblazer will make a looping voyage to the moon
Before arriving at the moon, the small satellite mission will use the gravity of the sun, Earth, and moon over several months to gradually line up for capture into lunar orbit.
Watchdog panel's annual NASA safety report reveals new Boeing Starliner issue, questions viable future
The annual watchdog report tasked to gauge NASA safety commended the agency's handling of last year's beleaguered Boeing Starliner mission, but revealed yet another issue found during the flight and questioned NASA's needs for the spacecraft in the future.
Jupiter
Astrophysicists suggest shaded outer disk regions formed Jupiter's largest moons
A pair of astrophysicists with Aix- Marseille Université, CNRS, and Institut Universitaire de France have developed a new theory about the formation of Jupiter's largest moons. In their paper published in The Planetary Science Journal, Antoine Schneeberger and Olivier Mousis describe how they...
Supernovae
A rare type of supernova: Researchers reveal its explosion mechanisms
An international research team led by the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has made significant advancements in the observational study of the metamorphic supernova SN 2014C. Their work provides crucial insights into the explosion mechanisms of this rare type of supernova...
Black holes--no singularities?
Eliminating singularities: Physicists describe the creation of black holes through pure gravity
Traditional black holes, as predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity, contain what are known as singularities, i.e., points where the laws of physics break down. Identifying how singularities are resolved in the context of quantum gravity is one of the fundamental problems in...
Drake updates
Is there life out there? The existence of other technological species is highly likely
We live in a golden age for space exploration. Scientists are gathering massive amounts of new information and scientific evidence at a record pace. Yet the age-old question remains unanswered: Are we alone?
Does planetary evolution favor human-like life? Study ups odds we're not alone
Humanity may not be extraordinary but rather the natural evolutionary outcome for our planet and likely others, according to a new model for how intelligent life developed on Earth.
Scientists discover new sources for 'the molecule that made the universe'
From helping catalyze interstellar reactions and fueling the birth of stars to its presence in neighborhood gas giants like Saturn and Jupiter, trihydrogen, or H3+, is best known as the "the molecule that made the universe."
Interstellar visitors: Material from Alpha Centauri may already be here
The appearance of the interstellar objects (ISOs) 'Oumuamua and Comet Borisov in 2017 and 2019, respectively, created a surge of interest. What were they? Where did they come from? Unfortunately, they didn't stick around and wouldn't cooperate with our efforts to study them in detail...
Scientists spot candidate for speediest exoplanet system
Astronomers may have discovered a scrawny star bolting through the middle of our galaxy with a planet in tow. If confirmed, the pair sets a new record for the fastest-moving exoplanet system, nearly double our solar system's speed through the Milky Way.
White dwarf stars may host more habitable exoplanets than expected
Among the roughly 10 billion white dwarf stars in the Milky Way galaxy, a greater number than previously expected could provide a stellar environment hospitable to life-supporting exoplanets, according to astronomers at the University of California, Irvine.
From collisions to stellar cannibalism—the surprising diversity of exploding white dwarfs
Astrophysicists have unearthed a surprising diversity in the ways in which white dwarf stars explode in deep space after assessing almost 4,000 such events captured in detail by a next-gen astronomical sky survey. Their findings may help us more accurately measure distances in the universe and...
The clouds of Mars
Curiosity rover captures colorful clouds drifting over Mars
Red-and-green-tinted clouds drift through the Martian sky in a new set of images captured by NASA's Curiosity rover using its Mastcam—its main set of "eyes." Taken over 16 minutes on Jan. 17 (the 4,426th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's mission), the images show the latest observations of...
Rings of the Lords
Astronomers announce largest collection of comets found outside our solar system
For the first time, astronomers have imaged dozens of belts around nearby stars where comets and tiny pebbles within them are orbiting.
Galacticae
Supercomputer simulations of giant radio galaxy formation challenge current theoretical models
Enabled by supercomputing, University of Pretoria (UP) researchers have led an international team of astronomers that has provided deeper insight into the entire life cycle (birth, growth and death) of giant radio galaxies, which resemble "cosmic fountains"—jets of superheated gas that are...
Star cluster reveals its colors in stunning 80-million-pixel image
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released a stunning 80 million-pixel image of the star cluster RCW 38, as captured by ESO's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), operating in Chile's Atacama Desert.
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