A new study from Purdue University indicates that Earth’s atmosphere will break up small meteoroids, which is good news for planetary protection
The post Meteors Explode from the Inside When They Reach the Atmosphere appeared first on Universe Today. […]Read More
Category Archives: Space
NASA’s Opportunity Rover Withstands Another Harsh Winter on Mars
Having survived its eight winter in a row, the Opportunity rover continues to operate long past its original, anticipated lifespan.
The post NASA’s Opportunity Rover Withstands Another Harsh Winter on Mars appeared first on Universe Today. […]Read More
New discovery finds starving white dwarfs are binge eaters
University of Canterbury astrophysicist Dr Simone Scaringi has made an unexpected and exciting new discovery related to the way white dwarfs grow in space. […]Read More
Rapid-response program to explore a double neutron star merger
Two years ago, scientists from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detected gravitational waves for the first time, proving Einstein’s theory of relativity and his prediction of their existence. The waves were triggered by two black holes colliding. […]Read More
How crashing neutron stars killed off some of our best ideas about what ‘dark energy’ is
There was much excitement when scientists witnessed the violent collision of two ultra-dense, massive stars more than 100m light years from the Earth earlier this year. Not only did they catch the resulting gravitational waves – ripples in the fabric of spacetime – they also saw a practically instantaneous flash of light. This is exciting in itself and was the first direct evidence for a merger of neutron stars. […]Read More
Stellar nursery blooms into view
The OmegaCAM camera on ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope has captured this glittering view of the stellar nursery called Sharpless 29. Many astronomical phenomena can be seen in this giant image, including cosmic dust and gas clouds that reflect, absorb, and re-emit the light of hot young stars within the nebula. […]Read More
MWA radio telescope expansion complete—Exploration of the universe’s first stars begins
When and how were the first stars in the universe born? The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) radio telescope in the desert of Western Australia, one of the largest of its kind, was constructed to clarify this and many other mysteries. The MWA is an international radio-astronomy project conducted by seven countries including Japan and Australia. In Japan, Kumamoto University (main), Nagoya University, Kagoshima University, University of Tokyo, Tohoku University, and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan are participating in the effort. Construction to increase the sensitivity of the MWA began in 2016, and was completed in October of this year (2017). The antennas were doubled in number to 4,096 over a 5 km2 area, which greatly improved the sensitivity of the telescope. The upgraded MWA will seek answers to mysteries of the universe that began 13.7 billion years ago. […]Read More
86 Stars Just got Official Names from the IAU
The IAU just approved the names of 86 new stars, the majority of which are derived from Chinese, Hindu, Aboriginal, South African, Coptic, Mayan, and Polynesian traditions.
The post 86 Stars Just got Official Names from the IAU appeared first on Universe Today. […]Read More
New Map Shows the Motion of all the Galaxies in Our Supercluster
An international team of astronomers has created the largest map of the movements of galaxies within our Supercluster to date.
The post New Map Shows the Motion of all the Galaxies in Our Supercluster appeared first on Universe Today. […]Read More
Chandra reveals the elementary nature of Cassiopeia A
Where do most of the elements essential for life on Earth come from? The answer: inside the furnaces of stars and the explosions that mark the end of some stars’ lives. […]Read More