Tag

Space Science

All articles tagged with #space science

space-science15 days ago•6 min saved

Dusty Galaxy Emerges as Possible Source of Ghost Neutrinos

A high-energy neutrino detected by IceCube may have originated from Shadow Blaster, a dust-enshrouded, intensely star-forming galaxy 11 billion light-years away that is gravitationally lensed. This link, while tentative (about 1% chance of a random coincidence), suggests star-forming galaxies could contribute a significant fraction of the diffuse neutrino background, and motivates deeper multiwavelength follow-up with facilities like ALMA and JWST to pinpoint more such sources.

via CNN|

#gravitational-lensing #icecube #neutrinos

space-science15 days ago•5 min saved

Mars Rock Hints at Ancient Life, But Earth-Based Proof Is Needed

Analysis of Martian rock Cheyava Falls by Perseverance’s SHERLOC and WATSON detected macromolecular carbon, a potential sign of ancient organics and past habitability in Jezero Crater; but MMCs can form abiotically, so a definitive conclusion requires returning samples to Earth—an effort whose future remains uncertain amid stalled Mars Sample Return plans.

via The Register|

#cheyava-falls #jezero-crater #macromolecular-carbon

space1 month ago•3 min saved

NASA Ponders Budget-Friendly Reboost to Save Hubble

NASA is weighing a cheaper, potentially commercial reboost to extend the aging Hubble Space Telescope’s life, inspired by a cost-effective plan already pursued for the Swift Observatory. Before any reboost can happen, NASA must reduce Hubble’s operating costs; the telescope is currently about 326 miles up and could reenter around 2033, with 2025 operating costs pegged at roughly $98.8 million.

via Gizmodo|

#hubble-space-telescope #nasa #orbit-reboost

space1 month ago•5 min saved

Psyche’s Mars flyby primes its long-awaited asteroid rendezvous

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft used a Mars flyby as a gravity assist to gain speed and adjust its orbit on the way to the metal-rich asteroid Psyche in 2029, while testing its science suite (a dual-camera multispectral imager, gamma-ray/neutron spectrometer, and magnetometer). The Mars encounter yielded rare imagery from a high phase angle, including a crescent view and a southern polar to Valles Marineris panorama, helping calibrate instruments ahead of the asteroid mission. The gravity assist boosted speed by about 1,000 mph and nudged the orbit by roughly 1 degree; Psyche launched in Oct 2023 and will complete a 2.2-billion-mile journey.

via Ars Technica|

#asteroid-psyche #gravity-assist #mars-flyby

space-science1 month ago•4 min saved

Earth Plows Through Ancient Supernova Debris Preserved in Antarctic Ice

A new study detects iron-60 in Antarctic ice aged 40,000–80,000 years, tying Earth’s passage through the Local Interstellar Cloud to debris from a past supernova. Using accelerator mass spectrometry on hundreds of kilograms of ice and corroborating isotopes, researchers show the cloud around the Solar System contains material from an ancient stellar explosion, with the iron-60 signal varying over tens of thousands of years and supporting the idea that our cosmic neighborhood records such events.

via SciTechDaily|

#antarctic-ice #interstellar-medium #iron-60

science2 months ago•2 min saved

Hubble’s 36th Anniversary Reveals a New View of the Trifid Nebula, the Cosmic Sea Slug

NASA marks Hubble’s 36th year in orbit with a sharper image of the Trifid Nebula, showcasing the telescope’s 1.7 million observations, 22,000+ papers, and 1.3 million citations while highlighting its role in studying star formation and nebular dynamics.

via New York Post|

#astronomy #cosmic-sea-slug #hubble-space-telescope

space-and-spaceflight2 months ago•16 min saved

Curiosity Unearths Giant Honeycomb Textures Across Martian Rocks

NASA’s Curiosity rover captured Mastcam mosaics showing thousands of polygonal, honeycomb-like textures across rocks near Antofagasta crater in Gale Crater, a pattern scientists are evaluating as a clue to Mars’ ancient watery past; researchers are testing hypotheses from drying/wetting cycles and groundwater mineralization, complementing other recent findings of organics in Martian rocks.

via Gizmodo|

#curiosity-rover #honeycomb-patterns #mars

space-science2 months ago•5 min saved

Euclid Lens Hunt Invites the Public to Map Dark Matter with Space Warps

The European Space Agency’s Euclid telescope is powering a new citizen-science project on Zooniverse called Space Warps, enlisting volunteers to identify strong gravitational lenses in Euclid’s high‑quality images. This work helps study dark matter, dark energy, and cosmic expansion, with around 300,000 AI‑preselected images guiding the search and the team expecting to uncover more than 10,000 new lens candidates from Euclid Data Release 1.

via European Space Agency|

#citizen-science #dark-energy #dark-matter

space-science2 months ago•6 min saved

Titan and Beyond: A New Model Reveals Giant, Slow Waves on Alien Seas

MIT and Woods Hole researchers unveiled a generalized wave-model showing that ocean waves on alien seas (like Titan’s methane/ethane lakes) can be dramatically different from Earth’s, driven by gravity, liquid composition, and atmospheric density; on Titan, simulations predict tall, slow-moving waves due to its low gravity and thick atmosphere, reshaping expectations for shoreline erosion, sediment transport, and the design of future landers or floating probes.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#methane #modeling #oceans

science5 months ago•36 min saved

Space Mutations Boost Phages in the Battle Against Superbugs

A UW–Madison-led study compared a E. coli–T7 phage clash on Earth and in microgravity aboard the ISS. In space, phages infect more slowly but still acquire mutations that improve their ability to bind bacterial receptors, while the bacteria develop space-specific defenses—demonstrating space-driven evolutionary paths that could inform phage-based strategies against drug‑resistant pathogens on Earth.

via Yahoo|

#antimicrobial-resistance #bacteriophage #evolution

space5 months ago•5 min saved

2032 Moon Impact Could Unleash New Lunar Science from a Tiny Asteroid

A 60-meter asteroid (2024 YR4) has about a 4% chance to strike the Moon on December 22, 2032. If it hits, it could form a ~1 km crater with a 100 m molten pool, trigger a magnitude-5.0 “moonquake,” vaporize rock, and loft up to 400 kg of debris that could reach Earth, potentially posing risks to satellites and even ground hazards. Yet scientists see this as a rare, invaluable chance to study lunar geology, interior structure, and crater formation in real time using telescopes and space assets, while some agencies consider deflection to prevent the impact. The piece notes Universe Today as the original source.

via ScienceAlert|

#asteroid-2024-yr4 #kessler-syndrome #lunar-impact

space-science5 months ago•7 min saved

Avalanche of magnetic reconnection powers solar flare, Solar Orbiter reveals

ESA's Solar Orbiter captured a large solar flare as a cascade of rapid reconnection events—an avalanche that builds from weak disturbances to a full eruption—producing rain-like plasma blobs and high-energy X-rays; four instruments provided a detailed, multi-instrument view, supporting avalanche models and improving understanding of energy transfer from magnetic fields to plasma and particles, with implications for space weather forecasting.

via European Space Agency|

#magnetic-avalanche #magnetic-reconnection #plasma-blobs

science5 months ago•4 min saved

Perihelion: Earth's Closest Sun Point Doesn't Change Our Seasons

In 2026, Earth reached perihelion—its closest approach to the Sun—on Jan 3 at about 91.4 million miles (147,099,894 km). The roughly 3% distance change compared with its farthest point yields negligible shifts in global temperatures; seasons are driven primarily by the tilt of Earth's axis, not distance to the Sun. Perihelion matters more for highly elliptical orbits like comets or spacecraft such as NASA's Parker Solar Probe.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#astronomy #earth-orbit #kepler

science8 months ago•4 min saved

1970s Scientific Error Set Back Mars Exploration

A 50-year-old scientific conclusion from the Viking Mars mission, which declared Mars lifeless due to the absence of detected organics, is now believed to be mistaken. New evidence from recent missions suggests that Mars may harbor or have harbored life, prompting a reevaluation of past assumptions and the need for dedicated future missions to search for life on Mars.

via Big Think|

#mars-exploration #mars-life-detection #organic-compounds

science8 months ago•50 min saved

NASA Faces Challenges Amid Shutdown and Leadership Concerns

NASA's flagship science center, Goddard, faces significant cuts and closures amid a government shutdown and controversial budget implementation, risking mission safety, scientific progress, and employee morale, with allegations of illegal activity and political influence impacting the agency's operations.

via Space|

#budget-cuts #goddard-space-flight-center #government-shutdown