What will we do when diseases reach space?
In an effort to mitigate damage from COVID-19 here on Earth, people worldwide are practicing social distancing, attempting to limit the spread of the disease. However, space is extremely tight on space stations, and the first lunar and Martian colonies are also likely to house occupants in close quarters. Disease in space has been affecting astronauts…
Comet Atlas could be the brightest comet in decades
Comet Atlas is racing toward the inner solar system, and it could become the brightest comet seen in the night sky in over two decades. The comet, discovered by an observatory designed to protect Earth from asteroids, may even be visible during the day just two months from now. Also known as C/2019 Y4, this…
US Space Force: What you need to know
In the first official launch for the US Space Force, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on March 26, carrying a military communications satellite. United Launch Alliance From the start, the name "Space Force" sounded like a punchline. It had echoes of juvenile name-calling…
Trump’s Space Force Just Launched Its First-Ever Satellite Into Orbit
The launch took place following a short hold. ULA/YouTube The first space mission has been launched for the U.S. Space Force, an additional sixth branch of the U.S. military created in 2019 by President Trump, with the goal of providing next-generation military communications back on Earth. The mission comprises the AEHF-6 (Advanced Extremely High Frequency)…
A controversial X-ray glow didn’t show up in the Milky Way’s...
Glowing X-rays around distant galaxies can’t come from dark matter particles, new research shows. The mysterious glow failed to show up in the dark matter halo around the Milky Way, astrophysicists report in the March 27 Science. “It seems to be the final nail in the coffin of the dark matter interpretation,” says astroparticle physicist…
Astronomers have found the edge of the Milky Way at last
Our galaxy is a whole lot bigger than it looks. New work finds that the Milky Way stretches nearly 2 million light-years across, more than 15 times wider than its luminous spiral disk. The number could lead to a better estimate of how massive the galaxy is and how many other galaxies orbit it. Astronomers…
Researchers discovered a planet that rains iron
WASP-76b — a hard rain’s gonna fall The team have been able to determine the characteristics of WASP-76b’s relationship with its parent star which give rise to the extraordinary atmospheric phenomena observed. WASP-76b is tidally locked, much as the moon is around the Earth, meaning the planet constantly orbits its host star with the same…
Mercury’s extremely hot temperatures might help ice form on its surface
The water you blame the messenger for? Water ice was first detected on Mercury by astronomers on Earth, who saw telltale signs of the molecule in radar observations of the diminutive world. In 2011, the MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) spacecraft passed the planet, confirming the presence of water ice within the…
New fleets of private satellites are clogging the night sky
Astronomer Cliff Johnson was peering into deep space before dawn when something close to Earth interrupted his view. He and colleagues were searching for dwarf galaxies snuggled up to the Milky Way using the Victor M. Blanco 4-m Telescope in Chile. The team was remotely operating the scope from a room at Fermilab in Batavia,…
The story of Katherine Johnson, the scientist who helped NASA send...
Katherine Johnson, who has died at the age of 101, was an amazing woman. But up until a few years ago, hardly anyone had heard of her or her achievements. She was a mathematician and she worked for NASA. But on paper, neither of those facts would make her stand out from the crowd. Add…
