Study of Earth's rotation history shows deceleration has been in a staircase pattern

A multi-institutional team of geoscientists has found evidence that the Earth's rotation slows in a staircase pattern, with two stable periods that stand out. In their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group analyzed sediment sample data going back more than a half-billion years.

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Scientists pinpoint dino-killing asteroid's origin: past Jupiter

An intense debate surrounding the cosmic rock that killed the dinosaurs has stirred scientists for decades, but a new study has revealed some important—and far-out—data about the impactor's origin story.

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Research team releases a 76 m-per-pixel global color image dataset and map of Mars

Remote-sensing images of Mars contain rich information about its surface morphology, topography, and geological structure. These data are fundamental for scientific research and exploration missions of Mars. Prior to China's first Mars exploration mission, data from six advanced optical imaging systems of different missions in the Martian orbit was used to generate Mars global/near-global image datasets with spatial resolutions better than 1 km.

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Researchers develop a test bed for separating valuable material on the moon

It's often better to flesh out technologies fully on Earth's surface before they're used in space. That is doubly true if that technology is part of the critical infrastructure keeping astronauts alive on the moon.

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NASA to decide stranded Starliner astronauts' route home by end of month

NASA needs to decide by the end of August whether to return two astronauts to Earth aboard Boeing's Starliner, which flew them to the International Space Station (ISS), or bring them home on a SpaceX craft, officials said Wednesday.

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Primordial black holes could kick out stars and replace them

Primordial black holes formed during the earliest stages of the evolution of the universe. Their immense gravity may be playing havoc in stellar systems. They can transfer energy into wide binary systems, disrupting their orbits.

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Neutron-star mergers illuminate the mysteries of quark matter

Neutron stars are the remnants of old stars that have run out of nuclear fuel and undergone a supernova explosion and a subsequent gravitational collapse. Although their collisions—or binary mergers—are rare, when they do occur, these violent events can perturb spacetime itself, producing gravitational waves detectable on Earth from hundreds of millions of light years away.

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Rocks collected on Mars hold key to water and perhaps life on the planet: Researchers urge bringing them back to Earth

Over the course of nearly five months in 2022, NASA's Perseverance rover collected rock samples from Mars that could rewrite the history of water on the red planet and even contain evidence for past life on Mars.

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Scientist performs the first nonlinear study of black hole mimickers

In recent research, a scientist from Princeton University has performed the first nonlinear study of the merger of a black hole mimicker, aiming to understand the nature of gravitational wave signals emitted by these objects, which could potentially help to identify black holes more accurately.

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Research team finds evidence of hydration on the asteroid Psyche

Using data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, a Southwest Research Institute-led team has confirmed hydroxyl molecules on the surface of the metallic asteroid Psyche. The presence of hydrated minerals suggests a complex history for Psyche, important context for the NASA spacecraft en route to this interesting asteroid orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter.

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SpaceX's Elon Musk endorsed Donald Trump for president—what this could mean for US space policy

Elon Musk officially endorsed Donald Trump for president of the United States on July 13, 2024, shortly after Trump survived an assassination attempt. Musk, a billionaire technology entrepreneur, has made groundbreaking contributions in multiple industries, particularly space travel and exploration.

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Novel anemometer tracks sound travel for speedier, more precise wind speed calculations on Mars

Mars has a notoriously inhospitable environment, with temperatures that fluctuate dramatically over the course of a Martian day and average minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Its surface is mostly covered in red dust, with terrain typified by craters, canyons, and volcanoes. And its atmosphere is extremely thin, comprising only about 1% of the density of Earth's.

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Earth hit by 'severe' solar storm

The Earth was hit Monday by an intense solar storm that could bring the northern lights to night skies further south than normal, a US agency announced.

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The next full moon is a supermoon blue moon

The next full moon is a supermoon, a blue moon; the sturgeon moon; the red, corn, green corn, barley, herb, grain, or dog moon; Raksha Bandhan or Rakhi Purnima; and Tu B'Av.

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Scientists find oceans of water on Mars. It's just too deep to tap.

Using seismic activity to probe the interior of Mars, geophysicists have found evidence for a large underground reservoir of liquid water—enough to fill oceans on the planet's surface.

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NASA to launch 8 scientific balloons from New Mexico

NASA's Scientific Balloon Program has kicked off its annual fall balloon campaign at the agency's balloon launch facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Eight balloon flights carrying scientific experiments and technology demonstrations are scheduled to launch from mid-August through mid-October.

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Newly discovered X-ray binary system contains a white dwarf, observations find

Astronomers from the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) and elsewhere have observed an X-ray binary system known as CXOU J005245.0-722844. They detected an X-ray outburst from this binary and found that it harbors a white dwarf star. The findings were presented in a research paper published August 2 on the pre-print server arXiv.

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SpaceX performs Canaveral launch Saturday, but scrubs 2nd launch from KSC

A Friday scrub of a launch attempt meant for a short while SpaceX was aiming to send up two of its rockets from the Space Coast within three hours of one another on Saturday morning.

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Mars and Jupiter get chummy in the night sky. The planets won't get this close again until 2033

Mars and Jupiter are cozying up in the night sky for their closest rendezvous this decade.

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Archaeologists conduct first 'space excavation' on ISS and discover surprising quirks of zero-G life

New results from the first archaeological fieldwork conducted in space show the International Space Station is a rich cultural landscape where crew create their own "gravity" to replace Earth's, and adapt module spaces to suit their needs.

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Meet the two Boeing mission astronauts stuck aboard the ISS

Two astronauts stranded in space may sound like the start to a big-screen science thriller, but the Boeing Starliner mission is no work of Hollywood fiction.

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NASA tests deployment of Roman Space Telescope's 'visor'

The "visor" for NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope recently completed several environmental tests simulating the conditions it will experience during launch and in space. Called the Deployable Aperture Cover, this large sunshade is designed to keep unwanted light out of the telescope. This milestone marks the halfway point for the cover's final sprint of testing, bringing it one step closer to integration with Roman's other subsystems this fall.

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Hubble spotlights a supernova

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the galaxy LEDA 857074, located in the constellation Eridanus. LEDA 857074 is a barred spiral galaxy, with partially broken spiral arms. The image also captured a supernova, named SN 2022ADQZ, shining brightly on the right side of the galaxy's bar.

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Promising early tests for variable-thrust landing engine

As part of ESA's Future Launchers Preparatory Program (FLPP), the first phase of hot-fire tests has been completed on a new, variable-thrust rocket engine in Warsaw, Poland. The engine is being developed by a Polish consortium investigating new designs for propellant valves and injectors that can vary the thrust of rocket engines powered by more sustainable and storable propellants. Such engines have great potential for use in future space missions and reusable rockets.

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Could 2 NASA astronauts be stuck at the space station until next year? Here's what to know

NASA is wrestling over how and when to bring two astronauts back from the International Space Station, after repeatedly delaying their return aboard Boeing's troubled capsule.

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Drop it like it's hot: Space Rider model falls gracefully

Over the last four months, the Space Rider team has been running a drop-test campaign whereby a full-scale model of the future orbital laboratory is dropped from a helicopter to test and qualify the deployment of its parachutes, at Salto di Quirra in Sardinia, Italy.

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Gaia spots possible moons around hundreds of asteroids

ESA's star-surveying Gaia mission has again proven to be a formidable asteroid explorer, spotting potential moons around more than 350 asteroids not known to have a companion.

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Astronomers discover two new super-Earths orbiting nearby stars

Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has detected two new super-Earth exoplanets orbiting nearby M-dwarf stars. The newfound exoplanets, designated TOI-6002 b and TOI-5713 b, are two times larger than our planet. The finding was reported in a paper published August 1 on the pre-print server arXiv.

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NASA says chances are growing that astronauts may switch from Boeing to a SpaceX ride back to Earth

What should have been a quick trip to the International Space Station may turn into an eight-month stay for two NASA astronauts if they have to switch from Boeing to SpaceX for a ride home.

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Study finds discrepancies between intended and actual use of certain areas aboard the International Space Station

An archaeological strategy adapted for space used daily photos to reveal how astronauts actually use areas aboard the International Space Station—and how this differs from intended uses. Justin Walsh of Chapman University, California, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on August 7, 2024.

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Precision measurements offer clues to magnetar's cosmic origin

An international team of astronomers have used a powerful array of radio telescopes to discover new insights about a magnetar that's only a few hundred years old. By capturing precise measurements of the magnetar's position and velocity, new clues emerge regarding its developmental path.

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Scientists discover highest-energy gamma-ray line in the universe

A research group led by the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) report the discovery of a gamma-ray line up to 37 million electron-volts from an extremely bright gamma-ray burst, which represents the highest energy spectral line features emitted by celestial objects in the universe.

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NASA delays next crew launch to buy more time at the space station for Boeing's troubled capsule

NASA is delaying its next astronaut launch to buy more time at the International Space Station for Boeing's troubled new crew capsule.

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NASA's Artemis emergency egress system emphasizes crew safety

Since NASA began sending astronauts to space, the agency has relied on emergency systems for personnel to safely leave the launch pad and escape the hazard in the unlikely event of an emergency during the launch countdown.

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Astronomy 'Olympics' is being hosted in Africa for the first time: Four big talking points

Cutting-edge telescopes, gravitational waves, black holes and our solar system's central star, the sun, are just a few of the topics that will be on the table in Cape Town, South Africa, for an event that's a scientific version of the Olympic Games—though the world's leading astronomy researchers in attendance will be showcasing their brains rather than their brawn.

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China launches rocket carrying new constellation of satellites

China says it launched a rocket Tuesday carrying a constellation of a reported 18 satellites as part of efforts to assert its presence in space.

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Image: Hubble spies diminutive galaxy IC 3430 in the constellation Virgo

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the subtle glow of the galaxy named IC 3430, located 45 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo. This dwarf elliptical galaxy is part of the Virgo cluster, a rich collection of galaxies both large and small, many of which are very similar in type to this diminutive galaxy.

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Using small black holes to detect big black holes

An international team of astrophysicists with the participation of the University of Zurich proposes a novel method to detect pairs of the biggest black holes found at the centers of galaxies by analyzing gravitational waves generated by binaries of nearby small stellar black holes. The research is published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

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After contentious tenure atop sacred Hawaiian summit, Caltech observatory gets dismantled

After decades of mounting tension between scientists and native Hawaiians, Caltech has completed its removal of a telescope from the summit of Maunakea, a dormant volcano that is revered by the island's Indigenous population.

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Falcon 9 rocket blasts off with Cygnus freighter for space station

A Falcon 9 rocket with a Cygnus supply freighter blasted off on a mission to the International Space Station on August 4, just a few days after a two-week break due to launch problems.

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LAMOST J2354 binary hosts an unseen massive white dwarf, study suggests

Astronomers from the Ohio State University (OSU) and University of Hawai'i have performed spectroscopic observations of a recently-discovered binary system known as LAMOST J2354, which contains a dark companion star. Results of the observational campaign, presented July 26 on the pre-print server arXiv, suggest that the unseen object is a massive white dwarf.

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Scientists pin down the origins of the moon's tenuous atmosphere

While the moon lacks any breathable air, it does host a barely-there atmosphere. Since the 1980s, astronomers have observed a very thin layer of atoms bouncing over the moon's surface. This delicate atmosphere—technically known as an "exosphere"—is likely a product of some kind of space weathering. But exactly what those processes might be has been difficult to pin down with any certainty.

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Experiment on photosynthesis is heading to the space station to explore effects of microgravity

An experiment aimed at learning more about how plants grow in space will be aboard a National Aeronautics and Space Administration launch in early August from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

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Researchers identify useful emission lines in the sun's outer atmosphere

When studying the solar spectrum, researchers often search for specific emission lines: prominent wavelengths emitted by ions as their electrons transition from higher to lower energy levels. Emission spectra of two iron ions, Fe IX and Fe X, are particularly useful for studying the sun's outer atmosphere. However, both of these spectra contain emission lines that can't yet be matched with known electron transitions, limiting the information which can be gathered from them.

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Study of comet A117uUD data suggests it was put on a 'hyperbolic trajectory' during pass by Saturn

A pair of astrophysicists from Ciudad Universitaria and Universidad Complutense de Madrid, both in Spain, report evidence that comet A117uUD was put on its current "hyperbolic trajectory" when it passed close to Saturn two years ago.

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Rubin Observatory's 3.5-meter secondary mirror installed

Vera C. Rubin Observatory's 3.5-meter secondary mirror has been installed on the Simonyi Survey Telescope on Cerro Pachón in Chile. The glass mirror—made by Corning Advanced Optics and polished by L3Harris Technologies—is the first permanent component of the telescope's state-of-the-art, wide-field optical system to be installed and will soon contribute to a better understanding of our universe.

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A new 'guest star' will appear in the sky in 2024 − a space scientist explains how nova events work and where to look

The stars aren't fixed and unchanging, unlike what many ancient people thought. Once in a while, a star appears where there wasn't one before, and then it fades away in a matter of days or weeks.

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A new study shows how the sun could permanently capture rogue planets

Interest in interstellar objects (ISOs) was ignited in 2017 when 'Oumuamua flew through our solar system and made a flyby of Earth. Roughly two years later, another ISO passed through our solar system—the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov.

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Predicting solar storms before they leave the sun

When giant solar storms hit Earth, they trigger beautiful auroral displays high in Earth's atmosphere. There's a dark side to this solar activity, though. The "space weather" it sets off also threatens our technology. The potential for damage is why we need highly accurate predictions of just when these storms will impact our planet's magnetosphere.

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TIC 441725813 is a hybrid pulsating subdwarf star, study finds

Astronomers have employed NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to observe a subdwarf star designated TIC 441725813. In result, they found that TIC 441725813 is a hybrid hot B subdwarf pulsator. The discovery was detailed in a research paper published July 25 on the pre-print server arXiv.

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