On one particular day in 2021, astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS must have felt a pin-prick of fear and uncertainty. On November 15th of that year, Russia fired an anti-satellite missile at one of its own defunct military satellites, Tselina-D. The target weighed about 1,750 kilograms, and when the missile struck its target, … Read more
It’s hard to miss while walking through the southern part of Stockholm: the gigantic white ball officially known as Avicii Arena, which the locals simply call Globe, or “the Globe”. With a diameter of 360 feet (110 m), an interior height of 279 feet (86 m), and a volume of 21.4 million cubic feet (605,000 … Read more
One of the best star projectors we’ve reviewed is now cheaper, just $79.99 with this Prime Day deal. Whether you’re looking for a home planetarium to bring the cosmos indoors, or just looking for an ambient glow or night light to To put the kids to sleep, the Pococo Home Planetarium star projector is now … Read more
In 2019, a team of astronomers led by Dr Samantha Oates of the University of Birmingham discovered one of the most powerful transients yet, in which astronomical objects change their brightness over a short period. Oates and her colleagues found this object, known as J221951-484240 (or J221951), using the Ultra-Violet and Optical Telescope (UVOT) on … Read more
image: artist’s impression, section of Enceladus showing the ocean below the surface (credit: NASA) visualization Moreover Credit: NASA A new analysis shows that there are likely many more Earth-like exoplanets with liquid water than previously thought, significantly increasing the chances of finding life. The work finds that even where conditions are not ideal for liquid … Read more
The core of our Milky Way attracts astronomers’ attention like moths to a flame. That’s because there’s a lot to do there. Not only is there a supermassive black hole, but also populations of very ancient stars teeming at the center. Most of them date back to at least the formation of the Galaxy. Astronomers … Read more
Professor Avi Loeb and colleagues at Harvard University have discovered at least 50 tiny spherical iron fragments near the path of the fireball of the first recognized interstellar meteor, IM1. Small meteorite spherules from the most probable path of IM1. Image credit: Avi Loeb, Harvard University/Project Galileo. IM1 was detected in the South Pacific off … Read more
A team of scientists has used microwave frequency data to measure the heat beneath the surface of a suspected volcanic feature on the Moon known as Compton-Belkovich. Credit: Nature Microwave frequency data from lunar orbit reveal the deposit of cooled magma under a volcano that likely erupted 3.5 billion years ago. Scientists have discovered a … Read more
Collisions between stellar-mass black holes can occur in the violent environments created around their larger, feeding counterparts, according to a new study. Supermassive black holes, found at the heart of most, if not all, galaxies can reach masses millions or even billions of times greater than the sun. Some of them are surrounded by disks … Read more
Mars and Saturn’s moon Titan share a common scientific interest: the two worlds boast river channels similar to those of our planet. Teyonah Parris and John Boyega on working with Jamie Foxx | io9 Interview Though Mars’ water supplies dried up long ago, Titan’s rivers of liquid methane and ethane still flow across the moon’s … Read more
