(Newswise)–NASA’s Kepler spacecraft was designed to find exoplanets by looking for stars that dim as a planet crosses the star’s face. Fortuitously, the same design makes it ideal for spotting other astronomical transients – objects that brighten or dim over time. A new search of Kepler archival data has uncovered an unusual super-outburst from a […]
NASA’s astronauts ready for space station, moon, and mars missions
NASA welcomed 11 new astronauts to its ranks Friday, increasing the number of those eligible for spaceflight assignments that will expand humanity’s horizons in space for generations to come. The new astronauts successfully completed more than two years of required basic training and are the first to graduate since the agency announced its Artemis program. […]
Astronomers catch wind rushing out of galaxy
(Newswise)–Exploring the influence of galactic winds from a distant galaxy called Makani, UC San Diego’s Alison Coil, Rhodes College’s David Rupke and a group of collaborators from around the world made a novel discovery. Published in Nature, their study’s findings provide direct evidence for the first time of the role of galactic winds–ejections of gas from galaxies–in […]
NASA spacecraft launches on mission to explore frontier of space
After successfully launching Thursday night, NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) spacecraft is in orbit for a first-of-its-kind mission to study a region of space where changes can disrupt communications and satellite orbits, and even increase radiation risks to astronauts. A Northrop Grumman Stargazer L-1011 aircraft took off at 8:31 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air […]
NASA invites students to name next Mars rover
Starting this week, K-12 students in U.S. public, private and home schools can enter the Mars 2020 Name the Rover essay contest. One grand prize winner will name the rover and be invited to see the spacecraft launch in July 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Name the Rover contest is […]
Astronomers Discover Third Planet In The Kepler-47 Circumbinary System
(Newswise)–Astronomers have discovered a third planet in the Kepler-47 system, securing the system’s title as the most interesting of the binary-star worlds. Using data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, a team of researchers, led by astronomers at San Diego State University, detected the new Neptune-to-Saturn-size planet orbiting between two previously known planets. With its three […]
2019: A Space Organoid
(Newswise)–From the science fiction of Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke to the cinematic worlds of Star Wars and galaxies far, far away, humans have imagined life in space. But among the myriad challenges to colonizing other worlds lie fundamental questions of biology: Can a human embryo grow naturally outside the nurturing embrace of Earth? […]
NASA Selects Flying Mission To Study Titan For Origins, Signs Of Life
NASA has announced that their next destination in the solar system is the unique, richly organic world Titan. Advancing their search for the building blocks of life, the Dragonfly mission will fly multiple sorties to sample and examine sites around Saturn’s icy moon. Dragonfly will launch in 2026 and arrive in 2034. The rotorcraft will […]
A New Filter To Better Map The Dark Universe
(Newswise)–The earliest known light in our universe, known as the cosmic microwave background, was emitted about 380,000 years after the Big Bang. The patterning of this relic light holds many important clues to the development and distribution of large-scale structures such as galaxies and galaxy clusters. Distortions in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), caused by […]
NASA’s InSight Lander Captures Audio Of First Likely ‘Quake’ On Mars
NASA’s Mars InSight lander has measured and recorded for the first time ever a likely “marsquake.” The faint seismic signal, detected by the lander’s Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument, was recorded on April 6, the lander’s 128th Martian day, or sol. This is the first recorded trembling that appears to have come from […]