An international team of astronomers has taken unprecedented images of intergalactic space — the diffuse and often invisible gas that connects and feeds galaxies throughout the Universe. Until now, the structure of intergalactic space has mostly been a matter for theoretical speculation. Advanced computer simulations predict that primordial gas from the Big Bang is distributed […]...
The spacecraft has captured its first-ever image of the pale blue ice giant. ...
Because they can estimate the intrinsic brightness of type Ia supernovae, scientists can independently measure the magnification of a gravitations lens. ...
We hold the Virtual Star Party every Sunday night as a live Google Hangout on Air. We begin the show when it gets dark on the West Coast. If you want to get a notification, make sure you circle the Virtual Star Party on Google . You can watch on our YouTube channel or here on […]...
Expect the unexpected when it comes to northern lights. Last night beautifully illustrated nature’s penchant for surprise. A change in the “magnetic direction” of the wind of particles from the sun called the solar wind made all the difference. Minor chances for auroras blossomed into a spectacular, night-long storm for observers at mid-northern latitudes.(...)Read the rest of […]...
A small galaxy circling the Milky Way may be a fossil left over from the early Universe. The stars in the galaxy, known as Segue 1, are virtually pure with fewer heavy elements than those of any other galaxy known. Such few stars (roughly 1,000 compared to the Milky Way’s 100 billion) with such small […]...
Halley’s Comet won’t be back in Earth’s vicinity until the summer of 2061, but that doesn’t mean you have to wait 47 years to see it. The comet’s offspring return this week as the annual Eta Aquarid meteor shower. (...)Read the rest of Revisit Halley’s Comet – Stay Up Late for Tonight’s Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower (600 […]...
When NASA’s next generation human spaceflight vehicle Orion blasts off on its maiden unmanned test flight later this year, a radiation experiment designed by top American high school students will soar along and play a key role in investigating how best to safeguard the health of America’s future astronauts as they venture farther into deep […]...
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured its first-ever image of the pale blue ice-giant planet Uranus in the distance beyond Saturn's rings. ...
In the movies, humans often fear invaders from Mars. These days, scientists are more concerned about invaders to Mars, in the form of micro-organisms from Earth. Three recent scientific papers examined the risks of interplanetary exchange of organisms using research from the International Space Station. ...
A new Hubble picture is the sharpest ever image of the core of spiral galaxy Messier 61. Taken using the High Resolution Channel of Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys, the central part of the galaxy is shown in striking detail. ...
In contrast to all other galaxies, the new analysis shows that Segue 1’s star formation ended at what would ordinarily be an early stage of a galaxy’s development. ...
May the 4th is almost here, and NASA had to call on R2-D2 to help make sure the space station astronauts could wish all of us a happy Star Wars Day. (...)Read the rest of R2-D2 Saves Space Station Crew for Star Wars Day (17 words) nancy for Universe Today, 2014. | Permalink | […]...
No cows were harmed in the making of this video! SpaceX has released a video of a second test light of the Falcon 9 Reusable (FR9), and this time the rocket reached 1,000 meters – quadrupling its height from its previous test (see previous test flight below) — before returning to land softly. (...)Read the […]...
A moon rocket thundering from a pad in Florida. Two moons discovered around Mars. Space tourism. These are all things that are part of history today — and which were also predicted in literature years or decades before the event actually happened. This fun infographic (embedded below) shows a series of fiction books that were […]...
A few days ago, the Pew Research Center published an article about space exploration support starting with this sentence: “Many Americans are optimistic about the future of space travel, but they don’t necessarily want to pay for it.” (...)Read the rest of How Much Of The U.S. Public Supports Space Spending? Depends On How You […]...
Host: Fraser Cain Guests: (...)Read the rest of Weekly Space Hangout – May 2, 2014 (34 words) Fraser for Universe Today, 2014. | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh...
The latest observations by the Keck Observatory in Hawaii show that the gas cloud called “G2” was surprisingly still intact, even during its closest approach to the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers from the UCLA Galactic Center Group reported today that observations obtained on March 19 and 20, […]...
According to new research, the largest moon in our solar system might have ice and oceans stacked up in several layers. ...
Astronomers have discovered three distant exploding stars that have been magnified by the immense gravity of foreground galaxy clusters, which act like 'cosmic lenses.' These supernovae are the first of their type ever to be observed magnified in this way and they offer astronomers a powerful tool to check the prescription of these massive lenses. ...