Category Archives: Cosmology

NASA may not be going to the moon anytime soon, but private companies plan to do so, a study by space habitat developer Bigelow Aerospace shows. The study, commissioned by NASA, is intended as a supplemental roadmap for the U.S. … Continue reading →

NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler space telescope has shut down due to an apparent problem with its positioning system, suspending indefinitely its science mission, officials said Wednesday. So far, attempts to coax the telescope back into operation have been fruitless. Two of the … Continue reading →

One of the most violent and wondrous cosmic events is starburst, in which hundreds of millions of stars are born all at once. These are far rarer nowadays than they were in the early universe, but they do still happen… … Continue reading →

Astronauts made a rare, hastily planned spacewalk to fix a serious ammonia leak at the International Space Station, and the U.S. space agency said it appeared the repair was a success. But the following weeks will be the test. Authorities have … Continue reading →

This image shows the HR 8799 planets with starlight optically suppressed and data processing conducted to remove residual starlight. The star is at the center of the blackened circle in the image. The four spots indicated with the letters b … Continue reading →

A multi-disciplinary team of international researchers has found evidence to suggest the moon’s dynamo persisted until at least 3.6 billion years ago. In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team says this pushes … Continue reading →

The famous star, marking the shoulder of Orion, is a red supergiant, a massive and massively swollen star. It’s ridiculously huge; if you replaced the Sun with Betelgeuse it would stretch out nearly to the orbit of Jupiter. It’s also … Continue reading →

NASA and private sector experts now agree that a man or woman could be sent on a mission to Mars over the next 20 years, despite huge challenges. The biggest names in space exploration, among them top officials from the U.S. … Continue reading →

Physicists analysing observations from the Herschel Space Observatory have shown that galaxies in the early Universe were cooler than those we see around us today. The study draws on the star survey work of the HerMES project led by Professor … Continue reading →

Here is what the Earth looks like during a solar eclipse. The shadow of the Moon can be seen darkening part of Earth. This shadow moved across the Earth at nearly 2000 kilometers per hour. Only observers near the center … Continue reading →

In the spring of the year 1006, one thousand and seven years ago this April, observers in China, Egypt, Iraq, Japan, Switzerland (and perhaps North America) reported seeing what might be the brightest stellar event in recorded history: a supernova … Continue reading →

A strange stellar pair nearly 7,000 light-years from Earth has provided physicists with a unique cosmic laboratory for studying the nature of gravity. The extremely strong gravity of a massive neutron star in orbit with a companion white dwarf star … Continue reading →

Schematic illustration of the magnification of PS1-10afx. A massive object between us and the supernova bends light rays much as a glass lens can focus light. As more light rays are directed toward the observer than would be without the … Continue reading →

A telescope may be essential for close-up views of the Moon and planets, but you can find plenty to look at in the sky without any form of optical aid. You can even take part in observing projects such as … Continue reading →

This totally stunning composite picture depicts the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the Milky Way’s closest galactic neighbors. Astronomers recently announced that they’d managed to detect X-rays coming from the young stars, of similar size to Earth, in the SMC’s … Continue reading →

The hunt for another Earth is going to get a lot bigger. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is set to launch in 2017, NASA announced late last week. With a price tag of $200 million, TESS will be the … Continue reading →