Astronomers have discovered that dying white dwarf stars can burn nuclear fuel in their outer shells, prolonging their lives. The discovery made using the Hubble Space Telescope runs contrary to the current view of white dwarfs as just slowly cooling inert star cores.
2021 PJ1, a near-Earth asteroid between 20 and 30 m (66-98 feet) across, safely flew past Earth on August 14, 2021 at a distance of over 1.7 million km (1 million miles). The approach was historic, marking the 1,000th near-Earth asteroid to be observed by NASA’s planetary radar in just over 50 years.
The rocket nailed its liftoff, but started cartwheeling mid-air before perishing in an explosive fireball
Prof Paul Davies suggests viruses may form vital part of ecosystems on other planets
When a dead star plunges into an active star, expect an explosion of astronomical proportions that isn’t supposed to happen yet.Astronomers were able to work out this stellar puzzle after tracing an unusual burst of bright radio waves in 2017.
The initial images captured by the Mastcam-Z instrument onboard NASA’s Perseverance rover show an intact Mars sample present in a sample tube after coring.
Some planets in the habitable zone are not good for life, but others outside it might be
Successor to Hubble has been hit by delays and a ballooning budget since work began on it in 1996
It’s not quite a star, and it’s not quite a planet — but it’s soaring through the Milky Way, much closer than we thought.
Excerpt from the August 28, 1971 issue of Science News
