Space

50 years ago, astronomers were chipping away at Pluto’s mass 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- September 2, 2021
Excerpt from the August 28, 1971 issue of Science News

By David Aragorn
How radio astronomy put new eyes on the cosmos 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- September 1, 2021
Radio telescopes have uncovered quasars and pulsars, and offered up the first pic of a black hole

By David Aragorn
Martian cave entrances may offer a life-friendly radiation shield 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- September 1, 2021
Most of Mars is extremely inhospitable to life, but there may be a workaround. The areas near the entrances to caves should, in theory, be shielded from some of the harmful radiation that bombards the planet’s surface.

By David Aragorn
Planet 9 may be closer and easier to find than thought—if it exists 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 31, 2021
A new study’s “treasure map” suggests that a planet several times more massive than Earth could be hiding in our solar system, camouflaged by the bright strip of stars that make up the Milky Way.

By David Aragorn
Amazing Hubble telescope photo shows space ‘sword’ piercing huge celestial ‘heart’0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 31, 2021
The photo captures a relatively uncommon phenomenon called a Herbig-Haro object.

By David Aragorn
‘Mini-Neptunes’ beyond solar system may soon yield signs of life 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 30, 2021
Cambridge astronomers identify new hycean class of habitable exoplanets, which could accelerate search for life

By David Aragorn
China eyes ‘ultra-large spacecraft’ spanning miles in US$2.3m crewed mission push 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 28, 2021
Science and technology ministry’s funding arm proposes five-year project on building ‘ultra-large spacecraft’ to aid exploration and stay in long-term orbit

By David Aragorn
Cool Places We Could Migrate to Beyond Earth 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 27, 2021
Our solar system is home to some unusual places we could potentially migrate to if Earth were to die.

By David Aragorn
China’s Mars rover assigned extended mission after exceeding life expectancy 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 27, 2021
But first, a holiday while Mars is on the other side of the Sun

By David Aragorn
Study: Interstellar Visitors Outnumber Solar System Objects in Oort Cloud 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 27, 2021
The recent detection of 2I/Borisov, the first known interstellar comet to visit our Solar System, implies that interstellar objects outnumber the non-interstellar ones in the Oort Cloud, whereas the reverse is true near the Sun due to the stronger gravitational focusing of bound objects, according to a new paper authored by Harvard & Smithsonian’s Center for Astrophysics astronomers Amir Siraj and Avi Loeb.

By David Aragorn