space

Mysterious ring galaxy continues to puzzle astronomers 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- December 10, 2019
Of all the galaxies observed by astronomers, barely any are as strange or geometrically unique as Hoag’s Object.

By David Aragorn
There’s Something Weird About the Craters of Asteroid Ryugu 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- December 9, 2019
The Japanese mission Hayabusa2 just bid farewell to the asteroid the probe spent a year and a half studying, and scientists have now announced some intriguing trends they noticed in the spacecraft’s photos.

By David Aragorn
Tardigrade DNA Added to Human Cells Could Help Us Survive on Mars, Scientist Says 0
- From Around the Web, Science & Technology, Space
- December 7, 2019
Will we one day combine tardigrade DNA with our cells to go to Mars?

By David Aragorn
Eruptions on Asteroid Bennu Hint at Causes of Space Rock Explosions 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- December 7, 2019
The eruptions may hurl meteors toward Earth.

By David Aragorn
Sun-bombing spacecraft uncovers secrets of the solar wind 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- December 6, 2019
Surprise magnetic reversals and an unexpectedly fast rotating wind mark the first findings from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe.

By David Aragorn
Europe Officially Signs on for Asteroid-Smashing Effort 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- December 6, 2019
The Hera spacecraft will observe the effects of a NASA probe’s high-speed crash into an asteroid.

By David Aragorn
Forbidden planets: Understanding alien worlds once thought impossible 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- December 6, 2019
When astronomers discovered the first exoplanet around a normal star 2 decades ago, there was joy—and bewilderment.

By David Aragorn
Astronomers See Stars Slinging Comets at Earth for the First Time 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- December 6, 2019
Stars and comets make unlikely dance partners. Their gravitational partnership is one that astronomers have long suspected but have never seen — until now. For the first time, a Polish group has identified two nearby stars that seem to have plucked up their icy partners, swinging them into orbits around our sun.

By David Aragorn
Evidence of an Alien Planet Spotted Around a White Dwarf, a Cosmic First 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- December 6, 2019
The exotic system provides a preview of our own solar system’s fate.

By David Aragorn
NASA’s exoplanet-hunting mission catches a natural comet outburst in unprecedented detail 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- December 4, 2019
Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers at the University of Maryland (UMD), in College Park, Maryland, have captured a clear start-to-finish image sequence of an explosive emission of dust, ice and gases during the close approach of comet 46P/Wirtanen in late 2018. This is the most complete and detailed observation to date of the formation and dissipation of a naturally-occurring comet outburst. The team members reported their results in the November 22 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

By David Aragorn