space

Spacewatch: Ryugu, an asteroid under close inspection 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- July 5, 2018
Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft plans to strike the asteroid creating a crater and dislodging rocks for analysis

By David Aragorn
Comet or asteroid? Mysterious ‘Oumuamua shows why we may need a new classification system 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- July 5, 2018
Ever since space scientists first spotted the odd, cigar-shaped object known as 1I/‘Oumuamua in the sky, they have been debating what it is exactly. Suggestions have included an asteroid, a comet and even alien spaceship. Now a study, published in Nature, suggests it may actually be a comet – but an unusual one.

By David Aragorn
First Human Mission To Binary Asteroid Will Help NASA Defend Earth From Possible Collisions 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- July 4, 2018
The Hera spacecraft mission, proposed by the European Space Agency, is heading to a binary asteroid to support NASA’s planetary defense plan against potential asteroid collision.

By David Aragorn
Astronomers find remainder of universe’s missing ordinary matter 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- July 4, 2018
“We found the missing baryons,” researcher Michael Shull said.

By David Aragorn
First Confirmed Image of Newborn Planet Caught with ESO’s VLT 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- July 4, 2018
SPHERE, a planet-hunting instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, has captured the first confirmed image of a planet caught in the act of forming in the dusty disc surrounding a young star. The young planet is carving a path through the primordial disc of gas and dust around the very young star PDS 70. The data suggest that the planet’s atmosphere is cloudy.

By David Aragorn
The potential for habitability on these exoplanets is tilting in the right direction 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- July 3, 2018
Life needs a stable climate.

By David Aragorn
Aliens Don’t Exist: Our Solar System Is an Anomaly, Study Claims 0
- Another Point of View, From Around the Web, Space
- July 1, 2018
All of this adds a new layer to the search for life on other planets: apart from finding planets in the “Goldilocks” area, where they are neither too far nor too close to their star….

By Claude Limberger
Precipitation explains Mars’ fluvial patterns, astronomers claim 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- June 29, 2018
A variety of geological patterns on Mars suggests the Red Planet once hosted water. Several of these patterns recall the fluvial steam networks found on Earth.

By David Aragorn
Mars dust storm may lead to new weather discoveries 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- June 29, 2018
Mars is experiencing an estimated 15.8-million-square-mile dust storm, roughly the size of North and South America. This storm may not be good news for the NASA solar-powered Opportunity rover, but one Penn State professor sees this as a chance to learn more about Martian weather.

By David Aragorn
Daring Japanese mission reaches unexplored asteroid Ryugu 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- June 28, 2018
Hayabusa-2 will hover above its target and release four landing probes before touching down to collect samples to return to Earth.

By David Aragorn