Universe Today
Carnival of Space #474
The Big Dipper in the Year 92,000
Using a handy time machine, we zoom into the future to get a sneak peek at the sky to come.
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Bloostar: Launching Satellites via Balloon
The space startup company Infinity2Space moves closer to the concept of Bloostar, or launching satellites into orbit via balloon.
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SpaceX Falcon 9 Failure Investigation 'Most Difficult' Ever: Musk
CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL - More than a week after the catastrophic launch pad explosion that eviscerated a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket during a fueling test, the bold and burgeoning aerospace firm is still confounded by the "most difficult and complex failure" in its history, and is asking the public for help in nailing down the elusive cause - says SpaceX CEO and Founder Elon Musk in a new series of tweets, that also seeks the public's help in the complex investigation.
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Turns Out There Is No Actual Looking Up
A recent study by a team of researchers from University College London has shown that there really is no such thing as "up", or any other preferred direction, in the Universe
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Uranus & Neptune May Keep "Hitler's Acid" Stable Under Massive Pressure
A new study by a team of Russian researchers has shown that in the interiors of ice giants like Uranus and Neptune and moons like Europa, conditions could be just right to maintain "impossible" chemicals
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Curiosity Rover's Proximity To Possible Water Raises Planetary Protection Concerns
The Curiosity rover may need to divert its course soon, as its current path could cause it to contaminate a small pocket of water on Mars' surface
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OSIRIS-REx Blasts off on 7 Year Sampling Trek to Asteroid Bennu and Back
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL - NASA's OSIRIS-REx hi tech robotic explorer blasted off this evening in spectacular fashion from the Florida Space Coast on a ground breaking 7 year sampling trek to Asteroid Bennu and back to gather grains of 4.5 billion year old alien sand that could potentially reveal significant answers to the origins of life on Earth.
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Are We Living in a Simulation?
Elon Musk blew our minds when he suggested that it's highly likely we're all living in a computer simulation. Seriously? Why would he think this, and how could we tell if it's true?
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Best Picture Yet Of Milky Way's Formation 13.5 Billion Years Ago
A new study of the Milky Way galaxy reveals the ages of different parts of the galaxy, and tells the story of the Milky Way's formation and evolution.
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Journey to Bennu - Today Sept. 8: Watch the Trailer, Watch the Earth Departure Launch Live
Terzan 5 May Unlock Secret to Milky Way's Past
A team of astronomers have discovered a globular cluster that stands out as distinct from all others -- a fossil that takes us back to when our galaxy first formed.
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Newly Discovered Asteroid Has a Close Encounter with Earth
OSIRIS-Rex Asteroid Mission Seeks to Search for Origin of Life Chemistry
SpaceX Falcon 9 Explosion Aftermath Brings Legal Battles
In the aftermath of the explosion that took place on Sept 1st, SpaceX may be facing legal hurdles with the company that owned the satellite that was lost
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NASA's EM Drive Passes Peer Review, But Don't Get Your Hopes Up
In the latest new to emerge about the "impossible" EM Drive, it now appears that the technology has passed the critical milestone of peer review
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The Solar System Gets A Second Mercury
Freddie Mercury, the iconic front man from the band Queen, is having an asteroid named after him to commemorate what would have been his 70th birthday.
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An Impalpable Penumbral Eclipse
Great ready for the final eclipse of 2016, with a penumbral lunar eclipse on September 16th visible from Europe to Australia.
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NASA's InSight Lander Approved for 2018 Mars Launch
Top NASA managers have formally approved the launch of the agency's InSight Lander to the Red Planet in the spring of 2018 following a postponement from this spring due to the discovery of a vacuum leak in a prime science instrument supplied by France.
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There It Is! Philae Lander Found
How Could We Create Settlements on Venus?
Colonizing Venus presents many advantages and challenges, and could be done using cities that float on top of its dense atmosphere
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How Cold Are Black Holes?
Black holes absorb everything that falls into them, including photons of light and heat. So what does it mean to ask, what temperature are black holes?
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Juno Captures Jupiter's Enthralling Poles From 2,500 Miles
The first images of Jupiter have arrived from the Juno spacecraft and they are a tantalizing taste of what's to come.
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Newly Found Ancient Fossils Show Possibilities For Finding Martian Life
Fossils discovered in Greenland - which are 3.7 billion years old - are the oldest evidence of life on Earth to date, and could help in the search for ancient life on Earth
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Talk About A Crowded Neighborhood: Closest Binary Stars With Multiple Planets Found
Carnival of Space #473
Spectacular Video Captures Catastrophic SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Explosion During Prelaunch Test
What is the Largest Desert on Earth?
Despite what you might think, the largest desert in the world is actually in Antarctica. In addition to being the coldest place on the planet, is also the driest
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New Horizons Spies Pluto's Neighbor Quaoar
Now more than a year after its historic flyby of Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft continues to speed through the Kuiper Belt. The spacecraft recently spotted another KBO, one of Pluto's pals, Quaoar.
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What is the Speed of Light?
Since the late 17th century, scientists have been attempting to measure the speed of light, with increasingly accurate results
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SpaceX Falcon 9 Blows Up During Launch Pad Test with Israeli Comsat
Grab Your Smartphone And Become A Citizen Scientist For NASA
NASA's new GLOBE Observer app allows users to observe the sky in their location and share the data with NASA.
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Curiosity Rover Captures Full-Circle Panorama of Enticing 'Murray Buttes' on Mars
Four years after a nail biting touchdown on the Red Planet, NASA's SUV-sized Curiosity rover is at last nearing the long strived for "Murray Buttes" formation on the lower reaches of Mount Sharp.
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On The Origin Of Phobos' Groovy Mystery
A new study offers a possible explanation for the strange surface features on Mars' moon of Phobos, which could help us to better understand the Red Planet too
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Sentinel-1A Satellite Takes A Direct Hit From Millimetre Size Particle
After reviewing data from the Sentinel-1A satellites on-board cameras, the ESA has determined that it suffered a collision with a tiny object in orbit
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Going Viral: Why Alien Signals Get Everyone Excited
SES Boldly Goes Where No Firm Has Gone Before, Inks Deal to Fly on 1st SpaceX 'Flight-Proven' Booster
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL — The telecommunications giant SES is boldly going where no company has gone before by making history in inking a deal today, Aug. 30, to fly the expensive SES-10 commercial satellite on the first ever launch of a 'Flight-Proven' SpaceX booster - that's been used and recovered.
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6 Million Years Ago The Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole Raged
Astrophysicists looking for the Milky Way's missing matter have found that our black hole was very active only 6 million years ago.
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Planet 9 Search Turning Up Wealth Of New Objects
Dark Matter: Hot Or Not?
Relying on Hubble data, a new study has suggested that (contrary to hot and cold models) dark matter may actually be "warm" in nature
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Our Guide to This Week's 'Ring of Fire' Annular Eclipse
In Africa this week? The final solar eclipse of 2016 graces the continent this week. This eclipse is annular only, as the Moon fails to fully cover the disk of the Sun.
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NASA's OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sampling Probe Assembled at Florida Launch Base for Sep. 8 Blastoff -- Cleanroom Photos
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL - OSIRIS-Rex, the first American sponsored probe aimed at retrieving "pristine materials" from the surface of an asteroid and returning them to Earth has been fully assembled at its Florida launch base and is ready to blastoff ten days from today on Sep. 8. It's a groundbreaking mission that could inform us about astrobiology and the 'Origin of Life.'
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Who Else Is Looking For Cool Worlds Around Proxima Centauri?
Outside of the ESO, there are others who have been hunting for exoplanets around Proxima Centauri - including Dr. Kipping of the Cool Worlds lab
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Aliens? "Strong" Signal Detected From Sun-Like Star Being Verified By SETI
We're not saying its aliens, but this could be the most enticing signal from space since the famous "Wow! Signal" in 1977.
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I Actually Learned to Photograph the Milky Way
I've always struggled to take a good picture of the Milky Way, even though I've got pretty good camera gear. My friends Cory and Tanja Schmitz from Photographing Space give me tips and advice to taking a better Milky Way photo, and then show me what to do in Photoshop to make it even better.
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Northern Lights by Drone? You Won't Believe Your Eyes
NASA Goes With Atlas V To Launch Mars 2020 Rover
NASA has taken a major step towards the launch of its Mars 2020 rover, which included awarding a launch services contract to United Launch Alliance.
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JUNO Transmits First Up-Close Look Soarin' over Jupiter
NASA's JUNO spacecraft successfully swooped over the Jovian cloud tops today, Saturday, Aug. 27, gathering its first up close images and science observations of the 'King of the Planets' since braking into orbit on America's Independence Day.
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SpaceX Dragon Splashes Down with NASA's Station Science Cargo
A SpaceX commercial Dragon cargo ship returned to Earth today, Friday, Aug. 26, 2016, by splashing down safely in the Pacific Ocean - thus concluding more than a month long stay at the International Space Station (ISS). The vessel was jam packed with some 1.5 tons of NASA cargo and critical science samples for eagerly waiting researchers.
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What Are The Lagrange Points?
There are places in the Solar System where the forces of gravity balance out perfectly. Places we can use to position satellites, space telescopes and even colonies to establish our exploration of the Solar System. These are the Lagrange Points.
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