Catching the March Total Lunar Eclipse

By David Dickinson - March 07, 2025 09:21 AM UTC | Observing
After a long 'eclipse drought,' lunar totality once again spans the Americas The end is in sight. If skies are clear, North and South America will witness a fine total lunar eclipse early Friday morning, March 14th. This is the first eclipse of 2025, and the first total lunar eclipse for the hemisphere since November 2022.
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A Protoplanetary Disk That Refuses to Grow Up

By Mark Thompson - March 07, 2025 09:20 AM UTC | Astrobiology
When young stars form, they accumulate an accretion disk of dust and gas, which eventually forms planets. Typically, this process lasts less than 10 million years, as the increasing radiation from the star disperses the remaining material. However, recent observations from the James Webb Space Telescope have revealed a protoplanetary disk in a system estimated to be 30 million years old—three times longer than the expected lifespan. Scientists have already determined this is not a debris disk created by colliding planets, it's an intriguing discovery that has forced a review of our model of planetary system and stellar evolution.
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There's a Smashed Planet at the Heart of the Helix Nebula

By Mark Thompson - March 06, 2025 11:18 PM UTC | Astrobiology
An X-ray signal has been detected at the very centre of the Helix Nebula, at the site of its central white dwarf star. It's a burned out stellar remnant that doesn't usually emit flashes of X-ray radiation but a new study has been analysing the outburst. The team of researchers think that the stellar corpse smashed into one of its surviving planets and that the X-rays are coming from the planetary debris as it falls onto the surface of the white dwarf.
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Today's Forecast: Partially Cloudy Skies on an "Ultra-Hot Neptune"

By Mark Thompson - March 06, 2025 10:55 PM UTC | Planetary Science
An ultra-hot Neptune exoplanet has been observed by JWST and the image reveals dramatically different hemispheres. The planet orbits so close to its host start that it is tidally locked so one hemisphere remains facing the star. On this permanent daytime side, temperatures reach 2,000°C but the temperatures plummet on the daytime side. The observations show that the daytime side has bright reflective clouds on its cooler western hemisphere but not on its eastern side!
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Taking A Planet's Pulse

By Andy Tomaswick - March 06, 2025 09:13 PM UTC | Astrobiology
The Gaia Hypothesis theorizes that all of Earth's systems are tied together, making one large, living organism. While there's still some disagreement about whether or not that hypothesis is true, it is undeniable that many of Earth's systems are intertwined and that changes in one can affect another. As our technology advances, we are becoming more and more capable of detecting changes in those systems and how those changes affect other systems as well. A new proposal from a robotics expert at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) takes that exploration one step further by trying to develop a system that takes the "pulse" of a planet.
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Dark Matter Doesn't Decay, Whatever It Is

By Matthew Williams - March 06, 2025 05:09 PM UTC | Cosmology
The mystery of Dark Matter endures. Despite sixty years of observation and research, scientists still haven't isolated the particle that accounts for roughly 85% of the Universe's mass. However, ongoing experiments and studies have provided insight into how this mysterious mass works. For instance, a research team led by a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan University relied on a new technique that has set new limits on the lifetime of Dark Matter (DM), bringing scientists a step closer to resolving this cosmological mystery.
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Astronauts Could Replace Their Own Mitochrondria To Treat Radiation Sickness

By Andy Tomaswick - March 06, 2025 03:07 PM UTC | Space Exploration
Skeptics love to bring up one particular topic regarding long-term human space exploration - radiation. So far, all of the research completed on it has been relatively limited and has shown nothing but harmful effects. Long-term exposure has been linked to an increase in cancer, cataracts, or even, in some extreme cases, acute radiation poisoning, an immediate life-threatening condition. NASA is aware of the problem and recently supported a new post-doc from MIT named Robert Hinshaw via the Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. Dr. HHinshaw'sjob over the next year will be to study the effectiveness of an extreme type of mitochondria replacement therapy to treat the long- and short-term risks of radiation exposure in space.
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Hubble Revisits the Remnants of a Supernova Explosion

By Evan Gough - March 06, 2025 09:33 AM UTC | Stars
We can't take our telescopic eyes off of supernova explosions. There's something compelling about natural objects so massive that they're doomed to terminate themselves in powerful explosions that outshine their host galaxies. Their patterns of shocked and lit-up gas are pleasing to the eye and ignite our curiosity. What exactly is going on to produce these gorgeous forms?
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So This is How You Get Magnetars

By Brian Koberlein - February 26, 2025 10:36 AM UTC | Stars
Magnetars are a type of neutron star with the most powerful magnetic fields in the universe. They're formed by the death of massive stars, like pulsars and other neutron stars. So, what creates such intense magnetic fields? Thanks to a new simulation, astronomers have discovered that a magnetar probably forms when material ejected by the supernova explosion falls back down onto the star's surface, amplifying its dynamo effect.
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Can We Develop a More Accurate Habitable Zone Using Sulfur?

By Brian Koberlein - February 25, 2025 01:28 PM UTC | Exoplanets
The habitable zone is where planets could have liquid water on their surfaces, but not if they're actually habitable. In a new paper, astronomers propose a new way to map the inner edge of habitable zones by searching for sulfur dioxide (SO?) in the atmospheres of exoplanets. If there's SO?, this indicates that the planet doesn't have liquid water on its surface. Telescopes like Webb could scan planets for SO?, creating a more accurate map of habitable zones.
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