For better or for worse, a small part of the Apollo 11 spacecraft will now be Jon Mesick’s to have and to hold for all the days of his life. The strip of golden thermal polyimide tape, which made the trip to the moon with the first astronauts to land there in 1969, is now … Read more
This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Wendy Whitman Cobb is Professor of Strategy and Security Studies at the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies (SAASS). Leaders of NASA sit in an awkward position. While they are the head of a … Read more
Everything in the universe is, quite literally, built upon particles, ranging from the fundamental particles that construct atoms that make up everything we see around us to the exotic ones that give rise to elusive phenomena like antimatter and dark matter. The former help us observe and manipulate our world while the latter help us … Read more
2024 was a phenomenal year for sci-fi cinema. While the majority of the best sci-fi movies of 2024 are additions to already well-established franchises, there’s also a special place for a captivating and heart-warming sci-fi animation that is entirely new. If you didn’t catch everything the year had to offer, we’ve collated the eight best … Read more
Catching the best sky watching events for the coming year 2025. Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS captured over the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Arizona. Credit: Robert Sparks How about that eclipse in 2024? Certainly, the Great North American Eclipse of April 8th 2024 was one for the ages, instilling the eclipse-chasing bug … Read more
When will we be able to see the planets at their best during this upcoming year of 2025? This guide will tell you. It will also provide information as to when a particular solar system planet might be passing near to another, or a bright star, as well as the constellation that each will occupy … Read more
There’s a disturbingly sinister presence peering from a dark nebulous realm in the season finale of HBO’s “Dune: Prophecy,” which ended its short-but-satisfying debut season this past Sunday night with a multitude of revelations, unexpected deaths, family truths unveiled, and the arrival on one notorious desert planet named Arrakis. After last week’s startling reveal that … Read more
Scientists have received an unexpected Christmas gift this year: a potential solution to the mystery of JuMBOs, strange celestial objects that seem not to be planets or stars. Try putting a bow on that! This gift comes courtesy of a team of researchers who believe that mysterious JuMBOs (Jupiter-mass binary objects) are actually stellar cores … Read more
View larger. | Artist’s illustration of TRAPPIST-1 b as it is about to pass behind its red dwarf star. A new study suggested that TRAPPIST-1 b is either airless but very geologically active, or has a hazy carbon dioxide atmosphere. Image via Thomas Müller (HdA/ MPIA/ Max Planck Society). TRAPPIST-1 b is the innermost rocky … Read more
The past year was a big one for space. Skywatchers across the United States witnessed a total solar eclipse, SpaceX caught a giant rocket out of mid-air with a pair of chopstick arms, and telescopes on Earth and in space revealed to us images of the universe that have changed our very understanding of the … Read more