The most detailed map of the universe ever created using gravitational waves could reveal hidden black holes, merging supermassive black holes and even the large-scale structure of the cosmos. The study, conducted by a team led by astronomers from Swinburne University of Technology, also presented the largest-ever galactic-scale detector of gravitational waves, which are basically … Read more
Sometimes in science you have to step back and take another look at underlying assumptions. Sometimes its necessary when progress stalls. One of the foundational questions of our day concerns the Fermi Paradox, the contradiction between what seems to be a high probability of extraterrestrial life and the total lack of evidence that it exists. … Read more
Artemis 2 crewmembers Jeremy Hansen (from left), Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch will have to wait a few additional months before they fly around the moon and back. Credit: James Blair/NASA For the second time this year, NASA has pushed back its timeline to land the first Americans on the Moon since the … Read more
NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) has helped astronomers better understand the shapes of structures essential to a black hole – specifically, the disk of material swirling around it, and the shifting plasma region called the corona. The stellar-mass black hole, part of the binary system Swift J1727.8-1613, was discovered in the summer of 2023 … Read more
The 2024 SpaceNews Icon Awards honor extraordinary achievements that are driving humanity’s exploration of space and shaping the future of the industry. Chosen by the SpaceNews editorial team following an open call for nominations, these awards recognize individuals, missions, and organizations whose work has redefined excellence across 10 categories. This year’s winners represent the best … Read more
“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.” One of the obvious questions when it comes to portrayals of the “Dune” universe, whether in film, comics, books, or HBO’s new prequel show Dune: Prophecy, is … Read more
When Oumuamua traversed our Solar System in 2017 it was the first confirmed Interstellar Object (ISO) to do so. Then in 2019, Comet 2l/Borisov did the same thing. These are the only two confirmed ISOs to visit our Solar System. Many more ISOs must have visited in our Solar System’s long history, and many more … Read more
China’s growing presence in space has been undeniable since the turn of the century. Between sending the first “taikonaut” to space in 2003 (Yang Liwei), launching the first Chinese robotic mission to the Moon (Chang’e-1) in 2007, and the deployment of their Tiangong space station between 2021-2022, China has emerged as a major power in … Read more
Astronomer Teddy Kareta had spent countless nights over the years observing various objects across our solar system using Arizona’s Lowell Discovery Telescope, or LDT. On Nov. 19, 2022, he set his alarm to ring shortly before midnight, in preparation for what he presumed would be a quiet observing night — and woke up to missed … Read more
The Origin captures multiple hues of the hydrogen gas and dust within the emission nebula M8, also known as the Lagoon Nebula. Credit: All images by Phil Harrington unless otherwise noted I’m in love. I don’t often begin a review by saying that a product has wooed me, but the Celestron Origin Home Observatory has … Read more