I remember well the thunderous moment in 1992 when astronomers discovered the first planet outside our solar system. Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail announced their finding of a so-called pulsar planet, PSR B1257+12, orbiting a millisecond pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star, lying 2,300 light-years away in the constellation Virgo. All of the sudden theContinue reading "Which exoplanets...

Jeffrey Gillis-Davis, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis In an exciting milestone for lunar scientists around the globe, India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down 375 miles (600 km) from the south pole of the Moon on Aug. 23, 2023. In just under 14 Earth days, Chandrayaan-3 provided scientists with valuable new data andContinue reading "Chandrayaan-3’s measurements of...

Even a brief history of black holes would have to go back to 1783, when the English natural philosopher John Michell mused that a star could be so dense that its escape velocity was larger than the speed of light. But it took over two centuries to find proof. The term “black hole” itself wasn’tContinue reading "Black holes are everywhere: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher" The post...

Cassini intentionally crashed into Saturn to prevent contamination from earthly organisms. but wouldn’t Huygens pose a much greater risk, as it actually landed on Titan? Rich AndreanoLakewood, Colorado The rationale dominating the decisions to land Huygens on Titan and destroy Cassini in Saturn’s atmosphere is that astrobiologists and planetary protection experts are far more concernedContinue...

The night sky is changing with the stunning growth in commercial satellites — and one of the satellites that concerns astronomers the most is Bluewalker 3. The prototype craft, launched by the Texas-based startup AST SpaceMobile last September, was the subject of a global observing campaign that published results today in Nature Astronomy. The observationsContinue reading "Bluewalker 3 satellite...

“But what does the Moon look like?” She had never seen Luna. We were building a workshop for blind students. With a striking lack of imagination, I offered, “Uh … kind of like a moldy ping pong ball.”   My colleague was gracious about the miss, but the question has bugged me since. What does theContinue reading "Making astronomy accessible to the blind" The post Making...

Look up at the night sky and among the stars you might see a few brighter dots — the planets in our solar system. What you won’t see, though, are the most common kinds of planets in the Milky Way: super-Earths and sub-Neptunes. These worlds, with sizes between that of Earth and Neptune, account forContinue reading "Where is our solar system’s super-Earth?" The post Where is our solar...

An annular eclipse of the Sun on Oct. 14 is the big event this month, with most of the U.S. seeing a partial eclipse. Saturn is stunning in the evenings, while Jupiter is nearing its best for the year, visible all night. And it’s a good time to track down Uranus and Neptune in binoculars.Continue reading "Sky This Month: October 2023" The post Sky This Month: October 2023 appeared first on...

With just under two weeks until its planned launch, NASA’s Psyche mission has been rescheduled. As per a NASA blog post, the agency along with SpaceX are now aiming for liftoff on October 12 at 10:16 A.M. EDT from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida — the first of several NASA science missions that willContinue reading "NASA’s Psyche now set to launch October 12" The post NASA’s Psyche now...

Friday, September 29The end of the month brings us the September Full Moon, also known as the Harvest Moon. Full Moon officially occurs at 5:58 A.M. EDT today; this is also the last Super Moon of the year, as our satellite recently reached perigee, the closest point to Earth in its orbit. There have beenContinue reading "The Sky This Week from September 29 to October 6: The year’s last Super...

When September’s Full Harvest Moon rises above the horizon Friday evening, it will be the final big, bright Super Moon of the year — and the last for nearly another calendar year. As the leaves begin to change and the nights begin to cool off, here’s what you’ll see when you step outside and why.Continue reading "See the year’s last Super Moon" The post See the year’s last Super Moon...

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has detected the earliest and most direct signature for carbon-rich dust grains from the early universe. Experts had previously thought that elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were signatures of older galaxies. But the presence of carbon in young galaxies suggests otherwise, and challenges current theories about dust formation.Continue reading "JWST...

This year marks 100 years since the births of two pioneers in the search for life on Mars. Joan Oró and Gilbert V. Levin were part of NASA’s Project Viking, which delivered twin spacecraft to Mars in 1976. Each consisted of an orbiter and a lander probe, carrying a suite of scientific instruments designed toContinue reading "The great martian debate: Did we find life on Mars?" The post The...

After an accidental year-long stay in space, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dimitri Petelin successfully landing this morning, Sept. 27, 2023, near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. The crew initially launched into space on Sept. 21, 2022. After medical exams, the crew will be flown to their hometowns. Cosmonauts ProkopyevContinue reading "Astronaut...

In June, astronomers reported a disappointing discovery: The James Webb Space Telescope failed to find a thick atmosphere around the rocky planet TRAPPIST-1 C, an exoplanet in one of the most tantalizing planetary systems in the search for alien life. The finding follows similar news regarding neighboring planet TRAPPIST-1 B, another planet in the TRAPPIST-1Continue reading "What would signal life...

A recent discovery has unveiled the death scene of a large star, three times the mass of the Sun, being torn apart by the menacing gravitational forces of a supermassive black hole. An event like this is called a tidal disruption event (TDE). But this particular case, called ASASSN–14li, is unique for a multitude ofContinue reading "A torn-up star is revealing the intensity of a supermassive...

With the big event only two years away, it's time to start planning now. The post 25 tips to help you prepare for the 2024 total solar eclipse appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Altitude and azimuth Astronomy: Roen Kelly The April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse will be visible across much of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, with plenty of great locations in the path of totality. Make sure you’re prepared to speak and understand eclipse lingo with this glossary of terms. altitude — the angular height ofContinue reading "Solar eclipse glossary" The post Solar eclipse...

Many people, even astronomy enthusiasts, routinely wonder about the frequent reports of UFOs, or UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena), frequently spotted in the sky and sending people into fits over alien visitation. But the people who are sincerely worried about that have never taken the first week of an academic course on what astronomers call theContinue reading "How vast is the universe?...

When you pick up a meteorite, you are holding an ancient piece of the solar system right in your hands. Most meteorites come from asteroids, which are debris left over from the violent, chaotic formation of the solar system. There are three categories of meteorites — iron, stone, and stony-iron; they originate from an asteroid’sContinue reading "The world of meteorite collecting: This Week in...

Scientists could soon use common lab technology along with sophisticated algorithms to answer one of the biggest questions in all of astronomy — are we alone in the universe? In new research published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS),  a team of scientists announced a novel technique that can take aContinue reading "Can AI find life in the universe?" The post...

On Sept. 24, 2023, part of the asteroid belt hit Earth — safely under parachutes and inside a capsule. The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer — better known as OSIRIS-REx — has now successfully dropped off its collected pieces of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. The spacecraft’s six-year main mission culminated with the morningContinue...

In space science, India is going from strength to strength, from the recent Moon landing of Chandrayaan-3 to the launch of the solar observing satellite Aditya-L1. That growth also extends to the amateur community: In the past few years, the astroimaging scene in India has taken off — and the nation’s largest astrophotography contest reflectsContinue reading "Entries open for Indian...

Imagine arriving back at Earth after traveling through space for seven years, tirelessly transmitting images and hauling back rock samples from the diamond-shaped asteroid 101955 Bennu. Time for vacation, right? Hardly for intrepid OSIRIS-REx. This Sunday, Sept. 24, the craft’s primary mission will culminate when it swings by Earth and drops off the largest setContinue reading "OSIRIS-REx...