Today, ESA's Gaia mission releases a goldmine of knowledge about our galaxy and beyond. Among other findings, the star surveyor surpasses its planned potential to reveal half a million new and faint stars in a massive cluster, identify over 380 possible cosmic lenses, and pinpoint the positions of more than 150 000 asteroids...
Modern solar panels can harness not just ultraviolet light, but also visible and in some cases infrared. But all of these designs are built to harness the sun, which gives off most of its light in the green range and emits plenty of ultraviolet light. But most exoplanets orbit red dwarf stars, which have a peak brightness in the...
The International Space Station is abuzz with the return of one of NASA’s Astrobee smart robots. The yellow Honey Astrobee, one of three free-flying robots,
NASA's OSIRIS-REx sample collection from asteroid Bennu exceeded expectations in material quantity, slowing the curation process. Advanced analysis methods are underway, with a more detailed examination planned for the coming weeks. The initial curation process for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample of ast
Southwest Research Institute scientists are using telescopes to observe the asteroid Psyche in the infrared, providing context for NASA's upcoming Psyche mission. Dr. Stephanie Jarmak is using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to look for water signatures on the metallic surface of Psyche, while Dr. Anicia Arredondo is using...
India's sun-monitoring spacecraft has crossed a landmark point on its journey to escape "the sphere of Earth's influence", its space agency said, days after the disappointment of its moon rover failing to awaken.
Study reveals how magma oceans may affect the evolution of hot exoplanets. Lava worlds, massive exoplanets home to sparkling skies and roiling volcanic seas called magma oceans, are distinctly unlike the planets in our solar system. To date, nearly 50% of all rocky exoplanets yet discovered ha
NASA is funding eight new studies aimed at better understanding how the human body reacts to spaceflight. These studies will be done on Earth without the need
Astronomers using data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have identified carbon dioxide in a specific region on the icy surface of Jupiters moon Europa.
Expedition 69 crew members on the ISS marked a busy week with cleaning, maintenance, and experiments. Frank Rubio, Sergey Prokopyev, and Dmitri Petelin celebrated a year in space, while others contributed to diverse tasks and scientific investigations.
Of all the objects in the Solar System, perhaps the most spectacular are the great comets that occasionally grace our skies. If you’ve been on social media in the past few days, you’ve probably seen articles proclaiming we have such a comet in our skies right now: C/2023 P1 (Nishimura).
Planning is underway for NASA's Habitable Worlds Observatory In early August, scientists and engineers gathered in a small auditorium at Caltech to discuss how to build the first space telescope capable of detecting life on planets like Earth. The proposed mission concept, called the Habitable Worl