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Image: NASA’s Terra satellite captures 2015 eclipse shadow

During the morning of March 20, 2015, a total solar eclipse was visible from parts of Europe, and a partial solar eclipse from northern Africa and northern Asia. NASA’s Terra satellite passed over the Arctic Ocean on March 20 at 10:45 UTC (6:45 a.m. EDT) and captured the eclipse’s shadow over the clouds in the […]

From Earth to alien worlds: Exploring the fundamental limits to life

Extraterrestrial and artificial life have long captivated the human mind. Knowing only the building blocks of our own biosphere, can we predict how life may exist on other planets? What factors will rein in the Frankensteinian life forms we hope to build in laboratories here on Earth?

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SpaceX to launch more private astronaut missions to ISS

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is planning to fly private crew missions to the International Space Station in partnership with a Calfornia-based startup, the two companies said on Thursday.

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Apollo lunar mission samples reveal origins of lunar water and its connection to Earth’s early history

A team of international scientists has unveiled groundbreaking research on the origins of lunar water, offering insights that could reshape our understanding of the Earth-moon system and the broader solar system. Published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the pioneering study explores the isotopic signatures of lunar water, revealing a mix […]

Ancient Mars’ thick crust could have supported hidden water reservoirs and rare magmas, new research suggests

A new study explores how variations in Mars’ crustal thickness during its ancient history may have influenced the planet’s magmatic evolution and hydrological systems. The research, published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, suggests that the thick crust of Mars’ southern highlands formed billions of years ago generated granitic magmas and sustained vast underground aquifers, […]

Mars’s radiant energy budget profile offers clues to its climate dynamics

Research by scientists at the University of Houston is changing our understanding of climate and weather on Mars and providing critical insights into Earth’s atmospheric processes as well.

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Cenotectic concept redefines search for life on icy worlds

As NASA’s Europa Clipper embarks on its historic journey to Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, Dr. Matt Powell-Palm, a faculty member at Texas A&M University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, has unveiled research that could transform our understanding of icy ocean worlds across the solar system.

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Webb offers best glimpse ever into icy planetesimals of early solar system

New studies led by researchers at the University of Central Florida offer for the first time a clearer picture of how the outer solar system formed and evolved based on analyses of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and centaurs.

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HD 65907: The mysterious case of the resurrected star

The star HD 65907 is not what it appears to be. It’s a star that looks young, but on closer inspection, it is actually much, much older. What’s going on? Research suggests that it is a resurrected star.

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NASA payload aims to probe moon’s depths to study heat flow

Earth’s nearest neighboring body in the solar system is its moon, yet to date, humans have physically explored just 5% of its surface. It wasn’t until 2023—building on Apollo-era data and more detailed studies made in 2011–2012 by NASA’s automated GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) mission—that researchers conclusively determined that the moon has a […]

Unveiling the uncharted Milky Way: Completing the galactic stellar map

By peering into the cosmic dance of stars, a team led by researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) has unraveled the complex structure of our Milky Way galaxy. Assuming that each observed star represents a larger population of stars sharing the same orbit, they have reconstructed the properties of these “hidden” stars, […]

Astronomers detect new 1.9-second pulsar using FAST

Using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) in China, astronomers have discovered a new pulsar with a spin period of about two seconds. The newly detected pulsar, designated PSR J1922+37, was found in the direction of open cluster NGC 6791. The finding was reported in a paper published Dec. 11 on the arXiv preprint […]

Distant blazar discovery supports rapid black hole formation in the early universe

Astronomers have discovered an important piece of the puzzle of how supermassive black holes were able to grow so quickly in the early universe: a special kind of active galactic nucleus so distant that its light has taken more than 12.9 billion years to reach us. This so-called blazar serves as a statistical marker: its […]

Old moon, young crust: Violent volcanism may mean the moon is much older than previously thought

After its formation, the moon may have been the scene of such immense volcanic activity that its entire crust melted several times and was completely churned through. At that time, the moon orbited significantly closer to Earth than today. The resulting tidal forces heated up its interior and thus powered the violent volcanism. Only Jupiter’s […]

New radar algorithm reveals hidden dance of ionospheric plasma

At night, charged particles from the sun caught by Earth’s magnetosphere rain down into the atmosphere. The impacting particles rip electrons from atoms in the atmosphere, creating both beauty and chaos. These high-energy interactions cause the northern and southern lights, but they also scatter radio signals, wreaking havoc on ground-based and satellite communications.

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