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Photos show stunning views of the moon and Earth from the Artemis II mission

The Artemis II astronauts—three Americans and one Canadian—hurtled deeper into space than any other humans during a moon flyby Monday that marks NASA’s lunar comeback.

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Parabolic flight test shows lasers can propel graphene aerogels in microgravity

Lasers could one day steer solar sails and adjust a satellite’s position in outer space, thanks to graphene. An experiment on a gravity rollercoaster ride showed how this innovative material has the potential to revolutionize propulsion beyond Earth.

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How Jupiter cultivated more large moons than Saturn

The two largest planets in our solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, also have the largest satellite systems, or the most moons. At present, Jupiter’s reported moon count stands at more than 100 moons, and along with its many rings, Saturn has more than 280 reported moons. Not all these moons are equal, however. Jupiter’s moon […]

First close pair of supermassive black holes detected

Supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies are one of the most active fields of research in astronomy. In order to accumulate their enormous masses, they must merge with each other. A research team led by Silke Britzen from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn has found direct evidence of […]

New Artemis II ‘Earthset’ shot revisits Apollo 8’s iconic ‘Earthrise,’ 57 years on

NASA on Tuesday released a historic image of Earth dipping below the lunar horizon, more than 57 years after an iconic “Earthrise” image was captured by an Apollo 8 astronaut.

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Astronomers discover Andromeda XXXVI, an ultra-faint dwarf satellite galaxy

By analyzing the data from the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey (PandAS), European astronomers have discovered a new satellite of the Andromeda galaxy. The newfound object, which received the designation Andromeda XXXVI, appears to be an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy. The finding is reported in a paper published March 30 on the arXiv preprint server .

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After milestone-rich lunar flyby, astronauts start trip home

The Artemis II astronauts wrapped up their lunar flyby as they continue their journey back to Earth on Tuesday, bringing with them rich celestial observations including little-known lunar craters, a solar eclipse and meteor strikes that scientists hope will open doors.

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Artemis astronauts survey lunar surface on flyby, solar eclipse up next

The four astronauts carrying out NASA’s first lunar flyby in more than half-a-century were sending back detailed observations of the moon after traveling farther from Earth than any human before.

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Water on the moon? New study narrows down the mostly likely locations

Water likely accumulated on the moon slowly over billions of years, rather than during one big event, according to a new study by an international team of scientists. The researchers, including Paul Hayne, a planetary scientist at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder, have published their findings […]

Artemis astronauts pass behind moon, expected communications cut starts

The four Artemis astronauts on a lunar flyby are now unreachable by NASA scientists on Earth, an expected communications blackout anticipated to last some 40 minutes as their spacecraft passes behind the moon.

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Lunar crater named after Artemis commander’s deceased wife

Artemis astronauts at the outer edge of human space travel had an emotional moment Monday as they proposed to name a crater in honor of the deceased wife of mission commander Reid Wiseman.

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If life exists in Venus’s atmosphere, it could have come from Earth

The theory of panspermia holds that life is spread through the cosmos via asteroids, comets, and other objects. When the building blocks of life emerge on one planet, impacts can eject surface material into space, which then carries these seeds to other worlds. For decades, scientists have debated whether this could have occurred between Earth […]

Artemis II crew breaks Apollo 13 record, reaching 252,760 miles from Earth

The four astronauts embarking on NASA’s lunar flyby became on Monday the humans to travel farthest from our planet, as they get set to view areas of the moon never before seen by the naked eye.

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Astronomers thought the early universe was full of hydrogen: Now they’ve found it

The Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) has discovered tens of thousands of gigantic hydrogen gas halos, called “Lyman-alpha nebulae,” surrounding galaxies 10 billion to 12 billion years ago. Known as Cosmic Noon, this is an epoch in the early universe when galaxies were growing their fastest. To spur this growth, they would have needed […]

Giant step for humankind: Artemis crew to set space distance record

Four Artemis II astronauts are taking a giant step for humankind Monday when they shoot deeper into space than anyone before and glimpse parts of the moon never seen by the naked eye.

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