A ‘smart ruler’ could help swarms of space telescopes image exoplanets

by quasarn01 | Jul 9, 2026 | Astronomy

We’ve talked plenty of times here about the infeasibility of launching a mirror big enough to directly image exoplanets using current rocket fairings—at least as long as we’re not sending them 500-plus AU away to a gravitational lensing point. We’ve...

Image: Curiosity rover sees Martian sulfur up close

by quasarn01 | Jul 9, 2026 | Astronomy

This close-up view shows fragments of sulfur crystals, the first ever seen on the Red Planet. Go to Source

The ghost in Orion’s shell: Hydrogen maps show repeated stellar feedback sculpted around Orion Nebula

by quasarn01 | Jul 9, 2026 | Astronomy

An international team led by Juan Diego Soler at the University of Vienna used two of the world’s most powerful radio telescopes to uncover previously hidden structures within the Orion Nebula. The project produced the sharpest maps ever made of neutral hydrogen...

Newborn stars preserve organic-rich gas within ancient supernova debris

by quasarn01 | Jul 9, 2026 | Astronomy

For the first time, astronomers have discovered stellar cocoons rich in complex organic molecules within a supernova remnant. A research team from Niigata University, Gifu University, RIKEN and Kyoto University in Japan used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter...

Artemis II astronauts reunite with their moonship 3 months after record-breaking flight

by quasarn01 | Jul 9, 2026 | Astronomy

The Artemis II astronauts reunited with their capsule Wednesday three months after flying around the moon and traveling deeper into space than anyone in history. Go to Source

Young giant gas planet Beta Pic B refuses to reveal its origin

by quasarn01 | Jul 9, 2026 | Astronomy

The young planetary system of the 23-million-year-old star Beta Pictoris (short: Beta Pic) is regarded as an iconic circumstellar dust disk, which hosts at least three giant gas planets. Discovered in 2008 by direct imaging, Beta Pic b is the most massive of those...