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Scientists discover elusive solar waves that could power the sun’s corona

Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in solar physics by providing the first direct evidence of small-scale torsional Alfvén waves in the sun’s corona—elusive magnetic waves that scientists have been searching for since the 1940s.

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Astronomers expose CO-dark molecular gas, previously invisible to telescopes

An international team of astronomers has created the first-ever large-scale maps of a mysterious form of matter, known as CO-dark molecular gas, in one of our Milky Way’s most active star-forming neighborhoods, Cygnus X. Their findings, using the Green Bank Telescope (GBT), are providing crucial new clues about how stars formed in the Milky Way. […]

Astronomers share largest molecular survey to date: GOTHAM legacy data goes public

A new dataset from the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) is now publicly available, opening the door for scientists worldwide to make discoveries in one of the richest molecular clouds in our galaxy, TMC-1.

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Condensation defying gravity

From dew at dawn to a foggy mirror after a shower, condensation is part of our daily lives on Earth. In space, microgravity alters how heat flows through gases and liquids, a potential enemy for spacecraft electronics needing to cool down in extreme environments.

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Newly discovered ‘super-Earth’ offers prime target in search for alien life

The discovery of a possible “super-Earth” less than 20 light-years from our own planet is offering scientists new hope in the hunt for other worlds that could harbor life, according to an international team including researchers from Penn State. They dubbed the exoplanet, named GJ 251 c, a “super-Earth” as data suggest it is almost […]

Europe plans satellite powerhouse to rival Musk’s Starlink

Three leading European aerospace groups announced Thursday a plan to merge their satellite operations to create a powerhouse for competing in particular against Elon Musk’s Starlink internet system.

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Comprehensive study examines properties of 1,449 planetary nebulae across the Milky Way

By analyzing the data from the HASH database, astronomers have conducted a comprehensive study of nearly 1,500 planetary nebulae in the Milky Way galaxy. Results of the study, published October 15 on the arXiv preprint server, improve our knowledge regarding the physical and chemical properties of these sources.

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Geochemical research could help identify microbial activity in Earth’s rock record and perhaps in Martian sediments

Because oxygen-bearing sulfate minerals trap and preserve signals from Earth’s atmosphere, scientists closely study how they form. Sulfates are stable over billions of years, so their oxygen isotopes are seen as a time capsule, reflecting atmospheric conditions while they were evolving on early Earth—and possibly on its planetary neighbor Mars.

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Researchers use NVST high-resolution data to study chromospheric fibrils around quiescent filament

Using high-resolution data from the one-meter New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST), a research team led by Prof. Yan Xiaoli from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has conducted an in-depth study on the physical properties and oscillations of chromospheric fibrils surrounding a quiescent filament.

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Planetary scientists link Jupiter’s birth to Earth’s formation zone

New research from Rice University suggests that the giant planet Jupiter reshaped the early solar system in dramatic ways, carving out rings and gaps that ultimately explain one of the longest-standing puzzles in planetary science: why many primitive meteorites formed millions of years after the first solid bodies.

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Satellites and space trash threaten ozone layer and space safety

Every year, we shoot several thousand satellites and other objects out into space. When satellites die, they become space trash that threatens aerospace safety.

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Magnetically guided streamer funneling star-building material into newborn system in Perseus

A team of astronomers led by Paulo Cortes, a scientist with the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the Joint ALMA Observatory, have made a groundbreaking discovery about how young star systems grow.

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3 billion-year-old white dwarf still consuming its planetary system challenges previous assumptions

In approximately 5 billion years, the sun will deplete its hydrogen fuel and collapse under its own gravity, becoming a white dwarf. Though Earth-sized, this dense remnant will retain much of the sun’s gravitational influence.

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Hidden in the sun’s glare, this asteroid is uncomfortably close to earth

In the distant past, the solar system was rife with impacts and collisions. Millions of rocky objects zoomed chaotically through the system, smashing into each other in collisional cascades. Over time, many of them eventually became part of the rocky planets. What’s left of the space rocks are mostly gathered in the main asteroid belt. […]

Telescope hack opens a sharper view into the universe

A novel imaging technique used for the first time on a ground-based telescope has helped a UCLA-led team of astronomers to achieve the sharpest-ever measurement of a star’s surrounding disk, revealing previously unseen structure.

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