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Solar storms delay the launch of Blue Origin’s big new rocket with Mars orbiters for NASA

Intense solar storms responsible for breathtaking auroras across the U.S. delayed the launch of Blue Origin’s big new rocket Wednesday.

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Solar storms bring colorful northern lights to unexpected places

Solar storms brought colorful auroras to unexpected places on Tuesday night, and there could be more to come.

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Evidence of ancient underground water reveals Mars may have stayed habitable longer than believed

Scientists from New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) have uncovered new evidence that water once flowed beneath the surface of Mars, revealing that the planet may have remained habitable for life much longer than previously thought.

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Unique shape of star’s explosion revealed just a day after detection

Swift observations with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) have revealed the explosive death of a star just as the blast was breaking through the star’s surface. For the first time, astronomers unveiled the shape of the explosion at its earliest, fleeting stage.

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Ultrafast light-driven electron slide discovered

When an intense laser pulse hits a stationary electron, it performs a trembling motion at the frequency of the light field. However, this motion dies down after the pulse, and the electron comes to rest again at its original location. If, however, the light field changes its strength along the electron’s trajectory, the electron builds up an additional drift motion with each oscillation, which it retains even after the pulse. The spatial light intensity acts like a slope that the electron slides down.

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Ultrafast electron diffraction captures atomic layers twisting in response to light

A pulse of light sets the tempo in the material. Atoms in a crystalline sheet just a few atoms thick begin to move—not randomly, but in a coordinated rhythm, twisting and untwisting in sync like dancers following a beat.

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Ohio officer killed in vehicle crash on way to work

Canton Officer Dave Wolgamott, who had served with the department for nearly 20 years, was respected for his commitment to public service, Canton Police said

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BWC: Man takes gas station clerks hostage, shoots Colo. officer in leg before fatal OIS

After becoming agitated when the Aurora gas station did not have his cigarettes, the man displayed a firearm and ordered employees to lock the doors, turn off the lights and call 911

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High-resolution solar data reveal chromospheric jets’ characteristics in active region

A research team from the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has detailed the physical characteristics of chromospheric jets in and around a sunspot, using high-resolution observations from the New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST). Their findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal.

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What a missing signal tells us about alien worlds

When the James Webb Space Telescope detected potential biosignatures in the atmosphere of K2-18 b last year, the discovery sparked intense debate. Here was a sub-Neptune exoplanet 124 light years away, possibly harboring methane, carbon dioxide, and even dimethyl sulfide, which is a gas produced by phytoplankton on Earth. But before we get too excited about alien life, it’s necessary to understand if this planet’s atmosphere can even survive the harsh environment of the host star.

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First confirmed coronal mass ejection spotted on a star beyond the sun

Astronomers using the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton space observatory and the LOFAR telescope have definitively spotted an explosive burst of material thrown out into space by another star—a burst powerful enough to strip away the atmosphere of any unlucky planet in its path.

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The path to Mars: Small, unsexy problems

This article is a speculative piece based on the European Space Agency (ESA) Strategy 2040 plan for the future of space exploration. Dr. Orson Sutherland, a program manager responsible for Mars exploration at ESA, shared his expertise and work on multiple ongoing projects.

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Scientists discover caves carved by water on Mars that may have once harbored life

If there is, or ever has been, life on Mars, the chances are it would exist in caves protected from the severe dust storms, extreme temperatures, and high radiation present on its surface. One place to focus our attention could be eight possible cave sites (called skylights) recently discovered by Chenyu Ding at Shenzhen University in China, and colleagues.

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String theory: Scientists are trying new ways to verify the idea that could unite all of physics

In 1980, Stephen Hawking gave his first lecture as Lucasian Professor at the University of Cambridge. The lecture was called “Is the end in sight for theoretical physics?”

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Vandal breaks mirrors, smashes windshields on 11 NYPD cruisers outside precinct

Both marked and unmarked NYPD vehicles were damaged during the incident, which occurred outside the recently opened 116th precinct in Queens

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