NASA, renowned for its ambitious space exploration missions, is now reevaluating its strategy to bring back samples from Mars in a quicker and more cost-effective manner. The space agency has revised its original plan, which had ballooned to an estimated $11 billion and faced delays that could push the mission’s conclusion into the 2040s. Administrator … Read more
New research has unveiled a striking connection between the size and spin of black holes and the environments in which they were formed. A team of scientists from Cardiff University, publishing their findings in the journal Physical Review Letters, has demonstrated that black holes arising from successive mergers within densely populated star clusters exhibit unique … Read more
An international team of astronomers has recently provided significant insights into the properties of a Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) designated G278.94+1.35. This study, published on December 30 on the pre-print server arXiv, delves into the features of this remnant, shedding light on its physical characteristics and evolutionary stage. Supernova remnants are fascinating objects in space … Read more
The Space Coast, a hub of U.S. space activity, is gearing up for an eventful year in 2025, with milestones and innovations poised to redefine space exploration. From new moon missions and spacecraft debuts to landmark rocket launches, the area continues to serve as the stage for cutting-edge advancements in space science and technology. Building … Read more
Getting a spacecraft to another star is one of the most significant challenges humanity faces. Interstellar travel is not only limited by vast distances but also by the immense technological, physical, and logistical hurdles involved. However, such obstacles have not deterred people from working toward this ambitious goal. Among the most notable efforts are those … Read more
The pursuit of more efficient, reliable, and capable spacecraft propulsion systems has long been a cornerstone of human ambition in space exploration. Propulsion engineers are continuously pushing the boundaries of what technology can achieve to meet the demands of long-term, deep-space missions. One of the emerging stars in this field is Chen Cui, a new … Read more
For decades, scientists believed that Jupiter’s iconic clouds were primarily composed of ammonia ice. This assumption was rooted in early observations of the gas giant’s atmosphere and was supported by theoretical models of cloud formation. However, new collaborative research by both amateur and professional astronomers has led to a groundbreaking discovery: Jupiter’s clouds are unlikely … Read more
Astronomers from Italy and Germany have recently used the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) to study the globular cluster (GC) system of the NGC 5018 galaxy group. Their findings, published on the pre-print server arXiv on December 23, provide essential insights into the distribution, age, and origin of the globular clusters within this group. The study … Read more
A groundbreaking study by a large and diverse team of researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has provided new evidence that the Moon had a weak magnetic field about 2 billion years ago. The study, published in Science Advances, used rock samples collected by China’s Chang’e-5 mission to analyze the history of the Moon’s … Read more
Looking deep into the cosmos and expecting to isolate individual stars in galaxies billions of light-years away has long been considered nearly impossible in astronomy. Such an endeavor is akin to attempting to discern individual grains of dust within craters on the Moon using a pair of binoculars. However, thanks to a remarkable interplay of … Read more