Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jun 11, 2024
George Mason University will be the home of the $19.5 million recently approved Landolt NASA Space Mission that will put an artificial "star" in orbit around the Earth. This artificial star will allow scientists to calibrate telescopes and more accurately measure the brightness of stars ranging from those nearby to the distant explosions of supernovae in far-off galaxies. By establishing absolut

Baltimore MD (SPX) Jun 11, 2024
Astronomers have captured what appears to be a snapshot of a massive collision of giant asteroids in Beta Pictoris, a neighboring star system known for its early age and tumultuous planet-forming activity. The observations spotlight the volatile processes that shape star systems like our own, offering a unique glimpse into the primordial stages of planetary formation. "Beta Pictoris

Madison WI (SPX) Jun 11, 2024
A surprising yellow haze of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere of a gas "dwarf" exoplanet about 96 light years away from our own solar system makes the planet a prime target for scientists trying to understand how worlds are formed. Astronomers discovered the planet, GJ 3470 b, in 2012 when the planet's shadow crossed the star it orbits. GJ 3470 b is located in the constellation Cancer and i

Clemson SC (SPX) Jun 11, 2024
A little over three decades ago, we didn't know any planets existed in the universe except those that orbit our sun. But the advent of more powerful ground-based telescopes and new space-based observatories since then has led to the discovery of thousands of exoplanets, or planets that orbit around stars other than our sun. The vast majority of the exoplanets that have been found orb

Paris (AFP) June 10, 2024
Early morning frost has been detected on the peaks of massive volcanoes on Mars, an unexpected discovery about the dispersal of water on Mars that could one day prove essential for human exploration, scientists said. The early morning frost was spotted in images taken by the European Space Agency's Trace Gas Orbiter, according to a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience on Monday.

Washington DC (UPI) Jun 10, 2024
NASA's Gateway space station is moving closer to a launch after welding recently was completed on a module in Turin, Italy, the agency said Monday. The Habitation and Logistics Outpost, or HALO, is one of four modules in which astronauts will live, conduct science and prepare for lunar surface missions. The launch of Gateway is scheduled no earlier than 2025. In 2021, NASA awarde

Paris, France (SPX) Jun 10, 2024
Water frost has been detected on Mars' colossal volcanoes, marking the first observation of this phenomenon on the largest mountains in the Solar System. The international team, led by the University of Bern, utilized high-resolution color images from the Bernese Mars camera, CaSSIS, onboard the European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. Understanding water distribution and transport is

Boulder CO (SPX) Jun 11, 2024
On Feb. 22, a lunar lander named Odysseus touched down near the moon's South Pole and popped out four antennas to record radio waves around the surface-a moment CU Boulder astrophysicist Jack Burns hails as the "dawn of radio astronomy from the moon." It was a major achievement for the tenacious lander, which was built by the Houston-based company Intuitive Machines and had to overcome a s

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jun 11, 2024
In addition to producing auroras, a recent extreme storm provided more detail on how much radiation future astronauts could encounter on the Red Planet. Mars scientists have been anticipating significant solar storms since the Sun entered a period of peak activity earlier this year called solar maximum. Over the past month, NASA's Mars rovers and orbiters have provided researchers with dir

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jun 11, 2024
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are testing Boeing's Starliner spacecraft at the International Space Station. This mission aims to collect data for NASA certification of the Starliner for regular crewed missions to the station. As part of the Boeing Crew Flight Test, Wilmore and Williams, with ground teams, are completing various objectives since Starliner arrived at the st