Greenbelt MD (SPX) Feb 13, 2024
When darkness sweeps across the landscape during a total solar eclipse, unusual things start happening. Fooled by the false dusk, birds stop singing, crickets start chirping, and bees return to their hives. Reports of these atypical animal behaviors date back centuries, but the effects of an eclipse on plant and animal life are not fully understood. So, on April 8, 2024, the NASA-funded Ec

Lemont IL (SPX) Feb 12, 2024
For more than five years, scientists at the South Pole Telescope in Antarctica have been observing the sky with an upgraded camera. The extended gaze toward the cosmos is picking up remnant light from the universe's early formation. Now researchers have analyzed an initial batch of data, publishing details in the journal Physical Review D. The results from this limited dataset hint at even more

Atlanta GA (SPX) Feb 12, 2024
Scientists working with the powerful telescopes at Georgia State's Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) Array have completed a survey of a group of stars suspected to have devoured most of the gas from orbiting companion stars. These sensitive measurements have directly detected the feeble glow of the cannibalized stars. The new research, led by Postdoctoral Research Associ

Heidelberg, Germany (SPX) Feb 12, 2024
Ordinarily, planets in evolved planetary systems, such as the Solar System, follow stable orbits around their central star. However, many indications suggest that some planets might depart from their birthplaces during their early evolution by migrating inward or outward. This planetary migration might also explain an observation that has puzzled researchers for several years: the relatively low

Tucson AZ (SPX) Feb 12, 2024
The unique two thin rings around the Centaur Chariklo could be shaped by an even smaller satellite. Chariklo is a Centaur, which are small bodies similar to asteroids in size but to comets in composition, that revolve around the Sun in the outer Solar System, mainly between the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune. "Rings around minor planets have only been recently discovered, and only a small n

Mountain View CA (SPX) Feb 12, 2024
The official classification now aligns with what many suspected from merely looking at the images of the strange meteorites that fell near Berlin on January 21, 2024. They belong to a rare group called "aubrites". "They were devilishly difficult to find because, from a distance, they look like other rocks on Earth," said SETI Institute meteor astronomer Dr. Peter Jenniskens. "Close up, not

Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 13, 2024
Earth planning date: Friday, February 9, 2024: We are found Curiosity at full energy and ready to go this morning. And go we did! We are at a very interesting location with lots of textures in the rocks in front of us, and many features to spot in the walls around us. Geologists feasting time! And feast we did! I counted - between Mastcam, ChemCam, the Navcams, and MARDI almost 450 individ

Paris (ESA) Feb 13, 2024
The stages that make up the central core of Europe's new rocket, Ariane 6, have left mainland Europe and are heading towards Europe's spaceport in French Guiana. Shipping across the Atlantic, the main stage and upper stage were loaded into the purpose-built hybrid sailing ship Canopee at the harbours of Bremen, Germany, and Le Havre, France. Canopee left the port of Le Havre carrying the l

Wright-Patterson AFB OH (SPX) Feb 13, 2024
In October, the NASA team revisited Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to collaborate with Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, engineers, to further evaluate the latest version of astronaut crew seats and flight suits intended for the Orion spacecraft. Testing was conducted with U.S. Air Force volunteers, who met various height and weight requirements. The testing progressed into November, inco

Washington DC (SPX) Feb 13, 2024
On Earth, rocks and soil are weathered by wind and water, but what weathers surfaces on the Moon? New research investigates how ice might alter lunar soil in permanently shadowed lunar craters. The Moon is blanketed in a layer of material called regolith, made up of fragments of rock, soft lunar soil, and fines: particles less than 2 microns across (1 micron = 10-6 meter). Apollo-era astro