Space agencies, huge corporations, and media-savvy billionaires — ahem, Elon Musk — have all promised that building colonies on the surface of Mars “will fix just about everything” and give humanity a chance “to try out something completely new and leave all the bad stuff behind,” Kelly and Zach Weinersmith write in their new book, … Read more
Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids — or maybe it is. That’s the question Dutch entrepreneur Dr. Egbert Edelbroek hopes to answer by experimenting with human reproduction in outer space next November. “Humanity needs a backup plan,” the biotech boss of SpaceBorn United told the MIT Review. “If you want to … Read more
Skywatchers and stargazers might see something new among the stars, planets and galaxies. Two NASA astronauts, Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara, were conducting the first all-female spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Nov. 2 when a tool bag slipped, according to Space.com. Moghbeli and O’Hara finished their spacewalk after six hours and 42 … Read more
That purple-ish glow in the night sky? That’s STEVE. STEVE, or Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement, is an atmospheric phenomenon that accompanies auroras, such as an aurora borealis, more commonly known as the Northern Lights, which have been spotted this week across the US. The purple light streak, often bordered by patches of green, is … Read more
Balding, bespectacled and bowed by the weight of a thousand disappointments, Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) moves through “Dream Scenario” with a schlubby passivity. At the college where he teaches evolutionary biology, his students sigh and fidget; during a lesson on zebras, he explains that their stripes keep them safe by ensuring that they don’t stand … Read more
Let the sunshine in. Stunning new space images captured by the new Euclid telescope are revealing secrets of the “dark universe,” a mystery-filled combination of dark matter and dark energy believed to make up 95% of the cosmos. The one-of-a-kind photos have been released by the European Space Agency, which launched the groundbreaking tech into … Read more
Stargazers should enjoy Saturn’s rings while they can. NASA reports that the gas planet’s signature interstellar hula hoops are going to vanish from view in 18 months — but thankfully it’s just an optical illusion. Come March 2025, Saturn’s iconic rings — which extend from 43,500 to 87,000 miles, or the equivalent of 30 Earths … Read more
A star is born — literally. An incredible image from the James Webb Space Telescope is providing new clues about how stars come into existence. The awe-inspiring snap shows protostar HH 212, located about 1,300 light-years from Earth. HH 212 was first discovered back in 1993, near the Belt of Orion, and astronomers have spent the … Read more
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The little asteroid visited by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft this week had a big surprise for scientists. It turns out that the asteroid Dinkinesh has a dinky sidekick — a mini-moon. The discovery was made during Wednesday’s flyby of Dinkinesh, 300 million miles (480 million kilometers) away in the main asteroid belt beyond Mars. … Read more
Scientists at the California Institute of Technology have announced they believe the planet that collided with Earth billions of years ago could still be inside and led to the formation of the Moon. The study recently published in the journal Nature said the theory has stemmed from the discovery of material from the 1980s that was detected under … Read more
Kilonova? More like killer-nova. Violent star collisions, called a kilonova, could devastate our planet due to a lethal spew of radiation — namely gamma rays, cosmic rays and x-rays — that are emitted from the celestial event, scientists have discovered. “We found that if a neutron star merger were to occur within around 36 light-years of Earth, the resulting … Read more
Nikki Giovanni wants to die in zero gravity. “We don’t have any poets in space,” she says in a speech featured in “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” a documentary about the elusive artist, directed by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson. Giovanni would like to travel to the space station to record what she … Read more
Here’s your chance to see some drops of Jupiter. The planet will be highly visible this week as it reaches its closest point to our planet — a state known as perigee. Sky and Telescope reports a good time Wednesday to spot the gallantly bright Jupiter and its well-known exterior region called the Great Red … Read more
A recent image taken in space is turning heads and sparking questions. On Sept. 7, 2023, NASA’s Juno mission captured an image of an area in one of Jupiter’s northern regions called Jet N7, according to NASA. The image, which is of clouds and storms, caught the attention of scientists as they were studying the features. NASA said that … Read more
That’s one giant leap into the past. A recent analysis of lunar dirt brought back by the final Apollo mission in 1972 has confirmed that Earth’s satellite is 4.46 billion years old — some 40 million years more than originally thought. It’s now thought that our moon began as the giant shard of a Mars-sized … Read more
This chance of showers won’t ruin your weekend. Earthlings are in luck as one of the most awe-inspiring celestial events of the year will zip past the atmosphere shortly after midnight on Saturday morning. What is the Orionid meteor shower and when is it happening in 2023? The fast-moving Orionids, known for their fireball looks … Read more
The iceball cometh. As if things didn’t seem apocalyptic enough already, scientists reported that a “horned” comet three times bigger than Mount Everest exploded and is hurtling toward Earth. The blast originated on Oct. 5 from 12P/Pons-Brooks a cryovolcanic — or cold volcano — comet that measures a colossal 18.6 miles in diameter, or the … Read more
Millions of people across the Americas were treated to a rare celestial phenomenon on Saturday as an annular solar eclipse — known as the “ring of fire” — temporarily darkened skies from Oregon to Brazil. Spectators hooted and hollered as the moon passed in front of the sun, not completely blocking it out, but leaving … Read more
Be careful not to fall into this burning “ring of fire” without protection. Each continental state in the union plus Alaska will be treated to a celestial spectacle as the sun, Earth, and Moon, will align to create, as NASA described it, a “ring of fire” in the sky. What is a “ring of fire” … Read more
This discovery could rock our world. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has collected samples from Bennu — a 4.5 billion-year-old “near-Earth” asteroid that has a slight chance of a planetary collision 159 years from now — and they could show, as the agency described it, “the building blocks of life on Earth.” NASA’s Origins, … Read more