Featured News
National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)
11 Dec 2019, 17:00 UTC
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and its international partners (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ), ALMA is among the most complex and powerful astronomical observatories on Earth or in space. The telescope is an array of 66 high-precision dish antennas in northern Chile. See more here have spotted the light of a massive galaxy seen only 970 million years after the Big BangBig BangThe well-supported theory that some 13.8 billion years ago, the entire universe was staggeringly small, hot, and dense. In a fraction of an instant, the universe expanded and continues to expand to this day. . This galaxy, called MAMBO-9, is the most distant dusty star-forming galaxy that has ever been observed without the help of a gravitational lensGravitational LensThe effect when light from a distant object, such as a galaxy, is bent by the gravity of a massive object, such as another galaxy, before it reaches the Earth. If the two objects are perfectly aligned, the light from the distant object appears as a ring, to observers on Earth. This phenomenon is called an Einstein Ring, since its existence was predicted by Einstein in his theory of General Relativity. ...
ALMA Spots Most Distant Dusty Galaxy Hidden in Plain Sight
11 Dec 2019, 17:00 UTC
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and its international partners (NRAO/ESO/NAOJ), ALMA is among the most complex and powerful astronomical observatories on Earth or in space. The telescope is an array of 66 high-precision dish antennas in northern Chile. See more here have spotted the light of a massive galaxy seen only 970 million years after the Big BangBig BangThe well-supported theory that some 13.8 billion years ago, the entire universe was staggeringly small, hot, and dense. In a fraction of an instant, the universe expanded and continues to expand to this day. . This galaxy, called MAMBO-9, is the most distant dusty star-forming galaxy that has ever been observed without the help of a gravitational lensGravitational LensThe effect when light from a distant object, such as a galaxy, is bent by the gravity of a massive object, such as another galaxy, before it reaches the Earth. If the two objects are perfectly aligned, the light from the distant object appears as a ring, to observers on Earth. This phenomenon is called an Einstein Ring, since its existence was predicted by Einstein in his theory of General Relativity. ...
NCCR PlanetS
11 Dec 2019, 09:34 UTC
In a very formal and festive ceremony in Stockholm, the Swedish king Carl XVI Gustaf presented the Nobel prizes to this year’s esteemed laureates, among them Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. Fanfare sounds accompanied his Majesty handing over the medals. As every year, the award ceremony took place on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, 10 December.
Nobel prize ceremony
11 Dec 2019, 09:34 UTC
In a very formal and festive ceremony in Stockholm, the Swedish king Carl XVI Gustaf presented the Nobel prizes to this year’s esteemed laureates, among them Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. Fanfare sounds accompanied his Majesty handing over the medals. As every year, the award ceremony took place on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, 10 December.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory News and Features
10 Dec 2019, 21:54 UTC
NASA has big plans for returning astronauts to the Moon in 2024, a stepping stone on the path to sending humans to Mars. But where should the first people on the Red Planet land?
NASA's Treasure Map for Water Ice on Mars
10 Dec 2019, 21:54 UTC
NASA has big plans for returning astronauts to the Moon in 2024, a stepping stone on the path to sending humans to Mars. But where should the first people on the Red Planet land?
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
10 Dec 2019, 17:54 UTC
On Friday, Oct. 11, the OSIRIS-REx team should have been preparing to point their spacecraft cameras precisely over the asteroid Bennu to capture high-resolution images of a region known as Osprey. It is one of four sites scientists are considering from which the spacecraft can safely collect a sample in late 2020.
OSIRIS-REx Engineers Pull Off a Daring Rescue of a Monumental Asteroid Mission
10 Dec 2019, 17:54 UTC
On Friday, Oct. 11, the OSIRIS-REx team should have been preparing to point their spacecraft cameras precisely over the asteroid Bennu to capture high-resolution images of a region known as Osprey. It is one of four sites scientists are considering from which the spacecraft can safely collect a sample in late 2020.
NCCR PlanetS
10 Dec 2019, 09:36 UTC
Some of the Earth’s building material was stardust from red giants, researchers from ETH Zurich have established. They can also explain why the Earth contains more of this stardust than the asteroids or the planet Mars, which are farther from the sun.
Stardust from red giants
10 Dec 2019, 09:36 UTC
Some of the Earth’s building material was stardust from red giants, researchers from ETH Zurich have established. They can also explain why the Earth contains more of this stardust than the asteroids or the planet Mars, which are farther from the sun.
ESA Top News
9 Dec 2019, 13:50 UTC
ClearSpace-1 will be the first space mission to remove an item of debris from orbit, planned for launch in 2025. The mission is being procured as a service contract with a startup-led commercial consortium, to help establish a new market for in-orbit servicing, as well as debris removal.
ESA commissions world’s first space debris removal
9 Dec 2019, 13:50 UTC
ClearSpace-1 will be the first space mission to remove an item of debris from orbit, planned for launch in 2025. The mission is being procured as a service contract with a startup-led commercial consortium, to help establish a new market for in-orbit servicing, as well as debris removal.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
6 Dec 2019, 12:13 UTC
Some of the most dramatic events in the universe occur when certain stars die — and explode catastrophically in the process.
Hubble Spots Galaxy’s Dramatic Details
6 Dec 2019, 12:13 UTC
Some of the most dramatic events in the universe occur when certain stars die — and explode catastrophically in the process.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
5 Dec 2019, 19:00 UTC
Shortly after NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at asteroid Bennu, an unexpected discovery by the mission’s science team revealed that the asteroid could be active, or consistently discharging particles into space. The ongoing examination of Bennu – and its sample that will eventually be returned to Earth – could potentially shed light on why this intriguing phenomenon is occurring.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission Explains Bennu’s Mysterious Particle Events
5 Dec 2019, 19:00 UTC
Shortly after NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at asteroid Bennu, an unexpected discovery by the mission’s science team revealed that the asteroid could be active, or consistently discharging particles into space. The ongoing examination of Bennu – and its sample that will eventually be returned to Earth – could potentially shed light on why this intriguing phenomenon is occurring.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
4 Dec 2019, 18:00 UTC
In August 2018, NASA's Parker Solar Probe launched to space, soon becoming the closest-ever spacecraft to the Sun. With cutting-edge scientific instruments to measure the environment around the spacecraft, Parker Solar Probe has completed three of 24 planned passes through never-before-explored parts of the Sun's atmosphere, the corona. On Dec. 4, 2019, four new papers in the journal Nature describe what scientists have learned from this unprecedented exploration of our star — and what they look forward to learning next.
