BREAKING! Milky Way’s black hole in new image
EarthSky | Space
by Kelly Kizer Whitt
1d ago
The European Southern Observatory released this new image of the Milky Way’s black hole today (March 27, 2024). The newly release image shows the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy in polarized light. Polarized light lets astronomers map a black hole’s magnetic field lines. The discovery also suggests our galaxy’s black hole may be harboring a hidden jet. Image via EHT Collaboration/ ESO. Astronomers used the Event Horizon Telescope to capture the first polarized light image of the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. This breakthrough suggests that all black ..read more
Visit website
Does Jupiter’s moon Europa have a habitable ocean, or not?
EarthSky | Space
by Paul Scott Anderson
2d ago
View larger. | Jupiter’s ocean moon Europa as seen by NASA’s Juno spacecraft. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ SwRI/ MSSS/ Kevin M. Gill. Used with permission. Jupiter’s large moon Europa seems to have an ocean, buried beneath a crust of ice. Astronomers have long thought Europa’s ocean might be habitable by microbes or other organisms. That’s one reason a spacecraft, Europa Clipper, is scheduled to launch to Europa in October, 2024. Now a new study suggests Europa’s seafloor might not be geologically active enough for volcanos and hydrothermal vents. That would limit chemical reactions needed to ..read more
Visit website
Ice grains from ocean moons could hold tiny traces of life
EarthSky | Space
by Paul Scott Anderson
3d ago
View larger. | Saturn’s moon Enceladus has a subsurface ocean of water beneath an outer ice shell. The water erupts into space as plumes, through cracks in the ice shell. Now, a new study shows that a spacecraft could find traces of microscopic life in ice grains in plumes from Enceladus or other ocean moons. Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech. Water vapor plumes may spew from the surfaces of several icy moons in the outer solar system, including Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Europa. The plumes originate in subsurface oceans on these worlds. Spacecraft, such as Europa Clipper, might be ..read more
Visit website
Dark matter study of dwarf galaxies hints at a ‘signal’
EarthSky | Space
by EarthSky Voices
3d ago
Researchers at Clemson University in South Carolina studied nearby dwarf galaxies – like this one labeled NGC 5264 – to learn more about dark matter. This little galaxy is only about 11,000 light-years wide at its widest. Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, is about 10 times bigger! Image via NASA/ ESA/ Hubble Space Telescope. Astronomers think there’s about 6 times more dark matter in our universe than ordinary matter. But dark matter has never been observed directly. We only believe it exists due to its gravitational pull. So astronomers are observing nearby, dark-matter-rich dwarf galaxies, se ..read more
Visit website
Jupiter’s stormy weather on display in new Hubble images
EarthSky | Space
by Paul Scott Anderson
1w ago
View larger. | NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured these views (opposite hemispheres) of Jupiter’s stormy weather. Image via NASA/ ESA/ STScI/ Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC). New images of Jupiter from the Hubble Space Telescope as the whole gas giant rotates. These images provide insights into Jupiter’s stormy weather patterns. Jupiter’s weather is intense, due the fact that its atmosphere is tens of thousands of miles/ kilometers deep with no solid surface beneath. The thick Jovian atmosphere hosts big and little storms, including cyclones and anticyclones, some larger than Earth. The new images ..read more
Visit website
Voyager 1 spacecraft has sent a (partly) decipherable message
EarthSky | Space
by EarthSky Voices
1w ago
Artist’s concept shows Voyager 1 against a starry background. The spacecraft, launched in 1977, is no longer in our solar system. But it still communicates with Earth, and in November 2023 it started sending back gibberish. Now NASA engineers says they’ve been able to decipher a new message that Voyager 1 sent in March. Image via Caltech/ NASA-JPL. NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft launched from Earth in 1977. It passed out of the heliosphere – or sphere of our sun’s influence – in 2012. In all that time, Voyager 1 has been communicating with Earth. But since November 2023 – though still sending ra ..read more
Visit website
Are solar storms dangerous to us on Earth?
EarthSky | Space
by Deborah Byrd
1w ago
Artist’s concept of activity on the sun traveling across space to interact with Earth’s magnetic field. Not to scale. Earth’s magnetic field shields our planet from solar particles. The sun’s activity can cause a geomagnetic storm. Solar storms are not harmful to humans on Earth, but they can harm earthly technologies. Image via NASA/ Wikimedia Commons (public domain). The current solar cycle 25 has been quite active with frequent solar flares and CMEs, some strong enough to send a billion tons of charged particles toward Earth. The frequency of geomagnetic storms caused by solar storms incre ..read more
Visit website
Pieces of asteroid Bennu now on display for YOU!
EarthSky | Space
by Paul Scott Anderson
1w ago
Here’s a pebble-sized sample from asteroid Bennu, protected inside a clear container, now on display at the Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum at the University of Arizona. This museum is one of only 3 in the world now displaying Bennu samples. Image via Chris Richards/ University Communications/ University of Arizona. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx space mission launched from Earth in 2016, collected samples of asteroid Bennu in 2020 and returned the samples to Earth in a dramatic drop from space in September 2023. There are now 3 places on Earth where the public can view the samples of Bennu: in Ar ..read more
Visit website
Giant volcano on Mars hiding in plain sight
EarthSky | Space
by EarthSky Voices
1w ago
The newly discovered giant volcano on Mars is just south of the planet’s equator, in eastern Noctis Labyrinthus. It’s just west of Valles Marineris, the planet’s famous canyon system. The volcano sits on the eastern edge of a broad rise called Tharsis, home to 3 other well-known giant volcanoes: Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Arsia Mons. Although more eroded and not as tall, the newly discovered volcano rivals the others in diameter. It’s about 450 km (280 miles) across (red dashed circle). Possible buried glacial ice may be under a relatively recent volcanic deposit. Image via SETI/ NASA/ U ..read more
Visit website
Interstellar signal linked to aliens was just a truck
EarthSky | Space
by EarthSky Voices
1w ago
This artist’s concept shows a meteor streaking toward Earth. In 2014, an interstellar meteor struck Earth in the Pacific Ocean near Papua New Guinea. Some rumblings recorded at the time were thought to be an interstellar signal of the incoming meteor, but now, a new study says it was just a passing truck. Image via urikyo33/ Pixabay. In 2014, an interstellar meteor struck Earth in the Pacific Ocean near Papua New Guinea. Seismic recordings made at the time and linked to the interstellar meteor led some scientists to search the ocean in a specific spot for extraterrestrial material. But a new ..read more
Visit website

Follow EarthSky | Space on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR