London, UK (SPX) Apr 14, 2022
Diverse microbial life existed on Earth at least 3.75 billion years ago, suggests a new study led by UCL researchers that challenges the conventional view of when life began. For the study, published in Science Advances, the research team analysed a fist-sized rock from Quebec, Canada, estimated to be between 3.75 and 4.28 billion years old. In an earlier Nature paper*, the team found tiny

Washington DC (UPI) Apr 14, 2021
The oldest evidence of the Maya calendar has been excavated at San Bartolo, Guatemala, found among fragments of painted murals. Acording to a new study, two fragments with a "7 deer" date notation date to between 300 and 200 BCE, based on radiocarbon dating. Authors of the study said that the finding "represents a day in the 260-day divinatory calendar used throughout Mesoamerica

Beijing (AFP) April 16, 2022
Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Saturday after 183 days in space, ending China's longest crewed mission as it continues its quest to become a major space power. The Shenzhou-13 spacecraft was the latest mission in Beijing's drive to rival the United States, after landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon. Live footage from state broadcaster CCTV showed the caps

Wenchang (XNA) Apr 15, 2022
President Xi Jinping has called on the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the southern island province of Hainan to build itself into a world-class spaceport. Xi made the remark on Tuesday afternoon as he visited the launch complex, the newest and southernmost of its kind in China. Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Ce

Beijing (XNA) Apr 15, 2022
China's Shenzhou XIII mission crew have completed all of their tasks and will return to Earth, according to the China Manned Space Agency. The agency said on Thursday night that the astronauts - Major General Zhai Zhigang, Senior Colonel Wang Yaping and Senior Colonel Ye Guangfu - will leave the Tiangong space station in due course. Their reentry capsule will touch down at the Dongfeng lan

Beijing (XNA) Apr 15, 2022
The 13th China Satellite Navigation Conference will be held in Beijing in May, highlighting the digital economy and intelligent navigation, according to the China Satellite Navigation Office. The conference will showcase the latest industrialization achievement of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), the office said. Diverse events such as summit forums, academic exchanges,

Munich, Germany (SPX) Apr 15, 2022
Light on, light off - this is how one could describe the behavior of the nova, which goes by the name RS Ophiuchi (RS Oph). Every 15 years or so, a dramatic explosion occurs in the constellation of the Serpent Bearer. Birthplaces of a nova are systems in which two very different stars live in a parasitic relationship: A white dwarf, a small, burned-out and tremendously dense star - a teaspoon of

Baltimore MD (SPX) Apr 15, 2022
The journey of commissioning the Webb telescope continues this week with the successful cooling of the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI), through the critical 'pinch point,' down to its final operating temperature of less than 7 kelvins (-447 degrees Fahrenheit, or -266 degrees Celsius). This was a precondition to completing the seventh and final stage of the mirror alignment process. The next step

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Apr 15, 2022
Astronomers at the University of Sydney have found a slimmer type of red giant star for the first time. These stars have undergone dramatic weight loss, possibly due to the presence a greedy neighbour. Published in Nature Astronomy, the discovery is an important step forward to understanding the life of stars in the Milky Way - our closest stellar neighbours. There are millions of 'red gia

Hatfield UK (SPX) Apr 15, 2022
The Hubble Space Telescope has observed the most distant star ever seen - Earendel, meaning morning star. Even though Earendel is 50 times the mass of the Sun, and millions of times brighter, we would not normally be able to see it. We can see it due to an alignment of the star with a large galaxy cluster in front of it whose gravity bends the light from the star to make it brighter and more foc