The outburst of a neutron star reveals the nature of phenomena only observed in black holes
Sunday, 05 March 2023 04:50
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X-ray binaries are systems formed by a compact object, a neutron star or a black hole, and a star of a similar size to the Sun. The compact object swallows matter from the companion star through a disk that emits large amounts of light, especially in X-rays. This process in which the compact object attracts matter, known as accretion, usually occurs in violent eruptions during which the system b Dark matter halos: the key to understanding galaxies
Sunday, 05 March 2023 04:50 Write a comment
We have come a long way in understanding the universe around us, thanks to current technological advances, such as the construction of huge telescopes or satellites with increasingly powerful instruments. However, it is disturbing that most of the universe components (matter and energy) are still unknown to us. In the "recipe" to "build" a universe like ours, we have to put two ingredients that Major collaboration reveals new insights on binary star systems
Sunday, 05 March 2023 04:50 Write a comment
Scientists have long been intrigued by X-ray binary star systems, where two stars orbit around each other with one of the two stars being either a black hole or a neutron star. Both black holes and neutron stars are created in supernova explosions and are very dense - giving them a massive gravitational pull. This makes them capable of capturing the outer layers of the normal star that orbits ar NASA and Roscosmos planning to add mission to seat barter agreement
Sunday, 05 March 2023 00:07 Write a comment
NASA is working with the Russian government to update an agreement to allow Russian cosmonauts to fly on the next two SpaceX crew rotation missions to the International Space Station.
New results from NASA's DART planetary defense mission confirm we could deflect deadly asteroids
Saturday, 04 March 2023 14:20 Write a comment
What would we do if we spotted a hazardous asteroid on a collision course with Earth? Could we deflect it safely to prevent the impact?
Last year, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission tried to find out whether a "kinetic impactor" could do the job: smashing a 600kg spacecraft the size of a fridge into an asteroid the size of an Aussie Rules football field.
Early results from this first real-world test of our potential planetary defense systems looked promising. However, it's only now that the first scientific results are being published: five papers in Nature have recreated the impact, and analyzed how it changed the asteroid's momentum and orbit, while twostudies investigate the debris knocked off by the impact.
The conclusion: "kinetic impactor technology is a viable technique to potentially defend Earth if necessary".
DoD releases updated guidance on ‘responsible behaviors in space’
Friday, 03 March 2023 19:07 Write a comment
The Defense Department on March 3 released updated guidelines for safe and responsible space operations.
Humans are still hunting for aliens: Here's how astronomers are looking for life beyond Earth
Friday, 03 March 2023 16:53 Write a comment
We have long been fascinated with the idea of alien life. The earliest written record presenting the idea of "aliens" is seen in the satiric work of Assyrian writer Lucian of Samosata dated to 200 AD.
In one novel, Lucian writes of a journey to the Moon and the bizarre life he imagines living there—everything from three-headed vultures to fleas the size of elephants.
Now, 2,000 years later, we still write stories of epic adventures beyond Earth to meet otherworldly beings (Hitchhiker's Guide, anyone?). Stories like these entertain and inspire, and we are forever trying to find out if science fiction will become science fact.
Not all alien life is the same
When looking for life beyond Earth, we are faced with two possibilities. We might find basic microbial life hiding somewhere in our Solar System; or we will identify signals from intelligent life somewhere far away.
Unlike in Star Wars, we're not talking far, far away in another galaxy, but rather around other nearby stars. It is this second possibility which really excites me, and should excite you too.
Scientists discover answer to the mystery of cloudy filters on satellites
Friday, 03 March 2023 15:33
Europe's Vega-C rocket failure traced to defective engine part: ESA
Friday, 03 March 2023 14:41 Write a comment
The failed launch of a Vega-C European rocket in French Guiana last December was due to the deterioration of a key engine component that resulted in a rapid loss of boosting power, European Space Agency officials said Friday.
The launching from the Kourou space port would have been the first commercial launch for the Vega-C and presented a new option for European space payloads after numerous delays to the next-generation Ariane 6 rocket and cancelled Russian cooperation over the Ukraine war.
But shortly after lift-off on December 21 with a payload of two observation satellites, the rocket deviated from its programmed trajectory and communications were lost, forcing officials to destroy it over the Atlantic Ocean.
An ESA investigative panel found that pressure in the Zefiro 40 motor, made by Italy's Avio, had started falling during the second stage of lift-off, the commission's co-president Pierre-Yves Tissier told journalists.
At three minutes 27 seconds after the launch, "the rocket's acceleration had fallen almost to zero," he said.
Investigators determined that a nozzle neck supposed to ensure constant combustion pressure in the motor had failed to resist the enormous pressure and temperatures reaching 3,000 degrees Celsius (5,432 degrees Fahrenheit).
Viasat to enter direct-to-device market with Ligado Networks
Friday, 03 March 2023 13:39 Write a comment
Viasat said March 2 it is partnering with Ligado Networks to break into the emerging market for providing satellite services directly to consumer smartphones and other devices.
Week in images: 27 February - 03 March 2023
Friday, 03 March 2023 13:19 Write a comment
Week in images: 27 February - 03 March 2023
Discover our week through the lens
SpaceX Dragon crew enter International Space Station
Friday, 03 March 2023 11:53 Write a comment
Four astronauts entered the International Space Station on Friday after their SpaceX Dragon Crew-6 mission successfully docked, a NASA livestream showed.
The SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft arrived at the orbiting station at 0640 GMT on Friday, the US space agency said in a statement.
NASA's Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, Russia's Andrey Fedyaev and Sultan al-Neyadi of the United Arab Emirates entered the station about two hours later, the livestream showed.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the spacecraft had blasted off to the station on Thursday after the launch was scrubbed just minutes before liftoff earlier in the week.
The crew will spend six months on the station, where they will conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations, according to SpaceX.
The mission was the first space flight for Neyadi, Hoburg and Fedyaev.
Nozzle erosion blamed for Vega C launch failure
Friday, 03 March 2023 11:37 Write a comment
Europe plans to return the Vega C rocket to flight by the end of the year after concluding an eroded nozzle component caused the failure of its previous launch last December.
Astra identifies cause of last failed Rocket 3.3 launch
Friday, 03 March 2023 10:26 Write a comment
An investigation into a failed Astra launch last June concluded that a complex series of events caused a fuel leak that kept the rocket’s upper stage from reaching orbit.
Galactic explosion offers astrophysicists new insight into the cosmos
Friday, 03 March 2023 10:01 Write a comment
Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope's first year of interstellar observation, an international team of researchers was able to serendipitously view an exploding supernova in a faraway spiral galaxy.
The study, published recently in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, provides new infrared measurements of one of the brightest galaxies in our cosmic neighborhood, NGC 1566, also kno