Paris (ESA) Jul 14, 2022
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has delivered the deepest, sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe so far. Webb's image is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm's length - and reveals thousands of galaxies in a tiny sliver of vast Universe. This sharp near-infrared view has brought out faint structures in extremely distant galaxies, for an unprecedented

Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Jul 14, 2022
Researchers at ETH Zurich have redetermined the gravitational constant G using a new measurement technique. Although there is still a large degree of uncertainty regarding this value, the new method offers great potential for testing one of the most fundamental laws of nature. The gravitational constant G determines the strength of gravity - the force that makes apples fall to the ground o

Manchester UK (SPX) Jul 14, 2022
The first results from a mammoth astronomy project aimed at mapping out the origins of our 13.8 billion year old universe have been announced. An international team of astronomers from around the globe taking part in the project named, COMAP (CO Mapping Array Project) will offer us a new glimpse into this epoch of galaxy assembly, helping to answer questions about what really caused the un

Potsdam, Germany (SPX) Jul 14, 2022
Using supercomputer calculations, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam and from Japan show a consistent picture for the first time: They modeled the complete process of the collision of a black hole with a neutron star. In their studies, they calculated the process from the final orbits through the merger to the post-merger phase, in which according to thei

Montreal, Canada (SPX) Jul 14, 2022
Astronomers at McGill University, MIT and elsewhere have detected a strange and persistent radio signal from a far-off galaxy, that appears to be flashing with surprising regularity. Classified as a fast radio burst, or FRB, this new signal persists for up to three seconds, about 1,000 times longer than the average FRB. Within this window, the team detected bursts of radio waves that repeat ever

Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 14, 2022
Sometime around 400 million years after the birth of our universe, the first stars began to form. The universe's so-called dark ages came to an end and a new light-filled era began. More and more galaxies began to take shape and served as factories for churning out new stars, a process that reached a peak about 4 billion years after the Big Bang. Luckily for astronomers, this bygone era ca

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 14, 2022
Since we finished up with our "Avanavero" drill activities yesterday, we're officially back on the Martian road to the layered sulfate-bearing unit! Today we just planned a single sol's worth of activities, and filled the day with contact science, remote sensing, and a 50m+ drive. The remote sensing and contact science activities include a MAHLI and ChemCam LIBS observation of a bedrock ta

Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX) Jul 14, 2022
NASA and SpaceX are targeting 8:44 p.m. EDT Thursday, July 14, to launch the agency's next investigation to monitor climate change to the International Space Station. The mission, NASA's Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT), will fly aboard SpaceX's 25th commercial resupply services mission to the orbital laboratory. SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft will lift off from Launch Co

London, UK (SPX) Jul 14, 2022
UK rocket company Skyrora has taken another important stride towards achieving a sovereign orbital launch from British soil by opening a new manufacturing and production facility, the largest of its kind in the UK. After recently opening its engine test facility in Midlothian, this new facility in Cumbernauld allows the company to concentrate its launch development practices in custom-buil

Beijing (XNA) Jul 14, 2022
CAS Space, a Beijing-based rocket company owned by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is designing a set of reusable rocket and spacecraft, with the aim of sending paying passengers on short trips into space, said the company's chairman. Yang Yiqiang, a senior rocket scientist and founder of CAS Space, told China Daily in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that if everything goes according