Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 27, 2024
A key moment in space science unfolded Tuesday as six cutting-edge experiments launched aboard SubOrbital Express-4 from SSC's Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden. The rocket, carrying international contributions from six countries, achieved six minutes of microgravity, advancing research in medicine, green energy, and cosmic origins. SubOrbital Express-4 reached an altitude of 256 kil

Berkeley CAw (SPX) Nov 27, 2024
While Jupiter's Great Red Spot has been a constant feature of the planet for centuries, University of California, Berkeley, astronomers have discovered equally large spots at the planet's north and south poles that appear and disappear seemingly at random. The Earth-size ovals, which are visible only at ultraviolet wavelengths, are embedded in layers of stratospheric haze that cap the plan

Image: Webb traces spiral arms in infrared

The SubOrbital Express-4 sounding rocket was successfully launched from the Esrange Space Center outside Kiruna, in the north of Sweden, at 06:00 CET yesterday morning. 

Today, the ESA awarded a contract to Open Cosmos to design, build, launch and commission the NanoMagSat Scout satellites. This new mission will uphold Europe’s leadership in monitoring Earth’s magnetic field and contribute to applications such as space weather hazard assessment, navigation, directional drilling, and more.

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Nov 26, 2024
Scientists from CNRS, a German university consortium, and the Max-Planck-Institut fur Kernphysik working at the H.E.S.S. Observatory in Namibia have detected cosmic-ray electrons and positrons with the highest energies ever recorded, exceeding 40 TeV. This significant discovery reveals new insights into cosmic processes that produce immense energy, although their origins remain unclear. These re

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Nov 26, 2024
The Japan-led XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) observatory has captured the most detailed portrait yet of gases flowing within Cygnus X-3, one of the most studied sources in the X-ray sky. Cygnus X-3 is a binary that pairs a rare type of high-mass star with a compact companion - likely a black hole. "The nature of the massive star is one factor that makes Cygnus X-3 so

Oak Ridge TN (SPX) Nov 26, 2024
The universe just got a whole lot bigger - or at least in the world of computer simulations, that is. In early November, researchers at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory used the fastest supercomputer on the planet to run the largest astrophysical simulation of the universe ever conducted. The achievement was made using the Frontier supercomputer at Oak Ridge Nat

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 26, 2024
NASA has officially awarded SpaceX the contract to provide launch services for its highly anticipated Dragonfly mission, part of the New Frontiers Program. This innovative mission will send a rotorcraft lander to Titan, Saturn's largest moon, to explore its unique geologic settings and search for clues about the origins of life. Valued at approximately $256.6 million, the firm-fixed-price

Columbus OH (SPX) Nov 26, 2024
An international team of researchers has made new observations of an unusual supernova, finding the most metal-poor stellar explosion ever observed. This rare supernova, called 2023ufx, originated from the core collapse of a red supergiant star, exploded on the outskirts of a nearby dwarf galaxy. Results of the study showed that observations of both this supernova and the galaxy it was dis