Using eclipses to calculate the transparency of Saturn's rings
Thursday, 16 November 2023 06:10
Lancaster UK (SPX) Nov 16, 2023
A Lancaster University PhD student has measured the optical depth of Saturn's rings using a new method based on how much sunlight reached the Cassini spacecraft while it was in the shadow of the rings.
The optical depth is connected to the transparency of an object, and it shows how far light can travel through that object before it gets absorbed or scattered.
The research, led by La

Webb detects water vapor, sulfur dioxide and sand clouds in the atmosphere of a nearby exoplanet
Thursday, 16 November 2023 06:10
Leuven, Belgium (SPX) Nov 16, 2023
A team of European astronomers, co-led by researchers from the Institute of Astronomy, KU Leuven, used recent observations made with the James Webb Space Telescope to study the atmosphere of the nearby exoplanet WASP-107b. Peering deep into the fluffy atmosphere of WASP-107b they discovered not only water vapour and sulfur dioxide, but even silicate sand clouds. These particles reside within a d

Webb follows neon signs toward new thinking on planet formation
Thursday, 16 November 2023 06:10
Baltimore MD (SPX) Nov 16, 2023
Scientists are following neon signs in a search for clues to one planetary system's future and the past of another - our own solar system. Following up on a peculiar reading by NASA's previous infrared flagship observatory, the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope, the agency's James Webb Space Telescope detected distinct traces of the element neon in the dusty disk surrounding the young Sun-like

NASA data reveals possible reason some exoplanets are shrinking
Thursday, 16 November 2023 06:10
Pasadena CA (JPL) Nov 16, 2023
Some exoplanets seem to be losing their atmospheres and shrinking. In a new study using NASA's retired Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers find evidence of a possible cause: The cores of these planets are pushing away their atmospheres from the inside out.
Exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) come in a variety of sizes, from small, rocky planets to colossal gas giants. In the midd

Astronomers baffled by repeat explosions 100 billion times the energy of the Sun
Thursday, 16 November 2023 06:10
Melbourne, Australia (SPX) Nov 16, 2023
Astronomers are baffled by a mysterious and extremely bright event in the distant Universe, nicknamed the "Tasmanian Devil", which has been observed to explode repeatedly and emit more energy than hundreds of billions of stars like our Sun.
The report, published in Nature, describes a Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transient (LFBOT) monitored in a new way and shown to have unusual behaviour. L

ALMA demonstrates highest resolution yet
Thursday, 16 November 2023 06:10
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Nov 16, 2023
ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) has demonstrated the highest resolution yet with observations of an old star. The observations show that the star is surrounded by a ring-like structure of gas and that gas from the star is escaping to the surrounding space. Future observations with the newly demonstrated high resolution are expected to elucidate, not only the end of a star's l

With unprecedented flares, stellar corpse shows signs of life
Thursday, 16 November 2023 06:10
Ithica NY (SPX) Nov 16, 2023
After a distant star's explosive death, an active stellar corpse was the likely source of repeated energetic flares observed over several months - a phenomenon astronomers had never seen before, a Cornell-led team reports in new research published Nov. 15 in Nature.
The bright, brief flashes - as short as a few minutes in duration, and as powerful as the original explosion 100 days later -

Nobody wants a Musk monopoly on satellite internet: Eutelsat boss
Thursday, 16 November 2023 00:29
Paris (AFP) Nov 15, 2023
The boss of European satellite operator Eutelsat knows her task will not be easy: to forge a competitor to Elon Musk's Starlink and provide superfast internet from space.
"We have a lot of customers who want us to get there quickly," Eva Berneke told AFP in an interview.
"They tell us they took Starlink because there wasn't anyone else. But they want competition too. Nobody wants a monop

US regulator greenlights Starship's next launch on Friday
Thursday, 16 November 2023 00:29
Washington (AFP) Nov 15, 2023
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday authorized SpaceX to carry out its second launch of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, after a first attempt in April ended in a spectacular explosion.
In a statement, the FAA said Elon Musk's company had now "met all safety, environmental, policy and financial responsibility requirements" following the mishap that marred

Crystals brought back by astronauts show that the Moon is 40 million years older than scientists thought
Thursday, 16 November 2023 00:29
Chicago IL (SPX) Oct 31, 2023
More than 4 billion years ago, when the Solar System was still young and the Earth was still growing, a giant object the size of Mars crashed into the Earth. The biggest piece that broke off of the early Earth formed our Moon. But precisely when this happened has remained a mystery. In a new study in the journal Geochemical Perspectives Letters, researchers used crystals brought back from the Mo

InSight seismic data reveals a molten layer at the base of the Martian mantle
Thursday, 16 November 2023 00:29
Paris, France (SPX) Nov 16, 2023
The first data from the InSight mission made it possible to determine the internal structure of Mars in a series of papers from the scientific team published in the summer of 2021. However, since then, the analysis of new data generated by a powerful meteorite impact that occurred on September 18 2021, questioned the first estimates of the internal structure of

IXPE untangles theories surrounding historic supernova remnant
Thursday, 16 November 2023 00:29
Washington DC (SPX) Nov 16, 2023
NASA's IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) telescope has captured the first polarized X-ray imagery of the supernova remnant SN 1006. The new results expand scientists' understanding of the relationship between magnetic fields and the flow of high-energy particles from exploding stars.
"Magnetic fields are extremely difficult to measure, but IXPE provides an efficient way for us to p

A novel system for slip prevention in unmanned rovers
Wednesday, 15 November 2023 20:19
Given the hostile conditions of extraterrestrial environments, unmanned rovers play a critical role in the exploration of planets and moons. NASA's Mars and lunar exploration rovers have significantly contributed to our understanding of these extraterrestrial bodies. Planetary surfaces often present challenging landscapes with slopes, craters, and dunes.