Washington DC (SPX) Feb 11, 2022
While we have started the long process of aligning the telescope mirrors, almost all of the components on Webb's cold side are still continuing to cool. Webb's giant sunshield keeps the telescope and cameras out of both direct sunlight and sunlight that is reflected from Earth and the Moon. Everything on the cold side of the sunshield is passively cooling, radiating heat into deep space.

Leiden, Netherlands (SPX) Feb 11, 2022
Astronomers from Leiden Observatory have developed a new method to find distant quasars and better distinguish them from other objects that look like them, using machine learning techniques. The research result has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. It is the last article to be co-authored with Maolin Zhang, the promising Leiden PhD student of Chinese origin

Heidelberg, Germany (SPX) Feb 11, 2022
Researchers from the University of Jena and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy have demonstrated an unusual new form of chemical reaction that could allow some of the smallest biomolecules, namely peptides, to form on the icy surface of dust grains in outer space. Peptides are one of the basic building blocks of life, and the new discovery bolsters scenarios in which complex organic mo

London, UK (SPX) Feb 11, 2022
A ring of planetary debris studded with moon-sized structures has been observed orbiting close to a white dwarf star, hinting at a nearby planet in the "habitable zone" where water and thus life could exist, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. The research is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. For the new study, researchers observed WD1054-226, a w

Munich, Germany (SPX) Feb 11, 2022
A team of astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) in Chile have found evidence of another planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our Solar System. This candidate planet is the third detected in the system and the lightest yet discovered orbiting this star. At just a quarter of Earth's mass, the planet is also one of the lightest exopl

Helsinki, Finland (SPX) Feb 11, 2022
Scientists have produced the largest and most accurate virtual representation of the Universe to date. An international team of researchers, led by the University of Helsinki, and including members from Durham University in the UK, used supercomputer simulations to recreate the entire evolution of the cosmos, from the Big Bang to the present. The findings are published in the Monthly Notices of

Boston MA (SPX) Feb 11, 2022
All through history, humans have created and shared stories that ponder the creation of stars - what they are and how the first stars came to be. Now, with new results from the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA), a radio telescope located at the South Africa Karoo Astronomy Reserve, MIT scientists are one small, but significant, step closer to understanding that history. HERA rese

Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 11, 2022
The planet's auroras are known to produce low-energy X-ray light. A new study finally reveals higher-frequency X-rays and explains why they eluded another mission 30 years ago. Scientists have been studying Jupiter up close since the 1970s, but the gas giant is still full of mysteries. New observations by NASA's NuSTAR space observatory have revealed the highest-energy light ever detected

Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 11, 2022
Three abrasions and four sample cores later, the rover has finally departed the Seitah area and is embarking on the return leg of the crater floor campaign. One major difference between the "out" trip and this return trip is the pace of Perseverance's driving. As we drove towards Seitah earlier in the mission, our average daily drive distance was shorter, in part because we were doing scie

Westminster CO (SPX) Feb 11, 2022
Advanced Space LLC., a leading space solutions company, has entered into a Cooperative Research And Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Space Vehicles Directorate, and the Spacecraft Technology Division to share data collected from cislunar space through the CAPSTONE mission. Advanced Space owns and operates the CAPSTONE mission going to the Mo