Los Alamos NM (SPX) Dec 08, 2023
The elements above iron on the periodic table are thought to be created in cataclysmic explosions like the merger of two neutron stars or in rare classes of supernovae. New research suggests fission may operate in the cosmos during the creation of the heavy elements. Combing through data on a variety of elements that reside in very old stars, researchers have found a potential signature of fissi

Raleigh NC (SPX) Dec 08, 2023
How heavy can an element be? An international team of researchers has found that ancient stars were capable of producing elements with atomic masses greater than 260, heavier than any element on the periodic table found naturally on Earth. The finding deepens our understanding of element formation in stars. We are, literally, made of star stuff. Stars are element factories, where elements

Gottingen, Germany (SPX) Dec 08, 2023
In the vast cosmos, where planets orbit distant stars, the existence of moons around exoplanets has been a topic of intrigue. Only two of the more than 5300 known exoplanets have so far provided evidence of moons in orbit around them, and these findings were associated with exoplanets Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b. However, a recent study conducted by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for

Washington DC (SPX) Dec 08, 2023
It's December and that means one of the best celestial events will grace the skies. The Geminid meteor shower should peak in a moonless sky between Wednesday and Thursday, December 13-14. On Wednesday night, December 13th, and continuing into the early hours of Thursday, December 14th, be sure to head outside and look up - you may very well see brief streaks of light crossing the sky from

Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 08, 2023
Earth planning date: Wednesday, December 6, 2023: We arrived at our previous drill site 'Sequoia' in mid-October. Since then we've celebrated 4000 Sols on Mars, and stayed here for a few extra weeks during conjunction. But finally, Curiosity is on the move once again! Previously, we drove ~5 m and today's planning involved picking the most interesting rocks in the new workspace to target w

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 08, 2023
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) has secured a launch services agreement that will see the deployment of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology's (KAIST) Earth observation satellite, NeonSat-1. This exciting development is set to take place during the first half of 2024, adding to Rocket Lab's increasingly busy manifest of Electron missions. KAIST's NeonSat-1 will serve

Image: The last members of the European Antarctic crew DC19 say goodbye to Concordia after spending a year at the research station in Antarctica

Space Coast FL (SPX) Dec 07, 2023
SpaceX sent up 23 Starlink satellites during a mission from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). Liftoff from Launch Complex 40 (LC-40) occurred at 12:07 a.m. EST (0507 UTC) on SpaceX's 90th orbital mission of 2023. This mission marks the 125th operational Starlink mission, with Starlink Group 6-33 bringing the total number of launched Starlink satellites to 5,559, with mo

Tropical forests are clearly critical to Earth’s climate system, but understanding exactly how much carbon they absorb from the atmosphere, store and release is tricky to calculate, not least because measuring and reporting methods vary. With these measurements paramount for nations assessing the action they are taking to combat the climate crisis, new research shows how differences in estimates of carbon flux associated with human activity can be reconciled.

Lightweight but robust, aluminium is the single most versatile space material. A new ESA project extends this versatility still further, by investigating the production of big aluminium mirrors for space-based astronomy. Applying a novel technique, the team joined together multiple aluminium segments to form a single mirror. The resulting surface had to be optically perfect however, with no trace left of joins in the combined metal.