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Our galaxy, the Milky Way, began forming around 12 billion years ago. Since then, it has been growing in both mass and size through a sequence of mergers with other galaxies.

Perhaps most exciting is that this process has not quite finished, and by using data from ESA’s Gaia spacecraft, astronomers can see it taking place. This in turn allows to reconstruct the history of our galaxy, revealing the ‘family tree’ of smaller galaxies that has helped make the Milky Way what it is today.

The latest work on this subject comes from Khyati Malhan, a Humboldt Fellow at the

Paris, France (SPX) Feb 15, 2022
Eutelsat Communications and Marlink, the Smart Network Company, have agreed to extend their Global Maritime Partnership, initially signed in 2019, to support expansion in Africa and the Middle East (Red Sea and the Gulf) and to integrate the Americas and Asia into the portfolio of Eutelsat satellite capacity used by Marlink. Marlink is the leading maritime VSAT operator in the world, with

Perth, Australia (SPX) Feb 15, 2022
Perth researchers made history when they sent the first WA designed and built satellite into space last year. The Binar-1 - named after the Noongar word for fireball - was developed by Curtin University's Space Science and Technology Centre. The Binar Space Program team plan to deploy six more locally made satellites in the next 2 years. So why is WA launching satellites and wh

Brighton UK (SPX) Feb 11, 2022
Operating quantum technology in challenging environments, such as space, has moved a significant step forward after physicists working at the University of Sussex have developed a monitoring and control system blueprint for quantum devices and experiments. The system is presented in a peer reviewed paper published in Quantum Science and Technology. The paper details how the University's Qu

Baltimore MD (SPX) Feb 17, 2022
One of the most exciting findings in planetary science in recent years is the discovery of interstellar objects passing through our solar system. So far, astronomers have confirmed only two of these interlopers from other star systems - 1I/'Oumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2018 - but many, many more are thought to exist. Scientists have had only limited ability to study these objects once disc

Providence RI (SPX) Feb 15, 2022
The asteroid 16 Psyche, which NASA intends to visit with a spacecraft in 2026, may be less heavy metal and more hard rock than scientists have surmised, according to a new study by researchers from Brown and Purdue universities. Psyche, which orbits the sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is the largest of the M-type asteroids, which are composed chiefly of iron and nickel a

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Feb 15, 2022
In time for Valentine's Day, NASA's Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer which launched Dec. 9, 2021, has delivered its first imaging data since completing its month-long commissioning phase. All instruments are functioning well aboard the observatory, which is on a quest to study some of the most mysterious and extreme objects in the universe. IXPE first focused its X-ray eyes on Cassiopeia

Washington DC (SPX) Feb 17, 2022
JILA physicists have measured Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, or more specifically, the effect called time dilation, at the smallest scale ever, showing that two tiny atomic clocks, separated by just a millimeter or the width of a sharp pencil tip, tick at different rates. The experiments, described in the Feb. 17 issue of Nature, suggest how to make atomic clocks 50 times

Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 15, 2022
When NASA's Perseverance Mars rover tried to collect its first rock core sample last August, the outcome presented a puzzle for the mission team: The rover's sample tube came up empty. But why? Not long after, Perseverance successfully gathered a sample the size of a piece of chalk from a different rock. The team concluded that the first rock they had chosen was so crumbly that the rover's

Greenbelt MD (SPX) Feb 17, 2022
Curiosity is advancing westward through a largely boulder-strewn channel that is leading us toward the Greenheugh Pediment. The Pediment is where our rover will spend the next many months, as we turn back uphill to the south and continue our ascent up Mt. Sharp. Despite it being quite craggy in our current location, we did have to drive over a large sand patch to get to our current parking locat