Washington DC (UPI) Aug 5, 2021
The collision of two distant neutron stars released one of the most powerful short gamma-ray bursts ever recorded, scientists say. The collision marked the first time scientists have recorded millimeter-wavelength light from a fiery explosion to be caused by the merger of a neutron star with another star. It was observed on Nov. 6, 2021. The observation was made with the Atacama

Toowoomba, Australia (SPX) Aug 08, 2022
If you close your eyes and imagine a system of planets orbiting a distant star, what do you see? For most people, such thoughts conjure up systems that mirror the Solar System: planets orbiting a host star on near-circular orbits - rocky planets closer in, and giants such as Jupiter in the icy depths. However, the more we study the cosmos, the more we begin to realise planetary syste

Vienna, Austria (SPX) Aug 04, 2022
Theoretically, this effect has been predicted for a long time, but now scientists at the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ) at TU Wien, in cooperation with the University of Innsbruck, have succeeded in measuring this exotic atomic bond for the first time. This interaction is useful for manipulating extremely cold atoms, and the effect could also play a role in the formation

Washington DC (UPI) Aug 5, 2021
The Perseid meteor shower, one of Earth's biggest, is set to peak with best viewing starting Aug. 11. The annual meteor shower will peak the next day, but this year the full moon may interfere with visibility, according to NASA. "Sadly, this year's Perseids peak will see the worst possible circumstances for spotters," NASA astronomer Bill Cooke said in a statement. "Most o

Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 08, 2022
Images and data downlinked Thursday from Perseverance show that we've successfully cored, sealed, and stored our 12th sample of the mission. As the team always does, images of several sample collection system components were taken after completion of the coring activity. In those images, two small pieces of debris were visible - a small object on the coring bit (stored in the bit carousel)

Paris (ESA) Aug 08, 2022
ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti was launched to the International Space Station on 27 April as a part of Crew-4 for her second mission, Minerva. One hundred days in, mission Minerva is still going strong. From completing cutting-edge research in the world's only orbiting laboratory to sharing daily life on the Space Station via TikTok, it's all in a day's work for an ESA astronaut. In

Bethlehem PA (SPX) Aug 08, 2022
There are four fundamental forces that describe every interaction in nature: electromagnetism, the weak force, the strong force and gravity. While gravity, the mutual attraction that brings objects with mass together, may be the most familiar, there is still much to learn about its fundamental nature. Insights into gravity could lead to greater understanding of phenomena as abstract as the

Moscow, Russia (SPX) Aug 08, 2022
The SNAD team, an international network of researchers including Matvey Kornilov, Associate Professor of the HSE University Faculty of Physics, has discovered 11 previously undetected space anomalies, seven of which are supernova candidates. The researchers analysed digital images of the Northern sky taken in 2018 using a k-D tree to detect anomalies through the 'nearest neighbour' method. Machi

Beijing (XNA) Aug 08, 2022
The small mechanical arm mounted with Wentian, the first lab module of China's space station, has successfully completed in-orbit tests, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). With the support of the ground team, the small mechanical arm has completed a series of in-orbit function and performance tests. All indexes performed well, achieving expected results, said the CMSA.

Austin TX (SPX) Aug 08, 2022
Two new images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope show what may be among the earliest galaxies ever observed. Both images include objects from more than 13 billion years ago, and one offers a much wider field of view than Webb's First Deep Field image, which was released amid great fanfare July 12. The images represent some of the first out of a major collaboration of astronomers and other a