Space news stories

Study of ancient meteorites ‘reveal secrets of Jupiter’s formation’
16th May 2023 news.sky.com | Ancient, Space

A ground-breaking study of ancient meteorites has provided the first evidence to suggest that Jupiter was once much closer to the sun before it shifted position.

Astronomers detect largest cosmic explosion ever seen Published
15th May 2023 | bbc.co.uk | Humans, Space, Weird

The explosion is more than 10 times brighter than any recorded exploding star – known as a supernova.

Salty water may have flowed near Mars’ equator as recently as 400,000 years ago
9th May 2023 | sciencenews.org | Ancient, Space

Crusts, cracks and other geologic features on sand dunes near the Martian equator are leading researchers to believe there may have been water there much more recently than previously thought. See April 2023 research here and Jan 2021 research here.

The most powerful black holes in the universe may finally have an explanation
30th April 2023 | livescience.com | Humans, Space

Quasars, the most extreme phenomena in the universe, are triggered when galactic collisions deliver gas to feeding black holes, new research suggests.

New Study of Einstein Rings Says Dark Matter Behaves More Like a Wave, Not a Particle
24th April 2023 | sciencealert.com | Humans, Space, Weird

The nature of dark matter is a longstanding puzzle. However, a new study by Alfred Amruth at the University of Hong Kong and colleagues, published in Nature Astronomy, uses the gravitational bending of light to bring us a step closer to understanding.

Cosmic antimatter hints at origins of huge bubbles in our galaxy’s center
21st April 2023 | sciencenews.org | Ancient, Space

Bubbles of radiation billowing from the galactic center may have started as a stream of electrons and their antimatter counterparts, positrons, new observations suggest.

Asteroid Impacts Could Have Warmed Ancient Mars
19th April 2023 eos.org | Ancient, Space

Hydrogen released during large impacts might have boosted Mars’s surface temperature above freezing for thousands or even millions of years, enabling liquid water to flow over the Red Planet. See research here.

Humans Are Erasing Billions of Years of Data From Ancient Meteorites
17th April 2023 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Humans, Space

A popular and easy method for validating whether or not a chunk of rock is a meteorite, and what kind of meteorite it is, has been inadvertently erasing invaluable information locked inside. See the research here.

Juice mission blasts off to Jupiter to look for signs of life
14th April 2023 | theguardian.com | Humans, Space, Tech

European Space Agency probe due to arrive in 2031 to scan icy moons and study Great Red Spot

Medieval monks and lunar eclipses shed light on ancient volcanos
12th April 2023 newatlas.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans, Space

What do medieval monks and volcanic eruptions have in common? According to a team of researchers led by the University of Geneva, quite a bit because chronicles from the 12th and 13th century are helping volcanologists to precisely date ancient eruptions based on descriptions of lunar eclipses. See the research here.

Image from: .scopex (Wiki Commons)

Mysterious dark matter mapped in finest detail yet
12th April 2023 | bbc.co.uk | Ancient, Space, Tech

It’s being described as the most detailed ever map of the influence of dark matter through cosmic history. A telescope in Chile has traced the distribution of this mysterious stuff on a quarter of the sky and across almost 14 billion years of time.

Venus has almost 50 times as many volcanoes as previously thought
8th April 2023 | sciencenews.org | Ancient, Space

The hellscape of Venus is riddled with even more volcanoes than scientists thought. See the research here.

Aliens could be hiding in ‘terminator zones’ on planets with eternal night
6th April 2023 | space.com | Ancient, Earth, Space

In a new study, astronomers propose that extraterrestrial life could exist in so-called terminator zones, the border between light and dark halves of an exoplanet.

World’s first artificial shooting star display to be launched by Japanese space start up
3rd April 2023 news.sky.com | Humans, Space, Tech

Chief executive and founder of space company ALE, Dr Lena Okajima, says she wants to “inspire wonder and spark scientific curiosity” with an awe-inducing multi-coloured meteor shower, but also hopes to collect crucial atmospheric data that helps humankind tackle climate change.

Ultramassive black hole discovered by UK astronomers
30th March 2023 | theguardian.com | Ancient, Humans, Space, Tech

An ultramassive black hole about 30bn times the mass of the Sun has been discovered by astronomers in the UK.

Risk of Giant Asteroids Hitting Earth Could Be Worse Than We Realized
21st March 2023 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Earth, Humans, Space

Our planet hides its scars well. It’s a shame, actually, as evidence of previous asteroid strikes might help us better plan for the next catastrophic impact. In fact, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center chief scientist, James Garvin, thinks we might have been misreading traces of some of the more serious asteroid strikes that have occurred within the past million years

News stories covering Space, from the macro to the micro, including Space exploration, quantum physics and quantum weirdness.