Space news stories

Nasa mission lines up to ‘touch the Sun’
3rd January 2024 | bbc.co.uk | Humans, Space, Tech

A year from now, on 24 December, Nasa’s Parker Solar Probe will race past the Sun at the astonishing speed of 195 km/s, or 435,000 mph. No human-made object will have moved so fast nor, indeed, got so close to our star – just 6.1 million km, or 3.8 million miles from the Sun’s “surface”.

New nuclear deflection simulations advance planetary defense against asteroid threats
20th December 2023 phys.org | Humans, Space, Tech

The research, published in the Planetary Science Journal, introduces a novel approach to simulating the from a nuclear device on an asteroid’s surface.

Scientists find ultra-rare collection of molecules in 2 ancient galaxies from the early universe
20th December 2023 | livescience.com | Ancient, Space, Tech

Scientists find ultra-rare collection of molecules in 2 ancient galaxies from the early universe. The findings were published on December 14th in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Revealed: the oldest black hole ever observed, dating to dawn of universe
11th December 2023 | theguardian.com | Ancient, Space, Weird

Exclusive: astronomers surprised at size of 13bn-year-old object, which raises new questions about where black holes came from.

Astronomers brace for rare eclipse as asteroid to pass in front of bright star
8th December 2023 | theguardian.com | Humans, Space

One of the biggest and brightest stars in the night sky will momentarily vanish as an asteroid passes in front of it to produce a one-of-a-kind eclipse. The rare and fleeting spectacle, late on Monday into early Tuesday, should be visible to millions of people…

Giant polygon rock patterns may be buried deep below Mars’ surface
6th December 2023 | sciencenews.org | Ancient, Space

Similar patterns develop on the surface of Earth’s polar regions when icy sediments cool and contract. A comparable process long ago may have created the shapes on Mars, found near the planet’s dry equator, researchers reported recently in Nature Astronomy.

Planets of distant solar system orbit star in coordinated dance, say scientists
30th November 2023 | theguardian.com | Space, Weird

Six planets that orbit their star in a coordinated dance have been discovered by scientists, who say the finding could help shed light on why planets in our own solar system move to their own beat.

Nasa delivers ‘teaspoonful of asteroid’ Bennu to UK
29th November 2023 | bbc.co.uk | Ancient, Space

Fragments from the asteroid US space agency Nasa has described as the most dangerous rock in the Solar System have arrived in the UK for study.

The alien hunter: has Harvard’s Avi Loeb found proof of extraterrestrial life?
29th November 2023 | theguardian.com | Humans, Space, Tech, Weird

The astrophysicist and professor likes to ruffle feathers – and says his critics are merely jealous. He discusses UFOs, interstellar objects and the risks of his all-consuming search.

A rare, extremely energetic cosmic ray has mysterious origins
24th November 2023 | sciencenews.org | Space, Tech, Weird

In 1991, physicists spotted a particle from space that crashed into Earth with so much energy that it warranted an “OMG!”A new particle of comparable energy has been found, researchers report in the Nov. 24 Science…And mysteriously, scientists are unable to pinpoint any cosmic source for the particle.

These Eerie Photos Are The Only Ones Ever Taken on Venus
24th November 2023 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Space, Weird

Venus is so tantalizingly close to being a twin of Earth. Its size, composition, and density are so similar to the properties of our homeworld… but when it comes to habitability, Venus couldn’t be more different.

Strange Yellow Glass in African Desert Traced Back to Extraterrestrial Impact
22nd November 2023 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Earth, Space

The Great Sand Sea Desert stretches over an area of 72,000km² linking Egypt and Libya. If you find yourself in a particular part of the desert in south-east Libya and south-western parts of Egypt, you’ll spot pieces of yellow glass scattered across the sandy landscape.

Milky Way-like galaxy found in the early universe
12th November 2023 | eurekalert.org | Ancient, Humans, Space

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, an international team…has discovered the most distant barred spiral galaxy similar to the Milky Way that has been observed to date. The research, published in Nature, was led by scientists at the Centro de Astrobiología in Spain.

The oldest continents in the Milky Way may be 5 billion years older than Earth’s
10th November 2023 | livescience.com | Ancient, Space

Several exoplanets at the edge of our galaxy could have formed continents — and advanced life — 5 billion years earlier than Earth, new research suggests.

Euclid telescope: First images revealed from ‘dark Universe’ mission
8th November 2023 | bbc.co.uk | Ancient, Space, Tech

Over the next six years, Euclid will survey a third of the heavens to get some clues about the nature of so-called dark matter and dark energy.

Scientists Detect Traces of an Ancient Alien World Beneath Earth’s Mantle
2nd November 2023 | sciencealert.com | Ancient, Earth, Space

Some 4.5 billion years or so ago, scientists believe, something big smacked into Earth and knocked it ass over teakettle. The result was a bunch of debris hurled into space, swirling around until it formed the Moon. Of the big object, thought to be the size of Mars, and named Theia, nothing much was left. Or so we thought. See the research here.

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