The expanse of Lake Taupō’s azure waters, crowned by hazy, mountainous horizons, evoke an extreme sense of calm. And yet, deep beneath the ground, geological unrest is brewing, according to a new paper in the New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. Lake Taupō is the largest freshwater lake in Australasia and is located in … Read more
Less than a century ago, we—humans—believed that the universe ended at the very edge of the Milky Way. At the point where the last starlight of our home galaxy died out, endless nothingness began. Until Edwin Hubble. The famous astronomer diligently scanned the sky for twinkling stars from Mount Wilson Observatory in California. His work … Read more
President Joe Biden released one of the first images of Webb, and it’s the deepest view of the universe ever recorded. The image shows SMACS 0723, where a massive group of galaxy clusters acts as a magnifying glass for objects beyond. This so-called gravitational lensing created Webb’s first deep-field view of incredibly old and distant, … Read more
In May, NASA scientists said the Voyager 1 spacecraft was returning inaccurate data from its attitude control system. The mysterious bug is still ongoing, according to the mission’s engineering team. To find a solution, engineers are now digging through manuals that are decades old. Voyager 1, along with its twin Voyager 2, was launched in … Read more
When a star (red trail) wanders too close to a black hole (left), it can be shredded or crushed by strong gravity. Some of the star’s matter swirls around the black hole, like water in a drain, emitting copious amounts of X-rays (blue). Recent studies of these so-called tidal disturbances suggest that a significant portion … Read more
When a star (red trail) wanders too close to a black hole (left), it can be shredded or crushed by strong gravity. Some of the star’s matter swirls around the black hole, like water in a drain, emitting copious amounts of X-rays (blue). Recent studies of these so-called tidal disturbances suggest that a significant portion … Read more
This kite-like space sail will help launch a rocket component from orbit within two years.picture: Shanghai Academy of Space Technology Eengineers in China have successfully used an ultra-thin sail attached to a rocket part to speed up its departure from low Earth orbit and reduce the crowd space junk floating aimlessly over our planet. The … Read more
This kite-like space sail will help launch a rocket component from orbit within two years.picture: Shanghai Academy of Space Technology Eengineers in China have successfully used an ultra-thin sail attached to a rocket part to speed up its departure from low Earth orbit and reduce the crowd space junk floating aimlessly over our planet. The … Read more
A new space debris disposal method was tested on the International Space Station (ISS), discarding about 172 pounds of trash — including dirty crew clothing and used office supplies. Nanoracks, a Houston-based private company, has developed a special method to retrieve debris from the ISS and help it re-enter Earth’s atmosphere safely. Currently, the garbage … Read more