Astrophysics

High Tension Detected Between Massive Cosmic Pair

An artist's impression of a pair of supermassive black holes that have been locked in foreplay for 3 billion yearsNOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. daSilva/M. ZamaniWe've all experienced the regret of delaying action on someone special, but at least we can find solace in the fact that we didn't wait a quarter of all time that has ever...

Odysseus Broke his Leg Landing from an Overlooked Laser Switch

Image from Odysseus showing the broken leg and the plume from the throttling engineIntuitive MachinesAs the Odysseus Moon lander approaches its final hours, an unexpected development adds a twist to its narrative: during landing, one of its legs broke due to a series of errors stemming from a missed safety procedure on Earth prior...

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Won’t Fly Again

Ingenuity as seen from the Perseverance roverNASA/JPL-CaltechNASA has officially concluded its Ingenuity Mars helicopter mission, originally planned for a month with five flights. Surpassing expectations, the mission endured for three years, completing 72 flights before being halted due to damaged rotors after its last flight. Ingenuity, part of NASA's Perseverance rover mission, made history...

How Many Black Holes Are There?

Credit: DepositphotosEstimating the quantity of black holes poses a challenge due to their indirect detectability.Nonetheless, astronomers are diligently working to ascertain the count of black holes in space. Before addressing the question, "How Many Black Holes Are There?" it's crucial to note three types: stellar, intermediate, and supermassive. Each type displays distinct properties...

NASA Shares a Cute Cat Video from Deep Space with Earth

THe cat laser videoNASA/JPL-CaltechNASA has elevated cat videos to a new frontier through its Psyche Deep Space Optical Communications experiment, transmitting a 15-second high-definition footage of a playful tabby across a distance of 19 million miles (31 million km) to Earth.Observing a cat pursuing a laser pointer might be endearing, but the question arises:...

Voyager 1 Encounters a Data Transmission Issue

Artist's concept of Voyager 1NASANASA engineers are currently addressing a newly discovered issue in one of the computers on the Voyager 1 deep space probe. This fault is hindering the 46-year-old spacecraft from sending any scientific or engineering data to Mission Control on Earth.Launched in 1977 from the Kennedy Space Center, Voyager 1, alongside...

The Moon’s Rocket-Created Craters have Been Resolved

The far side of the Moon as seen by China's Chang'e 5-T1 missionChinese National Space Agency/Chinese Academy of SciencesThe origin of a set of craters on the far side of the Moon has been clarified by a recent study from the University of Arizona, establishing that the probable cause was a discarded rocket booster...

Unveiling Solar Uncertainty: The Enigma of the Sun’s Size

Recent Studies Indicate the Sun is Marginally Smaller Than Official Estimates. Credit: NASA/SDO/AIAPhysicists' insistence on celestial bodies being non-perfect spheres raises questions about our understanding of their true dimensions. In the case of the Sun, renowned for its familiarity, discrepancies emerge when various methods are employed to measure its size.The International Astronomical Union, in...

Earth Receives Laser Message from 16 Million Kilometers Away

Psyche Probe's Deep Space Optical Communications Sets Record for Distant Laser Data Transmission. Credit: ProleR/ShutterstockIn a groundbreaking achievement, a deep space experiment conducted aboard NASA's Psyche spacecraft has successfully transmitted a laser message to Earth from a location surpassing the Moon's distance for the first time. The achievement by the Deep Space Optical Communications...

ALMA Reveals High-Resolution Structure of Old Star

Credit: UnsplashALMA, a big telescope, looked at an old star and saw it really well. The star has a ring of gas around it, and some of the gas is moving away into space. Using this powerful telescope in the future will help us understand not only how stars end but also how planets...