A new study using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton challenges one of the fundamental ideas of cosmology that everything looks the same in all directions if you look over large enough distances.
Category: Astronomy
SURVIVAL OF BACTERIA IN SPACE
The survival of some microorganisms exposed to outer space has been studied using both simulated facilities and low Earth orbit exposures. Bacteria were some of the first organisms investigated, when in 1960 a Russian satellite carried Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus and Enterobacter aerogenes into orbit.
WE MAY HAVE FOUND THE FIRST-EVER TRACE OF PROTEIN FROM OUTER SPACE IN AN OLD METEORITE
A team of scientists believes they have discovered the first extraterrestrial protein known to humanity. Using a new analysis technique, the researchers claim to have found the out-of-this-world discovery inside a meteorite that fell to Earth some 30 years ago.
URANUS IS LEAKING ITS ATMOSPHERE INTO SPACE, NASA DATA SHOWS
After revisiting decades-old data from the Voyager 2 flyby in Jan 1986, NASA scientists have found a shocking discovery. The analysis has revealed a “zigzag” in the magnetic data, just lasting one minute in the Voyager 2’s 45-hour flyby. The zigzag was previously not detected as the data was not analyzed in detail, and just looked at as an overview. Scientists believe that the zigzag represents a plasmoid, a type of structure that was not well understood in 1986.
SCIENTISTS FIND A SUPERCONDUCTOR IN BITS OF METEORITE
The discovery is just the latest to show that meteorites are much more than space debris that falls out of the sky. Recent investigations have turned up meteorite-borne deliveries of possible extraterrestrial proteins, minerals and materials older than the Solar System itself. But we have never seen anything quite like this before.
HOW DID THE MOON FORM?
Our Moon is a jewel in our night sky. The night sky just wouldn’t feel right without the Moon. But the Moon wasn’t there all the time. So Where did our natural satellite come from? After the sun spun to light, the planets of the solar system began to form. But it took another hundred… Continue reading HOW DID THE MOON FORM?
WHY STUDY ASTEROIDS?
The scientific interest in asteroids is largely due to their status as the remnant debris from the inner solar system formation process. Because some of these objects can collide with the Earth, asteroids are also important for having significantly modified the Earth’s biosphere in the past. They will continue to do so in the future.… Continue reading WHY STUDY ASTEROIDS?
EVEN STAR SYSTEMS HAVE IDENTITY CRISES
A double star system has been flipping between two alter egos, according to observations with Chandra X-ray Observatory and The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array(VLA). Using nearly a decade and a half worth of Chandra data, researchers noticed that a stellar duo behaved like one type of object before switching its identity… Continue reading EVEN STAR SYSTEMS HAVE IDENTITY CRISES