Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

The strange structures of the Saturn nebula

The Saturn Nebula is located approximately 5000 light years away in the constellation of Aquarius (The Water Bearer). Its name derives from its odd shape, which resembles everyone's favourite ringed planet seen edge-on.

September 27, 2017 Read more

Cartography of the cosmos

Astrophysicists are trying to simulating all the processes in the structure and formation of the universe. It's like solving a very large physics puzzle.

September 26, 2017 Read more

Oxygen-deficient dwarf galaxy hints at makings of early universe

A recently discovered dwarf galaxy in the constellation Lynx may serve well as a proxy for better understanding the developing chemistry of the early universe.

September 25, 2017 Read more

IceCube helps demystify strange radio bursts from deep space

For a decade, astronomers have puzzled over ephemeral but incredibly powerful radio bursts from space.

September 25, 2017 Read more

The material that obscures supermassive black holes

Astronomers review the most recent results on the material that obscures AGN.

September 25, 2017 Read more

Observatory detects extragalactic cosmic rays hitting the Earth

Fifty years ago, scientists discovered that the Earth is occasionally hit by cosmic rays of enormous energies. Since then, they have argued about the source of those ultra-high energy cosmic rays - whether they came from our galaxy or outside the Milky Way.

September 22, 2017 Read more

Positive, negative or neutral, it all matters: NASA explains space radiation (w/video)

Charged particles may be small, but they matter to astronauts. NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) is investigating these particles to solve one of its biggest challenges for a human journey to Mars: space radiation and its effects on the human body.

September 22, 2017 Read more

Is the Milky Way an 'outlier' galaxy? Studying its 'siblings' for clues

The most-studied galaxy in the universe - the Milky Way - might not be as 'typical' as previously thought, according to a new study.

September 20, 2017 Read more

Ageing star blows off smoky bubble

In the faint southern constellation of Antlia the careful observer with binoculars will spot a very red star, which varies slightly in brightness from week to week. This very unusual star is called U Antliae and new observations are revealing a remarkably thin spherical shell around it.

September 20, 2017 Read more

Size matters in the detection of exoplanet atmospheres

A group-analysis of 30 exoplanets orbiting distant stars suggests that size, not mass, is a key factor in whether a planet?s atmosphere can be detected.

September 19, 2017 Read more

When radio galaxies collide, supermassive black holes form tightly bound pairs

A study using multiple radio telescopes confirms that supermassive black holes found in the centers of galaxies can form gravitationally bound pairs when galaxies merge.

September 18, 2017 Read more

What we're hoping to learn from the magnetic readings of Cassini's final orbits

The spacecraft, now a memory, leaves us with an enormous legacy - a dataset that will take decades to fully exploit.

September 18, 2017 Read more

Physicists offer explanation for diverse galaxy rotations

New study invokes intriguing self-interacting dark matter theory.

September 14, 2017 Read more

The return of the comet-like exoplanet

Astronomers focused the Hubble Space Telescope on an exoplanet that had already been seen losing its atmosphere, which forms an enormous cloud of hydrogen, giving the planet the appearance of a giant comet.

September 14, 2017 Read more

Researchers create first global map of water in Moon's soil

In research that may prove useful to future lunar explorers, scientists have created the first quantitative map of water and its chemical building blocks trapped in the uppermost portion of the Moon's soil.

September 13, 2017 Read more

Astronomers spun up by galaxy-shape finding

For the first time astronomers have measured how a galaxy's spin affects its shape.

September 11, 2017 Read more

Explosive birth of stars swells galactic cores

Astronomers found that active star formation upswells galaxies, like yeast helps bread rise.

September 11, 2017 Read more

Are we being watched? Tens of other worlds could spot the Earth

A group of scientists have turned exoplanet-hunting on its head, in a study that instead looks at how an alien observer might be able to detect Earth using our own methods.

September 8, 2017 Read more