NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Ends 11-Year Mission
NASA has concluded that the 11-year mission of the Dawn Spacecraft and its exploration of Vesta and Ceres, two of the largest objects in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, has come to an end. According to the space agency, the spacecraft missed scheduled communications sessions with NASA’s Deep Space Network not only on […]
Oumuamua: It’s a Comet, It’s an Asteroid, No, wait, It’s a Comet
An odd rocky cigar-shaped object called Oumuamua made news late last year when it was determined to be of interstellar origin. It was touted as the solar system’s first visitor from another star system. Some scientists first pegged Oumuamua as a comet soon after its discovery. A few months later studies indicated that it was […]
Asteroid May Have Immigrated From Another Solar System to Ours
An odd cigar-shaped object name Oumuamua made news late last year when it was determined to be of interstellar origin. It was touted as the solar system’s first visitor from another star system. A new study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters details the discovery of what scientists are calling the […]
Radio Telescope Finds No Signs of Alien Life in Interstellar Object
Soon after the October 2017 discovery of Oumuamua, the first confirmed interstellar object to visit our solar system, rumors and conspiracy theories began popping up all over the Internet. Because of its suspected origins, as well as its odd, flat, cigar-shaped appearance, word started to spread that the object was actually an alien interstellar space […]
First Interstellar Visitor Probably Came From Binary Star System
Canadian astronomers think that the first confirmed interstellar object to enter our solar system, a rocky, cigar-shaped asteroid called ‘Oumuamua, probably came from a binary star system. To make their findings, the researchers at the University of Toronto’s Center for Planetary Science checked into just how effective twin star systems are at ejecting objects like […]
Eek! Spiders and Snakes; Interstellar Visitor; Sugar Boosts Cancer Growth
Why We Don’t Like Spiders and Snakes Two of the most common fears among people from around the world are arachnophobia, which is a fear of spiders and ophiophobia, the fear of snakes. Whether they live in rural communities or in the heart of a big city, most people generally get, at least, a little […]
September 2017 Science Images
60 Days in Bed For Science; Asteroid Belt Mystery Solved & Ice on Mercury?
Mystery Asteroid Belt Object Really a Binary Asteroid Back in 2011 a Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System or PanSTARRS survey detected an object in the asteroid belt displaying comet-like activity. So along with being labeled an asteroid, when it was discovered five years earlier, scientists also gave it a comet designation. After analyzing […]
Goodbye Cassini; Shape-Shifting Bacteria; New Horizons Wakes Up
NASA Cassini Mission to Saturn Comes to Fiery End English Poet Geoffrey Chaucer once said, “all good things must come to an end”. And so it goes with NASA’s Cassini mission, which provided a close-up look of Saturn, its moons and famous rings over the last 13 years, came to a blazing end on September […]
Solar System Mimics Ours; The Big Empty; Closest Human Relative?
Nearby Planetary System Mimics our Solar System A group of scientists using NASA’s airborne Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy or SOFIA recently completed a study that confirmed their previous findings of a young and nearby planetary system. The researchers found that the system surrounding the star Epsilon Eridani, which is about 10.5 light years away […]