Study: Pluto Should Be a Planet!
In 2006, members of the International Astronomical Union or the IAU, an organization recognized as the authority for naming celestial bodies, voted on a set of characteristics that define what makes a planet a planet. One of those traits required a planet had to “clear” its orbit; meaning it had to provide the greatest gravitational force in […]
Astronomers Discover A Dozen New Jovian Moons
As a team of astronomers was looking beyond Pluto for the mysterious Planet 9. So far they haven’t located the giant hypothetical planet, but they did wind up discovering a dozen new moons orbiting Jupiter. “Jupiter just happened to be in the sky near the search fields where we were looking for extremely distant Solar System […]
NASA Launches TESS the Exoplanet Hunter
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, will soon join NASA’s fleet of exoplanet-hunters that, so far, includes the Kepler, Hubble, and the Spitzer Space Telescopes. TESS was launched at 2251 UTC on April 18, 2018, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The space observatory is expected to survey about 85% of […]
Chinese Space Station Expected To Fall to Earth Within Days
Aerospace experts say they expect the Chinese space station, Tiangong-1, or “Celestial Palace 1” in English, to drop out of orbit and fall to Earth sometime between March 30th and April 2nd. Considering its orbital path and expected reentry trajectory, the experts say the space station could fall anywhere in the world between nearly 43° north […]
Biggest Wave Spotted; Walking Heel-to-Toe; Newborn Exoplanets
New Record for Biggest Wave Measured by Buoy The UN’s World Meteorological Society says the biggest wave ever to be measured by a buoy was identified at 0600 universal time on February 4, 2013. The colossal 19-meter swell was spotted in the North Atlantic Ocean between Iceland and the UK. The previous highest wave recorded […]
Is Planet 9 Causing Our Solar System to Wobble?
A new study from researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) suggests that Planet 9, the huge and so far unseen planet said to be lurking in the far reaches of the solar system, might be causing our group of planets to wobble a little and giving an impression that the sun is slightly tilted. […]
NASA Will Have Cassini Working Hard Right Up to Fiery Finish
As the saying goes all good things must come to an end and the same will go for the Cassini mission to Saturn as it begins its final year of operation. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has big plans for the orbiter as it makes its year-long swan song. Dubbed the Grand Finale, the space agency […]
Mars Makes Closest Approach to Earth in More Than a Decade
Do you want to get a good look at Mars? Well now is the time to catch the Red Planet as it makes its closest approach to Earth in the past eleven years. Every 26 months in an event called an opposition by astronomers – Mars and the Sun happen to be on opposite sides […]
Dwarf Planet Moon Discovered; Supplements Boost Antidepressants; Kepler Back in Business
Hubble Spots Moon Circling Distant Dwarf Planet Out in the far reaches of our solar system lies the Kuiper Belt. This region of space is occupied by icy objects left over from the creation of the solar system. Several dwarf planets, such as Pluto, also occupy the Kuiper Belt. Astronomers studying images gathered by the […]
Astronomers Spot 80 of the Oldest Galaxies
Advancing technology is making it possible for scientists to investigate the early universe. About 200 million years after the Big Bang, it is thought that clumps of condensed primordial cold gas clouds provided material for the first stars to be born. As stars were created they formed small galaxies. An international team of researchers are […]