By Mindy Weisberger The Hubble Space Telescope recently spied new evidence of a peculiar molecule: wiggly buckyballs, which have intrigued astrophysicists since they were discovered in space nearly a decade ago. Dubbed Buckminsterfullerene, these supersize molecules are made of 60 carbon atoms linked together in pentagons and hexagons to form a hollow sphere. The shape of these structures […]
Read more "Hubble Spots Giant “Buckyballs” Jiggling Like Jello in Space"By Michelle Starr Science Alert Writer You’ve heard of hot Jupiters. You’ve heard of mini-Neptunes. You’ve heard of super-Earths. But have you heard of Eyeball Planets? Yep – planetary scientists think there might be a type of exoplanet out there that looks disturbingly like a giant eyeball. Just sitting there. Staring. But it’s actually not as weird […]
Read more "Eyeball Planets"ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst has captured the launch of the Russian Progress MS-10 cargo spacecraft. He filmed the craft leaving the Earth’s atmosphere while on board the International Space Station. Posting on Twitter he wrote: “This is real. How a spaceship leaves our planet, seen from ISS.”
See the video on BBC’s website.
Read more "Astronaut on ISS Captures Spacecraft Launch Footage"Please do yourself a favour and watch this video. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful and awe-inspiring! Thanks! – Diane
European Space Agency release
Since the very first module Zarya launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 20 November 1998, the International Space Station has delivered a whole new perspective on this planet we call home. Join us as we celebrate 20 years of international collaboration and research for the benefit of Earth with ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst’s longest time lapse yet.
In just under 15 minutes, this clip takes you from Tunisia across Beijing and through Australia in two trips around the world. You can follow the Station’s location using the map at the top right hand-side of the screen alongside annotations on the photos themselves.
This timelapse comprises approximately 21,375 images of Earth all captured by Alexander from the International Space Station and shown 12.5 times faster than actual speed.
Read the full article (and watch the video) at Phys.org.
Read more "Longest Continual Time Lapse from Space (Video)"By Tim Reyes Astronomers have reported the discovery of a star that passed within the outer reaches of our Solar System just 70,000 years ago, when early humans were beginning to take a foothold here on Earth. The stellar flyby was likely close enough to have influenced the orbits of comets in the outer Oort […]
Read more "A Star Passed Through the Solar System Just 70,000 Years Ago"By Mike Wall You’ve probably heard about the moon-orbiting space station that NASA plans to start building in the next half-decade. This outpost, known as the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, will help humanity extend its footprint out into deep space and also enable a variety of interesting scientific and commercial activities on and around the moon, NASA […]
Read more "NASA Plans to Build a Moon-Orbiting Space Station"