Parker Solar Probe – now in its 4th orbit around our local star – is designed to endure the sun’s heat and radiation like no previous mission. Data collected during the craft’s first 2 orbits were released last month. This week, 4 new studies in Nature have space scientists buzzing. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/parker-solar-probe-4-new-studies-dec-4-2019…
Tag: University of Arizona
Mysteries behind interstellar buckyballs finally answered
Scientists have long been puzzled by the existence of so-called “buckyballs”—complex carbon molecules with a soccer-ball-like structure—throughout interstellar space. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Arizona has proposed a mechanism for their formation in a study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-11-mysteries-interstellar-buckyballs.html…
TESS spacecraft is finding hundreds of exoplanets
… and it’s poised to find thousands more. But will we find another Earth? Source: https://earthsky.org/space/tess-spacecraft-finding-exoplanets…
Coursera | Expert Network: Connecting Journalists with Experts from Top Universities
By Arunav Sinha, Head of Global Communications at Coursera September 24, 2019 – University educators are widely trusted as independent experts who inform conversations both in and out of the classroom. In a world that is increasingly polarized by extreme views and misinformation, academic experts bring a sense of balance and rigor that elevates the […]
The post Coursera | Expert Network:…
Life in Space: Searching for Aliens and Living on a Nearby Super-Earth
Recently, NASA discovered the first nearby super-Earth that researchers believe contain “habitable zones.” With this new discovery alongside the buzz of Elon Musk’s vision for a colony on Mars and Jeff Bezo’s floating space pod colonies, are we close to living in space? Or perhaps we’ll find alien life before that happens? Astronomers are now […]
The post Life in Space: Searching…
Did underground explosions create Titan’s lakes?
The lakes on Saturn’s moon Titan are filled with liquid methane, not water, and some are surrounded by steep rims. A new study suggests these features might have been caused by explosions of warming nitrogen, which created Titan’s lake basins long ago. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/did-underground-explosions-create-titans-lakes…
Virtual ‘universe machine’ sheds light on galaxy evolution
How do galaxies such as our Milky Way come into existence? How do they grow and change over time? The science behind galaxy formation has remained a puzzle for decades, but a University of Arizona-led team of scientists is one step closer to finding answers thanks to supercomputer simulations. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-08-virtual-universe-machine-galaxy-evolution.html…
A new lens for life-searching space telescopes
The University of Arizona Richard F. Caris Mirror Laboratory is a world leader in the production of the world’s largest telescope mirrors. In fact, it is currently fabricating mirrors for the largest and most advanced earth-based telescope: The Giant Magellan Telescope. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-08-lens-life-searching-space-telescopes.html…
A closer look at Io’s weird volcanoes
Io’s volcanoes have fascinated scientists since the Voyager 1 spacecraft first discovered them nearly 40 years ago. Now a comprehensive new report – based on ground-based studies – unveils new mysteries about the most volcanically active world in our solar system. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/new-report-ios-enigmatic-volcanoes…
Dragonfly aims for Saturn’s moon Titan
Scheduled for launch in 2026, the Dragonfly mission will look for clues to the origins of life, and possibly even evidence of life itself, on Saturn’s alien yet remarkably Earth-like moon Titan. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/dragonfly-mission-saturn-moon-titan…