Satellites have traditionally been made of metal but a new project called LignoSat, by a team of Japanese researchers, has tested magnolia wood as a housing material for satellites. Wood has several advantages over metal, such as flexibility, strength, and relatively lightweight. Moreover, when metal enclosures burn up during reentry, aluminum shavings remain as space
Space
A recent study published in Geophysical Research Letters aimed to answer the question of how thick Mars’ crust is. The study reported on data from a magnitude 4.7 marsquake recorded in May 2022 by NASA’s InSight lander, which is the largest quake ever recorded on another planetary body. The data helped estimate Mars’ global crustal
Astronomers have imaged a radiation belt around an extrasolar object for the first time. The object is a red dwarf star named LSR J1835+3259, which has about 77 times the mass of Jupiter and sits some 20 light-years away. This discovery is significant because all planets in our Solar System with global magnetic fields have
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the center of active galactic nuclei (AGNs), also known as quasars, emit powerful space winds known as ultra-fast outflows (UFOs). These winds move at relativistic speeds close to the speed of light and regulate the behavior of SMBHs during their active phase. These emissions are believed to fuel the process
Saturn’s rings are one of the most iconic features of the Solar System, but a new study suggests their time is limited. The rings are estimated to be between 100 million and 400 million years old, making them a recent addition to the Solar System and a fraction of the age of Saturn itself. The
Saturn has regained its title of the planet with the most known moons after the discovery of 62 previously unknown satellites, bringing its total to 145 recognized moons. This surpasses Jupiter’s paltry 92 known moons, prompting astronomers to search for more ways to locate small moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn. A team led by astronomer
NASA has been working on an AI-based early warning system for solar storms, which could provide the world with a 30-minute notice before a potentially devastating event strikes. Utilizing AI models to analyze solar storm data, the system aims to predict the severity and impact of a solar storm on Earth. Challenges and Solutions One
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has made progress in its study of exoplanets, which are planets beyond the Solar System, including the TRAPPIST-1 system that hosts seven Earth-sized worlds. One of the most common exoplanet types are mini-Neptunes, which are widespread throughout the Milky Way. In this regard, the astronomers have chosen their targets
The Milky Way has a pair of symmetrical gas blobs that extend above and below the galactic plane. These are known as eROSITA bubbles after the X-ray telescope that discovered them in 2020. The bubbles are located in the Milky Way’s circumgalactic medium, which extends 45,661 light-years on either side of the galactic center. New
Astronomers have made an accidental discovery of the “largest” cosmic explosion ever observed, which occurred over three years ago. The fireball is 100 times the size of our Solar System and is estimated to be around two trillion times brighter than the Sun. The explosion, named AT2021lwx, was first spotted by the Zwicky Transient Facility
Astronomers have been puzzled by fast radio bursts since they were first discovered in 2007. These intense, milliseconds-long flashes of radio energy from outer space emit as much energy in their brief lifespan as the Sun does in a few days. Most of these short-lived pulses originate outside the Milky Way galaxy, and we don’t
Scientists have been left perplexed by an ultra-bright celestial object that is brighter than it should be. NASA has been tracking ultraluminous X-ray sources, which can be 10 million times brighter than the Sun, to understand their workings. These objects break the Eddington limit, which is a fundamental rule of astrophysics that states that an
Residents of a house in Hopewell, New Jersey, were surprised to find a grapefruit-sized metallic object had fallen through the roof and hit the floor of their home on Monday. The object left a hole in the roof and dented the floor. No one was in the house at the time of the incident. Could
Mars’ surface appears quite lifeless, with its soil being several times drier than Earth’s driest desert, toxic air, and temperatures that range from one extreme to the other. However, evidence suggests that the planet was once much warmer and wetter, with standing and flowing water on its surface. Over time, most of this water was
A rare glimpse of how the Solar System may have formed billions of years ago has been revealed by shadows flickering across the dust roiling around a newborn star. Changing light around the star, named TW Hydrae, suggests that the giant disks of material circling the star are off-kilter, orbiting at slightly different angles of