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‘We have changed the view of our galaxy forever’: Astronomers capture most detailed ever infrared map of the Milky Way
Astronomers have created the most detailed infrared map of the Milky Way — and it contains more than 1.5 billion objects. Made using 13 years of observations across 420 nights, the new map charts a vast number of stars, “failed” brown dwarfs, free-floating planets and hypervelocity suns launched into space after close encounters with our…
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The Sun Will Destroy the Earth One Day, Right? Maybe Not.
Astronomers spotted a potential Earth-size rocky world orbiting a white dwarf, suggesting a future in which our planet outlives its star. In six billion years the sun will expand into a red giant. That process should consume Mercury, and maybe Venus. For a long time we have thought it might incinerate Earth, too. But perhaps…
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This Black Hole Has a Cosmic Wingspan
Who knew a dragon’s tongue could be so long? Astronomers announced last week that they had discovered a black hole spitting energy across 23 million light-years of intergalactic space. Two jets, shooting in opposite directions, compose the biggest lightning bolt ever seen in the sky — about 140 times as long as our own Milky…
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Ambipolar electric field helps shape Earth’s ionosphere
<a href="https://physicsworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/endurance-launch-photo.jpg" data-fancybox data-src="https://physicsworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/endurance-launch-photo.jpg" data-caption="Lift off The Endurance rocket ship launches from Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. (Courtesy: Andøya Space/Leif Jonny Eilertsen)”> Lift off The Endurance rocket ship launches from Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. (Courtesy: Andøya Space/Leif Jonny Eilertsen) A drop in electric potential of just 0.55 V measured at altitudes of between 250–768 km in the Earth’s atmosphere above the North…
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Discovery of Giant Magnetic Halo Around Milky Way Could Shift Our View of Galactic Evolution
The Milky Way is home to gas, dust, billions of stars, and a supermassive black hole at its center. Living in this galactic home gives us exclusive insight into its components, but it also hinders our ability to get a zoomed out view of its structure. A recent discovery has the potential to redefine our…
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Orion spacecraft can shield Artemis astronauts from deep-space radiation, study shows
Data from NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission has provided valuable space radiation measurements, which validate spacecraft performance and will help guide deep-space human spaceflight. The uncrewed Artemis 1 mission launched in November 2022, using the gigantic Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to send an Orion spacecraft around the moon and back, serving as a crucial…
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Scientists May Have Found A Whole New Region of Our Solar System
New Horizons—the famous NASA spacecraft that flew by Pluto in 2015—is now making new discoveries beyond the Kuiper Belt. With help from the Subaru telescope in Hawaii, scientists have discovered what could be a second belt of icy bodies beyond the known Kuiper Belt. This possible discovery only highlights how much more there is to…
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A ‘primordial’ black hole may zoom through our solar system every decade
If microscopic black holes born a fraction of a second after the Big Bang exist, as some researchers suspect, then at least one may fly through the solar system per decade, generating tiny gravitational distortions that scientists can detect, a new study finds. These findings suggest that if astronomers can discover and confirm the existence…
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Dark Matter Black Holes Could Fly through the Solar System Once a Decade
September 24, 2024 5 min read The universe’s hidden mass may be made of black holes, which could wobble the planets of the solar system when they pass by By Clara Moskowitz Blackdovfx/Getty Images This story sounds wild—even incredible. Black holes! Dark matter! Jostling planets! Yet the scenario is plausible—and testable soon. Black holes the…
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House passes NASA authorization bill
WASHINGTON — The House passed a new NASA authorization bill Sept. 23 that would largely keep the agency on course in its human spaceflight and science programs while directing it to prepare several reports. The House passed the NASA Reauthorization Act of 2024, H.R. 8958, on a 366–21 vote. That far exceeded the two-thirds threshold…
