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Space Physics
Space physics is the study of everything above the Earth’s atmosphere, where the ionosphere and magnetosphere reside, and from the sun, to the solar system and beyond. Plasmas, gases of charged particles, make up over 99% of the solar system such as in the sun’s core and corona, the solar wind, interplanetary space, and the…
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Space photo of the week: Record-breaking James Webb telescope image captures 1,678 galaxy groups at once
What it is: Thousands of galaxy groups from the early universe Where it is: 12 billion light-years away in the constellation Sextans When it was shared: April 29, 2025 Why it’s so special: Sitting across a part of the night sky that looks away from the Milky Way and into the distant universe, the constellation…
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What would it be like living on Tatooine from ‘Star Wars’? This exoplanet orbiting twin suns could tell us
A Tatooine-like world with a key difference from the desert planet in “Star Wars” has been serendipitously discovered orbiting not two stars, but a pair of brown dwarfs. What’s more, this wacky planet doesn’t orbit around the brown dwarfs’ equator, but instead up and down over their poles. In the “Star Wars” universe, Luke Skywalker…
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The bizarre space explosions scientists can’t explain
1 day ago ShareSave Jonathan O’Callaghan ShareSave Philip Drury/ University of Sheffield Astronomers have spotted around a dozen of these weird, rare blasts. Could they be signs of a special kind of black hole? Astronomers had never seen anything like it before – something vast, in the depths of space, went boom. Telescopes on Earth…
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Annual Astronomy Day is back at UW-Eau Claire
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) – UW-Eau Claire’s science department catching many peoples’ attention on Saturday during their annual Astronomy Day showing many what science has to offer. Collaborating with the Chippewa Valley Astronomical Society, people of all ages came to the event. Learning about infrared light, radioactivity, solar and radio telescopes and meteorites. Those involved…
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Annual Astronomy Day is back at UW-Eau Claire
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) – UW-Eau Claire’s science department catching many peoples’ attention on Saturday during their annual Astronomy Day showing many what science has to offer. Collaborating with the Chippewa Valley Astronomical Society, people of all ages came to the event. Learning about infrared light, radioactivity, solar and radio telescopes and meteorites. Those involved…
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A whole ‘population’ of minimoons may be lurking near Earth, researchers say
Earth’s minimoon may be a chip off the old block: New research suggests that 2024 PT5 — a small, rocky body dubbed a “minimoon” during its discovery last year — may have been blown off the moon during a giant impact long ago, making it the second known sample traveling near Earth’s orbit. The discovery…
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James Webb Space Telescope finds coldest exoplanet ever seen, and it orbits a dead star
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have detected the first planet seen orbiting a dead star, offering new insights into how planets evolve during the final stages of a star’s life. The James Webb Space Telescope’s observations of the exoplanet, named WD 1856+534 b, also confirm it is the coldest exoplanet to date,…
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Astronomers spot candidate for potential ninth planet far beyond Neptune
Astronomers searching for a ninth planet in our solar system say they’ve found a “good” candidate far beyond Neptune, according to a new preprint study. This could be humanity’s first glimpse at the long-theorized Planet Nine, which — if it exists — is a giant, undiscovered world distantly orbiting our sun. However, the ninth planet…
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Space commentator David Moore abandons tribunal hearing into dismissal claim by ex-Astronomy Ireland manager
Stock image Stephen Bourke Yesterday at 19:56 Space commentator David Moore has abandoned a tribunal hearing into claims of workplace rights breaches by a former manager at Astronomy Ireland who has accused him of “pocketing” money meant for the science organisation. A Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) adjudicator told Mr Moore his approach to the case…