Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

Astronomers map massive structure beyond Laniakea Supercluster

For the past decade, an international team of astronomers has been mapping the distribution of galaxies around the Milky Way. They have discovered an immense structure beyond Laniakea, an immense supercluster of galaxies, including our own. Astronomers have dubbed the newly identified structure the South Pole Wall.

July 20, 2020 Read more

A population of asteroids of interstellar origin inhabits the Solar System

The discovery provides clues for understanding the star nursery from which the Sun emerged.

July 17, 2020 Read more

Solar Orbiter returns first data, snaps closest pictures of the sun

The first images from ESA/NASA's Solar Orbiter are now available to the public, including the closest pictures ever taken of the Sun.

July 17, 2020 Read more

How galaxies die: New insights into the quenching of star formation

A simple model explains a wide range of observations by describing the contest between galaxy halos and their central black holes that eventually turns off star formation.

July 16, 2020 Read more

Neowise: an increasingly rare opportunity to spot a comet with the naked eye

Neowise is the first bright comet to be visible with the naked eye from the northern hemisphere since the mid-1990s. Another thing that makes this comet interesting is that it has a relatively long orbital period, meaning it was only discovered a few months ago.

July 16, 2020 Read more

A black hole blinks

In a first, astronomers watch a black hole's corona disappear, then reappear.

July 16, 2020 Read more

Thermonuclear blast sends supernova survivor star hurtling across the Milky Way

Bizarre white dwarf star shows evidence of a 'partial supernova'. The star is travelling at 900,000 kilometres per hour through the Milky Way. Provides evidence for previously undiscovered types of supernovae and stars that survived them.

July 15, 2020 Read more

Short gamma ray burst leaves most-distant optical afterglow ever detected

Rare event occurred 10 billion lightyears away, 3.8 billion years after the Big Bang.

July 14, 2020 Read more

Designing better asteroid explorers

New research provides important information in improving the accuracy of data collection on asteroids.

July 14, 2020 Read more

Gigantic, red and full of spots

About eight percent of red giants are covered by sunspot-like, dark areas; these stars rotate faster than others of their kind.

July 13, 2020 Read more

Cosmic cataclysm allows precise test of general relativity

In 2019, telescopes detected the first Gamma Ray Burst at very high energies. This was the most intense gamma-radiation ever obtained from such a cosmic object. But the GRB data have more to offer: with further analyses, the scientists could now confirm that the speed of light is constant in vacuum - and not dependent on energy.

July 9, 2020 Read more

New telescope detects enormous 'superflare' on nearby star

Astronomers succeeded in detecting 12 stellar flare phenomena on AD Leonis. One of these flares was 20 times larger than those emitted by our own sun, categorizing it a 'superflare'. Subsequent data analysis presents new insight into these explosive phenomena.

July 9, 2020 Read more

New study shows colliding neutron stars may unlock mysteries of universe expansion

Researchers have discovered an unusual pulsar where the the masses of its two neutron stars are quite different -- with one far larger than the other. The breakthrough provides clues about unsolved mysteries in astrophysics -- including the expansion rate of the Universe (the Hubble constant).

July 8, 2020 Read more

Shock waves from stellar explosions take preferential direction

Astrophysicists have paved the way to unravelling the mystery as to why many supernova remnants that we observe from Earth are axisymmetric (elongated along one axis) rather than spherical.

July 8, 2020 Read more

The collective power of the solar system's dark, icy bodies

Two new studies may help to solve one of the biggest mysteries about the dark, icy bodies of the outer solar system: why so many of them don't circle the sun the way they should.

July 7, 2020 Read more

New collection of stars, not born in our galaxy, discovered in Milky Way

Researchers use deep learning and supercomputing to identify Nyx, a product of a long-ago galaxy merger.

July 7, 2020 Read more

Study reveals secret life of lithium in Sun-like stars

A new study provides a fresh understanding of both how lithium is made, and how it is destroyed.

July 7, 2020 Read more

Dying stars breathe life into Earth

As dying stars take their final few breaths of life, they gently sprinkle their ashes into the cosmos through the magnificent planetary nebulae. These ashes, spread via stellar winds, are enriched with many different chemical elements, including carbon.

July 7, 2020 Read more