The Very Large Telescope (VLT) detected significant nickel vapor but almost no iron in the interstellar 3I/Atlas comet. Having nickel without iron is not a chemical signature found in known natural comets and is more consistent with industrial alloy refining processes. UPDATE: 3I/Atlas passed Psyche spacecraft on September 4, 2025 (today) and is passing by …
Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a team led by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) found a previously unknown moon orbiting Uranus, expanding the planet’s known satellite family to 29. The detection was made during a Webb observation Feb. 2, 2025. The newly discovered moon is estimated to be just six miles (10 kilometers) in …
Astronomers believe there is a Planet Nine in the outer solar system beyond Neptune. A team led by Amos Chen from the National Tsing Hua University, is searching for Planet Nine’s heat signature. When you double the distance from the sun, reflected light becomes 16 times fainter. This is an inverse fourth-power relationship. But thermal …
Ammonite was discovered using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, with follow-up confirmation from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Its orbit and size officially qualify it as a distant dwarf planet. Estimated diameter: 220–380 km Perihelion (closest approach to the Sun): 50–75 AU (1 AU = Earth–Sun distance) Aphelion: ~252 AU Orbit is highly stable and very distant …
The Vera Rubin Telescope Observatory is now operational and is enable astronomers to explore galaxies, stars in the Milky Way, objects in the solar system, and all in a truly new way. In its first 10 hours of test observations, the observatory has discovered 2,104 never-before-seen-asteroids, including seven near-Earth asteroids, none of which pose any …
Researchers for objects that moved slowly between IRAS and AKARI detections. IRAS and AKARI are far-infrared, all-sky surveys completed 23 years apart. They looked in the Kuiper belt. They produced all possible candidate pairs including one IRAS source and one AKARI source whose angular separations were limited between 42′ and 69.6′, corresponding to the heliocentric …
Astronomers discovered FFPs (free floating planets- rogue planets) more than 20 years ago, using the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope in Hawaii. Since then, observers have spotted hundreds rogue astronomical bodies. In 2023, the James Webb Space Telescope discovered dozens of seemingly physics-breaking rogue objects floating through space in pairs. James Webb Space Telescope near-infrared survey …
Astronomers looked more closely at one of seven stars that looked like possible Dyson sphere candidates from earlier observations. They used high-resolution e-MERLIN and EVN (e-VLBI) observations of a radio source associated with Dyson Sphere candidate G, identified as part of Project Hephaistos. The radio source, VLASS J233532.86−000424.9, is resolved into three compact components and …
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy will launch the NASA Europa Clipper mission in a few days. It was going to be October 10, 2024 but that has been delayed due to the risk of a hurricane. The Europa Clipper spacecraft is 13000 pounds and is the largest planetary exploration vehicle ever made by NASA. Europa is …
On July 17, 2024, two research teams reported that have re-detected the phosphine, and have tentatively found ammonia as well. Phospine and ammonia are produced by living microorganisms. It’s not proof that living microbes are floating around in Venus’ atmosphere. The findings presented at the national astronomy meeting in Hull on Wednesday bolster evidence for …
There is a new proposed definition of planet that works far better for objects in other solar systems. In our solar system, objects are close enough that we can check the orbit and see if has been cleared of other objects. This is problematic if we can only infer rough properties of what could be …