2019 has been an excellent year for space discoveries as we gathered unimaginable cosmic facts about the universe. A few of these achievements, like the image of a black hole, got a lot of limelight. On the other hand, there are some space discoveries of 2019 that didn’t get their due share of appreciation. In…
The fierce rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union led to an extraordinary space race. Both these countries invested heavily in this domain in the hopes of attaining supremacy. There are some lesser-known facts about this space race and some of them are discussed below. Zambia Joined the Space Race A rather unknown…
Stars are one of the most important celestial bodies of our universe. Generally, they are perceived as massive, circular masses of Hydrogen and Helium but that’s not always the case. Modern technology has enabled humanity to explore far-off regions of space. This allowed astronomers to trace a lot of peculiar stars. The following list comprises…
Space exploration is one of the hottest topics in the scientific world (for quite some time now) and claims like those of Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, have certainly increased the interest of people in space travel. He aims to send a manned mission to Mars in 2030s which would be an extraordinary feat to…
Artemis Program will require $4-$6 billion (annually) for the coming 5 years to return American astronauts to the moon. Despite all the controversies, NASA has always stuck to their claims of visiting the Moon of our planet in 1969. Recently, the authorities have been repeatedly mentioning the returning of astronauts to the natural satellite of…
The evolution of science and technology has had a significant impact on the astronomical observations of humans. In the last few decades, humanity has explored a number of surprising events and places in different parts of our universe. Scientists believe that the rate of discoveries will continue to increase as more and more resources are…
Researchers from the University of Innsbruck analyzed the data from the TESS mission of NASA and found some orbiting comets around Beta Pictoris, a nearby star outside our solar system. Although the primary goal of TESS is to find exoplanets, it does have the potential to locate smaller objects and the latest observation of extrasolar…
An international team of scientists used the Immersion Grating Infrared Spectrometer (IGRINS) to discover an icy mixture of two common molecules (N2 and CO) on Triton. Neptune is the farthest known planet of our solar system and that’s the reason why we have minimal information about this ice giant. Thanks to the technological advancement in…
Researchers used a new algorithm to draw a more realistic image of the exoplanet population in order to locate Earth-sized exoplanets. Humanity has discovered around 4,000 planets outside our solar system until now and most of them are considerably larger than Earth. According to an estimate, nearly 96% of these exoplanets are comparable with the…
Researchers have discovered a mighty ice corridor (spread across 6,300 kilometers) on the surface of Titan by making use of the Principal Component Analysis. Titan seems to have developed a habit of surprising us with its amazing secrets. The most recent addition, to this list, is the discovery of a huge strip of ice known…
Astronomers observed a meteorite impact on the Moon for the first time during a total eclipse. A total eclipse, also known as the Super Blood Wolf Moon, occurs when the shadow of the Earth completely blocks the sun’s light from reaching the Moon. The blood-red color of the moon, in case of a total eclipse,…
Astronomers believe that radio telescopes in space can take much better images of black holes in the future. Black holes have always attracted a lot of attention, since their discovery in 1916. Recently, astronomers have finally captured the first-ever image of a black hole to put an end to the long-lasting anticipation. The Event Horizon…
V404 Cygni is one of the most peculiar black holes known to humanity because the change in direction of its wobbling relativistic jets can be observed in a matter of minutes. V404 Cygni is actually a binary microquasar system comprising of a black hole, which is about 9 times the mass of our sun. This…
Researchers from the University of Arizona (UA) have found evidence that could force scientists to redefine the habitable zone for TRAPPIST-1A exoplanets. TRAPPIST-1 system has always attracted the attention of humanity since its discovery in 2016. The existence of 7 Earth-sized planets around a cool star is the reason for its popularity. A number of…
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) was launched just a year ago but it has already found its first Earth-sized exoplanet. Launched on 18 April 2018, TESS is expected to discover around hundreds of Earth-like planets during its two-year mission. Having said that, this duration could be extended if the satellite is able to successfully…
A recent study, published in the journal ‘Nature Astronomy’, announced that a team of researchers has identified a tiny fragment of a comet inside LaPaz Icefield 02342. Science has yet again found something that may hold clues to the origin of our solar system. Researchers from the Carnegie Institution of Science have found a speck…
Astronomers have found a number of terrifying planets ranging from GJ 436b to Tres 4b and from CoRot-7b to Ogle 2005. Humanity has identified a total of 3,730 confirmed exoplanets to date with nearly as many potential candidates in different parts of the universe. Astronomers have observed a huge variety among these heavenly bodies on…
Astronomers used the Kepler Space Telescope to find an exoplanet (having a mass of about 13 Jupiters) that is orbiting a more evolved binary system, called KIC 10544976. The Kepler Space Telescope of NASA made it possible for humanity to observe the exoplanets around young binary systems. This outstanding achievement was accomplished, for the…
Astronomers have taken the first image of a black hole, in the core of Messier 87 (M-87) galaxy, by using a virtual telescope of the size of the Earth. Scientists collected the data from a network of 8 radio telescopes (Event Horizon Telescope) around the world to create a picture which shows the violent neighborhood…
Humanity has taken a massive step in its quest to unravel the secrets of the inner structure of the moon. Despite all the technological advancements in the field of astronomy, scientists have failed to extract much information about the inner structure of the natural satellite of our planet. Ananya Mallik, a URI Assistant Professor of…
Astronomy has progressed rapidly following the surge of technological advancements. As a result, several astronomical developments are being made on a regular basis. In these circumstances, it is almost impossible to determine the top events in the astronomical world. However, we have tried to list some of the top astronomical events of 2018 (in our…
The TESS Mission of NASA has given some valuable insights to the planet-hunting astronomers by discovering TOI 197.01, a Saturn-sized planet. It is a common observation that stellar astronomers who study starquakes in stars often end up in providing some useful information about the properties of newly-discovered planets. This time around, they managed to characterize…
Scientists used the LAMP instrument of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) of NASA to observe the movement of water molecules on the Moon. Moon was considered an extremely arid object, up until the last decade or so, with hardly any signs of water on its surface. Technological advancements allowed the researchers to trace sparse populations…
Researchers used a new computer modeling technique to simulate asteroids that helped them improve their understanding of rock fracture. According to a new study at the John Hopkins University, incoming asteroids are much stronger than scientists previously thought. This study will help scientists to come up with improved asteroid mining methods as they will…
The data from the Hubble Space Telescope of NASA and the Gaia Satellite of the European Space Agency led to the most accurate measurements of the mass of the Milky Way. According to previous research, which was conducted several decades back, the mass of our galaxy ranges somewhere between 500 billion and 3 trillion solar…
Modern-day innovations in the technology of cameras and telescopes add even more worth to the field of astronomy. Astronomy involves a lot of low light shots. In such instances, the phrase ‘low light’ refers to the scene when the sun is down, and thousands of glittery stars cover the night sky. A tip that may…
The search for Earth-like planets will get a massive boost with the addition of Astrocomb in the planet-hunting telescope. The researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a customized frequency comb that is much more precise than the preceding technology. Astrocomb uses a spectrograph at the Hobby-Eberly Telescope to make…
The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project observed rings of debris and dust around an Earth-sized white dwarf star, called J0207. LSPM J0207+3331, which is usually known as the J0207, is the oldest and coldest white dwarf star known to humanity. Recently, research led by NASA showed multiple rings of dust around this white dwarf and…
The Gaia Satellite of the European Space Agency helped the researchers to observe a billion-year-old river of stars. Many people might have read the novel, ‘River of Stars’ by Guy Gavriel Kay. However, what would be your reaction if we tell you that astronomers have discovered an actual river of stars by using the data…
Astronomers are going to use a new spectrograph, called Habitable Zone Planet Finder (HPF), to study infrared signals from nearby stars that will allow them to detect planets with liquid water on them. The Penn-State led HPF is designed with precision in mind. It is capable of providing the most precise measurements of infrared signals…