A massive collision, which took place at around 10 billion years ago, fed all the stars in the inner halo of the Milky Way. Space might seem a pretty peaceful place from down here but a closer observation reveals that things are quite violent up there. Events like Supernovae, strikes from Meteors and Comets, and…
A recent study that took place at Lund University in Sweden, alongside some other studies, has presented effective means to probe Dark Matter which accounts for 85% of the universe. A number of recent studies have aided in the better discernment of large volumes of data present at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) which…
Gamma Cassiopeiae is slowly eroding away the ghostly cloud of gas and dust in the W-shaped constellation. The constellation of Cassiopeia is named after the vain queen of Greek mythology and can be observed in the northern sky. The characteristic ‘W’ shape (caused by five bright stars) of the constellation makes it even more visible…
New Telescope? Make these 10 Astronomical Sightings Your First Targets If you had just recently acquired a new telescope and wished to test it out, you would find assurance in the fact that there are countless of objects in the sky that you can use as a target for viewing. Stargazing may sound simple enough…
The Quenching process of galaxies may vary from one to another. A Galaxy Cluster, or cluster of galaxies, is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound together by gravity with typical masses ranging from 1014 to 1015 solar masses. Keeping the definition in mind, Galaxy clusters are…
Researchers at the Southwest Research Institute have pointed towards a lot of secrets that the future missions to Pluto would like to unveil. The first up-close look at Pluto laid the groundwork for plans of future Pluto orbiter mission due to the intriguing and impelling discoveries made from it. The images and data collected from…
Whether 3200 Phaethon an asteroid or a comet? Blue Space Rock is a strange rock which was discovered in 1983 by John K. Davies and Simon F. Green. They used data from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) for locating this celestial object, which made 1983 TB (commonly known as 3200 Phaethon) the first asteroid to…
Kilonovas have already answered a lot of long-lasting mysteries and there is certainly a lot more to come. Let’s delve deep into what seems something straight out of a sci-fi movie. Gone are the times when a ‘Supernova’, a blast when a star dies, was the only cool thing around. Now we have ‘Kilonovas’, which…
Latest reports reveal that the sibling of Voyager 1 may join its twin anytime now in the interstellar space. The Voyager 2, launched in 1977, is a space probe designed to study far-away planets. It is the only spacecraft that has visited Uranus and Neptune. Its primary mission was to study Neptune which it completed…
Hubble is in Trouble due to some problems in one of its gyros. Hubble Space Telescope (HST), one of the largest and most versatile space telescope developed malfunctions on Friday, October 5. According to NASA, one of the gyros used to angle the telescope in specific directions showed anomalous behavior. That’s the reason why the…
Scientists may have found a moon orbiting around an exoplanet called Kepler-1625b. Interstellar space is under keen observation these days following a surge of missions from different space agencies around the globe. The idea of finding an alternative habitat for humanity has become increasingly famous and many super-powers of the world including the United States…
Nova Vulpeculae 1670 is merely a collision between two dwarf stars. The term ‘Nova (Novae)’ refers to a transient astronomical event that causes sudden appearance of a bright, apparently new star which gradually fades away over several weeks. In some cases, the fading process may take many months. All the novae, which have been observed…
Astronomers have gotten closer to identifying the mysterious interstellar object. Oumuamua is a mildly active comet which was discovered by Robert Weryk on 19th October 2017. He made use of the Pan-STARRS telescope, located at the Haleakala Observatory in Hawaii, to detect this first-ever object from beyond our solar system. At the time of this…
The field of spaceflight got a massive boost from the Apollo 9 mission of NASA. Apollo 9 went down in history for being the first crewed Lunar Module mission. It was the third manned spaceflight in history but was the first ever mission to test the capabilities of the Lunar Module (LM). On 3rd March…
The planet-hunting space telescope of NASA is off to a great start. Discovering new planets has always been an interesting prospect of many. The very thought of it is exciting and makes one curious. That’s the reason why a lot of space agencies are trying their best to locate a habitable exoplanet. The Transiting Exoplanet…
Researchers went back in time to the asteroid formation era through numerical simulation and found some young asteroid families. The minor planets, particularly of the inner solar system, are called asteroids. Initially, this term was used to describe all the sun-orbiting astronomical objects that didn’t fulfill the criteria of being a planet. The definition of…
The first images of the NASA’s solar probe show that all its instruments are raring to go. Parker Solar Probe is a robotic spacecraft from NASA which will probe the outer corona of the Sun. It was launched on 12th August 2018 with intentions of approaching within 6.2 million kilometers from the surface of the…
The Very Large Telescope, located in Chile, has captured outstanding scenes in a spiral galaxy called NGC 3981. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is an intergovernmental research organization for ground-based astronomy. A total of 15 countries contribute to ESO. It has provided outstanding research facilities to the astronomers which enable them to explore the southern…
Theoretical Physicist Brian Greene explains supernovas and demonstrates how a star like ours eventually dies, and he also breaks a World Record. Invited on “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert, Professor Brian Greene explains and also demonstrates in the following video the death of a star. Known for ‘String theory’ or ‘The Elegant Universe’ he…
TESS, the new planet-hunter of NASA, sends its first image to the Earth. The Explorer Program of NASA wanted to extend the good work of Kepler Mission and for this reason, they designed the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). It is expected to trace around 20,000 exoplanets in comparison to 3,800 exoplanets that were found…
The detection of infrared emission around RX J0806.4-4123 opens up a new chapter in the exploration of interstellar space. The collapsed core of a huge star, which has a total of between 10 and 29 solar masses before collapsing, is known as a Neutron Star. Generally, the mass of a neutron star ranges from 1.4…
The Dawn Mission revolutionized the field of Planetary Science through its breathtaking imagery and engineering feats. Dawn was launched by NASA in September 2007 with the intentions of studying 2 of the 3 known protoplanets (Ceres and Vesta) of the asteroid belt. The launch was executed from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as a…
Scientists found an exoplanet twice as big as Earth in the Virgo Constellation which orbits incredibly close to its host star. The desire to find the habitable celestial body anywhere else (other than the Earth) in the universe has urged astronomers to go beyond their limits. The emergence of advanced telescopes like the Hubble and…
Massive hexagon discovered first in the Southern Hemisphere of Saturn, by Voyager Spacecraft, might have climbed up towards the Northern Pole. Saturn has always been a planet of surprises and a recent study shows that the things haven’t changed much. The Cassini Spacecraft, which was built collectively by ESA, NASA, and the Italian Space Agency,…
The Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) shows an intense battle is going on between the stars and the dust inside one of the most luminous objects of the Milky Way. The Carina Nebula, located in the Carina Sagittarius Arm, is one of the brightest objects in the night sky. It lies at…
Two recently-launched images, taken as part of the Hubble Deep UV Legacy Survey, might change your entire perception of the universe. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is one of the largest and most versatile telescopes that has ever hit the space. It was named after Edwin Hubble, an American Astronomer who was one of the pioneers…
A study of quasars reveal that the Quantum Entanglement is a must to explain the correlations between particles in all instances. Astronomers recognize quasars as the furthest celestial objects discovered. They emit energy in vast quantities. Some are a trillion times more luminous than the Sun. Factually, Quasars outshine stars in their galaxy, producing energy…
Spitzer has been amazing us for 15 years now through its marvelous discoveries. Spitzer Space Telescope was launched on 25th August 2003 by NASA. The primary mission of this telescope was 2.5 years long and it was scheduled for that but it outlasted all the estimates of its lifetime and is still hovering in space.…
A Near-Earth Object will pass by us safely and there is nothing to worry about. Asteroid Impacts are always on the cards and this is the reason why NASA maintains a complete record of all the Near-Earth Objects (NEO). Recently, the news of a potentially dangerous asteroid coming a way too close to the Earth…
A bright galaxy remained hidden for years despite being extremely bright. Researchers have had a hunger to explore what is out there for ages. Space has always been a mystery even after all the research we have done on our surroundings. There are billions of entities that are unknown to humans yet their hunger for…