The Wow! Signal, first detected on August 15, 1977 by astronomer Jerry Ehman, may have originated from a sun-like star in the Sagittarius constellation, according to researchers. This strong signal, which only lasted 1-minute and 12-seconds, was detected when the Big Ear telescope’s two receivers pointed in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.
Photo credit: Samantha Cristoforetti
ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti probably had the best view of Sunday’s total lunar eclipse, also known as a ‘Blood Moon’ this year, or at least compared to those of us on Earth. These stunning images were captured from the International Space Station and some of them show a partially eclipsed Moon playing hide-and-seek with a solar panel, obscuring some of the views.
Black holes, despite how small or large they are, all seemingly resemble donuts, and there’s a good reason for that. Even the recently imaged supermassive Sagittarius A* black hole at the center of the Milky Way appears this way. Why? Absolutely nothing can escape the event horizon of a black hole, which means that they are all spherical.
Photo credit: NASA, ESA, and R. de Jong (Leibniz-Institut fur Astrophysik Potsdam); Image processing: G. Kober (NASA Goddard/Catholic University of America)
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captures a stunning image of the ‘Little Sombrero’ galaxy located 40 million light-years from Earth. Also known as NGC 7814 or Caldwell 43, this galaxy consists of a brilliant central bulge, a dust-filled thin disk, and a glowing halo of gas as well as stars that sprawl thinly out into space.
NASA has confirmed that asteroid 388945 (2008 TZ3), which is larger than the Empire State Building in New York City, is hurtling towards Earth. Thankfully, this 1600-foot space rock is expected to pass 3.5-million miles away, but should still be considered a threat. It’s set to make a close approach at 5:18pm ET on May 16th at a speed of just over 18,000 miles per hour.
It’s official, the Boeing Starliner has been hoisted atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket ahead of the company’s second uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The launch is targeted for 6:54 p.m. EDT on Thursday, May 19 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
University of Michigan astronomers, led by Ian Roederer, have discovered the ‘gold standard’ star, also known as HD 922925. It has the widest range of elements in a star beyond our solar system yet with forty-two of them being heavy elements listed along the bottom of the periodic table of elements. By identifying these elements in a single star, astronomers can better understand “rapid neutron capture process,” or one of the major ways by which heavy elements in the universe were created.
Asteroid mining could grow the space economy to $1-trillion and beyond by 2040, up from $370-billion in 2020, according to Citigroup analysts. How so? A typical space launch today costs around $1,500 USD per kilogram, but analysts speculate that this could drop to $100 per kilogram within the next two decades, and possibly even $33 per kilogram.
The UK has plans to build a solar power plant in space and it could have a demonstrator in orbit by 2035. London’s Space Energy Initiative wants to make this a reality since solar-based energy has very low environmental footprint and needs only modest infrastructure on Earth, either on land or coastal areas, while generating large scale electricity at minimal cost.
Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, has been imaged for the first time by a research team using the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). Despite not being able to see the the black hole itself due to it being completely dark, we do see the glowing gas around, which reveals a a dark central region (shadow) surrounded by a bright ring-like structure.