Space

Q&A With the Scientists Behind OSIRIS-REx’s ‘Eyes’

Using its multipurpose camera designed at the UA, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft spied its target asteroid for the first time from about 1.4 million miles away. How did the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft take the first image of the target asteroid Bennu? UANews spoke with three OSIRIS-REx mission scientists who planned the first-light image of Bennu: Bashar Rizk, senior staff scientist ...

Troy Oakes

Neutron Star Jets Shoot Down Theory

Astronomers have detected radio jets belonging to a neutron star with a strong magnetic field — something not predicted by current theory, according to a new study published in Nature. The team, led by researchers at the University of Amsterdam, observed the object known as Swift J0243.6+6124 using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array radio ...

Troy Oakes

Aussie Telescope Almost Doubles Number of Mysterious ‘Fast Radio Bursts’

Australian researchers using a CSIRO radio telescope in Western Australia have nearly doubled the known number of “fast radio bursts” —  powerful flashes of radio waves from deep space. The team’s discoveries include the closest and brightest fast radio bursts ever detected. Fast radio bursts come from all over the sky and last for just ...

Troy Oakes

Australian SKA Pathfinder with the Milky Way overhead.

After the Cold War, Is It Time for Space War?

Russia is developing a wide range of satellites to strengthen its military dominance in a potential space war — everything from a model capable of recording objects on the ground as small as 12 inches wide to ones that can be used as anti-satellite weapons from space. The new generation satellites Moscow is reportedly replacing ...

Nspirement Staff

The Earth with the rising Sun.

Russia and China Attempting to Militarize Space

During the ongoing UN Disarmament Conference, the United States plans on bringing global attention to Russian and Chinese attempts to militarize space. The conference is scheduled to run for five weeks in New York and will cover a wide range of international security issues. Russia and China developing technologies to militarize space Both Russia and ...

Armin Auctor

Voyager 2 Inching Toward Interstellar Space

In 1977, U.S. space agency NASA launched Voyager 2 into space to explore the vastness of our universe. Now, about four decades later, the probe is reportedly nearing interstellar space. Approaching interstellar space Voyager 2 is currently about 11 billion miles away from Earth. This comes to approximately 118 times the distance between the Earth ...

Nspirement Staff

Voyager 2 is on the edge of interstellar space.

Voyager 2 Could Be Nearing Interstellar Space

NASA’s Voyager 2 probe, currently on a journey toward interstellar space, has detected an increase in cosmic rays that originate outside our solar system. Launched in 1977, Voyager 2 is a little less than 11 billion miles (about 17.7 billion kilometers) from Earth, or more than 118 times the distance from the Earth to the ...

Troy Oakes

Dark Matter and Why It Matters

If you think that the entire universe is made up of matter that can be seen or detected, you are dead wrong. In fact, almost 85 percent of the matter present in the universe is thought to be composed of “dark matter,” a form of matter that scientists are yet to directly observe. Dark matter ...

Armin Auctor

Is Pluto A Planet? New Research Suggests Yes

The reason Pluto lost its planet status is not valid, according to new research from the University of Central Florida. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union, a global group of astronomy experts, established a definition of a planet that required it to “clear” its orbit, or in other words, be the largest gravitational force in ...

Troy Oakes

The planet Pluto.

A Ninth Planet Lurking in Our Solar System

Though the solar system is said to only contain eight planets, scientists had always proposed that there could be hidden ones that are yet to be discovered. A new study gives credence to the theory and suggests that a ninth planet might actually exist. Ninth planet In October 2017, NASA suggested that a ninth planet ...

Nspirement Staff