A photon, or particle of light, from the biggest cosmic explosion since the Big Bang, nicknamed “the BOAT” (for the brightest of all time), should not have reached Earth. That is, unless it defied rules defined by Einstein. Now scientists may know how it did this, with new research suggesting how the high-energy photon may …
Is the Milky Way even bigger than we thought? New observations have revealed that our galaxy’s spiral arms could stretch farther and wider than we previously concluded. The Milky Way’s spiral structure was discovered over 175 years ago in 1850. But new information could completely change our understanding of our cosmic home. Astronomers have taken …
Our Milky Way galaxy might be larger than we thought Read More »
The Hubble Space Telescope, seen from the space shuttle Columbia at the end of a 2002 servicing mission. The observatory’s door is open in this picture. Credit: NASA Hardware problems that cropped up earlier this month on the Hubble Space Telescope, now approaching the 31st anniversary of its launch, are the latest signs the observatory …
NASA blames recent Hubble woes on aging hardware Read More »
The ELSA-d mission’s servicer and chaser satellites (bottom and top) during ground testing last year. Credit: Astroscale A commercial mission developed by the Japanese company Astroscale rocketed into space on a Russian Soyuz launcher Monday with 37 other payloads, ready to kick off an orbital “dance” with two small spacecraft demonstrating how satellite sweepers might …
Privately-funded mission takes off to begin space debris cleanup trials Read More »
The Hubble Space Telescope in the payload bay of space shuttle Atlantis during the last servicing mission in May 2009. Credit: NASA NASA has partially restored the Hubble Space Telescope to science mode after a software error temporarily halted observations, but engineers continue studying a problem that kept the telescope’s aperture door from closing and …
Hubble resumes science observations after software error Read More »
