We imagine the asteroid belt as a place where all the rocks hang out in the solar system. But there are 2 huge bands of asteroids that orbit the Sun with Jupiter called the Trojans. And soon we may actually get a chance to see them up close!
Not only have astronomers discovered thousands of exoplanets, but they’re even starting to study the atmospheres of worlds thousands of light years away. What can we learn about these other worlds and maybe even signs of life.
We’re all looking to the next generation of exoplanetary research where we get planets directly. But astronomers are already making great strides in directly observing newly forming planets help us understand how our solar system might have formed
We’re familiar with regular binary stars. Two stars orbiting each other. Of course the Universe has come up with every combination of things orbiting other things, and we will look at some extreme examples.
Discovering comets is one of the fields that amateurs can still make a regular contribution to astronomy. Today @AstronomyCast will discuss about how comets are discovered and how you can get your name on one!
Every year more & more people are making their way to space. Some private citizens have already gotten their astronaut wings paying for a trip to space out of their own pocket. What are the ethical implications of this as the costs of spaceflight come down.
The key to surviving in space will be learning how to live off the land. Instead of carrying all your fuel, water and other resources from Earth, extract them locally at your destination. It’s called in situ resource utilization, and if we can figure this out it’ll change everything.
Space is really far away, so when you send a satellite out into the void, that’s pretty much the last you’re going to be able to work on it. And if anything goes wrong, too bad, you’re out a satellite. But a new test has shown that it’s possible to actually visit and fix a satellite in space. Maybe we don’t have to throw them all away after all.
As everyone knows, the Universe owes us a bright comet. There have been a lot of promising candidates, but in the end, they always fail to live up to our expectations. Comets keep on breaking up with us.
So much of our Solar System has been shaped by enormous collisions early on in our history. Seriously, the nature of every planet in the Solar System has some evidence of massive impacts during some point in its history.