We interview a pair of scientists who have examined microorganisms embedded in halite crystals to determine the feasibility of finding similar evidence of past life in return samples from Mars. Plus, ‘Oumuamua, Bennu, Ryugu, winds on Jupiter and a space jellyfish.
Scientists have found a method to use gravitational waves for understanding the early universe. Plus, an exoplanet with no atmosphere, spiders in space (CW), citizen science, and X-ray bubbles in the Milky Way. And the first of our new weekly segment: This Week in Sky Watching.
Today’s top story brings us 39 new gravitational wave detections of black holes and neutron stars, courtesy of the LIGO and VIRGO detectors. Also, it’s Titan’s turn for interesting molecules in the atmosphere, and researchers examined impact craters to see what might lie beneath Titan’s surface. Plus, Hayabusa2’s impact on Ryugu and an updated origin story for Jupiter and Saturn.
In our new format, we bring you a mix of stories. First, an update on the Bennu sampling situation. Next, the top stories, where NASA has reported that the SOFIA airborne telescope found water in a sunlit crater on the Moon, and another team has found water ice reservoirs. Plus, the search for Planet Nine, studying asteroid Psyche 16, and the magnetic fields at a jellyfish galaxy.
New radio images from the ALMA telescope show the direct effects of Io’s volcanism on its atmosphere. Plus, we’ll take a look at the next NASA missions to small bodies that we have to look forward to now that OSIRIS-REx has completed the first touch-and-go sample. And you should smile and wave up at the sky because there are exoplanets that could see us, too
Of course, our top story today is the touch-and-go sampling event on our favorite asteroid-to-hate, Bennu. OSIRIS-REx’s TAGSAM worked as expected, and now we’re waiting for the mass measurement of the sample taken. Plus, the Milky Way’s black hole is spinning too slowly to make jets, and the galaxy’s history can be found in atomic hydrogen filaments.
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