Using a mere twelve grams of lunar soil returned by the Apollo missions, scientists have successfully grown plants in the lab. With a wealth of genetic data on hand, they can now analyze the changes to the plants and the soil. Plus, stellar cannibalism, a black hole merger, brown dwarfs, water on Mars, and a review of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”.
In an early morning announcement, the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration finally revealed their first image of Sgr A*, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. We have a special episode entirely about this amazing new image and the science behind it. And this week’s What’s Up is a total lunar eclipse.
A luminous black hole already classified as an active galactic nucleus brightened suddenly in recent ground and space observations, and the cause may be due to a sudden flip in the magnetic poles. Plus, community science, rockets, Ingenuity, and an interview with Dr. Cathy Weitz from Planetary Science Institute.
The flash of a pulsar about 3,000 light-years from our solar system was caused by a ‘black widow’ binary consuming a smaller star. Intriguingly, a third companion star is orbiting the pair, which may have originated near the Milky Way’s center. Plus, the Sun is ramping up, Chandra releases more sonification videos, and this week’s What’s Up is all about occultations.
An analysis of images taken by the Spirit rover of olivine-rich rocks in Gusev crater has revealed a much more violent volcanic origin than originally thought and one that likely occurred early in Mars’s history. Plus, balloon science, more Mars, more volcanoes, pretty Hubble images, and What’s Up (a supernova!).
An analysis of microscopic features in rocks from the Nuvvuagittuq Supracrustal Belt in Quebec, Canada, which date back between 3.75 and 4.28 billion years, finds evidence of possible microbial life. Plus, a supermassive black hole precursor, temperatures on Neptune, check-ins with various spacecraft, and our weekly What’s Up segment.
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