Minor planet 2014 UN271, discovered in data collected by the Dark Energy Survey, is set to make a close pass to Saturn’s orbit at the end of the decade, giving astronomers a chance to observe a rare trans-Neptunian object from up close…ish. Plus, Venus, Jupiter, the Milky Way, and an invisible galactic structure discovered quite by accident.
The payload computer aboard the Hubble Space Telescope stopped running on Sunday, June 13, 2021, and now the operations team is working to either save the module or switch to a backup. Plus, a protoplanetary disk, stellar mega-flares, missing dark matter, trans-Neptunian objects, and a review of Brandon Sanderson’s novel Skyward.
New research presented at the Workshop on Terrestrial Analogs for Planetary Exploration used the Haughton impact crater in Arctic Canada as a potential analog for impact craters on Titan, one of the targets of the upcoming Dragonfly mission. Plus, giant spinning structures, the slowing of the Milky Way, a blinking star, and volcanoes here on Earth.
The most precise measurements of the universe’s composition and growth have been reported in almost thirty new papers based on Dark Energy Survey observations of 229 million galaxies and covering one-eighth of the sky. Plus, stories from the first day of the AAS conference, all the volcanoes, and mission updates.
Physicists have built a pair of microscopic drums and, through quantum entanglement, have found they beat together in perfect synchrony. Plus, dwarf galaxies, China’s Zhurong rover, the East African Rift, and more about ice giants.
Two new studies are attempting to solve a couple of big puzzles in astrophysics: Is the Hubble constant actually constant? And why do galaxies have flat rotation curves? Plus, a young star’s circumstellar disk, the search for stellar-mass black holes, magnesium in the deep waters of Neptune and Uranus, and an interview with PSI scientist David Horvath regarding possibly active volcanism on Mars.
Get your daily dose of all that’s new in space and astronomy. The sky is not the limit, as we bring you a fast-paced roundup of launches, landings, and everyday discoveries. The Daily Space is brought to you by the team behind CosmoQuest at the Planetary Science Institute, and features hosts Dr. Pamela L. Gay, Beth Johnson, and Annie Wilson.
