I have to admit, realizing it is somehow late August was a bit startling. I’m not entirely sure where my summer went, but I am grateful that my garden is finally producing veg, and the temps are starting to slowly trend downward. The Dog Days of summer are named for the appearance of the Dog Star Sirius rising with the Sun. Running from July 3 to August 11, these are typically the hottest days of the year and once upon a time, in the Roman Empire, that heat was blamed on Sirius’ - the brightest star in the sky’s - being in close proximity to the Sun. Today we know this isn’t so, but it...
Caught on Camera and Apprehended
Mohutsiwa Gabadirwe (center of photo) and Peter Jenniskens (left, kneeling) at the site of the second find of a piece of asteroid 2018 LA recovered in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in central Botswana. Credit: SETI Institute Our Solar System contains a whole lot...
Closer Look: NASA’s Day of Remembrance and Celebrating the Robots of Mars
Every year, toward the end of January, NASA sets aside a day of remembrance to look back at the three missions that were lost with astronauts aboard: Apollo 1 on Jan 27, 1967 Challenger STS 51L on Jan 28, 1986 Columbia STS 107 on Feb 1, 2003 Apollo 1 Crew (l-r):...
Iron Identified in Planet-Forming Disk
Observations with the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) found various silicate compounds and potentially iron, substances we also find in large amounts in the Solar System’s rocky planets. Credit: Jenry I’ve said it...
Alien Atmospheric Change
This is an artist’s impression of the exoplanet WASP 121-b, also known as Tylos. The exoplanet’s appearance is based on Hubble data of the object. Credit: NASA, ESA, Q. Changeat et al., M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble) Astronomers have only been able to identify planets...
Closer Look: The Requirements for Life
Hydrothermal-vent chimney. In the center of the photo, you can see the vent fluid which appears like dark smoke due to the high levels of minerals and sulfides contained in the fluid. Look closely, and you will also see the chimney is crawling with Chorocaris shrimp...
Harsh environments ok for planets… not for life
Artist's impression of the massive star-forming region, with the planet-forming disk XUE-1 in the foreground. The region is drenched in UV light from massive stars, one of which is visible in the top left corner. The structure near the disk represents the molecules...
Small star hosts (smaller) huge planet
Artistic rendering of the possible view from LHS 3154b towards its low mass host star. Given its large mass, LHS 3154b probably has a Neptune-like composition. Credit: Penn State Solar systems keep finding new ways to surprise us and to convince us that we don’t...
Six planets in coordinated orbits
https://youtu.be/KfZCGBhwpes In my personal opinion, one of the mathematically coolest things in our solar system is the orbits of Jupiter's three inner Galilean moons. It just happens, that these worlds orbit to a beat, with innermost Io circling four times for every...
Closer Look: Planetary Formation Through the Years
Credit: NASA Sometimes, our place in the universe really messes with our ability to understand the universe. From wanting life to be Earth-like, to wanting alien solar systems to look like our solar system, it turns out our wants can bias how we try to science...
You can visit a piece of Bennu
Credit: NMNH We would be remiss if we didn’t update you all on the Bennu sample return mission. As of writing, no word has been released on if the science team has managed to get the TAGSAM capsule open, yet. Remember how that boop became a shove and the capsule had...