Podcasts by EVSN: Escape Velocity Space News
Get your weekly dose of all that's new in space and astronomy with Escape Velocity Space News. The sky is not the limit, as we bring you the latest scientific discoveries and rocket launches. EVSN is brought to you by the team behind CosmoQuest at the Planetary Science Institute, and features hosts Dr. Pamela L. Gay and Erik Madaus with special guest interviews by Beth Johnson and audio engineering by Ally Pelphrey. EVSN is supported through Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/CosmoQuestX.
Further podcasts by Dr. Pamela Gay & Annie Wilson
Podcast on the topic Astronomie
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Planetary Formation Leads to Strange New Worlds from 2023-12-06T15:52
We keep tweaking our format a little bit every episode, trying to find the right mix for YouTube, podcasts, and now, short-form video. We think we the setup is on the mark now and thank you for ...
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It's Not Aliens (We Also Want Aliens) from 2023-12-03T15:00
There are some news cycles that are just plain weird, and this news cycle tried really, really hard to be one of them. Headlines last week highlighted that JWST observed methane and carbon dioxi...
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The Volcano That Could... But Didn't from 2023-12-01T01:08
Dr. Pamela is big on volcanoes, and she hoped we’d have an awesome new eruption to report, but we don't. There is, however, still a lot of news this week that doesn’t include an Iceland eruption...
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More (Failed) Observations of Dark Matter from 2023-11-22T15:00
In this week's episode, we look at the upcoming solar maximum, how solar activity affects Neptune, the robotic invasion fleet on Mars, and how some of the weirdest star systems in reality have b...
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A River Runs Through It - Mars and Titan from 2023-11-20T16:34
This episode reminds you to look up, look out, and reflect on what we see around us. Stories cover a weird white dwarf that is doing things our Sun may do billions of years from now, how satelli...
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Satellite Constellations and Early Warning Systems from 2023-11-15T15:00
According to satellite cataloger Jonathan McDowell, there are now 18 satellite constellations, like Starlink, being planned. These constellations will contain 543,811 satellites. This is a whole...
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The Universe is (Still) Trying to Murder Us from 2023-10-26T14:00
In today’s episode, we’re going to look at everything from how past Earth couldn’t support photosynthesis because the days were just too short, to current Earth letting us get hit by more Cosmic...
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Once and Future Life on Venus, Earth, and Mars from 2023-10-25T14:00
Each week, when we set off to do this show, we start with one core idea: We want to tell you what is new in space and astronomy… and remember Earth is a planet too. When we select stories, we tr...
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Earth Science is Planetary Science from 2023-10-24T14:00
In this episode, we need to take one of our periodic looks at our planet's science and understand what it means to life as we know it. But we will only look at Earth for the first two segments. ...
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A New Space Race? from 2023-10-06T14:00
Space science isn’t where the money is… at least not yet. Astronomy and planetary science in the U.S. are funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation, and a variety of smaller foundations an...
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The History of Life As We Know It from 2023-10-04T14:00
In this episode, we’re going to look at how we now work to understand the history of life - including human life - on Earth by studying the geology of our planet, and we’re going to take those l...
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Meteors, Meteor Showers, and their Parent Bodies from 2023-09-12T22:00
In this episode, we’re going to be talking more about meteors - including the source of the Geminids meteor shower, asteroid Phaethon - as well as hot planets, hungry black holes, and how we’re ...
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SETI and the Very Large Array from 2023-09-11T19:22
While we could spend an entire episode on Earth, there is just too much going on in the universe to linger anywhere too long. From our world, we journey out to look at the super massive black ho...
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Do Not Look Directly at this Podcast from 2023-08-22T23:36
This episode features the kind of news week where we looked at the April 20th eclipse in the South Pacific and decided it just wasn’t a huge priority. Between watching Starship's “will it won’t ...
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In Venus VERITAS from 2023-08-17T00:21
For decades now, our planetary science news cycles have been dominated by Mars. Mars is relatively close, and we have a lot of experience landing there and science goals to pursue. But it has le...
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Pareidolia, Pattern Matching, and AI Art from 2023-08-04T01:16
Humans are the ultimate pattern matchers - at least for now. I have to admit I’m looking forward to the day I can give some new AI a set of images and ask it to tell me what animals it can find ...
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The Search for Life on Other Worlds from 2023-07-27T02:27
Right now, humans are tantalizingly close to being able to search for life on other worlds where it is reasonable to think life could exist. We can’t do it yet - at least not in a way that would...
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Will Asteroid 2023 DW Collide with Earth in 2046? (All signs point to no.) from 2023-07-06T01:30
A new asteroid has been discovered with an orbit that crosses our own planet’s orbit. In general, this object and Earth are very good and not trying to occupy the same space at the same time, an...
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Is 2023 the Year of Io? from 2023-06-22T21:04
In general, the kind of year we’ll experience gets its label at the end of the year. 2005 was the year of the never-ending hurricane season. 2017 was the year we experienced an eclipse and lost ...
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Bring on the JWST Science Results from 2023-06-09T20:03
OK so this is actually episode six, but our producer Ally numbered the episodes weird and we got mixed up. This week, thanks to the support of so many, we’re going to be looking at earthquakes, ...
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Is This How We Get Cylons? from 2023-06-01T01:40
In this show, we’ll go through more than 20 studies and observations ranging from planetary climates to galaxy mergers, and we’ll take a closer look at how Artificial Intelligence is being asked...
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Cosmology: From Particles to Galaxy Clusters from 2023-05-24T21:52
We live at a time when technological advances are allowing us to explore ideas faster than ever before. So today, we bring you lab results on ice that affect how we see the outer solar system, a...
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Mass Extinction, Volcanoes, and Rings Around an Asteroid from 2023-05-18T01:28
In this episode, we discuss one mass extinction, three stories with volcanoes, star formation, galaxy dissolution, and space mission synchronized observing. We also take a closer look at dark en...
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Space science potpourri and a more hopeful look at climate change from 2023-05-12T23:06
This episode has a little bit of everything as we bring you results from astronomers, geoscientists, climate scientists, imaging scientists, glaciologists, meteorologists, planetary scientists, ...
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New science from AAS rearranges our understanding of the universe from 2023-05-09T16:25
Hello and welcome! This show - Escape Velocity Space News - is new, and we’re so glad that you’re here with us, right from the beginning. Dr. Pamela Gay, along with a great production team, is h...
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EVSN announcement for DS from 2023-02-28T19:10
Audition Template: 1 Mono Host track (with Speech Volume Leveler), 1 Mono Interview track (with Speech Volume Leveler), 1 Stereo Sound FX with effects, 1 Stereo Music Bed track. 44.1k, 16 bit, S...
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Dealing with Potentially Hazardous Asteroids from 2022-10-20T21:55
A trio of asteroid-related stories crossed our emails this week: Bennu’s sample is on schedule for next year’s return, researchers have developed a tool to measure an asteroid’s density distribu...
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JAXA Triggers Flight Termination of Launch from 2022-10-20T02:07
Space is hard, and some days, getting rockets to work doesn’t go as well as expected. An Epsilon rocket launched by JAXA and carrying eight payloads including RAISE 3 was lost when mission contr...
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BONUS CONTENT: Full-length interview with Jochen Grandell from 2022-10-10T14:00
Catch the full-length interview with Jochen Grandell, Program Scientist for the Meteosat third generation, from our October 4th episode.
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Dinosaurs Washed Away in Largest Wave to Wrap Earth from 2022-10-07T20:32
Observed: It’s a Star-Eat-Star Universe from 2022-10-06T19:28
While astronomers have observed white dwarfs consuming companion stars on numerous occasions, for the first time, they have now observed the consumption of the companion’s helium and not just hy...
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Firefly Makes Orbit on Second Try from 2022-10-05T02:30
Early Saturday morning, another company entered the exclusive club of successful orbital launchers, Firefly Aerospace, when their second attempt to reach orbit, named To The Black, lifted off on...
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BONUS CONTENT: Shape modeling Didymos before DART's arrival from 2022-10-01T19:07
Catch the full-length interview with Eric Palmer from our September 30th show.
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Globular Clusters: Already Old Nine Billion Years Ago from 2022-09-30T19:20
The quest to understand the formation mechanisms of globular clusters was limited by the Hubble Space Telescope’s ability to peer back in time. Now, JWST’s larger mirror has allowed astronomers ...
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BONUS CONTENT: Full-length interview with Amanda Sickafoose - Dimorphos impact captured by South African telescope from 2022-09-30T17:19
Catch the full-length interview with Amanda Sickafoose from our September 29th episode.
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Confirmed: 68 New Gravitational Lenses from 2022-09-29T20:09
Using a machine learning algorithm, scientists have confirmed 68 out of 77 potential gravitational lens candidates from a subset of over 5,000 possibilities. Plus, generation one stars, astronau...
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DART Mission Successfully Boops Dimorphos from 2022-09-27T16:06
After ten months of space travel, NASA’s DART spacecraft arrived at the asteroid Didymos, targeted the moonlet Dimorphos, and successfully flung itself at the surface. Multiple observations conf...
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Quasar’s Light Echoes After 6.73 Years from 2022-09-23T22:44
Astronomers using the 1.2-meter Whipple Observatory to follow the brightness of a lensed galaxy for 14.5 years have calculated that the time delay between light arriving along the shortest and f...
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NASA Tries Fuel Tanking the SLS Again from 2022-09-23T03:55:19
In advance of the next scheduled launch attempt, NASA conducted another test to fill the fuel tanks onboard the Space Launch System rocket. The results were mixed, but the launch is still on sch...
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Bringing Telescopes to Students in Libya from 2022-09-22T19:31
Beth is joined by Mike Simmons, the founder of Astronomy for Equity, an Affiliate Research Scientist at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, and a member of the Board of Directors for the...
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Being a Star: Nature vs Nurture from 2022-09-20T22:48:58
Asteroseismologists are combining data from TESS, Kepler, and eventually JWST to study stellar oscillations in ‘infant’ stars, with the goal of creating new models for how such young stars form ...
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Saturn’s Rings are Made of a Broken-up Moon from 2022-09-17T00:35:57
Using computer simulations, researchers have pieced together a possible scenario where Titan caused another of Saturn’s moons to break up and become the beautiful ring system we see today. Plus,...
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Mount Sharp, Mars, Shaped by Water and Wind from 2022-09-15T23:42:56
Data and images from NASA’s Curiosity rover found evidence that wind played a key role in erosional processes on the red planet, despite the lower atmospheric volume. Plus, astrophysics and cosm...
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BONUS CONTENT: Full-length interview with DART investigation team member Jian-Yang Li from 2022-09-15T00:32:39
Listen to the full-length interview with Jian-Yang Li from our September 13th episode.
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How to Build a Supervolcano in Just Four Million Years from 2022-09-14T00:27:21
Using pockets of gas found in tiny crystals, scientists have created a timeline for the formation and eruption of four supervolcano events in northern Chile more than twenty million years ago. P...
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Water Worlds May Hide Water Underground Summary from 2022-09-09T19:19:53
A population study of 43 exoplanets orbiting M-dwarf stars used both the transit method and radial velocity method to find the densities of the worlds and a surprising pattern emerged. The plane...
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Climate Change Melts Glaciers, Greens the Arctic from 2022-09-09T02:09:37
As global temperatures rise, Earth observations show that glaciers are retreating and ice sheets are melting everywhere from Greenland to Antarctica while regions...
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SEASON PREMIERE: Catching up on news and rockets! from 2022-09-06T20:49:19
As we return from our summer hiatus, we are back with a rundown of some of the stories that came out during the break. On the planetary front, JWST has been taking amazing images and learning ab...
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Machine Learning Pinpoints Martian Meteorite Origin from 2022-07-15T00:13:11
Using layers of data from a variety of Martian missions, researchers have developed a machine learning algorithm that identified the actual crater from which a particular Martian meteorite origi...
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All the Rockets and All the Rocks from 2022-07-13T20:02:20
With the release of JWST’s first science images behind us, we now catch up on all the rocket launches of the past few days. Meanwhile, Bennu continues to be a favorite research topic and is the ...
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JWST Releases First Five Science Images from 2022-07-12T23:19:17
Starting with the stunning release of JWST’s first image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 on July 11, the bonanza continued the morning of July 12 with newly released images of Stephan’s Quintet, th...
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Solar System Rotation Rate Due to Subatomic Interactions from 2022-07-08T19:41:22
Using a first-principles approach, researchers have discovered that the differences in the rotational rate of the solar system are due to the inward and outward flow of cations and electrons. Pl...
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Electrons Swirl Like Water Under Specific Conditions from 2022-07-07T16:49:43
Using etched tungsten ditelluride at nearly absolute zero, scientists have observed electrons swirling around like whirlpools, behaving as a fluid. The methods could be used to design low-energy...
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Infrared Telescope Balloon Mission Gets Mini-JWST Mirror from 2022-07-06T20:59:26
While waiting for the launch and commissioning of JWST, engineers designed an infrared telescope with a 2.5-meter mirror that will fly onboard a large research balloon to nearly 40 kilometers in...
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Cosmic Manatee with a Particle Accelerator on its Head from 2022-07-05T15:36:49
Scientists observing the Manatee Nebula find that the supernova remnant contains a stellar-mass black hole that is emitting powerful, high-energy jets, creating the strange, double-lobed shape. ...
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Comet Storm Due in One Million Years from 2022-07-01T18:46:41
A star cataloged as Gliese 781 is approaching our solar system and in slightly more than a million years from now, will reach the Oort Cloud, likely disrupting the orbits of icy bodies that coul...
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Looking for Life in All the Strange Places from 2022-07-01T00:36:51
A trio of stories examines the possibilities for finding life in strange, new places, including deep underground here on Earth, in the subsurface oceans of Europa, and fossilized within sediment...
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Climate Change: African Lakes Sequestering Carbon Dioxide from 2022-06-29T21:24:29
Today we look at a trio of climate change stories, which are mostly bad news, although one study has discovered that African lakes are doing more sequestering of greenhouse gases than emissions....
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Black Hole Caught Eating Faster Than Normal from 2022-06-28T19:08:36
Jupiter’s Atmosphere Contains Metals From Planetesimals from 2022-06-24T16:28:57
A recent paper examined data from NASA’s Juno mission and found that Jupiter’s atmosphere not only contains metals but also is not a homogenous mix. The likely culprits are the remains of planet...
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Martian Sediments Reveal History of Flowing Water from 2022-06-23T15:25:32
Bennu’s Boulders Act as Body Armor from 2022-06-22T19:26:09
An analysis of the craters on Bennu’s surface provides evidence that the rubble pile asteroid is protected from smaller impacts by the boulders scattered on the surface. Plus, the SLS Wet Dress ...
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Pulsar Found Racing Through Supernova Remnant from 2022-06-21T23:12:51
Researchers using the Chandra X-ray Observatory have found that a known pulsar is moving through a supernova remnant at over one million miles per hour. Plus, the life and death of stars, new pi...
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Wobbling Star Produces Fastest Nova Ever Discovered from 2022-06-16T15:44:35
Observations of V1674 Hercules reveal a nova produced by the white dwarf star that dimmed in only one day. Additionally, the strange star wobbles every 501 seconds, producing flashes in visible ...
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Rogue Black Hole Possibly Found in Milky Way from 2022-06-15T20:17:57
Understanding Space with Gaia Data Release 3 from 2022-06-14T18:42:54
New Method Finds Four Brown Dwarfs from 2022-06-10T21:16:17
Using data from the fabulous Gaia mission, researchers have detected four new brown dwarfs as well as several other unusual companions to 25 stars in the Milky Way. Plus, Yellowstone, Earth’s ma...
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Second Repeating Fast Radio Burst Discovered from 2022-06-09T23:45:41
A second repeating fast radio burst was detected in 2019 by China’s FAST observatory and confirmed in 2020 by the Very Large Array. This latest discovery raises the possibility that there are tw...
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Quasars Help Pinpoint the End of Reionization Epoch from 2022-06-08T23:49:21
Using the radiation signatures of quasars, scientists have determined when the era of reionization ended in our universe – about 1.1 billion years after the Big Bang. Plus, an update on NASA’s M...
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Found: Dying Galaxies Containing Active Black Holes from 2022-06-07T21:13:20
Astronomers combined observations of far distant galaxies exhibiting no signs of star formation and found active supermassive black holes that may have contributed to the evolution of their pare...
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A Trio of Mars Papers Provides Two Explanations to Different Questions from 2022-05-27T18:18:29
Today, we take a look at three recent papers attempting to explain various phenomena on Mars. One uncovers the cause of discrete aurorae. Another explains the martian haze. And a third actually ...
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Tau Herculids Meteor Shower Could Be Meteor Outburst from 2022-05-26T19:03:36
Due to the gravitational pull of Jupiter on the fragments and dust of comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann, Earth’s orbit may be moving through a dense portion of the comet’s trail on May 31. This ali...
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Chaos Reigned in Early Solar System from 2022-05-25T20:56:05
Researchers using radioactive decay analysis have recreated the early history of some asteroids in our solar system, revealing a more chaotic phase than previously thought. Plus, a near-Earth as...
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Pulsars as the Particle Accelerators of the Universe from 2022-05-24T20:38:19
Fast, strong magnetic winds caused by quickly rotating pulsars may be accelerating particles like electrons to extremely high-energy states and creating gamma-ray photons in their wake. Plus, mi...
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Hubble Observations Make For a More Precise Hubble Constant from 2022-05-21T00:02:03
Over the past three decades, astronomers around the world have been using the observations of the Hubble Space Telescope to more precisely calculate the expansion of the universe. And they have ...
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Galaxy Used as Cosmic Telescope to Peer Back in Time from 2022-05-19T19:56:43
With a groundbreaking technique, astronomers have used a galaxy as a gravitational lens to backlight two hydrogen clouds, peering back 11 billion light-years at our early universe. Plus, volcano...
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Supernova Evidence Found in Comet Fragment from 2022-05-19T00:50:52
A forensic analysis of the element concentration found in the Hypatia stone finds evidence in the cometary fragment, which may have impacted Earth 28 million years ago, of a supernova origin sto...
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Astronomers Map Interstellar Clouds in Three Dimensions from 2022-05-18T01:03:27
A team of scientists combined stellar locations from the Gaia mission with dust and cloud maps from the WISE and 2MASS catalogs to create amazing three-dimensional images of the California Cloud...
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Plants Successfully Grown in Lunar Soil from 2022-05-13T20:23:49
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 cha...
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Event Horizon Telescope Releases First Image of Sgr A* from 2022-05-13T01:21:28
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 epi...
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Found: Metal-rich Star. Parents Being Sought. from 2022-05-11T22:25:41
A ninth-magnitude star in our neighborhood of the Milky Way has been found to contain 65 different elements, including large proportions of heavier elements like gold. This star required either ...
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Active Black Hole’s Surge in Brightness Due to Magnetic Flip from 2022-05-11T01:15:04
Hubble Discovers Star Hidden by Companion’s Supernova from 2022-05-06T22:57:17
Data from the Hubble Space Telescope has determined that the newly discovered companion of a star that went supernova had its outer hydrogen layer siphoned off before the explosion. The results ...
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Newly Found ‘Black Widow’ Binary Has Third Companion from 2022-05-05T22:28:41
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, whic...
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May the Fourth Be With You from 2022-05-04T22:55:07
On this May 4th, all of us here at CosmoQuest would like to say, “May the Fourth be with you.” Today we are proud to announce our third annual CosmoQuest-a-Con: Rockin’ with Rockets and Robots, ...
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Differences Fall Away Like Sand on Titan from 2022-05-04T02:42:18
Using spherical grains called ooids, found on Earth in shallow, tropical waters, scientists have found a possible mechanism for the formation of hydrocarbon sand on Titan. Plus, rocket launches,...
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Thirty Comets Spotted Orbiting Alien Star from 2022-04-29T23:04:58
Using data from TESS, a new paper presents evidence for the discovery of thirty potential comets orbiting in the Beta Pictoris system. Plus, astrobiology research, water on the Moon, solar syste...
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Martian Volcanoes Once Chose Violence from 2022-04-28T21:10:07
An analysis of images taken by the Spirit rover of olivine-rich rocks in Gustev crater has revealed a much more violent volcanic origin than originally thought and one that likely occurred early...
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Stellar Death Just Got More Lit from 2022-04-27T23:03:57
Remember that new object COW, named for a strange supernova? We’ve seen four more of these Fast Blue Optical Transits, and new research may even have figured out just how and why they occur. Plu...
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New Fossil Data Shows Cascadia’s Dangers from 2022-04-26T17:27:50
An analysis of sediment core samples taken at the Salmon River Estuary in Oregon provides evidence that the massive 1700 Cascadia earthquake caused 15 meters of slip along the shoreline, which l...
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Seafloor Spreading Slowing Globally from 2022-04-15T20:50:20
An analysis of the relative movements of 18 tectonic ridges over the past 19 million years finds that the rate of seafloor spreading has dropped by about 40% on average globally. Plus, stars are...
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Earlier Bacterial Life May Have Formed Far Earlier Than Thought from 2022-04-15T03:30:28
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...
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An In-Depth Look at Recent Mars Science And Exploration from 2022-04-14T02:43:40
A new paper looks at marsquakes and what is causing them, which turns out to be magma moving. And Curiosity has found rocks it needs to go around. Then there is the w...
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New Analysis Reveals W Boson Particle Far Heavier Than Expected from 2022-04-13T03:26:27
Despite being shut down a decade ago, the Collider Detector at Fermilab provided enormous amounts of data, some of which have recently been re-analyzed, leading to the discovery that the W boson...
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Climate Change Affects the Birds and the Bees from 2022-04-06T19:49:03
From plastics invading the Arctic Ocean to the changing morphology of birds in response to rising temperatures and the problems with pathogens killing off pollinators like bees, we examine some ...
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Protoplanet Image Supports Alternate Formation Theory from 2022-04-05T22:13:30
In a joint discovery announced by the Subaru and Hubble telescopes, researchers have captured images of a gas giant protoplanet whose distant formation supports the disk instability theory. Plus...
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Ice Mounds Abound in Martian Craters from 2022-03-31T20:42:47
An analysis of the thickness and the shapes of the ice mounds of Martian craters found that the patterns matched Mars’ axial tilt and precession over the last 4 to 5 million years. Plus, Europa,...
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Hubble Finds Farthest Star Ever Spotted from 2022-03-30T18:53:48
How Atmospheric Methane Could Be a Sign of Life from 2022-03-29T17:28:31
Join us as we take a deep dive into the history of atmospheric methane on Mars and Titan, how that methane could be a sign of life, and what methane means for future missions and science. Plus, ...
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More From ESA’s Gaia: Weird White Dwarf News from 2022-03-25T23:26:55
Researchers use data from ESA’s Gaia telescope to discover that white dwarf stars have two different distributions both in how they move and how bright they shine. Plus, all the International Sp...
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ESA’s Gaia Observatory Dates Milky Way’s Evolution from 2022-03-24T16:07:15
Stellar formation and evolution data collected from ESA’s Gaia telescope has allowed scientists to create a timeline of the evolution of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Plus, an ancient ice age, sou...
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Rubble Pile Asteroids May Be Extinct Comets from 2022-03-23T18:30:54
After detecting high levels of organic matter using remote sensors at the asteroid Ryugu, numerical models show that it’s possible that rubble pile asteroids are actually extinct comets. Plus, t...
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Earth’s Climate Proves More Resilient Than Thought from 2022-03-22T22:19:07
Computer models of the effects of an eruption event similar to the Columbia River Flood Basalt show that, despite massive injections of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, Earth’s climate reboun...
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Long-Awaited Rollout of the First Space Launch System from 2022-03-19T00:43:20
The first SLS was rolled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) High Bay 3 on the Crawler Transporter on March 17, 2022, and is the first lunar rocket to emerge from the VAB since Apollo 17’...
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Using the Moon to Detect Time-Space Changes from 2022-03-17T12:43:49
Scientists propose using changes in the distance from the Earth to the Moon and measured by lasers as a way to detect the phenomenon of gravitational waves. Plus, JWST is working, ExoMars is at ...
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Several Kepler Planets Turn Out to be Small Stars from 2022-03-16T15:35:15
Earthquakes Can Affect Plate Tectonics in a Feedback Loop from 2022-03-15T18:23:59
Researchers studying GPS data collected from the 1999 İzmit earthquake in Turkey found that the quake changed the movement of the plate, and this effect may be possible for other tectonic plates...
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Magnetic Fields Help Find Ocean Worlds from 2022-03-11T21:12:24
Researchers have determined how to effectively measure the magnetic fields at Neptune to determine if any of the moons are ocean worlds… in just twelve minutes. Plus, lasers recreate galaxy clus...
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Science of the Weird: Black Holes, Astronaut Blood, and Alligators from 2022-03-10T14:57:10
Today’s science stories run the gamut of the strange and the weird, with several black holes, the effects of space on astronaut blood cells, and how alligator mating dances added to solar science. ...
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Happy 20th Birthday to Hubble’s ACS Instrument from 2022-03-09T22:38:34
The Advanced Camera for Surveys instrument onboard the Hubble Space Telescope is celebrating twenty years of service this week. Plus, a new look at an old lunar rock, gas rings around an aging star...
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Special Edition: Space Science and the Russia-Ukraine War from 2022-03-05T01:48:54
Today we’re going to discuss the repercussions to space science of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Some people may find this subject upsetting, and if you need to skip this episode, we understand....
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Climate Change - Tsunami, Arctic Sea Ice, and Rising Temperatures from 2022-03-03T19:53:03
In the latest climate change news, ancient underwater landslides could help us understand tsunami risks in the Middle East, NASA now has a ‘Vanilla’ ice drone to study the Arctic, and lake tempe...
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Pretty Pictures, Strange Exoplanets, and a New GOES Satellite from 2022-03-03T01:20:30
To bring some joy into a fraught world, we have rounded up a few of the latest image releases of star mergers and galaxies to brighten your day. Plus, we’ll look at a few strange exoplanetary sy...
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Black Holes, Fast Radio Bursts, Dinosaurs and Rockets from 2022-03-02T19:32:35
As we return from our mini-break, we bring you some highlights of stories that happened while we were away, including black holes spiraling toward each other, the possible origin of a fast radio bu...
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Lasers, Life, and Looking at Cosmonaut Brains from 2022-02-18T21:26:52
Do you want lasers? I want lasers! And today’s show features lots of lasers. We also have more questions than answers about Mars’ methane, misbehaving stars, and new research on how we would loo...
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Science is the same, every where, every when from 2022-02-17T22:10:32
The science that dictates our planet is the exact same physics that affects our entire universe. Trying to understand everything around us is just as simple as ta...
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Theory and Observation combine to update galaxies and stars from 2022-02-17T01:36:28
Today our view on the universe gets itself an update thanks to the combined efforts of theorists and observers. From new understanding of how galaxies can lose their...
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Space Junk Hitting the Moon is not From SpaceX from 2022-02-15T23:42:18
Observers tracking a piece of space debris that is expected to impact the far side of the Moon early in March have now corrected the origin of the object, which isn’t from SpaceX but is from a C...
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Old Falcon 9 Stage Reenters Over Mexico from 2022-02-14T23:42:18
The second stage of a Falcon 9 rocket launched in 2017 re-entered the atmosphere over Mexico, breaking up and creating a show of fiery lights in the sky. Plus, dead stars with possibly living pl...
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Distant Galaxies Found Lifeless Within Ancient Cluster from 2022-02-10T18:00
Defying expectations, an ultramassive galaxy and many of its cluster companions had already formed most of their stars and become inactive only two billion years after the beginning of the unive...
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Latest Batch of Starlink Satellites Doomed by Solar Storm from 2022-02-09T18:00
SpaceX launched another 49 Starlink satellites last week, but a geomagnetic storm caused by solar activity kept the satellites offline, and 40 of them failed to reach their final orbits after ex...
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Mars Could Have Supported Life Longer Than Thought from 2022-02-08T18:00
A NASA-funded simulation of early Mars revealed that the climate three billion years ago on the red planet was very similar to Earth now, with a stable ocean in the northern hemisphere. This new...
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Moons May Be Beneficial to Life Beyond Earth from 2022-02-05T01:23:09
New simulations find that to form a moon with a similar size ratio to our own system, certain types of planets are needed. And that type of moon-planet system could then be beneficial to the ris...
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Rising Oxygen Levels of Past Earth May Help in Search for Life from 2022-02-04T00:58:36
Scientists analyzed iron-rich sedimentary rocks and estimated the amount of oxygen present in the atmosphere when those rocks formed, finding low levels of oxygen and giving insight into a poten...
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Indigenous North American Stories Point to Comet Explosion from 2022-02-02T18:00
By collecting and analyzing stories from a variety of indigenous cultures in North America, researchers find evidence for a mid-air explosion of a comet or asteroid, similar to the Tunguska even...
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SpaceX Launches Italian Radar Satellite from 2022-02-01T18:00
After several weather-related (and one cruise ship-related) delays, SpaceX finally launched the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation Flight 2 (CSG-2) satellite for the Italian government. Plus, some b...
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Early Mars Volcanoes Could Have Been Habitable to Microbes from 2022-01-28T22:03:25
A research team studying the Poás volcano in Costa Rica, a potential analog for early Mars conditions, finds microbes surviving in extremely harsh conditions. Plus, table-top matter-antimatter e...
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Newly Discovered Bright Transient Radio Source is a Mystery from 2022-01-27T22:00:20
Scientists using the Murchison Widefield Array in Australia recently discovered an extremely bright source of radio waves, releasing bursts of energy three times an hour. That timing makes the o...
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Origin of Earth’s Water: A New Hypothesis Has Entered the Chat from 2022-01-26T21:43:56
For decades, scientists have been trying to work out just how the Earth got all its water, and the prevailing theory was that comets and asteroids brought it, and we have evidence for that mecha...
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The Curious Case of the Brown Dwarfs at 14 Herculis from 2022-01-26T01:20:48
A dynamical analysis of the 14 Herculis system has revealed the existence of two brown dwarf planets orbiting in completely misaligned, eccentric orbits. The study also uncovered the possibility...
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Gemini South Observes Young, Meandering Stellar Jets from 2022-01-21T18:00
The Gemini South Observatory, using adaptive optics, has captured stunning new images of meandering stellar jets. The sidewinding appearance is likely caused by gravitational influences of nearb...
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An In-Depth Look at the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Eruption from 2022-01-20T18:00
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano in the Kingdom of Tonga erupted on January 15, and despite communications being cut off, government officials and scientists have gathered a wealth of infor...
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Carbon Molecules on Mars Open New Mystery from 2022-01-19T18:00
NASA’s Curiosity rover has discovered carbon isotopes on Mars which are usually caused by the degradation of biological methane, leading scientists to examine other potential reasons for the mol...
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Milky Way’s Stellar Streams Highlight Dark Matter from 2022-01-19T00:44:38
Recent observations of twelve different stellar streams around the Milky Way have revealed the effects of dark matter, similar to how lights on a Christmas Tree reveal the shape of the tree in d...
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Another Possible Exomoon Discovered from 2022-01-14T18:00
Researchers have potentially found a Neptune-sized exomoon orbiting a Jupiter-sized planet in a system with a Sun-like star, making it the second such potential exomoon discovered to date. Plus,...
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China Lander Detects Water on the Moon from 2022-01-11T21:24:13
China’s Chang’e-5 lunar lander has made the first in situ detection of water on the Moon, using reflectance spectroscopy from the surface of our natural satellite. Plus, all the news from the AA...
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Over 70 Free-Floating Planets Discovered in Region of Milky Way from 2022-01-08T01:06:16
JWST and the 30 Days of Terror from 2022-01-07T00:05:22
With the successful launch of the JWST, the focus turns to the complicated process of unfurling the sunshield and unfolding the mirror. We’ll look at just where NASA is in the process and how mu...
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Rocket Roundup for January 5, 2022 from 2022-01-05T23:53:06
The Rocket Roundup team takes a look back at the rockets that launched in 2021, with a review of the statistics and some highlights (including that one telescope that could have ruined Christmas...
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A Look Back at Our Favorite 2021 Stories from 2022-01-05T00:05:07
Dr. Pamela and Beth each picked their three favorite stories from 2021, including news from Mars and Pluto and about distant comets and undead white dwarf stars. Plus, we interview Dr. Jackie Fa...
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Rocket Roundup for December 22, 2021 from 2021-12-22T18:00
This week on Rocket Roundup, we have all the Falcon 9 launches! And another Kuaizhou 1A launch failure to wrap up the year. Plus, we look back at the origins of NORAD’s Santa Tracker.
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JWST Launch Still Scheduled for Christmas Eve from 2021-12-21T18:00
Dr. Pamela takes a deep dive into her feelings about the JWST, its pending launch, and just what the telescope means to the astronomical community. Plus, general relativity is still true, a huge...
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Sublimating Nitrogen Responsible for Pluto’s Icy Polygons from 2021-12-17T18:00
New models of sublimating nitrogen show that the process creates enough heat to drive the formation and texture of the polygons in Sputnik Planitia. Plus, black holes, star formation, and an int...
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Massive Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica at Risk of Collapse from 2021-12-16T21:57:22
A team of scientists collected cores and modeled ice cliff failure and found that Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is melting more quickly than ever and could be at risk of collapse, threatening g...
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Rocket Roundup for December 15, 2021 from 2021-12-15T21:55:36
On Rocket Roundup, launches include the latest from Rocket Lab, a Blue Origin crewed launch, several Chinese launches, and a pair of Russian communication satellites. Plus, this week in rocket h...
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New, Deep Images of Milky Way’s Black Hole Show Stars Moving from 2021-12-14T23:09:37
Using the ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer, scientists have obtained the deepest and sharpest images of Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. They tracked the o...
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Overlooked Exoplanet Found by Citizen Scientists from 2021-12-10T22:57:53
Using data provided by the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 citizen science project, volunteers found a possible large planet or brown dwarf orbiting its star at a distance of more than 1,600 astronomi...
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Q-balls Knock Matter Into Dominance Over Antimatter After Big Bang from 2021-12-09T18:00
Researchers hypothesize that blobs in post-Big Bang fields of energy, known as Q-balls, could explain how matter came to dominate over antimatter in our Universe, and they plan to use gravitatio...
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Rocket Roundup for December 8, 2021 from 2021-12-08T23:06:29
In this week’s Rocket Roundup, we have more Starlink, European navigation satellites, a Chinese company launching to orbit again, a large U.S. government satellite, and a sounding rocket from Sw...
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40 Hours of Observations Finds No Dark Matter in Galaxy AGC 114905 from 2021-12-07T22:21:05
Astronomers using the Very Large Array in New Mexico spent 40 hours observing galaxy AGC 114905, which seemed to have little to no dark matter in 2019 observations. The new evidence shows there ...
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Lightweight Mars-sized Planet Found in TESS Data from 2021-12-04T01:08:38
A Mars-sized planet was found just 31 light-years away, orbiting its star every eight hours and having 55 percent the mass of the Earth, leading scientists to conclude it’s mostly made of an iro...
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Earth’s Orbital Changes Possibly Influenced Biologic Evolution from 2021-12-02T18:00
An analysis of over 9 million samples of coccoliths whose ages span several million years has led scientists to conclude that changes in Earth’s orbit may have influenced changes in the size and...
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Rocket Roundup for December 1, 2021 from 2021-12-01T18:00
During this jam-packed episode of Rocket Roundup, we attempt to cover several Chinese launches, a few SpaceX launches, NASA’s DART mission to hit an asteroid, and Russia’s launch of a military s...
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301 Exoplanets Added to Kepler Mission’s Total via Deep Learning from 2021-11-30T18:00
Using a new deep neural network called ExoMiner, scientists have added 301 new exoplanets to the Kepler mission’s already enormous total of 4,569 confirmed planets. Plus, another gravitational l...
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Science is part of society from 2021-11-19T21:29:03
ALMA Data Helps Confirm Mechanism Behind Gas Stripping of Galaxies from 2021-11-18T18:00
A new research project called the Virgo Environment Traced in Carbon Monoxide Survey (VERTICO) used data collected by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to understand just w...
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Rocket Roundup for November 17, 2021 from 2021-11-17T18:00
On this week’s Rocket Roundup, SpaceX launches NASA astronauts and more Starlink satellites, and Arianespace launches military satellites for France. Plus, this week in rocket history we look ba...
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Quasi-satellite of Earth has Lunar-like Material from 2021-11-16T18:00
After five years of observations, researchers have found that the quasi-satellite Kamo’oalewa, which currently orbits the Earth, is similar to a lunar sample collected during the Apollo 14 missi...
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2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics from 2021-11-16T17:30:04
The Decadal Survey was released earlier this month, and we take a look at some of the recommendations. Plus, this week’s What’s Up and a review of the Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 lens.
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Rocket Roundup for November 10, 2021 from 2021-11-10T22:31:55
Rocket Roundup includes two long-delayed Chinese launches that finally go up along with another surprise Chinese launch and Russia launches a space station resupply. Plus, this week in rocket hi...
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Hubble Working Again, Landsat 9 Releases Images, Crew 2 Returns from 2021-11-09T22:33:23
After a bit of a scare, the aging Hubble Space Telescope has once again resumed its science operations with the ACS instrument brought back online. Plus, Landsat 9 released its first images and ...
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Astronomers Discover 63 Galaxies in Protocluster from 2021-10-29T17:00
Astronomers researching the G237 protocluster find 63 galaxies within, all producing stars and more galaxies at a high rate, acting as a “shipyard” for their region of the cosmos. Plus, Juno loo...
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Atmospheric Composition of Distant Hot Jupiter Measured from 2021-10-28T17:00
Scientists have measured the composition of the hot Jupiter exoplanet WASP-77Ab using an instrument at the Gemini South observatory as the first step in creating a catalog of exoplanetary atmosp...
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Rocket Roundup for October 27, 2021 from 2021-10-27T17:00
This week on Rocket Roundup, we cover a little bit of everything: French, Chinese, and Japanese rockets launch satellites into orbit, and South Korea attempts the first launch of their homemade ...
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Searching for Planets: New Mission Goes Rogue; Possible Extragalactic Planet Found from 2021-10-26T17:00
A proposed mission called the Contemporaneous LEnsing Parallax and Autonomous TRansient Assay, or CLEoPATRA, seeks to work with the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope to find rogue planets not orbiting...
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Early Universe Star Formation Came in Bursts from 2021-10-21T17:00
Researchers looked at lensed galaxy systems, searched for nearby analogs to those distant systems, and found that in general, the systems showed signs of bingeing star formation and then quiet l...
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Rocket Roundup for October 20, 2021 from 2021-10-21T01:30:51
This week, our Rocket Roundup includes crewed space flights from the U.S. and China, Russia launches more satellites for OneWeb, and NASA launches the Lucy spacecraft to visit asteroids near Jup...
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News Roundup: A Post-Hiatus Look at Stories We Missed from 2021-10-19T17:00
Today we whirl through some of the stories that happened last week while we were on hiatus, including pretty images of two galaxies merging and a lovely supernova, as well as news about moons Eu...
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Perseverance Images Confirm Jezero Crater as Ancient Lake from 2021-10-08T17:00
A newly completed analysis of Perseverance’s first images from Mars finds that the landing site, Jezero Crater, was really a lake that was fed by a river, with sedimentary layers, flash floods, ...
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Moon Rock Samples Show Signs of Late Volcanism from 2021-10-07T23:44:21
An analysis of the most recent sample taken from the Moon and returned by the Chang’e-5 mission shows that the basaltic rock is about two billions years old. This age implies a previously unknow...
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Rocket Roundup for October 6, 2021 from 2021-10-06T17:00
On this week’s Rocket Roundup: the latest crewed Soyuz launch, MS-19; a Cargo Dragon brings back science for NASA; and a JPL robot competes in a DARPA competition. Plus, this week in rocket hist...
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Pluto’s Atmosphere Freezing Out as Pluto Moves Away from 2021-10-05T22:09:54
Scientists analyzed the results of a stellar occultation when Pluto passed in front of a distant star and found that Pluto’s atmosphere is freezing to the surface as the planet moves away from t...
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Climate Change: Oxygen, Dinosaurs, Ice, and Earth from 2021-10-01T17:00
From the Great Oxidation Event to how Earth is dimming, we look at a selection of stories about how climate changes have affected the Earth in the distant past, the recent past, and the current ...
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Large Comet Discovered; Won’t Get Past Jupiter from 2021-09-30T17:00
From the Great Oxidation Event to how Earth is dimming, we look at a selection of stories about how climate changes have affected the Earth in the distant past, the recent past, and the current ...
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Rocket Roundup for September 29th, 2021 from 2021-09-29T21:02:45
For Rocket Roundup, we have the latest in a long series of US weather satellites, a Chinese remote sensing satellite on a small rocket’s return to flight, and another secret Chinese satellite la...
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Cosmic Billiards Leads to Inner Planetary Growth from 2021-09-28T17:00
The inner solar system was a wild and wooly place as the planets were forming, and new research shows that the collisions that formed Earth and Venus were likely of the hit-and-run variety. Plus...
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Clouds Detected on Exoplanet WASP-127b from 2021-09-24T17:00
Using data from the Hubble Telescope and the ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, a team of scientists have successfully detected clouds on an exoplanet and even measured their altitude. Plus, f...
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Six Early, Massive, “Dead” Galaxies Found in Hubble Data from 2021-09-23T17:00
While searching for objects deep in the universe’s history, at about three billion years of age, researchers found six massive but “dead” galaxies in Hubble and ALMA data, a strange finding for ...
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Rocket Roundup for September 22nd, 2021 from 2021-09-22T17:00
This week’s Rocket Roundup includes Inspiration4, the first all private citizen orbital spaceflight. Plus, a Chinese crew returns to Earth, and China sends up a resupply spacecraft to prepare fo...
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Penguin Poo Reveals Past Populations from 2021-09-21T17:00
Dark Matter Delays Supernova Signal from 2021-09-17T17:00
A supernova first observed in 2016 will be replayed in a few years because of the light’s journey through a galaxy cluster and how dark matter gravitationally warps space-time. Plus, inactive ce...
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Supervolcanoes Remain Active Post-Eruption Longer Than Thought from 2021-09-16T17:00
Research into the Toba caldera and its super-eruption 75,000 years ago shows that magma continued to flow out of the volcano for thousands of years after the main eruption event. Plus, magma and...
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Rocket Roundup for September 15, 2021 from 2021-09-15T17:00
The Rocket Roundup this week features two Chinese launches, including one we couldn’t cover last week, a Russian military satellite launch, and some more Starlink and OneWeb internet satellites....
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Early Cambrian Formation Hides Multicellular Algae Fossils from 2021-09-14T17:00
The discovery of multicellular algae specimens in an early Cambrian formation in China provides evidence of the change from cyanobacteria to more complex organisms with external membranes and ce...
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Simple Physics Explains Diamond Shapes of Ryugu and Bennu from 2021-09-09T17:00
Using a simple model based on granular physics, like those used for modeling sand or sugar deposits, scientists have recreated the diamond shape of asteroids Ryugu and Bennu in computer simulati...
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Rocket Roundup for September 8, 2021 from 2021-09-08T23:10:39
Our Rocket Roundup is a launch bonanza, with launches from Arianespace, China, Blue Origin, Astra, SpaceX, and Firefly. Plus, this week in rocket history, we look back at the Luna 16 mission, wh...
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New Class of Exoplanet Could Accelerate Search for Life from 2021-09-07T17:00
Hycean worlds have hydrogen-rich atmospheres and are covered in oceans, making them prime candidates for the search for life outside our own solar system. These worlds are also more numerous and...
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Small, Violent Faults Possibly Led to Grand Canyon’s Missing Rocks from 2021-08-21T00:04:33
New research has pinpointed small, violent faults caused by the breakup of an ancient supercontinent as the potential cause of a major loss in the rock record of the Grand Canyon, known as the G...
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Triangle Singularity Effect Finally Observed in CERN Data from 2021-08-19T17:00
We’re talking about particle physics today! An effect called the “triangle singularity” has been observed, and it describes how particles change identities by exchanging quarks. Plus, climate ch...
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Rocket Roundup for August 18, 2021 from 2021-08-18T17:00
Magnitude 7.2 Earthquake Strikes Haiti to Devastating Effect from 2021-08-17T17:00
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake shook the island nation of Haiti, destroying thousands of homes and resulting in the loss of over 1,400 people. Additionally, Tropical Depression Grace arrived and ham...
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Evidence for Icy Crust Found at Ceres’ Occator Crater from 2021-08-13T17:00
Using a neutron spectrometer onboard the Dawn spacecraft, scientists have found elevated concentrations of hydrogen in Ceres’ Occator Crater, which provides evidence of an icy crust. Plus, every...
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NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Finds Bennu Collision Risk Nearly Nonexistent from 2021-08-12T17:00
After careful analysis of orbital data, gravitational forces, and several other factors, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx team calculated the risk of a collision with near-Earth asteroid Bennu to be %0.057 thr...
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Rocket Roundup for August 11th, 2021 from 2021-08-11T23:50:54
On this week’s Rocket Roundup, China launches two different rockets and an ISS resupply brings new technology and also student involvement. Plus, this week in rocket history, we look back at the...
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Chandra X-ray Observatory Captures Light Echoes Around Black Hole from 2021-08-10T21:32:55
Based on X-ray detections from the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, scientists used the Chandra X-ray Observatory and found rings called light echoes moving out from a black hole and its companio...
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NASA’s TESS Maps Symphony of Pulsating Red Giant Stars from 2021-08-06T23:45:14
NASA’s TESS spacecraft, which is primarily used to search for exoplanets, has now observed a veritable symphony of pulsating red giant stars, each with their own internal vibrations. This work w...
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NASA Identifies Possible Lunar Mantle Rocks on Lunar Surface from 2021-08-05T22:50:18
Two new studies have possibly identified regions on the Moon’s surface that could contain pieces of the lunar mantle, which would be possible sample targets for the Artemis mission. Plus, Venus ...
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Rocket Roundup for August 4th, 2021 from 2021-08-04T23:17:29
On this week’s Rocket Roundup, China launches another military satellite, Rocket Lab returns to flight, Arianespace returns to flight, and a Chinese private rocket fails. Plus, this week in rock...
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Rough Lunar Surface Provides Safe Haven for Water Ice from 2021-08-04T00:25:13
Last year’s announcement that water ice had been found on the dayside of the Moon by the SOFIA observatory prompted scientists to understand just why that could work, and they found that the Moo...
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New Research Say Clays Are What’s Beneath Mars’ South Pole from 2021-07-30T17:00
Continuing the ongoing saga of just what is under the Martian south polar ice caps, new research has once again analyzed radar data, and this time, scientists find that clays known as smectites ...
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Light Observed From Behind Black Hole for First Time from 2021-07-29T17:00
Once again, science has proved Einstein’s theories correct. This time, observations taken with ESA’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s NuSTAR space telescopes have seen x-ray flashes bent from behind a blac...
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Rocket Roundup for July 28, 2021 from 2021-07-29T00:35:33
For this week’s Rocket Roundup, we have exactly zero launches to cover. What’s up with that? In the meantime, we talk about Europa Clipper’s launch announcement, Blue Origin’s attempt to be a pa...
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Hubble Detects Water Vapor in Ganymede’s Atmosphere from 2021-07-27T23:37:11
Scientists analyzed archival data from the Hubble Space Telescope and found evidence of water vapor in the atmosphere of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede. The water vapor is present due to thermal escape...
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InSight Lander Reveals Structure of Mars from 2021-07-23T23:14:30
Hubble Returns to Observations with Oddball Galaxies from 2021-07-22T22:30:44
After several weeks of trying different methods, the operations team successfully revived the stalwart Hubble Space Telescope, which experienced a payload computer fault back on June 13. The fir...
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Rocket Roundup for July 21, 2021 from 2021-07-21T23:21:32
On this week’s Rocket Roundup, Russia launches a long delayed ISS module with a new space toilet, New Shepard conducts its first crewed launch, and China launches some more secret satellites. Pl...
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Fossilized Remains of Hydrothermal Microbes Found from 2021-07-16T17:00
The fossilized remains of methane-cycling microbes have been found in exposed sedimentary seafloor rocks in South Africa. These microbes, dating back 3.42 billion years, could extend the fossil ...
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Rogue Planets Found Near Milky Way’s Core from 2021-07-16T02:21:22
Using data collected by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, scientists have found four free-floating, or rogue, planets near the core of the Milky Way. These planets formed in discs in other planetar...
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Rocket Roundup for July 14th 2021 from 2021-07-14T23:17:36
Impact Gardening Churns Surface of Saturn’s Moon Europa from 2021-07-14T00:21:22
Over tens of millions of years, the surface of Europa has been churned by impacts down to an average depth of 30 centimeters. This churning means that the search for chemical biosignatures must ...
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Latest Observations Close Standard Model Gap from 2021-07-01T21:51:30
Rocket Roundup for June 30, 2021 from 2021-06-30T22:26:49
On this week's Rocket Roundup, a sounding rocket launches with student payloads, the Russian Space Force launches a classified satellite, and finally, a routine ISS resupply mission. Plus, this ...
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Two Neutron Star - Black Hole Mergers Detected from 2021-06-29T21:49:28
About 900 million miles away in two different galaxies, a black hole and a neutron star merged, and their gravitational waves have been detected here on Earth. These detections add another type ...
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Dinosaurs May Have Lived in the Arctic Year-Round from 2021-06-25T21:48:26
The fossilized teeth and bones of baby dinosaurs found in northern Alaska may indicate that dinosaurs didn’t just summer in the Arctic but nested and raised their young there. Plus, the cosmic d...
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SOFIA Telescope Captures High-Resolution Images of Stellar Nursery from 2021-06-24T17:00
New high-resolution images captured by the SOFIA airborne telescope have given scientists the first clear view of a massive star-forming region here in the Milky Way, including an expanding bubb...
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Rocket Roundup for June 23, 2021 from 2021-06-23T17:00
On this week’s Rocket Roundup, the Chinese send a crewed mission to their new space station, SpaceX launches some new GPS satellites, China adds to their Yaogan satellite constellation, and Maur...
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Eccentric Minor Planet to Make Close Pass to Saturn’s Orbit in 2030 from 2021-06-23T00:37:32
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 ...
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NASA Working to Restore Hubble Telescope’s Payload Computer from 2021-06-19T01:25:34
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 p...
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Craters in Northern Canada Offer Clues to Titan from 2021-06-18T01:05:27
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...
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Rocket Roundup for June 16, 2021 from 2021-06-16T22:22:05
This Rocket Roundup includes a Chinese launch and two launches from Northrop Grumman, including one for the National Reconnaissance Office. Plus, this week in rocket history, we look back at the...
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Black Holes Can Clear Way For Star Formation from 2021-06-15T17:00
Contrary to the destructive role supermassive black holes are thought to play in the lives of stars, it turns out that certain types of galaxies benefit from black holes clearing the way and kee...
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Stellar Siblings Found and Both Have Planets from 2021-06-11T17:00
Two seemingly unrelated stars, each with several exoplanets, turn out to be members of an enormous, diffuse star cluster. Plus, baby squid go to the ISS, new images from China’s Zhurong rover, a...
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Solar Systems Vary From Star Type to Star Type from 2021-06-10T17:00
In new research, scientists examined the populations of stars observed by the Kepler and K2 missions and found that the solar systems were different depending on the type of star involved. Plus,...
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Rocket Roundup for June 9, 2021 from 2021-06-09T17:00
After a brief vacation, Rocket Roundup is back with six launches, including three from SpaceX, another OneWeb, and two Chinese launches. Plus, this week in rocket history, we look back at an imp...
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New Measurements Released From the Dark Energy Survey from 2021-06-09T01:04:04
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 coverin...
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Europa May Have Enough Heat for Seafloor Volcanoes from 2021-05-27T17:00
Jupiter’s moon Europa, an icy world with a subsurface ocean that interests astrobiologists, may actually be hot enough to melt the interior rock and create volcanoes on the ocean floor. Plus, Ry...
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Rocket Roundup for May 26, 2021 from 2021-05-26T17:00
There were only three launches this past week -- an SBIRS satellite for the United States government, an ocean-monitoring satellite for the Chinese government, and a very successful launch of a ...
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Quantum Entangled Drums Beat in Perfect Synchrony from 2021-05-25T17:00
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 Afr...
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Milky Way Was Mostly Formed Earlier Than Expected from 2021-05-21T17:00
New research shows that our galaxy was already in place prior to a major collision with a dwarf galaxy ten billions years ago. Plus, meteor showers, fast radio bursts, tardigrades, climate chang...
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Zhurong Lander Returns Images From Martian Surface from 2021-05-20T17:00
After a successful touchdown on Mars last week, the Zhurong lander has sent back both black and white and color images. Plus, pulsars, ocean depths, heavy metal vapor, radioactive elements, and ...
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Rocket Roundup for May 19, 2021 from 2021-05-19T17:00
This week, we share a Rocket Lab launch failure (but first stage recovery success), yet another Starlink (with rideshare payloads), and a rare sounding rocket launch. Plus, this week in rocket h...
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Supernovae and Galaxies Being Used to Solve Astrophysics’ Biggest Questions from 2021-05-18T17:00
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 cir...
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Scientists Generate 3D Model of Planetary Nebula From New Data from 2021-05-14T17:00
Using spectrographic data from several different telescopes, a team put together a three-dimensional model of planetary nebula NGC 1514, which allowed them to further study the shape and interna...
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Tiny ‘Unicorn’ Black Hole Found in Milky Way is Closest One to Earth from 2021-05-13T17:00
A tiny black hole, only three solar masses, has been found inside the Milky Way in the constellation Monoceros. One of the smallest black holes ever found, it is also the closest one to Earth. P...
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Rocket Roundup for May 12, 2021 from 2021-05-12T17:00
Discovery of Twin Supernovae Could Open Up Dark Energy Experiments from 2021-05-11T17:00
SNFactory researchers found that among about 50 supernovae, many had nearly identical spectra, paving the way for making more accurate distance calculations. These calculations, in turn, open up...
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Saturn’s Rings and Magnetic Fields Help Understand Planet’s Interior from 2021-05-07T17:00
Two new studies used data from Cassini’s Grand Finale observations of Saturn and found that the magnetic fields and a wave in the rings provide insight into the core structure and composition of...
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Strange Supernova Appears Cool Before Exploding from 2021-05-06T17:00
Researchers find that the “oddball supernova” of a curiously cool, yellow star was lacking the hydrogen content expected, “stretching what is physically possible.” Plus, finding potentially habi...
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Rocket Roundup for May 5, 2021 from 2021-05-05T17:00
This week’s Rocket Roundup episode features a remarkable triple header of launches in just over 100 minutes, plus three other launches that took off at more temporally spaced intervals, and the ...
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Rare Triple Tsunami Recorded Near New Zealand from 2021-04-30T17:00
On March 5 2021, three separate, large earthquakes occurred within hours of each other near New Zealand, and all three produced tsunami. The resulting changes in wave height were recorded with s...
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Fourteen Gamma Ray Sources Are Possibly Stars Made of Antimatter from 2021-04-29T17:00
Gamma rays given off by fourteen different sources in our sky could be a sign of the existence of antistars, leading to the potential for breaking the standard cosmological model. Plus, nano dus...
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Rocket Roundup for April 28, 2021 from 2021-04-28T17:00
This week, the entire team gathers to share stories on Crew-2, another OneWeb launch, NROL-82, and a Chinese launch. Plus, this week in rocket history, we look back at the launch of NASA’s TESS ...
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End-Permian Extinction Lasted Ten Times Longer on Land Than in Water from 2021-04-27T17:00
The biggest mass extinction event on Earth occurred at the end of the Permian period, resulting in the extinction of 95% of marine life and 80% of terrestrial life. Now, scientists have found th...
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Percy Rover’s MOXIE Extracts Oxygen From Atmosphere from 2021-04-23T17:00
In another first for NASA’s Perseverance rover, a cube-shaped instrument called MOXIE, or Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, has successfully converted some of Mars’ atmospheri...
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Star Formation Occurs in Competitive Environment from 2021-04-22T00:12:15
A survey of the stellar nursery in the Orion Nebula Cluster provides evidence that stars compete for material and their size depends on what they gather rather than their initial core size. Plus...
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Another Potential Dark Matter Particle Isn’t Found from 2021-04-21T22:34:32
Researchers looked for a slowdown in black hole rotational speeds due to the collection of ultralight bosons, but they found nothing, eliminating the hypothetical particle from the list of possi...
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Exoplanetary Atmospheres and How to Understand Them from 2021-04-21T22:33:03
Today’s news examines many of the ways in which scientists are trying to understand Earth’s atmosphere as well as the atmospheres of exoplanets, mostly in the hopes of figuring out the best way ...
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Rocket Roundup for April 21, 2021 from 2021-04-21T17:00
X-ray Surges Found Along With Radio Bursts From Crab Nebula from 2021-04-19T22:46:01
Data analyzed from the NICER telescope aboard the ISS contains evidence of X-ray boosts accompanying radio burst detections, releasing more energy than expected as “giant radio pulses”. Plus, ma...
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Rocket Roundup for April 14, 2021 from 2021-04-16T17:36:11
Strong Evidence Found That Muons Deviate From Standard Model from 2021-04-14T15:34:47
Fermilab released the first results of their Muon g-2 experiment this week, and the fundamental particles don’t behave as predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics. Plus, dust, more du...
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Not Surprising Anyone, Satellite Proliferation Contributes to Light Pollution from 2021-04-13T18:52:56
A new study examined the effects of recent increases in the number of space objects orbiting Earth and found that the proliferation of satellites contributes to a nearly ten percent increase ove...
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Rocket Roundup for April 7, 2021 from 2021-04-08T16:34:44
In this week’s Rocket Roundup, host Annie Wilson presents another Starlink launch from SpaceX, another OneWeb launch from Arianespace, the very foggy SN11 test flight, and a Chinese launch. Plus...
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The Tibet AS? Experiment Finds Evidence of PeVatrons from 2021-04-07T22:57:28
Using substantial ground arrays and underground muon detectors, the Tibet AS? Collaboration has captured evidence of ultrahigh-energy gamma rays that are thought to be the result of nuclear inte...
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“Missing” Matter Found in Intergalactic Space from 2021-04-02T18:08:32
New research looking to explain the “missing” portion of baryonic matter in the universe managed to locate the material lurking in intergalactic space as hot, low density gas. Plus, supercontine...
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Event Horizon Telescope Captures New Image of Black Hole in M87 from 2021-04-01T23:44:46
The Event Horizon Telescope collaboration released a new image yesterday that shows the black hole in M87 once again, but this time, with new details. Using polarized light, the team was able to...
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Rocket Roundup for March 24, 2021 from 2021-04-01T17:54:51
In this week’s Rocket Roundup, host Annie Wilson presents one Russian launch and Rocket Lab’s “They Go Up So Fast”. Plus, this week in rocket history, we look back at Voskhod 2, which launched f...
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Iceland Has a New Volcanic Fissure Erupting in Fagradalsfjall from 2021-03-30T14:27:24
After much “will it / won’t it” over the last few weeks in the wake of increased (and then decreased) seismic activity, an eruption in Iceland finally started with a brand new fissure near Fagra...
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LPSC: Studying Microorganisms Trapped in Salt as Martian Analog from 2021-03-26T17:49:38
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. ...
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LPSC: Water on Mars Never Left After All from 2021-03-23T17:16:05
New research shows that most of the water once thought to have escaped Mars is actually still trapped in the minerals in the crust. And life may still be present and accessible on the red planet...
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Rocket Roundup for March 17, 2021 from 2021-03-22T18:12:14
In this week’s Rocket Roundup, host Annie Wilson presents not one but two SpaceX Starlink launches as well as two Chinese launches. Plus, this week in rocket history, we look back at the Gemini ...
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LPSC Day 1: All the Planetary News You Can Handle from 2021-03-19T20:10:24
Monday was the first day of the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, and we are going to spend at least the next two weeks sharing as much science as possible. The conference is taking place ...
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Detection of High-Energy Particle Confirms Decades Old Theory from 2021-03-12T21:55:02
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica detected an electron antineutrino, confirming another piece of the Standard Model and proving that neutrino astronomy is feasible. Plus, a meteorit...
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Rocket Roundup for March 10, 2021 from 2021-03-11T19:53:19
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we review the launches that happened over the last week, including that fantastic, amazing, spectacular SN10 hop. Plus, we look b...
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Aquatic Planets Like Earth Could Abound in Milky Way from 2021-03-11T01:43:31
A new study examines the formation of rocky worlds from dust particles containing ice and carbon, increasing the possibility that our own Milky Way galaxy could be filled with aquatic planets si...
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Hot, Rocky Exoplanet Discovered Could Help Atmospheric Studies from 2021-03-10T00:39:35
A new super-Earth has been discovered that has an extremely hot surface temperature, and this planet could be a boon for studying the atmospheres of rocky exoplanets. Plus, our daily news roundu...
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New Type of Dark Energy Proposed Could Solve Conflicting Calculations from 2021-03-08T18:26:30
Issues with calculating the expansion rate of the universe have led to differences in the results, depending on the method used. A pair of physicists have proposed a new type of dark energy to r...
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Rocket Roundup for March 3, 2021 from 2021-03-05T00:54:37
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened over the last week, including international launches from China, India, and Russia. Pl...
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Trojan Asteroids: Understanding the Past to Explore the Future from 2021-03-03T20:00:29
Just how were the Trojan asteroids in orbit with Jupiter discovered? And how were they named? We take a look back at these objects as we get closer to the launch of the Lucy spacecraft. Plus, a ...
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Supermassive Black Holes Could Form From Dark Matter from 2021-03-02T23:05:39
A new study proposed that supermassive black holes could form directly from dark matter in high density regions near the centers of galaxies, possibly explaining how these monsters came into exi...
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Neutron Star in Supernova 1987A May Have Been Found from 2021-03-01T22:03:30
Scientists have been looking for the reclusive neutron star expected to be at the center of supernova 1987A for over thirty years, and they may have finally found it in new images from the Chand...
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Rocket Roundup for February 24, 2021 from 2021-02-25T20:49:41
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened over the last week, including two ISS resupply missions and Yet Another Starlink (with...
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NASA’s Perseverance Rover Touches Safely Down on Mars from 2021-02-24T23:40:18
Now that Percy is on Mars, operations are beginning, images are being downloaded, and Pamela will finally talk about this mission on air. Plus, a Weekend Update on all the stories from last week...
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Hubble Telescope Finds Cluster of Black Holes from 2021-02-17T21:56:14
While searching for an intermediate mass black hole, scientists instead found a cluster of smaller black holes in the globular cluster NGC 6397. Plus, supernovae, meteorites, and an interview ab...
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Newly Discovered Solar System Object is ‘Farfarout’ from 2021-02-15T19:57:19
A newly found object nearly four times farther out from the Sun than Pluto now holds the record for the farthest observed in our solar system. Plus, forming Super Earths, finding potentially hab...
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Rocket Roundup for February 10, 2021 from 2021-02-11T22:37:46
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened over the last week, including Yet Another Starlink and a surprise Chinese launch. Plus...
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Betelgeuse Smaller Than Previously Calculated, Still Mystery from 2021-02-10T23:56:27
Scientists collected fresh data on Orion’s bright star Betelgeuse to try and understand this star that caused so much controversy next year. They found it’s smaller than previously calculated, a...
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Mystery of Mars’ Recurring Slope Lineae Possibly Solved from 2021-02-09T02:15:33
Rocket Roundup for February 3, 2021 from 2021-02-04T20:39:41
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened over the last week, including that one grain silo that popped up over Boca Chica, Texa...
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Magnetar Exhibits Bizarre Behavior, Identity Crisis from 2021-02-03T23:20:59
A radio-loud magnetar first observed in March 2020 suffered an apparent identity crisis, behaving like a pulsar until gradually settling into magnetar-like emissions in July. Plus, Mars’ moon Ph...
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Six Star Eclipsing System Found in TESS Data with AI Help from 2021-02-02T21:36:32
A new system has been found that consists of six stars in three binary pairs, which are producing a bevy of eclipses with each other. They were found in TESS data with the help of machine learni...
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Scientists Narrow Potential Mass Range of Dark Matter from 2021-01-29T21:56:42
Dark matter is only acted upon by the force of gravity according to new research, which constrains the potential range of mass for the elusive particles. Plus, how precipitation affects the Eart...
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Rocket Roundup for January 27, 2021 from 2021-01-28T20:31:03
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened over the last week, including one Rocket Lab and two SpaceX… wait, more Starlink? ...
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Six-Exoplanet System in Resonance, Challenges Formation Theories from 2021-01-27T21:19:38
It’s a day ending in ‘y’, and planetary formation theories are once again being challenged. This time the challenge comes from a six-planet system with five planets in resonance. Plus a cloudles...
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Explore Gravitational Wave Events in Interactive Graphic from 2021-01-26T00:42:08
A data visualization designer has created an interactive graphic that allows us to explore all 50 gravitational wave events recorded to date, and some even have sounds! Plus, blue jet lightning ...
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Reconstructing 1000 Years of Solar Activity with Tree Rings from 2021-01-22T20:27:13
Researchers measured the concentration of carbon-14 in tree-ring archives to recreate over one thousand years’ worth of solar activity. Plus amazing solar structures, earthquake forensics IN SPA...
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Rocket Roundup for January 20, 2021 from 2021-01-21T17:01:49
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Dr. Pamela Gay as we look back at the launches that happened over the last week, including Blue Origin’s New Shepard, Virgin Orbit’s Launch Demo ...
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Anatomical Dissection of Planetary Nebula Using Hubble Images from 2021-01-20T17:53:32
Our coverage of last week’s AAS meeting continues with new work on the formation of planetary nebula based on Hubble Space Telescope images. Plus, a massive quasar in the early universe, water i...
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Climate Change Affects Harvest, Rocks, Shorelines… and Truffles? from 2021-01-18T21:38:05
Climate change is a leading problem in today’s society, and today we have a quartet of stories on its affect on the world around us. Plus, more coverage from the AAS meeting with three stories o...
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Powerful GRB is Actually Giant Flare From Magnetar in Nearby Galaxy from 2021-01-15T20:56:33
Multiple international teams determine that 2020 gamma-ray burst was actually a giant flare from a magnetar, and that flare originated from a nearby galaxy. Plus, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic I...
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Rocket Roundup for January 13, 2021 from 2021-01-14T18:49:17
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches and missions that happened over the last two weeks, including one from China, one from Arianespace, ...
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Rocky Planet Found Orbiting Extremely Old Milky Way Star from 2021-01-13T19:39:19
Researchers using NASA’s TESS and the Keck Observatory found a rocky planet orbiting a 10-billion-year-old star in the Milky Way, up in the galaxy’s thick disk. Plus more planetary news from the...
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Hubble Space Telescope Releases Galaxy Merger Montage from 2021-01-09T03:48:04
Hubble celebrates the new year with a release of six gorgeous galaxy mergers, imaged as a part of their investigation into star formation rates in such systems. Plus, a weird nebula, a big flare...
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Rocket Roundup for January 6, 2021: Year in Review from 2021-01-08T17:17:42
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches and missions that happened last year, including test flights and first flights, mission launches and...
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2021: A Look Ahead at the Night Sky, Space Flight, and Science from 2021-01-07T23:49:25
We’re going to kick off the year with a look at upcoming night sky events, as well as scheduled spacecraft milestones and exciting space flights. Expect to hear about planets, eclipses, space to...
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Primordial Black Holes, Dark Matter, and… the Multiverse? from 2021-01-06T00:36:51
Theoretical physicists have found a way to possibly detect primordial black holes which could lead to answers about dark matter and maybe even the existence of a multiverse. Plus the age of the ...
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Rocket Roundup for December 23, 2020 from 2020-12-24T17:42:50
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened from the past week, and wow, there are a lot, including ones from Rocket Lab, Astra Sp...
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Hawaii's K?lauea Volcano Wakes Up with Quake, Eruption from 2020-12-22T23:38:39
USGS volcanologists and seismologists have been working around the clock to collect data on K?lauea’s latest eruption after two years of dormancy. Plus, all the volcano news you can handle, as w...
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Missing Black Hole Continues to Mystify Scientists from 2020-12-21T22:28:04
A massive black hole should be in galaxy cluster Abell 2261. Observations with Chandra and Hubble haven’t located it. Plus, classifying supernovae with AI, neutron stars, the lithium composition...
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Current Neptunian Storm Reverses Direction and Sheds Fragment from 2020-12-17T22:04:44
Scientists using Hubble to track storms on Neptune found that a current storm has reversed direction and possibly shed a fragment. Plus, an update on Hayabusa2’s sample return, a non-technologic...
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Rocket Roundup for December 16, 2020 from 2020-12-16T22:16:56
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened from the past week, including a Chinese Long March 11, the SpaceX SN8 flight test, a U...
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Strange Exoplanet Could Be Similar to Theoretical Planet 9 from 2020-12-16T01:34:46
HD 106906 b is an exoplanet 336 light years away, 11 times the size of Jupiter, and possibly an analog of our own not-yet-discovered Planet 9. Plus, a large body of water ice has been discovered...
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Finding Primordial Ripples Using Gravitational Waves from 2020-12-10T23:10:09
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 i...
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Rocket Roundup for December 9, 2020 from 2020-12-10T00:19:38
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened from the past week, including a Soyuz, a Long March 3B, and a Falcon 9.
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Inouye Solar Telescope Releases First Image of a Sunspot from 2020-12-09T16:41:42
First sunspot image released by the not-yet-complete Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope is highly detailed and a sample of the images to come. Plus, all the sample return missions, how the Sun ben...
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Latest Gaia Telescope Data Release Gives More Insight Into Milky Way from 2020-12-08T20:14:11
The release of the Gaia space telescope’s Early Data Release 3 has paved the way for a 3D map of the Milky Way, a glimpse at its history, and the acceleration of our own solar system. Plus, Alas...
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Dark Energy Camera Takes Detailed Pics of Magellanic Clouds from 2020-12-04T22:05:35
The Dark Energy Camera captures SMASHingly detailed images of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, assisting in an attempt to map the two structures and understand their history. Plus formatio...
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Rocket Roundup for December 2, 2020 from 2020-12-03T21:25:08
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened from the past week, including a Japanese launch and, finally, the Falcon Eye 2 launch ...
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New Breakthrough in 350 Year Old Astronomical Mystery from 2020-12-02T00:58:50
A nova spotted by astronomers 350 years ago is not what it appeared to be, and new data makes the object even more mysterious. Plus magnetars, gamma-ray bursts, sunspots, asteroids, dark matter,...
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Centaur Seen Changing to Jupiter Family Comet for First Time from 2020-11-27T20:54:44
In a surprise Planetary Pandemonium episode, we look at a comet that is caught in the process of moving from Centaur to Jupiter Family Comet and doing it on a hum...
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Rocket Roundup for November 25, 2020 from 2020-11-25T20:09:01
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Dr. Pamela Gay as we look back at the launches that happened from the past week, including a fun and important Rocket Lab launch, two launches fr...
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Black Hole’s Dust Ring Casting Shadows from 2020-11-24T22:20:11
Once again, we find that dust is the culprit, this time causing a black hole to cast shadows out from the heart of its galaxy. Plus, a megaflood on ancient Mars, a fossil galaxy in the Milky Way...
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Cosmic Mystery Solved and Stellar Missing Link Discovered from 2020-11-19T23:50:45
Today’s top story focuses on the Blue Ring Nebula, which researchers say is the phase of a star merger never seen before, providing the missing link for merger progression. Plus, stories on Mars...
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Rocket Roundup for November 18, 2020 from 2020-11-18T23:34:07
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened from the past week, including a Chinese launch, the NROL-101 launch (finally), the NAS...
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New Pieces Placed in Milky Way Formation and Evolution Puzzle from 2020-11-18T00:28:17
Two new papers examine how the Milky Way galaxy was formed and how it evolved. Plus, we take a look at stories on the prospects for life elsewhere in the cosmos and on fast radio bursts and supe...
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Luminous Kilonova Challenges Gamma-ray Burst Theories from 2020-11-13T21:52:38
The brightest kilonova ever was detected and challenges current gamma-ray burst models. Plus, the history of water on both Venus and Mars, how radioactive elements may help habitability, and a l...
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Rocket Roundup for November 12, 2020 from 2020-11-12T22:56:23
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened from the past week, including an Electron from RocketLab, a Falcon 9 from SpaceX, a Lo...
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First Brown Dwarf Discovered Using Radio Observations from 2020-11-10T22:16:02
We’re back! Today we’re bringing you all the latest news, from a fast radio burst in our galaxy to the first brown dwarf discovered using radio telescopes. And telescopes are the hot topic today...
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Bumper Crop of Gravitational Wave Events Detected! from 2020-10-30T21:43
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 ...
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NASA’s SOFIA telescope reports water found in sunlit crater on Moon from 2020-10-29T23:39:41
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 i...
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Rocket Roundup for October 28, 2020 from 2020-10-29T18:34:04
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened from the past week, including another SpaceX Starlink launch, a Russian satellite, and...
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Planetary Pandemonium for October 23, 2020 from 2020-10-23T20:05:11
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 forwa...
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Did we mention OSIRIS-REx sampled Bennu this week? from 2020-10-22T19:52:17
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 ...
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Rocket Roundup for October 21, 2020 from 2020-10-21T22:01:53
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened from the past week, including a suborbital launch from Blue Origin, more astronauts on...
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Planetary Pandemonium for 16 October 2020 from 2020-10-19T22:53:46
Join us for our weekly tour through the local neighborhood! This week we cover how the ice caps on Pluto’s mountains form; we celebrate BepiColombo’s flyby of Venus; and we continue to prep for ...
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Betelgeuse smaller and closer than previously thought… what? from 2020-10-19T21:01:35
All of Betelguese’s strange behavior over the last year had everyone looking at the star, which the latest research shows is smaller and closer than previously calculated. Plus, InSight’s mole i...
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Exoplanet guardians, quasar jets, and a globular cluster from 2020-10-15T19:32:27
Today we look at three astronomical stories! First, simulations show that rocky Super-Earth sized exoplanets have a Jupiter-sized guardian. Then a study of over 700 quasars shows they form becau...
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Rocket Roundup for October 14, 2020 from 2020-10-14T20:00:19
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened from the past week, including the Cygnus NG-14 mission (that included a new space toil...
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Death by Spaghettification! from 2020-10-13T20:40:52
Join us for a look at today’s top story: ESO telescopes captured the last moments of a star being destroyed by a black hole in a tidal disruption event. Plus scientists are studying Bennu’s surf...
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Double Dose of Planetary Pandemonium from 2020-10-09T19:37:45
Join us as we take a look back two weeks’ worth of planetary stories, including solar system research on a binary trans-Neptunian object, diamonds in meteorites, the stratification of Titan’s la...
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Stars and Planets May Grow Up Together! from 2020-10-08T19:53:52
Rocket Roundup for October 7, 2020 from 2020-10-07T19:45:24
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened from the past week, including one from China and one from Russia.
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Martian Dunes; Carina Nebula; Nobel Prize in Physics from 2020-10-06T23:22:15
Research from our home Planetary Science Institute shows that the dune fields on Mars provide solid evidence for lithification and burial. Plus, Carina Nebula has been imaged with adaptive optic...
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Large Scale Structure discovered in early universe from 2020-10-06T17:51:41
Using huge telescopes, researchers have discovered a Large Scale Structure of six galaxies around a seventh galaxy with a supermassive black hole, back in the first billion years of the Universe...
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Science Story Double Feature from 2020-09-28T22:47:57
Join us for a first-ever double feature episode. Dr. Pamela and Beth will go cover the latest in astronomy and planetary science, from a glittery supermassive black hole to a jittery gravitation...
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Rocket Roundup for September 23, 2020 from 2020-09-23T23:03:34
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that happened from the past week, including one from China and a bonus, first-of-its-kind, sub-orbit...
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Black hole signatures, planetary nebulae, and… Bennu. from 2020-09-23T00:40:06
Astrophysicists have finally figured out how to tell neutron stars apart from black holes by finding the signature of the event horizon. Another team discovered that planetary nebulae likely get...
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Enceladus, a magnetar, and a comet aurora, oh my! from 2020-09-21T21:57:55
Cassini data is still providing good science, and researchers recently found out that the northern hemisphere of Enceladus has fresh ice! Plus scientists directly measured the distance to a magn...
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Planetary Pandemonium: All the planetary stories that were NOT about Venus from 2020-09-18T21:05:35
Gas giant found orbiting white dwarf star and a Wolf-Rayet binary produces dust from 2020-09-17T23:23:55
Join us as we take a look at today's top story - a planet has been found still in orbit around its white dwarf star even after a supernova. Then we discuss how a Wolf-Rayet binary system is a du...
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Rocket Roundup for September 16, 2020 from 2020-09-16T21:55:12
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that did and didn’t happen from the past week, including one success and one failure for China and a...
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Dark matter discrepancy; unique supernova; extreme galaxies from 2020-09-15T22:14:35
Join us today for a look at how the Hubble Telescope may have solved the dark matter discrepancy. A research team has found a unique Type 1a supernova in the super-Chandrasekhar group of novae. ...
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Phosphine found in Venus clouds leads to more questions from 2020-09-15T03:16:50
Join us today as we continue our coverage of this morning’s big news that researchers at multiple institutions found the molecule phosphine in the clouds of Venus. While this news is not confirm...
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Planetary Pandemonium: metal hydrogen, Galilean moons, and an asteroid from 2020-09-11T23:20:14
Join us for this week’s Planetary Pandemonium as host Beth Johnson covers some of the planetary science news for the week, including metal hydrogen (WHAT), Galilean moons (IO), and a newly disco...
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Cosmic Microwave Background experiment; Astronomy and Climate; Bennu from 2020-09-10T21:44:26
Join us today as we look at a next-generation Cosmic Microwave Background experiment and then try to get a handle on how astronomy and climate interact. Also, Bennu is ejecting particles into sp...
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Rocket Roundup for September 9, 2020 from 2020-09-09T20:40:16
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches from the past week, including an Arianespace launch from French Guiana, a full complement of Starlin...
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Gravitational waves lead to ground-breaking, “impossible” discovery; Triple-star planetary rings from 2020-09-08T22:57:44
Join us today as we examine major news coming out last week from institutions analyzing data from the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors: the largest and farthest collision detected yet...
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Rocket Roundup for September 2, 2020 from 2020-09-02T22:07:31
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches from the past week: SpaceX managed to pull off one of their two planned launches, and Rocket Lab fin...
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Mission update: Psyche; new tech; and a special Mars photo from 2020-09-01T22:41:58
Join us today for an update on the Lucy mission to asteroid Psyche. Plus we take a look at a couple new pieces of tech in development, designed to help explore the Moon and Mars. And Curiosity b...
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Dual quasars; tidal disruption events; and a halo for Andromeda from 2020-08-31T22:43:39
Join us today as we examine observations for dual quasars in the process of merging and a star being torn apart by its supermassive black hole. Plus, Hubble data used to map a halo around the An...
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Rocket Roundup for August 26, 2020 from 2020-08-26T21:33:57
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Dave Ballard as we look back at the launches that did and didn’t happen. It was a light week, with only the launch of a Chinese Long March 2D to ...
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Europa, Ganymede, and more picture of Comet NEOWISE from 2020-08-25T20:49:04
Join us today as we look at how fractures on Europa’s surface are leading scientists to reevaluate the geologic past of the Jovian moon. Speaking of Jovian moons, Sweden has finished an instrume...
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Cool worlds, exploding stars, and an asteroid that missed Earth from 2020-08-20T20:56:35
Join us today as we look at how citizen science helped discover 100 cool worlds nearby. Then we examine evidence that exploding stars may have contributed to a mass extinction on Earth. Speaking...
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Rocket Roundup for August 19, 2020 from 2020-08-19T22:44:27
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that did and didn’t happen, including an Ariane 5 and Yet Another SpaceX Starlink batch.
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A Whole lotta what: Gamma-ray heartbeat heard; Stars with planets have no chemical fingerprint; ‘Oumuamua not made of molecular hydrogen ice from 2020-08-18T20:42:34
Join us today for a lot of unsatisfying news. First, two objects appear to be pulsing in gamma-rays at the same pace, but they’re 100 light-years apart. Next, it ...
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Betelgeuse dimming again! Hubble understands last winter’s dimming. Plus Ganymede hit with massive asteroid in distant past. from 2020-08-17T06:09:31
Join us today as we take another look at the dimming antics of Betelgeuse, which is up to those old tricks again. Research from Hubble helped understand last winter’s event. And Ganymede is cove...
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Mission updates: Arecibo suffers damage, OSIRIS-Rex performs final rehearsal, TESS completes primary mission, plus guest Kynan Hughson talks Ceres from 2020-08-13T21:45:39
Join us today as we share some mission updates, good and bad. The bad: Arecibo Observatory suffered damage from a snapped cable. The good: OSIRIS-Rex performed a final dress rehearsal for taking...
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Rocket Roundup for August 12, 2020 from 2020-08-12T19:40:48
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that did and didn’t happen, including a Chinese satellite launch and another SpaceX Starlink launch…...
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All things Ceres! Plus guest Dr. David Grinspoon from 2020-08-11T22:40:48
Join us today as we cover all the news about Ceres that culminated in SEVEN papers, revealing the existence of a salty subsurface ocean and active cryovolcanism. After, Dr. David Grinspoon will ...
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Stellar eggs; Hubble uses lunar eclipse to detect Earth’s oxygen; Arecibo goes back to work after hurricane; Perseid meteor shower from 2020-08-10T21:32:23
Join us today for news about the evolution of stellar eggs. Additionally, Hubble takes advantage of a lunar eclipse to probe our atmosphere. Then we celebrate Arecibo reopening after Hurricane I...
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Lighting and mushballs in Jupiter’s atmosphere, a massive planetary wave in Venus’, and marsquakes provide InSight into Mars’ structure from 2020-08-06T21:24:41
Join us today for a trio of solar system stories! First, shallow lightning and mushballs in Jupiter’s atmosphere help find “missing” ammonia. Next, a massive planetary wave in Venus’ atmosphere ...
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Rocket Roundup for August 5, 2020 from 2020-08-05T21:58:32
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that did and didn’t happen, including the Mars Perseverance launch, a Roscosmos launch, and the spla...
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Free-flowing water on ancient Mars? Not so fast! Plus a black hole fails to prevent star formation and unequal neutron stars colliding may be noisy. from 2020-08-04T20:54:17
Join us today as we talk about newly released research that suggests the waters on ancient Mars were subglacial and not free-flowing. Also, a black hole goes dormant and star formation goes wild...
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Quantum effects observed in white dwarfs; machine learning helps find low-oxygen-abundance galaxy; signs of possible neutron star in SN 1987A; pair of recent meteorites found in Australia from 2020-08-03T21:02:26
Join us today as we look at how quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of general relativity work together in white dwarfs. Machine learning is used to find a galaxy with an extremely low abund...
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Quick plunge in sunlight caused Snowball Earths; remnants of globular cluster found; loop quantum cosmology breaks our brains from 2020-07-30T22:06:47
Join us today as we go back in time and examine what caused Earth to become a snowball… more than once. We also take a look at a dismembered globular cluster found at the edge of the Milky Way. ...
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Rocket Roundup for July 29, 2020 from 2020-07-29T20:25:04
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that did and didn’t happen, including the second mission to Mars of the launch window, this one from...
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RAVE spectroscopic survey releases final data set; “central engine” of a solar flare characterized; conveyor belt of material seen feeding young star system from parent cloud from 2020-07-28T21:58:26
Join us today while we take a look at the final data set released by the RAVE spectroscopic survey of stars in the southern hemisphere. Also, scientists at Harvard’s CfA have characterized the “...
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Oddball meteorite family finally has an origin story; Juno takes first pictures of Ganymede’s North Pole; Summer on Saturn in new Hubble image from 2020-07-27T21:39:16
Join us today while we take a look at the new origin story for an oddball family of meteorites. Yes, like a comic book hero, the parent (body) is no more. Additionally, we are treated to new ima...
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Rocket Roundup for July 22, 2020 from 2020-07-22T19:57:58
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that did and didn’t happen, including a bunch of suuuuuuuper secret satellites and one Hope-ful miss...
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Active volcanoes on Venus; mini-Neptune exoplanets may be ocean worlds; observing comet NEOWISE from 2020-07-21T20:49:05
Join us today for exciting news that Venus still has active volcanoes! Also, mini-Neptune/super-Earth exoplanets are possibly irradiated ocean worlds, minus Kevin Costner. And we’ll talk about h...
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Black hole’s corona disappearing act; white dwarf hurtling across Milky Way; SDSS fills in gap in expansion history; new image of CMB continues age debate; using science to analyze art from 2020-07-20T21:31:22
Join us today as we examine one possible reason a black hole’s corona may have disappeared. Be on the lookout for a runaway white dwarf whose supernova sent it hurtling across the Milky Way. We ...
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Mission updates! NASA’s New Horizons seeking another target; Emirates Hope orbiter set to launch for Mars; NASA and ESA release first Solar Orbiter images from 2020-07-16T20:21:29
Join us today as we look at all the spacecraft mission updates. First up, NASA’s New Horizons mission is searching for another Kuiper Belt Object to pass. Next, the Emirates Hope orbiter is set ...
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Rocket Roundup for July 15, 2020 from 2020-07-15T22:45:27
Join us for this week's Rocket Roundup with host Annie Wilson as we look back at the launches that did and didn’t happen, including FOUR successful Chinese launches and one not-so-successful Roc...
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Short gamma-ray burst’s afterglow detected; young star found with spiral disk; red giants with starspots rotate quickly; machine learning helps predict survivability of planetary systems from 2020-07-14T21:23:10
First, we look at how researchers detected the afterglow of a short gamma ray burst a mere 3.8 billion years after the Big Bang. Then we examine the discoveries of a spiral structure in the disk...
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Asymmetric neutron binary star system discovered; Planet 9 could be a black hole (really); Mars Curiosity and InSight catchup; NEOWISE from 2020-07-13T20:54:29
Today’s news comes from all over and starts with a pair of pulsars headed toward merger in 500 million years. This system will help us understand August 2017 obse...
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Cosmic reionization caught in the act; Exoplanet pair found using ground-based telescope; Celebrate the Fourth of July with two images of cosmic fireworks from 2020-07-03T20:21:48
Join us today as we talk some more about cosmic reionization and the mounting evidence it occurred very early in the Universe. We also look at two exoplanets, found using a ground-based telescop...
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Exposed planetary core discovered; neutrinos may come from SMBHs; filaments around galaxy cluster Abell 2255; LIGO reveals “spooky popcorn” from 2020-07-02T22:51:27
Join us today as we talk about the first exposed planetary core ever discovered. We examine research that neutrinos may come from supermassive black holes. We look at the filaments found in the ...
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