Interstellar winter: Did galactic clouds cause an ice age on Earth?

Earth’s weather changes based on where it is in its annual cycle around the Sun – but is it possible the climate can also be affected by the solar system’s position in its orbit around the center of the Milky Way? A new study suggests an ice age period… Continue reading Interstellar winter: Did galactic clouds cause an ice age on Earth?

NASA just hacked a 1977 computer on a spacecraft way out past Pluto

One of the two oldest, active spacecraft has a new lease on life, with NASA getting the 47-year-old Voyager 1 deep space probe to send back engineering data for the first time since November 14. Until now, all the craft could return was gibberish.Conti… Continue reading NASA just hacked a 1977 computer on a spacecraft way out past Pluto

The Year in Space 2023

2023 turned out to be a busy year in space and the general vicinity. New Atlas looks back at everything from rocket launches and cosmic tsunamis to asteroid samples and the latest astronaut fashions.Continue ReadingCategory: Space, ScienceTags: best-of… Continue reading The Year in Space 2023

SETI uses VLA giant radio antennae to seek ETs

The search for extraterrestrial civilizations has gotten a major boost as SETI joins forces with the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) near Socorro, New Mexico.Continue ReadingCategory: Space, ScienceTags: SETI, Radio,… Continue reading SETI uses VLA giant radio antennae to seek ETs

Controversial astronomer outlines plans to search for alien technology

Controversial physicist Avi Loeb is on the hunt for aliens again. His new Galileo Project is setting out to look for any extraterrestrial technology, by tracking unexplained oddities in the sky, studying interstellar objects that whiz through the solar… Continue reading Controversial astronomer outlines plans to search for alien technology

Voyager 1 detects plasma “hum” in interstellar space

More than 40 years after launch, Voyager 1 is still making new discoveries. The latest achievement by the craft is the detection of a faint, plasma “hum,” indicating that there may be more activity in interstellar gas than previously thought.Continue R… Continue reading Voyager 1 detects plasma “hum” in interstellar space

‘Oumuamua likely a nitrogen iceberg from an “exo-Pluto” says new study

A few years ago, astronomers discovered a bizarre object named ‘Oumuamua, which not only defied conventional classification but was the first thing found to be from another star system. Now, researchers at Arizona State University (ASU) have proposed a… Continue reading ‘Oumuamua likely a nitrogen iceberg from an “exo-Pluto” says new study

New Horizons becomes first spacecraft to demonstrate stellar parallax

NASA’s New Horizons deep-space probe has, for the first time, returned images to Earth that show stellar parallax, or how the positions of stars shift when seen from two different places. This phenomenon could one day be used for interstellar navigatio… Continue reading New Horizons becomes first spacecraft to demonstrate stellar parallax

New theory proposes ‘Oumuamua is an interstellar hydrogen iceberg

The exact nature of the bizarre interstellar object ‘Oumuamua remains a mystery. There’s been no shortage of ideas, but now astronomers at Yale and the University of Chicago have proposed that it’s a brand new type of object: a hydrogen iceberg.Continu… Continue reading New theory proposes ‘Oumuamua is an interstellar hydrogen iceberg