Could a Dark Energy Phase Change Relieve the Hubble Tension?

According to the most widely-accepted cosmological theories, the Universe began roughly 13.8 billion years ago in a massive explosion known as the Big Bang. Ever since then, the Universe has been in a constant state of expansion, what astrophysicists know as the Hubble Constant. For decades, astronomers have attempted to measure the rate of expansion,...

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A Russian Satellite Has Broken Into Pieces, Littering Debris in Space

A Russian KOSMOS 2499 satellite broke up last month — for a second time — according to the Space Force’s 18th Space Defense Squadron. In a recent tweet, the Space Force said they are currently tracking 85 individual pieces of debris at an altitude of 1,169 km (726 miles). The breakup occurred on January 4, 2023, but the reason for the disintegration...

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New Discoveries Puts Jupiter at 92 Known Moons

The moon hunter strikes again. A team of astronomers led by Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution has found and confirmed 12 new moons orbiting Jupiter, bringing the total of moons at the giant planet to 92. The new moons were quietly announced on the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center website last week, and the new discoveries...

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The World's Largest Radio Telescope Just Scanned 33 Exoplanets for a Signal From Aliens

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), located in China, is currently the world’s largest and most sophisticated radio observatory. While its primary purpose is to conduct large-scale neutral hydrogen surveys (the most common element in the Universe), study pulsars, and detect Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), scientists have planned to...

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Astronomers Make a New Map of all the Matter (and Dark Matter) in the Universe

There’s a lot of matter in the Universe, but not all of it is visible to us. Matter is, essentially, anything that has mass and takes up space. That includes us, the planets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies. It also includes dark matter. It’s all spread out through space. Is matter distributed evenly or is it grouped in clumps? Or could...

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This Exoplanet Orbits Around its Star’s Poles

In 1992, humanity’s effort to understand the Universe took a significant step forward. That’s when astronomers discovered the first exoplanets. They’re named Poltergeist (Noisy Ghost) and Phobetor (Frightener), and they orbit a pulsar about 2300 light-years away. Even though we thought there must be other planets around other stars, and entire...

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Sierra Space Tests Another Inflatable Space Station Module … to Destruction

Oops! They’ve done it again. Sierra Space blew up their space habitat for the third time – intentionally — all in the name of testing. The commercial space company conducted a new duration test called an Accelerated Systematic Creep Test for their LIFE Habitat (Large Integrated Flexible Environment), putting a 1/3 size scale model of the space...

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Check Out This Great View of Comet 96P Machholz, Courtesy of SOHO

Now’s the time to catch periodic Comet 96P Machholz on its encore dawn performance, before it slides out of view. So, have you been following the touted ‘green comet,’ E3 ZTF? To be sure, it’s nothing more than a fuzzy patch, a binocular comet sliding through the constellation Auriga looking like a globular cluster that refuses to resolve into...

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Earth-Sized Planet Found At One of the Lightest Red Dwarfs

Astronomers have found another Earth-sized planet. It’s about 31 light-years away and orbits in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star. It’s probably tidally locked, which can be a problem around red dwarf stars. But the team that found it is optimistic about its potential habitability. The prospect of finding Earth-like planets raises...

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Hubble’s New View of the Tarantula Nebula

The Tarantula Nebula, also called 30 Doradus, is the brightest star-forming region in our part of the galaxy. It’s in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and contains the most massive and hottest stars we know of. The Tarantula Nebula has been a repeat target for the Hubble since the telescope’s early years. Star formation is an...

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