Exoplanets have been a curiosity within the scientific community for a while. A study in 2014 found that 10% of exoplanets found with NASA's Kepler Telescope were massive in size. To date, astronomers have discovered about 4,000 exoplanets, ranging from the size of Earth to that of Neptune. The discovery prompted scientists to deepen their [...]
Science is a field that's fascinated people for thousands of years. The past decade of research has been especially fruitful—with the knowledge of exoplanets growing, lasers becoming faster and more powerful, and spacecrafts reaching beyond the farthest edge of Pluto, the 2010s answered questions and introduced many more about what lies beyond our atmosphere. The [...]
The universe is vast and awe-inspiring. It's a mystery that humanity has been intrigued by for thousands of years, yet we've only scratched the surface of what is out there to find. While not everyone can hop into a spacecraft and fly out to explore what's beyond Earth's atmosphere, we can see more than we [...]
NGC 6240 is one of the closest and most studied galaxies. It has a peculiar lobster shape that was considered to be a result of an amalgamation between two galaxies. NGC 6240 is situated in the Ophiuchus Constellation – more commonly known as the Serpent Holder – a mere 400 million light-years away. Hubble initially [...]
In late April of 2019, two sets of gravitational waves observations were detected by a pair of American observatories as well as by one in Italy. The signals come from a neutron star merger, but the second set of signals suggests evidence of a black hole-neutron star collision, which scientists did not imagine was possible. [...]
For a long time, the generation of elements remained a mystery for scientists. A new study suggests that many of the universe’s heavy elements are generated from rapidly whirling collapsing stars. The lightest elements, hydrogen, helium, and lithium, were formed shortly after the Big Bang, and elements up to iron were formed later mostly [...]
Plutonium is a rare element on Earth, and recent research suggests that half of the universe’s supply of it comes from a single event: a neutron star merger. However, plutonium is not the only element to come out of this process; these mergers help to create many other actinides, or elements with an atomic number [...]
Telescopes are important tools in astronomy that allow us to see celestial objects that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye. By definition, telescopes are optical instruments that make distant objects appear magnified, but the technology that allows them to do so varies. Some historians credit the creation of the first optical telescope to [...]
In the past few years, NASA has been dealing with some failed missions. It turns out that these were due to a problem with faulty materials. Sadly, NASA has revealed that they were the victim of an aluminum selling scam that lasted almost 20 years. The failed missions occurred with both the 2011 Glory Mission and [...]
Just a few days ago scientists have begun using some heavy machinery in an attempt to detect ripples known as gravitational waves. On April 1st, three machines were turned on. These were the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatories in Louisiana and Washington, and the Virgo Interferometer in Italy. All of these facilities had recent upgrades that have [...]
