Category Astronomy/Space

No matter where we go in the universe, we’re going to need water. Thus far, human missions to Earth orbit and the moon have taken water with them. But while that works for short missions, it isn’t practical in the long term. Water is heavy, and it would take far too much fuel to bring sufficient water to sustain long-term bases on the moon or Mars. So we’ll have to use the water we can extract locally.

Fortunately, water is a common molecule in the universe. Even the moon has plenty of water to sustain a lunar colony. The only real challenge is how to extract it. As a recent study published in Acta Astronautica shows, that might be as easy as popping things into a microwave oven.

Although wate...

An international team of space scientists has found that observation of a gas cloud stream heading into a massive galaxy may offer evidence of gas material recycling. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes their observance and analysis of a gas cloud surrounding a dense galaxy cluster 11 billion light years away, and what they learned from their work.

Space scientists have, for many years, predicted that enriched gases surrounding galaxies could be pulled into such galaxies and wind up as material for making new stars...

A “beautiful effect” predicted by quantum electrodynamics (QED) can explain the puzzling first observations of polarized Xrays emitted by a magnetar – a neutron star featuring a powerful magnetic field, according to a Cornell astrophysicist.

The extremely dense and hot remnant of a massive star, boasting a magnetic field 100 trillion times str...

Make the most of these two teachable moments by planning ahead and spreading the word. This year and next, Americans will have the extraordinary opportunity to witness two solar eclipses as both will be visible throughout the continental U.S. On Oct. 14, 2023, the moon will obscure all but a small annulus of the sun, producing a “Ring of Fire” eclipse. On April 8, 2024, the eclipse will be total in a band stretching from Texas to Maine.

Both occurrences promise to be remarkable events and teachable moments. But preparation is essential.

In The Physics Teacher, co-published by AIP Publishing and the American Association of Physics Teachers, astronomer Douglas Duncan of the University of Colorado provides a practical playbook to help teachers, students, and the g...