Category Astronomy/Space

First-ever direct image of the cosmic web reveals the Universe’s hidden highways

Image of the sky in the direction of the MUDF observations (MUSE Ultra Deep Field, the region targeted by MUSE). The cosmic filament is shown in purple; the galaxies visible in front and behind are shown in colour. The two galaxies at the edge of the structure, surrounded by clouds of gas, host supermassive black holes at their centres, visible in blue.
© Joseph DePasquale/Space Telescope Science Institute

Astronomers have revealed the sharpest image ever captured of a filament in the cosmic web — the enormous hidden structure connecting galaxies across the Universe. The glowing strand stretches 3 million light-years and links two galaxies from nearly 12 billion years ago...

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Surrounded by stardust: Antarctic ice cores confirm Earth is accumulating iron-60 from local interstellar cloud

Surrounded by stardust
Path of the solar system through the Local Interstellar Cloud. The cloud’s profile is preserved as an interstellar fingerprint in Antarctic ice. Credit: B. Schröder/HZDR/ NASA/Goddard/Adler/U.Chicago/Wesleyan

Our solar system is currently passing through the Local Interstellar Cloud, a region of highly diluted gas and dust between the stars. On its path, Earth continuously accumulates iron-60, a rare radioactive isotope of iron produced in stellar explosions. This has now been confirmed by an international research team led by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) through the analysis of Antarctic ice tens of thousands of years old...

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After 100 years, scientists finally uncover hidden rule behind cosmic rays

A mysterious new cosmic pattern discovered by the DAMPE space telescope may finally crack the century-old mystery of cosmic rays. Scientists studying mysterious ultra-powerful cosmic rays have uncovered a surprising hidden pattern that could finally help explain where these particles come from. Using the DAMPE space telescope, researchers found that cosmic ray particles—from tiny protons to heavy iron nuclei—all begin fading away more sharply at the exact same point, hinting at a universal rule governing their behavior across the galaxy.

For more than 100 years, scientists have been trying to understand cosmic rays, incredibly powerful particles that travel across the universe at extreme energies...

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Wristwatch-like device enables assessment of health risks for astronauts on mission to the moon

Brazilian technology helps NASA assess health risks for astronauts on mission to the moon
Called an actigraph, the device resembles a wristwatch and uses accelerometers, as well as light and temperature sensors, to precisely map the user’s sleep and wake patterns. Credit: NASA

Just a few hours before the Orion spacecraft crossed the sky en route to the moon on April 1, mechatronics engineer Rodrigo Trevisan Okamoto received confirmation he had been waiting for since the Artemis 2 mission was announced in 2023. The email from NASA stated that the crew of the first crewed mission to orbit the moon in half a century would carry a device developed by Okamoto and his team at Condor Instruments, a São Paulo-based startup.

“The NASA announcement was sudden and caught us by surprise...

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