Category Astronomy/Space

Astronomers have discovered a planet that orbits at a 90-degree angle around a rare...

Our closest neighboring galaxy may be being torn apart. Is the nearest galaxy to ours being torn apart? Research suggests so. A team led by Satoya Nakano and Kengo Tachihara at Nagoya University in Japan has revealed new insights into the motion of massive stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a small galaxy neighboring the Milky Way...

A new study in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society by researchers including István Szapudi of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Institute for Astronomy suggests the universe may rotate—just extremely slowly. The finding could help solve one of astronomy’s biggest puzzles.

“To paraphrase the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus, who famously said ‘panta rhei’ (everything moves), we thought that perhaps panta kykloutai—everything turns,” said Szapudi.

Current models say the universe expands evenly in all directions, with no sign of rotation. This idea fits most of what astronomers observe...

The same dirt that clings to astronauts’ boots may one day keep their lights on. In a study publishing April 3 in the Cell Press journal Device, researchers created solar cells made out of simulated Moon dust. The cells convert sunlight into energy efficiently, withstand radiation damage, and mitigate the need for transporting heavy materials into space, offering a potential solution to one of space exploration’s biggest challenges: reliable energy sources.

“The solar cells used in space now are amazing, reaching efficiencies of 30% to even 40%, but that efficiency comes with a price,” says lead researcher Felix Lang of the University of Potsdam, Germany...