Category Astronomy/Space

Left: The paths traced by the known Martian Trojans around L4 or L5 (crosses) relative to Mars (red disk) and the Sun (yellow disk). The dotted circle indicates the average Sun-Mars distance. Right: Enlargement of inset (dashed rectangle) showing the paths of the 8 L5 Trojans: 1998 VF31 (marked as “VF31” – blue), Eureka (red) and the 6 objects identified as family members (amber). The filled disks indicate the relative sizes of the asteroids. Eureka, the largest member, is about 2 km across. Credit: Apostolos Christou

Mars shares its orbit with the Trojans, a handful of small asteroids. Now an international team using the Very Large Telescope have found that most of these objects share a common composition; they are likely the remains of a mini-planet destroyed by a collision long ago...

Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center on March 30, 2017

SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk said he wants to go further in the reuse of his rockets after successfully launching the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket that was recycled from a previous flight. Musk tweeted on Friday that he is looking into a test to bring home the second stage of the company’s new Falcon 9 Heavy rocket for reuse when the rocket debuts late in the summer. SpaceX blasted off the recycled first stage, or booster, of a Falcon 9 rocket for the first time on Thursday, a feat that could dramatically lower the cost of space travel.

The Falcon 9 Heavy has a first stage composed of 3 Falcon 9 engine cores and “will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of 2,” according...

Two galaxies are clearly visible in this Hubble image, the larger of which is NGC 4424. Text credit: European Space Agency Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Some astronomical objects have endearing or quirky nicknames, inspired by mythology or their own appearance. Take, for example, the constellation of Orion (The Hunter), the Sombrero Galaxy, the Horsehead Nebula, or even the Milky Way. However, the vast majority of cosmic objects appear in astronomical catalogs and are given rather less poetic names based on the order of discovery.

Two galaxies are clearly visible in this Hubble image, the larger of which is NGC 4424. This galaxy is cataloged in the New General Catalog of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars (NGC), which was compiled in 1888...

Crystal formation within a 50 millimeter loop, taken on Expedition 6. Crystal growth investigations have been occurring on the station since before humans lived there because of the unique environment microgravity provides. Credit: NASA

Crew members aboard the ISS will begin conducting research this week to improve the way we grow crystals on Earth. The information gained from the experiments could speed up the process for drug development, benefiting humans around the world. Many proteins are too small to be studied even under a microscope, and must be crystallized in order to determine their 3D structures. These structures tell researchers how a single protein functions and its involvement in the development of disease...