Category Astronomy/Space

A multi-wavelength image of the distant massive galaxy cluster, IDCS J1426.5+3508 (X-rays from Chandra in blue, visible light from Hubble in green, and infrared data from Spitzer in red). A new millimeter wavelength study of massive clusters with the South Pole Telescope has found good agreement with current ideas about galaxy cluster evolution. Credit: NASA Chandra, Spitzer, Hubble

Galaxy clusters have long been recognized as important laboratories for the study of galaxy formation and evolution...

An artist’s rendering of an exoplanet is shown. An exoplanet is a planet that exists outside Earth’s solar system. Credit: Illustration credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

As one of the world’s leading “planet hunters,” SF State University astronomer Stephen Kane focuses on finding “habitable zones,” areas where water could exist in a liquid state on a planet’s surface if there’s sufficient atmospheric pressure. Kane and his team, including former undergraduate student Miranda Waters, examined the habitable zone on a planetary system 14 light years away.

“The Wolf 1061 system is important because it is so close and that gives other opportunities to do follow-up studies to see if it does indeed have life,” Kane said...

Volunteer Wendy Hancock, left, and researcher Dr. Lonnie Petersen hang on to supports during a zero-gravity interval. Credit: UT Southwestern Medical Center

Vision deterioration in astronauts who spend a long time in space is likely due to the lack of a day-night cycle in intracranial pressure. But using a vacuum device to lower pressure for part of each day might prevent the problem, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers said. A change in vision is the No. 1 health risk for astronauts who spend extended periods of time on the International Space Station. The new research showed that ICP in zero-gravity conditions, such as exists in space, is higher than when people are standing or sitting on Earth, but lower than when people are sleeping on Earth...

Artist rendition of the asteroid Psyche. Credit: Image by Peter Rubin/ASU

Psyche to offer unique look into violent collisions that created Earth, terrestrial planets. Arizona State University’s Psyche Mission, a journey to a metal asteroid, has been selected for flight, marking the first time the school will lead a deep-space NASA mission and the first time scientists will be able to see what is believed to be a planetary core. It will launch in 2023, arriving at the asteroid in 2030, where it will spend 20 months in orbit, mapping it and studying its properties.

It will be part of NASA’s Discovery Program, a series of lower-cost, highly focused robotic space missions that are exploring the solar system. The Psyche project is capped at $450 million...