Category Astronomy/Space

Arriving at Uranus in 1986, Voyager 2 observed a bluish orb with extremely subtle features. A haze layer hid most of the planet’s cloud features from view. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Humanity has visited Uranus only once, 30 yrs ago. NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft got its closest look at the distant, gaseous planet on Jan. 24, 1986. Voyager 2 sent back stunning images of the planet and its moons during a flyby of 5.5 hrs of close study. It got within 50,600 miles of Uranus, the coldest planet in our solar system, though not the farthest from the sun, It has no internal heat source. Atmosphere of Uranus is 85% hydrogen and 15% helium. There was also evidence of a boiling ocean ~500 miles below the cloud tops.

Scientists found that Uranus has a magnetic field different from any they had ever enco...

We really can’t have our astronauts getting loopy after just a few weeks on-planet, though, so researchers have been trying to find a way to re-program the body’s sleep cycle to the Martian standard. One method showing promise is the use of light-therapy — not just using bright light to knock the rhythm off kilter, but using the light’s specific wave-length as well. Extending the human sleep cycle might be as simple as exposing an astronaut to pale blue light at the end of their day. They hope to continue their research and determine which wavelengths have have an effect and what that is at different times of the day. http://www.geek.com/science/mars-explorers-may-suffer-never-ending-jet-lag-1616740/

New research reveals the importance of a circadian body clock that matches the r...

Blue Origin, said that the same New Shepard booster which blasted off and landed in November had repeated the feat, hitting an altitude of 333,000 feet (101 kilometers) before “gently” returning to Earth

2 months after the breakthrough launch and vertical landing of a reusable rocket, the space firm created by Internet entrepreneur Jeff Bezos did it again. The company, Blue Origin, said Saturday that the same New Shepard booster which blasted off and landed in November had repeated the feat, hitting an altitude of 333,000 feet before “gently” returning to Earth. A video released by Blue Origin showed the launch and landing from the Texas site, with the rocket slowed to 3 miles/h on its descent with the assistance of parachutes.

The breakthroughs by Blue Origin and parallel efforts by rival...

A team of researchers has observed the brightest ultra metal-poor star ever discovered. Credit: ESO/Beletsky/DSS1 + DSS2 + 2MASS

A team of researchers has observed the brightest ultra metal-poor star ever discovered. The star is a rare relic from the Milky Way’s formative years. As such, it offers astronomers a precious opportunity to explore the origin of the first stars that sprung to life within our galaxy and the universe.

A Brazilian-American team used 2 of European Southern Observatory’s telescopes in Chile to discover this star, named 2MASS J18082002-5104378. The star was spotted in 2014 using ESO’s New Technology Telescope...