A mission to a Martian moon could return with alien life, according to experts at Purdue University, but don’t expect the invasion scenario presented by summer blockbusters like “Men in Black 3” or “Prometheus.” The image shows the orbits of the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos and the spread of potential particle trajectories from [continue reading]
Researchers using three different telescopes — NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton in space, and the Parkes radio telescope in Australia — may have found the fastest moving pulsar ever seen. Pulsar IGR J11014-6103 in optical, infrared and X-ray. Credit: NASA The evidence for this potentially record-breaking speed comes, in part, from the [continue reading]
A favorite theme of science fiction is “the portal”–an extraordinary opening in space or time that connects travelers to distant realms. A good portal is a shortcut, a guide, a door into the unknown. If only they actually existed…. It turns out that they do, sort of, and a NASA-funded researcher at the University [continue reading]
The Milky Way is a large spiral galaxy surrounded by dozens of smaller satellite galaxies. Scientists have long theorized that occasionally these satellites will pass through the disk of the Milky Way, perturbing both the satellite and the disk. A team of astronomers from the U.S. and Canada, including four professors from the University [continue reading]
Nothing like it has been seen before beyond our own planet: large tides have been found on Saturn’s moon Titan that point to a liquid ocean – most likely water – swirling around below the surface. A possible scenario for the internal structure of Titan, which includes a global subsurface ocean beneath an icy [continue reading]
An international team of astronomers using data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has made an unparalleled observation, detecting significant changes in the atmosphere of a planet located beyond our solar system. This artist’s impression shows exoplanet HD 189733b, as it passes in front of its parent star, called HD 189733A. Hubble’s instruments observed the [continue reading]