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The bodies appear ancient and share characteristics with humans: two eyes, a mouth, two arms, two legs. Maussan claims they were found around 2017 in Peru, near the pre-Columbian Nazca Lines. They have the same physical appearance, they are the same," Maussan said of Victoria and the two bodies he presented in Mexico. How the bodies arrived in Mexico is a question he says he cannot answer. Jose de Jesus Zalce Benitez, Director of the Health Sciences Research Institute of the Secretary of the Navy, participated in the congressional hearing, bolstering Maussan's claims.

Persons: Jaime Maussan, Raquel Cunha, Maussan, Elsa Tomasto, David Spergel, Rodolfo Salas, Gismondi, Leslie Urteaga, I'm, Clara, Mauricio, Jose de Jesus Zalce Benitez, Julieta Fierro, Fierro, Cassandra Garrison, Marco Aquino, Stephen Eisenhammer, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Nazca Lines, Princeton, NASA, Peruvian, Peruvian Culture, Health Sciences Research, Navy, University's, of Astronomy, UNAM, Thomson Locations: Mexico City, Mexico, MEXICO, Mexican, Santa Fe, Peru, Peruvian, Victoria, UNAM, Lima

☆ Neptune’s disappearing clouds linked to solar cycle
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Kristen Rogers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The findings are “extremely exciting and unexpected, especially since Neptune’s previous period of low cloud activity was not nearly as dramatic and prolonged,” Chavez added. The findings also contradict the idea of the clouds being affected by Neptune’s four seasons, which each last about 40 years. Additionally, Neptune storms rising from the deep atmosphere do influence the planet’s cloud cover — but aren’t related to clouds formed in the upper atmosphere. That variable could interfere with studies looking at correlations between photochemically produced clouds and the solar cycle. More research could also suggest how long the near absence of clouds on Neptune might last.

Persons: ”, Imke de Pater, Neptune brightened, Erandi Chavez, ” Chavez, Neptune, Patrick Irwin, wasn’t, Irwin, Carlos Alvarez, ” Irwin, “ Organizations: CNN —, University of California, NASA, Hubble, Keck, Lick, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, JPL, Caltech, University of Oxford, Keck Observatory Locations: Berkeley, Hawaii, California

☆ Uncovering a lost Maya city in the jungle
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-29 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Once upon a planetShown here are the remains of a building with a staircase that once stood within the ancient city of Ocomtún on the Yucatán Peninsula. Ivan Šprajc/ZRC SAZUA lost Maya city abandoned more than 1,000 years ago has been found in the jungles of Campeche on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Other worldsThis illustration shows what the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will look like in orbit. These cold, faint worlds are incredibly difficult to detect — but not for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Across the universeThe James Webb Space Telescope captured a high-resolution image of Herbig-Haro 46/47, an actively forming pair of stars.

Persons: Indiana Jones, Ivan Šprajc, Juan Carlos Fernandez, Diaz, Fernandez, Nancy Grace, NASA’s, James Webb, Webb, — Carl Sagan’s, Ludwig van Beethoven, —, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, “ Raiders, SAZU, University of Houston, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Hubble, Telescope, NASA, James Webb Space, DePasquale, ESA, Medical University of Vienna, CNN Space, Science Locations: Ocomtún, Campeche, Mexico’s Yucatán, Vietnam, Southeast Asia

☆ NASA’s new telescope could spot thousands of exoplanets and hundreds of Earth-size rogue planets
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —When NASA’s next-generation space observatory launches in a few years, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will expand the search for exoplanets as well as rogue planets, or worlds that travel through space without orbiting stars. Understanding these rogue planets could shed more light on the formation, evolution and disruption of planetary systems. This illustration shows what the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will look like in orbit. But rogue planets are likely much smaller. Telescopes like Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope have enabled astronomers to observe large, glowing gas giant exoplanets called hot Jupiters.

Persons: NASA’s, Nancy Grace, Nancy Grace Roman, NASA's, —, ”, David Bennett, Microlensing, Takahiro Sumi, “, Naoki Koshimoto, ” Sumi, Hubble, Vanessa Bailey, Roman’s, James Webb, Bailey, coronagraph, “ It’s, ” Bailey Organizations: CNN, Hubble, NASA's Goddard Space, Mount John University Observatory, Goddard Space Flight, Osaka University, Engineers, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Locations: New, Greenbelt , Maryland, Pasadena , California, Webb

☆ Carl Sagan’s personal master recording of Voyager’s iconic Golden Record goes up for auction
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The master recordings of the Voyager Golden Record still have their original boxes. Courtesy Sotheby'sNow, a copy of the master recording for NASA’s Voyager Golden Record — the one kept by the late astronomer Carl Sagan and his wife, producer Ann Druyan — will be for sale at Sotheby’s New York on Thursday. Both Voyager spacecraft carry a copy of the Golden Record. Each record cover was etched with symbols depicting how to locate the sun and instructions on how to play the record. Engineers can be seen securing the cover over the Voyager 1 Golden Record in 1977.

Persons: Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan —, Chuck Berry’s, Johnny B, Goode, Sagan, Frank Drake, Linda Salzman, “, ”, Suzanne Dodd, Dodd, ” Dodd, they’ve Organizations: CNN, NASA’s, Sotheby’s, Columbia Recording, United Nations, Cornell University, NASA, Voyager, JPL, Caltech, Engineers, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Neptune, Hulton, “ Locations: York, Senegalese, Peruvian, Indian, Pasadena , California

☆ Europe's Euclid space telescope set for launch to explore 'dark universe'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The mission focuses on two foundational components of the dark universe. One is dark matter, the invisible but theoretically influential cosmic scaffolding thought to give shape and texture to the cosmos. Scientists estimate dark energy and dark matter together make up 95% of the cosmos, while ordinary matter that we can see accounts for just 5%. EUROPEAN-LED MISSION[1/2]An artist's concept shows the Euclid space telescope, built by the European Space Agency (ESA) that is set to be launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, in operation, in this undated handout image. "Measuring the shapes and positions of galaxies allows us to infer the properties of dark matter and dark energy," Rhodes said on Friday.

Persons: Euclid, Elon Musk, James Webb, Jason Rhodes, Rhodes, Yannick Mellier, Steve Gorman, William Mallard Organizations: SpaceX, European Space Agency, ESA, Cape Canaveral Space Force, Space Agency, REUTERS, NASA, Euclid, Russian Soyuz, Elon, James Webb Space, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Euclid Consortium, Institut d'Astrophysique de, Thomson Locations: Florida, Cape, U.S, Canada, Japan, Russian, California, Ukraine, Los Angeles, Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris

☆ Astronomers ‘hear’ the celestial choir of gravitational waves for the first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Astronomers have been able to “hear” the celestial hum of powerful gravitational waves, created by collisions between black holes, echoing across the universe for the first time. Gravitational waves, initially predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916, are ripples in space-time that were first detected in 2015. Einstein theorized that gravitational waves would stretch and compress space as they moved across the universe, affecting how radio waves travel. More than 190 scientists set out to discover the frequencies of gravitational waves as part of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves collaboration, also known as NANOGrav. Searching for a celestial choirThe newly detected gravitational waves are the most powerful ever measured.

Persons: Albert Einstein, Einstein, ”, Chiara Mingarelli, We’ve, Simonnet, Scott Ransom, “, ” Ransom, Luke Kelley, ” Kelley, it’s, ” Mingarelli, “ It’s, Stephen Taylor Organizations: CNN —, American Nanohertz, Green Bank, Yale University, National Radio Astronomy, University of California, Vanderbilt University Locations: Arecibo, Puerto Rico, West Virginia, New Mexico, Berkeley, Europe, India, China, Australia

☆ Ancient galaxy reveals a surprising way to annihilate a star
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The explosion lasted just over a minute — considered long, like any gamma-ray burst, or GRB, that lasts more than two seconds. These violent, destructive bursts can leave behind dense remnants like neutron stars or result in the creation of black holes. Why ancient galaxies could hide star deathsDuring their search for the origin of the gamma-ray burst, astronomers used the Gemini South telescope located in Chile to observe the afterglow of the cosmic explosion. Compared with younger, more typical galaxies, ancient galaxies can have up to a million or more stars densely packed into their cores. But they had no evidence for any long gamma-ray bursts originating from ancient galaxies — until now.

Persons: NASA’s Neil Gehrels, ”, Wen, fai Fong, Andrew Levan, Albert Einstein, Jillian Rastinejad, Fong Organizations: CNN, fai, Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Radboud University, telltale, Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration, Research, Astrophysics, Northwestern Locations: Nijmegen , Netherlands, Chile, Northwestern

☆ Webb telescope detects organic molecules in distant galaxy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Astronomers have detected the most distant known organic molecules in the universe using the James Webb Space Telescope. It’s the first time Webb has detected complex molecules in the distant universe. The complex molecules were found in a galaxy known as SPT0418-47, located more than 12 billion light-years away. The galaxy observed by the Webb telescope shows an Einstein ring caused by a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, which occurs when two galaxies are almost perfectly aligned from our perspective on Earth. Investigating the early universeAstronomers spotted the signature of the organic molecules during a careful analysis of Webb’s data.

Persons: James Webb, Webb, it’s, Doyle, J, Einstein, ”, Joaquin Vieira, Albert Einstein’s, Justin Spilker, Spilker, George P, Cynthia Woods Mitchell, ” Spilker, Kedar Phadke, we’ve Organizations: CNN —, James Webb Space Telescope, National Science, Hubble, University of Illinois, M University, Texas, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics Locations: Chile, University of Illinois Urbana, Champaign, Texas

☆ Structures newly discovered in the Milky Way
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Kristen Rogers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —An international team of astrophysicists has discovered hundreds of mysterious structures in the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Sagittarius A* “is the closest supermassive black hole to us, but it’s relatively quiet and therefore somewhat difficult to really study,” Hamden added. The vertical filaments surround the nucleus of the Milky Way, but the horizontal ones appear to spread out to one side toward the black hole. The vertical filaments, on the other hand, are magnetic and hold cosmic ray electrons moving nearly as fast as the speed of light. “One way to confirm that the (filament) structure is created by something like a jet is to find both sides of it.”This would add “to the complex, active picture of our own Milky Way,” she said.

Persons: astrophysicists, Farhad Yusef, Yusef, Zadeh, “, ”, who’s, Erika Hamden, ” Yusef, Hamden Organizations: CNN, Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration, Research, Astrophysics, University of Arizona, South African Locations: Hamden

☆ Earth-size exoplanet may be covered in volcanoes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Instead, the exoplanet, called LP 791-18 d, is likely covered in volcanoes and may experience eruptions with the same frequency as Jupiter’s moon Io, the most volcanically active place in our solar system, according to researchers. LP 791-18 d is located about 90 light-years from Earth in the Crater constellation, where it orbits a small red dwarf star. And astronomers believe the massive planet LP 971-18 c might be contributing to the newly detected exoplanet’s possible volcanism. As the two objects orbit their star, LP 971-18 c and the newfound exoplanet LP 791-18 d closely pass each other, allowing the gravitational pull of the larger planet LP 971-18 c to tug on planet d and reshape its orbit. The discovery of LP 971-18 d points to the importance of data collected by space telescopes.

☆ A mysterious object has been spotted that is 10 million times brighter than the sun. Scientists can't work out why it hasn't exploded
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULX) are objects that shine ten million times brighter than the sun. NASA has been tracking so-called ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULX), impossible objects that can be 10 million times brighter than the sun, to understand how they work. A new study categorically confirms that M82 X-2, a ULX 12 million light-years away, is as bright as previous observation suggested it to be. But if it were not falling in, the matter shouldn't be radiating, which means the object shouldn't be that bright. (A neutron star is a superdense object left behind when a star has run out of energy and dies.)

☆ Webb telescope spies evidence of hidden planets around nearby star
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The revelation of the Fomalhaut’s two inner rings has suggested that planets hidden deeper within the star system may be affecting the dust belt’s shape. Stars form from gas and dust, and then a ring of leftover material called a protoplanetary disk orbits the star, where planets are born. Once the planets form around a star, debris belts form and become shaped by the gravity of the planets. Studying the dust belts can help unlock more of the secrets behind how planetary systems form. “I think it’s not a very big leap to say there’s probably a really interesting planetary system around the star.”

New data shows light pollution has made the night sky today twice as bright as it was eight years ago. That would mean 60% of the stars we see today will be gone by 2041 if light pollution keeps growing. For decades, astronomers have been building telescopes in the darkest places on Earth to avoid light pollution. However, satellites miss the blue light of LEDs, which are commonly used for outdoor lighting – resulting in an underestimate of light pollution. Note: If a night sky containing 250 stars today has only 100 stars in 18 years, that equates to a loss of 60% of the stars in the night sky by the year 2041.

☆ Fact Check-Moon visible during daytime is not proof of flat Earth
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The moon visible during the day is not proof that the Earth is flat, despite claims shared online. The moon is commonly visible during the day, however, and it is not always directly opposite the sun, experts told Reuters. At full moon, the moon rises as the sun sets and at the end of that night the moon sets at sunrise. During this lunar phase, we see part of the moon illuminated because only a part of the moon that is being illuminated by the sun is visible to us, he said. “However, the best argument against flat Earth (using the moon) is that during a lunar eclipse, the moon enters Earth shadow,” Fe McBride, assistant professor in the Physics and Astronomy department at Bowdoin College told Reuters.

The first full-color image released from the next-generation James Webb Space Telescope is the sharpest infrared image of the distant universe ever produced, according to NASA. Space Telescope Science Institut / NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERONASA released the first batch of images from the tennis court-sized observatory to much fanfare in July. The exoplanet HIP 65426 b in different bands of infrared light, as seen from the James Webb Space Telescope. Back to the moonFifty years after the final Apollo moon mission, NASA took key steps toward returning astronauts to the lunar surface. Chinese officials have also said they intend to use the space station for space tourism and commercial space initiatives.

☆ Gorgeous animation shows how the Earth changes with the seasons
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An animation showcases how the seasons change with Earth's orbit around the sun. Earth's angle causes very specific weather patterns and daylight during the course of a year. That ancient bump is what caused the Earth's seasons — times of the year that have very specific weather patterns and hours of daylight that vary depending on the latitude. Earth’s seasons are caused by its axis being tilted about 23 degrees. The angle of the Earth's tilt is relatively stable, but there are some slight shifts over large time scales (tens of thousands of years).

☆ A year only lasts 17.5 hours on the ‘hell planet’
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

One year for this planet lasts about 17.5 hours on Earth. A team of researchers used a new tool known as EXPRES, or the EXtreme PREcision Spectrometer, to determine the precise nature of the planet’s orbit. But the hell planet is not the only planet orbiting Copernicus. An illustration shows just how closely the planet Janssen (left), depicted as an orange dot, orbits its host star Copernicus. Once Janssen moved in closer to Copernicus, the hell planet became even hotter.

☆ 7 times NASA's James Webb Space Telescope spotted something Hubble missed
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The James Webb Space Telescope can capture a more complete view of galaxies, stars, and planets. Before Webb, astronomers had another workhorse cosmic observatory: the Hubble Space Telescope. Webb is 100 times stronger than Hubble, which allows astronomers to peer even further into space. Webb spied countless galaxies that Hubble missedA side by side collage of the same area taken by the Hubble and the James Webb space telescopes. Where Hubble saw a faint dot, Webb resolved 2 distinct mystery objectsOne of the lensed images of MACS0647-JD, from the James Webb Space Telescope.

☆ Webb telescope spies clouds beneath haze of Saturn moon Titan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The James Webb Space Telescope has spied clouds on one of the solar system’s most intriguing moons. Titan’s atmosphere is made of nitrogen and methane, which gives it a fuzzy, orange appearance. Astronomers compared Webb (left) and Keck images of Titan to see how clouds evolved. The data, which is still being analyzed, was able to see deeper into Titan’s atmosphere and surface than the Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn and its moons for 13 years. The cloud observations were a long time coming.

☆ AT 2022cmc: Rare cosmic event beamed light at Earth from 8.5 billion light-years away
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

But the rare cosmic event actually occurred 8.5 billion light years away from Earth, when the universe was just a third of its current age — and it has created more questions than answers. This graphic shows how a tidal disruption event might look in space. Carl Knox/OzGrav/Swinburne University of TechnologyWhen a star is torn apart by a black hole’s gravitational tidal forces, it’s known as a tidal disruption event. Observing more events like this could reveal how black holes launch such powerful jets across space, according to the researchers. “Scientists can use AT 2022cmc as a model for what to look for and find more disruptive events from distant black holes.”

☆ The Visions of Octavia Butler
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Lynell George | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +27 min

As a science fiction writer, Butler forged a new path and envisioned bold possibilities. Mural with a portrait of Octavia Butler and her name, composed of dots of various densities in 3-D space. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to be awarded a MacArthur “genius” grant. “‘Kindred’ was a story of ordinary people trapped in fantastic circumstances,” Butler wrote in a 1988 notebook. Her point of view was one not traditionally found in science fiction and, simply by writing, she demanded a larger world.

☆ Scholars found a long-lost star map from ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus hidden beneath layers of medieval Christian text
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Scholars discovered the oldest known star map beneath the text of a Christian manuscript, according to new study. The ancient Greek astronomer made the earliest known attempt to chart the entire night sky. The Christian text came from Egypt's Saint Catherine's Monastery and is now in possession of the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC. Researchers say the star map was scraped away so the parchment could be reused — a common practice at the time. The "new evidence is the most authoritative to date and allows major progress in the reconstruction of Hipparchus' Star Catalog," the study authors wrote.

☆ In its first 100 days, the James Webb telescope peered deep into space, took beauty shots of faraway galaxies and glittering nebula, and saw a spacecraft slam into an asteroid
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In its first 100 days of observation, Webb has captured mind-blowing images, reaching astonishing cosmic distances. Webb captured violent interactions in a star system more than 5,000 light years awayWebb captured a series of 17 concentric dust rings spawned by the Wolf-Rayet 140 binary system. Webb took a 'deep field' image that filled astronomers with wonderThe James Webb Space Telescope's first deep field infrared image, released on July 11, 2022. Webb captured detailed views of the king of our solar system – JupiterWide-field view of Jupiter, captured by Webb. Webb snapped a beauty shot of the Carina NebulaThe star-forming region NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula, captured in infrared by Webb.

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