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☆ Spacewalk spacesuits are aging rapidly, but NASA just canceled plans for new ones
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-27 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The iconic puffy white suits that astronauts have donned for decades as they step outside the International Space Station are rapidly aging — but NASA is now without concrete plans to replace them. Astronauts currently wear spacesuits — called Extravehicular Activity, or EVA, suits — designed more than 40 years ago when conducting spacewalks. Collins Aerospace’s Next-Gen spacesuit, intended for use at the International Space Station, is seen during the design process. NASA plans to retire the space station sometime within the next several years. But Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has only guaranteed its participation through “at least 2028.”

Persons: —, Collins, Trent Sugg, Tracy Dyson, It’s, Jared Isaacman, Elon, ” Organizations: CNN, NASA, Collins Aerospace, RTX Corporation, Raytheon Technologies, SpaceX, International, Polaris, Space Locations: Houston, Russian

☆ Asteroid Bennu has a surprisingly watery past, researchers say
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-27 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —An early analysis of a sample collected from the asteroid Bennu suggests that the space rock had an unexpectedly water-rich past — and it may have even splintered off from an ancient ocean world. But the compound from the Bennu sample is purer and has larger grains. Rocks and dust were collected from asteroid Bennu and returned to Earth by the OSIRIS-REx mission. Erika Blumenfeld/Joseph Aebersold/NASA“The sample we returned is the largest reservoir of unaltered asteroid material on Earth right now,” Lauretta said. “Each week, analysis by the OSIRIS-REx Sample Analysis Team provides new and sometimes surprising findings that are helping place important constraints on the origin and evolution of Earth-like planets.”

Persons: REx, ”, Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS, Connolly, Dante Lauretta, “, Erika Blumenfeld, Joseph Aebersold, ” Lauretta, Nick Timms, Harold Connolly Jr Organizations: CNN, NASA, Planetary, Goddard Space Flight, Japan Aerospace, Earth, University of Arizona, Bennu, Curtin University’s School of, Planetary Sciences, Rowan University’s School of Earth Locations: Greenbelt , Maryland, Tucson, Glassboro , New Jersey

☆ Kyrenia shipwreck has a new estimate for the year it sank, study says
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-26 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —A lone diver first laid eyes on the ancient Kyrenia shipwreck off the north coast of Cyprus nearly 60 years ago. The authors of a new study dated almonds found aboard the Kyrenia ship to find a new estimated range of years for when the ancient vessel's last voyage took place. Dating a Hellenistic-era shipTwo main obstacles stood in the way of achieving a high-precision age estimate for the Kyrenia shipwreck, according to Manning. The Kyrenia ship's hull is seen shortly after it was raised from the seabed and reassembled. Kyrenia Ship Excavation“Part of the value of this story is about process.

Persons: CNN —, —, Andreas Cariolou, Michael Katzev, “, ”, Sturt Manning, Manning, ” Manning, you’ve, it’s, Mark Lawall, Lawall, ” Lawall Organizations: CNN, Cornell University, Northern Hemisphere, University of Manitoba Locations: Kyrenia, Cyprus, New York, Winnipeg

☆ NASA tasks SpaceX to build disposal vehicle for International Space Station
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-26 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

It would latch onto the International Space Station — a nearly 1 million-pound structure roughly the size of a football field — and guide the craft as it plunges out of Earth’s orbit. The federal agency operates the International Space Station alongside Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, which controls a key wing of the station and propulsion modules. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency also play roles in its operations. But the space agency stipulated that it would only require that the vehicle be ready by 2029. In the news release, NASA noted that it is committed to continuing space station operations through 2030.

Persons: Roscosmos, ” Ken Bowersox, Tracy Dyson, “, ” Organizations: CNN, NASA, SpaceX, Space, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, European Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, International, ” NASA, Deorbit, Collins Aerospace Locations: Roscosmos, Russian, North Carolina

☆ Discovery of a Bronze Age dye workshop reveals secrets of history’s most precious pigment
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-26 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Tyrian purple was a highly prized pigment developed in the Bronze Age, and it retained its status into the late medieval period. Several pottery fragments had residue of Tyrian purple pigment, the research team revealed. The well-preserved pigment could be used to dye textiles today, lead study author Dr. Lydia Berger said. Once collected, the snails had to be kept alive until the purple dye makers were ready to crush them and extract the mollusk’s mucus glands. The process came with a fishy odor, one that the researchers recognized when they came across the purple pigment residue in the recent excavation at Kolonna, she added.

Persons: Lydia Berger, Berger, ”, Maria Melo, Dye, Melo, Rena Veropoulidou, Veropoulidou, Julius Caesar, Jesus Christ, ” Veropoulidou, “ Organizations: CNN, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, University of Michigan, Nova University of Lisbon, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, CPA Media Locations: Byzantine Empire, Aegina, Austria, Tyre, Lebanon, Phoenicia, Portugal, Kolonna, Greece, Rome

☆ New satellite will do double duty monitoring Earth and space weather
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-25 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Forecasters will soon be able to see real-time mapping of lightning activity on Earth and keep a closer eye on solar storms unleashed by the sun thanks to a new weather satellite. The weather satellite lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:26 p.m. What sets GOES-U apart from other satellites is that it’s carrying a new capability to keep an eye on space weather. The coronagraph will provide continuous observations of the solar corona, or the hot outer layer of the sun’s atmosphere, which is where space weather events originate, said Elsayed Talaat, director of NOAA’s Office of Space Weather Observations. The instrument’s capabilities will allow NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center to issue warnings and watches one to four days in advance and “mark a new chapter in space weather observatoions,” Talaat said.

Persons: ”, Ken Graham, Elsayed Talaat, ” Talaat, Steve Volz, ” Graham, Sullivan, Pam Sullivan Organizations: CNN, NASA, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, Environmental, SpaceX, Kennedy Space Center, NOAA, National Weather Service, YouTube, GOES, Atmospheric Imaging, NOAA’s, Service Locations: Florida, Africa, New Zealand, Central, South America, Caribbean

☆ NASA waves off spacewalk after astronaut suit springs a leak
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-24 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

NASA officials called off the spacewalk because of a water leak in the cooling unit of one of the astronauts’ spacesuits. The leak, which affected the suit donned by NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, sprang up just after the suits were transferred to battery power just before they exited the space station. Today's spacewalk with @NASA_Astronauts Tracy C. Dyson and Mike Barratt has been cancelled due to a spacesuit cooling unit water leak. The delayed spacewalk is only the latest in a string of setbacks around operations on the International Space Station in recent weeks. The Starliner spacecraft has been on its first crewed test flight to the space station.

Persons: ’, Tracy Dyson, Dyson, Mike Barratt, @NASA_Astronauts Tracy C, XaM0jSDTKp, ” Dyson, Matthew Dominick, It’s Organizations: CNN, NASA, Space

☆ Flipping a famous fossil around reveals our earliest vertebrate ancestor, scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-24 | by ( Mindy Weisberger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Scientists recently identified the animal’s nerve cord by using a topsy-turvy twist. In 2012, after decades of studying Pikaia fossils, researchers described its fossilized internal structures in great detail. However, recent analysis of Pikaia fossils by another team of scientists, published June 11 in the journal Current Biology, has upended this view and all other earlier studies about Pikaia. The presumed blood vessel was a nerve cord, a feature associated with the animal group known as chordates, in the phylum Chordata. While there are no living analogues for Pikaia, the fossil arthropod data gave the scientists a more detailed frame of reference for Pikaia’s nerve cord.

Persons: Charles Doolittle Wolcott, Giovanni Mussini, Pikaia, ”, Jon Mallatt, Mallatt, “ Pikaia’s, Jakob Vinther, Mussini, ” Mussini, we’ve, ” Mallatt, ” Mindy Weisberger Organizations: CNN, Smithsonian National Museum of, Royal Ontario Museum, University of Idaho, University of Bristol, University of Cambridge, Scientific Locations: Burgess, British Columbia, macroevolution, United Kingdom, mudskippers, chordates

☆ Why Mount Rainier is the US volcano keeping scientists up at night
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-23 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Yet, more than Hawaii’s bubbling lava fields or Yellowstone’s sprawling supervolcano, it’s Mount Rainier that has many US volcanologists worried. “Mount Rainier keeps me up at night because it poses such a great threat to the surrounding communities. Mount Rainier, a snowcapped volcano, looms over Puyallup Valley near Orting, Washington. Mount St. Helens, which cataclysmically erupted in May 1980, ranked as second most hazardous before Mount Rainier in third place. USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory geophysicist Rebecca Kramer works on station PR05, part of the Mount Rainier lahar detection network.

Persons: Liev Schreiber ”, Mount Rainier, ” Jess Phoenix, Liv Schreiber, ”, Ed Ruttledge, Rainier, Seth Moran, Colombia’s Nevado, … you’ve, ” Bradley Pitcher, ” Pitcher, Mount, del Ruiz, “, Hawaii’s, Jacques Langevin, Sygma, Moran, ” Moran, Rebecca Kramer, Rob Mertens, Dergan, Roald Reitan, CNN’s, ” Reitan Organizations: CNN, Sunday, Union of Concerned, Mount Rainier, Geological Survey, . Geological, Colombia’s, Columbia University, Geologists, Mount, Helens, Washington State Fairgrounds, Mount Rainier . U.S . Geological Locations: Mount, Washington, Rainier, Tacoma, South Seattle, Mount Rainier, Pacific, Puyallup, Orting , Washington, Vancouver , Washington, Ruiz, Armero, ”, Mount St, Helens, Colombia, Puget Lowlands, Valley, Alder, Mount Rainier . U.S, Sumner, Bonney, Orting, White, Carbonado

☆ Meet Lokiceratops, the rock star cousin of Triceratops
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-22 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. The Triceratops fossil emerged first as it eroded from the rock of the Hell Creek Formation in 2006. Across the universeAn artist's illustration shows a supermassive black hole as it wakes up at the center of a faraway galaxy. M. Kornmesser/ESOAstronomers are watching a supermassive black hole awakening in the middle of a distant galaxy for the first time. Sign up here to receive in your inbox the next edition of Wonder Theory, brought to you by CNN Space and Science writers Ashley Strickland and Katie Hunt.

Persons: dino, rex, Mark Eatman, ”, Eatman, Sergey Krasovskiy, Lokiceratops rangiformis, Lokiceratops, Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, won’t, Stephen Hawking, Robert Erwan Fordyce, Benjamin Kear, Martin Bernetti, Fernando Trujillo, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, NASA, International Space Station, Boeing, ESO, University of Otago, Southern Hemisphere, Uppsala University’s Museum, Evolution, Getty, CNN Space, Science Locations: what’s, Montana, Raleigh, what's, Maribo, Denmark, British, New Zealand, Pangea, Uppsala, Sweden, Nui, Chile, AFP, Easter, Rapa, Colombian

☆ Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is the oldest vortex in the solar system
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-22 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is a massive storm that has swirled within the atmosphere of the largest planet in the solar system for years. The Great Red Spot is a massive vortex within Jupiter’s atmosphere that is about 10,159 miles (16,350 kilometers) wide, which is similar to Earth’s diameter, according to NASA. Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty ImagesWhile the first two scenarios resulted in cyclones, they differed in shape and other characteristics witnessed in the Great Red Spot. But the researchers believe that the persistent atmospheric storm cell, which resulted from intense wind instability, produced the Great Red Spot. Previous research, published in March 2018, has shown that the Great Red Spot is growing taller as it shrinks in size overall.

Persons: Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Ann Ronan, Cassini, ”, Agustín Sánchez, Lavega, “, updrafts, Donato Creti, Vincenzo Pinto, Michael Wong, ” Wong Organizations: CNN, Research, NASA, University of, Visitors, Vatican Museum, University of California Locations: Italian, Basque, Bilbao, Spain, AFP, Berkeley

☆ Newly discovered 3,300-year-old shipwreck ‘changes the understanding’ of sailing in ancient world
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-21 | by ( Catherine Nicholls | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —A 3,300-year-old ship has been discovered at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, making it one of the oldest shipwrecks ever discovered and rewriting our understanding of sailing in the ancient world, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. The vessel is estimated to be from the 13th or 14th century BCE, the authority said in a statement. Emil Eljam/Israel Antiquities AuthorityDuring the survey, an “unusual sight of what seemed to be a large cluster of urns” was discovered, Bahartan said. “This is the first and earliest shipwreck discovered to date in the deep sea in the eastern Mediterranean,” he said. “The ship that has just been discovered changes the understanding of sailing in the ancient world,” Sharvit said.

Persons: Karnit Bahartan, Emil Eljam, Bahartan, Energean, Jay, Jeanie, Yaakov Sharvit, ”, Sharvit, ” Sharvit Organizations: CNN, Israel Antiquities Authority, Authority, Campus, Maritime Archeology Unit Locations: London, Israel, Jerusalem

☆ Satellite imagery may provide missing puzzle piece in Easter Island saga
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-21 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Hundreds of monumental stone heads dot the coastline of the remote Pacific island of Rapa Nui, or Easter Island. Terry HuntThe rock gardens had covered up to 21.1 square kilometers (8.1 square miles) and could have sustained up to 17,000 people, previous research suggested. Archaeologists have identified the remains of rock gardens on which islanders would have grown sweet potatoes and other crops. “This finding was the result of integrating new remotely sensed data, data not available when we did our original study.” He wasn’t involved in the new research. In fact, when Europeans first make contact with Rapa Nui people, they only report seeing maybe 3,000 or 4,000 people and report that people were in good spirits,” Davis said.

Persons: Jared Diamond, ”, Dylan Davis, Davis, School’s Lamont, Terry Hunt, ” Davis, Rapa, ” Ladefoged, wasn’t, Christopher Stevenson, ” Stevenson, Carl Lipo, What’s Organizations: CNN, Columbia, Observatory, New Zealand’s University of Auckland, School of, Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University Locations: Rapa Nui, Rapa, Chile, Pitcairn, Washington

☆ Same-sex behavior among animals is being underreported, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-21 | by ( Rosa Rahimi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Same-sex sexual behavior has been observed in more than 1,500 animal species, but a new study has found that it is massively underreported by researchers. Observations of this same-sex behavior in animals, such as sexual mounting and genital touching, date back to the 1700s and 1800s. In a study published Thursday in the journal PLOSOne, a team of researchers at the University of Toronto, Northwestern University and the University of Warsaw found that experts who study animal behavior are underreporting and rarely publishing their observations of same-sex sexual behavior. The study surveyed 65 experts and found that 77% of them observed same-sex sexual behaviors in the species they studied. Davis added that there have been other obstacles that get in the way of documenting same-sex behaviors among animals.

Persons: –, ” Karyn Anderson, “, Anderson, cuddle, David Hecker, Josh Davis, it’s, ”, Davis Organizations: CNN, University of Toronto, Northwestern University, University of Warsaw, Bremerhaven Zoo, DDP, Getty Locations: Bremerhaven, Swedish, London, esculentus, Luisenpark, Germany

☆ June full strawberry moon could appear big and colorful after the summer solstice
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-21 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Despite its name, June’s full moon will not look like a strawberry. But the bright orb could still turn heads Friday night with an appearance that is bigger and more colorful than the average moon. Since a full moon is opposite the sun, this strawberry moon will shine lower in the sky than usual, according to NASA. Native American tribes across North America gave the strawberry moon its name to mark the in-season ripeness of strawberries, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. For optimal viewing, Dyches recommends looking when the moon is rising or setting to see the effects of the moon illusion.

Persons: ”, Preston Dyches, Dyches, don’t, it’s, ” Dyches, “, Vega, Buck Organizations: CNN, Northern, NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, North America Locations: Pasadena , California, North, Alaska, Denmark, Northern

☆ Newly discovered dinosaur’s horns look ‘like something a heavy metal rocker would wear’
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Jacopo Prisco | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

“It’s an area that’s known for producing horned dinosaurs. In fact, there are four other species of horned dinosaurs known from this particular region,” Sertich said. Fossils of the four other species of similar horned dinosaurs with which it shared its habitat were discovered in the same area. Different types of horned dinosaurs have distinct horns along the edge of that frill. “The bodies of these horned dinosaurs are very similar, yet their heads are adorned with some wild head gear.”Similar appendages are found on the heads of horned lizards, Lyson added, except in these horned dinosaurs, they are attached to multiton bodies.

Persons: ”, Joseph Sertich, “, ” Sertich, Lokiceratops, Mark Eatman, ” Eatman, don’t, They’re, it’s, Loki, Sertich, Brock Sisson, Ben Meredith, Mark Loewen, Steve Brusatte, ” Brusatte, David Norman, ” Norman, Tyler Lyson, “ I’m, “ It’s Organizations: CNN, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Colorado State University, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Museum, of Evolution, telltale, of Utah, University of Edinburgh, University of Cambridge, Denver Museum of Nature & Science Locations: Maribo, Denmark, Montana, Canada, North America, Raleigh, Lokiceratops, Salt Lake City, United Kingdom

☆ Oldest wine ever discovered in liquid form found in untouched Roman tomb
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-19 | by ( Jack Guy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A 2,000-year-old Roman funerary urn unearthed in southern Spain has been shown to contain the oldest wine ever found still in liquid form. Daniel Cosano/Juan Manuel Román/Dolores Esquivel/Fernando Lafont/José Rafael Ruiz Arrebola“When the archaeologists opened the urn we almost froze,” he said. This was a big surprise, because wine normally evaporates quickly and is chemically unstable, Ruiz Arrebola said. The discovery of a gold ring and other valuable artifacts suggest it was built by a family of considerable wealth, Ruiz Arrebola said. Ruiz Arrebola now plans to try to work out which modern-day local wine it was most similar to, although there are hundreds to work through.

Persons: José Rafael Ruiz Arrebola, Daniel Cosano, Juan Manuel Román, Dolores Esquivel, Fernando Lafont, José Rafael Ruiz Arrebola “, ”, Ruiz Arrebola, José Rafael Ruiz, Speyer Organizations: CNN, University of Cordoba, Archaeological Science Locations: Spain, Carmona, Speyer, Germany

☆ Astronomers watch a supermassive black hole awaken in real time
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-19 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Astronomers are witnessing a never-before-seen spectacle in the cosmos: the awakening of a supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy. In late 2019, a team of astronomers took notice of an otherwise unremarkable galaxy named SDSS1335+0728, 300 million light-years away in the Virgo constellation. “If so, this would be the first time that we see the activation of a massive black hole in real time.”Sleeping celestial giantsSupermassive black holes are classified as having masses more than 100,000 times that of our sun. “In the case of SDSS1335+0728, we were able to observe the awakening of the massive black hole, (which) suddenly started to feast on gas available in its surroundings, becoming very bright.”Previous research has pointed to inactive galaxies that appeared to become active after several years, which is usually triggered by black hole activity, but the process of a black hole awakening has never been directly observed before, until now, Hernández García said. The same scenario may play out with Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, but astronomers aren’t sure how likely it is to occur, Ricci said.

Persons: ”, Paula Sánchez Sáez, Neil Gehrels Swift, Chandra, Sánchez Sáez, Lorena Hernández García, Claudio Ricci, “, Hernández García, Ricci Organizations: CNN —, Palomar, Astrophysics, European Southern Observatory, Survey, Micron, Sky Survey, Sloan, European Southern, Southern Astrophysical Research, Keck, Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, University of Valparaíso, Diego Portales University Locations: California, Germany, European, Chile, Hawaii, —

☆ Boeing Starliner: Two astronauts wait to come home amid spacecraft issues
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-19 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Spaceflight veterans Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore arrived at the space station aboard the Starliner on June 6. It’s not uncommon for astronauts to unexpectedly extend their stay aboard the space station — for days, weeks or even months. But the situation makes for a moment of uncertainty and embarrassment that joins a long list of similar blunders by the Boeing Starliner program, which is already years behind schedule. The Starliner spacecraft on NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test is pictured docked to the Harmony module's forward port on June 13 as the International Space Station orbited 262 miles above Egypt's Mediterranean coast. The first Starliner test mission, flown without crew in late 2019, was riddled with missteps.

Persons: CNN —, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, Williams, Wilmore, it’s, “, ”, Steve Stich, Mark Nappi, It’s, Stich, Starliner, Wilmore —, Robert Behnken, Douglas Hurley, Joel Kowsky, Bob Behnken, Doug Hurley —, Hurley, Behnken’s, ” Stich, Michael Lembeck, Lembeck, —, Dragon, ” Lembeck, ” Nappi, “ Everything’s, ” Williams Organizations: CNN, NASA, International, Spaceflight, Boeing, NASA's Boeing, Harmony, SpaceX, International Space, University of Illinois Locations: firma, University of Illinois Urbana, Champaign

☆ Voyager 1 resumes study of uncharted cosmic territory after computer glitch
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-18 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Currently the farthest spacecraft from Earth, Voyager 1 stopped communicating coherently with mission control in November 2023. However, data from Voyager 1’s four science instruments, which study plasma waves, magnetic fields and particles, remained elusive. On May 19, the Voyager team sent a command to the spacecraft to start returning science data. Now, all four instruments are beaming back usable science data, according to an update shared by NASA on June 13. )”Long-lived space missionsMeanwhile, Voyager 1 is back to doing what it does best: Sharing insights from uncharted cosmic territory.

Persons: “, ” Long, Suzanne Dodd, ” Dodd Organizations: CNN, NASA, Voyager, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, Neptune Locations: Pasadena , California

☆ How primordial black holes could explain dark matter
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-17 | by ( Jacopo Prisco | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The late physicist Stephen Hawking hypothesized that dark matter could be hiding in black holes formed during the big bang. “We were making use of Stephen Hawking’s famous calculations about black holes, especially his important result about the radiation that black holes emit,” Kaiser said. This is not to say dark matter is not a particle, or that it’s for sure black holes. “The next generation of gravitational detectors could catch a glimpse of the small-mass black holes — an exotic state of matter that was an unexpected byproduct of the more mundane black holes that could explain dark matter today.”Many forms of dark matterWhat does this mean for the ongoing experiments that are trying to detect dark matter, such as the LZ Dark Matter Experiment in South Dakota? And those indeed might pick up some of the stray signals from the very violent formation process of primordial black holes.”There’s also the possibility that primordial black holes are just a fraction of the dark matter, Alonso-Monsalve added.

Persons: Vera Rubin, Kent Ford, ” Rubin, ”, Fritz Zwicky, Stephen Hawking, —, David Kaiser, Stephen Hawking’s, ” Kaiser, didn’t, Elba Alonso, Monsalve, ” Alonso, Alonso, Kaiser, “, There’s, Nico Cappelluti, “ Cappelluti, Priyamvada Natarajan, Joseph S, Sophia S, Fruton, Natarajan Organizations: CNN, NASA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Science, MIT, University of Miami, Astronomy, Yale University Locations: —, American, Swiss, British, South Dakota

☆ Webb telescope pinpoints asteroid collision in nearby planetary system
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-16 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

“The James Webb Telescope: Are We Alone?” on The Whole Story With Anderson Cooper offers an inside look at the most powerful telescope ever built. The Beta Pictoris system, located just 63 light-years from Earth, has long intrigued astronomers because of its proximity and age. “So I was super excited to reobserve this system in 2023 using the James Webb Space Telescope,” Chen said. The dust was then pushed out of the planetary system by radiation from the central star, which is slightly hotter than our sun. But the powerful Webb telescope was unable to detect any dust.

Persons: James Webb, Anderson Cooper, Pictoris, Christine Chen, ”, “, ” Chen, Beta, Chen, Webb, JWST, Cicero Lu, Johns Hopkins, Spitzer, Kadin Worthen, “ We’re Organizations: CNN, Beta, Johns Hopkins University, American Astronomical Society, Spitzer, Telescope, Johns, Johns Hopkins Locations: Baltimore, Madison , Wisconsin

☆ Ernest Shackleton’s Quest shipwreck has finally been found
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-15 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew of 27 men set off aboard the HMS Endurance in 1914. A search expedition found the HMS Endurance wreck in 2022, and now, another part of Shackleton’s legacy has been recovered. Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesAn international team of experts using sonar has located the exploration ship Quest, once captained by Shackleton, off the coast of Canada. — A botanist spotted a tiny plant species new to science growing in an unlikely place on the slopes of the Andes.

Persons: Sir Ernest Shackleton, Shackleton, Freeman Dyson, Dyson, George Wittemyer, ”, Mickey Pardo, ritualistically, Chichén Itzá, “, Adomas Valantinas, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, HMS, Quest, Central Press, Hulton, Cornell University, Olympus, ESA, Brown University, NASA, CNN Space, Science Locations: Antarctica, South Georgia, Canada, Kenya, Chichén, Yucatán, Everest, England, Australia

☆ Solar storm hits Mars, creating planet-engulfing auroras, NASA says
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-14 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —When the sun unleashed an extreme solar storm and hit Mars in May, it engulfed the red planet with auroras and an influx of charged particles and radiation, according to NASA. Solar radiation hits MarsThe most extreme storm occurred on May 20 after an X12 flare released from the sun, according to data collected by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft currently studying the sun. The Curiosity rover, currently exploring Gale Crater just south of the Martian equator, took black-and-white images using its navigation cameras during the solar storm. But Mars lost its magnetic field billions of years ago, which means the planet has no shield from incoming energized solar particles. By tracing the data from multiple Martian missions, scientists were able to watch how the solar storm unfolded.

Persons: Gale, “, ”, Don Hassler, ” Auroras, Mars, Deborah Padgett, MAVEN, Christina Lee Organizations: CNN, NASA, Solar Orbiter, Goddard Space Flight, Mars, Caltech, JPL, Southwest Research, Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, University of California, Space Sciences Laboratory Locations: Northern California, Alabama, Greenbelt , Maryland, Boulder , Colorado, Pasadena , California

☆ Greek archaeologists discover 4,000-year-old stone building on hill earmarked for new airport
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-14 | by ( The Associated Press | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

AP —A big, round, 4,000-year-old stone building discovered on a Cretan hilltop is puzzling archaeologists and threatening to disrupt a major airport project on the Greek tourist island. Resembling a huge car wheel from above, the ruins of the labyrinthine, 1,800-square-meter (19,000-square-foot) building came to light during a recent dig by archaeologists. The building may have been used for religious or ritual purposes, the Greek Culture Ministry said. Greek Culture Ministry/APThe site was earmarked for a radar station to serve a new airport under construction near the town of Kastelli. Archaeologists don’t yet know what the hilltop structure was for.

Persons: it’s, Greece’s, It’s, Lina Mendoni, “ Organizations: AP, Ministry, Greek Culture Ministry, Athens International Locations: Kastelli, Heraklion, Knossos, Greece

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