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☆ New images reveal tiny moon around asteroid as it flies by Earth
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-06 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Spotting a tiny moonThe first space rock, asteroid 2011 UL21, passed by Earth on June 27 at a distance of 4.1 million miles (6.6 million kilometers), or 17 times the distance between Earth and the moon. The radar images showed the asteroid is roughly spherical and is one of a pair, called a binary system. NASA/JPL-CaltechThe Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS, at Sutherland Observing Station in South Africa first spotted the space rock on June 16. Astronomers sent radio waves to the space rock and captured a detailed image of asteroid 2024 MK. As the space rock passed by our planet and encountered Earth’s gravity, its orbit changed.

Persons: ”, Lance Benner, don’t, ” Benner Organizations: CNN, NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Space Network, Earth, Catalina Sky Survey, JPL, Caltech, Lucy, Asteroid, Astronomers Locations: Pasadena , California, Tucson , Arizona, Barstow , California, Sutherland, South Africa

☆ 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

☆ CNN reveals America’s Best Towns to Visit in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-24 | by ( Cnn Travel | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Video Ad Feedback See how this town gets the most fun out of one of the biggest lakes in the world 02:00 - Source: CNN America's Best Towns to Visit 2024 10 videos Video Ad Feedback See how this town gets the most fun out of one of the biggest lakes in the world 02:00 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback See why Dolly Parton — and the insects she sang about — are so important to this town 01:42 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Is this the most family friendly town in the country? A CNN reporter takes his daughter to find out 01:57 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Why this town is one of the country’s most underrated music meccas 02:02 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Why this first-of-its-kind city has some of the most amazing skies you’ll ever see 02:00 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Every room in this hotel has a wildly different theme. It’s a feast for the eyes 02:02 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback From sea to sandwich: in search of the best lobster roll ever 02:00 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Here’s where you can snowshoe, hike an island, blow glass and shuck oysters – all in the same day 02:00 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback How to visit Venice, Italy — without leaving the US 02:01 Now playing - Source: CNN Video Ad Feedback Museums, murals and wine: Why Richmond is America’s best town 02:02 Now playing - Source: CNN See More VideosCNN —You’ve elbowed into the Empire State Building, admired the architecture along the Chicago River and huffed and puffed up and down the streets of San Francisco. At CNN Travel, we tapped our network of contributors for nominations for our inaugural list of America’s Best Towns to Visit. High scores: Dark skies, outdoor activities, scenery, retro vibeSunny days and starry nights are big draws in this high-elevation city.

Persons: Dolly Parton —, Frederik Meijer, Ai Weiwei, Peter McDaniel, Michigan’s, James Beard, You’ll, Dale Chihuly, Virginia –, ” –, it’s, Marnie Hunter, Forrest Brown Organizations: CNN, Empire, CNN Travel, Lake Superior, University of Tennessee, Nashville, Sculpture, Beer, San, Lowell Observatory, Golden State, San Luis Obispo, SLO, Puget Sound, Rainier, Tacoma, of, Rhode Island School of Design, Richmond, Richmond Folk Festival Locations: Venice, Italy, Richmond, Chicago, San Francisco . Big, United States, downtowns, Lakes, Duluth, Amity, Knoxville, Tennessee, Memphis, Grand Rapids, Beer City, Grand, Macon, Flagstaff, San Francisco Peaks, California, Southern California, Golden, San Luis, Puyallup, Virginia

☆ Land Art in Malibu Gets a Second Chance
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-19 | by ( Jori Finkel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Lita Albuquerque made a strange sort of painting in 1978 that changed her course as an artist. An abstract painter at the time, she had felt the urge to get out of her studio and work directly on the land where she lived, an artist’s colony on the bluffs of Malibu. She dug a narrow, shallow, 41-foot-long trench in the ground, running perpendicular to the Pacific Ocean, and poured powdered ultramarine pigment into it. She called it “Malibu Line” and it was the first of her many earthworks exploring the body’s relationship to land and cosmos, using bold pigments on natural materials like rocks and sand. Albuquerque, though, had a light touch, and the original “Malibu Line” disappeared within two years, overgrown by grass and wildflowers.

Persons: Lita Albuquerque, Robert Irwin —, Michael Heizer, Robert Smithson, ” Locations: Malibu, Albuquerque

☆ 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, —

☆ A memorable bizcation requires a unique blend of work and play. Hong Kong is the perfect destination to make it happen.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-11 | by ( Sponsor Post | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

When the sun sets in Hong Kong, the sprawling urban metropolis transitions from work to play. Arguably the world's best "bizcation" destination, Hong Kong offers endless activities once business travelers close their laptops for the day. Hong Kong Tourism BoardTo add a bit of mystery into your bizcation, consider exploring Hong Kong's speakeasies. Hong Kong Tourism BoardBut that's not the only attraction lighting up Hong Kong. A memorable bizcation requires a unique blend of work and play — and Hong Kong is the perfect destination to make it happen.

Persons: Hong, Chef Danny Yip, Vicky Cheng, it's, Chai, Noodle, speakeasies, that's, Luna Organizations: Network, Hong Kong's, Argo, Hong Kong Tourism Board, former Marine Police Headquarters, Hong Kong Tourism Board Hong, Insider Studios Locations: Hong Kong, there's, Hong, Wing, Victoria, Clearwater Bay, Tai Hang

☆ Boeing Starliner, SpaceX Starship missions hit key spaceflight goals
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-08 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Chris O'Meara/APAfter lifting off Wednesday, Starliner and its first human crew set a course for the International Space Station. “We’re just happy as can be to be up in space,” Williams said. “One could be a warning sign — you’re in our backyard, you better behave yourself. The dinosaur-discovering family returns to the site in July 2023 for the excavation, including (clockwise from upper left) Sam Fisher, Emalynn Fisher, Danielle Fisher, Liam Fisher, Kaiden Madsen and Jessin Fisher. They find wonder in planets beyond our solar system and discoveries from the ancient world.

Persons: Chris O'Meara, Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, We’re, ” Williams, —, ”, Philip Riris, ” Dino, Sam Fisher, Emalynn Fisher, Danielle Fisher, Liam Fisher, Kaiden Madsen, Jessin Fisher, Jessin, Liam, Genyornis newtoni, Jacob C, newtoni, George Frandsen, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, SpaceX, eventual, Boeing, Atlas, Cape Canaveral Space Force, International Space, NASA, Bournemouth University, Denver Museum of Nature, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, — Engineers, NASA’s Hubble, CNN Space, Science Locations: Florida, Starliner, Venezuela, Colombia, England, Australia, Williams , Arizona

☆ The Hubble Space Telescope makes a big change to keep observing the universe
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-07 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The Hubble Space Telescope will transition to a new way of operating that aims to prevent the space observatory from experiencing lapses in its ability to observe the universe, according to NASA officials. The storied telescope, which has captured breathtaking images of the cosmos for 34 years, has traditionally operated using six gyroscopes. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope eyes the universe in May 2009 after one of the space shuttle missions to service the space observatory. Hubble is expected to operate into the mid-2030s, with its cosmic observations providing a complement to the work of the James Webb Space Telescope and future observatories that haven’t launched yet, Clampin said. “We do not see Hubble as being on its last legs,” Crouse said, “and we think it’s a very capable observatory.”

Persons: Mark Clampin, Hubble, Clampin, Patrick Crouse, Crouse, ” Clampin, James Webb, “, ” Crouse Organizations: CNN, Hubble, NASA, Astrophysics, NASA's Hubble, Goddard Space Flight, James Webb Space Telescope Locations: Greenbelt , Maryland

☆ What was it like to cook for Xi Jinping and Emmanuel Macron?
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-01 | by ( Maggie Wong | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The chance to cook for a mystery guestChef Mauro Colagreco, seen here shaking Chinese leader Xi Jinping's hand, was one of three chefs invited to prepare the recent state dinner in France. In addition to the Plaisance restaurant in Hong Kong, his restaurant group now has five establishments in mainland China. Then, on the morning of the state dinner, the Mirazur team arrived to start preparing for the evening alongside the other chefs. Lai Sun DiningAt Colagreco’s Plaisance restaurant in Hong Kong, diners will get to sample all three of the dishes Xi and Macron were served during the recent state dinner. The cost of the three-course option starts from 1,888 Hong Kong dollars ($241), while the six-course menu is 2,888 Hong Kong dollars ($369).

Persons: Xi Jinping, he’s, Xi, Emmanuel Macron, Mauro Colagreco, Xi Jinping's, Laurent Blevennec, Colegreco, Colagreco, “, ”, Fabrice Desvignes, Brigitte Macron, France’s, It’s, Mauro Colagreco's, Peng Liyuan, Pierre Gagnaire, Vin Jaune, verbena pavlova, Nina Métayer, Fromagerie Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, CNN, Michelin, Colagreco's, Colagreco’s, Hong Locations: Hong Kong, bao, Beijing, Europe, Paris, China, France, Plaisance, Menton, Elysee, Argentine, Mirazur, Asia, Shanghai, Cognac, Port, Madeira, Jura, refiner, Colagreco's Plaisance, Colagreco’s Plaisance

☆ Scanning the Dark Universe, Euclid Finds Scenes of Cosmic Light
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Katrina Miller | More About Katrina Miller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Ninety percent of the mass in this cluster is dark matter. Gravity makes dark matter clump together, but dark energy counteracts this effect. Studying the density of dark matter across the cosmos will help astronomers learn how dark energy influences the structure of our universe. The telescope’s sensors make it like a net for light, Dr. Cuillandre said. “It’s very rare to find an isolated galaxy,” Dr. Cuillandre said.

Persons: Euclid, Katrina Miller Euclid, ” Jean, Charles Cuillandre, Beta, Cuillandre, ”, Michael Seiffert, “, We’re, Seiffert Organizations: European Space Agency, CEA Paris, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Messier

☆ A 'cosmic glitch' in the universe is forcing astronomers to rethink Einstein's theory of relativity
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Ellyn Lapointe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Einstein's general theory of relativity states that the curvature of space-time causes gravity. But zoom out to enormous scales like clusters of galaxies spanning billions of light years across, and the laws of Einstein's gravity theory appear to change. A 1% adjustment may not sound like a big deal, but it's enough to suggest that Einstein's theory may need a rethink. Now, with this cosmic glitch, there's a new explanation on the table. NASA/CXC/Univ of Missouri/M.Brodwin et al; NASA/STScI; JPL/CalTechThe fact that this cosmic glitch could potentially help astronomers resolve the Hubble tension is a good sign that it may truly exist.

Persons: —, Albert Einstein's, Robin Wen, Wen, It's, shouldn't, Niayesh Afshordi, there's, Valerio Faraoni, Faraoni, Claire Lamman, DESI Organizations: Service, Business, Waterloo, University of Waterloo, University of British, ESA, Big Bang, NASA, of Missouri, JPL, CalTech, Bishop's University Locations: University of British Columbia

☆ Astronomers say we may live at the center of a cosmic void 2 billion light-years wide that defies the laws of cosmology
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Jessica Orwig | Ellyn Lapointe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

But the kicker is that this giant void shouldn't exist in the first place. For example, some people have correctly argued that such a void shouldn't exist in the standard model, which is true. Cosmologists have a value, called the Hubble constant, which they use to help describe how fast the universe's expansion is accelerating. The Hubble constant should be the same value wherever you look, whether it's close by or very far away. NASA/JPL-CaltechAstronomers can't agree on what's causing this discrepancy in the Hubble constant, and the contention has become known as the Hubble tension.

Persons: —, we're, Claire Lamman, Indranil, Andrews, Hubble, Brian Keating, Keating, Banik Organizations: Service, Business, Harvard, Smithsonian Center, Astrophysics, Indranil Banik, University of St, Banik, Royal Astronomical Society, KBC, Hubble, NASA, JPL, Caltech, ESA, Palomar, Sky, UC San Diego, Sky Survey

☆ Voyager 1 regains communications with NASA after inventive fix
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Voyager 1’s flight data system collects information from the spacecraft’s science instruments and bundles it with engineering data that reflects its current health status. But since November, Voyager 1’s flight data system had been stuck in a loop. By investigating the readout, the team determined the cause of the issue: 3% of the flight data system’s memory is corrupted. Members of the Voyager flight team celebrate after receiving the first coherent data from Voyager 1 in five months at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on April 20. And younger engineers are coming onto the Voyager team and contributing their knowledge to keep the mission going.”

Persons: they’ve, ”, Linda Spilker, “, Suzanne Dodd, “ We’ve, we’ve Organizations: CNN, NASA, Voyager, JPL, Network, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech

☆ Lyrid meteor shower peaks this week right before the pink full moon
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-21 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —The total solar eclipse has come and gone, but sky-gazers have reason to keep looking up — a meteor shower will peak this week right before a full moon rises. The Lyrid meteor shower will be most active Sunday night through the early morning hours of Monday, according to the American Meteor Society. And April’s full moon, also known as the pink moon, reaches the crest of its full phase at 7:49 p.m. The pink moon actually got its moniker due to its annual appearance not long after the start of spring, much like its namesake, a hot pink wildflower called Phlox subulata that blooms in early springtime, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. Instead, an annular solar eclipse creates a “ring of fire” in the sky as the sun’s light surrounds the moon.

Persons: Ashley King, don’t, “, ” King, Paul Hayne, Hayne, It’s, ” Hayne, Lorenzo Di Cola, Alpha Capricornids, Perseids, Draconids, Orionids, Leonids, Geminids, Ursids Organizations: CNN, American Meteor Society, Northern, NASA, University of Colorado, Orvieto Cathedral, •, Alpha Locations: Southern, University of Colorado Boulder, Orvieto, Umbria, Italy, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, North America

☆ Check out stunning photos from the $2 billion space telescope that captures the invisible universe — and that NASA plans to defund
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory faces budget cuts that may end its mission. Photos show how the space telescope has beautifully captured the invisible universe for 25 years. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementOne of NASA's top space telescopes may be facing an untimely end due to budget cuts. The Chandra X-ray Observatory has been orbiting Earth for 25 years, peering at the universe in X-ray light that's invisible to the human eye.

Persons: NASA's Chandra, Chandra, Webb, — Organizations: Hubble, Service, Business

☆ O.J. Was an Earthquake. We’re Still Living With His Aftershocks.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Wesley Morris | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

When our Great Americans go, we know how to mourn them. But there’s a Great American subset — where the adventure rocks the infrastructure and the life leaves a gash. In some other realm, the football career and its showbiz afterlife, pitching rental cars and enlivening spoofery, would have warranted the plain-old Great American treatment. Are we still in Great American territory? In a place some call “La La Land,” no less.

Persons: Simpson, What’d, spoofery, O.J, Folks, LeVar Burton, Nicole Brown Simpson, Ronald Goldman, beckoning, ” Organizations: Great Locations: O.J, Africa, La

☆ She Dreams of Pink Planets and Alien Dinosaurs
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Becky Ferreira | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Have dinosaurs evolved on other worlds? Could we spot a planet of glowing organisms? What nearby star systems are positioned to observe Earth passing in front of the sun? These are just a few of the questions that Lisa Kaltenegger has joyfully tackled. How much is the diversity of opinion and emotion from people around the search for extraterrestrial life top-of-mind in your research?

Persons: Lisa Kaltenegger, Carl Sagan, Kaltenegger’s, Cornell Organizations: Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University, Cosmos, New York Times Locations: Austria

☆ People on a $1,150 special Delta eclipse flight didn't see a total eclipse, but they weren't mad about it
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Alexandra Bacon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewWhen Delta first announced its special solar eclipse flight from Austin to Detroit, it was so popular that they had to arrange a second flight from Dallas to Detroit. But it turns out that people on board didn't get to see the total eclipse, according to one passenger. AdvertisementThe view from the aircraft during the special solar eclipse flight. "Even though we didn't get it completely, it was a fun community experience," he told the outlet. The solar eclipse was expected to be a big boon for local economies along its path, with millions of visitors spending money to travel across the country to get the best viewing spot.

Persons: —, James Larounis, Larounis Organizations: Service, Delta, Passengers, Business, Dallas, Washington Post Locations: Austin, Detroit, Dallas, Washington, Atlanta

☆ UK Nobel Prize-winning physicist Peter Higgs dies aged 94
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Story Reuters | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

London —Physicist Peter Higgs, whose theory of an undetected particle in the universe changed science and was vindicated by a Nobel prize-winning discovery half a century later, has died aged 94, the University of Edinburgh said on Tuesday. Higgs described himself as “incompetent” in the physics laboratory at school and at first preferred maths and chemistry. What came to be known as the Higgs boson would solve the riddle of where several fundamental particles get their mass from: by interacting with the invisible “Higgs field” that pervades space. That interaction, known as the “Brout-Englert-Higgs” mechanism, won Higgs and Belgium’s Francois Englert the Nobel prize in physics in 2013. CERN’s massive Large Hadron Collider finally proved to be the sledgehammer needed to crack the nut, and in 2012 two experiments there independently found the Higgs boson.

Persons: Peter Higgs, Higgs, “ Peter Higgs, ”, Sir Peter Mathieson, Paul Dirac, Belgium’s Francois Englert, Robert Brout, “, Rolf Heuer, welling, theoreticians, Jody Williamson, ’ ”, Robert Evans, Tom Miles, Farouq Suleiman, Pravin Char, Mark Heinrich Organizations: London, University of Edinburgh, CERN, Reuters, “, Edinburgh University, Fermilab, Collider, chuckling Locations: Geneva, Chicago, American, Edinburgh

☆ The largest map of the cosmos hints that dark energy is changing. It could prove Einstein wrong and upend a pillar of modern physics.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Jessica Orwig | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

New data from the largest 3-D map of our universe suggests we may be wrong about dark energy. One of the driving forces behind that evolution is also one of our age's biggest mysteries in physics: dark energy. Einstein abandoned the idea as his "greatest blunder" in the 1930s, as astrophysicist Ethan Siegal explains, but a constant dark energy would have vindicated him. "If true, it would be the first real clue we have gotten about the nature of dark energy in 25 years," Adam Riess, a Nobel laureate for his co-discovery of dark energy, told Quanta Magazine. "The idea that dark energy is varying is very natural," Paul Steinhardt, a Princeton University cosmologist, told the magazine.

Persons: —, we're, Michael Levi, Levi, DESI, Marenfeld, Claire Lamman, Albert Einstein's, Einstein, Ethan Siegal, Albert Einstein, Ernst Haas, Adam Riess, Paul Steinhardt, Princeton University cosmologist, Riess, Vera C, Travis Lange, Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell, NASA's Nancy Grace, Arnaud de Mattia, Mattia Organizations: Service, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, American Physical Society, Princeton University, NASA, Rubin, Accelerator, Atomic Energy Commission Locations: Arizona, Princeton , New Jersey

☆ Back in the ’90s, This Eclipse Webcast Put the Cosmos on Demand
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Katrina Miller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Feb. 26, 1998, hundreds of people gathered to watch a total solar eclipse. They oohed and aahed as the feathery streams of the top of the solar atmosphere burst into view. Except that crowd wasn’t actually in Aruba. They were thousands of miles away in San Francisco, clustered in front of a screen at a museum called the Exploratorium. For what might have been the first time in the history of the internet, a solar eclipse was streamed live.

Persons: wasn’t, Charlie Organizations: Technology, NASA, Challenger Locations: Aruba, San Francisco

☆ A Tantalizing ‘Hint’ That Astronomers Got Dark Energy All Wrong
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Dennis Overbye | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Dark energy was assumed to be a constant force in the universe, both currently and throughout cosmic history. He shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with two other astronomers for the discovery of dark energy, but was not involved in this new study. “It may be the first real clue we have gotten about the nature of dark energy in 25 years,” he said. That conclusion, if confirmed, could liberate astronomers — and the rest of us — from a longstanding, grim prediction about the ultimate fate of the universe. Instead, it seems, dark energy is capable of changing course and pointing the cosmos toward a richer future.

Persons: “, Biden, ”, Adam Riess, — Organizations: Johns Hopkins University, Telescope Science Locations: Baltimore

☆ A Lifetime Under the Moon’s Shadow
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-02 | by ( Dennis Overbye | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A total solar eclipse, when the cosmos clicks into place with the worlds aligned like cue balls, may be one of the most profoundly visceral experiences you can have without ingesting anything illegal. Eight times, I’ve been through this cycle of light, darkness, death and rebirth, feeling the light melt and seeing the sun’s corona spread its pale feathery wings across the sky. As you read this article, I will be getting ready to go to Dallas, along with family and old friends, to see my ninth eclipse. One old friend won’t be there: Jay M. Pasachoff, who was a longtime astronomy professor at Williams College. I’ve stood in the shadow of the moon with him three times: on the island of Java in Indonesia, in Oregon and on a tiny island off Turkey.

Persons: I’ve, won’t, Jay M, Pasachoff, Jay Organizations: Williams College Locations: Dallas, Java, Indonesia, Oregon, Turkey

☆ 10 James Webb space photos reveal cosmic nurseries where stars come to life
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Ellyn Lapointe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has unlocked a window into our universe unlike any before. Using its powerful infrared vision, JWST can peer into the hearts of stellar nurseries. JWST reveals how stars, planets, and potentially life itself, form in our universe. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Stellar nurseries, where new stars bloom to life, are thick clouds of gas and dust, a.k.a.

Persons: NASA's James Webb, —, James Webb, Klaus Pontoppidan, they're Organizations: Service, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

☆ The burning acid behind ant stings was spotted around two stars
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have detected commonplace chemical ingredients found in vinegar, ant stings and even margaritas around two young stars, according to NASA. The complex organic molecules they observed using the space observatory’s Mid-Infrared Instrument included acetic acid, a component of vinegar, and ethanol — otherwise known as alcohol. The team also found simple molecules of formic acid, which causes the burning sensation associated with ant stings, as well as sulfur dioxide, methane and formaldehyde. Stars form from swirling clouds of gas and dust, and the leftover material from star formation gives rise to planets. Detecting complex organic molecules in space is helping astronomers to determine the molecules’ origins as well as those of other larger cosmic molecules.

Persons: James Webb, Carl Sagan, “, Webb, detections, ”, Will Rocha, Young, Ewine van Dishoeck, Harold Linnartz, Linnartz, “ Harold, ” van Dishoeck Organizations: CNN —, NASA, ESA, Hustak, Leiden University, Astrophysics, Leiden Laboratory Locations: astrochemistry, Netherlands, ices

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