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Researchers Measured Alien Planet Spins and Discovered a Surprising Pattern

4 June 2026 at 21:19
Relationship Between Mass and Spin for Giant Planets and Brown DwarfsA new Keck Observatory study indicates that giant planets can spin faster than more massive brown dwarfs, revealing important clues about how planetary systems form and evolve. Astronomers have long suspected that a planet’s mass may be linked to how quickly it spins. In our solar system, Jupiter and Saturn rotate especially fast, each completing [...]

NASA’s Roman Telescope Will Search 100 Million Stars for New Worlds

Milky Way Galaxy Envrionments InfographicNASA’s Roman Telescope could reveal 100,000 hidden worlds and rewrite what we know about planets across the Milky Way. NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is expected to dramatically expand humanity’s catalog of worlds beyond our solar system. Known as exoplanets, these distant planets number nearly 6,300 discoveries so far through NASA missions and other [...]

A Cannibal Star Finally Solves One of Astronomy’s Biggest Mysteries

By: CSIRO
4 June 2026 at 20:09
Cannibal Star White Dwarf Red BinaryA star caught feeding on its companion has finally revealed the source of some of the galaxy’s most mysterious repeating signals. An international research team led by scientists at the University of Sydney has uncovered the strongest evidence yet explaining the origin of a puzzling type of cosmic signal. Their work has also revealed a [...]

After 11 years at Mars, NASA's MAVEN spacecraft went out with a whisper

4 June 2026 at 17:21

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft was in excellent shape when it disappeared behind Mars on December 6 of last year. The routine passage, called an occultation, was supposed to last less than an hour, but ground teams didn't hear from the spacecraft when it was supposed to regain contact with Earth.

The loss of communication triggered contingency plans for engineers to try to restore a link with MAVEN, which orbits Mars more than 200 million miles from Earth. To no avail, they listened for faint signals and uplinked commands in the blind. Hopes of saving the mission faded over time, and NASA officials announced Wednesday that they're giving up on it.

"NASA has ceased efforts to search for the MAVEN spacecraft and are beginning activities to decommission the mission," said Mike Moreau, MAVEN's project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.Β 

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Β© NASA/University of Colorado/LASP

After 11 years at Mars, NASA's MAVEN spacecraft went out with a whisper

4 June 2026 at 17:21

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft was in excellent shape when it disappeared behind Mars on December 6 of last year. The routine passage, called an occultation, was supposed to last less than an hour, but ground teams didn't hear from the spacecraft when it was supposed to regain contact with Earth.

The loss of communication triggered contingency plans for engineers to try to restore a link with MAVEN, which orbits Mars more than 200 million miles from Earth. To no avail, they listened for faint signals and uplinked commands in the blind. Hopes of saving the mission faded over time, and NASA officials announced Wednesday that they're giving up on it.

"NASA has ceased efforts to search for the MAVEN spacecraft and are beginning activities to decommission the mission," said Mike Moreau, MAVEN's project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.Β 

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Β© NASA/University of Colorado/LASP

Muon Space unveils Starship-class satellite platform for orbital data centers

3 June 2026 at 12:39

Muon Space announced a Starship-class satellite platform June 3 designed from the ground up to meet the demands of the emerging orbital data center market, with an initial launch slated for 2028 after securing customers.

The post Muon Space unveils Starship-class satellite platform for orbital data centers appeared first on SpaceNews.

Hubble Captures a Stunning Spiral Galaxy Slowly Being Stripped of Its Future

3 June 2026 at 12:04
Spiral Galaxy Messier 88 (M88)A spectacular spiral galaxy known as M88 is traveling toward the crowded heart of the Virgo Cluster, where powerful forces are already beginning to reshape its future. A striking new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope highlights Messier 88 (M88), a spiral galaxy that is in the midst of a cosmic journey spanning hundreds [...]

Astronomers Detect a Close Pair of Supermassive Black Holes for the First Time

3 June 2026 at 11:29
Center of the Galaxy Markarian 501Researchers discovered a closely orbiting pair of supermassive black holes in Markarian 501 by tracking two jets of particles. The binary system could merge within 100 years and may produce detectable gravitational waves. Current evidence indicates that nearly every large galaxy contains a supermassive black hole at its center, with a mass ranging from millions [...]

How long will it take to rebuild Blue Origin's launch pad? We asked some SpaceX vets.

3 June 2026 at 11:00

A former NASA engineer named John Muratore sat on console as launch director in early September 2016 as propellant flowed onto a Falcon 9 rocket in Florida. Ahead of a planned launch two days later, SpaceX was preparing for a static fire test of the vehicle.

Then, all of a sudden, the rocket exploded. "It came out of nowhere, and it was really violent," Muratore said. This fireball resulted in the destruction of the rocket, much of its launch site, and the AMOS-6 satellite already attached to the vehicle.

Nearly a decade later, on May 28, Blue Origin conducted a static fire test of a new rocket, with its larger New Glenn vehicle a few miles down the Florida coast. The company had gotten further into its test, reaching engine ignition, before its rocket also exploded.

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Β© USLaunchReport

NASA’s Fermi Telescope Caught a Supernova Doing Something Never Seen Before

Supernova Starburst Space Travel Warp SpeedNASA’s Fermi telescope may have finally uncovered the magnetic powerhouse behind the universe’s brightest supernovae. An international team of astronomers analyzing observations from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has found what appears to be the first convincing detection of gamma rays from a rare type of extraordinarily bright stellar explosion known as a superluminous supernova. [...]
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