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SPACE: Cosmic Zombies

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Cosmic Zombies - NASA

Close encounters with medium-size black holes can reanimate dead stars, if only momentarily, a new study suggests. A team of astronomers performed computer simulations to determine what happens when a burned-out stellar corpse known as a white dwarf passes close to an intermediate-mass black hole — one that harbors between 1,000 and 10,000 times the mass of Earth’s sun. The researchers determined that the black hole’s powerful gravity can stretch and distort the white dwarf’s previously inert innards so dramatically that nuclear-fusion processes can reignite for a few seconds, converting helium, carbon and oxygen into heavier elements such as iron. … Read more

SPACE: Closest Exoplanet to Earth Could Be ‘Highly Habitable’

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Proxima Centauri b - NASA

Just a cosmic hop, skip and jump away, an Earth-size planet orbits the closest star to our sun, Proxima Centauri. Ever since the discovery of the exoplanet — known as Proxima Centauri b— in 2016, people have wondered whether it could be capable of sustaining life. Now, using computer models similar to those used to study climate change on Earth, researchers have found that, under a wide range of conditions, Proxima Centauri b can sustain enormous areas of liquid water on its surface, potentially raising its prospects for harboring living organisms. “The major message from our simulations is that there’s … Read more

SPACE: Was There Life on the Moon?

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moon - NASA

Did life ever exist on the moon? Maybe! Have scientists found evidence of life on the moon? Definitely not. Why are we talking about this? A new paper was published online today (July 23) in the journal Astrobiology with a thrilling headline: “Was There An Early Habitability Window for Earth’s Moon?” Its associated press release had an even more exciting title: “Researcher sees possibility of moon life.” Wowza! This is genuinely cool stuff. But it’s important to understand what it’s really saying and what it’s not. The paper, written by a pair of astrobiologists from Birkbeck College in London and the Technical University of … Read more

SPACE: Signs of Life

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Enceladus - NASA

Enceladus – NASA When it comes to looking for alien life, scientists mostly focus on where there is water. Now researchers suggest that looking at “bioessential” elements such as phosphorus and molybdenum could help judge a world’s potential for life. There is life virtually wherever there is water on Earth, from clouds high above the surface to the deepest layer of Earth’s crust. As such, the search for life outside Earth typically concentrates on worlds that are “habitable,” possessing temperatures conducive to hosting liquid water on its surface. For example, although the surface of Venus is currently hot enough to … Read more

SPACE: NASA’s New Plan to Destroy Deadly Asteroids – Live Science

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asteroid strike - pixabay

NASA has updated its plans to deflect potentially hazardous Earth-bound asteroids — and none of them involve Bruce Willis. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a new report today (June 20) titled the “National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan.” The 18-page document outlines the steps that NASA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will take over the next 10 years to both prevent dangerous asteroids from striking Earth and prepare the country for the potential consequences of such an event. Officials with NASA, FEMA and the White House discussed the new asteroid-mitigation strategies … Read more

SPACE: Most Distant Star Ever Seen – 9 Billion Light-Years Away

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Farthest Star

Astronomers have observed a star that’s so far away, its light took 9 billion years to reach us here on Earth — about 4.5 billion years before our solar system even existed. And while scientists have peered at even more distant galaxies, which are visible due to light from their billions of stars, this helium-burning orb, nicknamed Icarus, is the most distant ordinary individual star an Earthling has observed, according to a statement from the University of California, Berkeley. (An ordinary, or main-sequence, star is one that is still fusing hydrogen to create helium; about 90 percent of the stars … Read more

SPACE: How Small We Are

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Earth and Moon from NASA's OSIRIS-REx

Here’s a new perspective on your home planet, helpfully provided by a NASA asteroid-sampling probe. Earth and the moon are two bright dots floating in an immense black void in the new view, which was captured by the space agency’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on Jan. 17 from a distance of 39.5 million miles (63.6 million kilometers). By Mike Wall – Full Story at Live Science

SPACE: New Horizons Spacecraft Reaches New Record

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Kuiper Belt Objects

The New Horizons spacecraft’s imager (called the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager) captured these false-color images in December 2017 of Kuiper Belt Objects 2012 HZ84 (left) and 2012 HE85. These are, for now, the farthest images from Earth ever captured by a spacecraft. The photos don’t look like much: blurry green splotches against pixelated blue. But they’re arguably among the most amazing photographic images ever. That’s because they were taken from the farthest point from planet Earth of any images ever captured, snapped by a spacecraft just over 3.79 billion miles (6.12 billion kilometers) from its home planet. That spacecraft is … Read more

Now You Too Can Hear the Golden Record – On Vinyl

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NASA Golden Record

Earthlings can now order their very own vinyl version of the “Voyager Golden Record,” which NASA sent into deep space decades ago in an attempt to reach intelligent life. The soundtrack has been available on SoundCloud and came out as a CD in 1992. Now, Ozma Records is preparing to release it on vinyl as early as January through distributor Light in the Attic, reports The Washington Post. It’s already available for preorder. Two sets of the phonograph album — with images and instructions in symbolic language — were rocketed into space in 1977, one aboard the Voyager 1 and … Read more

SPACE: Cassini Spacecraft Takes Its Swan Dive

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Cassini

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is shown heading for the gap between Saturn and its rings during one of 22 such dives of the mission’s finale in this illustration. The spacecraft made a final plunge into the planet’s atmosphere today. By Andy Towle – Full Story at Towleroad.com