Science

A United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket stands at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of the launch of the USSF-106 mission. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now More than four months after it was certified to fly national security payloads for the United States government, United Launch Alliance is on the cusp of launching just such a …

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The Perseids meteor shower will peak Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, with up to 100 streaks visible every hour. The Perseids shower, which has been active since July 17, is “considered the best meteor shower of the year,” according to NASA. Experts note that the moon may impact some visibility, but viewers will still be able to watch the shower …

Facebook Tweet Email Link It’s finally time to watch one of the best meteor showers of the year: the brilliant display known as the Perseids. The Perseid meteor shower, which is known for producing dozens of bright meteors that leave long streaks in their wake, is set to peak at 4 p.m. ET Tuesday. In previous years, it produced around …

A bewilderingly powerful mystery object found in a nearby galaxy and only visible so far in millimeter radio wavelengths could be a brand new astrophysical object unlike anything astronomers have seen before. The object has been named ‘Punctum,’ derived from the Latin pūnctum meaning “point” or “dot,” by a team of astronomers led by Elena Shablovinskaia of the Instituto de …

“In space the sun is really harsh, it feels as if it’s piercing through your eyes,” says Koichi Wakata, an astronaut and the Chief Technology Officer for Axiom Space. “We need an exceptional visor system to protect [our] eyes and [offer] maximum visibility to enable [astronauts] to work in the challenging lunar environment.” The Texas-based …

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: A research paper proposes a fully physically realized model for warp drive. This builds on an existing model that requires negative energy—an impossibility. The new model is exciting, but warp speed is still probably decades or centuries away. In a surprising paper, scientists say they’ve nailed down a physical model for …

Facebook Tweet Email Link Marine researchers exploring extreme depths say they have discovered an astonishing deep-sea ecosystem of chemosynthetic life that’s fueled by gases escaping from fractures in the ocean bed. The expedition revealed methane-producing microbes and marine invertebrates that make their home in unforgiving conditions where the sun’s rays don’t reach, according to a new study. Geochemist Mengran Du …

Sixty-six million years ago, what is now pine forest and bayou lay beneath a warm inland sea. In that Cretaceous Gulf, the apex hunters were mosasaurs – serpentine marine reptiles that could stretch nearly 50 feet nose to tail. Research led by SMU paleontologist Michael J. Polcyn has compiled the first comprehensive portrait of these creatures in Louisiana, combining scattered …

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