Space

Editor’s note: This story contains discussion of astronaut fatalities and dangerous moments in human spaceflight. It was 40 years ago today (Jan. 28) that the space shuttle Challenger blasted off on its 10th mission to space. Sadly, the vehicle never made it there. Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff while carrying seven people, including “Teacher in Space” participant Christa…

Venus could experience a dramatic meteor shower this summer, the result of the breaking apart of a nearby asteroid that has left a trail of dust in its wake. The meteor shower is predicted to next take place on July 5, but observing it from Earth is going to be difficult. Only superbright fireballs, with a magnitude of around minus 12 to minus 15 — roughly the same brightness in our sky as the…

Scientists have been gifted with a clearer picture of the expansion of the universe and dark energy, the mysterious force driving the acceleration of this expansion, than ever before. This comes courtesy of the analysis of six years’ worth of data collected by the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter telescope. The data analysed…

Jupiter’s icy moon Europa may have a previously unrecognized way of delivering life-supporting chemicals to its vast subsurface ocean, according to new research. Europa, one of the dozens of moons orbiting Jupiter, has long intrigued scientists as one of the most promising places in the solar system to search for extraterrestrial life, thanks to a hidden global ocean beneath its fractured…