Space

A potentially huge discovery by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover will likely remain in scientific limbo for years to come. On Wednesday (Sept. 10), the Perseverance team announced it found possible biosignatures in pieces of a Mars rock called “Cheyava Falls” that the rover first studied last year. Those intriguing chemical fingerprints include the iron-containing minerals…

The odd dwarf planet Quaoar might have a brand-new moon. Observations of the tiny world, made by a pair of astronomers in California, suggest it possesses either a second satellite or a third ring. Quaoar and our solar system’s other dwarf planets are generally so far away that they are a challenge to view directly from Earth. (An exception is Ceres, which lies in the main asteroid belt…

We have the means today to fly a spacecraft by an interstellar object visiting our solar system, a new study concludes — and we could have done it already with comet 3I/ATLAS. Flyby reconnaissance of interstellar objects is “feasible and affordable,” scientists with the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI), who led the study, said in a statement on Wednesday (Sept. 3). “The…

A total lunar eclipse delighted stargazers overnight on Sept. 7-8 with a spectacular display of orbital mechanics that briefly turned Earth’s natural satellite blood red. This week’s total lunar eclipse graced the night sky as Earth drifted between the moon and sun, veiling the lunar disk in its umbral silhouette. As the moon slipped into the deepest part of our planet’s shadow…