Space

The three astronauts of China’s Shenzhou 20 mission safely touched down on the Dongfeng Landing Site in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region shortly before 3.45 a.m. EST (0845 GMT) on Nov. 14, after spending over 6 months in low-Earth orbit aboard the Tiangong space station. Commander Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie have since exited the return spacecraft and appear to be in…

Scientists studying Earth’s magnetic field have discovered that its electric heartbeat flows in the opposite direction from what long-standing models predict. Earth is surrounded by a vast magnetic bubble called the magnetosphere, which shields the planet from the solar wind, the stream of charged particles constantly blowing from the sun. When the solar wind collides with Earth’s…

Astronomers have discovered that the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades star cluster have more stellar siblings than we thought  — a lot more. Using NASA’s exoplanet hunting spacecraft TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and the European Space Agency star tracking spacecraft Gaia, scientists found that this highly familiar astronomical body contains around 20 times more stars than…

China’s decision to delay the return of its Shenzhou 20 astronauts from the country’s space station due to a possible space debris impact has led to yet another “stranded in space” state of affairs. The situation is also sparking discussion of space rescue planning — or lack of it. That trio of Chinese astronauts — Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie — have been…