A “zombie” star and the remains of its “lunch” are revealed in a new close-up view, 12 years in the making. When an asteroid wandered too close to an Earth-size white dwarf — the dense core of a star at the end of its life — it was drawn in and destroyed by the star’s […]
NASA Armstrong’s Prandtl-D No. 3 research aircraft made its first flight on Oct. 28, 2015.Credit: NASA/Lauren Hughes A remotely piloted aircraft achieved an important research milestone last month when a subscale “flying wing” glider successfully completed a series of flight tests. The remotely piloted glider prototype is the third iteration of the Preliminary Research Aerodynamic […]
An asteroid found itself trapped by the tidal forces of the white dwarf ‘undead’ star SDSS J1228+1040, then ripped apart. Observations by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) reveal the remains of the space rock within the debris disk of the star. This is only the seventh time an orbiting disc has been […]
Technology image of the week: ESA’s planet-spotting Cheops satellite being readied for acoustic testing To source
This photo from “Lego Star Wars: Small Scenes from a Big Galaxy,” out Nov. 10, called “Breaking in the Tauntaun,” was four years in the making.Credit: © 2015 Lego © and ™ 2015 Lucasfilm Ltd. Lego Star Wars kits, and especially its minifigures, pack a lot of personality into a few pieces of plastic. That […]
An Ariane 5 has delivered two telecom satellites, Arabsat-6B and GSAT-15, into their planned orbits. To source
The Andes Mountains, as seen from a plane just outside Santiago, Chile.Credit: Mike Wall/Space.com Space.com senior writer Mike Wall is in Chile this week chronicling the groundbreaking ceremony for the Giant Magellan Telescope this week. Read his dispatches about his trip to Chile’s high Atacama Desert: Nov. 12: Chile’s astronomy riches At the groundbreaking ceremony for […]
Going up? Attention space elevator button pushers! A feature-length documentary called “Sky Line” is being released this month, an impressive view that follows a group of scientists and entrepreneurs as egos collide in an attempt to reach for the stars. The film, which centers on the real-life building of the once fantastical space elevator concept […]
Moonspike plans to develop both a spacecraft to crash-land on the moon as well as a rocket to send it there.Credit: Moonspike WASHINGTON — A European venture to send a small spacecraft to the moon is reconsidering its plans after an online fundraising effort fell fall short of its goal. Moonspike started a month-long fundraising […]
Chronicling the second chapter of the European Space Agency’s mission to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, this fairy tale-like treatment of the two probes’ primary findings will warm your heart. Rosetta will continue to examine the icy body as it now heads back out into the cold cellar of the Solar System. Credit: ESA To source
On 11 November 2015 we are launching TEDxESA. Watch the livestream from 17:00 CET To source
George Musser’s new book, “Spooky Action at a Distance,” follows scientists’ struggle with the peculiar concept of nonlocality.Credit: Farrar, Straus and Giroux There’s something strange going on in the universe that calls into question scientists’ basic assumptions about space and time — that they exist, for one thing, and that they can separate objects and […]
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