Practically perfect in every way: Hubble shows galaxy with amazing symmetry
This week's Hubble image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 2985, located over 70 million light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear). Hubble scientists describe NGC 2985 as having near-perfect symmetry, showing tightly wound spiral arms which converge in the center of the galaxy.
Original videotape of Apollo landing sells at auction for a cool $1.8 million
An original videotape of the moon landing has sold at auction for $1.8 million. Sotheby's describes the tapes as the earliest, sharpest and most accurate surviving video images of man’s first steps on the moon, and offers them in original, unadulterated form -- unrestored, unenhanced and unremastered.
Three new astronauts join the International Space Station crew for Expedition 60
Exactly fifty years after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon, a new team of astronauts arrived at the International Space Station to begin their stay there. NASA's Andrew Morgan, Roscosmos' Alexander Skvortsov, and European Space Agency's Luca Parmitano will join the crew of the ISS.
NASA’s Artemis capsule is complete, will carry the first woman to the moon
The crew capsule which will carry astronauts to the moon as part of the Artemis project has been completed. The completion of the Artemis 1 capsule was announced by Vice President Mike Pence during a speech at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo mission.
China’s space station, Tiangong-2, has burned up in the atmosphere
China's space station, Tiangong-2, has burned up in the Earth's atmosphere as part of a planned deorbital maneuver. It was launched in 2016 as a test bed and was originally only scheduled to be in space for two or three years. But it survived longer than expected and spent nearly 1,000 days in space.
Go beyond the Ring Gate with a sneak peak of The Expanse season 4
After getting axed by the SyFy network after three seasons, The Expanse, the best sci-fi show no one is watching, was rescued by Amazon Prime. Now there's a new teaser trailer giving a glimpse of what we can expect to see in season four, as well as a five minute clip of a new episode.
The colorful weirdness of Marvel’s The Eternals is coming in November 2020
Following the massive success of Avengers: Endgame which wrapped up phase three of the MCU, Marvel Studios is already lining up the start of phase 4. Today saw an announcement at SDCC that the next installment in the franchise will be The Eternals, ancient and immortal beings created to protect humanity.
New Westworld trailer teases WWII scenes and the return of a favorite host
We all have a role to play: That's the theme for this season of Westworld, for humans and hosts alike, as shown in this new trailer. If you were puzzled by season 3's previous trailer, this trailer has more familiar faces and gives more context to the world we see outside of the park.
Black Mirror’s David Ajala joins cast of Star Trek: Discovery for season 3
After the dramatic ending to season 2, Trek fans are on tenterhooks to learn what will become of the Discovery crew in season 3. And now there's a whole batch of new information being shared at SDCC. The big announcement from the panel is a new cast member who will be joining next season: David Ajala.
Space tourism is coming, and it’s going to wreak havoc on Earth’s atmosphere
NASA has announced it will be allowing tourists to visit the International Space Station. But experts who spoke to Digital Trends warn that space tourism could hurt the environment by damaging our planet's fragile ozone layer.
Watch live: Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins reflect on the moon landing
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the famous Apollo 11 mission to the moon, which launched on July 16, 1969, NASA will hold a live broadcast featuring a retrospective on the historic mission and presentations by the astronauts involved. You can watch the event live on July 16 at 6:15 a.m. PT.
Astronomers have spotted a moon forming around a proto-Jupiter
Astronomers have spotted a young planet with a disk of gas and dust around it which is believed to be similar to the one from which the moons of Jupiter were born. The planet PDS 70 b is a gas giant several times the size of Jupiter which is in the process of forming and is located 370 light-years away.
The Very Large Telescope captures the beautiful remnants of a dying star
This beautiful cosmic object is a planetary nebula named Abell 24, captured by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT). Located in constellation of Canis Minor (The Lesser Dog), it is a swirl of dust and gas which is illuminated by the core of a dead star.
Russia launches X-ray observatory capable of locating thousands of black holes
Russia has finally launched its X-ray observatory, Spektr-RG, after a delay caused by faulty batteries on board the spacecraft. The launch took place at 5:30 a.m. PT on Saturday, July 13. Spektr-RG was created in cooperation between the Russian Federal Space Agency and the German Aerospace Centre.
Bouncing robot for low-gravity space missions has a spring in its step
If you've ever looked at astronauts bouncing on the moon and thought that looked a great way to get around, you're not the only one. The European Space Agency has created SpaceBok, a robot for low-gravity "dynamic walking". On the moon, SpaceBok could potentially jump as high as six and a half into the air.
Hubble spots unexpected disc around supermassive black hole
Hubble has discovered something odd: A disc of material around a supermassive black hole which was thought to be starving, but looks like what is seen in very active galaxies. The black hole in question lies at the center of the spiral galaxy NGC 3147, which is 130 million light-years away from Earth.
SpaceX wins contract to launch NASA’s new X-Ray observatory in 2021
NASA has announced it will be contracting SpaceX to launch its newest X-Ray observatory into space. This is the sixth contract the company has won through NASA's Lunch Service Program, which oversees the launch of rockets carrying satellites for scientific missions by contracting with commercial companies.
How do you kill a jellyfish galaxy? With a supermassive black hole
Strange things lurk out in space, like jellyfish galaxies, which have tendrils of stars that stream away from the main body of the galaxy like the tentacles of a jellyfish. Now, an astronomer has investigated what happens to these galactic jellies when they interact with supermassive black holes.
A.I. can spot galaxy clusters millions of light-years away
Galaxy clusters are enormous structures of hundreds or even thousands of galaxies which move together. But despite their massive size, they can be hard to identify because they are so very far away from us. Now, a British Ph.D. student has created a deep learning A.I. which could help with this issue.
Chrome browser to add audio and video controls to address bar
Google's Chrome browser will soon be getting a nifty feature: Media controls which let you interact with currently playing videos in your browser from the address bar. You can preview the feature in the Chrome nightly developer build, Canary version 77, where Google rolls out new experimental features.
Cosmic dust feeds star formation in this week’s Hubble image
This week's Hubble image shows the beautiful rosy glow of a dusty spiral galaxy where stars are being born. The galaxy is called NGC 972, and it was discovered in 1784 by William Herschel. It is located in the constellation of Aries, 71 million light-years away from Earth.
Exploding star system revealed through ultraviolet Hubble image
A new Hubble image shows Eta Carinae, a double star system 7500 light-years away, which has been exploding in slow motion for more than a hundred years. The system contains at least two stars which glow five million times brighter than our Sun.
Gmail tracks everything you purchase and you STILL can’t delete it or opt out
In May, it was revealed that Google was tracking the purchase history of its users, through a little-known Purchases page which pulls information from Gmail emails like order confirmations. This was bad enough, but it gets worse. Even when emails are deleted, the information remains on the Purchases page.
See last week’s SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch in gorgeous slow motion
SpaceX had success last week with their most difficult ever Falcon Heavy launch. Now a video shows the launch in unique slow motion. The video was recorded by cinematographer Ryan Chylinski, who spoke with Digital Trends about his project documenting rocket launches for his studio Cosmic Perspective.
Watch NASA test the Orion spacecraft’s emergency escape system live
NASA will test the emergency escape system for Orion, the next-generation spacecraft which will hopefully carry humans to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. You can watch the Ascent Abort-2 flight test live from Florida starting a 4 a.m. PT Tuesday morning.
Insulin pumps recalled for vulnerability; concerns raised over medical IoT hacks
Medical device company Medtronic is recalling a number of insulin pumps after discovering that they are vulnerable to hacks, and there is no way to patch the security holes. The FDA announced the vulnerability in the MiniMed 508 and Paradigm pumps this week, affecting around 4,000 patients.
Research unearths clues about Tunguska event for International Asteroid Day
Today is International Asteroid Day, marking the 111th anniversary of the most destructive asteroid event in recorded history: The Tunguska event. But this isn't only a historical curiosity -- scientists are still researching the aftermath of the event and what it can tell us about asteroids.
Beresheet 2.0 won’t go to moon, will have another significant objective instead
SpaceIL hoped to be the company to put the first Israeli craft on the moon, but that hope was scuppered when the Beresheet craft crash landed. Now, the company has announced it will be not sending a second mission to the moon, but will be pursuing a different, currently unnamed objective instead.
Images of the Whirlpool galaxy show the value of infrared light observations
Have you ever wondered why sometimes telescopes capture light in the visible spectrum, and other times in infrared? NASA has released images of the Whirlpool galaxy, located in the constellation Canes Venatici, which demonstrate the value of collecting data at different wavelengths.
SpaceX hopes to blast off its Starship and Super Heavy Rocket project in 2021
SpaceX's inaugural missions for its next-generation Starship and Super Heavy Rocket project could take place as early as 2021, a company executive has said. Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX’s vice president of commercial sales, discussed the company's plans for the Starship project at a conference in Jakarta.
The Pentagon can now identify you by your heartbeat — from 200 yards away
As if facial recognition and digital fingerprinting weren't scary enough, the Pentagon has reportedly developed a method for identifying and tracking people through their heartbeat. Heartbeats are as unique and distinctive as fingerprints, but are distinct in that they can be read from a distance.
SpaceX’s Starlink satellites are in position and ready to begin testing
SpaceX's ambitious project to create a global satellite broadband internet network continues, with the first batch of satellites now mostly in place and ready to start testing. The batch of 60 satellites were launched into space last month, and now 57 of these are working as intended, SpaceX announced.
How to watch SpaceX’s most difficult Falcon Heavy launch ever
SpaceX will launch a Falcon Heavy rocket Monday evening in its most challenging launch yet. The launch was delayed until Monday June 24 at 11:30 p.m. PT, but is dependent on weather conditions. You can watch NASA's livestream of the launch with coverage starting at 11 p.m. PT.
Uranus’ rings shine brightly but hold a puzzle for astronomers
New images reveal the rings around Uranus, almost invisible to most telescopes, shining brightly as they reflect light in the visible and near-infrared range. But there's a strange puzzle about them -- why they don't contain any small dust-sized particles.