New Atlas

Space Audio available

NASA's newest mission to look for life's ingredients and probe the universe's deep past

Michael Irving February 13, 2019

NASA has selected the newest space mission for its Explorer program: the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx). The spacecraft will search for the ingredients of life in the Milky Way, and peer as far as 10 billion years back in time.

An artist's impression of SPHEREx, the mission NASA has just selected for its Explorers program

Physics

Dark matter and dark energy may really be one "dark fluid" with negative mass

Michael Irving December 5, 2018

An astrophysicist from Oxford has put forward a new theory that suggests that dark matter and dark energy are actually part of the same phenomenon: a “dark fluid” with negative mass that fills the universe.

A new theory suggests that the universe is filled with a dark fluid that has negative ...

Space

The Sun's "identical twin" may have been discovered

Michael Irving November 20, 2018

Our Sun may live a pretty lonesome life nowadays, but when it was born it was the middle child in a family of thousands. Now astronomers in Portugal have found not just a solar sibling but a “twin,” more or less identical to the Sun, meaning it’s a great place to look for extraterrestrial life.

Our Sun was born in a group of thousands of other stars, and now astronomers have ...

Space Audio available

13.5 billion year old star was born just after the Big Bang - and it’s in our neighborhood

Michael Irving November 4, 2018

Astronomers have identified one of the oldest stars ever found, which appears to be just one generation removed from the beginning of the universe itself. Being relatively close to Earth, the find could mean our galactic neighborhood is much older than previously thought.

Ultra metal-poor stars such as HD 140283 (pictured) are among the oldest known stars still surviving, ...

Physics

Can we use gravitational waves to detect hidden dimensions?

Michael Irving September 16, 2018

The universe as we know it is made up of three spatial dimensions, right? But some physics models suggest the existence of extra dimensions that we can’t perceive. In an effort to find evidence of these dimensions, researchers have studied gravitational waves and come up empty.

The collision of two neutron stars could help shed light on whether our universe is hiding ...

Physics

The coldest place in the known universe is on the ISS

David Szondy July 29, 2018

The ISS is slated to become the coldest spot in space as NASA's Cold Atom Laboratory begins producing ultra-cold atoms that are cooled to 10 millionth of one Kelvin above absolute zero as part of microgravity experiments to study quantum mechanics and the fundamental nature of matter.

Atoms have been cooled to 10 millionth of one Kelvin above absolute zero aboard the ISS

Space

The two Earth-like exoplanets that may have seasons and stable climates

Michael Irving July 1, 2018

When looking for exoplanets that could potentially support life, astronomers start with those orbiting within the “habitable zone." A new study has found that two of the most promising planets are now even more promising, with axial tilts that likely give them regular seasons and a stable climate.

An artist's rendition of Kepler-186f, an Earth-like exoplanet that astronomers now believe has a stable axial ...

Space

ESA names space mission concepts in running for Cosmic Vision mission slot

David Szondy May 7, 2018

ESA is examining three space mission concepts to fill the fifth medium class mission slot in its Cosmic Vision science program. The missions under consideration include a next-generation infrared space telescope, a surveyor craft that seeks out transient high-energy events, and a new Venus orbiter.

A high-energy survey of the early Universe, an infrared observatory to study the formation of stars, ...

Drones

Astronomy and ecology come together in drone designed to tackle poaching problem

Darren Quick April 3, 2018

In an effort to combat poaching, drone technology has been paired with software and techniques used by astronomers in a system designed to automatically detect and monitor wildlife in hard to reach areas, even at night when most poaching occurs.

Infrared images of rhinos captured in field trials in South Africa of a new drone-based system

Space

It's alive! Dead star reawakened by red giant companion

David Szondy March 6, 2018

ESA's Integral space observatory has seen a red giant star revive its dead neighbor. An X-ray flare detected on August 13, 2017 prompted observations that revealed a once dead, slow-spinning neutron star becoming active again as it feeds on material ejected from its ancient giant companion.