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“Once in a Blue Moon” may not apply to lunar exploration, it seems: NASA announced May 19 that Blue Origin’s Blue Moon will be the second lunar lander design for the Artemis program. Intended for the crewed mission Artemis V, launching in 2029, Blue Moon will provide an alternative to Space X’s Starship lander, which is set for earlier missions including the first return of humans to the lunar surface with Artemis III in 2025, as well as follow-on Artemis IV. Artemis V is seen as the mission that will move NASA into a yearly cadence of lunar landings. NASA originally selected SpaceX’s…

Tesserae are regions of deformed venusian terrain that appear bright in this image, winding across the center of the planet’s disk. This composite was constructed from data from NASA’s Magellan and Pioneer Venus Orbiter missions. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) If the exploration of the planets has taught us one thing, it is that Murphy’s law — “anything that can go wrong will go wrong” — is alive and well throughout the solar system. But one planet in particular exhibits more than its share of quirks: Venus. It’s no wonder. Venus is a tough place to study, let alone land on. The planet’s…

The Earth exists in a dangerous environment. Cosmic bodies, like asteroids and comets, are constantly zooming through space and often crash into our planet. Most of these are too small to pose a threat, but some can be cause for concern. As a scholar who studies space and international security, it is my job to ask what the likelihood of an object crashing into the planet really is – and whether governments are spending enough money to prevent such an event. To find the answers to these questions, one has to know what near-Earth objects are out there. To date, NASA has…

Odds are you’ve probably seen a European starling, whether it was just one bird wheeling its way across the sky or a huge noisy flock. Starlings are songbirds common in Asia, Europe, northern  Africa, and thanks to human introduction, North America. They adapt well to human development and can be seen in rural and urban environments. This article dives into 10 interesting facts about starlings. You’ll learn about their habitat, behavior, and some notable traits. Keep reading to learn more! 10 FACTS ABOUT STARLINGS 1. THEY ARE BENEFICIAL INSECT EATERS AND SEED DISPERSERS. It may be hard to believe since…

7,000-year-old Native American burial site found off Florida The site was discovered by an amateur diver who was looking for shark teeth but stumbled on an ancient jawbone. Archeologist Ryan Duggins noticed a worn – down molar tooth attached to the jawbone in a picture sent from the diver. This suggested it belonged to a prehistoric person. State officials in Florida called finding an “unprecedented discovery.” The site began to be investigated by Duggins and his team from the “Archaic Period” located 900 ft (275 m) from the shore. The burial grounds are expected to cover about 32,000 sq feet…

Storms uncover precious marble cargo from a 1,800-year-old Mediterranean shipwreck in Israel Numerous rare marble artifacts have been found at the site of a 1,800-year-old shipwreck in shallow waters just 200 meters off the coast of the Israeli coastal town of Beit Yanai. Approximately three weeks ago while swimming, recreational sea swimmer Gideon Harris took a dive of about four meters and stumbled upon a treasure trove of marble columns. This is the oldest sea cargo of its kind ever discovered in the Eastern Mediterranean, dating back to the time of the Roman Empire. The huge haul includes approximately 44…

Cardinals are probably on most people’s list as their favorite backyard bird. The Northern Cardinal is a year-round resident of the eastern half of the United States, as well as portions of Canada and Mexico. They provide beautiful pops of color on gray winter days, and fill the yard with beautiful songs in the spring. If you want to know how to attract cardinals to your yard, then you’re in the right place. Thankfully, it isn’t too difficult to attract cardinals as they will readily visit bird feeders. But there are a bunch of things you can do to make…

In a stunning discovery, a three-thousand-year-old ancient Egyptian figurine of the god Osiris has been unearthed in a former Nazi SS hospital in the Lublin province.  The figurine is part of a long-lost collection of antiquities that have been the subject of a search by specialists for decades. In the village of Kluczkowice about 30 km west of Lublin, researchers found two figurines depicting Osiris, the Egyptian god of death. The researchers also discovered a bust of Bacchus, who, according to Roman mythology, was the god of wine. Researchers also discovered a bust of Bacchus, who, according to Roman mythology, was the god…

This artist’s concept shows a black hole surrounded by a maelstrom of circling debris, as well as a powerful jet of hot plasma shooting into space.NASA/JPL-Caltech The most well-understood black holes are created when a massive star reaches the end of its life and implodes, collapsing in on itself. A black hole takes up zero space, but does have mass — originally, most of the mass that used to be a star. And black holes get “bigger” (technically, more massive) as they consume matter near them. The bigger they are, the larger a zone of “no return” they have, where anything entering…

Located some 28 billion light-years away (thanks to the expanding universe), this 12.9-billion-year-old star, named Earendel, is between 50 and 500 times as massive as the Sun — and millions of times as bright.SCIENCE: NASA, ESA, Brian Welch (JHU), Dan Coe (STScI) IMAGE PROCESSING: NASA, ESA, Alyssa Pagan (STScI) The Hubble Space Telescope has imaged the most distant star ever seen, according to a study published today (March 30) in the journal Nature. Astronomers identified the supersized star — which almost certainly died in a fiery explosion nearly 13 billion years ago — thanks to a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing. “It took…

A lone black hole gives off no light – but its gravity does distort the path of light traveling around it.Ute Kraus (background Milky Way panorama: Axel Mellinger), Institute of Physics, Universität Hildesheim [Editor’s Note (6/10/22): Both papers highlighted in this story have now been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication.] Each second, a brand new baby black hole is born somewhere in the cosmos as a massive star collapses under its own weight. But black holes themselves are invisible. Historically, astronomers have only been able to detect these stellar-mass black holes when they are acting on a companion. Now, a…

Star formation in the 500 light-years around Earth is being driven by a cosmic bubble known as the Local bubble, as seen in this artist’s concept.ILLUSTRATION: CfA, Leah Hustak (STScI) Think “bubbles,” and you may think “soap” or “gum.” But not Catherine Zucker, currently a Hubble Fellow at the Space Telescope Science Institute and a former researcher with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Zucker’s interest in bubbles is cosmic. And she and her collaborators have found new insights about a bubble in which our solar system sits. Astronomers have long known about the 1,000-light-year-wide Local Bubble. In a new paper published…

The ancient tomb near Nafūn in Oman’s central Al Wusta province has been dated by archaeologists to between 6,600 and 7,000 years old. Nothing like it has been found in the region. Archaeologists have found the remains of dozens of people who were buried up to 7,000 years ago in a stone tomb in Oman, on the Arabian Peninsula. The tomb, near Nafūn in the country’s central Al Wusta province, is among the oldest human-made structures ever found in Oman. The burial area is next to the coast, but it is otherwise a stony desert. “No Bronze Age or older…

Space Shuttle Discovery, as seen from the International Space Station, during flight STS-120. NASA In 1972, Apollo 17 carried the last batch of astronauts to the lunar surface. But during that same year, NASA was already beginning the design and develop their next generation of crew-carrying craft. Nearly a decade later, the Space Shuttle was born. The Space Shuttle Program eventually flew 135 missions, making it the core of American crewed spaceflight efforts for nearly four decades. The first orbital test flight, STS-1, carried out by Space Shuttle Columbia, blasted off April 12, 1981 from historic launchpad 39A at Kennedy Space Center. More…

A plume of gas nearly the size of our solar system erupts from Betelgeuse’s surface in this artist’s illustration of real observations gathered by astronomers using the Very Large Telescope in Chile.European Southern Observatory/L. CalçadaIf you stargaze on a clear winter night, it’s hard to miss the constellation Orion the Hunter, with his shield in one arm and the other arm stretched high to the heavens. A bright red dot called Betelgeuse marks Orion’s shoulder, and this star’s strange dimming has captivated skygazers for thousands of years. Aboriginal Australians may have even worked it into their oral histories. Today, astronomers…

Egyptian archaeologists discovered the wooden boat nearly 5,000 years ago by pharaoh Khufu in ‘perfect integrity’. According to Express, the Giza Pyramid Complex is perhaps the most famous of ancient Egypt, including the Great Giza Pyramid, Khafre Pyramid and Menkaure Pyramid, Giza Sphinx and many other pyramids. . Egyptian Pharaoh’s boat was intact after nearly 5,000 years. Among the existing pyramids, the Giza Pyramids and the Khafre Pyramid still contain many mysteries about an ancient society 4,500 years ago, about how the ancients built amazing constructions. great. The documentary series ‘Archeological Secrets’ has revealed such secrets. The 2014 movie depicts the cedar wooden…

It seems like everyone has Mars on the mind these days. NASA wants to send humans to the red planet by 2030, and SpaceX wants to get there even sooner, with plans to have people there by 2024. Mars is a favorite theme in Hollywood, with movies like The Martian and this year’s Life exploring what we might find once we finally reach our celestial neighbor, but most of them aren’t addressing the biggest questions — once we get there, how will we survive long-term? The atmosphere of Mars is mostly carbon dioxide, the surface of the planet is too cold to sustain human…

Spacecraft have explored both the nearside (left) and farside of the Moon. Humans, however, have landed only on the nearside — the half that always remains visible from Earth — due to communication requirements. NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University Why do we see only one side of the Moon from Earth? Have humans explored the other side, and, if so, is it different from the nearside? —Sara O’ConnorGresham, Oregon Earth orbits the Sun once every 365 days (a year) and spins on its axis once every 24 hours (a day). The Moon orbits Earth once every 27.3 days and spins on its axis once…

As archaeologists in Spain were researching a rock formation known as the Sleeping Giant, they noticed something curious. From a distance, they identified a feature on the giant’s chest, which turned out to be a hidden and astronomically aligned tomb – now known as the Piedras Blancas tomb – dating back 5,000-years! The Antequera archaeological site is located in the Andalusia region of Spain, about 458 kilometers (285 miles) southwest of Madrid, which comprises a series of ancient structures such as the Menga, Viera and El Romeral megaliths, dating back to the third and fourth millennia BC. All of these sites are located…

A total eclipse that travelled the full width of Australia in 1922 offered astronomers the chance to confirm Einstein’s theory of general relativity – and for the community to enjoy a rare spectacle. In 1922, Australia was even more remote from the rest of the world than it is today. But when it came to astronomy, that year it was the centre of everyone’s attention. On Sept. 21, the shadow of a total solar eclipse would cross the entire continent, from Eighty Mile Beach in Western Australia, right through the outback, and out over the Pacific Ocean just south of the Queensland-New…

The object, an ultra-long period magnetar, had been theoretical until now. An artist’s impression of what the object might look like if it’s a magnetar. Magnetars are incredibly magnetic neutron stars, some of which sometimes produce radio emission. Known magnetars rotate every few seconds, but theoretically, “ultra-long period magnetars” could rotate much more slowly.ICRAR About 4,000 light-years from Earth, an astral entity released a large flash of radiation three times an hour, each for a minute at a time, taking researchers by surprise. “This object was appearing and disappearing over a few hours during our observations,” said lead author…

Black birds with orange beaks are a fascinating and diverse group of bird species that can be found in various parts of the world. Whether you are trying to identify a bird you saw or are just curious about this color combination, we will look at some of the most well-known species. Let’s explore 16 of the most interesting black birds with orange beaks, including their appearance, diet, behavior, and habitat. 1. SURF SCOTER Scientific name: Melanitta perspicillata The Surf Scoter is a sea duck species that can be found in the coastal waters of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. They…

The discovery of the world’s earliest pyramids on the Kola Peninsula may confirm the existence of an ancient civilisation on Russian territory. The civilization likely predates the Egyptian civilization for a long time. Archaeological excavations of the Kola Peninsula’s pyramids, which are believed to be at least two times older than Egyptian pyramids, have been resumed last year. It is still not known by whom or how they were built. The mystery of the pyramids of Kola Peninsula The Kola Peninsula is a peninsula located in the Murmansk area of Russia’s European portion. The Barents and White Seas flow across it. The area is…

Astronomers are hot on the search for new exoplanets — planets that lie beyond our solar system — which might show potential for sustaining life. Finding life on other planets might well be the holy grail of astronomy, but the hunt for suitable host planets that can sustain life is a resource-intensive task. The search for exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) involves competing for time on Earth’s biggest telescopes — yet the hit rate of this search can be disappointingly low. In a new study published April 13 in Science, I and my international team of colleagues have combined different search techniques…