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NASA Confirms We’ve Officially Entered a Brand New Solar Cycle

Far from the woes of planet Earth, our Sun has been having a rather quiet year. A close look at its activity confirms what solar enthusiasts have been suspecting for a while – our closest star has entered a new cycle. Ever since we started to track the Sun's dark blemishes in earnest, humans have noticed a pattern of quiescence and temper that repeats roughly every 11 years. There have bee

Astronomers Detect a Huge Gas Giant Orbiting a Much Smaller Dead Star

Astronomers have discovered a planet the size of Jupiter closely orbiting the smouldering remains of a dead star, the first time that an intact exoplanet has been discovered travelling around a white dwarf, according to research published Wednesday. Researchers said the fate of this giant planet, called WD 1586 b, offers a potential vision of our own Solar System when the Sun eventually ages in

We Now Know How Dying Stars Carve Out Mesmerising Mandalas of Stardust

The last gasps of dying stars are some of the most beautiful objects in the galaxy. They're called planetary nebulae, clouds of stellar material ejected out into space as a red giant star enters the last stage of its life. The dying star shucks off its outer layers, which are illuminated from within by the hot, exposed core. These clouds are complex, and gorgeous, with mandala-like waves, st

15 Of The Most Breathtaking Astronomy Photographs Of The Year 2020 Have Just Been Revealed

Is there anything more breathtaking and surreal than outer space? Often, I feel like there absolutely isn't. Maybe it's because of all the celestial masterpieces stars, galaxies, and planets paint, effortlessly sweeping us off our feet? Or maybe we feel this way about space because it's something we can't touch, tame, or change? Or perhaps, it's because of that nostalgic feeling you get when it's

Majestic and haunting red jellyfish lightning over Texas captured in brilliant photos

These haunting spurts of lightning have been dubbed “sprites.” Scientists have been documenting rare phenomenon in recent years: streaks of red lightning that resemble the tentacles of a glowing crimson jellyfish hanging high from the sky. These haunting spurts of lightning have been dubbed “sprites,” and are the product of super-fast electrical bursts that occur high

Things Are Really Weird in The Outer Solar System, And We May Have Figured Out Why

Most of the Solar System is pretty well behaved, but in the distant reaches, out past the orbit of Neptune and far from the light of the Sun, things can get a little… strange. There are a bunch of rocks orbiting the Sun in patterns totally different from the objects found closer in. Because of this apparent detachment from the rest of the Solar System, these dark, icy bodies are known as "d

UN Reveals Just How Much Hotter We Can Expect The Next 5 Years to Get

The annual mean global temperature is likely to be at least 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels in each of the next five years, the World Meteorological Organization said Thursday. The WMO said there was a 20 percent chance that it will exceed 1.5 C above 1850 to 1900 average levels in at least one year, according to its annual climate predictions for the coming five years. The la

Interstellar Travel Could Make Human Language Evolve Beyond Recognition, Study Says

It's a captivating idea: build an interstellar ark, fill it with people, flora, and fauna of every kind, and set your course for a distant star! The concept is not only science fiction gold, its been the subject of many scientific studies and proposals. By building a ship that can accommodate multiple generations of human beings (aka. a Generation Ship), humans could colonize the known Univer

The Most Powerful Gamma Ray Burst Just Corroborated General Relativity Once Again

Last year, scientists detected the most energetic gamma ray burst we've ever seen. A distant galaxy spat out a colossal flare in the range of a trillion electron volts (TeV), providing invaluable new insight into the physics of these incredibly energetic events. That was pretty amazing on its own - but now astrophysicists have used the burst to perform a new, precise test of the theory of gener

Neptune’s Moons Are Caught in One of The Strangest Orbits Ever Seen

Life isn't always easy for astrophysicists: just when they've figured out another aspect of the patterns of movement in our Solar System, along come two of the moons of Neptune to mess everything up. The two moons in question are Naiad and Thalassa, both around 100 kilometres or 62 miles wide, which race around their planet in what NASA researchers are calling a "dance of avoidance". Their