Studies of the cardiovascular and muscular systems under altered gravity conditions
Even intense physical activity by astronauts cannot compensate for the muscle atrophy caused by microgravity. This atrophy occurs, in part, due to the mechanism regulating calcium absorption. Recent studies have shown that spaceflight alters calcium absorption by muscles. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these changes are poorly understood.
Microbes as part of biodiversity in space flights
Astronauts arriving and returning from space stations carry trillions of microscopic organisms with them. For example, new species of space-adapted bacteria have been discovered on China’s Tiangong space station. Recently, 26 previously unknown species of bacteria were discovered in NASA’s cleanrooms—some of the most sterile environments ever created by humanity. Another study shows that, under stress, strains isolated from the ISS mutated and became genetically and functionally distinct from their terrestrial counterparts.
Dark matter and the cosmic web connect galaxies like city superhighways
Giant filaments crisscross the universe, connecting galaxy clusters like superhighways between cities. Their shape and structure contain vital information about the universe’s contents and history. However, their complex shape makes them extremely difficult to measure. Now, researchers have presented a new method for measuring the mass of these filaments, which could be used to unlock the secrets of dark matter and dark energy.
The composition and structure of dark matter: theories and mysteries
According to the research team, their results also allow them to more accurately determine what proportion of the energy and matter in the Universe is dark energy. They reached their conclusions after analyzing observations of galaxy clusters made by the eROSITA X-ray telescope, which scans the entire sky above Earth in search of detectable galaxy clusters. eROSITA is mounted on Spektr-RG, a Russian-German space telescope launched into Earth orbit in 2019.
Two Theories About the Relationship Between Dark Matter and Black Holes
Tiny black holes that formed seconds after the birth of the universe may be around longer than expected, leading researchers to believe that primordial black holes could be the source of dark matter, the most mysterious substance in the universe.
Dark matter in galaxies may be weakened or absent altogether
The standard view of cosmic evolution may be challenged by the discovery of a huge galaxy that appears to lack dark matter. Dark matter, which makes up about 85% of the matter in the universe, is missing from NGC 1277, a galaxy in the Perseus galaxy cluster. The galaxy, located 240 million light-years from Earth, is the first Milky Way-sized cluster of stars, planets, dust, and gas to be found to lack dark matter.
Evolution of dark matter and the rotation of the Universe
The standard model of cosmology – our leading theory of cosmic evolution – suggests that dark energy is constant throughout the universe and over time, making it a fundamental property of space. If it were constant, the mysterious dark energy, which makes up as much as 70 percent of the universe, would push away all stars and galaxies. However, the most comprehensive survey of the universe’s cosmic history suggests that dark energy, also known as the hypothetical “antigravity” force, may evolve over time rather than remain constant, pointing to a less lonely future for the universe’s inhabitants.
The concept of “Einstein ring” and its connection with dark matte
An Einstein ring is an extremely rare type of gravitationally lensed object, first predicted by Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. Gravitational lensing occurs when the immense gravity of a massive foreground object, such as a galaxy cluster or a black hole, bends spacetime around it; light emitted by more distant objects, such as galaxies or supernovae, passing through this curved spacetime also appears curved from our perspective on Earth.
Basic principles of the design and operation of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the largest and most powerful space telescope in existence. NASA’s infrared space observatory was launched on December 25, 2021, from ESA’s Kourou Spaceport in French Guiana at 7:20 a.m. ET (12:20 p.m. GMT; 9:20 a.m. local time in Kourou) aboard an Arianespace Ariane 5 launch vehicle. The $10 billion James Webb Telescope will explore the cosmos to uncover the history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the formation of exoplanets and beyond.
Interaction of stars, galaxies and dark matter
The extreme conditions found in neutron stars make them ideal laboratories for studying physics in conditions found nowhere else in the universe. Scientists also suspect that some dead stars made of the densest material in the known universe, called neutron stars, may act as traps for dark matter particles, which collide at high speeds and annihilate each other. New research suggests that brown dwarfs, also known as failed stars, may act as gravitational traps for dark matter, forcing this exotic material to interact with each other.
Jupiter’s Moon Europa: Water, Ice, Salt, and Sulfur. Latest Research
Europa is one of the most interesting moons in the solar system, it is one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, along with Io, Ganymede, and Callisto. Astronomer Galileo Galilei is credited with discovering these moons, some of the largest in the solar system. Europa is the smallest of the four, but one of the most interesting. Europa’s surface is covered in ice, but scientists believe that there is an ocean underneath. The icy surface also makes it one of the most reflective moons in the solar system.
How Juno Explores Jupiter and Its Moons
New data from the agency’s Jupiter orbiter shed light on the fierce winds and cyclones of the gas giant’s northern reaches, as well as volcanic activity on its fiery moon. NASA’s Juno mission has obtained new data by peering beneath Jupiter’s cloudy atmosphere and onto the surface of its fiery moon Io. The data not only helped develop a new model to better understand the fast-moving jet stream that sweeps across Jupiter’s cyclone-strewn north pole, but also revealed for the first time the temperature profile beneath Io’s surface, providing insight into the moon’s interior and volcanic activity.
What has been learned about Jupiter in recent years? Latest information and photos from probes
Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System and the fifth planet from the Sun. This gas giant has beautiful banded clouds, thin dust rings, the famous Great Red Spot, and dozens of moons. Jupiter is also the oldest planet in the Solar System, having formed 4.6 billion years ago. Its distance from the Sun is an average of 484 million miles (779 million km). Jupiter is 86,900 miles (139,900 km) wide, or 11 times wider than Earth. A year on Jupiter lasts 11.86 Earth years. Jupiter has the shortest day in the Solar System, lasting only 10 hours. Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the Earth’s sky after the Sun, the Moon, and Venus. There are enough planets the size of Earth to fit inside Jupiter.
Jupiter’s Moon Io. Timeline of Exploration
Io, Jupiter’s fifth moon, is the most volcanically active body in the solar system. Io’s surface is dotted with hundreds of volcanoes, some of which spew sulfur plumes hundreds of kilometers into the air.
Jupiter Mission: Present and Distant Past
Since the first flyby of Jupiter in December 1973, when NASA’s Pioneer 10 spacecraft flew past the gas giant, Jupiter has been the subject of numerous flybys and close encounters by pioneering Earth probes. Pioneer 11 made its closest approach a year after Pioneer 10 in December 1974, and Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flew past Jupiter in 1979.
A quick overview of all of Jupiter’s moons
Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, boasts 95 moons, making it the second most populated planet by moon count (Saturn has the most). A huge gas giant, Jupiter is orbited by numerous moons; the four largest of these are known as the Galilean moons, discovered by Galileo Galilei using a telescope in 1610. The four moons – Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto – are arranged in order of their distance from Jupiter. These moons proved that not all celestial bodies orbit the Earth, an important discovery because astronomers had previously believed that the Earth was the center of the universe.
The Juno spacecraft has discovered salts, organic compounds and water vapor on the surface and in the atmosphere of Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has discovered salts and organic compounds on the surface of Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon. The discovery was made during a June 2021 flyby, during which Juno studied Ganymede with its Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument, an instrument designed to study the chemistry and interactions in the atmospheres of Jupiter and its moons. Ganymede, one of these moons, is the largest moon in the solar system — at 5,268 kilometers (3,200 miles) wide, larger than the planet Mercury — and has a vast ocean beneath its icy crust.
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot: What is Known About It Today
The Great Red Spot is an anticyclone, a long-term area of high pressure on Jupiter that creates persistent storms. Located in Jupiter’s southern hemisphere, this storm is the largest in our solar system and appears as a giant red spot on Jupiter’s surface. It has been around for 150 years, and may have been around longer, according to NASA.
Jupiter May Have Helped Form Earth’s Moon
The so-called “great instability” event that wreaked havoc among the planets and sent the gas giants hurtling through space until they settled into their familiar orbits appears to have occurred between 60 and 100 million years after the birth of the solar system, according to a thorough scientific investigation that has linked the meteorite to an asteroid once ejected by these destructive planets.
Basic principles of the Europa Clipper spacecraft, which studies the astrobiological potential of habitable worlds
Europa Clipper is NASA’s first spacecraft designed to explore an ocean world beyond Earth. Its goal is to find out if the ice-covered moon Europa is habitable. With its antennas and solar panels fully deployed, Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft ever designed by NASA for a planetary mission. Europa Clipper’s flyby of Mars prepares it for its second gravity assist, a close encounter with Earth in December 2026.
Roscosmos and China National Space Administration Sign Memorandum on Building Power Station on the Moon
Roscosmos and the China National Space Administration have signed a memorandum on the construction of a power station for the International Scientific Station on the Moon. “Roscosmos and the China National Space Administration have signed a memorandum of cooperation on the creation of a lunar power station,” Roscosmos said in a statement. It is noted that the memorandum is included in the list of documents signed following the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chairman of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping on May 8, 2025.
Scientists Discover Giant Hidden Gas Cloud Eos Just 300 Light Years From Earth
Eos is located at the edge of the Local Bubble, an irregularly shaped region of hot, rarefied gas within the Orion Arm that envelops the solar system. Scientists estimate that the cloud is enormous in size when projected onto the sky — about 40 moons — and has a mass about 3,400 times that of the Sun. Models suggest that Eos will evaporate in about 6 million years.
Planet-Forming Molecules Discovered in Most Extreme Environments
An international team of astronomers has used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to make the first observation of water and other molecules in the inner disk regions that form rocky planets, in one of the most extreme environments in our galaxy.
The Moon’s gravity caused periods of rapid development of life on Earth
Researchers have found that Earth’s days once became longer by more than two hours because the moon shifted thousands of miles in its orbit over two periods. The extra hours of sunlight, in turn, may have led to oxygenation, which marked a period of rapid development of life on Earth, the researchers say.
Mars’ gravitational pull may influence Earth’s climate
Every 2.4 million years, Mars tugs on Earth so hard that it reshapes the ocean floor. New geological research suggests that Mars’ gravity pulls Earth closer to the sun in cycles lasting millions of years, warming our climate.
In 2029, complications with the asteroid Apophis are likely during its passage near Earth
Collisions between Apophis, the “God of Destruction”, and other bodies could increase the chances of it hitting Earth. A study has found that the “God of Chaos” asteroid could be transformed by tremors and landslides during its flyby of Earth in 2029. ESA has awarded OHB Italia SpA a €63 million contract to begin preparatory work on the agency’s proposed Ramses mission to the infamous asteroid Apophis.
Phaethon is an asteroid that thinks it’s a comet
What is the difference between an asteroid and a comet? A comet is essentially a dirty ball of ice, made up of rock and ice. The classic image is of a bright “star” in the night sky with a long, curving tail stretching into space as it approaches the sun and begins to release gases and dust. This usually continues until there is nothing left but rock, or until the comet disintegrates into dust.
The Oort Cloud consists of comets with million-year orbits and surrounds the solar system
The spherical shell known as the Oort Cloud is virtually invisible. Its particles are spread so thinly and so far from the light of any star, including the Sun, that astronomers simply cannot see the cloud, even though it envelops us like a blanket. It may be hard for the human mind to comprehend: a cosmic cloud so colossal that it encircles the Sun and eight planets, stretching trillions of miles into deep space.
And asteroids have their own satellites
The European Space Agency’s Gaia star-gazing mission has once again proven its ability to explore asteroids, discovering potential moons around more than 350 asteroids that are not known to have moons.
Analysis of a sample of asteroid Bennu reveals dust rich in carbon, nitrogen and organic compounds needed for life
Early analysis of a sample of the asteroid Bennu returned by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission has revealed dust rich in carbon, nitrogen and organic compounds, all of which are essential components for life as we know it. The sample, dominated by clay minerals, particularly serpentine, reflects the type of rock found at mid-ocean ridges on Earth.
The Erigone family of asteroids are water-rich space rocks that offer a window into the solar system’s past
A family of primitive asteroids is giving astronomers a window into the past as they seek to unravel the history of these small space rocks that are believed to have once brought water to Earth.
Asteroids still pose a danger to our planet. Earth scientists are actively working on this problem
NASA’s new NEO Surveyor spacecraft will search for the hardest-to-find asteroids and comets that could pose a threat to our planet, making it the agency’s first space telescope designed specifically for planetary defense. The impact craters that scar the Earth’s surface are evidence of the enormous impact asteroids have had on the history and development of our planet.
Hera mission to visit previously shot down asteroid Dimorphos to assess impact of its DART collision
Dimorphos is a moon of the near-Earth asteroid Didymos. This binary asteroid system was previously visited by NASA’s DART spacecraft, which deliberately collided with Dimorphos in 2022 and changed its orbit around Didymos as a demonstration of a planetary defense technique designed to change the trajectory of a potentially hazardous asteroid.
Earth temporarily has a new ‘mini-Moon’
On Sunday, September 29, Earth captured a new “mini-moon” called 2024 PT5. The bus-sized asteroid is expected to orbit our planet for 57 days, but it’s too small to be seen by amateur skywatchers. This isn’t the first time such a phenomenon has occurred. In 2020, astronomers identified another mini-moon, 2020 CD3, which orbited Earth for more than a year.
The Draconid meteor shower will be visible tonight
The Draconids meteor shower will reach its peak activity today, on the night of Wednesday, October 9. The number of “shooting stars” at this time can reach 15 per hour. The peak of the meteor shower is expected at approximately 16:00 Moscow time, but shooting stars can also be observed after dusk, the Moscow Planetarium reported.
Video reports from other planets and systems? Our Sun can provide such an opportunity
Plans to use a solar lens date back to the 1970s. More recently, astronomers have proposed developing a fleet of small, lightweight CubeSats that would deploy solar sails to accelerate them to 542 AU. Once there, they would slow down and coordinate their maneuvers, creating an image and sending data back to Earth for processing.
The mystery of solar winds is almost solved
Since the 1960s, astronomers have wondered how the Sun’s supersonic “solar wind,” a stream of energetic particles that flows into the solar system, continues to gain energy after it leaves the Sun. In addition to helping scientists better predict solar activity and space weather, such information also helps us understand the mysteries of the universe elsewhere and how stars like the Sun and stellar winds elsewhere operate.
Solar flares and magnetic storms pose a real danger
About once every thousand years, Earth experiences an extreme solar event that can cause severe damage to the ozone layer and increase ultraviolet (UV) radiation levels at the surface. Over the past century, the north magnetic pole has moved across northern Canada at about 40 kilometers per year, and the field has weakened by more than 6%. Geological records show that there have been periods of centuries or millennia when the geomagnetic field was very weak or even absent.
Solar flares continue to break records
NOAA Is Rewriting the Book on How to Rank Solar Storms: The Capabilities, the Science, and Our Understanding of the Science — A lot has changed in space weather in the last 25 years. Technology has improved, and scientists have learned more about extreme space weather events from historic geomagnetic storms like the Halloween solar storm of October 2003 and the Gannon Event of May 2024. Looking to the future, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) are now looking for ways to better inform the public about space weather events that can impact Earth. That’s why NOAA is asking the public for input on how to rewrite its space weather scales.
Abnormally restless Sun: the number of solar flares has increased several times
The Sun triggers an X-class solar flare, sending coronal mass ejections toward Earth. Active sunspot AR3777 in early August 2024 triggered the most powerful of three solar flares in that period, sending another coronal mass ejection toward Earth with a possible geomagnetic storm. CMEs are powerful explosions of magnetic fields and plasma that result from solar flares on the Sun that can lead to powerful geomagnetic storms on Earth.
Rogue planets captured by the Sun are able to make their way into the solar system
The Sun scoops up rogue planets as they fly by. The Sun is capable of capturing both small planets and Jupiter-sized gas giants that stray too close; our star then keeps them at the edge of the solar system.
The Corona Paradox of the Sun
Scientists have long wondered why the hot charged particles in our sun’s atmosphere get hotter as they move away from the sun’s surface. A new study may provide an answer, finding that the super-hot nature of the sun’s outer atmosphere, or “corona,” may be linked to the intriguing behavior of small-scale waves in this hazy plasma. These waves, known to scientists as “kinetic Alfvén waves,” or “KAWs,” are wave-like oscillations of magnetic fields that manifest themselves in motions in the sun’s photosphere.
The Heliosphere – a new object for study
Scientists call the region of space that the Sun influences the heliosphere, but without an interstellar probe, they know little about its shape. The heliosphere, the region of space that the Sun influences, is more than a hundred times the distance from the Sun to Earth.
Mars’ Surface Turns Out to Be Younger Than Expected, Planet Still Seismically Active
The results suggest that the Red Planet experiences between 180 and 260 meteorite impacts per year, and these objects can be as small as basketballs, leaving craters eight meters (26 feet) across in the ground. Overall, the impact rate is two to ten times higher than predicted, depending on the size of the impactor.
Mars rover Perseverance finds interesting rock that may have harbored microbial life billions of years ago
Analysis by instruments on board the rover shows that the rock has qualities that meet the definition of a possible indicator of ancient life. The rock contains chemical signatures and structures that could have been formed by life billions of years ago, when there was flowing water in the area the rover was exploring. The science team is considering other explanations for the observed features, and further research will be needed to determine whether ancient life is a valid explanation.
Scientists are preparing to populate and terraform Mars
We could terraform Mars with desert moss. Among its recent discoveries, the rover found rocks made of pure sulfur. From October 2023, the rover will explore a region of Mars rich in sulfates, a type of salt containing sulfur and formed when water evaporates. NASA finds ice on Mars with new map. NASA selects commercial service research to support robotic science on Mars. owe Industries is currently developing a propulsion system that can generate up to 100,000 N of thrust with a specific impulse (Isp) of 5,000 seconds, the high efficiency of the system allows for manned missions to Mars to be completed in just two months.
A whole field of sulfur rocks, the latest discoveries on Mars and amazing photos
As the rover ascends, it moves along the Martian timeline, allowing scientists to study how Mars evolved from a planet that was more like Earth in the distant past, with a warmer climate and abundant water, to the icy desert it is today. The amount of frost on Mars’ equatorial volcanoes represents about 150,000 tons of water exchanged between the surface and the atmosphere every day during the cold season, equivalent to about 60 Olympic swimming pools. NASA’s Curiosity rover has discovered crystals of pure sulfur on Mars.
Martian Phobos and Deimos Hide the Secret of Their Origin
For years, researchers have puzzled over the origins of Phobos and its twin, Deimos. Some have suggested that the moons are former asteroids attracted by Mars’ gravity, as their chemical composition is similar to that of some rocks in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. However, computer models simulating this capture process have failed to reproduce the pair’s nearly circular paths around Mars. Another hypothesis suggests that a giant impact, similar to the one that created our Moon, ejected the duo from the Red Planet; however, Phobos has a different chemical composition than Mars, making this scenario unlikely.
The mechanism by which black holes glow remains an unsolved mystery for scientists
A team of astronomers studied 16 supermassive black holes that shoot powerful beams into space to track where the beams, or jets, are pointing now and where they were pointing in the past. Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Large Baseline Array (VLBA) at the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), they found that some of the beams had changed direction by a large amount.
James Webb Telescope Reveals Supermassive Black Holes of the Early Universe
Peering deep into space and time, two teams using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have studied an exceptionally bright galaxy called GN-z11, which existed when our 13.8-billion-year-old universe was only about 430 million years old. Also studying JWST data, a team of astronomers led by Lukas Furtak and Adi Zitrin of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev were also able to determine the mass of the supermassive black hole. At about 40 million times the mass of the Sun, it is surprisingly massive compared to the galaxy it hosts.