Lifeboat Foundation

For billions of years, the Milky Way’s largest satellite galaxies—the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds—have followed a perilous journey. Orbiting one another as they are pulled in toward our home galaxy, they have begun to unravel, leaving behind trails of gaseous debris. And yet—to the puzzlement of astronomers—these dwarf galaxies remain intact, with ongoing vigorous star formation.

“A lot of people were struggling to explain how these streams of material could be there,” said Dhanesh Krishnarao, assistant professor at Colorado College. “If this gas was removed from these galaxies, how are they still forming stars?”

With the help of data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and a retired satellite called the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE), a team of astronomers led by Krishnarao has finally found the answer: the Magellanic system is surrounded by a corona, a protective shield of hot supercharged gas. This cocoons the two galaxies, preventing their gas supplies from being siphoned off by the Milky Way, and therefore allowing them to continue forming new stars.

Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument reveals a network of scaffolding behind galaxy IC 5332’s iconic spiral structure.

DART demonstrated using a kinetic impactor to crash into a small asteroid and alter its orbital path.

This is NASA’s first major step to keeping us safe from killer asteroids.

A new theory disputes a widely accepted claim about the existence of life on other planets.

The equivalence of life on Earth may hold the key to determining life existence on other planets according to a recent study published by Cambridge University Press.

Scientists have often questioned if the existence of life on Earth can tell us about abiogenesis, or the origin of life from inorganic substances, on other planets. Therefore the new insights may provide a fresh boost of understanding in the field.

Continue reading “Life on Earth can help determine if there is life on other planets” »

The country’s space agency aims to send humans to the red planet before NASA.

Back in May 2020, China landed its first rover, called Mars Zhurong, on the red planet. The Zhurong mission is expected to explore the planet for a total of roughly 90 sols (92 Earth days). During that time, it will use equipment, including a magnetic field detector, cameras, spectrometers, and a weather station to collect valuable data for scientists on Earth.

Now, as per a press statement, a new radar image from the Zhurong Mars rover sheds new light on the surface structures of the Utopia Planitia basin, the largest recognized impact basin on Mars with an estimated diameter of 2,050 miles (3,300 km). China National Space Administration.

Mars isn’t going anywhere.

Seeing as Venus has a hellish surface temperature, hot enough to melt lead, you wouldn’t think scientists would be clamoring to send humans to the fiery planet. Then there’s the crushing atmospheric pressure.

Continue reading “Scientists say we should prioritize a human mission to Venus before Mars” »

In the world’s first planetary defense technology demonstration, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) made history as it successfully slammed into an asteroid target on Monday. The first ‘attempt’ to move an asteroid in space, the probe tested a way to protect our planet from future hazards and potential impacts.

Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The Hayabusa 2 spacecraft dropped a capsule containing the samples — materials dating back to the beginnings of our solar system — into Earth’s atmosphere before continuing its journey to another asteroid.