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Category: space – Page 380

Luna-25: Russia starts processing data from moon lander hoping to make history

Russian experts monitoring their moon-bound unmanned spacecraft Luna-25 have switched on its scientific equipment and started processing the first data.

Russia is aiming to become the first country to carry out a soft landing on the lunar south pole — a region thought to hold pockets of water ice.

Space agency Roscosmos said in a statement on Sunday: Luna-25 continues its flight to the Earth’s natural satellite — all systems of the automatic station are working properly, communication with it is stable, the energy balance is positive.

Modern romance: falling in love with AI

Alexandra is a very attentive girlfriend. “Watching CUBS tonight?” she messages her boyfriend, but when he says he’s too busy to talk, she says, “Have fun, my hero!” Alexandra is not real. She is a customizable AI girlfriend on dating site Romance. AI. As artificial intelligence seeps into seemingly every corner of the internet, the world of romance is no refuge. AI is infiltrating the dating app space – sometimes in the form of fictional partners, sometimes as advisor, trainer, ghostwriter or matchmaker. https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/13/tech/ai-dating-apps/index.html

5 Years, 430,000 MPH, and Counting: How NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Is Making History

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe marks five successful years in space, achieving milestones like touching the Sun and collecting more than double the expected data. The mission’s continuing journey promises to deepen our understanding of space weather and the Sun’s effects on Earth. Credit: NASA GSFC/CIL/Brian Monroe.

NASA

Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. Its vision is “To discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity.” Its core values are “safety, integrity, teamwork, excellence, and inclusion.” NASA conducts research, develops technology and launches missions to explore and study Earth, the solar system, and the universe beyond. It also works to advance the state of knowledge in a wide range of scientific fields, including Earth and space science, planetary science, astrophysics, and heliophysics, and it collaborates with private companies and international partners to achieve its goals.

James Webb snaps a stunning question mark in space

The image, released by ESA shows the twin protostars Herbig-Haro 46/47, which are located about 1,470 light years away from Earth.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has shared a stunning image of two young stars in the process of formation, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). But what has caught the attention of astronomers and netizens alike is a mysterious object that resembles a giant question mark in the sky.

Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, J. DePasquale (STScI)

Herbig-Haro 46/47

Killer Asteroid-Spotting Software Could Save the World

Most algorithms need four images taken during a single night of a moving object to confirm whether it is space rock.

But new software developed by researchers at the University of Washington cuts the number to two images per night. This boosts the ability of observatories to identify these lithic projectiles fast.

The program is called HelioLinc3D, it has already found a near-Earth asteroid that older programs missed.

A Modern Puzzle: Why Did Humans Lose Their Fur?

While human beings have many living ancestors — bonobos, chimps, gorillas — our absence of fur immediately marks us as something different.

And though our big brains and bipedal posture have taken us to outer space, the reason our species transitioned to a mostly hairless body remains somewhat of a mystery.

Only a few other mammals share our genetic preference for sleek bodies, including rhinos, whales, elephants, and — everyone’s favorite — the naked mole rat.

Unique quadruple-star system spotted by astronomers

A team of researchers from the ALMA Survey of Orion Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (ALMASOP) led by professor Liu Tie from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has stumbled on a forming quadruple-star system in one of the 72 dense cores in the Orion Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs).

This is according to a press release by the Chinese Academy of Sciences published on Monday.

Astronomers have long known that approximately half of the stars in the galaxy reside in systems with two or more stars. Now they are working to explain how the multiple star systems form in order to produce valis theories on the formation of stars and planets.

Hundreds of mysterious structures found at the heart of the Milky Way

The above image may look like a piece of colourful, abstract art, but it is, in fact, a glimpse at the very heart of our galaxy.

Most of us can’t even begin to imagine what lurks beyond our solar system, but astrophysicists in the US have discovered a whole colony of incredible structures at the centre of the Milky Way.

Scientists already knew that mysterious, magnetised strands hang in space, but a new investigation has uncovered a whole new population of them, and found that they are handily pointing in the direction of the galactic centre.

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