NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission, OSIRIS-REx, launched seven years ago in 2016 to near-Earth asteroid Bennu has delivered the asteroid sample that it collected in 2020 to Earth on 24th September 2023. After releasing the asteroid sample into...
Between 1958 and 1978, USA and former USSR sent 59 and 58 moon missions respectively. The lunar race between the two ceased in 1978. End of cold war and collapse of former Soviet Union and subsequent emergence of new...
India’s lunar lander Vikram (with rover Pragyan) of Chandrayaan-3 mission has safely soft landed at high latitude lunar surface on south pole along with respective payloads. This is first lunar mission to land on high latitude lunar south pole...
NASA’s mission update on 05th August 2023 said Voyager 2 communications has paused. Communications should resume once the spacecraft’s antenna is realigned with Earth in mid-October 2023.
On 4th August 2023, NASA had reestablished full communications with Voyager 2...
Chandrayaan-3 moon mission will demonstrate ''soft lunar landing'' capability of ISRO. This mission will also demonstrate lunar roving and conduct in-situ scientific experiments. The mission is a steppingstone towards ISRO’s future interplanetary missions.
India’s space agency ISRO has successfully launched...
The first detection of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside the solar system, the first image of an exoplanet by JWST, the first image of an exoplanet ever taken at deep infrared wavelength, the first detection of...
Half a century after iconic Apollo Missions which allowed twelve men to walk on the Moon between 1968 and 1972, NASA is set to embark on ambitious Artemis Moon Mission designed not only to create long term human presence on...
One of the most beautiful things about mother Earth is presence of an atmosphere. Life on Earth would not have been possible without the lively sheet of air that completely embraces Earth from all around. In the early phase...
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the space observatory designed to conduct infrared astronomy and launched successfully on 25 December 2021 will enable two research teams to study earliest galaxies in the universe. The research teams will use JWST’s powerful...
In recently published papers, researchers have estimated the rate of supernova core collapse in the Milky Way to be 1.63 ± 0.46 events per century. Therefore, given the last supernova event, SN 1987A was observed 35 years ago in...
In order to explore the dark energy, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) at Berkeley Lab has created largest and most detailed ever 3D map of the Universe by obtaining optical spectra from millions of galaxies and quasars. The...
The researchers have studied the turbulence in Sun’s corona using radio signals sent to Earth by the ultra-low-cost Mars orbiter when the Earth and Mars were in conjunction on the opposite sides of the Sun (the conjunction usually happens...
''....astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one...
Of the several comets discovered in 2021, the comet C/2021 A1, called Comet Leonard after it’s discoverer Gregory Leonard, may become visible to the naked eye on 12 December 2021 when it comes closest to the Earth (at the distance of...
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will specialise exclusively in infrared astronomy to study early universe. It will search for optical/infrared signals from the early stars and galaxies formed in the Universe soon after the Big Bang for a better...
A nebula is a star-forming, massive region of interstellar cloud of dust in the galaxy. Looking like a monster, this is image of a massive nebula in our home galaxy Milky Way.
The image was captured by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.
These types of regions cannot...
Discovery of the first exoplanet candidate in X-ray binary M51-ULS-1 in the spiral galaxy Messier 51 (M51), also called the Whirlpool Galaxy using transit technique by observing dips in brightness at X-ray wavelengths (instead of optical wavelengths) is pathbreaking and a game changer because it...
Launched on 30th July 2020, Perseverance rover has successfully landed on the Mars surface at Jezero Crater on 18th February 2021, after travelling almost seven months from Earth. Designed specially to collect sample of rocks, Perseverance is the biggest and the best rover ever...
Solar wind, the stream of electrically charged particles emanating from the outer atmospheric layer corona of Sun, poses threat to life form and electrical technology based modern human society. Earth’s magnetic field provide protection against the incoming solar wind...
A recent study has revealed that all the seven exoplanets in the stellar system of TRAPPIST-1 have similar densities and Earth-like composition.This is significant because it builds the knowledge-base for a model of understanding of Earth-like exoplanets outside of solar...
The researchers from the Sloan Digital Sky survey have reported most detailed look at the warp of our home galaxy
Usually, one think of spiral galaxies as a flat disc rotating around its centre but about 60-70% of the spiral galaxies including...
NASA recently released the spectacular bright image of the firework galaxy NGC 6946 taken earlier by Hubble space telescope (1)
A galaxy is a system of stars, remnants of stars, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter that are bound together...
The findings of the BioRock experiment indicate that bacterial supported mining can be carried out in the space. Following the success of BioRock study, the BioAsteroid experiment is currently underway now. In this study, bacteria and fungi are being grown on asteroidal material in an incubator under...
Astronomers usually get to hear from the far-off galaxies through high energy radiations like X-rays. It is extremely uncommon to receive relatively lower energy UV radiation from ancient galaxies like AUDs01. Such low energy photons usually get absorbed on...
NASA’s ambitious mars mission Mars 2020 was successfully launched on 30 July 2020. Perseverance is the name of the rover.
The main task of Perseverance is to seek signs of ancient life and collect rock and soil samples for possible return to Earth.
Mars is cold, dry...
