Universe Today

Universe Today (UT) is a website dedicated to space and astronomy news, established by Fraser Cain in 1999. The site features timely news updates and original articles, along with a comprehensive Guide to Space that covers various topics related to space and astronomy, addressing numerous questions. You can find summarized news on Universe Today through RSS feeds, email subscriptions, and syndication, all available on the homepage. Readers are invited to engage in discussions about the news in the comment section and on the BAUT (Bad Astronomy Universe Today) Forum.

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Using Shape Memory Alloys To Navigate Underground Spaces

1 day ago | universetoday.com | Andy Tomaswick

By Andy Tomaswick Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) is becoming increasingly common in space exploration applications. It has primarily been used in deployable structures, such as antenna booms or solar sail deployment. However, it also has a use case nearer the ground of whatever planet, moon, or asteroid it finds itself near.
A CubeSat to Capture a Supernova's UV Spectrum

2 days ago | universetoday.com | Andy Tomaswick

Technology Readiness Levels (or TRL levels, because repeating the last word of initialisms is common in English) is a metric commonly used by NASA to define how developed a technology for use on a mission is. These typically range from 1-9, with 1 being an idea in someone's head, and 9 having been successfully flown on a mission.
Tracking Down

2 days ago | universetoday.com | Andy Tomaswick

Tracking the sources of photons is a hobby of many astrophysicists. Some types of photons are tied so closely to particular phenomena that tracking their sources would help answer some larger questions in astrophysics itself. Photons on the "511 keV line" are one such type of photon, and they have been overrepresented near the galactic core, with no known source being prolific enough to create them.
How To Aerobrake a Mission To Uranus On the Cheap

3 days ago | universetoday.com | Andy Tomaswick

Getting a probe to the Icy Giant planets takes some time - a journey to Uranus could take as long as 13 years, even with a gravity assist from Jupiter. However, several ideas are in the works to speed up that process, especially given the increased interest in sending a probe their way. One of those ideas is to use an aerocapture system to slow a probe down once it reaches its intended target.
A Relative of DNA Can Handle the Venus High Atmosphere

3 days ago | universetoday.com | Evan Gough

Could some type of life find refuge in Venus' clouds? The detection of phosphine and potentially ammonia in the planet's atmosphere is posing that question. If life could survive there, would it be like Earth life? Or would it have a different molecular basis? The surface of Venus is one of the most hostile and unforgiving places in the Solar System. The intense heat and atmospheric pressure mean no organism could survive there.
The Fastest Spinning Asteroids are Most Likely to Have Moons

3 days ago | universetoday.com | Matt Williams

Binary asteroid systems, in which a large asteroid is orbited by a smaller satellite, are a growing field of interest. In recent years, this has included the asteroid Didymos, a 765-meter-diameter (2,510 ft) Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) with an orbiting companion (Dimorphos). This moonlet was targeted by the Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART), a kinetic impactor designed to test a promising technique for planetary defense.
Not Saying it's Aliens: SETI Survey Reveals Unexplained Pulses From Distant Star

3 days ago | universetoday.com | Matt Williams

More than sixty years ago, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) officially began with Project Ozma at the Greenbank Observatory in West Bank, Virginia. Led by famed astronomer Frank Drake (who coined the Drake Equation), this survey used the observatory's 25-meter (82-foot) dish to monitor Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti - two nearby Sun-like stars - between April and July of 1960.
Our View of the Early Universe Is Obscured By Galaxy Formation

3 days ago | universetoday.com | Evan Gough

The Cosmic Microwave Background is one of the bedrock pieces of evidence for the Big Bang. It's described as the cosmic afterglow from the Universe's birth. However, new research calls into question our understanding of the CMB and what it tells us about the evolution of the Universe. About 380,000 years after the Big Bang, the Universe had expanded and cooled enough that protons and electrons could combine to form hydrogen atoms. This made the Universe transparent, and photons could move freely.
Perseverance Happened to Land Right Beside a Composite Volcano

4 days ago | universetoday.com | Matt Williams

On February 18th, 2021, NASA's Perseverancerover landed in Jezero crater on Mars. This feature was selected because liquid water may have once flowed into it, as indicated by the delta feature at its western edge. Since landing, Perseverance has been exploring the region's geology and past habitability, including the samples it collected for eventual return to Earth. Analyzing these samples will provide new clues about Mars' warm and watery past and address whether life once existed there.
Tracing the Moon's Geological History with LUGO

5 days ago | universetoday.com | Andy Tomaswick

Some parts of the Moon are more interesting than others, especially when searching for future places for humans to land and work. There are also some parts of the Moon that we know less about than others, such as the Irregular Mare Patches (IMPs) that dot the landscape. We know very little about how they were formed, and what that might mean for the history of the Moon itself.