Month: April 2023

A “soup” of molecules in a distant star-forming cloud contains compounds that are considered the essential building blocks for life, astronomers have found. These molecules can contribute to the construction of amino-acids, which themselves form the basis of genetic material and are believed to have been essential in the development of the first microorganisms on Earth. The prebiotic molecules were found in a star cluster within the Perseus Molecular Cloud called IC348. The stars in the cluster are estimated to be very young, between 2 and 3 million years old.…

Read More

One of physicist Stephen Hawking’s most famous paradoxes may finally be solved: Black holes may in fact hang onto information about the massive stars that created them, new research indicates.  This information may lurk in the radiation around black holes — colloquially known as “quantum hair” — and could, in theory, be retrieved to retell the origins of those black holes, the research suggests.  These findings may finally resolve a thorny problem that Hawking was working on in his last years.  Related: The Theory of Everything: Searching for the universal…

Read More

Virgin Orbit filed for bankruptcy on Monday (April 3), a move that comes shortly after the satellite launch company failed to secure two financing deals and furloughed most of its staff. The California-based company has started the process for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which is commonly known as “reorganization bankruptcy” and allows the company to continue basic operations while it looks for a buyer. Virgin Investments Limited, which is also part of billionaire Richard Branson‘s Virgin Group and owns 75% of Virgin Orbit, will provide $31.6 million in support to…

Read More

A bright red streak of light appeared in the sky above parts of Scandinavia last week after a surprise solar storm smashed into Earth and triggered stunning auroras across the planet. But the bright red band was not an aurora — it was something much rarer.  The streak, which appeared as a river of hazy red light that stretched all the way across the night sky, was most prominently visible above Denmark. Astrophotographer Ruslan Merzlyakov (opens in new tab) snapped a spectacular shot (opens in new tab) of the peculiar…

Read More

SpaceX’s giant Starship Mars rocket could attempt to go orbital for the first time as soon as next week. SpaceX is developing Starship to carry people and cargo to the moon, Mars and beyond. The deep-space transportation system consists of a huge first-stage booster called Super Heavy and an upper-stage spacecraft known as Starship, both of which are designed to be fully reusable. For months now, SpaceX has been gearing up for the first-ever Starship orbital test flight, which will be carried out by the Super Heavy prototype Booster 7…

Read More