On Episode 116 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik talk with the team behind the Space and Things podcast. In the world of space podcasts, the Space and Things podcast is a keeper (along with ours, of course). The brainchild of Emily Carney, founder of the Space Hipsters on Facebook, and singer/songwriter Dave Giles, Space and Things brings us some premiere guests in the space sector. Subjects are always compelling, and as we well know, that takes work. We’ll dive into the intricacies of creating–and maintaining–a…
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Our solar system
Sweet Strawberry Moon, first full moon of summer, thrills stargazers around the world (photos)
The first full day of summer 2024 ended with the ultimate cherry on top, or, in this case, a strawberry. The Strawberry Moon of 2024, the full moon for the month of June, rose across the world just after sunset last night, delighting stargazers across the world. The Strawberry full moon gets its name from the Algonquin tribe of the northwestern United States, according to Space.com’s list of full moon designations, but has also been recognized by other names, such as the Rose moon, in Europe. This year, the Strawberry Moon…
Read MoreJames Webb Space Telescope spies never-before-seen star behavior in distant nebula (video, photo)
The James Webb Space Telescope has taken another extraordinary photo. The subject is the Serpens Nebula, which lies about 1,300 light-years from Earth. And the new JWST image showcases a very special phenomenon long theorized to exist, but never before observed. In the upper left part of the photo are several “protostellar outflows,” or jets of gas erupting out of newborn stars. While we’ve seen such outflows before, we’ve never seen them line up in the same direction as in the JWST image; NASA likens them to “sleet pouring down during…
Read MoreThe Predator lands in Wakanda in new ‘Predator vs Black Panther’ series
Now that 20th Century Studios (formerly 20th Century Fox) is under the protective umbrella of The Walt Disney Company, which is also the corporate parent of Marvel Comics, expect to see more crossovers of franchise characters making the leap from film and TV into the comic book universe. After the savage intergalactic hunter fought the adamantium-clawed X-Men last fall in “Predator vs Wolverine,” it’s time to take a ringside set to another heavyweight matchup for the ages in the footsteps of next month’s “Aliens vs. Avengers” title by Jonathan Hickman and…
Read MoreWhen a dangerous asteroid threatens Earth, humanity will have to work together, NASA says
A threatening asteroid could bring Earth’s oft-squabbling nations together, at least for a while. Dealing with a big, dangerous asteroid that appears to have our planet in its crosshairs will require a healthy dose of international cooperation, experts say — and it’s best to start thinking about that scenario now, while we have enough time to lay out a potential response framework. The United Nations (UN) has developed “procedures for responding to tsunamis and other big events,” Leviticus “L.A.” Lewis, the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) detailee to NASA’s Planetary…
Read MoreWhy smaller planets are better at building large moons
New simulations that describe how moons, including Earth‘s own moon, formed strongly imply that exomoons are more likely to be found around rocky exoplanets. Our moon is thought to have formed when a Mars-size planetesimal called Theia slammed into Earth, gouging out a huge wound in our planet and rendering its entire surface molten. It’s believed that the moon then coalesced from debris that settled into a ring around our planet. Those are the generally accepted details, but the specifics are still hotly debated. The angle and velocity with which…
Read MoreNew ‘Exodus Green Worlds’ trailer highlights hunt for habitable planets (video)
The talented folks at Archetype Entertainment, formerly the architects of “Mass Effect,” have released a new cinematic trailer for their upcoming hardcore science fiction RPG project, “Exodus,” and it reminds us all that space exploration can be a dangerous occupation rife with a multitude of perils. “Exodus Prologue Chapter 5: Green Worlds” aims to prepare intrepid sci-fi gamers for the time-dilated interstellar journey aboard a fleet of ark ships as travelers experience velocities approaching light speed. Following the mass exodus from Earth in the 23rd century, valiant explorers journey outward…
Read MoreDARPA’s military-grade ‘quantum laser’ will use entangled photons to outshine conventional laser beams
Researchers are developing a new, military-grade “quantum laser” that can cut through fog and operate across long distances. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded a $1 million grant to scientists building a prototype “quantum photonic-dimer laser” that uses quantum entanglement to “glue” light particles together and generate a highly concentrated laser beam. Lasers play a crucial role in military operations and are used in everything from satellite communications and targeting technology to mapping and tracking systems like lidar (light detection and ranging). Conventional lasers work by…
Read More4,000-year-old ‘Seahenge’ in UK was built to ‘extend summer,’ archaeologist suggests
A mysterious Bronze Age wooden circle known as “Seahenge” on England’s east coast was built more than 4,000 years ago in an effort to bring back warmer weather during an extreme cold spell, a new study suggests. The theory is a new attempt to explain the buried structure — a rough circle about 25 feet (7.5 meters) across, made from 55 split oak trunks surrounding a “horseshoe” of five larger oak posts around a large inverted oak stump — that was controversially dug up and moved into a museum in…
Read MoreJune solstice 2024 brings changing seasons to Earth on June 20 — What to know
Summer will officially arrive in the Northern Hemisphere on Thursday (June 20) at 4:51 p.m. EDT (2051 GMT) — the June Solstice. At that moment, the sun will reach the point at which it’s farthest north of the celestial equator. To be more precise, when the solstice occurs, the sun will appear to be shining directly overhead for a point on the Tropic of Cancer (latitude 23.5 degrees north) in the eastern Pacific Ocean, roughly 1,100 statute miles (1,800 kilometers) southwest of Los Angeles. From mid-northern latitudes, we…
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