Most exoplanets, bodies orbiting stars other than the sun, are too far away for us to be able to send probes to. So it’s no wonder that the discovery of a possibly habitable planet around the sun’s nearest neighbour star, Proxima Centauri, a few years ago generated a lot of excitement. Now we have spotted what we think is a second planet around this star.
Every season has its characteristic star constellations in the night sky. Orion – one of the most recognisable – is distinctly visible on crisp, clear winter nights in the northern hemisphere. The constellation is easy to spot even in light-polluted cities, with its bright stars representing the shape of a person.
Betelgeuse, marking Orion’s top left shoulder, is often its brightest star. Red in colour, this star is usually the 12th brightest in the entire sky. But it has recently dimmed dramatically to an all-time low of the 21st brightest star in the sky. As a result, many have started speculating about whether it could be about to explode. But could it? And what would that look like?
Scientists have found the oldest material on Earth in a 7 billion-year-old meteorite – a space rock that is way older than the Earth and even older than our solar system! For comparison, the age of Earth is approximately 4.54 billion years, with an error range of about 50 million years. The Sun is about 4.6 billion years old.
NASA and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) chose 13 new astronauts, and the good news is, almost half of them are women. Nicknamed “turtles“, six women and seven men were selected from record-breaking 18,000 applicants representing a wide variety of backgrounds and specialties.
A full 20 years into the 21st century, the threat of overpopulation continues to make headlines across the globe. A recent United Nations study determined that the global population, currently sitting at 7.7 billion, will increase to about 9.7 billion by 2050. That equals a 28% population increase, or approximately 82 million additional people every year. Those swelling numbers are predicted to further deplete natural resources and have detrimental effects on our already fragile natural environment.
Exciting news! NASA’s planet-hunter TESS Space Telescope (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) has discovered its first Earth-sized exoplanet in its star’s habitable zone. The discovery was announced by NASA on January 7, 2020. The planet is named “TOI 700 d”.
Using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers confirmed the discovery and have modeled the planet’s potential environments to help inform future observations.
Leopard (scientific name: Panthera pardus) is one of the five big cat species in the genus Panthera, a member of the Felidae. The other members of the Panthera genus are Lion (Panthera leo), tiger (Panthera tigris), jaguar (Panthera onca), and snow leopard (Panthera uncia). The leopard is the fourth biggest cat in the world, after the tiger, lion, and jaguar. Here are 20 amazing leopard facts.
Today is the last day of the 2010s – and what a decade it has been for space science and space exploration! Here is a timeline of the top 20 major (and exciting!) advances in space science in the 2010s.
On December 28, 2019, NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) Christina Koch broke the record for “longest spaceflight by a woman”.
Retired astronaut (the first Canadian to walk in space), former commander of the International Space Station (ISS), musician, engineer, and former Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot Chris Hadfield published a new music video: “An Astronaut’s Christmas Carol – Jewel in the Night”.