Just months after discovering FarOut, the most distant known object in the Solar System, the same team of astronomers has detected the faint—but not yet confirmed—glimmerings of an object even farther away. Dubbed FarFarOut, the extreme dwarf planet is 13 billion miles away—a distance so far it takes nearly 20 hours for the Sun’s rays to reach it. Continue reading Extreme Dwarf Planet FarFarOut Could Be the Most Distant Known Object in the Solar System
Tag Archives: EARTH
A Collision With Another Planet May Have Seeded Earth With the Ingredients for Life
New research suggests that much of the material that made life possible on Earth arrived after a cataclysmic collision between our planet and a Mars-sized object billions of years ago—likely the same collision that produced the Moon, the scientists say. Continue reading A Collision With Another Planet May Have Seeded Earth With the Ingredients for Life
According to some Theorists The universe may be a giant video game
Elon Musk and other prominent Silicon Valley kooks may hold the belief that we live in a simulation, but one conspiracy theorist speaking at the Flat Earth Convention in England last weekend articulated an even stranger theory about our home, the Earth: the ‘Pac-Man effect.’ Continue reading According to some Theorists The universe may be a giant video game
NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope Has Only a Few Months to Live
The space-based telescope responsible for detecting 2,245 exoplanets, and another 2,342 yet to be confirmed, is running out of fuel and may have just a few months left before its lights go out. The Kepler spacecraft will go down in history as one of the greatest astronomical tools ever used to scan the heavens. Continue reading NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope Has Only a Few Months to Live
Why so many diamonds are making science headlines this week
Diamonds have been in the news quite a lot this week, and not because of any celebrity engagement news. Instead, it’s what’s inside that counts. Continue reading Why so many diamonds are making science headlines this week
Huge Solar Flare Disrupts GPS Satellites
The Sun’s impact on weather here on Earth is clear: It makes it hot or cold, it powers air currents, it causes water to evaporate making rain, et cetera. But with our increasing reliance on satellites and electronics, you can’t forget its more insidious effects—and some satellites got a taste of those yesterday.
Cassini’s Final Dives Will Take Us Where No Spacecraft Has Gone Before
As things here on Earth become increasingly more Theater of the Absurd, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft whizzes millions of miles away, unaffected by our intra-human squabbling. After 20 years of heading toward and exploring the Saturn system, on September 15th, Cassini will plunge itself into the planet’s atmosphere, broadcasting the whole thing like a tearfully beautiful sequel to The Iron Giant.
Continue reading Cassini’s Final Dives Will Take Us Where No Spacecraft Has Gone Before
