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SOFIA Detects Molecular Water on Nominally Dry Asteroids

Arredondo et al. looked at four silicate-rich asteroids using the FORCAST instrument on NASA’s SOFIA observatory to isolate the mid-infrared spectral signatures indicative of molecular water on two of them: Iris and Massalia. Image credit: NASA / Carla Thomas / Southwest Research Institute.
Feb 13, 2024 by News Staff

Using the FORCAST instrument on NASA’s retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), astronomers have obtained mid-infrared spectra of four S-type (silicate-rich) asteroids: Iris, Parthenope, Melpomene, and Massalia. They’ve detected a feature that is unambiguously attributed to molecular water on two asteroids, Iris and Massalia. Arredondo et al. looked at four silicate-rich asteroids using the FORCAST instrument on NASA’s...

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La Prele bone bead showing polished ends (upper) and side view with incisions (lower). Image credit: Surovell et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-53390-9.

12,940-Year-Old Bone Bead Found in Wyoming

Feb 13, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient tube-shaped bead made of hare bone at the La Prele Mammoth site in Wyoming, the United States. This is the oldest...

This is an artist's impression of the SN 1987A remnant. The image is based on real data and reveals the cold, inner regions of the remnant, in red, where tremendous amounts of dust were detected and imaged by ALMA. This inner region is contrasted with the outer shell, lacy white and blue circles, where the blast wave from the supernova is colliding with the envelope of gas ejected from the star prior to its powerful detonation. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Alexandra Angelich, NRAO / AUI / NSF.

Astronomers Employ Novel Technique for Searching for Alien Technosignatures

Feb 13, 2024 by News Staff

Technosignatures are any measurable property that may provide evidence of extraterrestrial technology. The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI)...

Bothriechis rahimi. Image credit: Lucas Bustamante.

Five New Species of Eyelash Pitvipers Discovered in South America

Feb 13, 2024 by News Staff

Scientists have identified five cryptic species of the venomous viper genus Bothriechis living in the jungles and cloud forests of Colombia and Ecuador. Bothriechis...

Hundreds of thousands of stars are contained in this image of the Sagittarius C region from ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Image credit: ESO / F. Nogueras-Lara.

Sagittarius C Region Contains Hundreds of Thousands of Solar Masses of Young Stars: Study

Feb 12, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Sagittarius C lies just 300 light-years from Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Hundreds of thousands of...

A topographic map of the Eridania region of Mars; volcanic structures described by Michalski et al. are classified by morphology and morphometrics. Image credit: Michalski et al., doi: 10.1038/s41550-023-02191-7.

Early Mars was Tectonically and Volcanically Active, Study Suggests

Feb 12, 2024 by News Staff

The relatively well-preserved ancient crust of Mars provides a natural window into early planetary evolution not available on Earth. Mars has generally...

Daly et al. found Sagittarius A* is spinning with 60% of the maximum possible rate of spin, a limit set by material not being able to travel faster than the speed of light. This image shows Sagittarius A* in X-ray light from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Wisconsin / Bai et al.

Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole is Spinning Very Rapidly, New Research Shows

Feb 12, 2024 by News Staff

Sagittarius A*, the 4.3-million-solar-mass black hole that resides at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, is spinning so quickly it is warping the spacetime...

The fossilized teeth of Palaeohypotodus bizzocoi. Image credit: Ebersole et al., doi: 10.3897/fr.27.e112800.

Extinct Shark’s Teeth Had Their Own Needle-Like Fangs

Feb 12, 2024 by Sergio Prostak

Paleontologists have described a new species of the extinct lamniform shark genus Palaeohypotodus based on 17 fossilized teeth found in Alabama, the United...

This Hubble image shows IRAS 16562-3959, a star-forming region some 5,900 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Fedriani / J. Tan.

Hubble Snaps Stunning Image of Nearby Star-Forming Region

Feb 12, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured this vivid image of IRAS 16562-3959, a beautiful star-forming region in the constellation...

An artistic reconstruction of the Cabrières Biota: in the foreground, a row of Ampyx (trilobites) and various shelly organisms, including brachiopods and a hyolith (bottom left corner); behind the trilobites, a lobopodian, a chelicerate, cnidarians (blue), sponges (green), thin branching algae (red and green) and hemichordate tubes (purple), along with some mollusks; bivalved arthropods inhabit the water column along with graptolites. Image credit: Christian McCall, Prehistorica Art.

Unique Fossil Site Discovered in France Provides Insights into Ordovician Polar Ecosystems

Feb 9, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a new paper in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, paleontologists described the diversity of the Cabrières Biota, a new Early Ordovician site...

The JunoCam instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft imaged Io, the most geologically active body in our Solar System, on February 3, 2024, from a distance of about 7,904 km (4,911 miles). Image credit: NASA / SwRI / MSSS.

NASA’s Juno Orbiter Captures Stunning Images of Jupiter’s Moon Io

Feb 9, 2024 by Natali Anderson

On February 3, 2024, NASA’s Juno spacecraft made a second close flyby of Io, the fifth of Jupiter’s moons and the third largest. Like the previous...

The galaxy AM 1054-325 has been distorted into an S-shape from a normal pancake-like spiral shape by the gravitational pull of a neighboring galaxy, seen in this Hubble image; a consequence of this is that clusters of newborn stars form along a stretched-out tidal tail for thousands of light-years, resembling a string of pearls. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / Jayanne English, University of Manitoba.

Hubble Finds Clusters of Newborn Stars in Tidal Tails of Merging Galaxy Systems

Feb 8, 2024 by News Staff

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have observed seven interacting galaxy systems that have long, tadpole-like tidal tails of gas,...

Torvosaurus gurneyi. Image credit: © Sergey Krasovskiy.

Locomotor Advances in Early Dinosaurs Aided Their Survival and Success, Scientists Say

Feb 8, 2024 by News Staff

The early dinosaurs were faster and more dynamic than their competitors, according to a study led by University of Bristol researcher Amy Shipley. By adopting...

This Hubble image shows ESO 185-IG013, a luminous blue compact galaxy some 260 million light-years away in the constellation of Telescopium. Image credit: NASA / ESA / R. Chandar, University of Toledo / Gladys Kober, NASA & Catholic University of America.

Hubble Spots Luminous Blue Compact Galaxy

Feb 8, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A dazzling new photo from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the luminous blue compact galaxy ESO 185-IG013, which is found in the constellation...

An artist’s impression of the ‘Snowball Earth.’ Image credit: Oleg Kuznetsov, http://3depix.com / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Low Volcanic Carbon Dioxide Emissions Triggered Sturtian ‘Snowball Earth’ Glaciation: Study

Feb 8, 2024 by News Staff

The Sturtian ‘Snowball Earth’ glaciation (717 to 661 million years ago) is regarded as the most extreme interval of icehouse climate in Earth’s history....

Structural color in wax bloom produces blue appearance on fruits across a wide phylogeny: (A) undamaged highbush blueberries growing on the plant; (B) blueberry with (i) unmodified wax, (ii) mechanical wax removal, (iii) chloroform wax removal, (iv) surface application of (almost) index-matching oil, (v) surface application of water, (vi) outer skin peeled to reveal flesh, and (vii) underside of peeled skin; (C) transmission optical microscopy of peeled blueberry skin from internal edge showing red pigmentation in epidermal cells. Scale bar - 200 μm; (D) (i and ii) a selection of plum (Prunus domestica) fruits with different cell pigmentation, (i) with wax intact and (ii) with wax removed. Image credit: Middleton et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adk4219.

Study: Tiny Structures in Wax Coating of Blue-Pigmented Fruits Give Them Their Blue Color

Feb 7, 2024 by News Staff

Many visually guided fruit-eaters have eyes highly adapted for blue sensitivity, which makes it perhaps surprising that blue pigmented fruits are not more...

Mimas’ surface, like the surfaces of most of the other major Saturnian moons without atmospheres, is not pure ice but contains some dark impurities; the relatively dark markings appear along the lower portion of the walls of the 130-km-wide Herschel Crater (the peak in the middle of the crater is about as tall as Mount Everest; the impact that made it likely almost destroyed the moon) and some of the smaller craters; scientists interpret this darkening as evidence for the gradual concentration of impurities from evaporating icy materials in areas where the dark impurities slide slowly down the crater wall. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.

Saturn’s Moon Mimas Harbors Global Ocean beneath Its Icy Shell, Study Suggests

Feb 7, 2024 by News Staff

From detailed analysis of Mimas’ orbital motion based on data from NASA’s Cassini mission, planetary researchers from Sorbonne Université, Nantes...

Glikmanius careforum. Image credit: Benji Paynose.

Two New Species of Carboniferous Ctenacanth Sharks Identified in the United States

Feb 7, 2024 by News Staff

A focused search for ancient marine vertebrates during a paleontological resource inventory of Mammoth Cave National Park has yielded a wealth of new fossil...

This Hubble image shows UGC 3912, a small spiral galaxy located 63 million light-years away in the constellation of Canis Minor. Image credit: NASA / ESA / C. Kilpatrick, Northwestern University / Gladys Kober, NASA & Catholic University of America.

Hubble Space Telescope Looks at Distorted Spiral Galaxy

Feb 7, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have obtained a remarkable new view of the spiral galaxy UGC 3912. This Hubble image shows UGC 3912,...

Life reconstruction of Inawentu oslatus. Image credit: Gabriel Lio.

New Cretaceous-Era Titanosaur Species Discovered in Argentina

Feb 6, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of rebbachisaurid-mimicking titanosaurian sauropod that stretched over 15 m (50 feet) has been unearthed in Patagonia, Argentina. Life...

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