After nearly 18 years of operation, highlighted by the detection of the elusive Higgs boson, Europe’s CERN physics research center says it’s bidding “Farewell” to the Large Hadron Collider. But it’s actually more like “See You Later, Accelerator!” The new, improved High-Luminosity LHC is due to make its debut in 2030, with up to 10…
Understanding how atoms form is a fundamental and important question, since they make up everything with mass. The question of where atoms come from requires a lot of physics to be answered completely – and even then, physicists like me only have good guesses to explain how some atoms are formed. What is an atom?…
DURHAM, ENGLAND—Researchers led by Marta Díaz-Guardamino of Durham University created 3D models of rock art depicting boats found at 12 sites in northwestern Spain and Portugal, according to a statement released by Durham University. The team then compared them to similar carvings found in Scandinavia. The researchers noted that all of the Iberian images had…
A predawn Moon-and-planets meetup, a returning comet, a great chance to see the Milky Way, and Saturn’s rings at a new angle. July 7: Last Quarter Moon July 11 + 12: Dawn alignment of the Moon, Mars, Saturn, and Uranus July 14: New Moon; best dark-sky window for Comet 10P/Tempel 2 and the Milky Way…
Over the past 250 years, the number of “planets” in our solar system has ranged from six to nine — and, briefly, even 11 — depending on what astronomers knew at the time and how they defined a planet. As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, that changing tally offers a unique…
Swirls of wildfire smoke can be seen over Canada. (Image credit: NASA) Wildfires across the globe can be seen all the way from space. And one unexpected tool has come in handy to spot plumes of wildfire smoke: a satellite designed to study Earth’s oceans. What is it? In this photo, we can see swirls…
The three-planet evening show that graced June’s twilight sky has now dwindled to one lone survivor. Mercury and Jupiter are now swinging behind the sun and are lost in the bright solar glare. Only Venus remains evident after sunset, and even here the dazzling evening star itself is showing subtle signs of slowly dropping down…
Observations of a distant cluster of stars in our galaxy have defined a new class of objects that turn out to be galactic building blocks. Researchers used Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to study the stars that make up Terzan 5, long though to be a globular cluster. What…
The Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) draws in over 2,000 attendees for five days of discussions on the latest results from the fleet of spacecraft exploring the Solar System. Credit: Lunar and Planetary Institute. Scientific conferences play an undervalued, yet essential, role in the exploration of the Solar System. Since the end of the Apollo…
The famous opening scene of the Martian has Mark Watney stabbed in the torso with a communications antenna. While this accident sets up the plot for what is widely regarded as a modern classic of sci-fi storytelling, what if he was wearing a space suit that would have stopped the impact altogether? That’s the idea…