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Researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa have successfully created a highly unstable alcohol molecule once thought impossible to observe, using conditions that mimic outer space. The compound, called methanetetrol, has now been confirmed for the first time after more than a century of scientific speculation. The breakthrough suggests that this so-called super alcohol can form in the extreme environments of deep space, challenging long-held assumptions in both chemistry and astronomy. The team produced methanetetrol by replicating the harsh conditions of interstellar clouds—environments filled with ice, radiation, and near-vacuum pressure. The molecule stands out because it carries four hydroxyl...

The Eagle takes flight this July. Look east after dark to find Aquila, the soaring constellation anchored by Altair, while Mars glows in the west and Venus and Jupiter greet the sunrise. Credit: Shutterstock July’s skies offer a feast: Mars glows at dusk while Mercury peeks out briefly, Venus blazes before dawn, and Jupiter joins it for a photogenic pairing. Saturn lingers past midnight, and the Moon stages close encounters with Mars and the morning planets. Sixty years after Mariner 4’s trailblazing flyby, stargazers can celebrate by tracing Aquila the Eagle soaring overhead, using bright Altair to sketch its wings...

A satellite backed by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has been lost in space while carrying out an important climate change mission, New Zealand officials said Wednesday. Designed to measure greenhouse gas emissions with "unprecedented resolution," the MethaneSAT space probe was also funded by Wellington and the US-based Environmental Defense Fund. Plagued with technical problems, the satellite recently stopped responding to its Earth-bound controllers.

A space capsule carrying the ashes of more than 160 people — and a stash of cannabis seeds — was lost when it crashed into the Pacific Ocean after two orbits around the Earth. The Exploration Company (TEC), a German start-up, launched the Nyx capsule’s “Mission Possible” on June 23. Its precious cargo included the remains of 166 people, whose ashes were sent into orbit through Celestis, a Texas-based space burial company. While the departed souls had smooth sailing for two successful orbits around Earth, “an anomaly occurred, and the vehicle was lost shortly after re-entry,” Celestis co-founder and CEO...

Mercury’s Spectacular Return to the Evening SkyMercury, the smallest and fastest-moving planet in our solar system, is currently making its evening apparition. This occurrence, visible from June 20 to July 11, presents a rare chance to spot the elusive planet as it moves across the evening sky. On June 26, Mercury will be particularly prominent, positioned in the west-northwest sky about 45 minutes to an hour after sunset. During this period, Mercury will shine brighter than most of the surrounding stars, making it an easy object to spot, even without binoculars. However, as the planet moves away from the Sun,...

I wanted to share a TV show that I enjoyed and now it's on public YouTube in its entirety.

When astronomers announced last month they might have discovered the most promising hints of alien life yet on a distant planet, the rare good news raised hopes humanity could soon learn we are not alone in the universe. But several recent studies looking into the same data have found that there is not enough evidence to support such lofty claims, with one scientist accusing the astronomers of "jumping the gun". Two of Madhusudhan's former students, Luis Welbanks of Arizona State University and Matthew Nixon of Maryland University, were among the researchers who have since re-analysed the data behind the announcement....

In 1972 the Soviet union launched two spacecraft to explore the planet Venus, Venera 8 would become the second spacecraft to land on Venus, while the other spacecraft got stuck in Earth orbit and so was designated Kosmos 482. Now, 50 years later we expect the spacecraft to finally fall back to Earth, and unlike most spacecraft this one is designed to survive atmospheric entry. So it could land as a solid mass and maybe there's hardware that will survive, or more likely it will land in the ocean and sink.... 50 Year Old Venus Spacecraft Is About To Land...

China will send a new team of astronauts to its space station on Thursday (Apr 24) as it marches towards its ambition of becoming a space power to rival the dominance of the United States. Beijing has pumped billions of dollars into its space programme in recent years in an effort to achieve what President Xi Jinping describes as the Chinese people's "space dream". The world's second-largest economy has bold plans to send a crewed mission to the moon by the end of the decade and eventually build a base on the lunar surface. It will mark its latest milestone...

At 9:31 a.m. EDT yesterday, Katy Perry, in full hair and makeup wearing a designer cobalt blue bodysuit, was ready to make history. As she boarded flight NS-31 to make an 11-minute roundtrip journey to the edge of outer space, she endeavored to “put the ass in astronaut.” Which is so cool and brave to admit, given that she’s probably the first person ever to say those words in that particular order.

On a clear evening this January, flights out of Miami, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale suddenly ground to a halt. The culprit wasn’t weather or a software glitch — it was a rocket launch. SpaceX’s Starship, the largest spacecraft ever built, had lifted off from Texas and exploded mid-flight, raining 100 tons of debris at over 13,250 miles per hour over the Caribbean. The FAA swiftly issued an unprecedented order: a temporary freeze on air traffic at four major Florida airports. Then another Starship exploded on its next test launch in March. According to FAA data reported by Reuters, the disruption...

Though men were the first to reach for the stars, science has proven definitively that women are far better suited to the task. Consider the evidence. Here are ten reasons women make better astronauts than men: They look so cute in their little space outfits: Science has proven that girl astronauts look way cuter in little space outfits. Men could never pull this off. Space is a vacuum and women love vacuums: For cleaning. If you time the mission right, they're all in good moods and super cooperative: But if your timing is off... God help you. They need...

Six women, including pop star Katy Perry, are scheduled to be launched into space for about 11 minutes on Monday on a Blue Origin rocket, a lift-off that would mark the first all-female spaceflight since 1963, according to the company. The window for the latest New Shepard rocket launch is expected to open on Monday morning at about 8:30 a.m. CDT, according to Blue Origin. long with Perry, the crew includes Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos' journalist fiance, Lauren Sanchez, who is also a helicopter pilot. Journalist Gayle King, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist and civil...

An huge asteroid that was briefly feared to strike Earth now has a nearly four percent chance of smashing into the Moon, according to new data from the James Webb Space Telescope. The asteroid, thought to be capable of levelling a city, set a new record in February for having the highest chance -- 3.1 percent -- of hitting our home planet than scientists have ever measured. But the odds that it will instead crash into Earth's satellite have been steadily rising. After the Webb telescope turned its powerful gaze towards the asteroid last month, the chance of a Moon...

NASA says Boeing's Starliner – dubbed the Calamity Capsule – could fly again, but not before the end of 2025 or start of 2026. The CST-100 Starliner capsule returned to Earth last year with its tail between its legs. It was the capsule's first crewed mission, but the flight was dogged with issues, including problems with thrusters. Managers eventually decided that the safest course of action was to leave the crew on the International Space Station (ISS). The vehicle made a successful landing without a crew, and in the months since, NASA and Boeing tried to work out what went...

"With our commercial assets, we have observed five different objects in space maneuvering in and out and around each other in synchronicity and in control," the U.S. Space Force's Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein told the 16th annual McAleese Defense Programs conference in Arlington, Virginia on March 18. "That's what we call dogfighting in space. They are practicing tactics, techniques and procedures to do on-orbit space operations from one satellite to another."Guetlein's stark comment about China signals a break with the past. "This marks the end of the Western-American-liberal dream of nations leaving wars on Earth so...

Is it a plane? Is it a satellite? Is it a galaxy? Is it aliens? A strange blue spiral lit up the skies over Europe on Monday night (March 24), causing residents of the U.K. and other European countries like Croatia, Poland, and Hungary to flood social media with photos and videos, along with requests to identify this weird light. Some users even speculated that the spiral could be the work of aliens! Space.com can reveal the identity of the object behind this spectacular event, and unfortunately (possibly reassuringly), rather than being the work of extraterrestrial visitors, it's a bit...

On March 18, 1965, the world saw the first person to venture outside a spacecraft, floating in the vastness of space. This is the story of how two cosmonauts almost died several times while performing this historical move. First spacewalk by Alexei Leonov On March 18, 1965, at 10 a.m. Moscow time, the Soviet spacecraft Voskhod-2 with a crew consisting of Pavel Belyaev and Alexei Leonov launched from the base in Baikonur (modern-day Kazakhstan). At 11:35 a.m., Alexei Leonov left the airlock of the ship and became the first man to perform a spacewalk. He spent 12 minutes and 9...

The spacecraft that will carry the next crew of astronauts to the International Space Station has arrived at the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft is scheduled to launch no earlier than March 12 and will shuttle the Crew-10 astronauts aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The arrival of the module at the Florida launch pad signifies progress for SpaceX, which experienced delays getting it ready for launch. ... Crew-10 is currently set to launch at 7:48 p.m. EDT on March 12. It will chase the orbiting ISS for roughly 14 hours...

Donald Trump has announced his intention to build a gigantic anti-ballistic missile system to counter Chinese and Russian nuclear weapons, and he is recruiting Elon Musk to help him. The Pentagon has long dreamed of constructing an American “Iron Dome.” The technology is couched in the defense language—i.e., to make America safe again. But like its Israeli counterpart, it would function as an offensive weapon, giving the United States the ability to launch nuclear attacks anywhere in the world without having to worry about the consequences of a similar response. This power could upend the fragile peace maintained by decades...