For the first time, astronomers combined Hubble and Webb space telescopes to hunt down some of the smallest, faintest objects ever spotted in the outer Solar System.
The post Hubble and Webb Team Up to Spy Tiny Frozen Worlds beyond Neptune appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
Foi o motor e a fonte de energia da BepiColombo durante oito anos. Agora, a 200 milhões de quilómetros da Terra, o módulo que levou a missão até “perto” de Mercúrio ficou para trás, sozinho numa órbita em torno do Sol.
The post BepiColombo despede-se do módulo que a levou até Mercúrio e entra na reta final da viagem appeared first on Tek Notícias.
Sixty years after television audiences first tuned in to see the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, an astronaut on board the International Space Station has paid tribute to Star Trek by flying the badge of the franchise's latest fictional captain.
Expedition 75 flight engineer Sophie Adenot with European Space Agency (ESA) donned the Delta badge originally worn by actor Anson Mount for a video recorded from aboard the space station. Mount portrays Christoper Pike in the Paramount+ streaming series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Paramount and ESA both released the clip on their Instagram feeds.
"For 60 years, Star Trek has brought us stories of friendship and exploration. I'm wearing Captain Pike's badge aboard the ISS in celebration of continuing the real world work of science and exploration," said Adenot. "For me, exploration and science are about curiosity and cooperation daring to go a little farther together, learning from what we discover and build, and turning that knowledge into a better future for everyone."
© ESA
Sixty years after television audiences first tuned in to see the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, an astronaut on board the International Space Station has paid tribute to Star Trek by flying the badge of the franchise's latest fictional captain.
Expedition 75 flight engineer Sophie Adenot with European Space Agency (ESA) donned the Delta badge originally worn by actor Anson Mount for a video recorded from aboard the space station. Mount portrays Christoper Pike in the Paramount+ streaming series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Paramount and ESA both released the clip on their Instagram feeds.
"For 60 years, Star Trek has brought us stories of friendship and exploration. I'm wearing Captain Pike's badge aboard the ISS in celebration of continuing the real world work of science and exploration," said Adenot. "For me, exploration and science are about curiosity and cooperation daring to go a little farther together, learning from what we discover and build, and turning that knowledge into a better future for everyone."
© ESA
A new images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals LHA 120-N44, a striking nebula located roughly 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.
The post Hubble Spots ‘Superbubble’ in Large Magellanic Cloud appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
On its second attempt, Isar Aerospace successfully placed satellites into orbit, marking the first achievement of its kind for Europe’s private space industry. The mission, dubbed Onward and Upward, lifted off from Isar Aerospace’s own launch pad at the Andøya Space complex in Norway at 22:12 CEST on September 5 (23:12 Kyiv time), deploying the […]
The post Second Time’s the Charm: Isar Aerospace Becomes the First European Private Company to Reach Orbit appeared first on AERONAUT.media.
After nearly eight years and billions of kilometers of travel, BepiColombo -- a science mission led by ESA in close collaboration with JAXA -- has begun its long-awaited arrival at the smallest and innermost planet in our Solar System.
The post BepiColombo Begins Final Approach to Mercury appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
For almost five decades, Saturn’s north pole has been famous for hosting a bizarre, six-sided jet stream known as the hexagon, a feature first spotted by NASA’s Voyager spacecraft in the 1980s and still churning today.
The post Astronomers Discover Decagonal Wave circling Saturn’s South Pole appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
A massive chunk of Greenland’s Petermann Glacier has broken away, forming an iceberg the size of Manhattan in what scientists say is the most significant Arctic calving event recorded in years.
As the dramatic event unfolded, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission captured the breakup on August 4, as the 29-square-mile ice tongue detached from the eastern edge of Petermann Glacier.
The new “ice island,” also known as a tabular iceberg, is estimated to be close to 500 feet thick and was produced by an event that experts believe to represent the single largest loss of floating ice since 2012, and the most massive calving event anywhere in the Arctic since 2020.
Evidence of an imminent calving event had begun showing months ago in the form of cracks in the glacier. On August 3, Sentinel-1 radar imagery revealed significant deterioration that was showing along the center of the glacier’s ice tongue.
Within hours, the massive section had separated, all as scientists and crew aboard the RRS Sir David Attenborough watched as cameras captured the remarkable display unfolding.
The crewmembers aboard the nearby vessel weren’t the only ones armed with cameras who were observing the massive breakup. For many years, an international team of researchers has been monitoring conditions on Petermann Glacier using Sentinel-1 imagery. Since 2019, a series of tracking and expanding fractures and other clear signs of instability have gradually worsened.
Additionally, interferometric measurements collected earlier in 2026 showed signs that deformation and fractures were spreading through the ice tongue in advance of a likely break, allowing scientists both on-site and observing via satellites in orbit to plan for the event.
“Petermann Glacier has long been one of Greenland’s largest remaining ice tongues,” said University of Ottawa PhD student Adam Garbo, one of the many researchers involved in monitoring the glacier prior to the calving event.
“We’ve anticipated this break for years, and seeing it finally happen is remarkable,” Garbo said in a statement. “It’s a powerful reminder of how quickly these systems can change.”
This event was by no means the first time that the Petermann Glacier has undergone a major calving event. In 2008, 2010, and in 2012, similar significant ice losses were logged, although its floating ice tongue had remained mostly stable since that time.
The recent event signals the end of that period of relative stability. Additionally, researchers say two more sections—measuring around 97 and 87 square kilometers—are likely to detach as existing rifts continue to appear and gradually separate.
With the help of the ESA’s Sentinel-1C and the recently launched Sentinel-1D satellites, a remarkably detailed view of the calving event was made possible. During its commissioning period, Sentinel-1D and its predecessor satellite achieved one-day repeat synthetic aperture radar observations.
The resulting interferograms allowed scientists to examine how fractures propagated, and aalso how the floating ice responded to factors that include ocean water movement in the vicinity prior to the separation.
“The changes we observed on Petermann Glacier were occurring very rapidly in the lead-up to the iceberg calving event, so it was incredibly exciting to monitor the crack propagation with interferometry in near-real time,” said University of Leeds PhD student Molly Hammond in a statement.
Satellites like those with the Sentinel mission are especially useful for observations in polar regions since their radar systems allow researchers to observe the Earth’s surface even when cloud coverage or darkness would normally obscure visibility. This allows the ability to continuously monitor activity around these remote glaciers, and a chance to trek the new ice island as it continues to drift.
“This type of large tabular iceberg is relatively rare in the Arctic, making this calving event a unique opportunity to study how such a vast ice mass drifts, evolves and eventually breaks apart,” ESA researcher Martin Wearing said in a statement.
Although the iceberg currently poses no practical concerns, Environment and Climate Change Canada is currently monitoring the iceberg’s movement, and will provide assessments about whether it could pose any risk to Arctic shipping and offshore infrastructure in the months ahead.
Those monitoring efforts will likely continue into the foreseeable future, since massive ice islands as large as the newly formed iceberg can survive for many years before they eventually undergo fragmenting of their own, dispersing smaller pieces into the surrounding ocean. These smaller pieces can be much more difficult to track, and thereby could pose greater risks.
For now, scientists plan to continue watching the new ice island, which will offer new insights into Arctic glacier dynamics, as well as the changes that are impacting one of Greenland’s most closely watched glaciers.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.
Através de um novo contrato com a Força Aérea Portuguesa, os drones AR5 da Tekever vão apoiar missões de longo alcance, incluindo a vigilância da Zona Económica Exclusiva (ZEE) de Portugal, podendo ser também utilizados em áreas como segurança costeira e proteção ambiental.
The post Drones AR5 da Tekever vão reforçar as missões de vigilância marítima em Portugal appeared first on Tek Notícias.
New infrared observations of the Eskimo Nebula, a bipolar double-shell planetary nebula in the constellation of Gemini, reveal clumps of dust, ionized gas and expanding shells surrounding a central star.
The post Webb Captures Stunning Infrared View of Eskimo Nebula appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
As câmaras dos drones de vigilância K3 Scout, usados pelas forças especiais da Marinha britânica, tinham componentes de origem chinesa quem estavam a enviar dados para a China, obrigando o Ministério da Defesa a cortar a ligação à internet dos equipamentos.
The post Câmaras de drones da Marinha britânica enviavam secretamente dados para a China appeared first on Tek Notícias.
A stunning new image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope reveals a comet-shaped cloud in the Carina Nebula hiding a cluster of about 70 young stars, including a rare giant of O-type nearly 19 times as massive as the Sun.
The post Webb Finds Stellar ‘Treasure Chest’ in Carina Nebula appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
A missão CHEOPS vai continuar a funcionar como uma espécie de laboratório orbital, ajudando a responder a algumas das perguntas mais antigas da humanidade: como se formam os planetas e quantos deles podem ser semelhantes à Terra.
The post CHEOPS vai ter mais tempo para explorar outros mundos. Portugal mantém papel central na missão europeia appeared first on Tek Notícias.
The European Commission has reached an agreement with an industrial consortium to proceed with a secure connectivity constellation, increasing the number of satellites as well as its cost.
The post Europe increases size and cost of IRIS² constellation appeared first on SpaceNews.
For 35 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has looked out into the Universe. Now, Lego is inviting builders to look inward with its latest model of the orbiting observatory.
The new Lego Icons Hubble Space Telescope (set no. 11382) was released on August 1 for $140 at the toy company's stores and its online shop. The 1,252-piece kit builds a 15-inch-long (38-cm) desktop model that is about twice as large as the previously released Lego Hubble models.
The Icons Hubble is the first to be sized in comparison to a Lego minifigure, such that the included astronaut provides a sense of scale for the telescope.
© LEGO
A stunning new image captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the lopsided intermediate spiral galaxy NGC 4654, whose unusual shape was sculpted by both a close encounter with another galaxy and a headlong plunge through the hot gas of the Virgo Cluster.
The post Hubble Spots Spiral Galaxy Warped by Cosmic Forces appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.
New computer models of Venus’s surface features, including ridges likely caused by volcanic activity, have determined that the second rock from the Sun remains geologically active to this day.
The ETH Zurich research team behind the new Venusian models, which suggest that Venus may still have active volcanoes, said their findings could help planned NASA and ESA missions select the most promising targets. The new models could also help in the search for rocky planets outside of our Solar System, including those that may support life.
Venus has long fascinated planetary scientists due to its similarities. For example, the planet’s mass and circumference make it roughly 95% the same size as Earth overall. However, although Venus’ elliptical orbit brings it closer to Earth than any other planet in the Solar System, its extreme surface temperatures and toxic atmosphere make it inhospitable to life as we know it.
Ground and space observations have detected rift valleys on Venus’s surface, which the research team notes indicate tectonic activity. Some can measure up to 10,000 kilometers and resemble the longest ridges on Earth. Although the timing of Venus’ rift formations remains uncertain, the team said most scientists have typically considered the planet to be geologically dormant. Some estimates have put their formation more than 100 million years ago.
Curious if data captured by space and ground-based observatories could provide enough information to answer the timing question, a research team from ETH led by Taras Gerya, a Professor of Geodynamics at the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, decided to plug that data into computer models. According to their results, the reports of Venus’ demise may have been greatly exaggerated.
Working under Professor Gerya’s supervision, Master’s candidate and lead author of the paper detailing the team’s work, Xi Yang, and colleagues employed computer models to simulate the planet’s rifts in high-resolution and 3D. The team said these models allowed them to “accurately replicate these rift structures” in a level of detail never achieved. The data also allowed them to perform simulations to best determine how they originally formed.
Critically, the team notes that earlier attempts to model Venus’ tectonic history and potential ongoing activity had been mostly two-dimensional. Yang’s team also said those earlier models had relied on “simplified material assumptions” that his team was able to expand upon.
After completion, the models yielded several compelling results. First, they indicated that the broad ridges geologists call ‘rift flanks’ form along the edges of rift valleys at a time when the rifts are still “geologically young.” Specifically, the team’s models suggested that these flanks formed when Venus was still either actively moving or had only recently stopped moving.
A closer look at the simulations also suggested that these geological rifts open over a much shorter time scale than previously assumed, with an estimated rate between 3 and 10 centimeters per year. The models also indicated that rift flanks tend to flatten very quickly once the movement ends.
“The older the rift system, the less steep and narrow its flanks,” they explained.
A comparison to erosion patterns on Earth also supported a more recent time frame for the rift flank formations spotted on the Venusian surface from the Magellan probe during its 1990s mission. The team said that these formations and their models suggest that “Venus remains an active planet with a more dynamic interior than had been previously believed.”
“Venus remains geologically “alive” and even hosts active volcanoes,” they explained.
When discussing the implications of their work, Professor Gerya said the findings “help us to better assess the tectonic activity on Venus.” The team noted that their models could also guide future missions by pinpointing potentially active regions worthy of closer examination.
The ETH team said their study also has planetary formation implications, particularly for rocky planets like Venus and Earth. Such data could prove valuable in the search for rocky exoplanets, including the type that may host life.
Moving forward, the study authors noted that NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are actively preparing “multiple missions” to explore Venus in further detail. ETH geophysics professors Paul Tackley and Gerya, and their team of collaborators, are already participating in ESA’s EnVision mission.
The work includes developing instruments for the orbiter to analyze the surface in greater detail. Scheduled for launch in the early 2030s, the team said that EnVision will explore the planet more thoroughly than previous efforts “from its core to its upper atmosphere.”
The study “Recent active rifting on Venus revealed by wide rift flank uplifts” was published in Nature Geoscience.
Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.
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