The European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) have revealed possible signs of a star system being born. Around young star, AB Aurigae lies a dense disc of gas and dust, where astronomers have spotted a prominent spiral structure with a…
A brilliant fireball streaked across the night sky in central Russia at around 15:40 UTC (22:40 LT) on May 18, 2020. The spectacular event was seen in the southern part of the Krasnoyarsk region, as well as in the republics of Khakassia and Tyva. Eyewitnesses said…
Over the past 200 years, Earth's magnetic field has lost around 9% of its strength. Meanwhile, a large region of reduced magnetic intensity has developed between Africa and South America — known as South Atlantic Anomaly. Over the past 5 years, however, a…
A bright fireball lit up the skies over the southeast U.S. at around 04:43 UTC (00:43 LT) on May 14, 2020. The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 64 reports, including from eyewitnesses in Alabama, Florida, and the Carolinas. The witnesses claimed that the…
Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa-2 has reported new observations of Ryugu, revealing more secrets about the object's remarkable history– particularly signs of a close encounter with the Sun. Hayabusa-2 launched in December 2014 and reached Ryugu in 2018. In…
A bright fireball streaked across the sky over Louisiana at around 01:45 UTC on May 11, 2020 (20:45 LT on May 10). The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 24 reports about the event from eyewitnesses as far north as Bogue Chitto in Mississippi and as far east as…
The closest black hole to Earth– lying just 1 000 lightyears away– has been discovered by a team of astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and other institutes. Scientists say more similar black holes could be found in the future. "We were…
A fireball exploded over Washington state, U.S. at around 01:57 UTC on May 7, 2020 (18:57 PDT, May 6), with a dozen eyewitness reports submitted to the American Meteor Society (AMS). A loud and deep boom was reported during the event, which startled many people…
Astronomers monitoring Comet C/2020 F8 (SWAN) spotted a powerful outburst from the comet on May 5. Such outbursts usually indicate a fragmentation, but scientists are hopeful that this could just be a volatile comet. The comet is approaching Earth and the Sun– its…
NASA's OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) has successfully descended down to just 75 m (246 feet) above the surface asteroid Bennu in a risky rehearsal to prepare the spacecraft before it collects…
