We can"t see the first stars yet, but we can see their direct descendants
If you take a universe worth of hydrogen and helium, and let it stew for about 13 billion years, you get us. We are the descendants of the primeval elements. We are the cast-off dust of the first stars, and many generations of stars after that. So ou.....»»
JWST looks at the debris disk around a white dwarf
Debris disks are quite common in the universe. Young stars have protoplanetary disks from which planets form. Black holes have accretion disks that are the source of the galactic jets. Supernova remnants can form a disk around neutron stars. So what.....»»
Do red dwarfs or sunlike stars have more Earth-sized worlds?
Earth is our only example of a habitable planet, so it makes sense to search for Earth-size worlds when we're hunting for potentially-habitable exoplanets. When astronomers found seven of them orbiting a red dwarf star in the TRAPPIST-1 system, peopl.....»»
How to use PDF Debugger to inspect a PDF file"s code
Apple ended direct PostScript file support in macOS Sonoma, but you can still peek inside PDF files to see what they contain, by using PDF Debugger.PDF - the web's ubiquitous document format was invented at Adobe Systems in the early 1980's. At that.....»»
This underrated 1994 Tom Cruise movie is on Hulu in October. Here’s why you should watch it
This 1994 movie stars Tom Cruise in one of his most underrated roles. Find out what it is and why you should watch it......»»
3D isotropic microfabrication in glass using spatiotemporal focusing of femtosecond laser pulses
Femtosecond (fs) laser direct writing (FLDW) is a laser micro/nano manufacturing technology that can focus the laser pulses on the surface or inside the material, causing local changes in material properties through nonlinear laser-material interacti.....»»
IRS to offer free tax filing in competition against much-criticized TurboTax
IRS Direct File pilot in 2024 is for taxpayers with simple returns in 13 states. Enlarge / Advocates gather on April 17, 2023, in Washington, DC, to call out tax prep firms like TurboTax-maker Intuit and H&R Block, and to support.....»»
Protostars can siphon material from far away, says study
When stars are born, they do it inside a molecular cloud. Astronomers long assumed that the "crèche" supplied all the nutrients that protostars needed to form. However, it turns out they get help from outside the nest......»»
Direct imaging of sequences and locations of glycans bound to biomolecules at a single-molecule level
A team of organic chemists at the Max-Planck Institute for Solid-State Research, working with colleagues from the University of Tübingen and the University of Copenhagen, reports a way to take pictures of the sequences and locations of glycans (also.....»»
A comprehensive blueprint for the settlement of Mars
Throughout the 20th century, multiple proposals have been made for the crewed exploration of Mars. These include the famed "Mars Project" by Werner von Braun, the "Mars Direct" mission architecture by Robert Zubrin and David Baker, NASA's Mars Design.....»»
Gaia discovers half a million new stars in the epic Omega Centauri cluster
This week saw the release of a treasure trove of data from ESA's Gaia mission, a space-based observatory that is mapping out the Milky Way in three dimensions......»»
The Milky Way May Be Missing a Trillion Suns" Worth of Mass
Slow-moving stars at the Milky Way’s outskirts suggest our galaxy may be far lighter than previously believed, with profound implications for dark matter.....»»
Oops—It looks like the Ariane 6 rocket may not offer Europe any launch savings
Europe is subsidizing the launch of Internet satellites for Jeff Bezos. Enlarge / Under the stars with the Ariane 6 launch base at Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana. (credit: ESA) Nearly a decade ago the European Spa.....»»
New Gaia release: Cluster cores and unforeseen science
ESA's Gaia provides many new and improved insights into our galaxy and beyond with the release of five new data products. Among other findings, the mission reveals half a million new and faint stars in a massive cluster. The new Gaia stars revealed i.....»»
Here"s what it would take to see a black hole"s photon ring
Supermassive black holes are elusive creatures. Massive gravitational beasts that can power immensely bright quasars, or can lurk quietly among the bright stars of a galactic core. We mostly study them indirectly through their bright accretion disks.....»»
Annular distribution of SiC2 in circumstellar envelopes of carbon-rich asymptotic giant branch stars
The circumstellar envelopes (CSE) of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars contain a large number of molecules, which account for about one-third of all molecules discovered in interstellar space......»»
Visually stunning The Creator is a rare piece of original sci-fi filmmaking
Ars chats with director of photography Oren Soffer about the making of the sci-fi film. Enlarge / John David Washington stars as a US sergeant on an undercover mission who befriends an AI "child" in The Creator. (credit: 20th Cen.....»»
Zombie star’s strange behavior ascribed to what it’s eating
Neutron star winds, an accretion disk, and jets combine for complex interactions. Enlarge / Pulsars are spinning neutron stars, the relics of massive stars gone supernova. (credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center) So.....»»
Guide stars found as Euclid"s navigation is fine tuned
Euclid has found its "lost" guide stars as a software patch has solved its navigation woes and the next six years of observation schedules have been redesigned to avoid stray sunlight: it's the end of an interesting commissioning phase and Euclid wil.....»»
Can JWST tell the difference between an exoEarth and an exoVenus?
As of October 2023, astronomers have discovered 5,506 exoplanets orbiting other stars. That number is growing daily, and astronomers are hoping, among other things, to find Earth-like worlds. But will we know one when we see it? How might we be able.....»»
Further evidence points to footprints in New Mexico being the oldest sign of humans in Americas
New research confirms that fossil human footprints in New Mexico are likely the oldest direct evidence of human presence in the Americas, a finding that upends what many archaeologists thought they knew about when our ancestors arrived in the New Wor.....»»