Lifeboat Foundation

People around the world are currently isolating themselves or in a formal quarantine to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. But for decades, astronauts have been quarantined to ensure that they were virus-free and ready to fly (or, in the case of Apollo, to make sure they didn’t bring home any “moon bugs.”)

This quarantine period “ensures that they aren’t sick or incubating an illness when they get to the space station,” NASA spokesperson Brandi Dean told Space.com.

Stellar streams are long, thin filaments of stars orbiting galaxies, produced by the stretching action of tidal forces. For astronomers, observation of these structures could be crucial to test various galaxy formation models.

Located most likely some 420 light-years away in the Milky Way’s disk, Pisces–Eridanus (or Psc–Eri for short) is a cylindrically shaped stream of almost 1,400 identified stars distributed across about 2,300 light-years. Due to its relative proximity and population size, it is perceived as an excellent laboratory to study star formation and test theories of chemical and dynamical evolution of stellar systems.

They’ll serve as the heart as “discovery factories” for planetary science, astrophysics, materials physics, fusion and more.

:ooooo.

Recent NASA findings show there is a lot of water on Mars — but can future settlers actually drink it? If not, what will be needed for making water on Mars?

Could Mercury’s close orbit to the sun help the planet generate ice? This sounds like a paradox, but a new study shows how it could happen.

I frankly think this of exotic species unknown but it has exotic movement.

With over 4,000 exoplanets found so far, it takes a particularly interesting one to stand out.

Continue reading “An Earth-sized exoplanet found with a star that zooms *way* up and down in the Milky Way” »

All hail our swirly solar system buddy.

Early risers who look to the heavens will be treated to a celestial gathering in the sky this month — one that experts say will be the closest meet-up of the trio over the next couple of decades.

Astronomers know that much about how neutron stars are born. Yet exactly what happens afterwards, inside these ultra-dense cores, remains a mystery. Some researchers theorize that neutrons might dominate all the way down to the centre. Others hypothesize that the incredible pressure compacts the material into more exotic particles or states that squish and deform in unusual ways.

Now, after decades of speculation, researchers are getting closer to solving the enigma, in part thanks to an instrument on the International Space Station called the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER).

These stellar remnants are some of the Universe’s most enigmatic objects — and they are finally starting to give up their secrets.