All About Space

What if there was an equal but opposite to everything in the universe? That’s one thing that scientists are faced with, as we discover this issue: could there be galaxies peppered throughout space and time that are equal and opposite to each other, c

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet was manoeuvred by the Canadarm2 robotic arm during a spacewalk to install new roll-out solar arrays on the International Space Station. Pesquet was joined by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough on the s

There’s a mystery brewing at the centre of the Earth. Scientists can only see it when they study seismic waves passing through the planet’s solid-iron inner core. For some reason, waves move through the core significantly faster when they’re travelli

Scientists have grown liver tissue capable of functioning for 30 days in the lab as part of NASA’s Vascular Tissue Challenge. In 2016 NASA put forth this competition to find teams that could ‘create thick, vascularised human organ tissue in an in-vit

Earth’s aurorae are caused when electrons emitted from the Sun hurtle towards Earth and are funnelled down Earth’s magnetic field lines, where they collide with oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the ionosphere – the upper atmosphere between 80 and 600

An explosion on the Sun is helping uncover new information about what causes powerful solar eruptions. In March 2016, scientists used NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, a joint mission of NASA and the Europe

A fully reusable, 3D-printed rocket will be launching satellites into orbit three years from now – if all goes according to plan. Relativity Space has revealed details of Terran R, a new two-stage rocket expected to launch for the first time in 2024.

Boulders on asteroids can be three-quarters hollow or more, a discovery that could help yield insights on how Earth and other planets formed. The earliest stage of planetary formation started with building blocks known as planetesimals, chunks of roc

You shouldn’t exist. That you do suggests something is very wrong with our best theories in physics. Yet there is a way to both explain your existence and save theorists’ blushes: if bizarre entities called antimatter galaxies also exist. In the begi

First dark matter clumps together to form a seed. Clouds of antimatter collapse under gravity to form antistars. Collapse quickens spin, so the disc of antistars rotates and flattens. New antistars begin to form, further populating the galaxy. The an

The Antihydrogen Laser PHysics Apparatus makes, captures and studies atoms of antihydrogen and compares them with hydrogen atoms Antiprotons enter through one end of the device. Positrons enter through the other end. Antihydrogen is made when they co

Following SpaceX’s first successful landing of its Starship test vehicle and the award of a NASA contract for a lunar lander based on Starship, it’s looking increasingly likely that a Starship will reach orbit in 2021. When launched on its booster st

Dr Meredith Rawls Rawls is a stellar astronomer and software developer working as a research scientist with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) group at the University of Washington. As a software developer, Rawls is

Our Solar System consists of the area influenced by the Sun and, apart from occasional stray visitors from interstellar space, everything it contains. Aside from the Sun, its main components are the eight major planets, their moons and rings, a handf

Diameter: 4,879 kilometres (3,032 miles) Mass: 0.055 Earths Distance from the Sun: 46 to 69.8 million kilometres (28.6 to 43.4 million miles) Orbital period: 88 days Rotation period: 58.65 days Axial tilt: 0.03 degrees Satellites: Zero Diameter: 12,1

Everyone knows the story of Laika, the first animal to orbit Earth. Photos of her feature in every book written about space, and although some people are still unaware of the awful truth of how she died in orbit at the end of her flight, almost every

Scientists have gotten their best look yet at a gamma-ray burst, the most dramatic type of explosion in the universe. Astronomers think some of these explosions occur when a massive star – five or ten times the mass of our Sun – detonates, abruptly b

Before Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley blasted off in May 2020 aboard SpaceX’s Endeavour, they had the traditional astronaut breakfast of steak and eggs. It’s one of NASA’s many food traditions, but for this particular breakfast at least, there was

Booze is strictly forbidden on the ISS for a whole number of reasons. An inebriated astronaut in control of a billion-dollar space station hurtling through space isn’t a very good idea, but alcohol can also damage the ISS in other ways. Alcohol-conta

While the choice of refreshments for astronauts has grown considerably in recent years, they continue to crave the spicier things in life – specifically hot sauce. Since the 1960s astronauts have noted that their taste buds don’t work as effectively

Of course, food consumption is just the start of a complex set of digestive processes that end – quite literally – at the other end. With no gravity, going to the toilet in space is a tricky procedure. On Glenn’s first flight there were no provisions

For over 50 years, scientists have found that the Standard Model of particle physics has performed well in the face of rigorous testing. It has been able to accurately predict the behaviour of the universe’s fundamental particles, as shown in numerou

Muons have an average lifetime of just 2.2 microseconds. To put that into perspective, there are a million microseconds in a second. And that includes you! Muons have strong penetrative power, and about 10,000 of them pass through our bodies every mi

A new study suggests volcanoes may lurk on the seabed of Europa, which harbours a vast ocean of salty water beneath its icy shell. Active volcanoes could power deep-sea hydrothermal systems, environments rich in chemical energy that potential Europa

Entropy – or disorder – is created every time a clock ticks. Now scientists working with a tiny clock have proven a simple relationship: the more accurate a clock runs, the more entropy it generates. “If you want your clock to be more accurate, you’v

From one of the brightest stars in the entire sky to one of the dimmest, Mira’s dazzling qualities have been fascinating scientists for centuries. Located 350 light years away in the constellation of Cetus (the Whale), Mira – officially designated Om

As we all know, planets come in many different sizes, and you only have to look at our Solar System to see how varied they can be. Just take Mercury as the smallest, for example, and Jupiter as the most humongous. If you had enough Mercurys at your d

Astronomers have found thousands of exoplanets since 1992, and it stands to reason that they are able to discover them more easily when they are larger, hence the greater number of gas giants. As you would expect, when comparing other planets to the

It sure seems that way! The centre of every galaxy we’ve been able to examine in detail has proved to be the host of a supermassive black hole. The most famous recent addition to our understanding is the directly imaged shadow of the supermassive bla

A conjunction is an alignment of objects at the same celestial longitude. The conjunction of the Moon and the planets is determined with reference to the Sun. A planet is in conjunction with the Sun when it and Earth are aligned on opposite sides of

Constellation: Aquarius Magnitude: -2.7 AM/PM: AM Our Planet of the Month this issue is the largest planet in the Solar System: mighty Jupiter. Between mid-July and mid-August Jupiter will be visible all through the night. Rising in the ESE at around

Take a quick look at any map of the Moon and you will see that it is covered with many fascinating features, some even visible to the naked eye. On any night when our planet’s natural satellite is visible in your sky, you will be able to look at it t

The brightest star in Cygnus, but only the 19th-brightest star in the sky, Deneb is a blue supergiant star so huge it would swallow Earth if put in the Sun’s place. It is around 2,616 light years away and is roughly 20,000 times more luminous than ou

Many think the summer sky is too bright to allow observation of ‘faint’ and ‘fuzzy’ deep-sky objects, but if you stay up late the sky is just dark enough to let you see some lovely sights. Around one and two in the morning – providing the sky isn’t l

Location: Dublin, Ireland Telescope: Solarscope SV-60 Solarview H-alpha “My interest in astronomy began when I was a teenager. Although I do a great deal of astronomy during the night – observing galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, planets and the cons

Cost: £325 (approx. $451) From: Amazon Type: Refractor Aperture: 4.01” Focal length: 25.98” With the Celestron Omni XLT Omni 102, the sky-watcher gets a refractor that exudes quality. Aimed at intermediate-level astronomers with a reasonable knowledg

Cost: £19.99 / $29 From: firebox.com 1 According to scientists, Sagittarius B2 – a giant c loud of gas and dust 390 light years from the centre of the Milky Way – ‘smells’ like rum and ‘tastes’ like raspberries. Why not treat yourself to a drink that

Carruthers’ distinguished career gifted the scientific community with bold new instruments and many firsts. He is famed for his outstanding contributions to science and technology, inventing an ultraviolet observatory that would eventually take pride