"The large-scale homogeneity of the universe makes it very difficult to believe that the structure of the universe is determined by anything so peripheral as some complicated molecular structure on a minor planet orbiting a very average star in the outer suburbs of a fairly typical galaxy."

— Steven Hawking

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Meet Callisto, Jupiter's Ancient Moon

Sky & Telescope Magazine - Wed, 06/10/2026 - 8:00am

Meet Callisto, the heavily cratered moon that's the most distant of the Galilean satellites from Jupiter.

The post Meet Callisto, Jupiter's Ancient Moon appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Categories: Astronomy

How Canadian rock duo Angine de Poitrine play with neurobiology and physics to make viral music

Scientific American.com - Wed, 06/10/2026 - 7:00am

Angine de Poitrine don't abide by the usual rules of Western music, using their own custom-built guitar to strike notes that shouldn't exist

Categories: Astronomy

Where Not to Look in the Search for ET

Universe Today - Wed, 06/10/2026 - 6:40am

When we scan the skies for signs of alien civilisations, where exactly should we be looking and perhaps more importantly, where should we not? A high school student from Ankara has just published a remarkably sophisticated answer to that question, building a filtering system that sifts nearly 1.75 million stars and identifies which ones are genuinely worth our attention. The result is a publicly available catalogue that could transform how the search for extraterrestrial intelligence allocates its most precious resource - time.

Categories: Astronomy

A Waymo nearly hit me, but I'm still optimistic about driverless cars

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Wed, 06/10/2026 - 6:37am
A near miss with a Waymo while cycling through London hasn't changed my optimistic stance on driverless cars, but we can't ever let our guard down, says Matthew Sparkes
Categories: Astronomy

A Waymo nearly hit me, but I'm still optimistic about driverless cars

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Wed, 06/10/2026 - 6:37am
A near miss with a Waymo while cycling through London hasn't changed my optimistic stance on driverless cars, but we can't ever let our guard down, says Matthew Sparkes
Categories: Astronomy

The World Cup could be a petri dish for disease. Wastewater could sound the alarm

Scientific American.com - Wed, 06/10/2026 - 6:30am

As millions of soccer fans pack FIFA World Cup venues, public health scientists created a wastewater monitoring network to forecast potential disease threats—from measles to Ebola

Categories: Astronomy

Reading the Moon in X-rays

Universe Today - Wed, 06/10/2026 - 6:25am

We've walked on the Moon, driven rovers across its surface, and analysed every gram of rock the Apollo astronauts brought home, yet we still don't have a complete picture of what the Moon is actually made of. Now a team of researchers in Japan think they've found the answer, a compact X-ray telescope, small enough to sit on a single satellite, that could map the entire lunar surface in just two years. It's an elegant solution to one of planetary science's most stubborn problems and the implications for understanding where the Moon came from could be revolutionary.

Categories: Astronomy

Astronomers Find a Four-Carbon Sugar in Deep Space

Universe Today - Wed, 06/10/2026 - 6:03am

The space between stars may seem like a barren desert, but over the past few decades scientists have been finding all sorts of interesting chemicals in it. From the precursors to proteins to the building blocks of cell membranes, there has been discovery after discovery of new molecules in the giant gas clouds between the stars. Now, a new paper available in pre-print on arXiv details the discovery of the first ever four-carbon sugar in the Interstellar Medium (ISM), and it is another brick on the path to understanding how life on Earth first developed.

Categories: Astronomy

The surprising science behind the 2026 World Cup grass

Scientific American.com - Wed, 06/10/2026 - 6:00am

How scientists are engineering the perfect World Cup pitch—one so flawless that players never notice it

Categories: Astronomy

Robots are about to overtake armed soldiers as the deciders of war

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Wed, 06/10/2026 - 2:00am
Uncrewed ground vehicles have already been tested for defending the front line by the Ukrainian military. Despite their limitations, these remotely controlled robots could be the deciding factor in many conflicts
Categories: Astronomy

Robots are about to overtake armed soldiers as the deciders of war

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Wed, 06/10/2026 - 2:00am
Uncrewed ground vehicles have already been tested for defending the front line by the Ukrainian military. Despite their limitations, these remotely controlled robots could be the deciding factor in many conflicts
Categories: Astronomy

Iron Age Britons may have removed the brains of the dead

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Tue, 06/09/2026 - 8:01pm
Scrape marks inside a skull and sharpened limb bones in a set of remains found in Scotland may be evidence of unusual Iron Age funerary rituals
Categories: Astronomy

Iron Age Britons may have removed the brains of the dead

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Tue, 06/09/2026 - 8:01pm
Scrape marks inside a skull and sharpened limb bones in a set of remains found in Scotland may be evidence of unusual Iron Age funerary rituals
Categories: Astronomy

How the new FDA-approved ingredient bemotrizinol enhances sunscreen protection

Scientific American.com - Tue, 06/09/2026 - 4:55pm

Dermatologists and skincare aficionados are excited for the U.S. to finally get a new, more protective sunscreen filter after more than 20 years of regulatory roadblocks. Here’s how bemotrizinol works

Categories: Astronomy

Flight Dynamics Research Facility Characteristics

NASA - Breaking News - Tue, 06/09/2026 - 4:47pm

1 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

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Characteristics

The Flight Dynamics Research Facility (FDRF) is a large, subsonic wind tunnel with a vertical test section for conducting flight dynamics research for stability, controllability, free-fall and aircraft spin, and spin recovery testing of atmospheric vehicles.

Characteristics
  • Test Section Dimensions: 20 ft. diam. by 24 ft. high
  • Speed: 0 – 172 ft/s (0 – 117 mph)
  • Dynamic Pressure: (0 – 35 psf)
  • Reynolds Number: 0 – 1.10×10^6 per ft.
  • Pressure: Atmospheric
  • Temperature: Actively cooled (79° F)
  • Test Gas: Air
  • Facility Height: 131 ft.

Flight Dynamics Flight Research

Aerosciences Evaluation and Test Capabilities

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Share Details Last Updated Jun 09, 2026 EditorLillian GipsonContactJim Bankejim.banke@nasa.gov Related Terms
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APOD - Tue, 06/09/2026 - 4:00pm

Over 1000 years ago, Persian astronomer


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

Alan Hale (1958-2026)

Sky & Telescope Magazine - Tue, 06/09/2026 - 3:42pm

Astronomer and comet-hunter Alan Hale passed away on Saturday, June 6th, at 68 years old in his home in Cloudcroft, New Mexico.

The post Alan Hale (1958-2026) appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Categories: Astronomy