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Space

Trees against starry sky

Space

Why are the physical constants of the universe so perfect for life?

Conditions in our little pocket of the universe seem to be just right for life - and the much-debated anthropic principle forces us to wonder why

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In about 1.3 million years, the star system Gliese 710 is set to pass directly through our Oort Cloud, an event visualized in a dramatic scene in Encounters in the Milky Way. During its flyby, our systems will swap icy comets, flinging some out on new paths.

Space

Â鶹´«Ã½ recommends a new space show at the Hayden Planetarium

Culture
Rubin Observatory in March 2024...***..Observatorio Rubin en marzo de 2024.

Space

Why you should join a watch party for the first Vera C. Rubin images

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Astronaut Sally Ride, mission specialist on STS-7, monitors control panels from the pilot's chair on the Flight Deck. Floating in front of her is a flight procedures notebook. (Credit: NASA)

Space

Life of first US woman in space Sally Ride makes a moving documentary

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The eye is first drawn, in this new NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month, to the central mega-monster that is galaxy cluster Abell S1063. This behemoth collection of galaxies, lying 4.5 billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Grus (the Crane), dominates the scene. Looking more closely, this dense collection of heavy galaxies is surrounded by glowing streaks of light, and these warped arcs are the true object of scientists??? interest: faint galaxies from the Universe???s distant past. Abell S1063 was previously observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope???s Frontier Fields programme. It is a strong gravitational lens: the galaxy cluster is so massive that the light of distant galaxies aligned behind it is bent around it, creating the warped arcs that we see here. Like a glass lens, it focuses the light from these faraway galaxies. The resulting images, albeit distorted, are both bright and magnified ??? enough to be observed and studied. This was the aim of Hubble???s observations, using the galaxy cluster as a magnifying glass to investigate the early Universe. The new imagery from Webb???s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) takes this quest even further back in time. This image showcases an incredible forest of lensing arcs around Abell S1063, which reveal distorted background galaxies at a range of cosmic distances, along with a multitude of faint galaxies and previously unseen features. This image is what???s known as a deep field ??? a long exposure of a single area of the sky, collecting as much light as possible to draw out the most faint and distant galaxies that don???t appear in ordinary images. With 9 separate snapshots of different near-infrared wavelengths of light, totalling around 120 hours of observing time and aided by the magnifying effect of gravitational lensing, this is Webb???s deepest gaze on a single target to date. Focusing such observing power on a massive gravitational lens, like Abell S1063, therefore h

Space

Peer into the early universe as light bends around huge galaxy cluster

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Comment

Our verdict on Ringworld by Larry Niven: Nice maths, shame about Teela

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Technology

Trump’s Golden Dome defence project could spur a space arms race

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Space

One half of the moon is hotter than the other

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Life

Let’s remember that extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence

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Space

Claims of alien life are overhyped – and miss the real accomplishment

Whenever there’s even a slight chance that an exoplanet shows signs of biological activity, people understandably get excited – but it’s never been aliens, and we shouldn’t jump to conclusions, not this time or the next, says Chris Lintott

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Space

Â鶹´«Ã½ recommends The Martian – sci-fi fun for all the family

Culture

Space

Little red dots seen by JWST might be a kind of black hole ‘star’

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Space

An early hint of cosmic dawn has been seen in a distant galaxy

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Space

Is our cosmos just a membrane on the edge of a far stranger reality?

Features