astronomy
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The Hope Probe Got an Unprecedented Look at a Mysterious Martian Moon
For more than two years, the UAE’s Hope probe has been orbiting Mars to gain new insights about the planet’s atmosphere. But a slight change to its orbit placed the Emirati mission closer to Mars’ moon Deimos, revealing a possible planetary origin to the awkwardly shaped space rock.
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New NASA Official Took Her Oath of Office on Carl Sagan’s ‘Pale Blue Dot’
When Dr. Makenzie Lystrup was sworn in as the new director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre last week, she didn’t take her oath of office on the Bible or the U.S. Constitution, but rather on a tome revered by space enthusiasts everywhere: Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot.
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Astronomers Stunned by Brightest Gamma Ray Burst Ever Recorded
On October 9, 2022, a gamma ray burst brighter than any before seen swept across Earth and space-based detectors. A team scrambled to take follow-up observations at radio wavelengths, and they confirmed that the burst was about 70 times brighter than anything recorded previously.
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‘Oumuamua’s Bizarre Acceleration May Have Been Caused by Hydrogen, Not Alien Technology
In October 2017, astronomers detected an interstellar object travelling through our solar system for the first time. Theories abounded as to the nature of the oblong object, named ‘Oumuamua, which accelerated as it made its transit. Now, a team of researchers suggests a straightforward explanation: The interstellar interloper was a comet that was releasing hydrogen…