Wissenschaft

Photographing stars and galaxy clusters, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has released the images. Marking the launching of the spacecraft - July 23 1999 - the agency has released the breathtaking images. Within the incredible gallery, Chandra’s images also show an incredible view of Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole at...

Asked by: Simon Makin, Scotland

On May 18, 1980, Mount St Helens erupted in the US state of Washington. The event, which measured 5 on the Volcanic Explosively Index, has been declared the most disastrous in modern US history. A huge column of volcanic material rose 80,000ft into the atmosphere and deposited ash in 11 states, killing...

Scientific Reports published the research from academics from Northumbria University, the University of Bradford, the University of Hull as well as Azerbaijan’s Nasir al-Din al-Tusi Shamakhi Astrophysical Observatory. The authors claim the increase in global temperatures by 1C (33.8F) was due to natural solar cycles as well as the Sun’s...

Elon Musk yesterday posted more photographs of the SpaceX Starship Mk1.Mk1 is of two competing prototypes for a spacecraft the cavalier South African billionaire hopes will one day fly to humans to Mars.Mr Musk captioned the photo with: “Adding the rear moving fins to Starship Mk1 in Boca Chica, Texas.”This...

On October 8, 2015, NASA published its strategy for human exploration and colonisation of Mars. The concept operates through three distinct phases leading up to fully sustained civilisation on the Red Planet, which they hope to implement sometime in the mid-2030s. However, in 2016, SpaceX publicly announced a comprehensive vision to rival NASA...

This year has seen some spectacular celestial events, from a total lunar eclipse to a trio of Super Moons. And 2019 is about to witness another incredible astronomical event, the Full Flower Moon. Also known as the Blue Moon, this breathtaking sight will not appear again for another two years.May’s...

NASA’s breathtaking photo was snapped by the historic Hubble telescope using the Wide Field Camera 3 instrument (WFC3). The photo shows the distant galaxy NGC 7773 in is full glory hundreds of millions of miles away. The galaxy, much like our very own Milky Way, is a so-called barred spiral...

The asteroid, called 2019 RA, is 30 meters wide, making it bigger than the blue whale – the largest animal to have ever existed. The asteroid, which is travelling at an astonishing speed of 3.5 miles per second, or 12,600 MPH, is predicted to pass Earth at a distance of...

SpaceX has revolutionised the business of building rockets in less then two decades. Since 2002 SpaceX’s reusable rocket technology has become the backbone of NASA’s space program. However despite SpaceX’s notable successes, the hyper-competitive space industry has repeatedly led to friction between Elon Musk’s company and the US government.SpaceX wants...

A total solar eclipse is arguably the most stunning celestial event a stargazer will witness in his lifetime. Today’s total solar eclipse is the first since 2017’s Great American Eclipse. Those lucky enough to live in Chile and Argentina are enjoying the best views of the eclipse. And select areas...

An ancient mutation that spread through humans after the advent of cooking may protect people against high blood sugar and diabetes today, scientists have said.Researchers at University College London (UCL) discovered the mutation while studying a gene called CLTCL1, which is heavily involved in removing sugar from the bloodstream.While a...

In your obituary of Chris Kraft, former director of Nasa’s flight operations and the Johnson Space Center (Journal, 3 September 2019), you state he oversaw the missions to the first space station, Skylab. The title of “first space station” properly goes to Salyut 1, launched by the Soviet Union in...

Two Nobel laureates and other top scientists are accusing Boris Johnson of destroying Britain’s global reputation by behaving “like a clown” and pursuing a no-deal Brexit that would leave UK science “dead” for years.The government has assured anxious academics it still has a clear ambition to join the European commission’s...

The recent shocking UN report on the threatened extinction of one million species has focused global attention on the crucial role of biodiversity in the health of the planet. Almost exactly 30 years ago, the first warning sounded that amphibian species were already in potentially catastrophic freefall. Tim Halliday, who...

The Sonoma County fires in northern California ravaged over 77,000 acres in just 10 days after starting on October 23. Now, NASA has revealed the true extent of the damage as the fires have left a black scar on the face of the Earth. The image shows a long region...

Mach 5 equates to astonishing 6,174 kilometres per hour (3,836 miles per hour) – almost three times faster than Concorde. Science minister Chris Skidmore said the news was further evidence of the way in which the UK's economy was poised to take off after Brexit.Reaction Engines, based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire,...

A flood basalt is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that cover large stretches of land with basalt lava. They can be seen in areas such as the Deccan Traps of India and get their names after the Swedish word trappa – meaning stairs – due to the characteristic geomorphology of many associated landscapes. Large igneous...

The glowing orb in the centre of NASA’s Hubble photo is the distant galaxy NGC 4621, also known as Messier 59 (M59). Messier 59 is one of the largest elliptical galaxies in the galactic cluster Virgo, which is home to some 2,000 galaxies. And right at the centre of this...

Dark matter permeates the universe all around us even if its “dark” nature means we cannot detect it. Astrophysicists estimate about 85 percent of the universe is built from the mystery substance. Baryonic matter, or the kind from which everything we can touch and feel is built, only accounts for...

Nestled among the red-rock cliffs of Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon, California condor chicks No 1,000 and 1,001 blinked into this world. Their birth signalled success for a decades-long program to bring North America’s largest bird back from the brink of extinction.As a result of hunting, diminishing food...