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Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons has recently emerged as a top priority in the search for alien life. NASA has already announced their plans to send a robot to the moon with plans to carry out an investigation, but it is very possible that the agency might be beaten by a Russian billionaire. Yuri Milner has used his enormous wealth multiple times to advance the our current knowledge and understandings of the cosmos. For example, he has collaborated with physicist Stephen Hawking in creating an idea of an interstellar spacecraft. This concept has become a key component in the project named Breakthrough Starshot . Currently, Milner has taken on a new project. He plans to send an inexpensive probe to the moon Enceladus in hopes of finding life in one form or another in the geysers that are on its surface. He suspects that a mission that is backed by a major space agency (such as NASA, for example,) can possibly take as long as a decade to truly materialize. He also believes that t...

A team led by NASA has found evidence of an enigmatic planet whose properties are so peculiar and unusual, that it brings into question everything astronomers know about these types of planets. Planet WASP-18b is approximately 325 light years away from Earth and its mass is approximately 10 times greater than that of Jupiter.  Around it is a smothering atmosphere of carbon monoxide, and the planet is almost entirely devoid of any traces of water and has extremely high temperatures. Obviously, all of this makes life incredibly unimaginable on this planet. What is particularly interesting about this planet is that having an upper atmosphere filled with carbon monoxide is pretty unheard of in the universe so far. Kyle Sheppard of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, who is also lead author of the paper published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters said the following about the discovery: “the composition of WASP-18b defies all expectations. We don't know of any other extrasolar plane...

Jupiter, the enormous gas giant is known to have breathtaking patterns across its surface, with images proving its beauty true. Now, new photographs courtesy of NASA’s Juno spacecraft. No, your eyes are not fooling you that is in fact an image of the gas giant’s surface, not an abstract painting created by the hand of an artist. Breathtaking screenshot of Jupiter's atmosphere from short movie "Wanderers" This image was processed by citizen scientists Gerald Eichstadt, and Sean Doran who enhanced the image’s best aspects and despite all of this, the swirls remain fully original.   NASA captures stunning image of Jupiter and its clouds NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/ Seán Doran) Jupiter is unique and nothing on Earth compares to the complexity, ferocity, and beauty of Jupiter’s storms which intertwine with each other within the planet’s atmosphere which forms Jupiter’s infamous storms. The images presented here were taken from a distance of just 11,747 miles (...

China’s Dark Matter Foray Quantum physics has seen tremendous advances and a new hunt is in place: the search for dark energy. As this search continues by American and European scientists, China continues to close the gap in scientific prowess. For example, according to recently reported results , China-led space mission has revealed auspicious symptoms of dark matter.  Despite no direct evidence of dark matter was found, this still remains the first observational data courtesy of China’s very first mission exclusively designed for astrophysics. Welcome the dark horse in the competition. For centuries, the hunt for dark matter has haunted the dreams of astrophysicists. Ever since Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky first discovered that the mass of all of the particles within the Coma cluster of galaxies was responsible for a mere one percent of the mass required to generate sufficient gravity necessary for the galaxy in order to protect itself from dissembling. This was the spark to a ...

According to the China Academy and a collection of scientists of Space Technology (CAST), NASA’s recent results “reconfirm” what they had already achieved and have ideas and plans to implement it as quickly as possible into their satellites. China also claims that they have already constructed an operating prototype of the engine that is claimed to be impossible to constructed for it is a reactionless engine.  There are also rumors that they are already testing it in orbit aboard the Tiangong-2 space laboratory. This EmDrive, radical and fuel-free has has also recently stirred up a controversy after a paper was published by NASA, in which NASA appeared to suggest that they had successfully accomplished such a feat. If this is true, the implementations of this technology would be massive. For example, the modern satellite would become half its size and not require fuel. Fantastic. IBTimes UK reports that at a press conference located in Beijing, China, researchers with CAST confirm...

Imagine this: you are on a space exploration adventure and nothing could be better. Your diet is fantastic, consisting of all the astronauts typically eat and your eyes are the witnesses to beautiful celestial wonders. You look back towards our tiny, blue marble of a planet and you remember that in just a few hours, you are returning from your exotic travels.  Everything is normal, all works, nothing to fear about. However, so you thought. Right before going back down to Earth, someone accidentally opened the airlock and you found yourself floating in the vacuum of space completely unprotected, and devoid of oxygen. Panic immediately sets in because you know just how horrific it is to be stranded in such a vacuum. Being in the black void of the heavens just as you are poses a danger like no other that will definitely be the cause of your death. Even if after a few moments you found your way back to safety once more, there is no possible way reverse a substantial amount of damage y...

At times, scientists observe flashes of radio bursts with astounding levels of energy, which are called Fast Radio Bursts (FRB’S). Such a flash was observed in 2001, a brilliant burst of light breaching the skies was observed. This event was so powerful that in the matter of seconds, power was released that was equivalent to that of 500 million suns. Just as fast as it had come, the signal disappeared in the matter of milliseconds.  Ever since such an occurrence in 2001, approximately 30 of such flashes have been identified. However, new estimates indicate that these flashes occur almost every second. Dr.Avi Loeb, science professor of Harvard University, says that “in the time it takes you to drink a cup of coffee, hundreds of FRB’s may have gone off somewhere in the universe.”  The origins these flashes remain unknown but an explanation may have been found. The FRB 121102 is the only one of such flashes that repeats. In fact, scientists have observed at least 150 flashes fro...