by Matt Rozsa | Aug 25, 2023 | Salon.com
The ice-giant Neptune, the most distant and third largest planet in our solar system, is a distinctive dark blue ball of gas, which may appear calm but is actually throttled by a chaotic atmosphere. It’s actually the windiest place in our solar system. Despite earning the label “ice-giant” in part because of its massive size (and also because it is primarily composed of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium), Neptune is far enough away from Earth that our astronomers continue making new discoveries of this enigmatic world....
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by Matt Rozsa | Aug 23, 2023 | Salon.com
On Wednesday India joined the United States, Russia and China as one of the only nations on Earth to navigate its technology onto the surface of the Moon. Perhaps even more impressive, the Indian mission known as Chandrayaan-3 managed to land its rover in the southern polar region, the first country to do so without crashing....
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by Matt Rozsa | Jul 11, 2023 | Salon.com
Imagine an exoplanet with clouds so shiny, they make it literally the shiniest exoplanet ever discovered by humans. Meet planet LTT9779b, which according to a recent study in the scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics is covered in metallic clouds. Located 262 light-years from Earth, planet LTT9779b has an atmosphere made of silicates and metals like titanium....
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by Matt Rozsa | Jun 15, 2023 | Salon.com
While the James Webb Space Telescope is a secular achievement, the pioneering telescope nevertheless conjured up that Biblical imagery of “Let there be light!” with its most recent revelation: There could have been hundreds of ancient galaxies at the universe’s beginning, instead of only a handful, and we can still see some of that light that shone at the time....
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by Matt Rozsa | Jun 13, 2023 | Salon.com
With the exception of a few Moon landings, as far as Earth-bound life is concerned, our closest neighbor has remained utterly lifeless for as long as we’ve known. As our species overheats and pollutes the planet (but at least can make some entertaining movies about it), our celestial companion has presumably remained as dead as the very Cold War that started the Space Race....
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