The lunar far side, always in shadow from Earth, can protect radio astronomy instruments from noise.
China’s Moon Mission will Probe Cosmic Dark Ages

May 16, 2018

From Science: On 21 May, China plans to launch a satellite with a vital but unglamorous mission. From a vantage point beyond the moon, Queqiao, as the satellite is called, will relay data from Chang'e 4, a lander and rover that is supposed to touch down on the lunar far...

Moonset
What would happen if the moon suddenly disappeared?

May 7, 2018

From Popular Science: The moon is more than just a pretty face to gaze upon at night. It helps direct our ocean currents and tides, the movement of Earth’s atmosphere and climate, and even the tilt of our planet’s axis. So what would happen to Earth, and us, if it...

Owens Valley Radio Observatory in California hosts the LEDA experiment
Physicists in Earth’s Remotest Corners Race to Reproduce ‘Cosmic Dawn’ Signal

May 2, 2018

From Nature: Researchers are heading to some of the most remote spots on Earth — from the Tibetan Plateau to an island in the sub-Antarctic ocean — to try to capture an enigmatic radio signal from the early Universe. This grand search, which could even involve a mission to the...

Concept image of a MX-1 lander on the lunar surface.
Private Companies Took Over Rocket Launches. Can They Do the Same For Moon Landers?

May 1, 2018

From Popular Mechanics: NASA's support of private spaceflight has helped spur competition between companies like SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, and Blue Origin, and that rocket race has driven launch costs to historic lows. The next step will give industry a chance to take the reins a little farther from home...

Boeing Deep Space Gateway
NASA Shapes Science Plan for Deep-Space Outpost Near the Moon

March 15, 2018

From Space.com: NASA is pressing forward on plans to build a Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, an outpost for astronauts positioned in the space near Earth's moon. According to NASA, the Gateway will not only be a place to live, learn and work around the moon but will also support an array...

First Stars Envisioned illustration NSF
Why Finding The First Stars In Our Universe Puts Us Closer To The Big Bang

March 12, 2018

From Colorado Public Radio: Astronomers have detected the first stars ever to shine in the universe, an event that happened more than 13 billion years ago. No one’s actually seen them -- scientists picked up their radio waves. But Doug Duncan, director emeritus of the Fiske Planetarium in Boulder, says...

Photograph of the EDGES experiment showing the antenna used to verify the original measurements photo courtesy of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Astronomers Use Radio Waves to Look Back at First Stars in the Universe

March 2, 2018

From KJZZ 91.5 Radio: The story of the universe as we know it and the planet we live on begins with the first star. In 2016, the Hubble Telescope measured the oldest known galaxy in the universe — one that formed 400 million years after the Big Bang. A group...

Falcon Heavy at KSC by Jay Bennett
Falcon Heavy for the Outer Solar System

March 2, 2018

From Popular Mechanics: "If that thing goes up 200 feet and explodes, I'm jumping in the water"—so says one of the tens of thousands of spectators who made the pilgrimage to NASA's Kennedy Space Center. We're looking at Elon Musk's Falcon Heavy rocket on the launch pad about three miles...

Stars with Galaxy NASA image
Scientists Discover Possible link between Dark Matter and Super-cooled Star Formation

March 1, 2018

From BGR Media: Scientists have long attempted to paint a detailed picture of what the universe looked like in the immediate aftermath of the big bang, and new research suggests that some of their most basic assumptions have been entirely incorrect. Researchers studying some of the most ancient regions of...

Nature logo
Possible Interaction between Baryons and Dark-matter Particles Revealed by the First Stars

March 1, 2018

From Nature: The cosmic radio-frequency spectrum is expected to show a strong absorption signal corresponding to the 21-centimetre-wavelength transition of atomic hydrogen around redshift 20, which arises from Lyman-α radiation from some of the earliest stars. By observing this 21-centimetre signal—either its sky-averaged spectrum or maps of its fluctuations, obtained...

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