Space

“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.” -Stephen Hawking Artificial intelligence (AI) has helped scientists and astronomers develop new methods that determine the long-term habitability of exoplanets, orbiting more than one star.

In 2008, in the Nubian Desert (Sudan), scientists discovered a meteorite with diamonds, surrounded by layers of graphite. This asteroid-turned-meteor that hit the Earth was 4 meters in diameter and came to be known as 2008 TC3. This body was considered as a compelling discovery because it revealed many secrets, dating back to the beginning of our solar system.

The term 'dark matter' may sound mysterious and sinister. However, it has a role to play in keeping galaxies like ours together, and also, other types of galaxies elsewhere in the universe.

NASA has just announced plans for their next launch that will propel a robotic vehicle to the red planet. The US space authority is working with United Launch Alliance to put its new InSight craft on a northern region of Mars. The team of experts driving this mission have worked out a window, in May, that will last for a short time. The launch will be conducted in a manner that will help InSight into its ideal orbit and subsequent trajectory, toward its destination.

A great amount of scientific work goes into finding out exactly what happens at the center of our galaxy. This research is important for numerous reasons, not considering that everything in the Milky Way may be pulled into that heart.

An international team of astrophysicists have reported the successful imaging of Icarus, a single star whose properties suggest that it is located approximately 9 billion light years away from Earth. This new finding indicates that Icarus is possibly the remotest body in the universe, that humans have detected till date.

Black holes and their activity are typically tracked with spectral telescopy. This is because the actions they are best known for – the destruction of matter that gets too close – have become associated with certain types of emissions in the optical to X-ray ranges.

Dubbed the world’s most powerful operational rocket is Falcon Heavy, manufactured by US entrepreneur Elon Musk’s space technology company, SpaceX. It is currently the highest capacity rocket, and could, in the near future, enable humans to travel into space, to other planets or maybe even the moon!

For decades, scientists have been using long-range probes and telescopes to discover and study the bodies that inhabit our galaxy and beyond. The results have sparked numerous reports on deep-space phenomena and bodies such as stars, nebulae and black holes.

NASA’s hotly awaited teleconference last night didn’t reveal the existence of alien life, as some had hoped for against all odds, but it did reveal something just as exciting: A solar system with as many planets as our own.

NASA and Google have been collaborating on a project using NASA’s Kepler telescope and Google’s powerful Artificial Intelligence technology. The findings are due to be released at a news conference on Thursday December 14.

America has big plans to begin new mission into space, which will, as President Donald Trump stated on November 11: “Refocus America’s space program on human exploration and discovery.”