Over the next five years, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is expected to reveal more information on the expansion of the universe, dark matter and distant planets.
Somewhere thousands of light years away, colorful clouds paint space with blotches and swirls of light and color – but the images are too faint to see by the naked eye. Amateur astrophotographers in Champaign-Urbana discuss the unique challenges of astrophotography and what makes central Illinois a great place for capturing images of cosmic wonders.
An interstellar comet is currently traveling through our solar system at 200 times the speed of sound. Astronomers around the world, including in Champaign-Urbana, are eager to see what the fast-moving space rock can teach us about the universe — and ourselves.
We are in what many astronomers are calling the era of “big data” in astronomy. As observation technology advances, the amount of data collected grows, resulting in data sets that are astronomical.
Typically, when spacecraft are at risk of collision, operators communicate with one another to decide who’s going to move. NASA and SpaceX recently tested an approach to automate this process for their spacecraft.
Black holes get a bad rap in science fiction. They’re often portrayed as massive monsters of unrelenting hunger, gobbling up spaceships, planets and Matthew McConaughey. But these depictions aren’t really accurate.