The Space/Cosmos Thread

[oakmoss&amber]

https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages

[fujee]

They're even better than I imagined. Unbelievable.

[Magrathea]

Amazing results, beyond expectations truly, took a sweet time coming but so far is worth every penny! The science that will come from that mission will revolutionize our understanding of the universe and our place in it.

[fujee]

This new image of Jupiter is pretty spectacular...

[Orbited insanitarium]

This new image of Jupiter is pretty spectacular...

Astounding. I'll put it on the dedicated thread.

[Frindia]

The Juno Spacecraft orbiting the icy moon Europa around Jupiter. I have been fascinated by this moon for many years. I remember an astrophysicist saying it would be the most plausible location in our solar system to go ice fishing



"The apparent youth and smoothness of the surface have led to the hypothesis that a water ocean exists beneath the surface, which could conceivably harbor extraterrestrial life."

First JWST, then DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) to Dimorphos, now the flyby of Europa. Big space year.

[Frindia]

https://starwalk.space/en/news/hybrid-s ... arwalk-ios

Last Hybrid Solar Eclipse took place in 2013. The next 3 to occur will be 4/20/23, 3/2031, then none until 2164.

[steeldancer-x]

https://starwalk.space/en/news/hybrid-s ... arwalk-ios

Last Hybrid Solar Eclipse took place in 2013. The next 3 to occur will be 4/20/23, 3/2031, then none until 2164.

Australia/South Pacific friends, yall better tell us every little detail

[Frindia]

https://www.youtube.com/live/bQo08JRY0iM?feature=share

Public Meeting on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (Official NASA Broadcast)

[Alvin]

https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/ ... discovery/

Pretty excited by the discovery a couple months back of dimethyl sulfide on exoplanet K2-18b’s atmosphere. Apparently on Earth it’s only made by living organisms. Even just the fact that the chemical structure of a distant planet can be detected is mind-boggling.

It’s an ocean planet, so there’s not likely to be beings like us, but maybe some form of alien algae or seaweed. If that was confirmed somehow, then the likelihood of further planets with life would skyrocket (so to speak).

[chzi]

I can't believe that I've missed this thread completely previously. Right up my alley.

Guess you've all heard the news by now...
Since yesterday it's official that signs of life has been found on Mars.

Houston, we have a first ever state-approved extraterrestrial biomarker, right? That's a rather huge step...!

(only last year I was reading articles from prominent astronomers who were speculating that Earth could be the only place with life in all of the Universe, oh how ... silly? Doesn't cut it. Ok I'll just write it. Stupid. Yes, it's stupid to be so narrow-minded, I have to say

Peace out

[WATER_CAN-_-]

warrant consideration as ‘potential biosignatures’, that is, “a feature that is consistent with biological processes and that, when encountered, challenges the researcher to attribute it either to inanimate or to biological processes, compelling them to gather more data before reaching a conclusion as to the presence or absence of life"

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09413-0

[Josh]

warrant consideration as ‘potential biosignatures’, that is, “a feature that is consistent with biological processes and that, when encountered, challenges the researcher to attribute it either to inanimate or to biological processes, compelling them to gather more data before reaching a conclusion as to the presence or absence of life"

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09413-0

Yeah, very interesting stuff, but unless we can get samples back to Earth (a huge undertaking) and examine with a mass spectrometer or whatever, we won't know for sure if it's biological. That's my understanding anyway.