7th January 2020

Earth-sized exoplanet found in habitable zone

NASA reports the discovery of TOI 700 d, the first Earth-sized exoplanet in the habitable zone discovered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).

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18th December 2019

CHEOPS: Exoplanet mission blasts off

The CHEOPS telescope, a mission to study the formation of exoplanets and determine their precise radius, likely density and internal structure, was successfully launched today.

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10th December 2019

ESA commissions world's first space debris removal

ClearSpace-1, planned for launch in 2025, will be the first mission to identify and remove an item of debris from orbit.

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20th November 2019

Possible new class of black holes discovered

A new study shows there may be an entire class of black holes that astronomers did not know existed.

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5th November 2019

New observations reveal possible smallest dwarf planet in our Solar System

Astronomers have observed the large asteroid Hygiea in higher resolution than ever before, revealing it to be spherical and a likely dwarf planet candidate; possibly the smallest in our Solar System.

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9th October 2019

20 new moons of Saturn

Astronomers report the discovery of 20 new natural satellites of Saturn, taking the planet's total known number to 82, surpassing Jupiter.

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4th October 2019

3D-printed rockets to begin launching in 2021

Relativity Space aims to create the world's first entirely 3D-printed rockets, built within days rather than years. Funding has now been secured for its first commercial operations in 2021.

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26th September 2019

Most massive neutron star ever detected

A rapidly rotating pulsar is the most massive neutron star ever observed – with 2.17 solar masses placing it on the boundary of the theoretical maximum.

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25th September 2019

New climate-monitoring satellite planned for 2026

A new European mission – the Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring mission ("FORUM") – will add a crucial measurement to help understand Earth's changing climate.

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14th September 2019

A second interstellar object?

Astronomers at the Minor Planet Center report the detection of comet C/2019 Q4 (Borisov), which is likely a second interstellar object, following the earlier discovery of 'Oumuamua.

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13th September 2019

First detection of water vapour in atmosphere of habitable zone exoplanet

Astronomers report the detection of water vapour in the atmosphere of the habitable-zone exoplanet K2-18b, which may be between 0 and 40°C.

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8th September 2019

Japanese neutrino detector will observe proton decay

A new underground neutrino detector, beginning operations in the late 2020s, could make the world's first observation of proton decay, and reveal new clues as to how supernovae explosions create heavy elements.

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5th September 2019

Samsung predicts life in the year 2069

Six of Britain's leading academics and futurists have collaborated to create a vision of the future in 50 years' time.

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19th August 2019

Earthlike planet frequency estimated

The most accurate study of exoplanets to date, published by Penn State, estimates that one in six Sun-like stars host planets of a similar size and orbital period to Earth.

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13th August 2019

Mysterious brightening at the galactic core

Astronomers report a sudden brightening of Sagittarius A*, which became 75 times brighter than usual, suggesting that the supermassive black hole may have encountered another object.

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5th August 2019

Nikolai Kardashev, 1932-2019

Nikolai Kardashev, an inspiration to many in the futurist community, has died aged 87.

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