Hacker News with Generative AI: Astronomy

1561 Celestial Phenomenon over Nuremberg (wikipedia.org)
An April 1561 broadsheet by Hans Glaser described a mass sighting of celestial phenomena or unidentified flying objects (UFO) above Nuremberg (then a Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire). Ufologists have speculated that these phenomena may have been extraterrestrial spacecraft. Skeptics assert that the phenomenon was likely to have been another atmospheric phenomenon, such as a sun dog,[1] although the print doesn't fit the usual classic description of the phenomena.[2][3]

History, UFOs, Astronomy, Germany

11 points by handfuloflight 2 days ago | 0 comments

Terence Tao on how we measure the cosmos – Distance ladder [video] (youtube.com)

Cosmology, Mathematics, Astronomy, Video, Science

14 points by ProAm 2 days ago | 0 comments

Euclid reveals an Einstein ring around a nearby galaxy (nasaspaceflight.com)
Using the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope, astronomers have accidentally found a complete Einstein ring around a nearby galaxy known as NGC 6505.

Astronomy, Space Telescopes, Galaxies, Einstein Ring

6 points by LorenDB 4 days ago | 0 comments

Vatican Astronomer Releases 'A Jesuit's Guide to the Stars' (vaticannews.va)
The latest book from the director of the Vatican Observatory combines personal reflection with a detailed history of Jesuit engagement with astronomy.

Astronomy, Religion, History, Books

13 points by reaperducer 4 days ago | 0 comments

Extreme supersonic winds measured on a planet outside our solar system (phys.org)
Astronomers have discovered extremely powerful winds pummeling the equator of WASP-127b, a giant exoplanet.

Space, Exoplanets, Astronomy, Planetary Science

85 points by PaulHoule 6 days ago | 58 comments

Curiosity rover captures colorful clouds drifting over Mars (phys.org)
Red-and-green-tinted clouds drift through the Martian sky in a new set of images captured by NASA's Curiosity rover using its Mastcam—its main set of "eyes."

Space Exploration, Mars, Astronomy, Curiosity Rover

5 points by bookofjoe 7 days ago | 1 comments

Astronomers Amazed by Perfect 'Einstein Ring' Gleaming in Space (sciencealert.com)
Around a galaxy just 590 million light-years away, astronomers have discovered a stunning example of one of the rarest phenomena in our skies: a perfect ring of light.

Astronomy, Space, Cosmology, Gravitational Lensing

6 points by bookofjoe 8 days ago | 2 comments

First Ultra-High Energy Neutrino Detected in Deep-Sea Telescope (phys.org)
An extraordinary event consistent with a neutrino with an estimated energy of about 220 PeV (220 x 1015 electron volts or 220 million billion electron volts), was detected on February 13, 2023, by the ARCA detector of the kilometer cubic neutrino telescope (KM3NeT) in the deep sea.

Physics, Astronomy, Neutrinos, Telescopes

8 points by kregasaurusrex 8 days ago | 1 comments

James Webb Space Telescope redirected to study asteroid 2024 YR4 (blogs.esa.int)
Astronomers will use the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to improve our understanding of the size and orbit of asteroid 2024 YR4, which has a very small chance of impacting Earth in 2032.

Space Exploration, Asteroids, Astronomy, NASA

8 points by belter 8 days ago | 0 comments

Did LIGO just see its most important gravitational wave? (bigthink.com)
It’s hard to believe, but here in 2025, we’re less than a full decade into the era of gravitational wave astronomy.

Gravitational Waves, Astronomy, Science, Physics

11 points by xqcgrek2 9 days ago | 0 comments

Lisa: What the Revolutionary Gravitational Wave Observatory Will See (gizmodo.com)
LISA, a $1.6 billion gravitational wave observatory set to launch next decade, will revolutionize the way we see gravitational waves—the infinitesimal perturbations of spacetime first predicted over a century ago and only detected eight years ago.

Space Exploration, Astronomy, Physics, Gravitational Waves

4 points by rbanffy 10 days ago | 0 comments

Euclid telescope captures Einstein ring revealing warping of space (theguardian.com)
The Euclid space telescope has captured a rare phenomenon called an Einstein ring that reveals the extreme warping of space by a galaxy’s gravity.

Space, Astronomy, Einstein, Physics, Gravity

30 points by xps 10 days ago | 1 comments

Milky Way over the Australian Pinnacles (nasa.gov)
What strange world is this?

Astronomy, Photography, Australia

5 points by kaycebasques 11 days ago | 0 comments

How Far Away Could We Detect Ourselves? (universetoday.com)
New research asks if an ETI with our current level of technology could detect our technosignatures, and from how far away.

Extraterrestrial Intelligence, Space Exploration, Science, Astronomy

11 points by amichail 12 days ago | 1 comments

Newly discovered asteroid now has a slightly higher risk of hitting Earth (cnn.com)

Space, Astronomy, Asteroids, Earth

4 points by speckx 12 days ago | 0 comments

Terence Tao on how we measure the cosmos, Part 1 [video] (youtube.com)

Mathematics, Astronomy, Video, Science

10 points by vo2maxer 12 days ago | 2 comments

Asteroid's chances of hitting Earth in 2032 just got higher (theguardian.com)
It might not be the world-ending apocalypse foretold in the Netflix drama Don’t Look Up, but astronomers have significantly upped the odds of a direct hit from a giant asteroid currently hurtling towards Earth.

Astronomy, Space, Asteroids, Earth, Science

6 points by belter 13 days ago | 1 comments

2024YR4 Collision Chance is now 1.9% (wikipedia.org)

Space, Astronomy, Near-Earth Objects, Risk

13 points by spectraldrift 15 days ago | 4 comments

Dyson Tree (wikipedia.org)
A Dyson tree is a hypothetical genetically engineered plant (perhaps resembling a tree) capable of growing inside a comet, suggested by the physicist Freeman Dyson.

Hypothetical Concepts, Science, Astronomy, Genetics, Space Exploration

6 points by bookofjoe 17 days ago | 0 comments

Exploring Nine Simultaneous Transients on April 12th, 1950 (2021) (nature.com)

Astronomy, Scientific Research, History, Data Analysis, 1950s

32 points by jandrewrogers 18 days ago | 5 comments

Asteroid fragments upend theory of how life on Earth bloomed (nature.com)
Fragments of the asteroid Bennu, carefully collected and ferried to Earth by a robotic spacecraft, contain the building blocks for life, NASA announced today.

Astronomy, Science

13 points by keepamovin 19 days ago | 0 comments

Ultra-massive white dwarf reveals 19 pulsation modes, a new record (phys.org)
Using the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and the Apache Point Observatory (APO), an international team of astronomers has detected 19 pulsation modes in an ultra-massive white dwarf known as WD J0135+5722.

Astronomy, White Dwarfs, Pulsars, Scientific Discoveries

5 points by wglb 20 days ago | 1 comments

Asteroid YR24; now at 1.6% impact probability in 2032 (scientificamerican.com)
In late December astronomers using the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Chile observed a new asteroid near our planet.

Space, Asteroids, Science, Astronomy

12 points by fghorow 20 days ago | 2 comments

NASA's Asteroid Bennu Sample Reveals Mix of Life's Ingredients (nasa.gov)
Studies of rock and dust from asteroid Bennu delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security–Regolith Explorer) spacecraft have revealed molecules that, on our planet, are key to life, as well as a history of saltwater that could have served as the “broth” for these compounds to interact and combine.

Space Exploration, Astronomy, Science, Chemistry, Biology

106 points by zrkrlc 20 days ago | 23 comments

JWST shocks the world with colliding neutron star discovery (bigthink.com)
Where do the heaviest elements in the Universe come from? If you were like most astrophysicists during the 20th century, you might’ve said from supernova explosions: stellar cataclysms that occur either within the cores of massive stars or from stellar corpses (white dwarfs) that undergo destructive, energy-releasing events that trigger a rapid succession of nuclear fusion reactions.

Space, Astronomy, Neutron Stars, Heavy Elements

21 points by tempestn 22 days ago | 3 comments

Advanced radio telescope technology 'sifts' space for mysteries (phys.org)
The first trial of an Australian-developed technology has detected mysterious objects by sifting through signals from space like sand on a beach.

Astronomy, Technology, Radio Telescopes, Space

16 points by wglb 22 days ago | 0 comments

Astronomers discover 196-foot asteroid, 1-in-83 chance of hitting Earth in 2032 (space.com)

Astronomy, Asteroids, Earth, Space

37 points by sva_ 22 days ago | 6 comments

A new ability to pinpoint sources of fast radio bursts (news.berkeley.edu)
Astronomer Calvin Leung was excited last summer to crunch data from a newly commissioned radio telescope to precisely pinpoint the origin of repeated bursts of intense radio waves — so-called fast radio bursts (FRBs) — emanating from somewhere in the northern constellation Ursa Minor.

Astronomy, Space, Radio Telescopes

74 points by gmays 23 days ago | 10 comments

IAC confirms existence of a Super-earth in the habitable zone of a Sun-like Star (iac.es)
The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the Universidad de La Laguna (ULL) has confirmed the discovery of a super-Earth orbiting in the habitable zone of HD 20794, a nearby Sun-like star.

Astronomy, Exoplanets, Habitable Zones

421 points by ohjeez 23 days ago | 281 comments

Astronomers seek global ban on space advertising (spacenews.com)
WASHINGTON — Astronomers are calling on nations to ban advertising in space that can be seen from the ground, calling it the latest threat to the dark and quiet sky.

Astronomy, Space, Advertising, Environmental Issues

52 points by belter 25 days ago | 22 comments