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more about #astrophysics Quilt: It's not very often, but sometimes I really feel like I'm living in a science-fiction type future. I am so excited to see where mankind goes in my li... more » CoyoteBrown: As long as we don't name the ship Ares Seven, and get work on bubble drive tech, stat, we should be fine. more » alphanumeric1971: So, TIE fighters could actually exist then? more » robertmonsters: So, what are the chances of survival if a spaceship hit, I dunno, some random particle the size of a grain of sand. Game over? more » Jonny_eh: NOVA Science NOW recently had a great segment on this technology and the genius behind them (not literally, that would be BAD) http://www.pbs.org/wgb... more » joetato: Let's put twin ion engines on the spacecraft and make it give off a really cool whining noise as is streaks past, kinda like a fighter. Hmmmm. I wo... more » Belabras: Read about this last week. Hope they get it working. The problem with propulsion in space has always been a payload issue, so anything they can do t... more » Ruthless, If you let me: This is the rocket being developed by former astronaut Chang-Diaz right? I just watched something on PBS about this, and never was the moniker VASIMR ... more » ihfiapc: Soooo... more » Mathmos: this is why I sent io9 a tip about detection of uranium on the moon some time ago. more » LittleDragon: I remember reading something about the Russians working on something similar back in the late 90's. But it disappeared. more » NotChoinski: Does it come with Ion Brakes? more » phoenix: Well that looks menacing. more » reddingofish: Being an IT guy I wonder how much processor time that took and what computer they used to render it on. more » Mount_Prion: Needs sound FX ("psssssshhaaaaaah! mrrrreeeeeeooooow! cuuuuthhummmmmm!") and slow-mo. more » Skunky: It's really too bad that these things take so long to happen in reality, we'll never get to properly watch what happens. With that in mind, I wonder h... more » -
#spaceexploration
Earth to Mars in 39 Days
A six-month space journey away, Mars often seems an almost impossible planet to reach. But engineers are developing a new engine that could turn six months to six weeks, bringing the Red Planet much, much closer than ever before. More » -
#spaceporn
Scientists Simulate Sun Spots In The Lab
This is the first accurate, computer-generated image of a sunspot. Not only is it awesome and terrifying to behold, but it means we're one step closer to understanding the solar weather that could one day destroy the earth. More » -
#spaceporn
When Supermassive Stars Eat Their Own Young
How do stars get to be four times as massive as our own sun? By exploding and then eating the products of their own firebursts. More » -
#spaceporn
Hardcore X-Ray Death from Massive Binary Star System
You are looking right into the burning, hydrogen gas-shrouded heart of one of the biggest star nurseries that Earth astronomers have ever seen. This image was created by the European Organization for Astronomical Research (ESO), and shows part of the Gum 29 region, which researchers say is probably about 1-2 million years old (making it possibly younger than some of our hominid ancestors). Gum 29 is about 26,000 light years from Earth, at the edge of the Carina spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy. And within its bright heart are two of the most massive stars we've ever seen, in a tight orbit around each other. Want to see that binary system up close? More » -
#spaceporn
Astronomers Find "Dark Flow" Sucking Matter Out of the Universe
There is a force called "dark flow" that exists outside our universe, and it's tugging several galaxy clusters at 2 million mph toward an empty spot in space between Centaurus (pictured) and Vela. This isn't like dark matter, which exerts a more localized pull: Dark flow is a force that's operating at a universe level to push enormous chunks of matter around. Writing in Astrophysical Journal Letters, a group of astronomers say that this dark flow comes from a place where constants like time don't exist — nor do stars and galaxies. More » -
