space
In primary school, we learned that life began in the "primordial soup", that is, in the warm ocean that covered part of the young Earth. On the contrary, perhaps it did not. According to some recent research, life developed on…
space
This year the winter solstice is accompanied by a rare astronomical event: the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. The approach of the two giant planets has lasted months and has provided a spectacle that has become more fascinating each day,…
space
For the 30th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope (in orbit since 1990), NASA has released 30 extraordinary new images. These are thirty celestial bodies that are part of what is known as the Caldwell Catalogue, first published in 1995…
space
It took a good 34 months of observations by Gaia, the astronomical satellite launched by ESA (European Space Agency), to obtain the most precise 3D map of our galaxy ever made. The Milky Way now has nearly 2 billion stars,…
space
On Monday 26 October 2020, NASA revealed a sensational discovery about our Moon: there is definitely water, also on its sunlit surface. The announcement was made with a press conference streamed at 5 p.m. Italian time. The notion that there…
space
Summer has just ended but the sun has yet to start to "warm up". Our star is a huge furnace that doesn't always work the same way but, like our mood, has ups and downs. There are times when the…
space
We call them "Martians" because, in science fiction, Mars has always been the natural home of extraterrestrials. In fact, of all the planets in the solar system, Mars is the prime candidate to host life, after Earth, of course. Indeed,…
space
July nights have a special surprise in store for astronomy enthusiasts: Comet C/2020 F3 Neowise which, this month, is becoming more and more luminous to the point of being visible to the naked eye and photographable. The comet was observed…
space
While the temperatures of the last days of winter and the first shoots and buds on the trees had already announced it, on 20 March spring officially began again at 4:49 a.m. (Italian time). At that exact moment, the Sun…