Space

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Quantum Physics

    This weird quantum state of matter was made in orbit for the first time

    Bose-Einstein condensates made on the International Space Station could reach temperatures lower than any known in the universe.

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  2. Space

    The Milky Way’s giant gas bubbles were seen in visible light for the first time

    Variation in the light’s wavelengths could help scientists map the velocity of the gas that makes up the towering structures known as Fermi bubbles.

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  3. Space

    A Milky Way flash implicates magnetars as a source of fast radio bursts

    A bright radio burst seen from a magnetar in the Milky Way suggests that similar objects produce the mysterious fast radio bursts observed in other galaxies.

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  4. Space

    A weird cosmic flare called the ‘Cow’ now has company

    Scientists have now found three similar luminous, short-lived bursts of light, part of a class known as fast blue optical transients.

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  5. Planetary Science

    Meteorites might be more likely to strike near the equator

    Meteorites from Antarctica have helped scientists assess the total number likely to hit Earth every year — and where they are most likely to fall.

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  6. Space

    SpaceX’s astronaut launch marks a milestone for commercial spaceflight

    Two NASA astronauts aboard the privately built Crew Dragon capsule are the first to be sent into orbit from U.S. soil since 2011.

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  7. Space

    Half the universe’s ordinary matter was missing — and may have been found

    Astronomers have used fast radio bursts as cosmic weigh stations to tease out where the universe’s “missing matter” resides.

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  8. Physics

    A star shredded by a black hole may have spit out an extremely energetic neutrino

    A star’s fatal encounter with a black hole might have produced a neutrino with oomph.

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  9. Space

    Stunning images of swirling gas and dust may show a planet forming

    Infrared images show a spiral of gas and dust around a star 520 light-years away. A smaller, tantalizing twist hints at where a planet is coalescing.

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  10. Astronomy

    The oldest disk galaxy yet found formed more than 12 billion years ago

    A spinning disk galaxy similar to the Milky Way formed just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang, much earlier than astronomers thought was possible.

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  11. Chemistry

    Astronauts may be able to make cement using their own pee

    Lunar dust and a compound found in urine could be used to build future dwellings on the moon, a new study finds.

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  12. Tech

    Wiggling wheels could keep future rovers trucking in loose lunar soil

    A rover that wriggles through soil could climb hills on the moon or Mars that are too steep for a simple wheeled bot.

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