Space

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Space

    Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin revealed stars’ composition and broke gender barriers

    The book ‘What Stars Are Made Of’ celebrates the life of astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin.

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  2. Space

    A black hole eruption marks the most powerful explosion ever spotted

    Hundreds of millions of years ago, a black hole blasted out roughly 100 billion times as much energy as the sun is expected to emit in its lifetime.

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  3. Planetary Science

    An ancient magma ocean may have once driven Earth’s magnetic field

    Computer simulations of molten silicate under extreme temperatures and pressures may have just filled in a gap in the history of Earth’s magnetism.

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  4. Space

    50 years ago, scientists were studying why the sun’s corona is so hot

    In 1970, scientists were hoping to learn why the sun’s corona is so hot during an eclipse. Fifty years later, the corona’s magnetic field may hold some answers.

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  5. Planetary Science

    China’s moon rover revealed what lies beneath the lunar farside

    China’s Yutu-2 rover found layers of fine sand and coarse gravel under the surface of the moon’s farside.

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  6. Space

    NASA icon Katherine Johnson has died at the age of 101

    The “Hidden Figure” captured the public’s admiration after the story of her career was publicized in a 2016 book and film.

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  7. Space

    What NASA’s InSight lander has learned about Mars’ magnetism and quakes

    In its first 10 months, the InSight lander detected Marsquakes and an unexpectedly strong magnetic field at its landing site on the Red Planet.

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  8. Physics

    This fundamental constant of nature remains the same even near a black hole

    A number that sets the strength of electromagnetic interactions isn’t altered by the extreme gravity around the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole.

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  9. Astronomy

    Molecular oxygen has been spotted beyond the Milky Way for the first time

    Astronomers have detected molecular oxygen in another galaxy for the first time. The discovery is only the third sighting beyond our solar system.

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  10. Space

    An ancient galaxy grew massive — then oddly stopped making stars

    After ferociously producing stars for a few hundred million years, this galaxy in the early universe gave up, and astronomers aren’t sure why.

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  11. Space

    ESA’s Solar Orbiter will be the first spacecraft to study the sun’s polar zones

    ESA's Solar Orbiter is now on its way to the sun, beginning a nearly two-year journey.

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  12. Earth

    Here are 5 of the weirdest auroras, including the newly spotted ‘dunes’

    A newfound type of aurora dubbed the “dunes” joins the ranks of black auroras, STEVE and other obscure auroral phenomena.

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