Reference Terms
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Satellite
A satellite is any object that orbits another object (which is known as its primary). Satellites can be manmade or may be naturally occurring such as moons, comets, asteroids, planets, stars, and even galaxies. All masses that are part of our solar system, including the Earth and Sun, are satellites of either a planet, the Sun, or the galactic center of the Milky Way.
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Space & Time News
May 6, 2026
May 4, 2026 Artemis II proved NASA’s deep space systems are ready for the next leap. Orion survived its high-speed return with improved heat shield performance and pinpoint landing accuracy, while the SLS rocket nailed its trajectory. Even the launch pad ...
May 4, 2026 Voyager 1 just powered down a nearly 50-year-old instrument to stay alive in deep space. The spacecraft is running critically low on energy, forcing NASA to make careful sacrifices to keep its mission going. Despite the shutdown, it continues to ...
May 3, 2026 Astronomers have unleashed a powerful new AI tool called RAVEN to comb through data from NASA’s TESS mission—and it’s paying off in a big way. By analyzing millions of stars, the system has ...
Apr. 27, 2026 A group of undergraduate students pulled off something remarkable: they built their own dark matter detector and used it to probe one of physics’ biggest mysteries. Working with limited resources but plenty of creativity, they designed a ...
Apr. 12, 2026 A major international effort has produced an ultra-precise measurement of the Universe’s expansion rate, confirming it’s faster than early-Universe models predict. By linking multiple distance-measuring techniques, scientists ruled out simple ...
Apr. 10, 2026 Scientists have proposed a surprising new way to detect gravitational waves—by observing how they change the light emitted by atoms. These waves can subtly shift photon frequencies in different directions, leaving behind a detectable signature. ...
Apr. 9, 2026 Earth’s nights are steadily getting brighter overall, but the changes vary dramatically by region. Rapid urban growth is lighting up countries like China and India, while parts of Europe are dimming due to energy-saving efforts and new lighting ...
Apr. 8, 2026 Planetary exploration may be about to get a major speed boost. Researchers tested a semi-autonomous robot that can move from rock to rock, analyzing each without waiting for human instructions. The system completed missions up to three times faster ...
Apr. 3, 2026 A new concept suggests SpaceX’s Starship could revolutionize a future mission to Uranus, one of the solar system’s most overlooked planets. By refueling in orbit and helping slow the spacecraft on arrival, it could cut travel time nearly in ...
Mar. 20, 2026 A mysterious spike of platinum buried deep in Greenland’s ice has long fueled theories of a catastrophic comet or asteroid strike 12,800 years ago—possibly triggering a sudden return to icy conditions known as the Younger Dryas. But new research ...
Mar. 14, 2026 Mars didn’t always look like the barren world we see today. Over billions of years, the Sun’s solar wind stripped away much of its atmosphere, helping transform it from a warmer, wetter planet ...
Feb. 24, 2026 Scientists have proposed a surprising connection between solar flares and earthquakes. When solar activity disturbs the ionosphere, it may generate electric fields that penetrate fragile fracture zones in Earth’s crust. If a fault is already ...
Latest Headlines
updated 12:56 pm ET
May 5, 2026 A scorching, airless world just 48 light-years away is offering scientists a rare glimpse into the geology of distant planets. Using the James Webb ...
May 5, 2026 Astronomers have spotted something surprising in the far outer Solar System—a faint, short-lived atmosphere clinging to a tiny icy world that shouldn’t be able to hold one at all. The object, ...
May 3, 2026 Physicists are rethinking one of quantum mechanics’ biggest puzzles: how fuzzy possibilities become definite reality. New research suggests that spontaneous “collapse” processes—possibly ...
May 1, 2026 A decades-old cosmic mystery has finally been cracked: the strange X-rays coming from the bright star gamma-Cas are caused by a hidden stellar companion feeding off it. Using cutting-edge ...
Apr. 29, 2026 A spectacular cosmic event nicknamed “SN Winny” could help solve one of astronomy’s biggest mysteries: how fast the universe is expanding. This ...
Apr. 29, 2026 Scientists have uncovered the true boundary of the Milky Way’s star-forming region using stellar “age mapping.” They found a telltale U-shaped ...
Apr. 28, 2026 Curiosity has detected a surprising variety of organic molecules on Mars, including compounds tied to the chemistry of life. Some of these molecules may be billions of years old, preserved in ancient ...
Apr. 28, 2026 A massive cosmic milestone has just been reached: scientists have completed the largest high-resolution 3D map of the universe ever created. Built using data from over 47 million galaxies and ...
Apr. 25, 2026 A major physics experiment has uncovered evidence for a strange new form of matter, where a fleeting particle gets trapped inside a nucleus. This exotic state may reveal how mass is generated, ...
Apr. 25, 2026 In the chaotic first moments after the Big Bang, ripples in spacetime may have done more than just echo through the cosmos—they could have helped create dark matter itself. New research suggests ...