Today’s Solutions: March 28, 2024

Space

Learn about the latest astronomy news and discoveries around humanity’s endeavor beyond the final frontier.

Square Kilometer Array

UK building huge software mind for world’s largest radio telescope

Every day, we come closer to answering the essential questions that arise from looking up at the sky. How did we come to be? What’s holding all of this together? Are we alone? Astrophysicists and astronomers need data in great volume and detail to find the answers to these questions, and a new Read More...

Baby red gas giant

Astronomers spot the beginnings of a “baby gas giant”

We can take up astronomy now, buy a good telescope, and go out on the right night to look up at the sky and marvel at the gaseous planets of our own solar system. These are of course Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. However, we average enthusiasts would need some different equipment, and Read More...

Landscape on Mars. Scenic desert scene on the red planet in a 3D space illustration.

The strange sounds of Mars have been recorded for the first time

If you’ve ever wondered what Mars sounds like, then NASA’s Perseverance rover has answers for you! The robot landed on the Red Planet in early 2021 where it has been conducting experiments and collecting samples for scientists here on Earth to analyze. We’ve previously reported on its Read More...

Galaxy panoramic, star cluster and nebula shining in a milky way.

Hubble Telescope spots farthest star ever recorded

We've set a new benchmark in the world of stars: the farthest individual star ever seen to date. This one has a predicted mass at least 50 times that of our Sun and is millions of times brighter, plus, was created within the first billion years of the Big Bang. This may seem like a long time after Read More...

Senior couple

Achieving quality along with quantity: an Optimist’s View on aging

“Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.” - Betty Friedan By Oliver Kammeyer I live on a bike path, and just a half-mile east of my place there’s a coffee shop that’s always packed. It seems every day the customers compete to see who can wake up earliest to Read More...

Pluto

Turns out there are ice volcanoes on Pluto. Here's how they work

We learn more fascinating and otherworldly things about our universe the farther out into space we explore. Some of our discoveries bend our understanding of science, and some completely baffle us. This is the case now that scientists have confirmed that there are, in fact, ice volcanoes on Read More...

Exoplanet in deep space. Elements of this image were furnished by NASA.

How many worlds exist outside our solar system?

Exoplanets are worlds just like our own that are revolving around a star. Here at The Optimist Daily, we’ve commonly reported on the discovery of new exoplanets, like the first time an exoplanet has been spotted outside our galaxy, or this peculiar planet with the shortest orbit around a star Read More...

The Red Planet

Refueling on Mars: making biofuel from astronaut wastewater

As space exploration develops further, scientists and engineers are innovating more outlandish ways for humans to survive beyond our planet. What was once magic becomes science as experts think outside the box and brilliantly repurpose resources in closed environments, such as growing lettuce in Read More...

Space Lettuce

Space lettuce could save astronauts’ bones

Many of us wanted to be astronauts when we were kids. Some of us may even still daydream about it. While we lionize pioneers like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, we now know that prolonged time in space comes with some serious health consequences. We are, after all, creatures whose anatomy evolved Read More...

Image from the James Webb Space Telescope of a distant star during the alignment process of the infrared camera.

James Webb Space Telescope releases first stunning image of a star

An update on the James Webb Space Telescope is hitting your newsfeed again as it makes another landmark step in its journey to help us explore the universe. The telescope set off in late December 2021, with the mission to change how we study deep space forever. The Optimist Daily previously Read More...