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Space launches, particularly early morning space launches, cause spectacular glowing clouds to appear in new places, according to new research published in the journal Advancing Earth and Space Science. About 50 miles (80 kilometers) above the ground floats the tallest clouds in Earth’s atmosphere. Called noctilucent, mesosphere, or polar mesosphere clouds, these crystallized pools of water vapor are high enough to reflect sunlight, even after sunset or even before sunrise. Because of their position in the upper atmosphere, when they are present at the right time, noctilucent clouds (i.e. “night rays”) sparkle with otherworldly light. They can make the sky at dusk or dawn look like the surface of the sea on a clear day — silvery ripples of light between patches of darkness. “You see it for about 30 minutes to an hour and a half after sunset, or before sunrise,” Cora Randall, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and one of the r...

There are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe, each containing billions of stars, and they are found in every part of the sky. But in some directions, nearby galaxies block the view of the more distant cosmos. Now a team from Keele University has created the largest map of a previously hidden galaxy. Jessica Craig presented their work this week at the National Astronomy Meeting at the University of Warwick. Astronomers saw the Magellanic Clouds, a pair of galaxies visible from the southern hemisphere that are so close to us that they can be seen with the naked eye. The two galaxies occupy large areas of the sky, blocking the view of more distant galaxies. Because of this, astronomers looking for distant galaxies usually avoid this part of the sky. Using the VISTA Survey Telescope in Chile, the team photographed two nearby galaxies in high enough definition to be able to see through the gaps between the stars in each. That way they can see galaxies that are farther awa...

New research finds that molecular clouds are loaded with key precursors for life on Earth. This image is a “Pigtail” Molecular Cloud. Credit: Keio University, NAOJ The main precursors for life on Earth abound in interstellar molecular clouds and may arrive on Earth in comets and meteors. Nitriles, a class of organic molecules with a cyano group (carbon atom Atom is the smallest component of an element. It consists of protons and neutrons in the nucleus, and electrons that surround the nucleus. ” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{” attribute=””>atom bound with a triple unsaturated bond to a nitrogen atom) are typically toxic. But paradoxically, they are also a key precursor for molecules essential for life on Earth, such as ribonucleotides, composed of the nucleobases or ‘letters’ A, U, C, and G joined to a ribose and phosphate group, which together make up RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule similar to DNA that is essential in v...