Using data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, a team led by Western space scientists Megan Tannock and Stanimir Metchev has identified the three fastest-spinning brown dwarfs ever found.
space
New international partnership launches Western into space
As a child, Jayshri Sabarinathan looked to the heavens most nights from her family’s apartment terrace using her prized possession – a telescope – desperate to catch a glimpse of the infamous Halley’s comet zooming though the sky. Fast forward 34 years and a new...
Early Mars was covered in ice sheets, not flowing rivers
A large number of the valley networks scarring Mars’ surface were carved by water melting beneath glacial ice, not by free-flowing rivers as previously thought, according to a new study by Western and University of British Columbia researchers. The findings...
Western’s first steps in getting Canada to the Moon
In February, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada is joining the international effort to explore the Moon with robots and, eventually, humans. In order to prepare for these future missions, a team of Western University faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate...
Bright fireball event near Bancroft, Ont. may have dropped meteorites
A fireball as bright as the full moon was observed by the Western University All-Sky Camera Network across southern Ontario and Quebec 2:44 a.m. ET this morning (Wednesday, July 24). Western’s Physics and Astronomy Department runs an all-sky camera network in...
Researchers decipher the history of supermassive black holes in the early universe
Astrophysicists at Western University have found evidence for the direct formation of black holes that do not need to emerge from a star remnant. The production of black holes in the early universe, formed in this manner, may provide scientists with an explanation for...
Life on Mars was possible after last great meteorite impact nearly 4.5 billion years ago
A new international study led by Western University shows that Mars’ first ‘real chance’ at developing life started very early, 4.48 billion years ago, when giant, life-inhibiting meteorites stopped striking the red planet. These findings, published online today in...
Nearly one year later, Western students recover prized project from space
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzlr3CszzGM One year ago today, a team of Western University graduate students launched a high-altitude balloon (HAB) 20 km into space with the lofty goal of studying the Earth’s stratosphere to get a better sense of what microbial life...
Western planetary scientists assist in capturing first full-colour image of NASA InSight using HiRISE space camera
Houston, there is no problem here. Eric Pilles assisted in capturing – for the first-time ever – extraordinary and highly significant scientific images of the NASA InSight robotic lander using HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment), the camera currently...
Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration wins PromoScience Award for Space Matters
Although many people are fascinated by space, most Canadians are relatively unaware of how space technologies pervade their everyday life. From GPS and satellite communications to weather forecasting and monitoring the health of crops or the extent of sea ice, the...
Gram-sized gifts of the solar system drop to Earth near London
Tiny fragments from the asteroid belt sizzled to Earth near London International Airport this week, Western University sky cameras show. Likely smaller than a baby’s fingernail, they’re the remnants of a meteoroid that briefly shot across the sky Sunday night — a...
Sub-surface Mars scanner concept gets boost from Western University expertise
A Western planetary researcher will lead a study under a contract awarded to MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) by the Canadian Space Agency to explore using a leading-edge radar technology to search for ice on Mars. Gordon “Oz” Osinski, Acting Director of...