Astronauts undertake 7-hour spacewalk to prepare ISS for new solar arrays

NASA astronauts recently completed a seven-hour spacewalk to prepare the International Space Station for the arrival of a new set of solar panels that will help support the ageing array that’s been serving the station since December 2000.

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Hubble spots swarm of small black holes in nearby cluster

Astronomers using Hubble to hunt for an elusive type of black hole have stumbled onto a weirder scene. In the center of a nearby globular cluster, they discovered what looks like a whole gang of small black holes being uncharacteristically chummy.

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Astronomers identify most distant known object in the solar system

For a long time, Pluto was the farthest object we knew in the solar system, but it’s a cosmic stone’s-throw away compared to more recent discoveries. Now astronomers have confirmed the most distant world of all – the appropriately-named Farfarout.

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Cold gas cloud in our galaxy could be hiding universe’s missing matter

By studying the twinkling of stars, astronomers in Australia have discovered a huge cloud of cold gas in our galaxy, not far from Earth. This invisible mass could provide new hints about where to find the universe’s missing matter.

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Virgin Galactic prepares for another attempt to reach space

Virgin Galactic is looking to shrug off a failed flight in mid-December, with plans for another attempt to reach space using its SpaceShipTwo spacecraft in around a fortnight’s time as it pursues its vision of carrying private passengers into space.

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Axiom Space announces crew for first all-private orbital mission

A year after it was selected to supply the first private module for the International Space Station, Axiom Space has announced that it has selected the crew for the first-ever all private crewed orbital space mission.

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Venus may have been without active tectonic plates for a billion years

Venus may not have had Earth-like tectonic plates for the last billion years, according to the results of a new study. Instead, the planet, which is often referred to as Earth’s twin, may be covered in a single thick outer plate.

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Exoplanet system discovered with strange balance of order and disorder

Astronomers have discovered a nearby system of exoplanets with unusually orderly orbits but disordered densities. Five of the six planets circle the star in a rare rhythmic dance called a resonance chain, while their densities are weirdly shuffled.

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Saturn’s moons explain the planet’s tilt and why it’s increasing

Researchers at the Paris Observatory's Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Ephemeris Calculation have found that the unusual tilt of Saturn's axis is due to the periodic gravitational pull of its moons over the last billion years.

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