compiled by Arlene & David Kaplan

Hayabusa 2 will use a projectile to excavate fresh material from beneath Ryugu’s surface

Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft reaches cosmic ‘diamond’
A Japanese spacecraft has arrived at its target – an asteroid shaped like a diamond or, according to some, a spinning top…more

-NASA

Settling Arguments About Hydrogen With 168 Giant Lasers
Liquid metallic hydrogen does not occur naturally on Earth, except possibly at the core, but scientists believe the interiors of Jupiter and Saturn are awash in hydrogen in that state. Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said they were “converging on the truth”…more

-NASA

Parker Solar Probe: Nasa launches mission to ‘touch the Sun’
Nasa has launched its latest mission – a special spacecraft that will travel closer to the Sun than any spacecraft has done before. The Parker Solar Probe lifted off in the early hours of Sunday 12 August from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA…more

-BBC

Earliest galaxies found ‘on our cosmic doorstep’
Some of the earliest galaxies to form in the Universe are sitting on our cosmic doorstep, according to a study.
These faint objects close to the Milky Way could be more than 13 billion years old, researchers from the universities of Durham and Harvard explain…more

Moon’s south pole (left) and north pole (right) -NASA

Water ice ‘detected on Moon’s surface’
Scientists say they have definitive evidence for water-ice on the surface of the Moon. The ice deposits are found at both the north and south poles, and are likely to be ancient in origin. The result comes from an instrument…more

-BBC

Astronomer’s revelation is star attraction at new exhibition
A book which turned scientists’ beliefs on their heads is the star attraction at an exhibition in Edinburgh.
The publication of Polish mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus’ work “On the Revolutions of Heavenly Bodies” just before his death in 1543…more

-BBC

Einstein theory passes black hole test
The black hole at the center of our galaxy has helped astronomers confirm a key prediction of Albert Einstein’s ideas. By observing a cluster of stars near the hole, they were able to confirm a phenomenon known as “gravitational redshift”…more

-NYT

79 Moons of Jupiter and Counting
The latest survey of the region around the gas giant turned up a dozen new moons, including an oddball that was going in the wrong direction. On Tuesday, scientists led by Scott S. Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science announced the discovery of a dozen moons around Jupiter…more

Farah Alibay – BBC

When flying to Mars is your day job
Sending missions to Mars for a living sounds like a dream job. But not every day can be launch day – so what do Nasa’s spacecraft engineers get up to the rest of the time?…more