page_title: 2019 in science
section_title: April
hierarchical_section_title: 2019 in science / Events / April
caption_attribution_description: English: Buckminsterfullerene
context_page_description: A number of significant scientific events occurred in 2019.
context_section_description: 1 April
  Scientists report confirming the presence of methane on the planet Mars, and determining that the source of the methane likely came from an ice sheet about 300 miles east of Gale Crater. The Curiosity rover is currently exploring Gale Crater.
  Scientists at ETH Zurich report the creation of the world's first bacterial genome, named Caulobacter ethensis-2.0, made entirely by a computer, although a related viable form of C. ethensis-2.0 does not yet exist.
  4 April –  NASA releases animated images of solar eclipses by the two moons of the planet Mars, Deimos (animation1/17 March 2019) and Phobos (animation2/27 March 2019), as viewed by the Curiosity rover on the planet Mars in March 2019.
  7 April –  NASA reports that a comprehensive study of microorganisms and fungi present on the International Space Station has been conducted. The results can be useful in improving health and safety conditions for astronauts.
  10 April –  Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope project announce the first-ever image of a black hole, located 54 million light years away in the centre of the M87 galaxy.
  10 April
  Scientists find a way to view reactions in "dark states" of molecules, i.e. those states that are normally inaccessible.
  11 April
  NASA announces that the Curiosity rover on the planet Mars drilled into, and closely studied, a "clay-bearing unit" which, according to the rover Project Manager, is a "major milestone" in Curiosity's journey up Mount Sharp. (related image)
  The Israeli Beresheet probe crashes on the Moon after a technical glitch causes its main engine to switch off.
  12 April –  NASA reports medical results, from an Astronaut Twin Study, where one astronaut twin spent a year in space on the International Space Station, while the other twin spent the year on Earth, which demonstrated several long-lasting changes, including those related to alterations in DNA and cognition, when one twin was compared with the other.
  16 April –  Scientists report, for the first time, the use of the CRISPR technology to edit human genes to treat cancer patients with whom standard treatments were not successful.
  17 April –  After a long search, astronomers report the detection of helium hydride, a primordial molecule thought to have been formed about 100,000 years after the Big Bang, for the first time in outer space in NGC 7027.
  23  April –  NASA reports that the Mars InSight lander detected its first Marsquake on the planet Mars. (related AudioVideo file)
  24 April –  The XENON dark matter project announces that it has observed the radioactive decay of xenon-124, which has a half-life of 1.8 sextillion years.
  25 April –  Astronomers report further substantial discrepancies, depending on the measurement method used, in determining the Hubble constant, suggesting a realm of physics currently not well understood in explaining the workings of the universe.
  29 April –  Scientists, working with the Hubble Space Telescope, confirmed the detection of the large and complex ionized molecules of buckminsterfullerene (C₆₀) (also known as "buckyballs") in the interstellar medium spaces between the stars.
  30 April –  Biologists report that the very large medusavirus, or a relative, may have been responsible, at least in part, for the evolutionary emergence of complex eukaryotic cells from simpler prokaroytic cells.
caption: 30 April: Scientists confirm the detection of buckminsterfullerene (C60) (also known as "buckyballs") in the interstellar medium spaces between the stars.[144][145]
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