Items tagged with space
While October may have ended in a spectacular fashion with a headless comet meeting its demise, November promises to be just as exciting for skywatchers. Be sure to be on the lookout for three different meteor showers that promise to provide plenty of shooting stars.
The first of three upcoming meteor showers to...
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As scientists and others look at how to make Mars habitable for life in the future, NASA’s Perseverance rover remains busy exploring the Martian surface. The rover recently spotted a striped rock unlike any other on the Red Planet before, which the space agency stated possessed qualities that may be indicators of...
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Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, which was viewed up close by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986, has been the focus of more than a few studies over the last few decades. One of the more recent studies included planetary scientists clearing up a perplexing problem surrounding the planet’s weaker-than-anticipated...
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Boeing may be looking to call it quits in terms of its space program after its Starliner debacle caused the company and its employees months of humiliation. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg reportedly wants to offload Starliner, the projects that support the International Space Station, and the majority of the company’s space...
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NASA reconnected with its Voyager 1 spacecraft more than 15 billion miles from Earth by flipping the switch on a backup radio not used on the spacecraft since 1981. The space agency reported Voyager 1 recently turned off one of its two radio transmitters, and the team is currently working to figure out what caused...
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Researchers from Japan’s National Astronomical Observatory (NAOJ) are throwing shade at the now iconic image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). The image in question, constructed by another group of researchers from data collected by the EHT...
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NASA says a bus-sized asteroid is about to make a close approach, coming within 148,000 miles of Earth. According to the space agency, the asteroid, named 2024 UQ1, measures approximately 32-feet across.
Astronomers and scientists are constantly on the lookout for large space rocks that could pose a threat to...
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A supernova event recorded by Chinese and Japanese astronomers in 1181 is at the heart of a first-of-its-kind 3D animated map, unveiling new secrets of a flowering “zombie star.” Supernova Sn 1181 is one of the few to be documented before the invention of telescopes.
The zombie star in question was first discovered...
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A headless Halloween comet looks to round out an October that's chock-full of celestial delights. Comet 2024 S1 (Atlas) is on track to make its close approach to the Sun on October 28, and is currently visible in the Southern Hemisphere.
October has been a great month for stargazers, with the ability to see an...
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Proposals to combat climate change have ranged from placing data centers in space, to a lunar missions designed to dim the Sun with Moon dust. Now, a new study suggests using $200 trillion worth of diamond dust to create an umbrella over Earth to fight climate change. The group of scientists using 3D models to compare...
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A new study suggests a meteorite the size of not one, but FOUR Mt. Everests may have aided the beginning of life on Earth. The mammoth S2 meteorite, discovered in 2014, is believed to have caused a tsunami larger than any other known in Earth’s history.
When someone thinks of a meteorite these days, it often brings...
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About 41,000 years ago, Earth’s magnetic field briefly flipped in what is known as the Laschamp event. Now, a group of scientists using data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Swarm mission have recreated the sound the event made, and it is sounds like something straight out of a Hollywood horror...
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While SpaceX Starship’s major milestone of Mechzilla successfully catching a Super Heavy booster garnered most of the attention following the spacecraft’s fifth test flight, the space agency’s nighttime ocean splashdown of its Starship was also an impressive sight to watch.
SpaceX called the fifth test flight of...
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The iconic Halley’s Comet will be leaving a treasure trove of shooting stars for stargazers to catch this weekend. The meteor shower, also known as the Orionids, peaks during mid-October each year, and is considered to be one of the most beautiful meteor showers of the year.
Whether a comet with an orbit of every...
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The devil may wear Prada, but NASA is taking it to the moon, and possibly Mars. Axiom Space revealed the first flight design of the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit, which will be worn by astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis III mission, at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan, Italy, this...
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The first chunk of the map created by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid space mission was revealed at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan, Italy. The extremely large mosaic, composed of 208 gigapixels, contains 260 observations made between March 25 and April 8 2024.
The Euclid space telescope...
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October’s full moon will be a “Supermoon,” also known as the Hunter’s Moon, and is the third of four consecutive supermoons this year. Other names for the upcoming Supermoon are the Travel Moon, the Dying Grass Moon, or the Sanguine or Blood Moon.
According to NASA, the name Hunter’s Moon goes as far back as the...
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SpaceX completed its fifth test flight of its Starship spacecraft and its Super Heavy booster rocket today. Among the objectives for the test flight was the return and catch of the Super Heavy booster by the launch and catch infrastructure at SpaceX Starbase in Texas, known as Mechzilla.
Elon Musk made a bold claim...
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Vast, a space startup company, has finalized a design to build the world’s first commercial space station that promises to deliver unparalleled comfort, productivity, and microgravity lab advancements. The US-based space habitation technology company unveiled its interior design features this week that will be part of...
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued a geomagnetic storm watch for the next two days that could produce an aurora as far south as Alabama, as well as having the potential of disrupting communications, the power grid, and satellite operations.
The Aurora Borealis, also known as the...
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While NASA searches for signs of life on the Red Planet, its Curiosity rover has found new details about how the ancient Martian climate went from potentially suitable for life, to the inhospitable terrain it’s known as now.
Scientists believe there are signs that early Mars had an abundance of liquid water on its...
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Astronomers have detected a new class of massive black holes that dwarf even the most supermassive ones found at the center of many galaxies. The James Webb Space Telescope is giving astronomers new insights into how these extremely large supermassive black holes, known as stupendously large black holes, may have come...
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