Items tagged with space
On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will darken parts of North America. For those wishing to view the celestial event with their own eyes, it is important to understand what makes a pair of solar eclipse glasses safe for staring at the giant fireball, and to be on the lookout for shady deals that don’t meet the...
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Who has dining on a Michelin-starr rated meal 20 miles above the Earth’s surface in a space balloon on their bucket list? Well, for those that do, luxury space travel company SpaceVIP is offering tickets to do just that, aboard Space Perspective’s space balloon, with dinner prepared by Michelin-starred chef, Rasmus...
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NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured images of Jupiter, which show off the giant planet’s cyclones, wind shear, and violent storms churning in its atmosphere. Hubble monitors Jupiter and the other outer solar system planets each year under the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy Program (OPAL), in order to document the...
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SpaceX’s third flight test of Starship is deemed a huge success by the company, even though the spacecraft was lost during reentry. The intent was never to recover Starship, but the hopes were it would survive reentry and then be destroyed as it slammed into the Indian Ocean.
Starship launched from SpaceX’s...
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A Japanese launch service provider’s attempt to become the first private entity in Japan to launch a satellite into orbit ended abruptly, mere seconds after liftoff. Space One’s solid-fuel Kairos rocket executed an abort command after detecting an issue, leading to a spectacular explosion.
Just five seconds after...
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One of the fundamental measurements of the Universe, called the Hubble constant, has been in doubt for years due to a wide range of independent distance indicators producing a persistent difference, called the Hubble Tension. However, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has seemingly confirmed that Hubble’s prior...
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NASA’s Webb telescope recently played peek-a-boo with the star-forming region NGC 604 and, in the process, spotted cavernous bubbles and stretched-out filaments of gas 2.73 million light-years from Earth. The features give scientists and astronomers a more detailed peek into star birth than seen previously in the...
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NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which aims to confirm there is a vast ocean beneath the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa, will carry on a legacy of the space agency’s spacecraft carrying inspirational messages from Earth, to celestial bodies throughout the Milky Way. The Europa spacecraft will join the likes of...
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According to the European Space Agency (ESA), a 2.9-ton battery pallet was released from the International Space Station (ISS) on January 11, 2021. While most of the pallet, which comprises nine batteries in total, will burn up upon reentry, the ESA reports some parts will survive the trip and come crashing into the...
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The little space probe that could—Voyager 1—has started to worry its NASA handlers and earthbound fans. Following a few technical close calls, the spacecraft has been sending unintelligible gibberish since November of last year. This behavior is still without a fix and could be an ominous sign for the this 47-year old...
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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reached back into time to reveal what are believed to be some of the earliest stars to shine in the universe. Webb also detected the most distant supermassive black hole seen to date at the center of galaxy GN-z11.
Galaxy GN-z11 was first detected by the Hubble Space Telescope. The...
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NASA made the decision to cease and desist with its $2B OSAM-1 (On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing) project due to continued technical, cost, and schedule challenges. The now defunct project was also abandoned because of a lack of desire among the broader community for refueling unprepared spacecraft...
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After two delayed launches, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 finally launched four crew members to the International Space Station aboard the Dragon spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket carried the Dragon spacecraft into orbit with astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael...
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A team of astronomers has measured the heaviest pair of supermassive black holes ever detected. The measurements stem from archival data collected from NOIRLab’s Gemini North telescope on Manunakea in Hawaii.
Supermassive black holes have captured the imagination of astronomers and scientists since their initial...
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As people prepare to view the upcoming solar eclipse, hotels are preparing to make more money off those wanting to stay near the spectacle. New reports indicate hotels along the “zone of totality” are looking to cash in on people’s desire to have the best seat in the house come April’s total solar eclipse, with one...
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NASA confirmed a near miss between its own TIMED satellite and Russia’s defunct Cosmos 2221 satellite. If the two had collided, it could have generated considerable debris at about 373 miles (600km) above Earth’s surface.
The Department of Defense was closely monitoring the situation between the two satellites...
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A new study has found that NASA’s DART mission that slammed a spacecraft into an asteroid may not have had the impact once thought. The impact simulation study suggested that DART did not leave an impact crater; rather, it reshaped the entire body of the asteroid.
In September 2022, NASA’s DART spacecraft crashed...
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Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile spotted an indelible mark on the surface of a white dwarf star that has an appetite for destruction. Researchers believe the scar left on white dwarf WD 0816-310 is a concentration of metals imprinted on the star’s...
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Japanese space agency JAXA reported it had received a response from its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) lunar lander from the surface of the moon. The unexpected response came nearly a month after SLIM made a “pinpoint” landing on the lunar surface.
SLIM successfully landed on the Moon on January 19...
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Blue Origin’s New Glenn, named after the first American astronaut to orbit the Moon, John Glenn, is upright on a launch pad for the first time. The advanced heavy-lift vehicle will support both customer missions and Blue Origin programs, including returning to the Moon as part of NASA’s historic Artemis...
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NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory, or SDO, detected three strong solar flares with the potential to disrupt radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and could even pose a risk to spacecraft and astronauts. The first flare detected was an X1.8 flare, the second flare being classified as an X1.7...
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Intuitive Machines, as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, is readying to attempt the first successful lunar landing of a spacecraft by the US since Apollo 17 in 1972. An attempt by Astrobotics to land on the moon last month was thwarted following an anomaly shortly after launch, which...
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