This artist’s impression is of a supermassive black hole that is inside the dust-shrouded core of a vigorously star-forming “starburst” galaxy.
Read MoreMonth: April 2022
Mars helicopter Ingenuity aces record-breaking 25th flight
NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity just flew farther and faster than it ever has before. The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) Ingenuity aced its 25th flight on the Red Planet last Friday (April 8), setting new personal bests for speed and distance. “#MarsHelicopter is breaking records again! Ingenuity completed its 25th and most ambitious flight. It broke its distance and ground speed records, traveling 704 meters [2,310 feet] at 5.5 meters per second while flying for 161.3 seconds,” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, which manages Ingenuity’s mission, tweeted on Tuesday…
Read MoreMost distant star to date spotted — but how much further back in time could we see?
Hubble’s view of Earendel. (Image credit: Science: NASA, ESA, Brian Welch (JHU), Dan Coe (STScI); Image processing: NASA, ESA, Alyssa Pagan (STScI)) This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Carolyn Devereux, Senior Lecturer in Astrophysics, University of Hertfordshire The Hubble Space Telescope has observed the most distant star ever seen — Earendel, meaning morning star. Even though Earendel is 50 times the mass of the sun, and millions of times brighter, we would not normally be able to see it. We can…
Read MoreSee a sunrise on Mars in this stunning view from NASA’s InSight lander (photo)
NASA’s Insight lander captured this image of sunrise on Mars on April 10, 2022. (Image credit: NASA) If you think sunrises on Earth are amazing, wait until you see one on Mars. This stunning view comes from NASA’s InSight Mars lander, which snapped images of the Martian sunrise on April 10. “I’ll never tire of sunrise on Mars,” NASA officials wrote in the lander’s “voice” in a Twitter post Wednesday (April 13). “Each morning, that distant dot climbs higher in the sky, giving me energy for another round of listening…
Read MoreNASA Sets Coverage for Russian Spacewalks Outside Space Station
NASA will provide coverage of spacewalks Monday, April 18, and Thursday, April 28, as Russian cosmonauts venture outside the International Space Station to activate a new robotic arm attached to the Nauka module.
Read MoreSummer on Neptune is Surprisingly Chilly
Even though Neptune is entering its version of summer, it’s actually cooling down — except for its poles, which are mysteriously warming up. The post Summer on Neptune is Surprisingly Chilly appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreCelebrate Spring with the Lyrids
People have been watching the annual Lyrid meteor shower for more than 2,700 years. Come join the crowd! The post Celebrate Spring with the Lyrids appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreSpace Butterfly
What looks like a red butterfly in space is in reality a nursery for hundreds of baby stars, revealed in this infrared image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.
Read MoreNASA aiming for big 2023 thanks to generous budget request
The White House’s generosity has NASA poised to do big things in 2023 and beyond, according to the space agency’s deputy chief. “The $26 billion fiscal year 2023 budget request is 8% more than enacted federal spending levels for fiscal year 2022, affirming the importance of civil space to the Biden-Harris administration and to the strategic future of the United States,” NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said last week at the 37th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. “It represents the largest overall request in current dollars for NASA and the…
Read More‘Dead sunspot’ launches ball of plasma toward Earth
The “corpse” of a sunspot exploded Monday (April 11), triggering a mass ejection of solar material that is headed in Earth’s direction. The sun explosion comes courtesy of a dead sunspot called AR2987, according to SpaceWeather.com. The sunspot explosion released loads of energy in the form of radiation, which also led to a coronal mass ejection (CME) — explosive balls of solar material — both of which could spur more intense northern lights in Earth’s upper atmosphere. The material in that CME is likely to impact Earth on April 14,…
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