The countdown has begun to a special total solar eclipse that will cross Mexico, the U.S. and Canada on April 8, 2024. The post T–3 Years Until the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreMonth: April 2021
‘World of Tanks’ honors the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic spaceflight with ‘To the Stars!’ event
[embedded content] Tank battles and history will collide this month as the makers of the free-to-play game “World of Tanks” honor the legacy of famed cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin for the 60th anniversary of his historic launch into space. Gagarin’s historic launch on Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961 kicked off the era of human spaceflight that continues to this day. To celebrate, “World of Tanks” developer Wargaming has launched its “To The Stars!” event, which recruits Gagarin into the game along with Vostok 1 themed goodies for players. The event…
Read MorePhilip Chapman, first Australian-born NASA astronaut, dies at 86
An Apollo-era NASA astronaut who was the first person born in Australia to train for a spaceflight, Philip Chapman has died at the age 86, having never made it into orbit. Chapman died on Monday (April 5) in Scottsdale, Arizona, almost 50 years after he resigned from NASA due to what he saw as a lack of opportunities for scientists in the astronaut corps. “We are saddened to learn of the passing of Australian-born astronaut, Dr. Philip Chapman,” wrote the staff at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, part of…
Read MoreThese selfies of NASA’s Mars helicopter with the Perseverance rover are just amazing
A gorgeous new photo mosaic shows NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter as you’ve never seen them before. Perseverance watches over the little chopper like a doting parent in the image, which citizen scientist Seán Doran stitched together from 62 photos taken on Tuesday (April 6) by the car-sized rover. It took a few hours to make the mosaic, which Doran posted today via his Twitter account, @_TheSeaning. He said he put the constituent images through a “de-noise, repair and upscale process” prior to combining them. Related: The top…
Read MoreMake the Most of Comet ATLAS
Bright comets will be scarce this year, but you can see one of the better ones this month as it races from Aquila to Canes Venatici. In other news, a new, bright nova has flared in Sagittarius. The post Make the Most of Comet ATLAS appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreSeven Ways the International Space Station Helps Us Study Plant Growth in Space
As NASA plans long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars, a key factor is figuring out how to feed crews during their weeks, months, and even years in space.
Read MoreResearching the Environment and COVID-19
Today is World Health Day and we’re funding studies to determine whether environmental factors influence the spread of the virus.
Read MoreSeeking the Origins of Galactic Stellar Streams
A recent study has identified the origins of many of the long streams of stars that encircle the Milky Way. These streams may contain hints about our galaxy’s past. The post Seeking the Origins of Galactic Stellar Streams appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreNASA just dropped an Orion space capsule into a pool for science
NASA made a splash today (April 6) by dropping a test version of its Orion crew capsule for future moon missions into a pool. The 14,000-lb. (6,400 kilograms) test capsule, a nearly identical replica of the real Orion, plunged into the Hydro Impact Basin at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, at 2:02 p.m. EDT (1802 GMT) today. It was released from a height of about 7 feet (2 meters) and only fell for about a second before it splashed into the water. “That was amazing,” Ally Olney, a…
Read MoreNASA Invites Public to Take Flight With Ingenuity Mars Helicopter
NASA is targeting no earlier than Sunday, April 11, for Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s first attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet.
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