Month: May 2021

Venus views from NASA sun probe show potential of hitchhiking science instruments

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Halfway through a series of opportunistic Venus observations, scientists say that a NASA sun spacecraft’s success studying our strange neighbor will pave the way for future measurements. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe launched in August 2018 on a seven-year mission to touch the sun, dancing through our star’s corona, the sun’s superhot atmosphere that is invisible but shapes conditions across the solar system. That mission requires a trajectory creeping closer to the sun’s visible surface with each flyby, achieved by a series of seven swings past Venus. So, before Parker Solar…

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Some of the universe’s stars have gone missing. But where did they go?

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Stars don’t just vanish — or do they? For thousands of years, astronomers accepted the idea that the lights in the sky were fixed and unchanging. Even when it became clear that these lights were actually physical objects like the sun, one of the key assumptions for astrophysicists has been that they go through major changes very slowly, on timescales of millions or billions of years.  And when the most massive stars of all — which are many times heavier than the sun — do go through sudden and cataclysmic…

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Bill Nelson pledges action on Artemis, Mars and China in 1st hearing as NASA chief

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New NASA administrator and long-time politician Bill Nelson addressed concerns about China and NASA’s Artemis moon program at his first Congressional hearing as agency head Wednesday (May 19). Most of the conversation between Nelson and the subcommittee regarding NASA’s $24.7 billion “skinny budget” request was directed at NASA’s troubled Artemis human landing systems contract, and worries about competition from China. Nelson told lawmakers that China plans to send three large landers to the moon’s south pole in upcoming years, while NASA currently has only a small lander headed to the…

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Dawn Delight: Catch the Total Lunar Eclipse on May 26th

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On May 26th the Moon will be in total eclipse for the first time in nearly two and a half years. While timing favors western North America, a partial eclipse will be visible across much of the U.S. and Canada at dawn. The post Dawn Delight: Catch the Total Lunar Eclipse on May 26th appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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NASA rocket launch sparks stunning green and violet clouds in night sky (photos)

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The KiNET-X experiment created green and violet clouds in the evening sky over parts of the U.S. East Coast. (Image credit: NASA Wallops/Twitter) A suborbital launch created violet and green lights in the sky this weekend in a larger effort to understand spaceborne energy transport. The “series finale” of the KiNET-X mission successfully launched Sunday (May 16) at 8:44 p.m. EDT (0044 May 17 GMT) on a Black Brant XII rocket, from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, the agency announced early Monday (May 17) via Twitter. The pictures probably…

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Atlas V rocket launches SBIRS Geo-5 missile warning satellite for US Space Force

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched an Atlas V rocket into space today (May 18), marking the first launch of the year for the company.  The two-stage rocket blasted off from Space Launch Complex 41 here at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 1:37 p.m. EDT (1737 GMT), following a 24-hour delay due to an issue with the rocket’s liquid oxygen system. Perched atop the 194-foot-tall (59 meters) launcher is a missile-warning satellite for the U.S. Space Force.  The weather forecast improved to 90% favorable…

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