Month: September 2021

The private Inspiration4 astronauts set to fly on SpaceX’s first all-civilian spaceflight this month are launching into the limelight today (Sept. 6) with a new Netflix documentary series. In the new Netflix docuseries “Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space,” you can follow along with the four-person crew of the upcoming mission Inspiration4 as they prepare to launch to space in real time. The four-episode series co-produced with Time Studios has followed the crew throughout their journey and will show their real-time transformation from “regular” people into full-blown astronauts as they prepare…

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Hannah Schunker, Lecturer of Physics, University of Newcastle David Pontin, Associate Professor of Physics, University of Newcastle Why is the sun’s atmosphere hotter than its surface? — Olivia, age 9, Canberra (Image credit: The Conversation) Hi Olivia, that’s a great question! In fact, it’s such a great question many scientists around the world are trying to answer it. The truth of the matter is — we don’t know! But we do have some…

Space station astronauts have fun with many pints of ice cream that recently arrived on a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft. (Image credit: Thomas Pesquet/ESA/NASA/Flickr) NASA astronauts at the International Space Station will only enjoy a half-day off from work on Labor Day today (Sept. 5). While most federal workers across the U.S. are enjoying the national holiday off, the three NASA astronauts at the orbiting laboratory — Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur — have a few science tasks on their schedules, Dan Huot, a NASA spokesperson with…

If you look up in the evening sky just after sunset tonight (Sept. 5), you might see a trio of brilliant lights low on the western horizon and they’re not all stars. The planets Venus and Mercury will be visible along with the bright star Spica, weather permitting.  You’ll need a clear western horizon to spot Venus, Spica and Mercury tonight as the trio will be visible extremely low in the western sky, particularly Mercury, which can be hard to spot in the fading twilight before it slips below the…

China’s Mars rover Zhurong has produced a remarkable new panorama of its surroundings in Utopia Planitia to mark 100 days of activity on the Red Planet as preparations continue for the rover to spend more than a month in safe mode this autumn. The six-wheeled, solar-powered rover has covered 3,491 feet (1,064 meters) since rolling onto the Martian surface on May 22. But from mid-September to late October, the rover and its orbiting companion, Tianwen-1, will be in safe mode as the sun’s charged particles interfere with their communication with…

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland “I’m puzzled as to why the planets, stars and moons are all round (when) other large and small objects such as asteroids and meteorites are irregular shapes?”— Lionel Young, age 74, Launceston, Tasm This is a fantastic question Lionel, and a really good observation! When we look out at the solar system, we see objects of all sizes — from tiny grains of dust, to…

In this week’s Night Sky column, we provide a potpourri of factoids concerning some of the more prominent objects appearing in the summertime sky. Probably the most conspicuous of the summer star patterns is the famous Summer Triangle, composed of three of the brightest stars in the sky: Vega, Altair and Deneb. Each of these stars surpasses our own sun in terms of luminosity: Altair is nearly 11 times brighter, Vega 40 times brighter, and Deneb an incredible 200,000 times more luminous. Yet Vega appears much brighter than Deneb because…