On Friday, April 13, 2029, Earth will experience a dramatic close encounter with the asteroid 99942 Apophis. The 1,120 feet (340-meter) wide object will pass within just 19,000 miles (31,000 km) of our home planet — a distance that brings it closer than most geostationary satellites. Thanks to the tremendous size of Apophis, its close-passage will be so bright that around 2 billion people will be able to witness it with the naked eye. First becoming visible in the southern hemisphere, the asteroid will appear as a bright star streaking…
Read MoreMonth: September 2021
Shredded Star Reveals Elusive Middle-Mass Black Hole
Astronomers have used the death of a star to uncover details about a hidden intermediate-mass black hole. The post Shredded Star Reveals Elusive Middle-Mass Black Hole appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreMeteor showers and shooting stars: Formation, facts and discovery
Meteor showers occur when dust or particles from asteroids or comets enter Earth’s atmosphere at very high speed. When they hit the atmosphere, meteors rub against air particles and create friction, heating the meteors. The heat vaporizes most meteors, creating what we call shooting stars. While there are stray bits of stuff hitting Earth from all directions, there also are regularly timed “meteor showers” when astronomers can make better predictions about how many meteors will hit the Earth, and from what direction. The key difference is that meteor showers occur…
Read MoreFlying on Mars getting tougher as Ingenuity helicopter gears up for 14th hop
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter is getting ready for its 14th Red Planet flight, but the thinning Martian air is making such sorties more and more challenging. The coming sortie, which could occur any day now, is a straightforward hop compared to some of the more daring scouting flights that Ingenuity has been making to aid NASA’s Perseverance rover, mission team members said in a recent update. There’s a good reason for the simplicity: The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) chopper will test higher rotor spin speeds to see if it can keep flying…
Read MoreSpace Station Crew to Relocate Soyuz, Make Room for New Crewmates
Three residents of the International Space Station will take a short ride aboard a Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft Tuesday, Sept. 28, relocating the spacecraft to prepare for the arrival of the next set of station crew members.
Read MoreNASA, FAA Invite Media to Briefing on Air Traffic Control Updates
NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will hold a virtual briefing for media Tuesday, Sept., 28 at 1 p.m. EDT to discuss efforts to improve the sustainability of aviation through the demonstration of more efficient airport operations, contributing to the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to tackle climate change.
Read MoreNASA Invites Media to Webb Telescope Prelaunch Events in French Guiana
NASA invites members of the media to register their interest in attending events in French Guiana ahead of the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, a mission led by NASA in partnership with the European and Canadian space agencies.
Read MoreLucy Is Going to Space!
Lucy will be the first space mission to study the Trojan asteroids.
Read MoreRetro 51 rolls out space shuttle Enterprise limited edition Tornado pen
Forty-five years after it made its public debut, NASA’s space shuttle Enterprise is being rolled out again, this time as a rollerball pen. Retro 51 on Tuesday (Sept. 21) announced its new Space Shuttle Enterprise Tornado, the latest in its line of collectible writing instruments. The limited edition pen extends a collaboration that since 2019 has inspired some of the Retro 51’s space-themed designs while supporting the next generation of explorers. “We are excited to announce that Retro 51 and the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation have partnered again to honor those…
Read MoreNASA Awards Orion Main Engine Contract for Future Artemis Missions
NASA has awarded a contract to Aerojet Rocketdyne Inc. of Redmond, Washington, for the development of the Orion Main Engine (OME), which will be used on the Orion spacecraft as part of the agency’s Artemis program.
Read More