Small telescopes can reel in some big ones in the constellation Cetus, the Whale. The post Deep-sky Fishing in Cetus, the Whale appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreMonth: November 2021
Solar Orbiter to Fly Past Earth Thanksgiving Weekend
The Solar Orbiter mission will fly past Earth Friday night, setting up a dramatic sunward plunge. The post Solar Orbiter to Fly Past Earth Thanksgiving Weekend appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreJames Webb Space Telescope launch delayed to Dec. 22
The James Webb Space Telescope will have to wait a few more days before taking to the skies after an unplanned clamp band release during launch preparations. Liftoff for Webb has now been delayed from Dec. 18 to Dec. 22. The space telescope, a next-generation instrument said to be the most powerful observational tool to be put into space, has been a long time coming, with development beginning almost 30 years ago in 1996. Webb has been completed, folded up and has survived a journey at sea to arrive in…
Read MoreNASA’s asteroid-slamming mission will test new ion drive system
NASA’s mission DART will test our ability to redirect an asteroid by quite literally crashing into it — but the spacecraft will also test a new type of propulsion system for the agency. NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster-Commercial (NEXT-C) is an ion drive. Rather than igniting hydrogen-based propellant as most rockets do, NEXT-C will use the electricity generated by the spacecraft’s own solar panels to create an electrical field that accelerates charged xenon ions up to very high speeds in order to propel the craft. Ion drives can, in theory, reach…
Read MoreHubble Space Telescope team revives powerful camera instrument after glitch
The Hubble Space Telescope continues to bounce back from its latest glitch. In late October, the famous space observatory suffered a problem with the synchronization of its internal messaging, causing all five of its main scientific instruments to go into a protective “safe mode.” Hubble team members managed to bring one instrument, the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), back online on Nov. 7. And they just scored another success, recovering the observatory’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on Sunday (Nov. 21), NASA officials wrote in an update Monday (Nov. 22).…
Read MoreNASA Awards Contract for Bed Rest Studies
NASA has selected Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft-und Raumfahrt (DLR) of Cologne, Germany, to provide use of its facility to support long-duration bed rest research.
Read MoreNASA, Partner to Highlight Passenger-Friendly Aviation Technology
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will visit Orlando International Airport in Florida on Wednesday, Nov. 24 and meet with the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA) CEO Phil Brown.
Read MoreCan This Near-Earth Asteroid Help Us Understand the First Interstellar Visitor?
Astronomers have observed an object like ‘Oumuamua — but unlike the first known interstellar visitor, this one is in the solar system. The post Can This Near-Earth Asteroid Help Us Understand the First Interstellar Visitor? appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreHubble Spots Swirls of Dust in the Flame Nebula
The Flame Nebula, also called NGC 2024, is a large star-forming region in the constellation Orion that lies about 1,400 light-years from Earth. It’s a part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex.
Read MoreNew trailer for ‘Don’t Look Up’ has us excited about Netflix’s comet-impact dark comedy
The new trailer for Netflix’s comet-crashing dark comedy “Don’t Look Up” has us very excited. While Netflix has had some hit and miss success with projects it’s distributed — some of the more dire examples include “Another Life,” “The Cloverfield Paradox” and “Io” — we have thoroughly enjoyed others, including the vastly underrated satire “War Machine” and the epic comedy “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.” Check out our guide to the best space movies and TV shows on Netflix for more. And “Don’t Look Up” has all the…
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