Month: December 2021

Best space and sci-fi books for 2021

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There are plenty of great books out there about space — so many, in fact, that it can feel a little overwhelming to figure out where to start, whether searching for a perfect gift or your next engrossing read. So the editors and writers at Space.com have put together a list of their favorite books about the universe. These are the books that we love — the ones that informed us, entertained us and inspired us. We hope they’ll do the same for you! We’ve divided the books into five…

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Precious Hours with the Geminids

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At first glance, the annual Geminid meteor shower appears to be on a collision course with a bright Moon. But a closer look reveals a happy window of dark skies. The post Precious Hours with the Geminids appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches NASA’s new IXPE X-ray space telescope

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX successfully launched its 28th rocket of the year early Thursday morning (Dec. 9), ferrying an X-ray observatory into space for NASA. A used Falcon 9 rocket blasted off at 1 a.m. (0600 GMT) from Pad 39A here at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). The mission marked the fifth flight for this particular booster. “Liftoff of Falcon 9 and IXPE, a new set of X-ray eyes to view the mysteries of our skies,” NASA TV’s launch commentator Derrol…

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Chinese astronauts to deliver live science lesson from space station Thursday. Watch it live.

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China’s Shenzhou 13 astronauts are all set to present a science lesson live from the orbiting Tiangong space station on Thursday. Astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu will begin the class at 2:40 am EST (0740 GMT, 3:40 pm Beijing time) on Thursday (Dec. 9) from inside the Tianhe module, the core (and currently only module) of the Tiangong station. You can watch the live science lesson (in Mandarin) in the window above, courtesy of China’s CCTV news outlet. on YouTube.  Related: The latest news about China’s space…

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Rocket Lab launches two Earth observation satellites for BlackSky Global

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Rocket Lab launched two satellites to orbit Wednesday night (Dec. 8). A Rocket Lab Electron launcher carrying two commercial Earth observation spacecraft lifted off from the company’s New Zealand site at 7:02 p.m. EST (1:02 p.m. Dec. 9 local New Zealand time, or 0002 Dec. 9 GMT). “And away we go! Our 23rd Electron launch vehicle is off the pad and on the way to space for this mission and progressing well on its journey to low Earth orbit,” Rocket Lab communications advisor Murielle Baker said during a live webcast…

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