New research may explain why satellite galaxies align themselves around the Milky Way The post How Our Largest Dwarf Galaxy Keeps the Others In Line appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreMonth: December 2021
Fortnite’s Chapter 3 Battle Pass includes a moon-themed Ronin skin
Fortnite’s new island appears to be part of a multiverse in Chapter 3, Season 1. The new season of the battle royale game dropped Sunday (Dec. 5) at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) with a plethora of new items. For space fans, the content includes a crescent moon-themed Ronin set and a loading screen showing the Fortnite island floating in a multiverse-like bubble. Players like us who bought the season battle pass (950 V-bucks, roughly $7.99 USD) struggled to log into Fortnite in the first hours after release due to…
Read MoreHere’s what the only total solar eclipse of 2021 was like from a cruise ship near Antarctica
Editor’s note: The only total solar eclipse of 2021 occurred Saturday, Dec. 4, over Antarctica, where few people could see it. Some intrepid explorers, like our columnist Joe Rao, attempted to see the eclipse from cruise ships near Antarctica. Here’s what Joe and his ship saw. FROM THE LE COMMANDANT CHARCOT IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN OFF OF ANTARCTICA — Approximately 200 passengers on board this exploration cruise ship, owned by the French cruise line, Ponant, sadly suffered a complete cloud out of this total solar eclipse, which swept across a…
Read MoreChina’s Yutu 2 rover spots cube-shaped ‘mystery hut’ on far side of the moon
An image from China’s Yutu 2 showing a cube-shaped object on the horizon on the far side of the moon. (Image credit: CNSA/Our Space) China’s Yutu 2 rover has spotted a mystery object on the horizon while working its way across Von Kármán crater on the far side of the moon. Yutu 2 spotted a cube-shaped object on the horizon to the north and roughly 260 feet (80 meters) away in November during the mission’s 36th lunar day, according to a Yutu 2 diary published by Our Space, a Chinese…
Read MoreAtlas V rocket launch of US military space mission delayed to Monday. How to watch live.
Update for 8 p.m. ET, Dec. 4: The United Launch Alliance has postponed the launch of the Space Test Program 3 mission STP-3 for the U.S. Space Force to no earlier than Monday, Dec. 6 due to leak in an Rocket Propellant-1 (RP-1) ground system storage tank. Lifoff is set for 4:04 a.m. EST (0904 GMT) on Dec. 6. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — United Launch Alliance (ULA) will launch an Atlas V rocket into space early Sunday morning (Dec. 5), and you can watch the action live online. The two-stage…
Read MoreI fought off alien spaceships, monsters and more in Fortnite’s Chapter 2 finale ‘The End’
Alien spaceships swarmed over the Fortnite island during the season finale of the battle royale game Saturday (Dec. 4). They were hovering above us in a widening reality rift, looming above the Fortnite island during the game’s Chapter 2 finale event known as “The End.” Meanwhile, towering Caretaker monsters marched on the terrain in front of us, their faces glowing purple with rage. All of these forces were overwhelming me and my team thanks to the direction of the Cube Queen — the main antagonist of Fortnite’s Chapter 2, Season…
Read More‘Star Trek: Discovery’ season 4, episode 3 is stuffed full of subplots and side stories (recap)
Warning: The spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Discovery’s season 4, episode 3. They enter through the ears and wrap themselves around the cerebral cortex. In sharp contrast to last week’s episode of “Star Trek: Discovery” on Paramount Plus, so much happens in the third installment of Season 4, entitled “Choose To Live,” that it becomes overwhelming and we’re soon swamped by subplots and side-stories. This December, “Star Trek: Discovery” is going up against some of the best contemporary sci-fi currently on television. “Lost in Space” has returned for the third…
Read More‘The Boy Whose Head Was Filled With Stars,’ a beautifully illustrated children’s book about Edwin Hubble, is now on sale
“The Boy Whose Head Was Filled with Stars” tells the story of astronomer Edwin Hubble by imagining his childhood wonder of the night sky. The picture book follows Hubble from his youth and paints his biography in a way that teaches and entertains. We aren’t the only ones who think so: the book has garnered several awards since its publication. The California Reading Association made it a EUREKA! Nonfiction Children’s Book Honor Award Winner; Air & Space Magazine named it the Best Children’s Book of 2021; and it has received great…
Read MoreUPDATE: Arianespace will launch two European navigation satellites on a Soyuz rocket Saturday night. Watch it live.
Update for Dec. 3: Due to poor weather, Arianespace has again delayed this launch by 24 hours. Liftoff is now scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 4. The exact time of the targeted liftoff has not yet been announced. Update for Dec. 2: Arianespace is now targeting launch on Friday (Dec. 3) for the Galileo satellite mission on a Russian-built Soyuz rocket. Liftoff is set for Dec. 3 at 7:23 p.m. EST (0023 GMT). Arianespace plans to send two new European Galileo navigation satellites to space tonight (Dec. 2) and you will…
Read MoreSolar eclipses: When is the next one?
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon gets between Earth and the sun, and the moon casts a shadow over Earth. A solar eclipse can only take place at the phase of new moon, when the moon passes directly between the sun and Earth and its shadows fall upon Earth’s surface. But whether the alignment produces a total solar eclipse, a partial solar eclipse or an annular solar eclipse depends on several factors, all explained below. The fact that an eclipse can occur at all is a fluke of celestial…
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