Month: January 2022

Update: This livestream has been delayed by 24 hours due to clouds blocking the telescope’s view. It is now scheduled to begin on Saturday (Jan. 8) at 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 GMT). Catch a livestream of the James Webb Space Telescope as it zips towards its celestial perch today (Jan. 7).  Starting at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT), astrophysicist Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project in Italy will stream live telescope views of the James Webb Space Telescope. You can watch the webcast live in the window above, courtesy…

Astronomers and space fans around the world can breathe a sigh of relief: The James Webb Space Telescope is now fully deployed. The $10 billion NASA observatory unfolded the second “wing” of its massive primary mirror today (Jan. 8), bringing the light-collecting structure up to its full size and marking the end of the mission’s long, risky and ultra-complex deployment phase.  As the final mirror segment folded in place just before 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT). Just under three hours later, at 1:17 p.m. EST (1817 GMT), the mirror was…

Starlink is the name of a satellite network developed by the private spaceflight company SpaceX to provide low-cost internet to remote locations. SpaceX eventually hopes to have as many as 42,000 satellites in this so-called megaconstellation.  The size and scale of the project flusters astronomers, who fear that the bright, orbiting objects will interfere with observations of the universe, as well as spaceflight safety experts who now see Starlink as the number one source of collision hazard in Earth’s orbit. In addition to that, some scientists worry that the amount…

If you worry about when the sun will die, never fear: that moment is billions of years away. The sun gives energy to life on Earth, and without this star, we wouldn’t be here. But even stars have limited lifetimes, and someday our sun will die. You don’t need to worry about this solar death anytime soon, though. Like all stars, a churning fusion engine fuels the sun, and it still has a lot of fuel left — about 5 billion years’ worth. Related: What’s inside the sun? A star…

This sky map shows the view from New York City just after sunset on Jan. 7, 2022. (Image credit: SkySafari app) The flighty planet Mercury, typically a tricky observing challenge from planet Earth, will be at its greatest distance from the sun in our sky Friday (Jan. 7). While Mercury will be shining quite brightly at magnitude -0.6, the planet will be a mere 13 degrees above the horizon in New York City, still making it a challenging target. You might want to use binoculars if available. But you will…