CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX successfully launched its first Falcon 9 rocket of the year Thursday (Jan. 6), sending a new stack of Starlink satellites into orbit from Florida, before nailing a landing at sea. The previously flown Falcon 9 rocket blasted off at 4:49 p.m. EST (2149 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station here in Florida, carrying a stack of 49 Starlink satellites. Approximately nine minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s first stage returned to Earth and touched down on the deck of SpaceX’s…
Read MoreMonth: January 2022
Astronomers Discover Celestial Ruins on Our Galaxy’s Edge
A stream of stars scattered across 15 degrees of sky was once part of a globular cluster torn apart by our galaxy’s gravity. The stars represent some of the oldest in the Milky Way. The post Astronomers Discover Celestial Ruins on Our Galaxy’s Edge appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read MoreNASA to Host Coverage, Briefing for Webb Telescope’s Final Unfolding
NASA will provide live coverage and host a media briefing Saturday, Jan. 8, for the conclusion of the James Webb Space Telescope’s major spacecraft deployments.
Read MoreThe solar system belongs to us all, not just Jeff Bezos
This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Alan Marshall, Lecturer in Environmental Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Mahidol University Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon Inc and the richest man on Earth, has just launched the third mission of his space tourism business, NS-19. His space company, Blue Origin, sent four more multimillionaire customers into space along with two “space celebrity” guests: Laura Shepard Churchley, daughter of Alan Shepard, America’s first astronaut, plus Michael Strahan, an American Football Hall-of-Famer…
Read MoreNASA’s TESS exoplanet mission reveals mystery of strange signals from dusty object
The universe is full of mysteries. In observations gathered by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers stumbled on yet another mystery, and a dusty one at that. In new research, a team of scientists examines potential causes of strange signals emitted by an object dubbed TIC 400799224. Based on what astronomers have seen so far, the researchers suggest that this object might be a binary star, or double star system, in which one of the stars is surrounded by a massive cloud of dust, the rubble of perhaps a…
Read MoreHubble Spots Star-Hatching frEGGs!
This image shows knots of cold, dense interstellar gas where new stars are forming.
Read MoreStargazing with Ice Cold Enthusiasm
A new year — and a clear sky — offers a chance to reconnect with a passion for stargazing. The post Stargazing with Ice Cold Enthusiasm appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Read More‘The Book of Boba Fett’ episode 1 reveals just how he escaped the Sarlacc pit and more
Warning: Spoilers ahead for “The Book of Boba Fett” episode 1 Following the first two seasons of “The Mandalorian” it’s safe to say that expectations were high for “The Book of Boba Fett” on Disney Plus and at the same time — despite lots of tantalizing teasers and trailers — we still didn’t know quite what to expect. One of the biggest mysteries for this new Star Wars TV series was how the blazes did Boba Fett escape from the Great Pit of Carkoon and the enormous adult Sarlacc that nests…
Read MoreBig hunk of failed Russian rocket crashes to Earth as space junk
The space junk population just got a tiny bit smaller. The Persei upper stage of a Russian Angara A5 heavy-lift rocket crashed back to Earth in an uncontrolled fashion today (Jan. 5), hitting the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean at 4:08 p.m. EST (2108 GMT). “Persei reentry confirmed: 2108 UTC over 121W 14S in the South [Pacific],” astronomer and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, who’s based at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said via Twitter today. That latitude/longitude location corresponds to an empty patch of sea east of French Polynesia. The…
Read MoreSatellite images show epic snowstorm that shut down part of Interstate 95
A band of snow blankets the United States northeast in a new satellite photo showing the huge storm stranding motorists on Interstate 95 in Virginia. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the storm, which dumped more than 14 inches (36 centimeters) of snow on parts of southern Virginia and southern Maryland. Motorists were stuck up to 24 hours on Virginia’s Interstate 95, one of the busiest stretches of the highway in the country, as jackknifed tractor-trailers and other accidents caused a large backup of traffic over dozens…
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