Month: July 2022

James Webb Space Telescope preparing to see starbirth in high definition

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NASA’s newest deep space observatory will soon turn its eyes to a relatively nearby region bursting with young stars. The James Webb Space Telescope has almost completed commissioning and will release its first operational images July 12. Next comes a program of early science, including an investigation of the Trapezium Cluster, a stellar nursery in the Orion Nebula some 1,350 light-years from Earth. The cluster is packed with gas and dust and includes about 1,000 young stars jam-packed into an area just four light-years across, officials with the Webb consortium…

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‘For All Mankind’ panels, mission patches landing at San Diego Comic Con

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“For All Mankind” is heading to Mars by way of this year’s San Diego Comic Con (SDCC). Between a pair of star-studded panels and an exclusive set of collectible mission patches, the Apple TV+ alternate space history series (opens in new tab) will be well represented at the four-day comic book and pop culture event beginning July 21 at the San Diego Convention Center in California. Now in its third season, “For All Mankind” (opens in new tab) has left the moon — where the series first departed our timeline…

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15 stunning places on Earth that look like they’re from another planet

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For years, humans have fantasized about voyaging to distant worlds. Soon we will be traveling back to Earth’s nearest neighbor with the upcoming crewed Artemis 2 mission around the moon — and NASA aims to use the Artemis program as a stepping stone toward Mars, where the agency wants to send astronauts in the late 2030s or early 2040s. Luckily for most of us, Earth offers some truly awe-inspiring places to visit that will make you feel like you’ve just set foot on another planet. You don’t need a spacecraft…

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The best sci-fi movies and TV shows to stream on Disney Plus in July

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When it comes to top sci-fi content, Disney Plus has a wide-range of out-of-this-world content to keep you glued to your seat throughout July. This handy guide will walk you through the very best sci-fi movies and TV shows to stream on Disney Plus. July is a great month to bag yourself a Disney Plus subscription (opens in new tab) as the streaming platform has a host of great sci-fi content, like the recent “Obi-Wan-Kenobi” series. Disney Plus is also the home of all things “Star Wars” so as well…

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Solar system planets, order and formation: A guide

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The order of the planets in the solar system, starting nearest the sun and working outward is the following: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and then the possible Planet Nine. The solar system extends from the sun, called Sol by the ancient Romans, and goes past the four inner planets, through the asteroid belt to the four gas giants and on to the disk-shaped Kuiper Belt and far beyond to the teardrop-shaped heliopause.  Scientists estimate that the edge of the solar system is about 9 billion miles…

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On This Day In Space: July 3, 1998: Japan launches Nozomi Mars mission

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On July 3, 1998, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the Nozomi spacecraft on a mission to Mars. This would be the country’s first probe to go to another planet. Nozomi was supposed to arrive at Mars in Oct. of 1999, but an electrical malfunction left it lingering in a heliocentric orbit without enough fuel to get there on schedule. Mission scientists then re-routed the spacecraft so it would arrive at Mars in Dec. of 2003. However, a powerful solar flare that hit the spacecraft in 2002 damaged its…

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I watched hundreds of flat-Earth videos to learn how conspiracy theories spread — and what it could mean for fighting disinformation

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This article was originally published at The Conversation. (opens in new tab) The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Carlos Diaz Ruiz (opens in new tab), Assistant Professor, Hanken School of Economics Around the world, and against all scientific evidence, a segment of the population believes that Earth‘s round shape is either an unproven theory or an elaborate hoax. Polls by YouGov America (opens in new tab) in 2018 and FDU (opens in new tab) in 2022 found that as many as 11% of Americans believe the Earth might be flat. While…

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Perseverance Mars rover wind sensor damaged by pebbles, but still operational

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Mars can be an awfully windy place, it turns out. The Perseverance rover touched down on the Red Planet in February 2021 carrying, among other instruments, a weather station dubbed Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA). That instrument includes two wind sensors that measure speed and direction, among several other sensors that provide weather metrics such as humidity, radiation and air temperature. Pebbles carried aloft by strong Red Planet gusts recently damaged one of the wind sensors, but MEDA can still keep track of wind at its landing area in Jezero…

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