This infrared image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) shows a portion of an area of the sky known as GOODS-South. More than 45,000 galaxies are visible here. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Brant Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), Ben Johnson (CfA), Sandro Tacchella (Cambridge), Marcia Rieke (University of Arizona), Daniel Eisenstein (CfA)) The James Webb Telescope (JWST or Webb) has unveiled hundreds of ancient galaxies that could be among the first members of the universe — a leap from only a handful that were previously known to exist at…
Read MoreMonth: June 2023
Pentagon confirms it’s buying SpaceX Starlink services for Ukraine
The Pentagon has confirmed it is buying SpaceX’s Starlink broadband services to provide communications in Ukraine. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been supplying Ukraine with Starlink terminals since the Russian invasion of the country in 2022, providing vital communications after the destruction of infrastructure within the country. However, SpaceX stated in September 2022 that it could not continue funding the Starlink service for Ukraine and had asked the Pentagon to step in and cover costs. A deal is now in place to provide the vital communications services. Related: SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation…
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GMT157_10_27_Warren Hoburg_1070_SpX-28 arrival
Read MoreA Cloudy Approach
The last rays of an orbital sunset illuminate the cloud tops above the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan, providing a dramatic background for the SpaceX CRS-28 Dragon cargo craft as it approached the International Space Station for docking on June 6, 2023.
Read MoreNICER Status Update
Sunlight ‘Leak’ Impacting NASA’s NICER Telescope, Science Continues
Read MoreEarth’s highest, coldest, rarest clouds are back. How to see the eerie ‘noctilucent clouds’ this summer.
Look up an hour or two after sunset and before sunrise over the next few months and you may see ethereal blue, silver or golden streaks in the Northern Hemisphere’s northern skies. Called noctilucent clouds (meaning “night-shining” clouds in Latin)) or NLCs, these strange-looking patterns in the sky are the highest, driest, coldest and rarest clouds on Earth, according to a 2018 study of the phenomenon. These shimmering, night-shining clouds appear in the mesosphere — a layer of Earth’s atmosphere above the stratosphere and below the thermosphere, about 47 to…
Read MoreJames Webb Space Telescope spots faintest galaxy yet in the infant universe (photo)
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has caused quite a stir since it got up and running last summer, revealing a slew of contenders for the title of “oldest galaxy we’ve ever seen.” There’s still no clear verdict on the winner of that contest, but JWST helped astronomers crown a different champion last month. They just confirmed the faintest galaxy yet seen in the early universe, a result published in the journal Nature. “Before the Webb telescope switched on, just a year ago, we could not even dream of confirming…
Read MoreSatellite photos show US East Coast engulfed by smoke from Canadian wildfires
The U.S. Northeast woke up to a “horribly smoky day” on Wednesday (June 7), as a low-pressure system funnels toxic smoke from wildfires in Canada across the Atlantic Coast. The beige-tinged haze can be seen in imagery captured by the weather forecasting satellite GOES East, but plentiful eyewitness reports of the smoke have also cropped up on social media since Tuesday afternoon (June 6). Boston-based air-quality researcher Sotirios Papathanasiou shared an eerie photograph of a setting sun surrounded by a neon-bright orange halo Tuesday evening, explaining that the sight is…
Read MoreNASA Awards $5 Million to Women’s Colleges Tackling STEM Gender Gap
As part of a Biden/Harris initiative, NASA will award more than $5 million in funding to seven Women’s Colleges and Universities (WCUs) to research and develop strategies that increase retention of women in STEM degree programs and careers.
Read MoreNASA Invites Media to View Asteroid Sample Recovery Rehearsal
NASA invites media to attend the first major asteroid sample recovery rehearsal for its OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security – Regolith Explorer) mission on Tuesday, June 27, to Thursday, June 28, at Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado.
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