Thanks to some stunning Hubble Space Telescope observations, scientists continue to be surprised by NASA’s DART mission – this time in the form of a swarm of boulders that appears to have been knocked loose from the targeted asteroid upon impact. In September of last year, NASA launched a mission that, on its surface, might appear to contradict everything we know about space exploration. The agency launched a spacecraft directly into an asteroid. It did not survive. But this metal adventurer, named DART, which stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test,…
Read MoreMonth: July 2023
China to launch moon astronauts’ new spacecraft for 1st time in 2027 or 2028
China is planning to launch a next-generation crewed spacecraft around 2027 that will be capable of carrying astronauts to the moon and even beyond. “In the future, a new generation of spacecraft will be used on crewed lunar missions, to build our space station and for deep-space exploration,” Yang Liwei, deputy chief designer of China’s human spaceflight program, said during a talk at a university on Tuesday (July 18), Reuters reported, citing the state-run Guangzhou Daily. Yang said the first flights are estimated to take place between 2027 and 2028.…
Read MoreSan Diego Comic-Con 2023: The space fan’s ultimate guide
San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) is, without a shadow of doubt, the king of conventions, the grandfather of pop culture gatherings and a sacred shrine for all things sci-fi. Started in the 70s as an annual gathering for all fans of the comic genre, the event slowly but steadily built a loyal following as television and movies began to be incorporated into the festivities. Would you believe that back in 2006, Marvel‘s main event was in a small room with only a cardboard cut-out of Iron Man. However, this was the…
Read MoreApollo 11 Moonwalk
AS11-40-5875 (20 July 1969) — Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot of the first lunar landing mission, poses for a photograph beside the deployed United States flag during an Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA) on the lunar surface. The Lunar Module (LM) is on the left, and the footprints of the astronauts are clearly visible in the soil of the moon. Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, commander, took this picture with a 70mm Hasselblad lunar surface camera. Image Credit: NASA
Read More54 Years Ago: Apollo 11 Crew Walks on the Moon
AS11-40-5875 (20 July 1969) — Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot of the first lunar landing mission, poses for a photograph beside the deployed United States flag during an Apollo 11 extravehicular activity (EVA) on the lunar surface. The Lunar Module (LM) is on the left, and the footprints of the astronauts are clearly visible.
Read MoreWeirdly ‘slow’ neutron star challenges our understanding of stellar corpses
Astronomers have discovered a neutron star with an incredibly powerful magnetic field blasting out energy more slowly than any other ever seen. The newfound object is a type of neutron star known as a magnetar. What makes this particular stellar remnant so extraordinary is that, while its siblings blast out energy at intervals ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes, this neutron star has a more leisurely schedule, emitting radio waves at 22-minute intervals. This makes the magnetar — designated GPM J1839-10 and located 15,000 light-years from Earth…
Read MoreJames Webb Space Telescope makes 1st detection of diamond-like carbon dust in the universe’s earliest stars
The James Webb Space Telescope has detected the earliest-known carbon dust in a galaxy ever. Using the powerful space telescope, a team of astronomers spotted signs of the element that forms the backbone of all life in ten different galaxies that existed as early as 1 billion years after the Big Bang. The detection of carbon dust so soon after the Big Bang could shake up theories surrounding the chemical evolution of the universe. This is because the processes that create and disperse heavier elements like this should take longer…
Read More1st evidence found for ‘Trojan planet’ worlds occupying same orbit
Astronomers have discovered the first evidence of two planetary siblings sharing the same orbit around a star. The discovery of a possible co-orbital “Trojan planet” is represented by the detection of a cloud of dust sharing the orbit of the distant giant exoplanet PDS 70b, located around 400 light-years from Earth. This clump of matter with twice the mass of Earth’s moon could eventually condense into a planet, resulting in two worlds sharing the same orbit around a star. Alternatively, the cloud could be debris from what was once a…
Read MoreStarling Takes Flight
On July 17, 2023, NASA’s four Starling CubeSats successfully deployed after having launched aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket, shown in this image.
Read MoreAuroras across the solar system are powered in the same way, Mercury results suggest
The way in which the radiant displays of colors in the sky known as auroras form on Earth may be how these lights arise throughout the solar system, according to new findings from Mercury. On Earth, auroras — also known as the northern and southern lights — result when streams of high-speed particles from the sun, collectively known as the solar wind, slam into our world’s magnetosphere, the shell of electrically charged particles trapped by the planet’s magnetic field. Mercury, the smallest and least massive of the solar system’s planets, also…
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