Day: June 8, 2025

Astronauts track huge dust clouds over Canada and US | On the ISS this week June 2-6, 2025

NeRD

Preparations for the arrival of a visiting crew, the continued study of how humans adapt to the microgravity environment of space, the service of systems on board a docked cargo ship and the documentation of European landmarks from Earth orbit kept the seven astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station (ISS) busy this week (June 2 through June 6), the sixth week of Expedition 73. Orbital observation “I noticed smoke over the Northern U.S. and Canada a few days ago, and it took me a little while to understand…

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See the moon shine with famous red star Antares in the southern sky on June 9

NeRD

The waxing gibbous moon will shine close to the red star Antares in the constellation Scorpius on the night of June 9. Stargazers in the U.S. will find the moon rising higher over the southeastern horizon after sunset on June 9, with Antares shining brightly around 4 degrees to the lower left of the lunar disk. For context, your little finger held at arms length accounts for roughly 1 degree in the night sky, while your index, middle and ring fingers together amount to around 5 degrees, according to NASA.…

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China’s Tianwen 2 spacecraft sends home 1st photo as it heads for mysterious ‘quasi-moon’ asteroid

NeRD

China has released a first picture of its Tianwen 2 mission as the spacecraft heads for a near-Earth asteroid. Tianwen 2 launched on a Long March 3B rocket on May 28 and is tasked with rendezvousing with and sampling the mysterious asteroid Kamo’oalewa, which is one Earth’s seven known “quasi moons.” And the mission is proceeding well, according to a first official update. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) revealed in a June 6 statement that the spacecraft is operating well and is more than 3 million kilometers (1.86 million…

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