Author: NeRD

This Week In Space podcast: Episode 131 —The Star Wars vs. Star Trek Food Fight

NeRD

The Star Wars vs. Star Trek Food Fight – Vulcan Launches, Voyager 2 Powers Down, the Sun Powers Up – YouTube Watch On On Episode 131 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik tackle a question that rivals the meaning of life itself: which is better, Star Trek or Star Wars? Of course, they are very different, and that’s really the core of it–one is a sweeping fantasy adventure incorporating the “Hero’s Journey,” while the other is a science fantasy wrapped around a morality play. In the…

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Ancient supermassive black hole is blowing galaxy-killing wind, James Webb Space Telescope finds

NeRD

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have spotted the earliest powerful “galaxy-size” wind blowing from a feeding supermassive black hole-powered quasar. The powerful wind is pushing gas and dust from its galaxy at incredible speeds, killing star birth in its host galaxy.  This quasar, designated J1007+2115, is so distant that it is seen as it was just 700 million years after the Big Bang — when the 13.8 billion-year-old universe was just around 5% of its current age. Though this makes J1007+2115 just the third-earliest quasar ever seen,…

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See Venus rendezvous with the crescent moon in the night sky tonight (Oct. 5)

NeRD

On Saturday evening (Oct. 5) as darkness is falling, be sure to take a look low toward the west-southwest part of the sky for a beautiful celestial tableau formed by a lovely crescent moon and the brilliant planet Venus.  The moon will appear to hover about 4-degrees below and to the left of Venus. Your clenched fist held at arm’s length measures roughly 10-degrees. So, the moon and Venus will appear to be less than a “half a fist” apart. These Venus-moon rendezvous occur on roughly a monthly schedule. Indeed, if…

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Blue Origin to debut 2nd human-rated New Shepard rocket on Oct. 7 launch (photo)

NeRD

Blue Origin will debut a new spacecraft on Monday (Oct. 7), if all goes according to plan. Jeff Bezos‘ aerospace company plans to launch its uncrewed NS-27 mission Monday morning, sending its New Shepard rocket-capsule combo on a brief trip to suborbital space. It will be the first mission for this particular vehicle, according to Blue Origin. NS-27 will launch from the company’s West Texas site during a window that opens at 9:00 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT; 8:00 a.m. local Texas time). You can watch the action live via Blue…

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NASA’s exoplanet hunter TESS spots a record-breaking 3-star system

NeRD

Using NASA’s exoplanet-hunting spacecraft, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), scientists have spotted a record-breaking triple-star system so tightly bound that it could fit comfortably between the sun and its closest planet, Mercury. The system, designated TIC 290061484 contains twin stars that race around each other once every 1.8 Earth days as well as a third star that orbits this pair once every 25 Earth days. This triple star system’s super-tight orbit, located just under 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, the swan, makes it a record-breaker.  The previous…

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Sunglint on the Alabama River

NeRD

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station shot this photo of large meanders of the Alabama River while orbiting over the southern United States. The river’s smooth water surface reflects sunlight back toward the astronaut’s camera, producing an optical phenomenon known as sunglint. NASA/Woody Hoburg In this June 26, 2023, photo taken from the International Space Station, sunlight shines off the smooth waters of the Alabama River in a phenomenon known as sunglint. When photographing Earth, astronauts often take advantage of sunglint’s tendency to increase the contrast between water surfaces…

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This Celestron beginner telescope is 18% off before Prime Day

NeRD

The Celestron 70mm Travel Scope is 18% off on Amazon in this early Prime Day telescope deal. Amazon’s Big Deal Days sales event starts Oct. 8, and we have a roundup of all the best early Amazon Prime Day deals, which you can check out. Save 18% on the Celestron 70mm Travel Scope when you grab it on Amazon ahead of Big Deal Days. Celestron’s 70mm Travel Scope is ideal for beginners, and, at under $90, it’s a low-risk investment if you’re taking your first steps into astronomy. You get…

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Science Activation’s PLACES Team Facilitates Third Professional Learning Institute

NeRD

Learn Home Science Activation’s PLACES… Earth Science Overview Learning Resources Science Activation Teams SME Map Opportunities More Science Activation Stories Citizen Science   5 min read Science Activation’s PLACES Team Facilitates Third Professional Learning Institute The NASA Science Activation program’s Place-Based Learning to Advance Connections, Education, and Stewardship (PLACES) project supports middle and high school educators to engage students in data-rich Earth science learning through the integration of NASA data sets, images, classroom lessons, and other assets. This project draws on a place-based approach as a means to increase “data…

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NASA Announces Teams for 2025 Student Launch Challenge

NeRD

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Students celebrate after a successful performance in the 2024 Student Launch competition at Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama. NASA NASA has selected 71 teams from across the U.S. to participate in its 25th annual Student Launch Challenge, one of the agency’s Artemis Student Challenges. The competition is aimed at inspiring Artemis Generation students to explore science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for the benefit of humanity. As part of the challenge, teams will design, build, and fly a high-powered…

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NASA Announces Teams to Compete in International Rover Challenge

NeRD

2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA MSFC HERC is the annual engineering competition – one of NASA’s longest standing challenges – held its concluding event April 19 and April 20, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA NASA has selected 75 student teams to begin an engineering design challenge to build rovers that will compete next spring at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center near the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The…

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