NASA’s Webb Depicts Staggering Structure in 19 Nearby Spiral Galaxies

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6 Min Read NASA’s Webb Depicts Staggering Structure in 19 Nearby Spiral Galaxies Webb’s set of 19 PHANGS images of face-on spiral galaxies. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Janice Lee (STScI), Thomas Williams (Oxford), and the PHANGS team It’s oh-so-easy to be absolutely mesmerized by these spiral galaxies. Follow their clearly defined arms, which are brimming with stars, to their centers, where there may be old star clusters and – sometimes – active supermassive black holes. Only NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope can deliver highly detailed scenes of nearby galaxies…

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Photographer snaps extremely rare ‘green flash’ coming from Venus

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Venus briefly flashed a shimmering green light in the night sky above Sweden, new footage reveals. The rarely seen phenomenon is almost identical to the ethereal green flashes that are occasionally seen around the sun during sunrises and sunsets.  Photographer Peter Rosén captured the colorful flash coming from one of our closest planetary neighbors while he was watching Venus rise above the horizon in Stockholm in the early hours of Jan. 8, Spaceweather.com reported.  The bright flash, which lasted for around a second, was an “unexpected bonus” that added to…

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NASA Marks Halfway Point for Artemis Moon Rocket Engine Certification Series

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2 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA completed a full-duration, 500-second hot fire of an RS-25 certification engine Jan. 27, marking the halfway point in a critical test series to support future SLS (Space Launch System) missions to the Moon and beyond as NASA explores the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all. NASA/Danny Nowlin NASA completed the sixth of 12 scheduled RS-25 engine certification tests in a critical series for future flights of the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket as engineers…

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Best AI movies of all time

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AI is a hot topic at the moment, something which a fair few sci-fi works have dabbled with, so we’ve collected the best AI movies you can watch right now. Much is being done and written about AI, but artists have always been ahead of the curve when it comes to these ideas and the discussion surrounding them. It started with literary works, but nowadays we’re used to watching movies and TV shows about artificial intelligence and how it can change (or destroy) our lives. One big issue with media…

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SpaceX to launch 2 rockets 3 hours apart today in Starlink doubleheader

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SpaceX plans to launch two more batches of its Starlink internet satellites today (Jan. 28), in doubleheader liftoffs just three hours apart. A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 23 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida today during a 3.5-hour-long window that opens at 6:15 p.m. EST (2315 GMT).  Another Falcon 9 will carry 22 more Starlinks skyward from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, during a nearly four-hour window that opens today at 9:16 p.m. EST (6:16 p.m. local time, and 0216…

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New ‘Alien: Romulus’ fan trailer reveals a monstrous multi-limbed xenomorph

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One of the great mysteries of the universe, especially shifting into 2024, is the future status of the “Alien” franchise after Disney absorbed the iconic sci-fi property into their vast empire following 2019’s $71 billion acquisition of 20th Century Fox.  The two dueling projects looking to be most promising were an untitled TV series from creator and director Noah Hawley (“Legion,” “Fargo”) likely destined for Hulu, and a standalone feature film project being helmed by director Fede Álvarez (“Evil Dead,” “Don’t Breathe”) tentatively tiled “Alien: Romulus.” While we’re still waiting…

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Watch the sun spew out a giant eruption of plasma in incredible footage (video)

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[embedded content] Miguel Claro is a professional photographer, author and science communicator based in Lisbon, Portugal, who creates spectacular images of the night sky. As a European Southern Observatory Photo Ambassador and member of The World At Night and the official astrophotographer of the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, he specializes in astronomical “Skyscapes” that connect both Earth and the night sky.  On Feb. 22, 2022, a gigantic solar prominence formed on the surface of the sun, blasting a large coronal mass ejection (CME) into space.  Solar prominences, or filaments, are large loops of plasma flowing along twisted…

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This Week In Space podcast: Episode 95 — Clean Energy From Space

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On Episode 95 of This Week In Space, Tariq and Rod discuss the future of space-based solar power with John Mankins. Climate change has become a top priority for all of us, including NASA. Space solar power — beaming energy from space 24 hours per day — has become a real possibility and is being studied internationally by the US, Europe, Japan, and China. It promises to provide a zero-emissions, zero-carbon source of energy worldwide — but it will take significant investment, development, and commitment.  A recent NASA-backed study was…

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Watch Rocket Lab launch 4 private satellites, recover booster early Jan. 28

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Rocket Lab plans to launch four private satellites and recover the returning booster early Sunday morning (Jan. 28), and you can watch the action live. The company’s Electron rocket is scheduled to lift off from New Zealand on Sunday during a 45-minute window that opens at 1:15 a.m. EST (0615 GMT; 7:15 p.m. local New Zealand time). You can watch live here on Space.com, courtesy of Rocket Lab, or directly via the companny’s website. Coverage will begin 30 minutes before the launch window opens. Related: Facts and information about Rocket…

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The moon could be perfect for cutting-edge telescopes — but not if we don’t protect it

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Space scientists are eager to protect the option of doing astronomy from the moon. There are plans in the works to place astronomical hardware on the lunar landscape such as super-cooled infrared telescopes, a swath of gravitational wave detectors, large Arecibo-like radio telescopes, even peek-a-boo instruments tuned up to seek out evidence for “out there” aliens.  Yes, the future of lunar astronomy beckons. But some scientists say there’s an urgent need to protect any moon-based astronomical equipment from interference caused by other planned activities on the moon, ensuring they can carry…

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