Tag: Solar System

Estonia joins Artemis Accords as moon-exploration coalition agrees to continue outreach efforts

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MILAN — The nations signed up to the Artemis Accords are looking to spread the word on common principles and best practices on exploring outer space.  Estonia became the 45th country to sign up to the Accords just ahead of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) here, which opened on Monday (Oct. 14). But engagement and enlargement efforts won’t stop there. The Artemis Accords — a set of statements that set out common principles, guidelines and best practices for exploration of the moon and beyond — had its third heads-of-agencies meeting…

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Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is being squeezed, Hubble Telescope finds — and nobody knows why (video)

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The venerable Hubble Space Telescope has watched Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS) oscillating, as though it were being squeezed in and out roughly every 90 days.  Why this huge anticyclone, which has been shrinking over the decades and currently measures about 9,165 miles (14,750 kilometers) across (although astrophotographer Damian Peach has reportedly measured it to be just 7,770 miles, or 12,500 km, wide), is behaving in such fashion is a mystery.  “With Hubble’s high resolution, we can say that the GRS is definitely squeezing in and out at the same…

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Hopes dim for another bright October comet after Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

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While skywatchers around the world have been raving about the performance of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, there has been talk on social media of yet another spectacular comet due to make its appearance at the end of this month.  The lineage of this second object apparently connects it with a family of comets, some of which have been among the most brilliant ever observed. For this reason, some might have already branded it as “The Great Halloween Comet.”  Unfortunately, it now appears likely that this will not happen.   We’ll get into…

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Severe solar storm could supercharge auroras across US, impact power grids, NOAA warns

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Get ready, aurora chasers: There’s a good chance you’ll be able to catch a nice light show by the end of the week! Forecasters with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) are highlighting the potential for a severe geomagnetic storm on Thursday (Oct. 10) and Friday (Oct. 11). That storm is likely to be in the G4 class — the second-highest level on the SWPC’s geomagnetic storm scale, which takes into account both severity and potential impacts.   Indeed, the SWPC has issued a…

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Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS photobombs SOHO spacecraft during powerful solar flare (video)

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Nothing makes a photo more interesting than an unexpected guest appearing in the background. And how cool would it be if the photobomber were a comet? That’s exactly what happened to the sun-studying Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft, a joint effort of the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, beginning on Oct. 7. Typically, scientists use the view from SOHO’s Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) instrument to monitor the sun’s activity and determine if a coronal mass ejection (CME) accompanies a solar flare from active sunspot regions. Coronographs block…

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Can Rocket Lab come to NASA’s rescue with new Mars sample-return plan?

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NASA’s troubled Mars sample-return program may have a new lifeline, in the form of a proposal from private space company Rocket Lab to help save the mission. When the Perseverance rover landed on Mars in 2021, the plan was to follow up with a mission in the early 2030s that would retrieve the canisters containing samples of Martian dirt, rocks and atmosphere collected by the rover, and bring them to Earth for detailed study. The hope is that the samples will be able to tell researchers about conditions on Mars…

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Satellite images capture Hurricane Milton intensifying into Category 5 storm (videos)

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In the heart of the Gulf of Mexico, a new hurricane is brewing. Hurricane Milton, now having intensified into a Category 5 storm, was caught in incredible space-based imagery from spacecraft such as the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s GOES-East satellite.  Hurricane Milton comes just ten days after Hurricane Helene, the deadliest hurricane to hit the United States since Katrina, made landfall in the southeastern U.S.  Milton poses a solid threat to the regions it will impact, and the National Hurricane Center is urging residents of Florida to take…

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China unveils spacesuit for moonwalking astronauts (video)

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China has strutted out its moon-landing spacesuit, unveiling its design in a ceremony Saturday (Sept. 28) in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality. A technician put the spacesuit — which China aims to start using on crewed moon missions by 2030 — through its paces, showcasing various movements and gestures, including climbing the rungs of a ladder.  The overall design of the moon-landing suit is inspired by traditional Chinese armor, underscoring the suit’s rugged and resolute appearance. It also features ribbons, which have always been an important element in the design of Chinese…

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Watch spectacular Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS rise during the early hours of Sept. 28 with this free livestream

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Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS at perihelion: online observation – 28 Sept. 2024 – YouTube Watch On Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS has been making quite a name for itself these past few weeks, providing a dazzling spectacle for early morning risers wishing to catch a glimpse of the “dirty snowball” as it streaks through the predawn sky.  On Sept. 27, the comet will reach its perihelion — the closest distance to the sun. At 1:55 p.m. EDT (1755 GMT) the comet will be about 36.4 million miles (58.6 million kilometers) away…

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Radar images capture snowman-shaped object tumbling past Earth

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The universe appears to have sent us an early Christmas present: the large asteroid that tumbled safely past Earth last week was, in fact, two asteroids melded into one object that resembles a snowman. The asteroid, named 2024 ON, zipped past Earth on Sept. 17 at 19,842 mph (31,933 kph), which is roughly 26 times the speed of sound. The space rock is huge — 1150 feet (350 meters) long, about the size of a skyscraper — but it safely floated past Earth at a distance of 620,000 miles (1…

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