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Astronomers Find Comets Orbiting a Star 800 Light-Years Away In the past thirty years, thousands of extra-solar planets have been discovered beyond our Solar System. For the most part, they have been detected by the Kepler Space Telescope using a technique called Transit Photometry. For this method, astronomers measure periodic dips in a star’s brightness – which are the result of planets passing in front of them relative to an observer – to confirm the presence of planets. Thanks to a new research effort conducted by a team of professional and amateur astronomers, something much smaller than planets were recently detected orbiting a distant star.Read More →

Superb Weather Forecast for SpaceX Halloween Eve Launch and Landing from Florida with 1st Korean Satellite: Watch Live SpaceX Falcon 9 recycled rocket carrying SES-11/EchoStar 105 UHD TV commercial comsat raised erect atop Launch Complex 39A as flock of birds flies by at the Kennedy Space Center, FL, poised for sunset liftoff on 11 Oct 2017 on world’s third reflight of a liquid fueled orbit class rocket. As seen from the pad perimeter, in this file photo. Credit: Ken Kremer/Kenkremer.com KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – After seemingly endless bouts of damaging rain squalls and flooding, Florida is at last living up to its billing asRead More →

Wow! Asteroid/Dwarf Planet Ceres Once had an Ocean? In March of 2015, NASA’s Dawn mission arrived around Ceres, a protoplanet that is the largest object in the Asteroid Belt. Along with Vesta, the Dawn mission seeks to characterize the conditions and processes of the early Solar System by studying some of its oldest objects. One thing Dawn has determined since its arrival is that water-bearing minerals are widespread on Ceres, an indication that the protoplanet once had a global ocean. Naturally, this has raised many questions, such as what happened to this ocean, and could Ceres still have water today? Towards this end, the DawnRead More →

Astronomers Start Mapping the Structure of the Far Side of the Milky Way Since the 18th century, astronomers have been aware that our Solar System is embedded in a vast disk of stars and gas known as the Milky Way Galaxy. Since that time, the greatest scientific minds have been attempting to obtain accurate distance measurements in order to determine just how large the Milky Way is. This has been no easy task, since the fact that we are embedded in our galaxy’s disk means that we cannot view it head-on. But thanks to a time-tested technique called trigonometric parallax, a team of astronomers fromRead More →

The X3 Ion Engine Test Break Thrust Records When it comes to the future of space exploration, a number of new technologies are being investigated. Foremost among these are new forms of propulsion that will be able to balance fuel-efficiency with power. Not only would engines that are capable of achieving a great deal of thrust using less fuel be cost-effective, they will be able to ferry astronauts to destinations like Mars and beyond in less time. This is where engines like the X3 Hall-effect thruster comes into play. This thruster, which is being developed by NASA’s Glenn Research Center in conjunction with the USRead More →

October Launch Trifecta from Florida Cleared as SpaceX Conducts Static Fire Engine Test for Oct. 30 KoreaSat Liftoff SpaceX conducts successful static hot fire test of never flown Falcon 9 booster atop Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on 26 Oct 2017 as seen from Playalinda Beach. Liftoff with KoreaSat-5A comsat is slated for 30 Oct 2017. Credit: Ken Kremer/Kenkremer.com PLAYALINDA BEACH/KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – The path to an October launch trifecta from Florida’s Spaceport was cleared following SpaceX’s successful static fire test of the Falcon 9 boosters first stage engines this afternoon, Oct. 26, and thereby targeting Monday, Oct. 30 forRead More →

An Artificial Intelligence Just Found 56 New Gravitational Lenses Gravitational lenses are an important tool for astronomers seeking to study the most distant objects in the Universe. This technique involves using a massive cluster of matter (usually a galaxy or cluster) between a distant light source and an observer to better see light coming from that source. In an effect that was predicted by Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, this allows astronomers to see objects that might otherwise be obscured. Recently, a group of European astronomers developed a method for finding gravitational lenses in enormous piles of data. Using the same artificial intelligence algorithms thatRead More →

Juno Finds that Jupiter’s Gravitational Field is “Askew” Since it established orbit around Jupiter in July of 2016, the Juno mission has been sending back vital information about the gas giant’s atmosphere, magnetic field and weather patterns. With every passing orbit – known as perijoves, which take place every 53 days – the probe has revealed more interesting things about Jupiter, which scientists will rely on to learn more about its formation and evolution. During its latest pass, the probe managed to provide the most detailed look to date of the planet’s interior. In so doing, it learned that Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field is askew,Read More →