News (Page 740)

NASA’s Opportunity Rover Withstands Another Harsh Winter on Mars When the Opportunity rover landed on Mars on January 25th, 2004, its mission was only meant to last for about 90 Earth days. But the little rover that could has exceeded all expectations by remaining in operation (as of the writing of this article) for a total of 13 years and 231 days and traveled a total of about 50 km (28 mi). Basically, Opportunity has continued to remain mobile and gather scientific data 50 times longer than its designated lifespan. And according to a recent announcement from NASA’s Mars Exploration Program (MEP), the rover managedRead More →

Meteors Explode from the Inside When They Reach the Atmosphere Earth is no stranger to meteors. In fact, meteor showers are a regular occurrence, where small objects (meteoroids) enter the Earth’s atmosphere and radiate in the night sky. Since most of these objects are smaller than a grain of sand, they never reach the surface and simply burn up in the atmosphere. But very so often, a meteor of sufficient size will make it through and explode above the surface, where it can cause considerable damage. A good example of this is the Chelyabinsk meteoroid, which exploded in the skies over Russia in February ofRead More →

86 Stars Just got Official Names from the IAU When we think of the most commonly-known stars in the night sky, what springs to mind? Chances are, it would be stars like Sirius, Vega, Deneb, Rigel, Betelgeuse, Polaris, and Arcturus – all of which derive their names from Arabic, Greek or Latin origins. Much like the constellations, these names have been passed down from one astronomical tradition to another and were eventually adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). But what about the astronomical traditions of Earth’s many, many other cultures? Don’t the names they applied to heavens also deserve mention? According to the IAU,Read More →

What is the Perfect Gift for Every Space Enthusiast? The Year in Space Calendar 2018! What is the most wonderful time of the year? In my opinion, it is when the new Year In Space Calendars come out! This is our most-recommended holiday gift every year and whether it’s the gigantic wall calendar or the spiral-bound desk calendar the 2018 versions don’t disappoint. They are full of wonderful color images, daily space facts, and historical references. These calendars even show you where you can look in the sky for all the best astronomical sights. These calendars are the perfect gift every space enthusiast will enjoyRead More →

New Map Shows the Motion of all the Galaxies in Our Supercluster For almost a century, astronomers have understood that the Universe is in a state of expansion. This is a consequence of General Relativity, and the rate at which it is expanding is known as the Hubble Constant – named after the man who first noticed the phenomena. However, astronomers have also learned that withing the large-scale structures of the Universe, galaxies and clusters have also been moving closer and relative to one other. For decades, astronomers have sought to track how these movements have taken place over the course of cosmic history. AndRead More →

Breakthrough Listen is Going to Scan ‘Oumuamua, You Know, Just to be Sure it’s Just an Asteroid and Not a Spaceship. On October 19th, 2017, the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System-1 (Pan-STARRS-1) in Hawaii announced the first-ever detection of an interstellar asteroid, named 1I/2017 U1 (aka. ‘Oumuamua). Based on subsequent measurements of its shape (highly elongated and thin), there was some speculation that it might actually be an interstellar spacecraft (the name “Rama” ring a bell?). For this reason, there are those who would like to study this object before it heads back out into interstellar space. While groups like Project Lyra proposeRead More →

Messier 63 – the Sunflower Galaxy Welcome back to Messier Monday! Today, we continue in our tribute to our dear friend, Tammy Plotner, by looking at the “Sunflower Galaxy”, otherwise known as Messier 63. In the 18th century, while searching the night sky for comets, French astronomer Charles Messier kept noting the presence of fixed, diffuse objects he initially mistook for comets. In time, he would come to compile a list of approximately 100 of these objects, hoping to prevent other astronomers from making the same mistake. This list – known as the Messier Catalog – would go on to become one of the mostRead More →