News (Page 850)

Another Juno Flyby, Another Amazing Sequence of Images of Jupiter In July of 2016, the Juno spacecraft established orbit around Jupiter, becoming the first spacecraft since the Galileo probe to study the planet directly. Since that time, the probe has been sending back vital information about Jupiter’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 exciting things about this gas giant. In addition, each perijove has been an opportunity for Juno to snap pictures with its JunoCam. With the help of the public, these pictures have beenRead More →

New Horizons Sees its Next Target for the First Time: Ultima Thule. Flyby Happens January 1, 2019 In July of 2015, NASA’s New Horizons mission made history when it became the first spacecraft to conduct a flyby of Pluto. Since that time, the spacecraft’s mission was extended so it could make its way farther into the outer Solar System and become the first spacecraft to explore some Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs). It’s first objective will be the KBO known as 2014 MU69, which was recently given the nickname “Ultima Thule” (“ultima thoo-lee”). Earlier this month (on August 16th), the New Horizons spacecraft managed to capture anRead More →

Construction on the Orion Capsule is Done. Next it’ll be Sent to Florida for Final Assembly In recent years, NASA has been busy developing the technology and components that will allow astronauts to return to the Moon and conduct the first crewed mission to Mars. These include the Space Launch System (SLS), which will be the most powerful rocket since the Saturn V (which brought the Apollo astronauts to the Moon), and the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV). Over the past few months, engineers at the Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans finished welding together the capsule structure (aka. pressure vessel) of the Orion thatRead More →

Are We Witnessing the Start of Solar Cycle 25? A precursor to the start of Solar Cycle 25? The Sun in hydrogen alpha from August 25th, 2018, showing enigmatic sunspot AR 2720. Image credit and copyright: Damien Weatherly. What’s up with the Sun? As we’ve said previous, what the Sun isn’t doing is the big news of 2018 in solar astronomy. Now, the Sun sent us another curveball this past weekend, with the strange tale of growing sunspot AR 2720. We’re currently headed towards a solar minimum, forecasted to arrive in 2019 as the Sun switches over from Solar Cycle 24 to Solar Cycle 25.Read More →

Hayabusa’s Target Itokawa Formed 4.6 Billion Years Ago, But Then it Was Smashed Up About 1.5 Billion Years Ago Within Earth’s orbit, there are an estimated eighteen-thousands Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs), objects whose orbit periodically takes them close to Earth. Because these asteroids sometimes make close flybys to Earth – and have collided with Earth in the past – they are naturally seen as a potential hazard. For this reason, scientists are  dedicated to tracking NEAs, as well as studying their origin and evolution. However, when and how NEAs formed and what they experienced during their lifetimes has remained an enduring mystery. Luckily, a team ofRead More →

Look at all the Aerosols Pushed into the Atmosphere, from Fires, Volcanoes and Pollution. Even Sea Salt Thrown into the Air from Hurricanes Stand outside and take deep breath. Do you know what you’re breathing? For most people, the answer is simple – air. And air, which is essential to life as we know it, is composed of roughly twenty-percent oxygen gas (O²) and seventy-eight percent nitrogen gas (N²). However, within the remaining one-percent and change are several other trace gases, as well as few other ingredients that are not always healthy. For instance, taking a deep breath outdoors, even on a clear day, willRead More →

This is a 3D map of 400,000 Hot Massive Stars Located Within 10,000 Light-Years From the Sun, Thanks to Gaia! In December of 2013, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the Gaia mission, a space observatory designed to measure the positions of movements of celestial bodies. Over the course of its five-year mission, this observatory has been studying a total of 1 billion objects – including distant stars, planets, comets, asteroids, quasars, etc. – for the sake of creating the largest and most precise 3D space catalog ever made. With the second release of Gaia data, which took place on April 25th, 2018, astronomers haveRead More →

We’re in the Milky Way’s Second Life. Star Formation was Shut Down for Billions of Years Since the birth of modern astronomy, scientists have sought to determine the full extent of the Milky Way galaxy and learn more about its structure, formation and evolution. According to current theories, it is widely believed that the Milky Way formed shortly after the Big Bang (roughly 13.51 billion years ago). This was the result of the first stars and star clusters coming together, as well as the accretion of gas directly from the Galactic halo. Since then, multiple galaxies are thought to have merged with the Milky Way,Read More →