Universe Today (Page 409)

A Glitch Caused Curiosity to Freeze in Place. But It’s Better Now NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover experienced a technical glitch in its stored memory last week, causing it to temporarily lose its sense of direction and freeze in its tracks. But the talented rover repair team back on Earth enabled a fix, and Curiosity is now back in action. “Partway through its last set of activities, Curiosity … Continue reading “A Glitch Caused Curiosity to Freeze in Place. But It’s Better Now” The post A Glitch Caused Curiosity to Freeze in Place. But It’s Better Now appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

This is Probably Sandstone Layers on Mars. Absolutely Beautiful NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has been in orbit around Mars for almost 14 years. It carries a variety of instruments with it, including the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) instrument. That instrument has collected thousands of images of Mars. CRISM’s main purpose is to created detailed maps of the surface mineralogy of … Continue reading “This is Probably Sandstone Layers on Mars. Absolutely Beautiful” The post This is Probably Sandstone Layers on Mars. Absolutely Beautiful appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Finally! We get to See a View From Inside Boeing’s Starliner During its First Flight Boeing has released a highlight reel made from footage that was taken from the inside of the Starliner capsule during its recent test flight. The post Finally! We get to See a View From Inside Boeing’s Starliner During its First Flight appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Rosetta Saw the Building Blocks of Life on Comet 67P Why is there so little nitrogen in Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P)? That’s a question scientists asked themselves when they looked at the data from the ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft. In fact, it’s a question they ask themselves every time they measure the gases in a comet’s coma. When Rosetta visited the comet in 2014, it measured the … Continue reading “Rosetta Saw the Building Blocks of Life on Comet 67P” The post Rosetta Saw the Building Blocks of Life on Comet 67P appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

The Evidence is Leaning More and More Towards an Asteroid Ending the Dinosaurs Which camp are you in: volcanoes? Or asteroids? When it comes to the extinction of the dinosaurs, science has whittled it down to those two possibilities. The asteroid strike has been the leading candidate for quite some time now, but those darn volcanoes refuse to stand down. A new study is presenting even more evidence … Continue reading “The Evidence is Leaning More and More Towards an Asteroid Ending the Dinosaurs” The post The Evidence is Leaning More and More Towards an Asteroid Ending the Dinosaurs appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

Carnival of Space #647 This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Allen Versfeld at his Urban Astronomer blog. Click here to read Carnival of Space #647. And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry … Continue reading “Carnival of Space #647” The post Carnival of Space #647 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Betelgeuse is Continuing to Dim! It’s Down to 1.506 Magnitude Betelgeuse keeps getting dimmer and everyone is wondering what exactly that means. The star will go supernova at the end of its life, but that’s not projected to happen for tens of thousands of years or so. So what’s causing the dimming? Villanova University astronomers Edward Guinan and Richard Wasatonic were the first to report … Continue reading “Betelgeuse is Continuing to Dim! It’s Down to 1.506 Magnitude” The post Betelgeuse is Continuing to Dim! It’s Down to 1.506 Magnitude appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Weekly Space Hangout: January 22, 2019 – Dr. Kenneth Carpenter of HST and WFIRST Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain) Allen Versfeld (https://www.urban-astronomer.com/ / @uastronomer) Carolyn Collins Petersen (TheSpaceWriter.com / @spacewriter) Michael Rodruck (@michaelrodruck) This week we welcome Dr. Kenneth Carpenter to the Weekly Space Hangout. Ken is the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Operations Project Scientist and the Ground System Scientist for WFIRST. He leads the Stellar Imager Vision Mission concept development, and provides … Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: January 22, 2019 – Dr. Kenneth Carpenter of HST and WFIRST” The post Weekly Space Hangout: January 22, 2019 – Dr. Kenneth Carpenter of HST and WFIRST appeared first onRead More →

A Twilight Tryst: Venus Meets Neptune in the Dusk Sky Never seen Neptune? It’s time you should, and this weekend offers a fine time to try, as the faintest planet in the solar system approaches the brightest in the dusk sky, for a splendid conjunction of the pair. This approach culminates as a fine conjunction of the two planets Venus and Neptune on January 27th … Continue reading “A Twilight Tryst: Venus Meets Neptune in the Dusk Sky” The post A Twilight Tryst: Venus Meets Neptune in the Dusk Sky appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Space Force Uniforms are Perfectly Camouflaged for a Forest Moon The United States Space Force has given us a look at their new uniforms, and critics are savaging them on Twitter and elsewhere. That’s because the new uniforms are camouflage. People on Twitter are piling on, pointing out that there’s no need for camouflage in space. (Well, there is if you’re fighting the Ewoks on … Continue reading “Space Force Uniforms are Perfectly Camouflaged for a Forest Moon” The post Space Force Uniforms are Perfectly Camouflaged for a Forest Moon appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Curiosity Looked up and Saw Phobos During the Daytime This image of Phobos in the sky above Mars was taken by Curiosity in 2012 and was recently refurbished by famed NASA software engineer Kevin Gill. The post Curiosity Looked up and Saw Phobos During the Daytime appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

China’s 500-Meter FAST Radio Telescope is Now Operational The world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope is officially open for business according to Xinhua, China’s official state-run media. The FAST Radio Telescope saw fist light in 2016 but has been undergoing testing and commissioning since then. FAST stands for Five-hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope. FAST’s nickname is Tianyan, which means “Eye of the … Continue reading “China’s 500-Meter FAST Radio Telescope is Now Operational” The post China’s 500-Meter FAST Radio Telescope is Now Operational appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

According to NASA, 2019 Was the Second Hottest Year on Record NASA and the NOAA just announced that 2019 was the second hottest year on record. It barely edged out 2016, the previous warmest year. And both 2019 and 2016 are part of the global warming trend: the last five years have been the warmest five years on record. And the last decade was the warmest … Continue reading “According to NASA, 2019 Was the Second Hottest Year on Record” The post According to NASA, 2019 Was the Second Hottest Year on Record appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule Nails In-Flight Abort Test! Next Stop, the ISS! SpaceX nailed the in-flight abort test of its Crew Dragon capsule this weekend, putting them one step closer to sending astronauts to the ISS from US soil! The post SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule Nails In-Flight Abort Test! Next Stop, the ISS! appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

More Mysterious Space Blobs Have Been Found Near the Center of the Milky Way Scientists have found six objects near the center of our galaxy that orbit Sagittarius A. These objects appear to be a new class of object that astronomers have never before seen. The post More Mysterious Space Blobs Have Been Found Near the Center of the Milky Way appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Crew Dragon Abort Test is Scheduled for Saturday Morning On Saturday morning, Jan. 18th, 2020, SpaceX and NASA will be conducting the in-flight abort test of the Crew Dragon, bringing it one step closer to sending astronauts to the ISS. The post Crew Dragon Abort Test is Scheduled for Saturday Morning appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

A Mysterious Burst of Gravitational Waves Came From a Region Near Betelgeuse. But There’s Probably No Connection Gravitational waves are caused by calamitous events in the Universe. Neutron stars that finally merge after circling each other for a long time can create them, and so can two black holes that collide with each other. But sometimes there’s a burst of gravitational waves that doesn’t have a clear cause. One such burst was … Continue reading “A Mysterious Burst of Gravitational Waves Came From a Region Near Betelgeuse. But There’s Probably No Connection” The post A Mysterious Burst of Gravitational Waves Came From a Region NearRead More →

The Debate Over Cold Dark Matter Warms Up As Astronomers Take Its Temperature Dark matter has long been one of the most mysterious things in the cosmos. It was first proposed in the 1930s as an idea to address stellar motion in some galaxies. The first solid evidence of dark matter was gathered by Vera Rubin, who studied the rotational motion of galaxies. The motion of these galaxies … Continue reading “The Debate Over Cold Dark Matter Warms Up As Astronomers Take Its Temperature” The post The Debate Over Cold Dark Matter Warms Up As Astronomers Take Its Temperature appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

ESA Recruits Amateur Astronomers Ahead of Hera Asteroid Mission The European Space Agency is looking to recruit amateur astronomers to help characterize possible secondary targets for the upcoming Hera asteroid rendezvous mission. The post ESA Recruits Amateur Astronomers Ahead of Hera Asteroid Mission appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

An Asteroid has been Found that Orbits the Sun Closer than Venus Astronomers at Caltech’s Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) have discovered an asteroid that orbits inside Venus. Though other asteroids have a portion of their orbit inside Venus’, this is the first one with an orbit that is completely inside Venus’ orbit. The new object is named 2020 AV2. 2020 AV2 is a member of a small … Continue reading “An Asteroid has been Found that Orbits the Sun Closer than Venus” The post An Asteroid has been Found that Orbits the Sun Closer than Venus appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →