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A Television Satellite Might be About to Explode A DirecTV satellite suffered a battery failure and now has to be de-orbited. Otherwise, it could cause a collision and explosion. The post A Television Satellite Might be About to Explode appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Carnival of Space #648 This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Zain Husain at the Brownspaceman.com blog. Click here to read Carnival of Space #648. 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 to susie@wshcrew.space, … Continue reading “Carnival of Space #648” The post Carnival of Space #648 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
The Brightest Supernova Ever Seen was Caused by a White Dwarf Spiraling into a Massive Star Super-luminous supernovae are the brightest explosions in the Universe. In just a few months, a super-luminous supernova can release as much energy as our Sun will in its entire lifespan. And at its peak, it can be as bright as an entire galaxy. One of the most-studied super-luminous supernovae (SLSN) is called SN 2006gy. Its … Continue reading “The Brightest Supernova Ever Seen was Caused by a White Dwarf Spiraling into a Massive Star” The post The Brightest Supernova Ever Seen was Caused by a White Dwarf Spiraling intoRead More →
ESA is Going to Test Two Rovers Working Together to Explore the Moon The ESA is working on a system (TRAILER) that will allow two robots to work in tandem and explore the lunar surface. The post ESA is Going to Test Two Rovers Working Together to Explore the Moon appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
The Apollo 1 Fire: Excerpt from “Eight Years to the Moon” Editor’s note: Today marks the 53rd anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire that killed three astronauts during a routine test on the launchpad. The test was a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 1 crew — Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. The goal was to check out the command module, NASA’s first spacecraft that … Continue reading “The Apollo 1 Fire: Excerpt from “Eight Years to the Moon”” The post The Apollo 1 Fire: Excerpt from “Eight Years to the Moon” appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Stalking Starlink’s ‘DarkSat’ By now, you’ve no doubt heard of (or seen) Starlink. SpaceX’s mega-satellite constellation has become a permanent fixture in our skies as of late, with several routine passes on any given week. But have you seen the supposed ‘black sheep’ of the flock, DarkSat? The post Stalking Starlink’s ‘DarkSat’ appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
China Releases New Pictures From the Surface of the Moon China’s Chang’e-4 mission just released a trove of data collected by the lander and rover during its year-long exploration of the far side of the Moon. The post China Releases New Pictures From the Surface of the Moon appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Giant Planets Could Form Around Tiny Stars in Just a Few Thousand Years A new study has shown how gas giants (like Proxima c) can exist around Red Dwarf suns, the most common type of star in the Universe The post Giant Planets Could Form Around Tiny Stars in Just a Few Thousand Years appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
OSIRIS-REx Flew 620 Meters Above its Landing Site. Confirms that it’s a Boulder-Strewn Nightmare, Just Like the Rest of Bennu NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft reached its target, asteroid Bennu (101955 Bennu), on December 3rd, 2018. Since then, the spacecraft has been examining the asteroid’s surface, looking for a suitable landing spot to collect a sample. The problem is, Bennu has a much rockier and challenging surface than initially thought. OSIRIS-REx’s (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, … Continue reading “OSIRIS-REx Flew 620 Meters Above its Landing Site. Confirms that it’s a Boulder-Strewn Nightmare, Just Like the Rest of Bennu” The post OSIRIS-REx Flew 620 Meters AboveRead More →
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 →
