The flaming wreck appears to be the orbital module from China’s Shenzhou 15 astronaut mission, which launched in November 2022. A big piece of Chinese space junk crashed to Earth over Southern California early Tuesday morning (April 2), putting on quite a show for observers in the Golden State. The fall created a blazing fireball […]
An unusual “horned” comet is now visible in the night sky and may even make a rare appearance during the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. An unusual “horned” comet is now visible in the night sky — and it may even make a rare appearance during the 2024 total solar eclipse on April
A ‘Horned’ Comet May Be Visible During The 2024 Total Solar Eclipse. Read More »
NASA’s sun-kissing Parker Solar Probe peered into the depths of a coronal mass ejection (CME) for the first time, revealing new details within the violent solar phenomenon. Every so often, the sun’s simmering magnetic field burps colossal clouds of plasma out into the space beyond. These are called coronal mass ejections (CMEs). If one CME strikes Earth, for example,
SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites on Monday (April 1). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Bad weather scuttled two previous tries at the launch. This time the weather cooperated and the Falcon 9 left the pad at 10:30 p.m. EDT
SpaceX Launches 22 Starlink Satellites From California. Read More »
JWST quickly spotted signs of a forming exoplanet — but not the one that astronomers had expected to see. Astronomers are hunting for planets in the process of forming around infant stars using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The powerful space telescope quickly delivered the goods, albeit in an unexpected way. These infant planets
James Webb Space Telescope Joins The Hunt For Newborn Exoplanets. Read More »
The ULLYSES program is the largest Hubble operation ever performed. Now that observations are over, scientists can dive into a treasure trove of data. In December 2023, the Hubble Space Telescope completed its largest program since launching in 1990. With this program, the telescope made observations of 500 individual stars over three years — and
Hubble Space Telescope Finds Bucket Of Cosmic Easter Eggs — 500 Blue And Red Stars. Read More »
SpaceX had a busy Saturday evening (March 30), launching two rockets from Florida less than five hours apart. The action started at 5:52 p.m. EDT (2152 GMT) on Saturday, when a Falcon 9 rocket sent the Eutelsat 36D telecommunications satellite skyward from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Then, at 9:30 p.m. EDT (0130 GMT on
Spaceflight Doubleheader! SpaceX Launches 2 Rockets In 4-hour Span. Read More »
Satellites have detected a massive solar flare powerful enough to ionize part of Earth’s atmosphere. Scientists spotted the flare erupting from the bottom of the sun on Thursday (March 28), using satellites from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), according to the organization’s Space Weather Prediction Center. The flare, which peaked at 4:56 p.m.
Atmospheric scientists were surprised earlier this month to notice that the Arctic’s polar vortex reversed its trajectory as it began spinning in the opposite direction. What’s more: It has yet to stop. The change occurred around March 4 and is among the six strongest such events since 1979, Amy Butler, a climate scientist at the
The Polar Vortex Above The Arctic Has Been Spinning Backwards For Weeks. Read More »
NASA’s sun-observing SOHO spacecraft has now made its 5,000th comet discovery. As of March 29, 2024, it has been 28 years, 3 months, and 27 days since SOHO launched in December, 1995! These comets are sungrazers. Sungrazing comets are those that pass extremely close to the sun at their closest point (perihelion), sometimes within a
5000th Comet For Sun-Observing SOHO Spacecraft. Read More »
