In an age of increasing “stuff” orbiting Earth one big concern is what happens if one satellite hits another. The result could be an explosion, or a chain reaction of collisions, or the closure of an orbit. That would be catastrophic. However, a small satellite called SBUDNIC just sent itself back to Earth earlier than expected. It’s goal: to demonstrate a low-cost way to take care of space debris.
Continue reading “A Satellite Deployed a Drag Sail and Removed Itself from Orbit Five Years Early”Is the Solar Wind Coming From These Tiny Jets on the Sun?
Ever since the first direct observations of the solar wind in 1959, astronomers have worked to figure out what powers this plasma flow. Now, scientists using the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft think they have an answer: tiny little outbursts called “picoflares” They flash out from the corona at 100 kilometers per second.
Continue reading “Is the Solar Wind Coming From These Tiny Jets on the Sun?”NASA’s New Horizons Mission Still Threatened
The New Horizons spacecraft that studied Pluto and Kuiper Belt Object Arrokoth continues its pioneering exploration of the Kuiper Belt. However, that might soon end if NASA doesn’t change course. The New Horizons science team has been told by NASA that the mission as they know it is slated to end September 30, 2024.
Continue reading “NASA’s New Horizons Mission Still Threatened”Hackers are Attacking Observatories
Why would anybody want to hack an observatory? That’s the question facing IT professionals at NOIRLab after somebody tried to crack the computer systems at Gemini North in Hawai’i. The cyber break-in and ongoing investigation by NOIRLab and National Science Foundation experts affected observations and operations in Hawai’i and Chile.
Continue reading “Hackers are Attacking Observatories”Is This How You Get Magnetars?
Imagine a living star with a magnetic field at least 100,000 times stronger than Earth’s field. That’s the strange stellar object HD 45166. Its field is an incredible 43,000 Gauss. That makes it a new type of object: a massive magnetic helium star. In a million years, it’s going to get even stranger when it collapses and becomes a type of neutron star called a “magnetar”.
Continue reading “Is This How You Get Magnetars?”No Surprise, July 2023 Was the Hottest Month on Record Since 1880
In case you missed it, the weather’s been hot. From warmer-than-usual temperatures in northern climes to melting ice sheets in the polar regions, July 2023 was a record-breaking month. That’s not just some random perception. NASA has been keeping records and the agency confirms what most of us have observed for ourselves. It was a warm one.
Continue reading “No Surprise, July 2023 Was the Hottest Month on Record Since 1880”We’ve Never Seen Antarctic Sea Ice This Low
While many people are living through a sweltering summer, it’s the depths of winter in Antarctica. Usually, this means there’s a lot of sea ice around the continent. Yet, this year, it’s the lowest it’s ever been. What’s happening?
Continue reading “We’ve Never Seen Antarctic Sea Ice This Low”Astronomers Scan 11,680 Nearby Stars for Signals from Advanced Civilizations
The hunt for alien life and its radio signals from beyond our Solar System is still coming up dry. But, it’s not for lack of looking for possible advanced civilizations.
Continue reading “Astronomers Scan 11,680 Nearby Stars for Signals from Advanced Civilizations”Researchers Match Up 12 Meteorites with the Near-Earth Asteroids They Came From
Every day meteoroids blast through our planet’s atmosphere to hit the ground as meteorites. A team of researchers in Italy traced twelve of them to progenitor asteroids that orbit in near-Earth space.
Continue reading “Researchers Match Up 12 Meteorites with the Near-Earth Asteroids They Came From”JWST Turns its Gaze on the Farthest Known Star: Earendel
In March 2022, astronomers announced the discovery of the farthest known star via an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. They named it Earendel, after the old English name for “morning star”. Now, JWST’s Near-infrared Camera (NIRCam) and its NIRSpec spectrometer have taken a look at the same star and revealed more details about it.
Continue reading “JWST Turns its Gaze on the Farthest Known Star: Earendel”