Carnival of Space #558

Carnival of Space. Image by Jason Major.

Welcome to the 558th Carnival of Space! The Carnival is a community of space science and astronomy writers and bloggers, who submit their best work each week for your benefit. We have a fantastic roundup today, so now, on to this week’s stories!

First up, over at Blasting News, we learn that as the Google Lunar XPrize ends Israel is still shooting for the moon! Israel’s SpaceIL is still planning to land on the Moon by the end of 2018! Best of luck!

Then, we visit The Hill, where we learn why Why NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is such a fiscal black hole.

Artist’s interpretation of the InSight mission on the ground on Mars. Credit: NASA

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Next, The SpaceWriter describes how Insight Readies for Its Trip to Mars. On May 5th, NASA’s InSight mission will launch from Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 3 north of Los Angeles. It will be the first-ever planetary mission launch from the west coast of the United States!

Over at CosmoQuest, we learn about how HotPopRobot Helps Families and Kids Create Citizen Science! This Canadian family of makers and citizen scientists shares projects and experiences with enthusiasts of all ages.

Then, Brian at NextBigFuture has 3 stories for us this week. First, Brian describes how Dark matter might be primordial black holes.

Next, Brian reveals how Ancient industrial civilizations would be very hard to detect.

Then Brian details how Holographic sails fixes last technical issues for interstellar laser pushed sails.

New images from the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope are revealing the dusty discs surrounding nearby young stars in greater detail than previously achieved. They show a bizarre variety of shapes, sizes and structures, including the likely effects of planets still in the process of forming. Image: ESO/H. Avenhaus et al./E. Sissa et al./DARTT-S and SHINE collaborations

Finally, we return to Universe Today for the final stories. First up, Matt Williams details how Pluto’s Charon Gets Mountains Named After Sci-Fi Authors Octavia Butler and Arthur C. Clarke, as Well as Many Others From History and Legend.

Fraser Cain then takes us on an adventure Living Underground on Other Worlds. Exploring Lava Tubes.

Evan Gough shows us a Fascinating Variety of Planet-Forming Disks Around Other Stars.

And Bob King gives us a whole new bucket list with The Finest Sights Before You Die With “Wonders of the Night Sky.” This must-have guide makes a fantastic gift for the stargazers in your life!

Thank you for all of your stories – we’ll see you next week!

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, and the next host will link to it. It will help get awareness out there about your writing, help you meet others in the space community – and community is what blogging is all about. And if you really want to help out, sign up to be a host. Send an email to the above address.

Susie Murph

Susie Murph is the Communications Specialist at CosmoQuest. She also produces Astronomy Cast and the Weekly Space Hangout, and is the former producer of the Parsec Award-winning Guide to Space video series.