Space and astronomy news
A camera aboard the Mars Express orbiter finds a new lease on life.
Sometimes, limitations can lead to innovation. A recent paper highlights how researchers are utilizing the VMC (Visual Monitoring Camera) aboard the European Space Agency’s (ESA) venerable Mars Express orbiter.
The work is a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the University of the Basque Country.
Continue reading “How Scientists Repurposed a Camera on ESA’s Mars Express Mission”
There are good reasons to keep an eye on the Leonid meteors this year.
It’s still one of the coolest things I ever saw. I was in the U.S. Air Force in the 90s, and November 1998 saw me deployed to the dark skies of Kuwait. That trip provided an unexpected treat, as the Leonid meteors hit dramatic storm levels on the morning of the 17th. Meteor came fast and furious towards local sunrise, often lighting up the desert floor like celestial photoflashes in the sky.
Once every 33 years or so, the ‘lion roars,’ as Leonid meteors seem to rain down from the Sickle asterism of the constellation Leo. And while the last outbreak was centered around the years surrounding 1999, there’s some interesting discussion about possible encounters with past Leonid streams in 2024.
Continue reading “Is an ‘Off-Year’ Leonid Outburst in the Cards For November?”
A new space-based telescope aims to address a key solar mystery.
A new experiment will explore a region of the Sun that’s tough to see from the surface of the Earth. The solar corona—the elusive, pearly white region of the solar atmosphere seen briefly during a total solar eclipse—is generally swamped out by the dazzling Sun. Now, the Coronal Diagnostic Experiment (CODEX) will use a coronagraph to create an ‘artificial eclipse’ in order to explore the poorly understood middle corona region of the solar atmosphere.
Continue reading “CODEX Coronagraph Heads to the ISS on Cargo Dragon”
Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS survived perihelion to become a fine dusk object for northern hemisphere observers.
It was an amazing month for astronomy. Not only were we treated to an amazing second solar storm for 2024 that sent aurorae as far south as the Caribbean, but we had a fine naked eye comet: C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS.
Continue reading “Amazing Reader Views of Comet A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS From Around the World”
Sungrazer C/2024 S1 ATLAS broke apart at perihelion.
Alas, a ‘Great Halloween Comet’ was not to be. The Universe teased us just a bit this month, with the potential promise of a second naked eye comet in October: C/2024 S1 ATLAS. Discovered on the night of September 27th by the Asteroid Terrestrial Last-alert impact System (ATLAS) all-sky survey, this inbound comet was surprisingly bright and active for its relative distance from the Sun at the time of discovery. This gave the comet the potential to do what few sungrazers have done: survive a blisteringly close perihelion passage near the Sun.
Continue reading “Death of a Comet: S1 Didn’t Survive its Sungrazing Plummet”
With ‘Thousand Sails,’ China joins the race to fill up Low Earth Orbit with mega-satellite constellations.
It’s getting crowded up there in Low Earth orbit (LEO). By now, flocks of Starlinks have become a familiar sight, and the bane of astrophotographers as the ‘vermin of the skies.’ Now, several new competitors have joined the fray, with more waiting in the wings.
Continue reading “China’s ‘Thousand Sails’ Joins Starlink as the Latest Mega-Satellite Constellation in Orbit”
Unistellar’s new Odyssey Pro telescope offers access to deep-sky astrophotography in a small portable package.
Access to the night sky has never been simpler. The last half decade has seen a revolution in backyard astronomy, as ‘smartscopes’—telescopes controlled by smartphone applications—have come to the fore. These offer an easy entry into basic deep sky astrophotography even from bright urban skies, albeit at a higher price point versus traditional telescopes on the market. We’ve reviewed units from Vaonis and Unistellar before, as well as wrote commentary on the rise of the whole smartscope movement. Now, Unistellar has a new entry on the market in 2024: the Odyssey Pro.
Continue reading “Review: Unistellar’s New Odyssey Pro Smart Telescope”
Could this be the next great comet? To be sure, these words have been said lots of times before. In a clockwork sky, how comets will perform is always the great wildcard. Comets from Kohoutek to ISON have failed to live up to expectations, while others like W3 Lovejoy took us all by surprise. But a discovery this past weekend has message boards abuzz, as an incoming sungrazer could put on a show right around Halloween.
Continue reading “Could a New Sungrazer Comet Put on a Show at the End of October?”
A remote annular solar eclipse bookends the final eclipse season for 2024.
The final eclipse of the year is almost upon us. If skies are clear, a few lucky observers and intrepid eclipse-chasers will get to witness the passage of the Moon in front of the Sun one last time on Wednesday, October 2nd during an annular solar eclipse.
Continue reading “An October Annular Solar Eclipse Rounds Out 2024”
Now is the time to catch Comet A3-Tsuchinshan-ATLAS at dawn.
The window is now open. If skies are clear, set your alarm heading into this weekend to see Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS at dawn. We’re already seeing great views of the comet this week from southern observers and astronauts aboard the International Space Station. The visibility window is now even creeping up to the southern tier latitudes of the contiguous United States (CONUS). If fortune favors us, the comet could hit an easy naked eye magnitude +2 by next week, and forward scattering could even boost this into negative magnitudes… the rare term ‘daytime comet’ is even getting kicked around a bit in cometwatching circles.
Continue reading “Will Comet A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS Shine Brighter Than Expected?”