Johns Hopkins University (JHU) continues to pad its space community résumé with their interactive map, “The map of the observable Universe”, that takes viewers on a 13.7-billion-year-old tour of the cosmos from the present to the moments after the Big Bang. While JHU is responsible for creating the site, additional contributions were made by NASA, the European Space Agency, the National Science Foundation, and the Sloan Foundation.
Continue reading “Scroll Through the Universe with This Cool Interactive Map”Many Next-Generation Telescopes are Carried on Balloons. Here's What the Next Decade Holds in Balloon Astronomy
NASA’s Balloon Program Analysis Group recently presented a roadmap to NASA, to guide them on how to plan and fund future balloon astronomy programs. Balloons have been used for over a century to conduct physics experiments, astronomical observations and Earth observing work, but remain relatively unknown to the general public. Balloon astronomy share many advantages with space telescopes, but at a fraction of the cost.
Artemis 1 Launch, Secret Space Plane, JWST Protection Plan
SLS finally launches to the Moon. SpaceX gets another contract from NASA. James Webb gets a protection plan from micrometeoroids. A Chinese booster shreds in low-Earth orbit. A secret space plane returns.
Continue reading “Artemis 1 Launch, Secret Space Plane, JWST Protection Plan”Perseverance has Found a Nice Patch of Sandstone on Mars
NASA’s rolling geology robot shared a great image of sandstone that it found on Mars in Jezero Crater. It’s in a region called “Yori Pass”, which is part of an ancient river delta. Perseverance will take rock samples there for the upcoming Sample Return Mission. They should tell more about what happened with water in this region. And maybe they’ll show evidence of life.
Continue reading “Perseverance has Found a Nice Patch of Sandstone on Mars”Andromeda Contains the Remnants of a Recent “Feeding Event”
There’s a growing body of evidence that galaxies grow large by merging with other galaxies. Telescopes like the Hubble have captured dozens of interacting galaxies, including well-known ones like Arp 248. The Andromeda galaxy is the nearest large galaxy to the Milky Way, and a new study shows that our neighbour has consumed other galaxies in two distinct epochs.
Continue reading “Andromeda Contains the Remnants of a Recent “Feeding Event””BlueWalker-3 Unfolds, Brightens One-Hundredfold
After months of waiting, we’re getting our first good looks at a fully deployed BlueWalker-3.
A new high-profile satellite may now be visible in a sky over you. We recently wrote about AST Space Mobile’s new BlueWalker-3 satellite, and its potential to be among the brightest objects in the night sky. Launched on September 10th, 2022 an a SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket along with the Starlink Group 4-2 batch, BlueWalker-3 is the first of the company’s planned mega-constellation of 110 BlueBird satellites set to be deployed by the end of 2024 for worldwide communication.
Continue reading “BlueWalker-3 Unfolds, Brightens One-Hundredfold”There’s a Cloud of Space Debris Around Earth. Here’s how we Could get a Better Picture of it
As we’ve reported here more than a few times – space debris is becoming more and more of a real problem. We’re not quite at Kessler syndrome levels yet, but with the increased interest in getting things into space, there is a real possibility that might happen in the not-too-distant future. Plenty of potential solutions have been put forward to deal with the problem, but they all face a similar problem at the first step – how to track the debris they’re attempting to eliminate. Enter a new idea from researchers in Iran – using a novel type of radar to detect and track space debris before it becomes a danger.
Continue reading “There’s a Cloud of Space Debris Around Earth. Here’s how we Could get a Better Picture of it”JAXA’s Ambitious Mission to Phobos Will Even Have European-Built Rover
Japan and Germany have a history of collaboration in scientific and technological endeavours. The countries have a Joint Committee on Cooperation in Science Technology that has met many times over the decades. Both countries have advanced, powerful economies and sophisticated technological know-how, so it makes sense they’d collaborate on scientific activities.
This time, their cooperation concerns a small, potato-shaped chunk of rock: Mars’ moon Phobos.
Continue reading “JAXA’s Ambitious Mission to Phobos Will Even Have European-Built Rover”The Latest JWST Image Shows a Star in the Earliest Stage of Formation
What’s the most exciting thing about the James Webb Space Telescope? The stunning images? The completion of its torturous path from concept to launch?
Or is it because it provides such compelling visual evidence of objects and processes long theorized about but difficult to observe?
Continue reading “The Latest JWST Image Shows a Star in the Earliest Stage of Formation”NASA has a Plan to Minimize Future Micrometeoroid Impacts on JWST
Micrometeoroid strikes are an unavoidable part of operating a spacecraft. But after the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was hit with a larger than expected piece of space dust earlier this year, engineers are making changes to the way the telescope will be pointed in an attempt to avoid excess or larger impacts from space dust.
Continue reading “NASA has a Plan to Minimize Future Micrometeoroid Impacts on JWST”