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Latest by G. Torbet

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How to watch SpaceX’s delayed double satellite launch tonight

SpaceX had been set to launch a Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday, but this plan was derailed by a helium leak. Now, the launch will instead go ahead tonight.
Surface features of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa are revealed in an image obtained by Juno’s Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) during the spacecraft’s Sept. 29, 2022, flyby.

See Jupiter’s icy moon Europa up close and personal in Juno image

The Juno spacecraft performed a close flyby of Jupiter's moon Europa last month, and now NASA has released a high resolution image of its icy surface.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission is targeting launch Wednesday, Oct. 5, to the International Space Station from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft will carry NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina, to the orbital complex for a science expedition mission.

How to watch SpaceX and NASA launch Crew-5 mission today

This week will see four astronauts blast off in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, heading to the International Space Station (ISS). Here's how to watch.
Orionid meteors appear every year when Earth travels through an area of space littered with debris from Halley’s Comet.

How to watch the Orionid meteor shower this month

Through October you'll have the chance to catch one of the most spectacular meteor showers of the year, the Orionid meteor shower.
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 imaged this lonely spiral galaxy called UGC 9391. The galaxy resides 130 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Draco near the north celestial pole. Its star-studded spiral arms stand in splendid isolation against a backdrop of distant galaxies, which are only visible as indistinct swirls or smudges thanks to their vast distances from Earth.

This galaxy helps astronomers measure the size of the universe

Trying to measure the size of the universe is no easy task, but this galaxy imaged by Hubble can help.
This image of the spiral galaxy IC 5332, taken by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope with its MIRI instrument, has been scaled and cropped to match the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s view of the same galaxy.

One galaxy, two views: Webb and Hubble take on the same target

The Hubble and James Webb telescopes are both powerful tools for peering out into the cosmos, but the way they view the universe is quite different.
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is seen here in a close-up taken by Mastcam-Z, a pair of zoomable cameras aboard the Perseverance rover. This image was taken on April 5, the 45th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

Some weird debris just fell off the Mars helicopter Ingenuity

Mars helicopter Ingenuity recently completed its 33rd flight, but it had some strange debris along for part of the ride.
This artist’s impression shows a field of Population III stars as they would have appeared a mere 100 million years after the Big Bang. Astronomers may have discovered the first signs of their ancient chemical remains in the clouds surrounding one of the most distant quasars ever detected.

Hunting for evidence of the first stars that ever existed

Astronomers might have found evidence of the very first stars which existed in the universe.
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NASA’s Space Launch System rocket undamaged by hurricane, will launch next month

With hurricane Ian having moved past Florida, NASA has confirmed that its SLS rocket was not damaged and has set a new date for the next launch attempt.
Researchers have used spectroscopic observations of ultraviolet light from quasars to detect and map the Magellanic Corona, a diffuse halo of hot, supercharged gas surrounding the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds. Shown in purple, the corona stretches more than 100,000 light-years from the main mass of stars, gas, and dust that make up the Magellanic Clouds, intermingling with the hotter and more extensive corona that surrounds the Milky Way.

Hubble spots cocoon of gas protecting galaxy for the first time

Research using the Hubble Space Telescope reveals a protective shield which has kept two of our neighboring galaxies safe for billions of years.
NASA's SOFIA observatory in the air.

NASA’s observatory in an airplane, SOFIA, takes its last flight

NASA's observatory on an airplane, SOFIA, has taken its last flight and will be retiring from service.
The James Webb Space Telescope.

One of James Webb’s 17 instrument modes isn’t working

NASA announced that one of Webb's seventeen observing modes is not functioning due to a hardware issue which is currently under review.
A shroud of thick gas and dust surrounds a bright young star in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 inspected a young stellar object, over 9,000 light-years away in the constellation Taurus, to help astronomers understand the earliest stages in the lives of massive stars. This object – which is known to astronomers as IRAS 05506+2414 – may be an example of an explosive event caused by the disruption of a massive young star system.

Bright young star shoots out strange fan of material in Hubble image

Massive stars can go through epic changes when they are in their younger years, as this week's image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows.
This is the first image of Sagittarius A* (or Sgr A* for short), the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy. It’s the first direct visual evidence of the presence of this black hole. It was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an array which linked together eight existing radio observatories across the planet to form a single “Earth-sized” virtual telescope. The telescope is named after the “event horizon”, the boundary of the black hole beyond which no light can escape.

There’s a bubble of hot gas zipping around our galaxy’s supermassive black hole

Scientists have discovered a bubble of hot gas whipping around our galaxy's supermassive black hole at tremendous speed.
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NASA’s Artemis I launch called off due to tropical storm

NASA is cancelling the third attempt at launching its Space Launch System rocket due to tropical storm Ian which threatens the Florida coast.
This image of Jupiter’s moon Europa was taken by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft on Oct. 16, 2021, from a distance of about 51,000 miles (82,000 kilometers).

Juno spacecraft to go screaming by Jupiter’s moon Europa in close approach

NASA's Juno spacecraft will get to see Jupiter's moon Europa in great detail as it is set to perform a close flyby of the icy moon this week.
Virtual view from top of the western delta into the crater.

Delightful interactive map of Mars lets you take a wander with Perseverance rover

If you've ever wanted to take a trip to Mars and go on a hike with the Perseverance rover, now is your chance.
Webb’s first images of Mars, captured by its NIRCam instrument Sept. 5, 2022 [Guaranteed Time Observation Program 1415]. Left: Reference map of the observed hemisphere of Mars from NASA and the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). Top right: NIRCam image showing 2.1-micron (F212 filter) reflected sunlight, revealing surface features such as craters and dust layers. Bottom right: Simultaneous NIRCam image showing ~4.3-micron (F430M filter) emitted light that reveals temperature differences with latitude and time of day, as well as darkening of the Hellas Basin caused by atmospheric effects. The bright yellow area is just at the saturation limit of the detector.

James Webb goes in deep on Mars temperature and atmosphere

Webb will perform a major study of Jupiter and has already imaged Neptune. Now, Webb has been used to get a fascinating look at our planetary neighbor, Mars.
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How to watch SpaceX launch 52 Starlink satellites tonight

Tonight will see another SpaceX launch, with the company launching a batch of 52 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit. Here's how to watch.
A cropped composite of a DRACO image centered on Jupiter taken during one of SMART Nav’s tests. DART was approximately 16 million miles (26 million km) from Earth when the image was taken, with Jupiter approximately 435 million miles (700 million km) away from the spacecraft.

Asteroid-bound DART spacecraft snaps Jupiter and moon Europa

With just a few days to go before NASA deliberately crashes it into an asteroid, the DART spacecraft has snapped an image of Jupiter and its moon Europa.
The galaxy NGC 1961 unfurls its gorgeous spiral arms in this newly released image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Glittering, blue regions of bright young stars dot the dusty spiral arms winding around the galaxy’s glowing center.

Hubble images a gorgeous spiral galaxy with a brightly glowing heart

This Hubble image shows the galaxy NGC 1961, its spiral arms reaching out into the darkness and swirling around its bright and busy center.
This photo of Jupiter, taken from the Hubble Space Telescope on June 27, 2019, features the Giant Red Spot, a storm the size of Earth that has been raging for hundreds of years.

This month, get a great view of Jupiter as it comes its closest in 70 years

Jupiter's opposition happens every 13 months, but this opposition is a special one as the planet will make its closest approach to Earth in 70 years.
An image of an artist's illustration of an Artemis astronaut stepping from a Moon lander onto the lunar surface.

NASA wants a second lunar lander in addition to SpaceX’s

NASA already has SpaceX developing a lander to carry astronauts to the moon's surface, but now it is searching for another company for a second lunar lander.
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Troubled CAPSTONE satellite still struggling but maintaining heat

Engineers at NASA continue work on the CAPSTONE satellite, on its way to an experimental orbit around the moon, which went into safe mode earlier this month
artemis i tanking test livestream prelaunch

How to watch the Artemis I demonstration tanking test on Wednesday

Following two unsuccessful attempts at launching its new rocket, NASA is gearing up for a third attempt. But first it will perform a crucial tanking test.
This image, taken by astronomers using the US Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, captures the star-forming nebula NGC 6357, which is located 8000 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Scorpius. This image reveals bright, young stars surrounded by billowing clouds of dust and gas inside NGC 6357, which is also known as the Lobster Nebula.

See the stunning, star-forming Lobster Nebula in Dark Energy Camera image

This instrument was originally designed for a survey into dark energy, but now it's taking beautiful images of space.
NASA’s Perseverance rover puts its robotic arm to work around a rocky outcrop called “Skinner Ridge” in Mars’ Jezero Crater. Composed of multiple images, this mosaic shows layered sedimentary rocks in the face of a cliff in the delta, as well as one of the locations where the rover abraded a circular patch to analyze a rock’s composition.

Perseverance rover finds conditions where life could have thrived on Mars

The Perseverance rover has made an exciting discovery on Mars, identifying the building blocks of life in a sample from an area of the Jezero delta.
Artistic rendering of the moon Chrysalis disintegrating in Saturn’s intense gravity field. The chunks of icy rock eventually collided and shattered into smaller pieces that became distributed in the thin ring we see today.

Long-lost moon could explain how Saturn got its rings

Saturn is famed for its beautiful rings, but these rings are something of a puzzle. Now, new research suggests they could have formed from a lost moon.
Illustration of NASA’s DART spacecraft and the Italian Space Agency’s (ASI) LICIACube prior to impact at the Didymos binary system.

Asteroid-impacting DART mission deploys a tiny observer satellite

This month will see NASA deliberately crash a spacecraft into an asteroid in a planetary defense test - and that spacecraft has now deployed its photographer.
Firefly's Alpha rocket at the start of its mission.

How to watch rocket startup Firefly Aerospace’s second attempt to reach orbit

Rocket startup Firefly Aerospace will attempt to reach orbit for the first time in a launch tonight, Sunday September 11. Here's how to watch.
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope imaged these two overlapping spiral galaxies named SDSS J115331 and LEDA 2073461, which lie more than a billion light-years from Earth. Despite appearing to collide in this image, the alignment of the two galaxies is likely just by chance – the two are not actually interacting. While these two galaxies might simply be ships that pass in the night, Hubble has captured a dazzling array of other, truly interacting galaxies.

Hubble image shows two overlapping galaxies in cosmic coincidence

This week's Hubble image shows something of an optical illusion: two galaxies which appear to be colliding, but are in fact merely overlapping by chance.
nasa cubesat lunar orbit capstone 2 1

NASA’s lunar satellite CAPSTONE experiences error, is in safe mode

An issue has occurred with NASA's CAPSTONE satellites, currently on its way to orbit around the moon. The satellite is now in safe mode.
The telescopes of the SPECULOOS Southern Observatory gaze out into the stunning night sky over the Atacama Desert, Chile.

Researchers discover planet in the habitable zone of an ultra-cool star

Astronomers have discovered a super-Earth orbiting a small, cool star which could potentially host liquid water on its surface.
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How to watch SpaceX launch a Falcon 9 on a Starlink mission tonight

Tonight SpaceX will launch a further batch of satellites for its Starlink constellation, and the launch will be livestreamed so you can watch along at home.