With over 43 million people living in the path of totality, we look at how this eclipse measures up compared to previous years and the upcoming 'eclipse of the century'.
Space News & Blog Articles
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Mars Express celebrates 25 000 orbits
ESA’s Mars Express recently looped around Mars for the 25 000th time – and the orbiter has captured yet another spectacular view of the Red Planet to mark the occasion.
Vegetation gets a boost with data from space
When it comes to predicting what our climate will be like in the future, vegetation matters. Plants and trees exert a powerful influence over both the energy cycle and the water cycle. And, crucially, it is estimated that vegetation draws down well over three billion tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year – this is equivalent to a third of greenhouse-gas emissions from human activity.
Watch a Real-Time Map of Starlinks Orbiting Earth
In an effort to enhance the educational outreach of their Starlink constellation, SpaceX has an interactive global map of their Starlink internet satellites, which provides live coverage of every satellite in orbit around the Earth. This interactive map comes as SpaceX continues to launch Starlink satellites into orbit on a near-weekly basis with the goal of providing customers around the world with high-speed internet while specifically targeting rural regions of the globe. In 2022, Starlink officially reached all seven continents after Starlink service became available in Antarctica. Additionally, SpaceX announced in 2023 a partnership with T-Mobiel for Starlink to provide mobile coverage, as well.
In a Distant Solar System, the JWST Sees the End of Planet Formation
Every time a star forms, it represents an explosion of possibilities. Not for the star itself; its fate is governed by its mass. The possibilities it signifies are in the planets that form around it. Will some be rocky? Will they be in the habitable zone? Will there be life on any of the planets one day?
How are extreme "blue supergiant" stars born? Astronomers may finally know
Scientists have discovered that the hottest and brightest stars in the cosmos, blue supergiants, are created when two smaller stars spiral together and merge, new research suggests.
Euclid 'dark universe' telescope's vision restored by deicing campaign
The Euclid "dark universe" probe's vision has been restored, after an experimental campaign succeeded in evaporating water ice from the telescope's mirrors.
April 8 total solar eclipse could bring uptick in fatal car crashes, scientists caution
An analysis of car crashes during the 2017 solar eclipse in the U.S. suggests the upcoming April eclipse could also come with an uptick in fatal accidents.
Europe Has Big Plans for Saturn’s Moon Enceladus
Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, is a gleaming beacon that captivates our intellectual curiosity. Its clean, icy surface makes it one of the most reflective objects in the entire Solar System. But it’s what’s below that ice that really gets scientists excited.
Watch 'Doctor Who' visit the Victorian Era and the age of dinosaurs in new Season 14 trailer (video)
Watch the new trailer for "Doctor Who" Season 14 starring Ncuti Gatwa, premiering on Disney+ on on May 10 in the U.S. on May 11 in the U.K.
'Apollo: When We Went the Moon' exhibit lands at NYC's Intrepid Museum
Given it was navy ships that recovered the Apollo spacecraft, it is appropriate that the largest temporary exhibit ever hosted by the Intrepid is themed to the first lunar landings.
Mars’ Gale Crater was Filled with Water for Much Longer Than Anyone Thought
Even with all we’ve learned about Mars in recent years, it doesn’t stack up against all we still don’t know and all we hope to find out. We know that Mars was once warm and wet, a conclusion that was less certain a couple of decades ago. Now, scientists are working on uncovering the details of Mars’s ancient water.
Explosive, green 'devil comet' has hidden spiral swirling around its icy heart, photo trickery reveals
New, specially edited photos show a previously unseen swirl of light surrounding the city-size comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, which is currently racing toward the sun and will later zoom past Earth.
Netflix's 'The Signal' is a lyrical sci-fi miniseries with clever twists and turns (review)
A review of Netflix's newest sci-fi miniseries from Germany, "The Signal."
Marvel at stunning echo of 800-year-old explosion
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In the year 1181 a rare supernova explosion appeared in the night sky, staying visible for 185 consecutive days. Historical records show that the supernova looked like a temporary ‘star’ in the constellation Cassiopeia shining as bright as Saturn.
SpaceX Crew-7 astronauts share the good and bad of spending 6 months in space
NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa spoke about their six months on the space station.
Merging Stars Can Lead to Blue Supergiants
In the constellation of Orion, there is a brilliant bluish-white star. It marks the right foot of the starry hunter. It’s known as Rigel, and it is the most famous example of a blue supergiant star. Blue supergiants are more than 10,000 times brighter than the Sun, with masses 16 – 40 times greater. They are unstable and short-lived, so they should be rare in the galaxy. While they are rare, blue supergiants aren’t as rare as we would expect. A new study may have figured out why.
Gaia Finds Ancient Streams of Stars That Formed the Milky Way
Using ESA’s Gaia spacecraft, astronomers have tracked down two streams of stars that likely formed the foundation of the Milky Way. Named “Shakti and Shiva,” the two streams contain about 10 million stars, all of which are 12 to 13 billion years old and likely came together even before the spiral arms and disk were formed. These star streams are all moving in roughly similar orbits and have similar compositions. Astronomers think they were probably separate galaxies that merged into the Milky Way shortly after the Big Bang.,
Partial: The Solar Eclipse for the Rest of Us
Whether the Sun will become a dented ball or an eerie crescent of fire, a celestial shadow show awaits you anywhere in North and Central America.
Rethinking the Milky Way’s “Galactic Fountain”
The Milky Way recycles gas from dying stars to make new ones — but new observations show pristine gas also comes in from outside our galaxy.
