As comets travel along their orbit they dump material along the way. A stream of debris known as the Taurid swarm has been keeping astronomers attention. It’s thought the debris is the remains of comet Encke which has also been fuelling the Taurid meteor shower. The swarm is believed to be composed of mostly harmless, tiny objects but there has been concern that there may be some larger, kilometre size chunks. Thankfully, new observations reveal there are of the order of 9-14 of these 1km rocks.
Space News & Blog Articles
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NASA Announces a New Class of Space Missions: Probe Explorers
NASA has sent a whole host of spacecraft across the Solar System and even beyond. They range from crewed ships to orbit and to the Moon to robotic explorers. Among them are a range of mission classes from Flagships to Discovery Class programs. Now a new category has been announced: Probe Explorers. This new category will fill the gap between Flagship and smaller missions. Among them are two proposed missions; the Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite and the Probe Far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics.
Luke Skywalker Force FX Elite Lightsaber is now at its lowest-ever price for Prime Day
If you're looking for an early Christmas present for the Star Wars fan in your life this is an unbeatable Prime Day Star Wars deal on this feature-packed lightsaber.
Cryptic Mars, a land shaped by ice
ESA’s Mars Express has captured an astonishing array of landforms emerging from a thick winter blanket of frost as spring arrives in the south polar region of Mars. Some of these features are surprisingly dark compared with their icy surroundings, earning their nickname of ‘cryptic terrain’.
Sentinel-1C arrives in French Guiana
The Sentinel-1C satellite, the third satellite of the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission, has arrived at the European spaceport in French Guiana for liftoff on the Vega-C rocket at the end of 2024. The satellite will continue the critical task of delivering key radar imagery of Earth’s surface for a wide range of Copernicus services and scientific applications.
Five reasons to join the European Space Agency!
In 2023, ESA published more than 400 vacancies in engineering, science and business and administration and more positions continue to be published as we are always on the lookout for talented new colleagues to join us. So, what does it mean to join ESA? Here are five reasons why you should consider ESA as the next step in your career!
Record-breaking ancient spinning galaxy challenges cosmic evolution theories
Astronomers have discovered the most distant and, thus, earliest strongly rotating galaxy ever seen that is well-organized rather than chaotic and messy, challenging our theories of cosmic evolution.
The Open Star Cluster Westerlund 1, Seen by Webb
A long time ago, the Milky Way Galaxy was busy being a prodigious star-formation engine. In those times, it turned out dozens or hundreds of stars per year. These days, it’s rather more quiescent, cranking out only a few per year. Astronomers want to understand the Milky Way’s star-birth history, so they focus on some of the more recent star litters to study. One of them is Westerlund 1, a young so-called “super star cluster” that looks compact and contains a diverse array of older stars. It was part of a burst of star creation around 4 to 5 million years ago.
Can Rocket Lab come to NASA's rescue with new Mars sample-return plan?
In response to NASA's plea for help bringing the cost and complexity of its Mars sample-return program, Rocket Lab has won a contract to study a potential solution.
Dragon's-eye view: Astronaut captures amazing shots of Hurricane Milton from space (photos)
NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick snapped striking photos of the powerful Hurricane Milton through the window of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which is docked to the ISS.
Review: 'The Wild Robot' is a lyrical ode to planetary love and parenthood
A review of the new animated sci-fi feature film, "The Wild Robot."
SpaceX eyes Oct. 13 for next Starship launch, pending FAA approval
SpaceX is targeting as soon as Oct. 13 for the next launch of its Starship Super Heavy megarocket, but it all hinges on approval from the FAA, which says to expect the flight in "late November."
The sun fires off another powerful X flare, triggering radio blackouts across the Americas (video)
An X2.1 solar flare erupted from the prolific sunspot AR 3842 on Monday (Oct. 7), triggering radio blackout across North and South America.
The dazzling Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is emerging in the night sky: How to see it
Scientists are excited to begin capturing Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS as the object is expected to soon be very bright in the night sky.
US needs 'space rescue service' to help astronauts in distress, experts say
The lessons of Apollo, Skylab and the space shuttle appear to have been forgotten: The US needs a plan for how to deal with human spaceflight emergencies, experts say.
Prime Day telescope deal: Save 25% on the best budget model
The best overall budget telescope, the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ, is 25% off and the lowest price this year for Prime Day.
'Alien: Romulus' leaps onto home video and streaming in 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD
"Alien: Romulus" will be released on digital on Oct. 15 and deluxe home video on Dec. 3.
Walmart has Prime Day beat with this Sony A7R V camera deal
Save more than $1000 on this incredible Sony snapper right now at Walmart.
Get $270 off this high-flying DJI Air 3 Fly More Combo drone bundle this Prime Day
Get $270 off this DJI Fly More Combo drone bundle.
TESS Finds a Triple Star System that Could Fit within Mercury’s Orbit
TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has been on the lookout for alien worlds since 2018. It has just hit the news again having identified an extreme triple star system where two stars orbit each other every 1.8 days. The third component circles them both in 25 days – this puts the entire system within the orbit of Mercury with a little wriggle room to spare! To visual observers, it looks like a single star but the power of TESS revealed a flicker as the stars line up and pass one another along our line of sight. Eventually, the two inner stars will merge, triggering a supernova event!
Moon vision
A camera destined for the Moon became part of the astronauts’ toolkit during ESA’s latest PANGAEA geology training in Lanzarote, Spain.
