A geomagnetic storm, the largest supermoon of the year, a comet and an eerie fireball were among the skywatching treats that haunted the night sky of October 2024.
Space News & Blog Articles
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Webb and Hubble examine spooky galaxy pair
Stare deeply at these galaxies. They appear as if blood is pumping through the top of a flesh-free face. The long, ghastly ‘stare’ of their searing eye-like cores shines out into the supreme cosmic darkness.
Amazing Reader Views of Comet A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS From Around the World
Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS survived perihelion to become a fine dusk object for northern hemisphere observers.
Astronomer Calculates When van Gogh Painted This
One of my favorite paintings is Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh — for obvious astronomical reasons. But another favorite of van Gogh’s works is Lane of Poplars at Sunset. This painting depicts the setting Sun perfectly aligned with a long lane of trees, casting long shadows.
Spooky Earths seen by Hera’s HyperScout
Image: Spooky Earths seen by Hera’s HyperScout
Europe says farewell to eclipse-making Proba-3
ESA’s solar eclipse-making Proba-3 mission is about to leave Europe, to head to its launch site in India. The mission’s two spacecraft – which will manoeuvre precisely in Earth orbit so that one casts a shadow onto the other – have departed the facilities of Redwire Space in Kruibeke, Belgium. The pair will be flown to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, near Chennai, for the launch campaign to begin.
Valencia flood disaster
Image: Spain is suffering its worst flood in decades after torrential rains struck the eastern province of Valencia. These satellite images vividly illustrate the dramatic transformation of the landscape.
Happy Heraween!
Video: 00:00:23
Robots in disguise: our Hera asteroid detective plus her CubeSat buddies – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – dressed up for Halloween!
Artemis V Astronauts Will be Driving on the Moon
In the summer of ’69, Apollo 11 delivered humans to the surface of the Moon for the first time. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent just over two hours exploring the area near their landing site on foot. Only during Apollo 15, 16, and 17 did astronauts have a vehicle to move around in.
Can 'failed stars' have planets? James Webb Space Telescopes offers clues
The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered brown dwarfs at the heart of planet-forming disks in the Orion nebula. The discovery could help reveal if these "failed stars" can have planets.
NASA astronaut snaps spooky photo of SpaceX Dragon capsule from ISS
The Dragon, named Freedom, is flying SpaceX's Crew-9 mission for NASA.
Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin endorses Trump for president
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second person ever to walk on the moon, endorsed Donald Trump in a statement released today (Oct. 30).
Tiny Fragments of a 4-Billion Year Old Asteroid Reveal Its History
In June 2018, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 mission reached asteroid 162173 Ryugu. It studied the asteroid for about 15 months, deploying small rovers and a lander, before gathering a sample and returning it to Earth in December 2020.
Astrophotographer captures comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS growing an anti-tail (photos)
Astrophotographer Miguel Claro captured Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) from the Dark Sky Alqueva reserve in Portugal on Oct. 13, 2024 as the comet was displaying an 'anti-tail.'
SpaceX launching 23 Starlink satellites from Florida today
SpaceX plans to launch 23 more of its Starlink internet satellites today (Oct. 30), during a four-hour window that opens at 5:10 p.m. ET (2110 GMT).
NASA announces 9 possible moon landing sites for Artemis 3 lunar mission
NASA has refined its list of potential landing sites near the moon's south pole for its Artemis 3 mission, which aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface no earlier than 2026.
Strange green spots on Mars found by NASA's Perseverance rover (photo)
NASA's Perseverance rover found strange green spots in Martian rock, potentially indicating a past interaction with liquid water.
Voyager 1 spacecraft phones home with transmitter that hasn't been used since 1981
Following recent communication issues, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft resorted to a backup radio transmitter that has been inactive since 1981.
Debris from satellite breakup threatens other spacecraft, animation shows
Debris from the broken-apart Intelsat 33e telecom satellite is spreading across geosynchronous orbit, threatening spacecraft in this precious region of space, an animation shows.
Live coverage: SpaceX to launch 23 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
File: A Falcon 9 rocket stands in the launch position at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of the planned liftoff of the Starlink 6-61 mission on Oct. 22, 2024. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now
SpaceX is preparing for its second launch of the day with another Starlink flight. This Falcon 9 rocket will add another 23 Starlink satellites to the growing megaconstellation.
Astronomers Have Found the Fastest Spinning Neutron Star
Neutron stars are as dense as the nucleus of an atom. They contain a star’s worth of matter in a sphere only a dozen kilometers wide. And they are light-years away. So how can we possibly understand their interior structure? One way would be to simply spin it. Just spin it faster and faster until it reaches a maximum limit. That limit can tell us about how neutron stars hold together and even how they might form. Obviously, we can’t actually spin up a neutron star, but it can happen naturally, which is one of the reasons astronomers are interested in these maximally spinning stars. And recently a team has discovered a new one.
