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Space News & Blog Articles
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This Week's Sky at a Glance, January 5 – 14
How does the Sirius-Procyon balance, newly risen, tilt for you? Depends on your latitude! Meanwhile, Triangulum and Aries teeter in balance on Jupiter.
So near, or so far?
Image: So near, or so far?
XRISM's first views signal shake-up for X-ray astronomy
Invisible to our eyes, X-rays emitted by the hot gas that fills much of the Universe can shed light on many cosmic mysteries. The 'first light' observations of this gas by JAXA’s X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) are now ready. They demonstrate that the mission will play a big role in unveiling the evolution of the Universe and the structure of spacetime.
NASA's Perseverance rover captures 360-degree view of Mars' Jezero Crater (video)
Get a detailed look at Perseverance's current location on Mars — the ancient Jezero Crater.
Uranus and Neptune are actually similar blues, 'true' color images reveal
A fresh analysis of Voyager 2's images of Uranus and Neptune reveal the two ice giants are similar shades of blue.
Hubble Space Telescope sees wild weather raging on distant hot Jupiter world
The new weather forecasting method could one day be used on more Earth-like exoplanets.
This Globular Cluster is Plunging Toward the Milky Way’s Centre
Globular clusters (GCs) are spherical groups of stars held together by mutual gravity. Large ones can have millions of stars, and the stars tend to be older and have lower metallicity. The Milky Way contains more than 200 globulars, possibly many more, and most of them are in the galaxy’s halo, the outer reaches of the galaxy.
One of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way is hiding a second galaxy behind it, new research reveals
New observations of the Small Magellanic Cloud show that it might actually be two galaxies disguised as one.
NASA responds to Navajo Nation's request to delay private mission placing human remains on the moon
NASA representatives responded to the Navajo Nation's request to delay a private mission carrying human remains to the moon alongside agency scientific payloads.
Blue Origin booster transporter on the move at KSC
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Concerning satellite observations show major cities on US East Coast are sinking
Satellite images show major cities on the U.S. East Coast, including New York City, are sinking. This has caused concern among scientists.
Want to Find Life? See What's Missing in an Atmosphere
The world runs on carbon. Not just fossil-fuel-driven human society, but all life on Earth. Carbon-based organic molecules are a part of every living thing on Earth. Along with oxygen, nitrogen, and water, carbon is a necessary ingredient for life as we know it. So one way to look for life on other worlds could be to look for carbon in its atmosphere. But a new study shows that it’s actually a lack of carbon that could be the best clue to life on another world.
Astronomers Test an Exoplanet Instrument on Jupiter
The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has a high-resolution spectrograph called ESPRESSO, designed specifically to detecting and characterize exoplanets. Astronomers recently ran a test with the instrument, studying the atmosphere and winds of Jupiter. They used a technique called Doppler velocimetry to measure the reflection of light from the Sun in the planet’s clouds, allowing for instantaneous measurement of the clouds’ wind speeds. The technique has also been used on Venus and will guide the future study of exoplanets.
India launches X-ray satellite to study black holes, supernovas and more (video)
India sent its XPoSat X-ray observatory into orbit on New Year's Day to study black holes, supernovae and other cosmic phenomena.
Navajo Nation objects to private moon mission placing human remains on the lunar surface
NASA has responded to the Navajo Nation's objections over a private mission placing human remains on the moon alongside agency science payloads.
Japan delays MMX Mars moon sample-return mission to 2026
Japan has postponed the launch of a mission seeking to bring samples of a Martian moon to Earth until 2026, due to problems with the nation's new H3 rocket.
Alien technosignatures more likely to be found on oxygen-rich exoplanets. Here's why
To stand the best chance of detecting technosignatures, SETI should survey exoplanets with atmospheres that are at least 18% oxygen.
China launches 2 sets of commercial weather satellites in 3-day span (video)
On Dec. 24 and Dec. 27, China launched clusters of small satellites to provide commercial meteorological data.
Exoplanet-hunting instrument measures Jupiter's wild wind speeds
A Very Large Telescope instrument designed to study exoplanets has turned its focus to our own cosmic neighborhood to measure Jupiter's wind speeds.
Hubble observes a changing exoplanet atmosphere
An international team of astronomers has assembled and reprocessed observations of the exoplanet WASP-121 b that were collected with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in the years 2016, 2018 and 2019. This provided them with a unique dataset that allowed them not only to analyse the atmosphere of WASP-121 b, but also to compare the state of the exoplanet’s atmosphere across several years.
