Week in images: 09-13 October 2023
Space News & Blog Articles
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Astronomers want you to watch the Oct. 14 'ring of fire' eclipse with a disco ball. No, seriously.
You can't stare at the sun, so how do you watch an eclipse? By reflecting it off of a disco ball, a team of astronomers suggests.
Here's the (moon) scoop: Mercury 7-flown clock, Apollo lunar shovel up for auction
The clock is ticking on a space artifacts auction, though this time it is not just any timing device driving the bids. The 'satellite clock' from Scott Carpenter's Mercury capsule is up for sale.
How precious metals were brought to Earth and preserved in a magma ocean
We’ve got geophysics to thank for preventing our precious metals from sinking to Earth’s core.
This is What it Would Be Like to Fly Across Mars
Many of us have dreamed about flying over the surface of Mars—someday. The planet offers so many cool places to study, and doing it in person is something for future Marsnauts to consider. The Mars Express spacecraft has been mapping the Red Planet for years. It now gives us an up-close look now, through an animation of thousands of images of Mars from its cameras.
The 5 main stages of October's annular solar eclipse explained
An annular eclipse will sweep across the Americas on Saturday (Oct. 14), with the sun appearing as a blazing ring of fire. How will the major stages of the eclipse unfold?
Watch SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launch NASA's Psyche asteroid mission today
SpaceX's powerful Falcon Heavy rocket will launch NASA's Psyche asteroid mission today (Oct. 13), weather permitting, and you can watch it live.
This Week's Sky at a Glance, October 13 – 22
The week's big event is the Moon stepping on the Sun on Saturday the 14th. But the Moon's not done. Several days later it steps squarely on the handle of the Sagittarius Teapot, then on Herman's Cross. Show-off.
Earth from Space: Bentiu, South Sudan
Image: The landscape around the city of Bentiu in South Sudan is featured in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image.
Antarctic ice shelf demise
New research, based largely on information from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and ESA’s CryoSat satellite missions, has revealed alarming findings about the state of Antarctica's ice shelves: 40% of these floating shelves have significantly reduced in volume over the past quarter-century. While this underscores the accelerating impacts of climate change on the world's southernmost continent, the picture of ice deterioration is mixed.
Feast Your Eyes on this Star-Forming Region, Thanks to the JWST
Nature is stingy with its secrets. That’s why humans developed the scientific method. Without it, we’d still be ignorant and living in a world dominated by superstitions.
A Simulation Predicts Where Astronomers Should Look to Find Intermediate-mass Black Holes
The universe is swimming in black holes, from stellar mass to supermassive behemoths. But, there’s one class that remains elusive: the “middle child” class. These are called “intermediate-mass black holes (IMBH).” How numerous are they, how do they form, and where are they? To answer those questions, astronomers simulated possible formation scenarios.
New Stars Forming Uncomfortably Close to the Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole
Astronomers examining a star cluster near Sgr A*, the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, found that the cluster has some unusually young members for its location. That’s difficult to explain since the region so close to the powerful black hole is infused with powerful radiation and dominated by the black hole’s extremely powerful gravitational force. According to our understanding of stellar formation, young stars shouldn’t be there.
A Comprehensive Blueprint for the Settlement of Mars
Throughout the 20th century, multiple proposals have been made for the crewed exploration of Mars. These include the famed “Mars Project” by Werner von Braun, the “Mars Direct” mission architecture by Robert Zubrin and David Baker, NASA’s Mars Design Reference Mission studies, and SpaceX’s Mars & Beyond plan. By 2033, two space agencies (NASA and the CNSA) plan to commence sending crews and payloads to the Red Planet. These and other space agencies envision building bases there that could eventually lead to permanent settlements and the first “Martians.”
Boeing's 1st Starliner flight with astronauts delayed to April 2024
NASA announced that Boeing's commercial crew vehicle, Starliner, will not carry astronauts in a test flight until at least April 2024. Its first operational flight is also delayed into 2025.
1st evidence of giant exoplanet collision afterglow explains unusual eclipse
Astronomers have observed two super-Earths colliding in a faraway system for the first time, suggesting such violent impacts are not limited to very young cosmic neighborhoods.
SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket poised to launch Psyche metal asteroid mission (photos)
SpaceX's powerful Falcon Heavy rocket is standing tall on the launch pad ahead of the planned Friday (Oct. 13) liftoff of NASA's Psyche metal asteroid mission.
South Korea set to finalize cancellation of launch contracts with Russia
International sanctions imposed against Russia following the country's invasion of Ukraine mean that a pair of satellites due to fly on Russian rockets in 2022 will need to find a new route to space.
TRAPPIST-1 Has Flares. What Does This Mean for its Planets?
The TRAPPIST-1 system continues to fascinate astronomers, astrobiologists, and exoplanet hunters alike. In 2017, NASA announced that this red dwarf star (located 39 light-years away) was orbited by no less than seven rocky planets – three of which were within the star’s habitable zone (HZ). Since then, scientists have attempted to learn more about this system of planets to determine whether they could support life. Of particular concern is the way TRAPPIST-1 – like all M-type (red dwarf) stars – is prone to flare-ups, which could have a detrimental effect on planetary atmospheres.
A leak on the ISS canceled his spacewalk. But an astronaut says that was the right call
European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen was supposed to step into space Oct. 12. Now facing a delayed spacewalk, he said that was the right call.
