Five years ago today (Feb. 6), SpaceX's brawny Falcon Heavy rocket left Earth for the first time ever, sending a car into orbit around the sun.
Space News & Blog Articles
Full Snow Moon, the smallest 'micromoon' of 2023, dazzles winter stargazers
Stargazers across the world, as well as celebrants of China's Lantern Festival, hailed the arrival of the full snow moon in pictures.
Turkey earthquake prompts United Nations to activate emergency satellite mapping
The United Nations Satellite Centre has activated its emergency mapping service following a devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria to provide imagery that aids in disaster relief.
Ultra-rare 'rainbow clouds' light up the Arctic Circle like auroras in stunning new photos
Rare clouds that give off bright, multi-colored light like an aurora were recently spotted at multiple locations in the Arctic. But what causes them?
Senator Mark Kelly, Roy Bridges to enter Astronaut Hall of Fame
The U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame will induct two space shuttle pilots: Roy Bridges, who flew at the start of the program, and Mark Kelly, who helped bring it to a close, at a public ceremony in May.
God killers target Sisko and Worf in IDW's 'Star Trek: Day of Blood' story arc
IDW Publishing kicks off their summer crossover event with "Star Trek: Prelude to Day of Blood" in May 2023.
Only filmed interview with Georges Lemaître, 'father of the Big Bang,' rediscovered after 60 years
The only known filmed interview with physicist and Catholic priest Georges Lemaître, who originally proposed the Big Bang theory, has been found on a video that was lost nearly 60 years ago.
Watch the 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' world premiere red carpet event live online tonight!
Marvel Studios kicks off the world premiere of "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" with a free livestream party on Feb. 6, 2023.
Potensic Atom SE review
The Potensic Atom SE is a fantastic drone for beginners, offering a foldable design and a sub 250g weight, but with limited camera controls for photos and videos.
JWST Unexpectedly Finds a Small Asteroid During ‘Failed’ Observations
While astronomers and engineers were trying to calibrate one of the James Webb Space Telescope’s instruments last summer, they serendipitously found a previously unknown small 100–200-meter (300-600 ft) asteroid in the main asteroid belt. Originally, the astronomers deemed the calibrations as a failed attempt because of technical glitches. But they noticed the asteroid while going through their data from the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI), and ended up finding what is likely the smallest object observed to date by JWST. It is also one of the smallest objects ever detected in our Solar System’s main belt of asteroids.
Webb detects extremely small main-belt asteroid
A previously unknown 100–200-metre asteroid — roughly the size of Rome’s Colosseum — has been detected by an international team of European astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Their project used data from the calibration of the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI), in which the team serendipitously detected an interloping asteroid. The object is likely the smallest observed to date by Webb and may be an example of an object measuring under 1 kilometer in length within the main asteroid belt, located between Mars and Jupiter. More observations are needed to better characterize this object’s nature and properties.
Do we live in a rotating universe? If we did, we could travel back in time
A rotating universe would be capable of rotating your future into your own past, allowing you to travel back in time.
On Burnout, the “Green Comet,” and White Dwarf Stars
With care and diligence, amateur astronomy can offer a satisfying reprieve.
The Making of Juice – Episode 9
Video: 00:05:36 Five-minute behind-the-scenes documentary covering the story behind the application of the Galileo tribute plaque to ESA’s Juice spacecraft.
SpaceX eyeing March for 1st Starship orbital flight, Elon Musk says
SpaceX will try to launch its huge Starship rocket to Earth orbit for the first time next month, provided the vehicle passes its remaining tests, Elon Musk said.
Astronomers poised to hunt new kind of gravitational wave
The gravitational waves would be weak, but potentially detectable by the next joint observing run of the world's gravitational-wave detectors.
Live coverage: SpaceX delays launch of Amazonas Nexus satellite until Monday
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket will launched the the Amazonas Nexus geostationary communications satellite for Hispasat. Follow us on Twitter.
Rolls-Royce Space Reactor, Close Call in Orbit, Webb’s Back
Webb is fully operational again, Rolls-Royce is building a nuclear reactor for the Moon, and the space debris worst-case scenario almost happened.
Bright blue stars crawl among Tarantula Nebula clouds in Hubble telescope photo
A stunning new view of the Tarantula Nebula captures turbulent clouds of gas and dust swirling between young stars.
Doomsday clock advances to 90 seconds to midnight — the closest to apocalypse it's ever been
Humanity faces greater existential threats than it did during the Cold War, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists
A.I. Finds a New Way to Build Multiple-Star Systems
Over over 50% of high mass stars reside in multiple star systems. But due to their complex orbital interactions, physicists have a difficult time understanding just how stable and long-lived these systems are. Recently a team of astronomers applied machine learning techniques to simulations of multiple star systems and found a new way that stars in such systems can arrange themselves.