In 2023, amateur astronomer Dana Patchick was looking through images from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer archive and discovered a diffuse, circular object in the constellation of Cassiopeia. He found this apparent nebula was interesting because it was bright in the infrared portion of the spectrum, but virtually invisible in the colors of light visible to our eyes. Dana added this item to the database of the Deep Sky Hunters amateur astronomers group, believing it was a planetary nebula – the quiet remnant of stars in mass similar to the sun. He named it PA 30.
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SpaceX launches world's 1st satellite that can pinpoint carbon emissions from space
The world's first satellite capable of detecting industrial sources of carbon emissions from space has just reached orbit — and it promises to be a game-changer.
Blast from the past: gamma-ray burst strikes Earth from distant exploding star
An enormous burst of gamma rays, detected by ESA’s Integral space telescope, has struck Earth. The blast caused a significant disturbance in our planet’s ionosphere. Such disturbances are usually associated with energetic particle events on the Sun but this one was the result of an exploding star almost two billion light-years away. Analysing the effects of the blast could provide information about the mass extinctions in Earth’s history.
Europe’s quantum decade extends into space
Europe – and the world – is in the midst of the ‘quantum decade’: a period in which the peculiar properties of matter that manifest at the very tiniest of scales are being transformed from mere scientific curiosities into the basis of practical technologies and products. The result? Major leaps forward in communications, navigation, computing and environmental sensing.
When Stars Consume Their Partners, We Could Detect a Blast of Neutrinos
You might be familiar with the bizarre ritual of the female praying mantis which, I’m told, bites off the head and eats other body parts of the poor male they just mated with. It seems consuming partners is not unheard of. It’s even seen in the lives of stars where binary stars orbit one another closely and one star ultimately consumes the other. If the victim is a neutron star a burst of neutrinos can be generated and a new study reveals they might just be detectable on Earth.
Starship Could Be Ready to Launch on Friday
Space exploration should never be run of the mill nor something that finds itself on the back pages of the newspaper. Captain James T. Kirk was right that space really is the final frontier and making it more accessible is one of the driving forces behind SpaceX. Their mission to seek out new life and new civilisations, wait that’s wrong – that’s Starfleet. The SpaceX mission ‘to revolutionise space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets is at the forefront of the development of the enormous Starship which may make another launch attempt as soon as this Friday 17th November.
Webb Shows Planets Really Do Start with Pebbles
New observations have turned up evidence that icy pebbles deliver the water to inner regions of planet-forming disks.
Monitoring methane from space
Video: 00:03:23
Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide. Curbing methane emissions could deliver immediate and long-lasting benefits for the climate, seeing as the gas only lingers in the atmosphere for a relatively short time.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 3rd pair of O3b mPOWER satellites from Cape Canaveral
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches with a pair of SES’ O3b mPOWER satellites heading up to medium Earth orbit. Image: Michael Cain
Update 4:43 p.m. EST (2143 UTC): SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket to begin the mission. The satellites will start being deployed around 6:08 p.m. EST (2308 UTC).
Asteroid Will Cover Betelgeuse, May Reveal Its Visible Surface
Astronomers are gearing up for an unusual celestial event: an asteroid’s occultation of an iconic star.
The Apollo program continues to inspire 'moonshots' in the 21st century
While landing humans on the moon was indeed historic and the boot-kicked lunar dust has settled, perhaps that achievement had more of an impact on society than we realized.
An Epic Collaboration Between Hubble and JWST
In 2012, as part of the MAssive Cluster Survey (MACS), the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) discovered a pair of colliding galaxy clusters (MACS0416) that will eventually combine to form an even bigger cluster. Located about 4.3 billion light-years from Earth, the MACS0416 cluster contains multiple gravitational lenses that allow astronomers to look back in time and view galaxies as they appeared when the Universe was young. In a new collaboration that symbolizes the passing of the torch, the venerable Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) teamed up to conduct an extremely detailed study of MACS0416.
SpaceX says its 2nd Starship test flight could launch on Nov. 17 (video)
SpaceX says its next Starship launch could occur as early as Nov. 17, pending regulatory approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies.
If You Account for the Laniakea Supercluster, The Hubble Tension Might Be Even Larger
One of the great unsolved mysteries of cosmology is known as the Hubble tension. It stems from our inability to pin down the precise rate of cosmic expansion. There are several ways to calculate this expansion, from observing distant supernovae to measuring the Doppler shift of maser light near supermassive black holes, and they all give slightly different results. Maybe we don’t fully understand the structure of the Universe, or maybe our view of the heavens is biased given that we are located deep within a galactic supercluster. As a new study shows, the bias problem is even worse than we thought.
SpaceX set to launch 90 payloads to orbit on 'rideshare' mission today
SpaceX is poised to launch its Transporter-9 mission today (Nov. 11), a 'rideshare' flight that will loft 90 payloads to orbit.
This Week In Space podcast: Episode 87 — One Lunar Fizz Please
On Episode 87 of This Week In Space, Tariq and Rod discuss drinking in space with Colleen McLeod Garner.
How to Think About a Four-Dimensional Universe
In Einstein’s famous theory of relativity the concepts of immutable space and time aren’t just put aside, they’re explicitly and emphatically rejected. Space and time are now woven into a coexisting fabric. That is to say, we truly live in a four-dimensional universe. Space and time alone cease to exist; only the union of those dimensions remains.
Volcanic 'devil comet' resprouts its horns after erupting again
The massive volcanic comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, which grows giant horns when it erupts, has exploded for a third time in five months as it continues to race toward the sun.
The Taurid meteor shower peaks tonight. Here's how to see it.
The Northern Taurid meteor shower peaks overnight on Nov. 11, offering the chance to see fireballs created by debris from Comet 2P/Encke burning up in Earth's atmosphere.
These highly rated lightsabers are at their lowest ever price ahead of Black Friday
We rate these lightsabers as some of the best on the market and now they're at their lowest ever price on Amazon, ahead of Black Friday.
