Sometimes, astronomers get lucky and catch an event they can watch to see how the properties of some of the most massive objects in the universe evolve. That happened in February 2020, when a team of international astronomers led by Dheeraj (DJ) Pasham at MIT found one particular kind of exciting event that helped them track the speed at which a supermassive black hole was spinning for the first time.
Space News & Blog Articles
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The future is bright for astronomy, and very expensive (op-ed)
The universe is being revealed in exquisite detail with the current generation of large optical telescopes.
NASA's 'Mohawk Guy' cameo in '3 Body Problem' explained (exclusive)
Interview with NASA/JPL's systems engineer Bobak Ferdowsi on his "3 Body Problem" cameo.
Black hole singularities defy physics. New research could finally do away with them.
Black hole singularities defy the laws of physics. New research presents a bold solution to this puzzle: Black holes may actually be a theoretical type of star called a 'gravastar,' filled with universe-expanding dark energy.
Could Martian atmospheric samples teach us more about the Red Planet than surface samples?
NASA is actively working to return surface samples from Mars in the next few years, which they hope will help us better understand whether ancient life once existed on the Red Planet’s surface billions of years ago. But what about atmospheric samples? Could these provide scientists with better information pertaining to the history of Mars? This is what a recent study presented at the 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference hopes to address as a team of international researchers investigated the significance of returning atmospheric samples from Mars and how these could teach us about the formation and evolution of the Red Planet.
Live coverage: SpaceX to launch 23 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 flight from Cape Canaveral
A Falcon 9 stands ready for a Starlink mission at Cape Canaveral’s pad 40. File photo: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.
SpaceX is kicking off the morning of Memorial Day with a Falcon 9 flight about an hour after sunrise. The Starlink 6-60 mission will add another 23 spacecraft to the company’s growing mega-constellation of internet relay satellites, serving more than three million customers.
Black Holes are Firing Beams of Particles, Changing Targets Over Time
Black holes seem to provide endless fascination to astronomers. This is at least partly due to the extreme physics that takes place in and around them, but sometimes, it might harken back to cultural touchpoints that made them interested in astronomy in the first place. That seems to be the case for the authors of a new paper on the movement of jets coming out of black holes. Dubbing them “Death Star” black holes, researchers used data from the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and the Chandra X-ray Observatory to look at where these black holes fired jets of superheated particles. And over time the found they did something the fiction Death Star could also do – move.
Will a 'rare' lineup of planets be visible to the naked eye in the night sky on June 3?
Skywatchers who plan to rise early and step outside on June 3 expecting to see a stunning display of visible planets will be quite disappointed, at the very least.
'Alien' heard us all scream 45 years ago today. Here's what it was like on opening day
Here's what it was like seeing Ridley Scott's "Alien" on opening day in 1979, in honor of the iconic sci-fi horror film's 45th anniversary.
This Week In Space podcast: Episode 112 —Mars on Pause?
On Episode 112 of This Week In Space, Rod and Tariq talk with Rob Manning, Chief Engineer Emeritus of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, about Mars exploration and, in particular, Mars Sample Return.
Towel Day 2024: What's the deal with towels in 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?'
An explanation of Towel Day and its meaning in the world of Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
A billionaire hopes to upgrade the Hubble Telescope on a private SpaceX mission, but could it really happen?
Jared Isaacman, the billionaire funder and commander of the Polaris Program missions, spoke on social media recently about why he wants a Hubble Space Telescope mission.
SpaceX details learnings from Starship Flight 3, sets June 5 as target launch date for Flight 4
Onboard cameras on the Starship upper stage flown during Flight 3 (Starship IFT-3) show the vehicle surrounded by plasma as it reenters the atmosphere on March 14, 2024. Image: SpaceX
SpaceX is preparing to launch its massive Starship rocket on its fourth flight test from its Starbase facilities in southern Texas as soon as June 5. The target launch date comes a little less than three months after Flight 3 on March 14.
Another Giant Antarctic Iceberg Breaks Free
On May 20th, 2024, an iceberg measuring 380 square kilometers (~147 mi2) broke off the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica. This event (A-83) is this region’s third significant iceberg calving in the past four years. The first came In 2021, when A-74 broke off the ice sheet, while an even larger berg named A-81 followed in 2023. The separation of this iceberg was captured by two Earth Observation satellites – the ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-1 and NASA’s Landsat 8 satellites – which provided radar imaging and thermal data, respectively.
Rocket Lab launches first of NASA’s climate-monitoring PREFIRE spacecraft
The PREFIRE mission will launch the first of two CubeSats – depicted in this artist’s concept orbiting Earth – into space on Saturday, May 25, 2024, to study how much heat the planet absorbs and emits from its polar regions. These measurements will inform climate and ice models. Graphic: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Update 4:36 a.m. EDT: Rocket Lab confirms a successful deployment of NASA’s PREFIRE-1 cubesat.
Update 3:52 a.m. EDT: Liftoff occurred at 3:41 a.m. EDT. Good first and second stage burns. Kick stage ignition
Update 3:30 a.m. EDT: Countdown resumed for a new T-0 of 3:41 a.m. EDT.
Update 3:20 a.m. EDT: Countdown holding due to high ground winds.
Update 10:44 p.m. EDT: Rocket Lab set the T-0 liftoff time for the mission.
James Webb Space Telescope spots 3 of our universe's earliest galaxies
The James Webb Space Telescope has found three of the universe's earliest galaxies, and they could reveal a lot about galactic dynamics. Here's how.
'It's so complicated:' Boeing Starliner teams diagnosing helium leak ahead of June 1 astronaut launch
NASA and Boeing are still working through "complicated" issues arising from a small Starliner spacecraft helium leak. Launch is June 1, but that's pending a flight readiness review.
Fish are Adapting to Weightlessness on the Chinese Space Station
Four zebrafish are alive and well after nearly a month in space aboard China’s Tiangong space station. As part of an experiment testing the development of vertebrates in microgravity, the fish live and swim within a small habitat aboard the station.
Massive new NASA exoplanet catalog unveils 126 extreme and exotic worlds
A new catalog of the masses and widths of 126 new exoplanets showcases the extreme and exotic nature of worlds beyond the solar system.
Marvel at the Variety of Planets Found by TESS Already
The hunt for new exoplanets continues. On May 23rd, an international collaboration of scientists published the NASA TESS-Keck Catalog, an effort to publicly release over 9000 radial velocity measurements collected by NASA’s space-based Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the ground-based Keck Observatory, located in Hawai’i, and the Automated Planet Finder, located at the Lick Observatory in California. An accompanying analysis of these validated 32 new planetary candidates and found the masses of 126 confirmed planets and candidates with a wide range of masses and orbits. Let’s dig into some details.
NASA says Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule can safely fly ‘as is’ with propulsion system helium leak
Boeing’s Starliner capsule atop the Atlas 5 rocket inside United Launch Alliance’s Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral. Image: United Launch Alliance.
After nearly three weeks of exhaustive tests and data analysis, NASA managers said Friday they are confident Boeing’s oft-delayed Starliner crew capsule can safely launch “as is” June 1, saying a small helium leak in the ship’s propulsion system does not pose a flight safety concern.
