Amateur astronomers who have purchased telescopes from leading suppliers in the U.S. may be entitled to a payment from a class action settlement.
Space News & Blog Articles
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Review: Dwarf Lab’s New Dwarf 3 Smartscope
DwarfLab’s new Dwarf 3 smartscope packs a powerful punch in a small unit.
Malargüe: A satellite dish best served cold
A capacity increase by almost 80%! In late July 2024, the Malargüe deep-space communication station completed an important upgrade of its antenna feed that will allow missions to send much more data back to Earth.
Seed-sized space chip
Image: Seed-sized space chip
Earth from Space: Frozen borders
Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image captures the borders between North and South Dakota and Minnesota blanketed with snow and ice.
SpaceX successfully catches Super Heavy booster, loses Starship upper stage during Flight 7
A still image taken from video of what is reportedly the remnants of SpaceX’s Starship upper stage as seen from the vantage point of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Image: Alex Davenport
SpaceX’s seventh flight of its Starship rocket was a combination of great success and catastrophic loss, with a catch of its Super Heavy booster at the launch tower and the failure of the Starship upper stage as it climbed to space.
Launch preview: SpaceX to launch its Starship rocket on a 7th suborbital test flight from Starbase
SpaceX’s fully integrated Starship rocket stands at Launch Tower 1 at the Starbased facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, ahead of the launch of the Flight 7 mission. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now
SpaceX is preparing to kick off the new year of suborbital flights around the world with a launch of its nearly 40-story-tall Starship rocket from southern Texas Thursday afternoon.
Hubble traces hidden history of the Andromeda Galaxy
The largest photomosaic of the Andromeda galaxy, assembled from NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observations, unveils hundreds of millions of stars. It took more than 10 years to collect data for this colorful portrait of our neighbouring galaxy and was created from more than 600 snapshots. This stunning, colourful mosaic captures the glow of 200 million stars, and is spread across roughly 2.5 billion pixels.
EarthCARE goes live with data now available to all
With ESA’s EarthCARE satellite and four measuring instruments all working extremely well and fully commissioned, the mission’s ‘first level’ data stream is now freely available.
History made: Blue Origin becomes first new space company to reach orbit on its first launch
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket lifts off the pad for the first time at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: Pete Carstens/MaxQ Productions for Spaceflight Now
Blue Origin entered into the history books in the predawn hours of Thursday. The company, founded by Jeff Bezos, became the first to successfully reach orbit on their first launch with a new orbital-class rocket in the new era of commercial spaceflight that dawned in the last two decades.
Planet Profile - Saturn
lanet Profile: Saturn
Overview
- Type: Gas giant
- Position: 6th planet from the Sun
- Distance from Sun: ~1.4 billion km (~886 million miles)
- Diameter: ~120,536 km (74,900 miles)
- Moons: 145 confirmed (as of 2025), including Titan and Enceladus
- Rings: Most extensive and visually striking ring system in the Solar System
Atmosphere and Composition
- Primary Gases: Hydrogen (~96%), Helium (~3%), with traces of methane, ammonia, and other gases.
- Cloud Layers: Ammonia crystals, ammonium hydrosulfide, and water ice/clouds at deeper levels.
- Winds: Up to 1,800 km/h (1,100 mph) near the equator, some of the fastest in the Solar System.
Rings
- Composition: Ice, rock, and dust particles, ranging in size from microscopic grains to objects several meters across.
- Structure: Divided into several rings (A, B, C, etc.) with gaps like the Cassini Division.
- Origin: Likely remnants of shattered moons, comets, or asteroids.
Magnetosphere
- Magnetic Field: Strong, but less intense than Jupiter’s.
- Auroras: Stunning displays occur near Saturn's poles due to interactions with solar wind.
Moons
- Titan: Saturn’s largest moon, with a thick atmosphere and liquid hydrocarbon lakes.
- Enceladus: Known for its icy surface, water plumes, and potential subsurface ocean, making it a prime candidate for extraterrestrial life.
- Other notable moons: Mimas, Rhea, Dione, Tethys, and Iapetus.
Orbital and Rotational Characteristics
- Orbit Period: ~29.5 Earth years
- Rotation Period: ~10 hours and 42 minutes (a day on Saturn)
- Axial Tilt: 26.7°, giving it seasons similar to Earth’s but much longer due to its long orbit.
Exploration
- Pioneer 11: First spacecraft to fly by Saturn (1979).
- Voyager 1 & 2: Provided detailed images and data in the early 1980s.
- Cassini-Huygens Mission: Orbited Saturn from 2004–2017, studying its system extensively and landing a probe on Titan.
Fun Facts
- Density: Saturn is the least dense planet, less dense than water—it would float in a large enough body of water.
- Storms: Features massive storms, including a persistent hexagonal-shaped storm at its north pole.
- Visibility: Easily visible from Earth with the naked eye, often appearing golden in color.
Saturn continues to be a source of wonder and scientific discovery, especially with its iconic rings and the potential for life on moons like Titan and Enceladus.
The First Supernovae Flooded the Early Universe With Water
Water is the essence of life. Every living thing on Earth contains water within it. The Earth is rich with life because it is rich with water. This fundamental connection between water and life is partly due to water’s extraordinary properties, but part of it is due to the fact that water is one of the most abundant molecules in the Universe. Made from one part oxygen and two parts hydrogen, its structure is simple and strong. The hydrogen comes from the primordial fire of the Big Bang and is by far the most common element. Oxygen is created in the cores of large stars, along with carbon and nitrogen, as part of the CNO fusion cycle.
James Webb Space Telescope sees little red dots feeding black holes: 'This is how you solve a universe-breaking problem'
The James Webb Space Telescope's ancient "little red dot" galaxies have been seen as a sign of "broken cosmology." Feeding supermassive black holes may have come to the rescue.
Uncanny 'Alien: Romulus' Ian Holm CGI fixed for home release as director 'wasn't 100 percent happy'
Director Fede Alvarez spoke to Empire about fixing the controversial CGI of Rook in Alien: Romulus.
Goodnight, Gaia! ESA spacecraft shuts down after 12 years of Milky Way mapping
Goodnight Gaia. The European Space Agency star-tracking satellite ceased operations on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, after 12 years of mapping the Milky Way.
Astronomers See Flares Coming from the Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole
There’s plenty of action at the center of the galaxy, where a supermassive black hole (SMBH) known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) literally holds the galaxy together. Part of that action is the creation of gigantic flares from Sgr A*, which can give off energy equivalent to 10 times the Sun’s annual energy output. However, scientists have been missing a key feature of these flares for decades – what they look like in the mid-infrared range. But now, a team led by researchers at Harvard’s Center for Astrophysics and the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy has published a paper that details what a flare looks like in those frequencies for the first time.
Saturn disappears behind the moon in stunning telescope photo
A composition photo of images taken during the lunar occultation on Jan. 4 captures the progression of the moon moving in front of Saturn, briefly hiding it from viewers on Earth.
Telescope vs monocular: Which should I buy?
From magnification to light-gathering, here’s how to make the decision between buying a telescope or a monocular for stargazing and astronomy.
'Star Wars: Skeleton Crew' finale leaves us asking 'what's next'?
In its final episode, Skeleton Crew sticks the landing with lots of action and some genuinely tense moments, but its answers are limited.
Technological ‘to-do list’ to reach Zero Debris created
There is an increasing willingness in the space sector to tackle the problem of space debris. Yet much of the required technology to mitigate or prevent its risks is still missing.
