https://skyandtelescope.com

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This Week's Sky at a Glance, February 21 – March 2 -

Venus, after standing alone, is joined by the crescent Moon and low little Mercury in twilight late this week. Higher in the night, Jupiter and Mars continue in their distinctive triangles.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, February 21 – March 2 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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Euclid Discovers Einstein Ring Around Nearby Galaxy -

The Euclid space telescope has uncovered an "Einstein ring" in an unexpected place — a nondescript galaxy we've known for more than a century.

The post Euclid Discovers Einstein Ring Around Nearby Galaxy appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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Release of 4,000 Supernovae to Aid Cosmology -

A new survey contains 3,628 Type Ia supernovae — the exploding white dwarfs that astronomers use as cosmological toeholds to gauge our expanding universe.

The post Release of 4,000 Supernovae to Aid Cosmology appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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Meet Almaaz, the Billy Goat Star -

Almaaz, also called Epsilon Aurigae, is among the weirder stars of the night sky — a supergiant with a dust-enshrouded companion.

The post Meet Almaaz, the Billy Goat Star appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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Cracking Crusts Might Set Neutron Star Speed Limit -

New research explores how the cracking of a neutron star’s crust might determine how fast these extreme stellar remnants can spin.

The post Cracking Crusts Might Set Neutron Star Speed Limit appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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This Week's Sky at a Glance, February 14 – 23 -

Jupiter makes a triangle with Aldebaran and the Pleiades. Mars makes a nicer triangle with Pollux and Castor. The pre-dawn Moon hangs with Spica, then Antares.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, February 14 – 23 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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Webb Telescope to Weigh in on Impact Odds for Asteroid 2024 YR4 -

So far, searches for archival images that could confirm or rule out the asteroid's impact have come up dry, but Webb observations in May could help pin down the orbit.

The post Webb Telescope to Weigh in on Impact Odds for Asteroid 2024 YR4 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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A Rare Kind of White Dwarf Could Foster Habitable Worlds -

Extra amounts of an uncommon element — neon-22 — could re-energize some white dwarfs, and potentially make the systems habitable.

The post A Rare Kind of White Dwarf Could Foster Habitable Worlds appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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See Crescent Venus This Valentine's Day -

In a delightful cosmic coincidence, Venus will shine brightest on Valentine's Day.

The post See Crescent Venus This Valentine's Day appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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Glenn Schneider, 1955–2025 -

Astronomy has lost one of its most passionate chasers of total solar eclipses with the passing of astronomer Glenn Schneider.

The post Glenn Schneider, 1955–2025 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

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https://spaceflightnow.com

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SpaceX launches 450th Falcon rocket on Starlink 12-14 mission - The flight will include 23 Starlink V2 Mini satellites, of which 13 have Direct to Cell capabilities. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is set for 10:19 a.m. EST (1519 UTC).

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Rocket Lab launches BlackSky Gen-3 satellite on 60th Electron flight - The mission, dubbed ‘Fasten Your Space Belts,’ was Rocket Lab’s second launch of the year and its ninth launch supporting BlackSky as a customer. Liftoff from New Zealand happened at 12:17 p.m. NZDT on Feb. 19 (6:17 p.m. EST, 2317 UCT on Feb. 18).

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SpaceX sticks first Falcon 9 booster landing in The Bahamas - The Falcon 9 first stage booster, tail number B1080, landed near Exuma, an island within The Bahamas. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 6:21 p.m. EST (2321 UTC).

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Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander arrives in lunar orbit - The robotic lander reached the Moon’s orbit after performing its 4 minute and 15 second Lunar Orbit Insertion burn, which began at 8:51 p.m. EST on Feb. 13 (0151 UTC on Feb. 14).

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SpaceX launches 21 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral - The Starlink 12-8 mission was SpaceX’s 20 orbital launch of the year and send 21 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. Liftoff happened at 1:14 a.m. EST (0614 UTC).

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NASA announces new launch date for Crew-10, swap of SpaceX Dragon spacecraft following construction delays - The four-member crew will now fly onboard Dragon Endurance instead of SpaceX’s fifth Crew Dragon spacecraft as originally intended. Launch has moved up to Wednesday, March 12, “pending mission readiness and completion of the agency’s certification of flight readiness process.”

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SpaceX launches 21 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral - The Starlink 12-18 mission included 13 satellites that have Direct to Cell capabilities. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 1:53 p.m. EST (1853 UTC).

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SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from California - The Starlink 11-10 mission was the sixth orbital launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base this year. Liftoff from pad 4E happened Monday at 6:09 p.m. PST (9:09 p.m. EST, 0209 UTC).

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Rocket Lab launches first Electron rocket of 2025 from New Zealand - The mission was the company’s 59th Electron rocket launch to date. Liftoff of the ‘IoT 4 You and Me’ mission happened at 9:43 a.m. NZDT on Feb. 9 (3:43 p.m. EST, 2043 UTC on Feb. 8).

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ULA begins de-stacking Vulcan rocket, pivots to Atlas 5 launch of Amazon’s Kuiper satellites for first 2025 mission - The change in manifest comes as the U.S. Space Force’s Assured Access to Space continues the certification process for the Vulcan rocket. United Launch Alliance will begin stacking an Atlas rocket in the coming weeks.

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https://www.space.com

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What's that smell? Astronomers discover a stinky new clue in the search for alien life - Astronomers have discovered that sulfur may be a key to helping us narrow down our search for life on other planets.

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Einstein wins again! Quarks obey relativity laws, Large Hadron Collider finds - Do top quarks, nature's heaviest elementary particle, obey Einstein's rules at all times of day and night? Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider have the answer.

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Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin targeting Feb. 25 for 10th space tourism launch - Blue Origin is targeting next Tuesday (Feb. 25) for its 10th space tourism launch, which will send six people to the final frontier. You'll be able to watch the action live.

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Paralympian John McFall could become 1st astronaut with a disability on ISS - European Space Agency astronaut John McFall is cleared to be the first person with a physical disability to fly to the space station.

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Boost for alien hunters? Earth life may not be so improbable, study suggests - The idea that life on Earth arose through a series of improbable "hard" evolutionary steps may be misjudged, according to a new paper that says our Earth had a big say in matters.

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US Space Force reveals 1st look at secretive X-37B space plane in orbit (photo) - The United States Space Force released the first public photo taken by X-37B space plane in orbit, showing the vehicle high above Earth.

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NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free announces retirement after 30-year career at the space agency - NASA has announced the retirement of Associate Administrator Jim Free, the agency's chief operating officer for more than 18,000 employees across the United States.

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SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites on 450th Falcon rocket (video) - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 21 more of the company's Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Florida's Space Coast on Saturday (Feb. 8).

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Strange X-ray flash from beyond the Milky Way perplexes scientists - A mysterious flash of X-ray emission from outside the Milky Way has left astronomers puzzled.

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'It's extremely worrisome.' NASA's James Webb Space Telescope faces potential 20% budget cut just 4 years after launch - Such a dramatic cut to a flagship space telescope still in its prime will be felt across the mission's entire operations, affecting science.

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How do black holes 'leak' energy? Scientists have a new spin on the answer - Scientists have discovered more about the process that causes black holes to "leak" energy to their surroundings, finding the faster they spin, the more energy is extracted.

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'Jupiter Ascending' came out 10 years ago, and we're still not sure how The Matrix creators' space opera went so wrong - The Wachowskis' attempt at reenergizing the space opera genre is widely considered to be a low point in their career, but maybe we were too harsh?

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Some baby stars in ancient stellar nurseries were born in 'fluffy' cosmic blankets - Astronomers have discovered that many infant stars born in stellar nurseries of the early universe may have preferred "fluffy" stellar blankets.

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The ISS should be deorbited 'as soon as possible,' Elon Musk says: 'Let's go to Mars' - The International Space Station "has served its purpose" and should be deorbited "as soon as possible," SpaceX chief and close Trump adviser Elon Musk said today (Feb. 20).

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NASA's Curiosity Mars rover discovers evidence of ripples from an ancient Red Planet lake (images) - Rippled textures in a shallow lake bed on Mars indicate that ice-free liquid water once pooled here.

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Life as we don't know it: Some aliens may need sulfuric acid like we need water - If we're looking for life as we don't know it, the best solvent out there may be concentrated sulfuric acid — the stuff that's floating around in the clouds of Venus.

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Our favorite novelty Astronaut star projector is now 20% off - This Astronaut star projector is currently just 20% off, offering gorgeous indoor nebulas in a fun, novelty model at a sizable discount.

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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket debris creates dramatic fireball over Europe, crashes in Poland (video) - A SpaceX rocket stage fell to Earth early Wednesday morning (Feb. 19), blazing a trail of fire through European skies.

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Hubble Telescope sets its eyes on cosmic cotton candy near the Tarantula Nebula (photo) - The Hubble Space Telescope captured the ​​colorful, wispy clouds near the Tarantula Nebula, one of the most luminous and active star-forming regions in our galactic backyard.

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Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin unveils crew for 10th space tourism launch - Blue Origin just revealed the identities of five of the six crewmembers for NS-30, its next suborbital space tourism mission. The company has not yet announced a launch date.

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'Impossible' pair of vampire stars discovered by Einstein Probe's X-ray vision - A flash of X-ray light has revealed the existence of an odd couple of stars, a massive star and a white dwarf, that shouldn't really exist together.

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NASA massively lowers impact risk of 'city-killer' asteroid 2024 YR4 to 1 in 360 - Breathe a sigh of relief! NASA has dropped the risk of asteroid 2024 YR4 impacting Earth in 2032 to 1 in 360, just days after it became the highest-risk asteroid since records began.

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Musk and Trump repeat false 'stranded' Starliner astronauts narrative, but they are not stranded - Elon Musk and President Trump continue to advance the narrative that NASA astronauts from Boeing's Starliner mission were "abandoned" in space.

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What is dark energy? Exploding white dwarf stars may help us crack the case - Astronomers have studied 3,600 supernovas to discover diversity in exploding white dwarf stars, a vital tool in the investigation of dark energy.

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Leaving Pluto in the dust: New Horizons probe gearing up for epic crossing of 'termination shock' - NASA's New Horizons Pluto probe is gearing up to cross the "termination shock," an exotic boundary in the outer solar system, as early as 2027.

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Black holes snacking on small stars create particle accelerators that bombard Earth with cosmic rays - Gamma rays detected by NASA's Fermi spacecraft indicate that microquasars are powered by small black holes slowly devouring stars. They pack quite a punch, bombarding Earth with cosmic rays.

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Lego Marvel Logo & Minifigures set review - It's not the most exciting set, but Lego Marvel Logo & Minifigures expertly achieves what it sets out to do.

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Over 1,000 NASA employees saved from dismissal as Trump downsizes federal workforce - After the space community braced for a brutal shake-up at NASA this week, a last-minute decision on Tuesday (Feb. 18) spared over 1,000 agency employees on probationary status from being dismissed.

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The next giant leap? How jumping could help astronauts train for trips to the moon and Mars - Scientists suggest adding jumping exercises to astronauts' training regimens, to minimize the health effects of long space missions, such as moon and Mars trips.

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Largest-ever discovery of 'missing link' black holes revealed by dark energy camera (video) - Using a revolutionary dark energy camera, astronomers have discovered the largest haul of "missing link" intermediate-mass black holes ever seen, but there should have been more.

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Want a workout? Try walking to the top of the world's largest telescope (photo) - The world's largest telescope continues to take shape on the Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile's Atacama Desert.

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Blue Ghost moon lander lowers its orbit to fly closer to the lunar surface (video) - Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander lowered its orbit around the moon Tuesday (Feb. 18), sending back gorgeous footage from just over the lunar surface.

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7 planets are aligned in the night sky right now. But what's that mean for science? - In February 2025, all seven of our planetary neighbors will be visible from Earth. So what does such a planetary alignment mean for science? Well, not much — unless you're an interplanetary spacecraft.

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I want to believe — but yet another massive search for alien technosignatures just turned up nothing - Hunting for alien civilizations isn't a matter of just waiting around for them to show up; it's the business of combing through enormous volumes of data to look for peculiar signals.

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Boeing plans to lay off hundreds of employees working on NASA's SLS moon rocket: reports - Boeing is preparing to lay off roughly 200 employees working on the Space Launch System rocket as it braces for the possibility that its contracts with NASA may not be renewed after they end in March.

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'Captain America: Brave New World' introduces adamantium into the MCU, but did it come from space in the comics? - No Weapon X yet, but Captain America: Brave New World marks the arrival of adamantium to Earth-616 in a departure from its comic book origins.

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Japan's Resilience moon lander aces lunar flyby ahead of historic touchdown try (photo) - Resilience, a lunar lander built by Japanese company ispace, zoomed within a mere 5,220 miles (8,400 kilometers) of the moon on Feb. 14.

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Is Pluto a planet or not? Who cares! Our love for the King of the Kuiper Belt is stronger than ever 95 years later - On the 95th anniversary of its discovery, Pluto remains one of the most beloved and enigmatic worlds in our solar system, whether you call it a planet or not.

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Rocket Lab launches sharp-eyed Earth-observation satellite to orbit (video) - Rocket Lab launched a high-resolution imaging satellite for the company Blacksky toward low Earth orbit this evening (Feb. 18).

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SpaceX Starlink mission lands rocket off coast of The Bahamas for 1st time (video) - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 23 Starlink satellites today (Feb. 18) and then landed the Atlantic Ocean near The Bahamas —a first for the company.

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At $800 off, this powerful Nikon Z8 mirrorless camera has never been cheaper, just in time for March's lunar eclipse - Looking for to take your astrophotography to the next level? Save up to $800 on the Nikon Z8, a powerhouse of a mirrorless camera just in time to capture March's lunar eclipse.

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James Webb Space Telescope finds our Milky Way galaxy's supermassive black hole blowing bubbles (image, video) - Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have taken a detailed look at the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, Sgr A*, finding it endlessly blowing bubbles.

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Exoplanet with iron rain has violent winds 'like something out of science fiction' - Astronomers have discovered a powerful jet stream raging through the atmosphere of an ultra-hot Jupiter exoplanet ravaged by liquid iron rains.

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Imagine Dragons 'Starfield' video game anthem will beam to Earth from the moon - Imagine Dragons' song 'Children of the Sky' will be beamed to Earth from a lunar data center as part of the private IM-2 moon mission launching as early as Feb. 26 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9.

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Save a massive 36% on the Star Wars Black Series Force FX Elite Lightsaber - With a huge 36% off, you can grab an unbeatable Star Wars deal on this feature-packed lightsaber, now it's lowest price in months.

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Cosmic voids may explain the universe's acceleration without dark energy - New research suggests that dark energy isn't needed to explain the acceleration in the expansion of the universe — instead suggesting giant voids in space are creating an illusion.

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3D-printed 'hydrogels' could be future space radiation shields for astronaut trips to Mars - Technology we already use everyday might be the future of space radiation shielding.

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James Webb Space Telescope reveals how a cosmic 'Phoenix' cools off to birth stars - Like its mythological namesake, the Phoenix Cluster burns with blisteringly hot gas, which cools to birth stars. The James Webb Space Telescope has now learned how this galaxy cluster does it.

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'Star Trek: Section 31' got us thinking... Should you have to do your homework before you watch a movie? - The latest 'Star Trek' movie assumes plenty of prior knowledge of a vast franchise — and it's not alone.

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Scientists accidentally discover Earth's inner core is less solid than expected - Researchers discovered that Earth's inner core is surprisingly viscous.

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https://www.nasa.gov

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NASA Awards Planetary Defense Space Telescope Launch Services Contract - NASA has selected SpaceX of Starbase, Texas, to provide launch services for the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission, which will detect and observe asteroids and comets that could potentially pose an impact threat to Earth. The firm fixed price launch service task order is being awarded under the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity NASA Launch Services II […]

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NASA Awards Delivery Order for NOAA’s Space Weather Program - NASA, on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has awarded a delivery order to BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, to build spacecraft for the Lagrange 1 Series project as a part of NOAA’s Space Weather Next program. The award made under the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV contract, […]

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Hubble Captures a Cosmic Cloudscape - The universe is a dusty place, as this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image featuring swirling clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula reveals. Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light-years away in the constellations Dorado and Mensa, the Tarantula Nebula is the most productive star-forming region in the nearby universe, home to the […]

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NASA Sets Coverage for Intuitive Machines’ Next Commercial Moon Launch - Carrying NASA science and technology to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission is targeted to launch no earlier than Wednesday, Feb. 26. The mission will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s […]

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NASA Marks Artemis Progress With Gateway Lunar Space Station - NASA and its international partners are making progress on Gateway – the lunar space station that will orbit the Moon as a centerpiece of the agency’s Moon to Mars architecture.

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NASA’s PUNCH Mission to Revolutionize Our View of Solar Wind  - Earth is immersed in material streaming from the Sun. This stream, called the solar wind, is washing over our planet, causing breathtaking auroras, impacting satellites and astronauts in space, and even affecting ground-based infrastructure.  NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission will be the first to image the Sun’s corona, or outer […]

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Hubble Spies a Spiral That May Be Hiding an Imposter - The sparkling spiral galaxy gracing this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is UGC 5460, which sits about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. This image combines four different wavelengths of light to reveal UGC 5460’s central bar of stars, winding spiral arms, and bright blue star clusters. Also captured in the upper […]

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Sols 4458-4460: Winter Schminter - Earth planning date: Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025 During today’s unusual-for-MSL Tuesday planning day (because of the U.S. holiday on Monday), we planned activities under new winter heating constraints. Operating Curiosity on Mars requires attention to a number of factors — power, data volume, terrain roughness, temperature — that affect rover operability and safety. Winter means […]

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Guiding Orion: Jorge Chong’s Mission to Advance Deep Space Exploration  - Jorge Chong is helping shape the future of human spaceflight, one calculation at a time. As a project manager for TRON (Tracking and Ranging via Optical Navigation) and a guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) test engineer in the Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division, he is leading efforts to ensure the Orion spacecraft can navigate deep […]

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60 Years Ago: Ranger 8 Moon Photos Aid in Apollo Site Selection  - Before Apollo astronauts set foot upon the Moon, much remained unknown about the lunar surface. While most scientists believed the Moon had a solid surface that would support astronauts and their landing craft, a few believed a deep layer of dust covered it that would swallow any visitors. Until 1964, no closeup photographs of the […]

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https://astronomynow.com

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Omegon’s Advanced X N 152mm Dobsonian - A new series of Dobsonians are now available from Omegon. Steve Ringwood took the 152mm-aperture model for a spin, and found that as an all-rounder, it handled expertly.

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Euclid Unveils a Breathtaking Einstein Ring - The ESA’s Euclid telescope captured a stunning Einstein ring around NGC 6505’s core, formed as the galaxy bends and magnifies light from a distant background galaxy through gravitational lensing.

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The Sun’s magnetic field is about to flip - The Sun’s magnetic field flips every 11 years, marking solar maximum, its most active phase, with intensified solar events, unlike Earth’s relatively stable magnetic field.

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Globular NGC 2419 is far out! - NGC 2419 appears as a faint globular cluster in Lynx, though in reality it’s a massive and luminous object that’s a distant outlier of our Milky Way Galaxy.

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‘Half-Goldilocks’ world found going in and out of its habitable zone - A bizarre exoplanet whose orbit takes it from the frozen wastelands of its planetary system to the inner edge of its habitable zone is challenging astronomers’ concepts of what kinds of planets can potentially support life.

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Hubble traces hidden history of Andromeda Galaxy - Though the Milky Way and Andromeda formed billions of years ago, evidence shows they have very different evolutionary histories despite sharing the same cosmological neighbourhood.

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Watch the Moon buzz Venus and Saturn - There’s a picturesque early evening scene at the start of February as the Moon passes dazzling Venus and fading Saturn.

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Belt up for a journey to the heart of Orion and the Horsehead Nebula - The Horsehead Nebula is a small dark nebula in the constellation Orion. Resembling a horse's head is located just to the south of Alnitak, the easternmost star of Orion's Belt. Nearby, the Flame Nebula appears like its name in astrophotos.

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Messier 67: Observe an ancient open cluster - Messier 67 is an ancient open cluster in the southern, equatorial half of Cancer. It was discovered by Johann Gottfried Koehler in 1779. It is a truly ancient cluster, with some astronomers calculating that it’s as old as five billion years!

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The Quadrantids: a strong meteor shower to start the year - The Quadrantid meteor shower kicks off the meteor-watching calendar, peaking this year on 3 January. Renowned for its reliability, it consistently ranks among the best annual meteor displays.

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https://www.marsdaily.com

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Jumping workouts could help astronauts on the moon and Mars - Baltimore MD (SPX) Feb 16, 2025
Jumping workouts could help astronauts prevent the type of cartilage damage they are likely to endure during lengthy missions to Mars and the Moon, a new Johns Hopkins University study suggests. The research adds to ongoing efforts by space agencies to protect astronauts against deconditioning/getting out of shape due to low gravity, a crucial aspect of their ability to perform spacewalks,

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China unveils innovative dual-mode robot for planetary exploration - Sydney, Australia (SPX) Feb 12, 2025
A team of researchers from the Harbin Institute of Technology has introduced a cutting-edge dual-mode robot designed to enhance planetary exploration capabilities. The prototype, which weighs approximately 300 grams-comparable to an average apple-boasts an innovative hybrid mobility system that allows it to traverse challenging terrain by rolling on the ground and launching into the air when nec

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Perseverance Rover's Groundbreaking Soil and Rock Samples - Pasadena CA (SPX) Feb 10, 2025
NASA's Perseverance rover has successfully collected its first soil, airfall dust, and rock fragment samples, marking a historic step in Martian exploration. A new study highlights these early sample returns and their implications for understanding Mars' past. Until now, the only Martian materials accessible to scientists were meteorites that naturally landed on Earth. However, thanks to N

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Sols 4443-4444: Four Fours for February - Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 10, 2025
Earth planning date: Monday, Feb. 3, 2025: Another successful weekend plan left us about 23 meters (about 75 feet) farther down our Mount Sharp Ascent Route (MSAR), with all our science data downlinked to Earth and the planet clocks aligned once more. We only have until 18:26 Pacific time to get this Monday's plan uplinked (due to the Soliday over the weekend), and two full days of science to pl

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New Martian Crater Reveals Far-Reaching Seismic Signals - Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 04, 2025
By leveraging artificial intelligence, researchers have identified a newly formed crater on Mars, revealing that the impact event propelled vibrations deep into the planet's mantle. Recent findings show that meteoroid impacts on Mars generate seismic waves that penetrate farther into the planet's interior than once believed. Two new studies illustrate this by matching quake data from NASA'

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Meteor collision shakes Mars recorded by InSight - Paris, France (SPX) Feb 04, 2025
A space rock crashed into the martian surface in February 2021, generating seismic waves that extended 1640 km to reach NASA's InSight lander. The collision carved out a crater about 21 m wide and disturbed roughly 1400 m. ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), through its Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS), captured the explosive moment. Marsquakes, the martian counterparts

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Texas A&M scholar secures NASA funding to examine Martian dune dynamics - Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 04, 2025
Sand dunes on the Red Planet may provide critical clues about Mars' puzzling environment, and Lauren Berger, a Ph.D. candidate in Texas A and M's Department of Geology and Geophysics, is prepared to decode them. Through a competitive grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), she aims to investigate how Martian winds, atmospheric processes, and dune structures intersect

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Will the US get to Mars quicker if it drops or delays plans to visit the Moon? - Nottingham UK (SPX) Jan 31, 2025
The Artemis program has been Nasa's best chance to get "boots on the Moon" again. But with the new US administration taking guidance from tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, who is focused on Mars colonisation, will they end up abandoning or pushing back lunar missions? For example, there's been speculation that returning US president Donald Trump may cancel the Space Launch System rocket, which

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Dwarf planet Ceres has rare organic material delivered by asteroids - Berlin, Germany (SPX) Jan 29, 2025
Organic molecules, critical components for life, have been identified on Ceres, the dwarf planet located within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. These molecules, formed from carbon, hydrogen, and other elements, are essential to life as we know it. Similar compounds have previously been discovered on distant Solar System bodies, such as comets and trans-Neptunian objects. These findin

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Approaching the Red Planet from the Kitchen - Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 29, 2025
Rootless cones, small volcanic landforms typically ranging from several meters to a few hundred meters in diameter, form through explosive interactions between surface lava and water bodies such as lakes and rivers. Unlike conventional volcanoes that arise from deep magma sources, rootless cones emerge when lava covers a water-containing layer, triggering bursts of steam and gas. These fea

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Explaining persistent hydrogen in Mars atmosphere - Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 29, 2025
The arid and cold landscape of modern Mars contrasts sharply with its past, when flowing rivers and lakes carved its surface billions of years ago. Researchers from Harvard have now proposed a compelling explanation for this ancient warmth and moisture, offering new insights into the planet's climate history. Scientists at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Scien

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Now That's Ingenuity: First Aircraft Measurement of Winds on Another Planet - Washington DC (SPX) Jan 23, 2025
Researchers have used an aircraft to measure the wind speed on Mars, marking the first time this method has been used on another planet. This groundbreaking measurement was made possible by the Ingenuity helicopter, which was active for nearly three years and spent, cumulatively, more than two hours in flight on the Red Planet. In February 2021, Mars got two new inhabitants: the Perseveran

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ORBIMARS: A proposed terminology for Mars orbital operations - Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 23, 2025
In the evolving lexicon of space exploration, the term "cislunar" has become fundamental to describing Earth-Moon operations, encompassing everything from satellite deployments to lunar gateway missions. As humanity extends its reach to Mars, we face a compelling need to define and characterize the complex orbital environment of our neighboring planet. The introduction of ORBIMARS re

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Mysterious Martian mounds formed by ancient water - London UK (SPX) Jan 22, 2025
Over 15,000 mounds are scattered across Chryse Planitia in Mars' lowlands - but until recently, no one knew how they got there. Scientists have dug into the history of these geological features ahead of a new mission to the red planet, revealing a time when water flowed across its surface. Large parts of Mars' highlands may have been washed away four billion years ago. While th

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New marsquake data sheds light on the Martian crust mystery - Canberra, Australia (SPX) Jan 22, 2025
New research from The Australian National University (ANU) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has unveiled insights into Mars' geological evolution. Analysis of marsquakes-seismic events similar to earthquakes-could clarify the processes that shaped the planet over billions of years. The study addresses the long-standing mystery of the Martian dichotomy, where the southern hemisphere's cr

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