The trans-Neptunian object Arrokoth, also known as Ultima Thule, which NASA’s space probe New Horizons passed on New Year’s Day 2019, may have changed its shape significantly in the first 100 million years since its formation. In today’s issue of the journal Nature Astronomy, researchers led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research…
Tag: New Horizons
Joe Biden’s Team Brings Digital Campaign Signs To ‘Animal Crossing’
Beginning today, Animal Crossing: New Horizons players can add official Biden-Harris campaign signs to their island yards. Engadget reports: At the moment, there are four sign designs — the official Biden-Harris logo, the Team Joe logo, a “Joe” Pride logo and an image of red, white and blue aviators. To add the signs to their yards, players will scan QR codes…
Astronomers issue report on the effect of ‘satellite constellations’ on astronomy
A new report concludes that large constellations of bright satellites in low-Earth orbit will fundamentally change ground-based astronomy and impact the appearance of the night sky for stargazers worldwide. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/astronomers-report-effect-of-satellite-constellations-astronomy…
5 years after New Horizons flyby, 10 cool things about Pluto
Here are 10 of the coolest, weirdest and most unexpected findings about the Pluto system scientists have learned thanks to the New Horizons spacecraft’s flyby of the distant world in 2015. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/new-horizons-flyby-10-cool-things-about-pluto…
Subaru Telescope and New Horizons explore the outer solar system
Collaborative observations with NASA’s New Horizons mission have been ongoing at the Subaru Telescope since May 2020. Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC), the wide field camera mounted on the prime focus of the Subaru Telescope, is used for the observations to search for target candidates for New Horizons’ next observations. Astronomers from Japan are participating in the observation team together with ones from…
10 cool things we learned about Pluto from New Horizons
Five years ago today, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft made history. After a voyage of nearly 10 years and more than 3 billion miles, the intrepid piano-sized probe flew within 7,800 miles of Pluto. For the first time ever, we saw the surface of this distant world in spectacular, colored detail. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-07-cool-pluto-horizons.html…
Life inside Pluto?
The dwarf planet’s hot birth may have created a warm internal ocean, and where there’s warm water, there might be life. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/life-inside-pluto-internal-ocean…
Political Protests Are Now Happening in Videogames
Business Insider reports that some players are adapting their avatars in the game world of Animal Crossing: New Horizons to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement in the real world:
In “Animal Crossing: New Horizons,” players are creating customized signs and clothing for their game characters that say “BLM” and depict symbols of “No justice, no peace….” Anyone with…
‘Looking at an Alien Sky’: New Horizons Probe Sees Stars From a New View
Long-time Slashdot reader JoeRobe writes: Space.com and other outlets are reporting on new pictures of Wolf 359 and Proxima Centauri sent back from New Horizons. The images show clear parallax between the view from Earth and from the spacecraft 6.9 billion km away. In effect, New Horizons is looking up at a visually different star field than we are… NASA has…
Wowzer! Pluto spacecraft sees parallax for Proxima
New images from the fringes of our solar system. The fast-moving New Horizons spacecraft sees a parallax shift – a different apparent position against the background stars – for Proxima Centauri. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/new-horizons-parallax-for-proxima-centauri…