This year’s ozone hole covers most of the Antarctic continent and is among the largest and deepest in recent years. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/antarctic-ozone-hole-2020-among-largest-deepest-in-recent-years…
Tag: space flight
New NASA posters feature cosmic frights for Halloween
Check out these 3 new posters from NASA’s Galaxy of Horrors, featuring cosmic frights for Halloween. They’re free to download, and available in English and Spanish. Source: https://earthsky.org/todays-image/nasa-halloween-2020-free-posters…
NASA’s OSIRIS-REX Makes Historic Touchdown On Asteroid Bennu To Collect Rock Samples
NASA’s Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) sample return spacecraft has successfully touched the asteroid Bennu and collected a 2-oz sample of its surface. New Atlas reports: Launched atop an Atlas/Centaur booster from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on September 8, 2016 at 7:05 pm EDT, the robotic OSIRIS-REx probe spent…
Planetary scientist to fly aboard NASA-funded commercial space flight
A Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) planetary scientist has been chosen to be among the first group to conduct NASA-funded science experiments while flying aboard a commercial spacecraft, the space agency announced today. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-10-planetary-scientist-aboard-nasa-funded-commercial.html…
James Webb Space Telescope passes environmental testing
The James Webb Space Telescope – successor to the Hubble – just passed a series of environmental testing trials, designed to simulate the rigors of its anticipated launch in 2021. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/james-webb-space-telescope-passes-environmental-testing…
NASA’s Planet Patrol wants you to join the search for exoplanets
Do you want to be a planet-hunter? NASA has launched a new citizen science website called Planet Patrol where volunteers can help search for exoplanets in data from the TESS space telescope. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/exoplanets-nasas-planet-patrol-citizen-science…
A NASA Mission Is About To Capture Carbon-Rich Dust From a Former Water World
sciencehabit writes: OSIRIS-REx is ready to get the goods. On 20 October, after several years of patient study of its enigmatic target, NASA’s $800 million spacecraft will finally stretch out its robotic arm, swoop to the surface of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, and sweep up some dust and pebbles. The encounter, 334 million kilometers from Earth, will last about 10 seconds….
On the trail of causes of radiation events during space flight
Scientists have made significant progress in understanding the sources of radiation events that could impact human space-flight operations. Relativistic electron precipitation (REP) events are instances when high energy electrons move through areas of space at significant fractions of the speed of light. These REP events may pose challenges to human spaceflight, specifically during extravehicular activity (EVA). Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-10-trail-events-space-flight.html…
Cool new Hubble portrait of Jupiter’s storms
A beautiful new image of Jupiter from the Hubble Space Telescope – captured in August 2020 – shows the planet’s icy moon Europa as well as several famous storms in Jupiter’s atmosphere. Source: https://earthsky.org/todays-image/hubble-jupiter-europa-famous-jovian-storms…
Giant ‘survivor’ planet found orbiting dead star
For the first time, astronomers have detected a planet orbiting a white dwarf star. If further confirmed, the discovery shows that some planets could survive the destruction of their sun-like stars, and some might even remain potentially habitable. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/survivor-planet-wd-1856-b-orbiting-white-dwarf…