While the prospect of humans landing on the Moon this year appears doubtful, there remains a wealth of exploration on the horizon. Credit: Unsplash.The anticipation for a "Return to the Moon" has reached a climax, and 2024 emerges as a key year in lunar exploration. While some focus on the symbolic significance of humans...
Juno provided detailed pictures of Io in the course of the flyby for NASA.NASA's Juno spacecraft had its closest encounter with Jupiter's moon Io in more than two decades on December 30, 2023. The robotic probe approached within 930 miles (1,500 km) of the volcanic moon, capturing detailed images of its south pole.Initiated on...
Celestial bodies comprising the Winter Circle, visible on January 1, 2024, as observed through Sky Safari.In our notes about the night sky in December, we talked about how the Orion constellation looks like an hourglass and is easy to see. But guess what? It turns out that what we see as Orion is not...
A rendering of the NGC 2264 as captured by telescopes from NASA and the National Science Foundation. (X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: T.A. Rector (NRAO/AUI/NSF and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA) and B.A. Wolpa (NOIRLab/NSF/AURA); Infrared: NASA/NSF/IPAC/CalTech/Univ. of Massachusetts; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare & J.Major)Thousands of light-years from Earth, a cluster of stars in the NGC 2264 cluster is embracing...
THe cat laser videoNASA/JPL-CaltechNASA has elevated cat videos to a new frontier through its Psyche Deep Space Optical Communications experiment, transmitting a 15-second high-definition footage of a playful tabby across a distance of 19 million miles (31 million km) to Earth.Observing a cat pursuing a laser pointer might be endearing, but the question arises:...
Under usual circumstances, the MAVEN orbiter extends well beyond the boundaries of the Martian magnetosphere. However, this changed during a solar wind void. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight CenterThe MAVEN Mars orbiter recently observed a transient restoration of the Martian magnetosphere and a temporary tripling of its ionosphere, a region where the Sun ionizes...
Credit: Universe TodayNASA's Webb offers stunning view of exploded star. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope presents a fresh image of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A), resembling a gleaming, spherical ornament poised for the perfect holiday tree placement. First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, during the 2023 Holidays at the White House, unveiled the...
Artist's concept of Voyager 1NASANASA engineers are currently addressing a newly discovered issue in one of the computers on the Voyager 1 deep space probe. This fault is hindering the 46-year-old spacecraft from sending any scientific or engineering data to Mission Control on Earth.Launched in 1977 from the Kennedy Space Center, Voyager 1, alongside...
Credit: SyfyPenn State researchers have uncovered a planet significantly larger than its ultracool host star, challenging previous beliefs about planet formation. Published in Science, their findings showcase a planet more than 13 times Earth's mass orbiting a star nine times less massive than our sun. This discovery contradicts existing theories on small star planet...
Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxyEHT Collaboration/CCA4.0Examining the stars in the night sky, it's unlikely you'd distinguish one as foreign. However, astronomers have identified a star near the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way's center, suggesting it originated in a smaller galaxy consumed by ours.Among...
