outer space

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Lyrid Meteor Shower Is Here
Lyrid Meteor
Shower Is Here
Apr 18, 2024 12:31 PM CDT

Lyrid Meteor Shower Is Here

But at its peak, so is a nearly full moon

(Newser) - The Lyrid meteor shower is underway. But with a nearly full moon in the sky during the peak, it might be tough to see clearly. The Lyrids occur every year in mid- to late April. This year's peak activity happens Sunday into Monday, with 10 to 20 meteors expected...

Why It's 'Totality or Bust' for Some Eclipse Viewers

Writer Joel Achenbach captures the magic that happens in the path of totality

(Newser) - "Totality or bust," writes Joel Achenbach in an essay for the Washington Post . "That's the attitude of the serious eclipse aficionado." For the casual eclipse viewer outside the path of totality, Achenbach captures the "supernatural vibe" we'll be missing, which only occurs when...

You Might Catch Some Cool Aurora Action Monday

Geomagnetic storm watch due to solar flare could also interfere with radio transmissions, per NOAA

(Newser) - Space weather forecasters have issued a geomagnetic storm watch through Monday, saying an outburst of plasma from a solar flare could interfere with radio transmissions on Earth. It could also make for great aurora viewing. There's no reason for the public to be concerned, according to the alert issued...

Railroad on the Moon? It May Be in the Works

Northrop Grumman enlisted to explore construction, costs, and risks

(Newser) - Now that scientists have some ideas about how to build roads on the moon , focus is turning to a potential lunar railroad. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) envisions a future in which a network of rails covers the lunar surface, transporting humans, resources, and supplies from one...

NASA Has Successfully Nudged an Asteroid
NASA Did a Number
On the Asteroid It Hit
UPDATED
Mar 20, 2024 9:55 AM CDT

NASA Did a Number On the Asteroid It Hit

Dimorphos' shape was changed, in addition to its orbit time, a new study finds

(Newser) - It's safe to say NASA's test of whether an asteroid could be nudged off a collision path with Earth was a success. The DART spacecraft's impact with the asteroid Dimorphos not only shaved 33 minutes and 15 seconds off the time it takes to circle its parent...

Pentagon: Nothing to See Here About Extraterrestrials

DOD reviewed decades' worth of UFO probes, found no evidence of alien technology, cover-ups

(Newser) - For at least two years, the Defense Department's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office has been reviewing nearly eight decades of government probes into alleged sightings of UFOs (also called UAPs, or unidentified anomalous phenomena) and other alleged extraterrestrial happenings, and on Friday, the office released a lengthy, 60-page-plus report on...

NASA Watched 'Helplessly' as 2 Satellites Got Perilously Close

Space agency's TIMED spacecraft, defunct Russian satellite came within 65 feet of each other last week

(Newser) - Last week, a NASA satellite "almost got clobbered high above Earth." That's the scoop from Space.com , which reports on a near collision last Wednesday between the space agency's Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) research spacecraft, which has been in space studying data since...

NASA Hits the Jackpot on Its 'Rubble Return Goal'

OSIRIS-REx spacecraft returned double the expected samples from asteroid Bennu

(Newser) - NASA finally has counted up all the asteroid samples returned by a spacecraft last fall—and it's double the rubble return goal. Officials reported Thursday that the Osiris-Rex spacecraft collected 4.29 ounces of dust and pebbles from asteroid Bennu. That's just over half a cup and the...

Scientists Envision a Massive Space Umbrella

Idea is to protect us from the sun's solar radiation

(Newser) - Sometimes, proposals to keep the Earth cool are too complicated for non-scientists to understand. And sometimes, they're like this one: "the equivalent of a giant beach umbrella, floating in outer space." That's from the New York Times in its coverage of a proposal being floated by...

Asteroid Size of Empire State Building Is About to Fly By Earth

2008 OS7 will come within 1.7M miles of our planet on Friday, though experts assure that it won't hit us

(Newser) - An asteroid as big as a skyscraper will pass within 1.7 million miles of Earth on Friday. But it's not on a collision course with us, as it will pass seven times the distance from Earth to the moon, per the AP . NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object...

Gravitational Wave Detector Will Be a 'Game-Changer'

2035 LISA mission will hunt for ripples in space-time

(Newser) - As part of his theory of general relativity, Albert Einstein predicated a body accelerating in space would create radiating ripples in space-time. He was, of course, correct. But he was wrong about one thing. Einstein believed gravitational waves, even those caused by the collision of massive objects, would be too...

NASA Needs Your Help Unraveling Cosmic Mysteries

Agency calls for citizen scientists to catalog pulses of gamma rays as discoveries continue

(Newser) - NASA needs your help to identify massive explosions in space. The space agency is calling on citizen scientists to become "burst chasers" by joining a project to interpret gamma-ray bursts across the universe and "decode what the universe is saying," according to a release . Huge amounts of...

This City Wants Space Aliens to Come Visit

Coded message sent to TRAPPIST-1 solar system welcoming ETs to Lexington, Kentucky

(Newser) - If you've never visited Lexington, the Kentucky city wants your business—especially if you're from out of this world. That's why the Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau (aka VisitLEX) beamed a message in October to the TRAPPIST-1 solar system, described by VisitLEX as "home to the...

'We Are on Our Way to the Moon!'
Historic Moon Mission
Might Be in Peril
UPDATED
Jan 8, 2024 1:20 PM CST

Historic Moon Mission Might Be in Peril

Private company's spacecraft develops fuel leak en route to first landing in more than 50 years

(Newser) - Updated throughout. The first US moon landing in more than 50 years was in jeopardy Monday after a private company's newly launched spacecraft developed a "critical" fuel leak. Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology raced to orient its lander toward the sun so the solar panel could collect sunlight, as battery...

Tomato Mysteriously Lost in Space Turns Up 8 Months Later

Astronaut Frank Rubio, who'd been accused of eating it, is vindicated

(Newser) - In late March, astronauts aboard the International Space Station successfully harvested a batch of space-grown tomatoes, and each astronaut was given a plastic baggie with a sample. One of those tomato bags ended up floating away, with the tiny tomato still inside, and now, nearly nine months later, the missing...

Strange Object in Space: a Lost Tool Bag

You may be able to spot it with a good pair of binoculars, near the International Space Station

(Newser) - It may not be as exciting as spotting a comet in space, but it's definitely ... weirder. With a good pair of binoculars, you might be able to spot a tool bag lost by astronauts, reports Space.com . It seems that astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O'Hara were doing...

'Cosmic Beast' in Night Sky Blows Our Black Hole Away

Oldest black hole ever discovered formed just 470M years after the Big Bang

(Newser) - Scientists have discovered the oldest black hole yet, a cosmic beast formed a mere 470 million years after the Big Bang. The findings, published Monday, confirm what until now were theories that supermassive black holes existed at the dawn of the universe, per the AP . NASA's James Webb Space...

'Transitory' Visitors to Night Sky Are Coming Tonight

Southern Taurids meteor shower is at its peak, meaning you might even see a fireball

(Newser) - If you happen to see a fireball whizzing through the night sky on Monday, it's not a Don't Look Up moment (ie, no need to panic): It's simply the peak of the Southern Taurids meteor shower, which has been active since September, per NPR . Shooting stars—meteors...

Coming in June, a Comet That Will Delight 'Star Wars' Fans

The unique shape of Comet 12/P Pons-Brooks resembles the Millennium Falcon

(Newser) - A comet uniquely shaped like Han Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon, is due to swerve near Earth this spring, and if the weather cooperates, Star Wars fans won't have to travel to a galaxy far, far away to catch a glimpse of it. Per NBC News , Comet 12/P...

Not Quite a Star, Not Quite a Planet, but Hotter Than the Sun

Scientists discover brown dwarf that's up to 90 times the size of Jupiter, nearly 14K degrees

(Newser) - Israeli researchers have stumbled on a celestial object that "is seriously confronting our notions of what's possible in the universe." That's per Science Alert , which reports on the discovery of a sweltering brown dwarf —an object that falls somewhere between planet and star, but which...

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