Headless ‘Halloween comet’ could already be doomed

The latest update concerning “the other comet” of October 2024 — Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) — is that it continues on target to completely disintegrate before it sweeps around the…

China’s ‘Thousand Sails’ joins Starlink as the latest mega-satellite constellation in orbit

The first batch of Thousand Sails satellites head to orbit. Credit: CNSA With “Thousand Sails,” China joins the race to fill up Low Earth Orbit with mega-satellite constellations. It’s getting…

NOAA releases imagery from world’s first operational space-based coronagraph

Credit: NOAA Headquarters NOAA today shared the first images from the Compact Coronagraph (CCOR-1), a powerful solar telescope onboard the new GOES-19 satellite. CCOR-1, the world’s first operational, space-based coronagraph,…

Supergiant star Betelgeuse may have a ‘BetelBuddy’

Could the giant star Betelgeuse have a buddy? A Betelbuddy? Betelgeuse, the second-brightest star in the constellation Orion, is a giant star whose strange dimming has sparked debate over when…

A new view of the in-between years of our universe

A line intensity map (left) shows how galaxies are clustered in the distant past. While a high-resolution telescope (bottom right) can identify individual galaxies, a lower-resolution image (upper right) can…

Betelgeuse Betelgeuse? Bright star Betelgeuse likely has a ‘Betelbuddy’ stellar companion

Graphical depiction of Betelgeuse and the Betelbuddy. Credit: Lucy Reading-Ikkanda/Simons Foundation One of the brightest stars in the night sky, Betelgeuse, may not be on the brink of exploding as…

To land safely on Mars and the moon, we may need to measure dust

Spacecraft landing on dusty surfaces like of the moon and Mars tend to kick up powdery regolith that blurs the lenses of navigation cameras, reducing visibility and making the already-difficult…

Remote-control robots could help humanity explore the moon and Mars

Teleoperated rovers could soon be working on the moon, with human controllers on Earth manipulating the rovers’ tools virtually, allowing for greater dexterity when taking samples, digging or assembling. Researchers…

SpaceX to launch 20 Eutelsat OneWeb broadband satellites to space on Oct. 20

SpaceX plans to send a set of internet satellites to orbit for another company early Sunday morning (Oct. 20). SpaceX plans to launch the last batch of Eutelsat OneWeb’s V1…

New research shows most space rocks crashing into Earth come from a single source

The sight of a fireball streaking across the sky brings wonder and excitement to children and adults alike. It’s a reminder that Earth is part of a much larger and…