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Watch the ‘Halloween comet’ ATLAS burn up as it flies into the sun (video) (Image Credit: Space.com) Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) is no more. On Monday (Oct. 28), the comet evaporated as it was heading toward perihelion, the closest point to the sun in its orbit. There were earlier hopes that the comet, officially designated […]
Saturn’s moon Titan may have a 6-mile-thick crust of methane ice — could life be under there? (Image Credit: Space.com) Scientists have discovered that the icy shell of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, could possess an insulated, six-mile-thick (9.7-kilometer-thick) layer of methane ice beneath its surface. Ironically, this layer may make signs of life from the […]
Cubesats on Europe’s Hera asteroid mission phone home after Oct. 7 launch (Image Credit: Space.com) Two European cubesats have communicated that they are a-ok as they hurtle toward a binary asteroid system to check out the damage inflicted by NASA’s DART impactor in 2022. DART, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, proved to be an unqualified […]
Debris from satellite breakup threatens other spacecraft, animation shows (Image Credit: Space.com) Debris from an exploded telecommunications satellite is spreading across geosynchronous orbit, threatening other spacecraft in this precious region of space, an animation by a leading space situational awareness firm suggests. The animation by Pennsylvania-based COMSPOC is a “notional” representation of the aftermath of […]
Voyager 1 spacecraft phones home with transmitter that hasn’t been used since 1981 (Image Credit: Space.com) Following recent communication issues, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft resorted to using a backup radio transmitter that has been inactive since 1981. The interstellar explorer experienced a brief pause in communications after putting itself in a protective state to conserve […]
Strange green spots on Mars found by NASA’s Perseverance rover (photo) (Image Credit: Space.com) NASA’s Perseverance rover is approaching four years of activity on the Martian surface — and all this time, the rover has been exploring ancient environments, collecting samples, and investigating whether our reddish neighbor may have once supported microbial life In its […]
Astrophotographer captures comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS growing an anti-tail (photos) (Image Credit: Space.com) Miguel Claro is a professional photographer, author and science communicator based in Lisbon, Portugal, who creates spectacular images of the night sky. As a European Southern Observatory Photo Ambassador and member of The World At Night and the official astrophotographer of the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, he specializes in astronomical “Skyscapes” […]
NASA announces 9 possible moon landing sites for Artemis 3 lunar mission (Image Credit: Space.com) NASA has refined its list of potential landing sites near the moon’s south pole for its Artemis 3 mission, which aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface no earlier than 2026. The nine shortlisted sites, which were released by […]
NASA Solar Sail Spacecraft Damaged, Spinning Through Space (Image Credit: futurism-com) Uh oh. Rough and Tumble NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3), a dazzling spacecraft designed to make use of the tiny amounts of radiation pressure exerted by sunlight for propulsion, is still spinning through space uncontrollably. In an update last week, the space […]
Astronomers Found Something Cold and Wet Near Uranus (Image Credit: Gizmodo-com) The Uranian moon Miranda may contain a liquid water ocean, according to a team of researchers that recently mapped the satellite’s surface and modeled tidal stress on it. The team published its study earlier this month in The Planetary Science Journal, suggesting the “plausible […]
