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Space

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Stay informed with the latest space news. Explore the wonders of space, from astronomical discoveries to space exploration missions.

NASA Gets Unusually Close Glimpse of Black Hole Snacking on Star

December 21, 2022

Multiple NASA telescopes recently observed a massive black hole tearing apart an unlucky star that wandered too close. Located about 250 million light-years from Earth in the center of another galaxy, it was the fifth-closest example of a black hole destroying a star ever observed. Once the star had been thoroughly ruptured by the black hole’s gravity, astronomers saw a dramatic rise in…

40-Year Study Finds Mysterious Patterns in Temperatures at Jupiter

December 20, 2022

Scientists have completed the longest-ever study tracking temperatures in Jupiter’s upper troposphere, the layer of the atmosphere where the giant planet’s weather occurs and where its signature colorful striped clouds form. The work, conducted over four decades by…

NASA’s Perseverance Rover to Begin Building Martian Sample Depot

December 16, 2022

In the coming days, NASA’s Perseverance rover is expected to begin building the first sample depot on another world. This will mark a crucial milestone in the NASA-ESA (European Space Agency) Mars Sample Return campaign, which aims to bring Mars samples to Earth for closer…

NASA Launches International Mission to Survey Earth’s Water

December 16, 2022

A satellite built for NASA and the French space agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) to observe nearly all the water on our planet’s surface lifted off on its way to low-Earth orbit at 3:46 a.m. PST on Friday. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft also has contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the UK Space Agency. The SWOT…

Two Exoplanets May Be Mostly Water, NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Find

December 16, 2022

A team led by of researchers at the University of Montreal has found evidence that two exoplanets orbiting a red dwarf star are “water worlds,” where water makes up a large fraction of the entire planet. These worlds, located in a planetary system 218 light-years away in…

NASA Sensors to Help Detect Methane Emitted by Landfills

December 15, 2022

Observations from the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) and other NASA science instruments will be part of a global survey of point-source emissions of methane from solid waste sites such as landfills. The multiyear effort is being developed and…

NASA’s Juno Exploring Jovian Moons During Extended Mission

December 15, 2022

NASA’s Juno mission is scheduled to obtain images of the Jovian moon Io on Dec. 15 as part of its continuing exploration of Jupiter’s inner moons. Now in the second year of its extended mission to investigate the interior of Jupiter, the solar-powered spacecraft performed a close flyby of Ganymede in 2021 and of Europa earlier this year. “The team is really excited to have Juno’s extended…

Latest International Water Satellite Packs an Engineering Punch

December 13, 2022

Set for a Thursday, Dec. 15 launch, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite promises to provide an extraordinary accounting of water over much of Earth’s surface. Its measurements of fresh water and the ocean will help researchers address some of the most…

NASA’s Lunar Flashlight Has Launched – Follow the Mission in Real Time

December 11, 2022

NASA’s Lunar Flashlight has communicated with mission controllers and confirmed it is healthy after launching Sunday, Dec. 11, at 2:38 a.m. EST (Saturday, Dec. 10, at 11:38 p.m. PST) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. About 53 minutes after launch, the…

Practice Makes Perfect for Student Inventions at JPL Competition

December 10, 2022

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the Invention Challenge made a lively return to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Friday. Now in its 23rd year, the long-running tradition brings together students and professional engineers to compete side by side with their homemade machines. For this year’s Invention Challenge, dubbed the “Sticky Wicket Contest,”…