Astronomers have found a pulsating, dead star beaming with the energy of about 10 million suns. This is the brightest pulsar – a dense stellar remnant left over from a supernova explosion – ever recorded. The discovery was made with NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR.
“You might think of this pulsar as the ‘Mighty Mouse’ of stellar remnants,” … Read the rest of this article
Visitors to ESA’s Technology Centre had a chance to get up close and personal with a model of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko during the centre’s Open Day on 5 October. The real comet, which is just over 4 km at its widest point, is about 1500 times larger than the model.
After a decade-long journey, travelling more than 6 billion km, ESA’s … Read the rest of this article
On September 20th, NASA announced the opening of registration for its Mars Balance Mass Challenge and the launch of its new website, NASA Solve, at the World Maker Faire in New York.
“NASA is committed to engaging the public, and specifically the maker community through innovative activities like the Mars Balance Mass Challenge,” said NASA Chief Technologist … Read the rest of this article
Astronomers have found an unlikely object in an improbable place: a monster black hole lurking inside one of the tiniest galaxies known.
Though the black hole is five times the mass of the black hole at the center of our Milky Way, it is inside a galaxy that crams 140 million stars within a diameter of about 300 light-years, only … Read the rest of this article
NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft is nearing its scheduled Sept. 21 insertion into Martian orbit after completing a 10-month interplanetary journey of 442 million miles (711 million kilometers).
Flight Controllers at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, Colorado, will be responsible for the health and safety of the spacecraft throughout the process. The spacecraft’s mission timeline will … Read the rest of this article
AAVSO Alert Notice 504Dr. Robert Stencel (University of Denver Astronomy Program) has requested that AAVSO observers monitor epsilon Aurigae from now through the end of the observing season.
Dr. Stencel writes, “Studies of the long-term, out-of-eclipse photometry of the enigmatic binary, epsilon Aurigae, suggest that intervals of coherent pulsation … Read the rest of this article
Rosetta’s lander Philae will target Site J, an intriguing region on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko that offers unique scientific potential, with hints of activity nearby, and minimum risk to the lander compared to the other candidate sites.
Site J is on the ‘head’ of the comet, an irregular shaped world that is just over 4 km across at its widest point. The … Read the rest of this article
This timelapse video was made from images taken by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst orbiting Earth on the International Space Station.
The video is offered in Ultra High Definition, the highest available to consumers. Be sure to change the settings in YouTube if your computer or television can handle it for the full effect.
The montage is made from a long … Read the rest of this article
A new survey of galaxies by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope is taking a plunge into the deep and uncharted waters of our cosmos. In one of the longest surveys the telescope will have ever performed, astronomers have begun a three-month expedition trawling for faint galaxies billions of light-years away.
The results are already yielding surprises.
“If you think of our … Read the rest of this article
NASA will host a telecon at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) Thursday, Sept. 11, to discuss mission status and the future science campaign for the Mars rover Curiosity mission.
Participants in the teleconference will be:
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The Sun Now (Visible light)
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The Sun Now (H-Alpha light)
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Aurora Oval
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Aurora Oval
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