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☆ Helium leak delays Boeing’s historic Starliner mission at least another week
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Madeline Holcombe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The world will have to wait at least another week before the highly anticipated first crewed mission of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Starliner teams traced the leak to a flange on a single reaction control system thruster, where helium is used to allow the thrusters to fire. Both Boeing and NASA are developing tests and solutions for the leak, the release said. Meanwhile, Boeing’s rival under NASA’s commercial crew program — SpaceX — has become the go-to transportation provider for the space agency’s astronauts. The valve has since been replaced, but the new issue with the helium leak on the Boeing spacecraft that sits atop the rocket is causing further delay.

Persons: Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, Williams, Wilmore, NASA’s, Bill Nelson, —, ”, SpaceX — Organizations: CNN, Boeing, NASA, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, International Space, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, V, Atlas V Locations: Houston, Florida, United States

☆ ‘Cabs to get into space’: How this Indian startup wants to revolutionize satellite space travel
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Amy Gunia | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

But its private sector has played a limited role in space exploration, acting mostly as suppliers and vendors for its national space agency, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). “Very few companies globally are able to make it to orbit yet.”Pawan Chandana, the co-founder of Skyroot Aerospace Skyroot Aerospace Pvt. As Indian space startups mature over the coming years, he expects the government to become a customer, enabling further growth. Many private space companies source income from governments, including Space X, which has raked in billions of dollars from US government contracts. In November 2022, Skyroot Aerospace launched India's first privately built rocket, Vikram-S. Skyroot Aerospace Pvt.

Persons: Vikram, ” Pawan Chandana, “, Pawan Chandana, Narendra Modi, ”, Susmita Mohanty, Skyroot, Chandana, ridesharing, Kari Bingen, Modi, Mohanty Organizations: CNN, Indian Space Research Organization, ISRO, Elon, SpaceX, Skyroot Aerospace, Skyroot Aerospace Skyroot Aerospace, . Ltd, McKinsey & Company, Economic, ’, LEO —, Vikram Sarabhai, Aerospace Security, Center for Strategic, International Studies, Deloitte, India’s, NASA Locations: India, United States, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Singapore

☆ Rainbow-like phenomenon may glow on hellish exoplanet WASP-76b
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Observations from the European Space Agency’s Cheops space telescope, or Characterising ExOplanet Satellite, detected a “glory effect” on WASP-76b, an ultra-hot exoplanet 637 light-years from Earth. Cheops captured data from WASP-76b as the planet passed in front of its star, making 23 observations over three years. But the glory effect is created as light moves through a narrow opening and bends, creating colorful, patterned rings. An artist's illustration shows the night-side view of the exoplanet WASP-76b, where iron rains down from the sky. Lueftinger said she believes that the James Webb Space Telescope or Ariel may be able to help prove the presence of the glory effect on WASP-76b.

Persons: Cheops, ”, Olivier Demangeon, Wilson, ” Demangeon, Matthew Standing, —, “, Theresa Lueftinger, Lueftinger, James Webb, Ariel Organizations: CNN —, WASP, Astrophysics, of Astrophysics, Space Sciences, ESA, Hubble, Spitzer, Telescope, European Space Agency, “, James Webb Space Locations: Portugal, Cheops

☆ ‘Sleeping giant’ massive black hole found in the Milky Way galaxy
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Astronomers have spotted the most massive known stellar black hole in the Milky Way galaxy after detecting an unusual wobble in space. The wobbling movement of an old giant star in the Aquila constellation revealed that it was in an orbital dance with a dormant black hole, and it’s the third such dormant black hole spotted by Gaia. So Gaia BH3 is the most massive black hole in our galaxy that formed from the death of a massive star. Stellar black holes observed across the Milky Way galaxy are about 10 times as massive as the sun on average. True to expectations, the researchers found that the star orbiting Gaia BH3 was metal-poor, which means that the star that formed Gaia BH3 was likely the same.

Persons: ”, Gaia BH3, —, munch, Aquila, Gaia, Pasquale Panuzzo, BH3, hadn’t, Elisabetta Caffau, “, Carole Mundell Organizations: CNN —, Southern, Astrophysics, “, France’s National, for Scientific Research, ESO, Space Locations: Atacama, Paris, France’s

☆ How the Columbia disaster changed the future of spaceflight
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-13 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The CNN Original Series “Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight” uncovers the events that ultimately led to disaster. The tragedy killed seven astronauts as the Columbia shuttle disintegrated upon its return to Earth on February 1, 2003, due to damage the vehicle sustained during launch. Changes at NASA were necessary, according to a formal investigation about the Columbia disaster published six months after the accident. Cultural changes: ‘Safety days,’ review boards and round tablesColumbia marked the second deadly mishap for the shuttle program after the space shuttle Challenger exploded during launch in January 1986. Following the Columbia disaster, NASA grounded its remaining fleet of three shuttles as the space agency sought to parse what went wrong.

Persons: ”, “, ” Wayne Hale, Rick D, Evelyn Husband, Bill Readdy, Bruce Weaver, Hale, ” Hale, Garrett Reisman, ” Reisman, Ilan Ramon, Reisman, —, NASA didn’t, SpaceX’s, Kevin Dietsch Organizations: CNN, Shuttle Columbia, Sunday, Columbia, SpaceX, NASA, Space Shuttle Columbia, Kennedy Space Center, Getty, Endeavour, Atlantis, International Space, Elon, Boeing, Columbia —, Challenger, International Space Station, Vigilance, ” Locations: Russia, AFP, California, Israel, Columbia

☆ NASA’s space shuttle program reimagined rocketry. What went wrong?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

The CNN Original Series “Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight” uncovers the events that ultimately led to disaster. Deemed an “engineering marvel,” the first of five winged orbiters — the space shuttle Columbia — made its inaugural flight in 1981. Crews aboard the recovery ships Liberty Star and Freedom Star retrieve a reusable right solid rocket booster (below) after a space shuttle mission. Space Shuttle Columbia launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:39 a.m. NASA Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 16, 2003.

Persons: ”, Sean O’Keefe, Casey Dreier, Crews, O’Keefe, Scott Andrews, NASA's, Michael P, Anderson, William C, McCool, Rick D, David M, Brown, Laurel, Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, Joe Skipper, Karl Ronstrom, Ramon, NASA Chawla, Clark, Chawla, Robert Giroux, Kathryn O'Neill, Zachary, Brett Coomer, Florida Sen, Bill Nelson, Matt Stroshane, Tommy Peltier, Eric Gay, Smiley, Gene Theriot, Sean O'Keefe, George W, Bush, Ron Dittemore, Joe Cavaretta, O'Keefe, Mannie Garcia, NASA Sandy Anderson, Carlos Noriega, Michael L, Coats, Evelyn Husband, Thomas, John Raoux, Glenn Benson, Kim Shiflett, Rodney Rocha, Columbia’s, Rick Husband, “ Roger, Sen, Mark Kelly, “, ” Kelly Organizations: CNN, Shuttle Columbia, Sunday, NASA, Columbia, America’s, Planetary Society, European Space Agency, Space, International Space, Hubble, Liberty Star, NASA’s Ames Research Center, Space Shuttle Columbia, Kennedy Space Center, Reuters Space Shuttle Columbia, Scott Andrews People, Control Center, Getty, NASA Space, Israeli Air Force, Space Shuttle, Red Team, Blue Team, Johnson Space Center, Former, Houston, Houston Chronicle, People, US Navy Corps, Columbia Reconstruction, NASA Workers, Astronauts Memorial Foundation, Reuters, Bannock, Bannock Junior, Senior, Bannock High School, Johnson Space, Challenger, Shuttle, East Texas Locations: Columbia, America’s Soviet, Florida, Houston, Israel, SPACEHAB, New York, Laguna Hills , California, Texas, San Augustine , Texas, Washington ,, Shoshone, Fort Hall , Idaho, New Mexico, East

☆ An ancient dinner still sits in a Bronze Age village 2,850 years later
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-23 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

First, one of the crew found a marble head of a Roman lady, and two weeks later its bust surfaced nearby, reuniting the pieces. Cambridge Archaeological UnitMust Farm was a thriving Bronze Age stilt village, perched above a river in eastern England, when it burned down 2,850 years ago — just nine months after its inhabitants had built it. The site, acclaimed by experts as “Britain’s Pompeii,” preserved rare information that reveals a new, less hierarchical portrait of Bronze Age society. Malhan/MPIAAstronomers have spied two streams of ancient stars that likely helped build the Milky Way galaxy billions of years ago. They find wonder in planets beyond our solar system and discoveries from the ancient world.

Persons: Earl of Exeter, ”, Chris Wakefield, Kermit the, Jim Henson’s, Payne, Shiva, Li Yibo, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, Burghley, University of Cambridge, Smithsonian National Museum of, NASA, Force, Xinhua News Agency, Getty, CNN Space, Science Locations: United Kingdom, Peterborough, England, Cambridge, Africa, Ethiopia’s, China, Shaanxi, Iran

☆ Animals act weirdly during an eclipse. Help NASA find out why
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

We’re hoping that we even get kids watching their dogs in their backyard and seeing if their dogs behave interestingly during the eclipse,” Hartstone-Rose said. The next total solar eclipse that will be visible across the contiguous United States won’t appear until August 2044. The space agency is expecting far larger numbers for the 2024 total solar eclipse — nearly 2,500 people have already signed up, she added. “(During a total solar eclipse) you have so many different ways the light is scattering, so there’s these beautiful colors of orange and purple and green. “It’s kind of a great human sensory experience to be in the middle of a total solar eclipse.”

Persons: ”, Adam Hartstone, Rose, Hartstone, “, that’s, Kelsey Perrett, United States won’t, Bryan Pijanowski, ’, Pijanowski, William M, Wheeler, John Griffioen, Griffioen, Perrett, ” Perrett, ” Pijanowski Organizations: CNN, American, North Carolina State University, Nashville Zoo, Solar, Fort Worth Zoo, NASA, Center, Purdue University, Buffalo Zoo, Zoo, Toledo Zoo, Indianapolis Zoo Locations: Columbia , South Carolina, United States, Raleigh, “, Grassmere, Mexico, Canada, Texas, North America, West Lafayette , Indiana, Fort, New York, Arkansas, Ohio

☆ NASA’s DART mission: Spacecraft impact reshaped Dimorphos asteroid
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —When NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft intentionally slammed into the asteroid Dimorphos in September 2022, the impact may have caused “global deformation” of the space rock, according to new research. Dimorphos is a moonlet asteroid that orbits a larger parent asteroid known as Didymos. The DART mission ended upon impact, but prior to colliding with Dimorphos, the spacecraft transmitted an incredibly detailed view of the little asteroid’s boulder-covered surface that is helping researchers learn more about how the space rock formed. Rather than forming a simple crater on Dimorphos, the DART impact reshaped the entire asteroid, the results have suggested. Recreating the DART impactA team of researchers modeled the impact using the Bern smoothed-particle hydrodynamics shock physics code to achieve their results.

Persons: Dimorphos, It’s, ”, Dr, Sabina Raducan, Japan’s, ” Raducan, Martin Jutzi, Hera, Raducan, Sir Brian May, Claudia Manzoni Organizations: CNN, DART, Dimorphos, University of Bern’s Physics Locations: Italian, Dimorphos, Bern, Switzerland

☆ Universe’s brightest known object and fastest-growing black hole revealed
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Astronomers have spotted the brightest known object in the universe, and it’s a quasar powered by the fastest-growing black hole on record, according to a new study. The black hole powering the quasar devours the equivalent of one sun per day and has a mass about 17 billion times that of our sun, the researchers found. A black hole is massive power sourceThe intense gravitational influence of black holes draws matter toward these celestial objects in such an energetic way that the process creates light. The blinding radiation is due to the black hole’s accretion disk, or the ring around the black hole where material gathers before being consumed. The team followed up with observations from the powerful Very Large Telescope in Chile’s Atacama Desert to confirm details about the black hole, including its hefty mass.

Persons: ”, Christian Wolf, ” Wolf, Samuel Lai, Wolf, Southern Observatory’s Schmidt, Christopher Onken Organizations: CNN —, Southern, National University’s College of Science, National University’s Research, of Astronomy, Astrophysics, Hubble, Southern Observatory’s, Sky Survey, Sky, Dark Energy Survey, Energy Survey, ESO Locations: Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Atacama

☆ Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus: Why moon-landing missions are hard to do
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Kristin Fisher | Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

The lunar lander called Odysseus or IM-1, created by Houston-based company Intuitive Machines, is barreling toward the moon. If it fails, Odysseus would become the third lunar lander to meet a fiery demise on the moon in less than a year. Russia’s first lunar lander mission in 47 years, Luna 25, failed in August 2023 when it crash-landed. Overall, more than half of all lunar landing attempts have ended in failure — tough odds for a feat humanity first pulled off nearly 60 years ago. The US remains the only country to have put humans on the lunar surface, most recently in 1972 with the Apollo 17 mission.

Persons: Odysseus, Luna, Ispace, Japan —, hasn’t, Scott Pace, George Washington, “, ” Pace, Artemis, ”, Greg Autry, “ There’s, India’s, Jitendra Singh, Satish, Satish Baby, ” Singh, Astrobotic, Steve Altemus, it’s, Glynn Lunney, ” Autry, “ Neil, Armstrong, “ We’ve, Joel Kearns Organizations: CNN, Technology, Policy Institute, ”, Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management, State for Science, Indian Space Research Organisation, Space, Getty, Economic Times, NASA, Payload Services, Johnson Space Center, AP Locations: United States, Houston, Japan, Soviet, States, China, India, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, AFP, New York, Los Angeles, what's

Maxar Technologies Visual Investigations The $2.8 Billion Hole in U.S. Sanctions on Iran A Times investigation reveals how lax government oversight allowed shadowy oil tankers, covered by American insurance, to fund Iran’s regime. The American Club is one of only 12 major insurers of its kind, and the only one based in the United States. By then, the tankers had transported at least $2.8 billion in crude oil, based on the lowest reported prices of Iranian oil in 2023. The Treasury office has publicly enforced sanctions on the American Club only once in the past 20 years. Ultimately, the office said the American Club did “not appear to have been willful or reckless” and the case was settled.

Persons: Biden, ”, penna gabrielle toyomi, penna selene gabrielle, gabrielle, selene, lisa marianne selene, Samir Madani, Maggie Hassan, Daniel Tadros, “, Mr, Tadros, Shipowners, ” Mr, Madani of TankerTrackers.com, David Tannenbaum Organizations: Maxar, Maxar Technologies, Sanctions, U.S, White, New York Times, Times, Treasury Department, American Club, Treasury, cathay kirin, Copernicus, Planet Labs, Star, American, The Times, Revolutionary Guards Corps, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Club’s, Hamas, Bloomberg, United Against Nuclear, Nuclear, Glory, United, National Iranian Tanker, Labs, Copernicus Sentinel, Club, International Maritime Organization, AIS, Spire Locations: Gulf of Oman, American, U.S, Iran, New York, New Hampshire, United States, Hong Kong, Kharg, Kpler, China, Israel, Yemen, United Against Nuclear Iran, Nuclear Iran, United Arab Emirates, Asaluyeh, Dubai, of Oman, Persian, Oman, Cuba, Sudan, MarineTraffic, SynMax, TankerTrackers.com

☆ US moon landing: Second NASA-backed company aims for lunar landing attempt
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-12 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

It will amount to “a high-energy fastball pitch towards the moon,” as Intuitive Machines CEO Stephen Altemus put it. Once in Earth’s orbit, the lunar lander will separate from the rocket and begin venturing on its own, using an onboard engine to boost itself on a direct trajectory toward the lunar surface. Founded in 2013, Intuitive Machines will be the second of the CLPS program participants — after Astrobotic — to attempt a moon landing. If all goes according to plan, Odysseus will spend seven days operating on the moon as the lunar lander basks in the sun. Altemus estimates that Intuitive Machines has about an 80% chance of safely landing Odysseus on the moon.

Persons: Odysseus, Odie, Stephen Altemus, Peregrine, Chandan Khanna, CLPS, ”, Joel Kearns, Astrobotic —, Jeff Koons —, —, “ We’ve, who’s, Odysseus ’, Altemus, “ It’s, ” Altemus Organizations: CNN, NASA, SpaceX, Technology, Cape Canaveral Space Force, Payload, “, Columbia, United States, Peregrine Locations: United States, Cape Canaveral , Florida, Houston, Pittsburgh, Cape, China, India, Japan, British, Russia

☆ Astronomers spot a ‘super-Earth’ 137 light-years away
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Astronomers have discovered a “super-Earth,” or a world larger than our planet, orbiting a star about 137 light-years away. The super-Earth exoplanet, known as TOI-715b, orbits a red dwarf star that is cooler and smaller than our sun. “This discovery is exciting as it’s the first super-Earth from TESS to be found within the conservative habitable zone,” Dransfield said. If the Earth-size planet is confirmed, it will become the smallest planet yet that TESS has found in a habitable zone. TOI-715b’s star has only shown a couple of flares within the past two years and isn’t considered active, making it an old star, Dransfield said.

Persons: TESS, Georgina Dransfield, Dransfield, James Webb, Webb, “, isn’t, PLATO, ” Dransfield, ” Organizations: CNN —, Royal Astronomical Society, Researchers, University of Birmingham’s School of Physics, Astronomers, James Webb Space Telescope Locations: United Kingdom

☆ Saturn’s ‘Death Star’ moon is hiding an internal ocean, scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Astronomers have uncovered additional evidence that one of Saturn’s smallest moons, Mimas, is hiding a global ocean beneath its icy surface. Discovered in 1789 by English astronomer William Herschel as a tiny dot near Saturn, Mimas was first imaged from space by the Voyager probes in 1980. Craters cover the surface of Mimas, but the largest one is 80 miles (about 130 kilometers) across and causes the moon to resemble the Death Star from the “Star Wars” films. But Saturn’s Enceladus appears younger because active geysers have contributed to resurfacing, or depositing of new, fresh material on that moon’s surface. “Mimas certainly demonstrates that moons with old surfaces can be hiding young oceans, which is pretty exciting,” Rhoden said.

Persons: Mimas, Cassini, William Herschel, Observatoire, Dr, Valéry Lainey, Lainey, ”, Nick Cooper, Saturn, ” Lainey, “, Triton, Frédéric, ” Cooper, “ Lainey, Matija Ćuk, Alyssa Rose Rhoden, Rhoden Organizations: CNN —, Saturn, Voyager, “, Physical, Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, NASA, Clipper, SETI Institute, Southwest Research Locations: Paris, California, Colorado

☆ SpaceX launches first Turkish astronaut aboard private European space mission
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-18 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —A SpaceX rocket took off for the International Space Station on another trailblazing mission operated entirely by the private sector. On board is a group of European astronauts, including the first person from Turkey to visit outer space. Thursday’s flight is the first Axiom mission in which a government or space agency has purchased all the seats. Courtesy of Axiom SpaceThe European Space Agency and the Swedish National Space Agency arranged Wandt’s ticket. Axiom is one of several companies that has plans eventually to build its own private space station.

Persons: NASA —, Benji Reed, NASA’s, Walter Villadei, Marcus Wandt, Michael López, ”, Alegría, Frank De Winne, —, Michael Suffredini, Matt Ondler Organizations: CNN, SpaceX, International, NASA, United, International Space, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Space Agency’s, Private, European Space Agency, Swedish National Space Agency, Villadei’s, ESA, European Astronaut Centre, ISS, Space, Research Locations: Turkey, United States, Florida, Houston, Cologne, Germany

The hundreds of fossil fuel-connected people make up just a tiny share of the 90,000 people who registered to attend the climate summit known as COP28. “Let history reflect the fact that this is the Presidency that made a bold choice to proactively engage with oil and gas companies,” al-Jaber said. COP28 comes as the planet faces a mounting imperative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. David Hone, Shell's chief climate adviser, is in Dubai for at least his 17th appearance at the annual climate talks. At the moment, it's preventing about 0.1% of the energy sector's carbon emissions from reaching the atmosphere, according to the IEA.

Persons: Bob Deans, Deans, Sultan al, Jaber, “, ” al, COP28, TotalEnergies, Paul Naveau, Patrick Pouyanné, ” Naveau, Naveau, Shell, that's, ”, Arthur Lee, David Hone, Hone, Rachel Rose Jackson Organizations: The United Nations, U.S, Resources Defense, United Arab Emirates, Global, Coalition, Shell, TotalEnergies, BP, AP, Nations, UN, didn't, ”, International Energy Agency, IEA, Chevron, Corporate Locations: United Nations, Dubai, Chevron, Shell's

☆ Mary Cleave, the first woman to fly on NASA’s space shuttle after Challenger disaster, dies at 76
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Mary Cleave, the NASA astronaut who in 1989 became the first woman to fly on a space shuttle mission after the Challenger disaster, has died at the age of 76, the space agency announced on Wednesday. “For me, space flight was great, but it was gravy on top of getting to fly in great airplanes,” she told NASA. Getting to orbitOn her first mission, flying on NASA’s Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1985, Cleave became the 10th woman to travel into space. Over the course of her two shuttle missions, Cleave spent more than 10 days in orbit. Cleave said she made the difficult decision to move on from the corps and NASA’s astronaut hub in Houston, taking a role at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland in 1991.

Persons: Mary Cleave, “, ”, Bob Cabana, “ Mary, ” Cleave —, —, Cleave, ” Cleave, Judith Resnick, Sally Ride, Sally, Cleave “ Organizations: CNN, NASA, Challenger, Science, Colorado State University, Utah State University, Atlantis, CapCom, Ride, Goddard Space Flight, Maryland Locations: Neck , New York, Utah, Houston, Maryland, Washington , DC

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronomers have discovered a rare in-sync solar system with six planets moving like a grand cosmic orchestra, untouched by outside forces since their birth billions of years ago. The find, announced Wednesday, can help explain how solar systems across the Milky Way galaxy came to be. The six found so far are roughly two to three times the size of Earth, but with densities closer to the gas giants in our own solar system. This solar system is unique because all six planets move similar to a perfectly synchronized symphony, scientists said. All solar systems, including our own, are thought to have started out like this one, according to the scientists.

Persons: Tess, —, Adrien Leleu, they're, ”, Enric Palle, Palle, University of Bern’s Hugh Osborn Organizations: —, University of Geneva, of Astrophysics, University of Bern’s, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla, Canary

☆ Six exoplanets spotted in a cosmic waltz around nearby star
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

And the planets, labeled b through g, revolve around the star in a celestial dance known as orbital resonance. For every six orbits completed by planet b, the closest planet to the star, the outermost planet g completes one. As planet c makes three revolutions around the star, planet d does two, and when planet e completes four orbits, planet f does three. Detecting a mysteryResearchers first took notice of the star system in 2020 when NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, detected dips in the brightness of HD110067. “It shows us the pristine configuration of a planetary system that has survived untouched.”The discovery is the second time Cheops has helped reveal a planetary system with orbital resonance.

Persons: TESS, Rafael Luque, Cheops, ”, Luque, “ Cheops, ” Luque, Maximilian Günther, they’re, James Webb, Webb, Jo Ann Egger Organizations: CNN —, ESA, University of Chicago’s, “, James Webb Space, Telescope, University of Bern Locations: Switzerland

☆ NASA mission achieves most distant demo of laser communications across space
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —An innovative experiment flying aboard NASA’s Psyche mission just hit its first major milestone by successfully carrying out the most distant demonstration of laser communications. The tech demo was designed to be the US space agency’s most distant experiment of high-bandwidth laser communications, testing the sending and receiving of data to and from Earth using an invisible near-infrared laser. NASA/JPL-CaltechIt’s not the first time laser communications have been tested in space. The first test of two-way laser communication occurred in December 2021 when NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration launched and went into orbit about 22,000 miles (35,406 kilometers) from Earth. And the Artemis II spacecraft will use laser communications to return high-definition video of a crewed journey around the moon.

Persons: Psyche, DSOC, Hale, ”, Trudy Kortes, Meera Srinivasan, Artemis, DSOC won’t, Jason Mitchell Organizations: CNN, NASA, Optical Communications, California Institute of Technology’s, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL, Caltech, Space Technology, Psyche’s, Hale, DSOC, NASA’s, Advanced Communications, Navigation Technologies, NASA’s Space Communications Locations: Pasadena , California, DSOC, Wrightwood , California

☆ SpaceX Starship: World’s most powerful rocket ready for takeoff
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

CNN —After months of rebuilding and clearing red tape following the April explosion of the Starship system’s first test flight, SpaceX is set for its next attempt. The Starship spacecraft stacked atop the Super Heavy booster is intended to play a key role in the NASA Artemis III moon mission, currently slated for 2025. After its fuel is spent, the Super Heavy will detach from the Starship spacecraft and fall back toward the ocean. “These delays may seem small in the big scheme of things but … delays in each and every test flight adds up. One group of activists sued the FAA in May, alleging regulators had failed to comply with federal environmental law when they greenlit Starship’s April test flight.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, they’re, NASA Artemis, ”, Musk’s, SpaceX’s, NASA’s —, Jim Free, “, ” Musk, William Gerstenmaier —, we’re, ” Gerstenmaier, Jared Margolis Organizations: CNN, SpaceX, Super, NASA, International Astronautical, “, NASA’s, Systems, Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, Center for Biological Locations: Riding, Boca Chica , Texas, South Texas, Texas, Padre, of Mexico, Hawaii, Baku, Azerbaijian, China

☆ Milky Way-like galaxy spotted in distant universe by Webb telescope
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Astronomers have spied an intriguing phenomenon in the distant universe — a galaxy that closely resembles the Milky Way — and it’s challenging key theories on how galaxies evolve. Like our home galaxy, the newly discovered ceers-2112 is a barred spiral galaxy, and it’s now the most distant of its kind ever observed. While massive spiral galaxies are common in the Milky Way’s cosmic neighborhood, that hasn’t always been the case. The bars take shape when stars within spiral galaxies rotate in an orderly fashion, as they do in the Milky Way. “The discovery of ceers-2112 paves the way for more bars to be discovered in the young universe,” de la Vega said.

Persons: James Webb, it’s, Webb, “, ”, Luca Costantin, hasn’t, Alexander de la Vega, didn’t, la Vega Organizations: CNN —, James Webb Space, Spanish National Research Council, Centro, Astrobiología, University of California, James Webb Space Telescope Locations: Madrid, Riverside, ceers

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Scientists on Tuesday unveiled the first pictures taken by the European space telescope Euclid, a shimmering and stunning collection of galaxies too numerous to count. The photos were revealed by the European Space Agency, four months after the telescope launched from Cape Canaveral. Although these celestial landscapes have been observed before by the Hubble Space Telescope and others, Euclid's snapshots provide "razor-sharp astronomical images across such a large patch of the sky, and looking so far into the distant universe," the agency said. In one picture, Euclid captured a group shot of 1,000 galaxies in a cluster 240 million light-years away, against a backdrop of more than 100,000 galaxies billions of light-years away. Although the Hubble Space Telescope previously observed the heart of this galaxy, Euclid’s shot reveals star formation across the entire region, scientists said.

Persons: Euclid, Carole Mundell, Mundell Organizations: —, European Space Agency, Hubble, NASA, Euclid, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla, Cape Canaveral, Germany, Greece

☆ Euclid Telescope Dazzles With Detailed First Images of Our Universe
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Katrina Miller | More About Katrina Miller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“And it’s those ingredients pulled together that is going to make Euclid the iconic cosmology mission of the day.”Whereas NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope zooms in on one part of the sky at a time, Euclid excels at imaging wide, but still detailed, swaths of the universe. That’s perfect for “when you want to look for a needle in a haystack,” Dr. Seiffert said, including objects like free-floating worlds. With the data Euclid sends home, researchers can learn about how the web of dark matter cementing our universe together influences the shapes and motions of visible objects in space. The telescope’s detailed resolution is also expected to help scientists map the distribution of galaxies across cosmic time, aiding in understanding dark energy, the inexplicable force pulling the universe apart. Over the summer, scientists worked around the clock to fix a faulty navigation sensor that made Euclid create images of winding star trails as the telescope tried to capture a piece of sky.

Persons: Carole Mundell, NASA’s James Webb, Euclid, Seiffert, Mundell Organizations: Space

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