Space

Watch Out! Amateur Astronomer Watches as Jupiter Gets Whacked

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Jupiter is the OG best friend in the solar system. It finds all the tiny little comets and asteroids heading for the vulnerable inner planets and takes one for the team, chewing up the dangerous rocks in its thick atmosphere. It happened again just recently, and this time an amateur astronomer caught it in the act.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: First Moon Beyond Our Solar System Discovery, Jacuzzi of Despair, and The Winner Effect

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Learn about how astronomers may have just discovered the first moon beyond our solar system; why the “jacuzzi of despair” kills everything that enters it; and why the winner effect says one win leads to even more wins.

Space Launch LIVE: Axiom 1 Journey to Liftoff

Photo Gallery | 12 Photos

Astronomers May Have Found a Rare “Free-Floating” Black Hole

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How do you see a perfectly black object in the middle of a pitch-dark night? It sounds like the start of an annoying riddle, but it’s really the question faced by astronomers when they want to search for black holes.

Blue Origin's First Crewed Spaceflight Has Successful Liftoff and Landing

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This morning, on July 20, 2021, Blue Origin's first crewed spaceflight was a success! Congrats to Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and three crewmates, who lifted off into space from Blue Origin’s Launch Site near Van Horn, Texas. Here's the play-by-play of the New Shepard's approximitely 10 minute flight from launch to capsule landing, which looked picture perfect.

Meet the Not-So-Secret Space Airplane

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The United States Space Force may have a somewhat silly name, but it's very, very real. And it just launched a semi-secret mission into space.

SpaceX Crew-3 Launch for NASA to Blast Off Wednesday

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After the NASA/SpaceX launch experienced a series of delays, Crew-3 is set to lift off no earlier than 9:03 P ET from NASA's Kennedy Space Center tomorrow!Watch SPACE LAUNCH LIVE: CREW-3 LIFT OFF on Science Channel at 8 P ET Wednesday, November 10.

Not all Omicrons are Scary

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Whether it’s less severe than other variants or not, we can all agree that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is no fun at all. But despite its ominous name, “omicron” is just the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet. In astronomy, the stars in any constellation are ordered from brightest to dimmest, with the brightest getting the name “alpha”, the second brightest “beta”, and so on. And believe it or not, there are some pretty cool omicrons out there.

Axiom Lifts Off with the First Fully Private Crewed Mission to Space

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Axiom Mission 1 blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center today, setting the standard for commercial space travel with a first-of-its-kind mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Space Launch LIVE: NASA Astronauts Safely Out of the Hatch

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After the successful splashdown, the Crew Dragon was lifted out of the water and onto the Go Navigator. With safety checks cleared, the hatch is opened and NASA Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken are seen safely exiting the Dragon Endeavor spacecraft.

All Aboard the James Webb Space Telescope!

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All hail the James Webb, the ultra-powerful super-telescope for the next generation. Or for about 5-10 years when its fuel runs out.

A Spacecraft Has Touched the Sun, for the First Time in History

Photo Gallery | 8 Photos

The Night Sky is Part of Our Natural Environment

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Most people in the United States have lost access to the night sky. This may not be a surprise to you if you’re living in a major metropolitan area. Perhaps you can pick out some of the brightest stars or a few planets on a clear night, but that’s it. Participate in International Dark Sky Week, April 22–30; their mission is to reduce light pollution and bring better lighting to communities around the world so that all life can thrive.

Groundbreaking New Images of Jupiter Exceed NASA's Expectations

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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured new images of Jupiter revealing never-before-seen details of the planet.

Curiosity Daily Podcast: Skin Print, Testing Birth Control, Race To Bring Mars Home

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You’re going to learn about efforts to print astronaut skin in space with their own blood, the mystifying side effects of birth control, and the race to bring soil samples back from Mars!

Six Planets are Retrograde, What Does that Mean for You?

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Spoiler alert: It's an optical illusion.

Saving Earth from Killer Asteroids

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Only about 40% of an estimated 25,000 near-Earth asteroids with the potential to destroy the planet have been detected. Scientist Dr. Ed Lu, along with his nonprofit B612 are working to create a way to detect the other 60%.

Behold, the Sun as You’ve Never Seen It Before

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The European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter reached the halfway point between the Earth and the Sun to snap an amazing super-high-res picture. You can zoom in on the image to reveal the stunning details of the Sun’s surface. It’s like a Google Earth…but for the Sun.