Skip to main content

Latest by G. Torbet

Finder chart for Mars on 8 December.

How to see Mars at its brightest at opposition this week

Stargazers in the northern hemisphere are in for a treat as Mars has reached its closest point to Earth, giving the best view of the Red Planet until the 2030s.
Against a backdrop littered with tiny pinpricks of light glint a few, brighter stars. This whole collection is NGC 1858, an open star cluster in the northwest region of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way that boasts an abundance of star-forming regions. NGC 1858 is estimated to be around 10 million years old.clock

Hubble captures an open star cluster in a nearby satellite galaxy

The Hubble Space Telescope recently captured an image of a beautiful star cluster called NGC 1858, located in an area full of star-forming regions.
NASA’s uncrewed Orion spacecraft reached a maximum distance of nearly 270,000 miles from Earth during the Artemis I flight test before beginning its journey back toward Earth. Orion captured imagery of the Earth and Moon together from its distant lunar orbit, including this image on Nov. 28, 2022, taken from camera on one of the spacecraft’s solar array wings.

How to watch Orion’s return flyby of the moon on Monday

Before NASA's Orion spacecraft returns to Earth, it has to make a return flyby of the moon, scheduled for Monday, December 5.
Near-infrared Images of Saturn’s moon Titan, as seen by JWST on November 4, 2022 (left), followed by Keck Observatory’s NIRC2 instrument paired with adaptive optics on November 6, 2022 (middle) and November 7, 2022 (right).

James Webb and Keck Observatory see clouds on Saturn’s moon Titan

Researchers using James Webb the Keck Observatory have teamed up to study Saturn's largest moon, Titan, and observe the way that clouds move around it.
Astronaut Josh Cassada is pictured during a spacewalk on Nov. 15, 2022, to ready the space station for future rollout solar array installation work.

Two spacewalkers are installing a new solar array on the ISS today

Two NASA astronauts are currently on a spacewalk, working outside the International Space Station to install a new solar array.
This time-lapse photograph was taken by astronomer Robert Weryk from near his home in London, Ontario, Canada, after NASA’s Scout system forewarned him about the entry of 2022 WJ1 on Nov. 19, 2022. The resulting fireball streaked directly overhead and continued east until it broke up.

How astronomers worked together to spot an asteroid before it hit Earth

This month, a small asteroid entered the sky above Toronto. It was one of the first few asteroids to strike Earth that we knew was coming.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon cargo craft lifts off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to the International Space Station on Nov. 26, 2022.

SpaceX Dragon spacecraft delivers new solar arrays and more to ISS

A SpaceX Dragon arrived at the International Space Station this morning, carrying scientific experiments as well as a pair of new solar arrays for the station.
New observations of WASP-39b with the JWST have provided a clearer picture of the exoplanet, showing the presence of sodium, potassium, water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide in the planet's atmosphere. This artist's illustration also displays newly detected patches of clouds scattered across the planet.

James Webb gets most detailed look yet at an exoplanet’s atmosphere

Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to get the most in-depth look yet at the atmosphere of planet WASP-39 b.
This infrared image of the Orion Nebula features plenty of dust but no stars. In these infrared wavelengths, it’s possible to see hot spots where new stars are forming, while unseen bright, massive stars have carved out caverns of empty space.

See a stunning image of the Orion nebula stellar nursery

Orion is one of the most recognizable constellations in the night sky, and within the constellation is a nebula that is a busy region of star formation.
The galaxy merger Arp-Madore 417-391 steals the spotlight in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The Arp-Madore catalog is a collection of particularly peculiar galaxies spread throughout the southern sky, and includes a collection of subtly interacting galaxies as well as more spectacular colliding galaxies. Arp-Madore 417-391, which lies around 670 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus in the southern celestial hemisphere, is one such galactic collision. The two galaxies were distorted by gravity and twisted into a colossal ring, leaving their cores nestled side by side.

Hubble captures a pair of galaxies merging into an unusual ring shape

This week's image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a collection of galaxies, with an unusual merging pair stealing the show.
The black hole in V404 Cygni is actively pulling material away from a companion star — with about half the mass of the Sun — into a disk around the invisible object. A burst of X-rays from the black hole detected in 2015 created the high-energy rings from a phenomenon known as light echoes, where light bounces off of dust clouds in between the system and Earth. In these images, X-rays from Chandra are shown, along with optical data from the Pan-STARRS telescope that depict the stars in the field of view.

Listen to the spooky echoes of a black hole

As well as admiring beautiful pictures of space you can listen to them via sonifications, like these X-ray rings echoing around a black hole in V404 Cygni.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the company’s Dragon cargo spacecraft atop, is raised to a vertical position at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on Nov. 21, 2022, in preparation for the 26th commercial resupply services launch to the International Space Station.

All the science that’s launching to the space station today

Today, a SpaceX Dragon craft will launch to the International Space Station. Packed inside are wide range of science experiments and technology demonstrations.
Artist’s conception of a gas giant exoplanet orbiting around a Sun-like star. The young exoplanet HD 114082 b revolves around its Sun-like star within 110 days at a distance of 0.5 astronomical units.

Strangely chonky exoplanet has astronomers puzzled

Astronomers recently discovered a hefty exoplanet orbiting a star similar to our sun, and it has researchers puzzled due to its tremendous density.
View of the Moon seen from ESA's European Service Module that is powering NASA's Orion spacecraft to the Moon and back, on flight day nine of the Artemis I mission, on 24 November 2022.

Orion spacecraft enters distant retrograde orbit around the moon

NASA's Orion spacecraft has entered orbit around the moon, marking the start of its week-long orbit as part of the Artemis I mission.
Visualization of the observable universe, using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

See the entire observable universe represented in this interactive map

A new interactive map will show you the entire observable universe using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon cargo capsule lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on the company’s 22nd Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station.

How to watch SpaceX launch a resupply mission to ISS on Tuesday

This week a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch to the International Space Station carrying research equipment and new solar arrays. Here's how to watch.
A small, dense cloud of gas and dust called CB 130-3 blots out the center of this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. CB 130-3 is an object known as a dense core, a compact agglomeration of gas and dust. This particular dense core is in the constellation Serpens and seems to billow across a field of background stars.

Hubble Space Telescope captures the earliest stage of star formation

This week's image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a beautiful cloud of dust and gas that could one day be the birthplace of a new star.
see lucy spacecraft slingshot past earth fly by

NASA team pauses efforts to deploy Lucy spacecraft’s unlatched array

NASA's Lucy spacecraft has a solar array that hasn't fully deployed, and now, the team has had to pause their efforts to get the array into place.
Two of the most distant galaxies seen to date are captured in these Webb pictures of the outer regions of the giant galaxy cluster Abell 2744. The galaxies are not inside the cluster, but many billions of light-years behind it. 

James Webb spots two of the earliest galaxies ever seen

The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered two of the earliest galaxies ever seen in the universe, and they are much brighter than expected.
An artist's depiction of the Orion spacecraft flying close to the moon.

How to watch Orion make its closest approach to the moon on Monday

NASA's Orion spacecraft is set to make a close approach to the moon on Monday. If you want to follow along, you'll be able to tune into a live stream.
The protostar L1527, shown in this image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.

See a new star being born in stunning James Webb image

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a stunning image of the birth of a new star.
This image of “Yori Pass” was taken by a Hazcam imager aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on Nov. 5, 2022.

Perseverance rover explores sandstone pass for evidence of ancient life

The Perseverance rover recently arrived at a new area of Mars named the Yori Pass, which is an exciting opportunity to search for evidence of ancient life.
This artist’s conception shows the fully unfolded James Webb Space Telescope in space.

How NASA is dealing with micrometeoroids threatening James Webb

Earlier this year, James Webb Space Telescope suffered a micrometeoroid impact. Now, NASA has shared its plan to deal with such impacts as Webb ages.
On the second day of the 25.5-day Artemis I mission, Orion used its optical navigation camera to snap black and white photos of planet Earth. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness as a method for determining its position in space for future missions under differing lighting conditions.

Orion spacecraft is looking good for its mission to the moon

Following its historic launch this week, NASA's Orion spacecraft is on its way to the moon for the Artemis I mission.
James Chong, infrastructure technician at Keck Observatory, assisting with the delicate lift of the Zerodur optics bench into the observatory basement where the instrument resides.

Super-sensitive exoplanet-hunting instrument captures its first light data

Astronomers will soon have a new tool for hunting exoplanets, as the Keck Observatory's Keck Planet Finder instrument recently took its first observations.
As a result of a phenomenon called gravitational lensing, three different moments in a far-off supernova explosion were captured in a single snapshot by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The light from the supernova, which was located behind the galaxy cluster Abell 370, was multiply lensed by the cluster’s immense gravity. This light took three different paths through the cosmic lens of the massive cluster. The three paths were three different lengths, so when the light arrived at Hubble (on the same day in December 2010), the supernova appeared at three different stages of evolution.

Hubble captures rare image of a supernova as it happens

The Hubble Space Telescope recently managed to capture three different moments of a supernova in a single image.
The James Webb Space Telescope.

James Webb’s MIRI instrument is back to full operations

This summer there was a problem with one mode on James Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument or MIRI. Now, engineers have found a way to deal with the issue.
An artist's impression of Mars Express. The spacecraft left Earth for Mars on 2 June 2003. It reached its destination after a six-month journey, and has been investigating the planet since early 2004.

Mars Express orbiter has relayed data from seven different Mars missions

Recently the European Space Agency's Mars Express set a new record for relaying data from seven different Mars surface missions.
The Cone Nebula is part of a star-forming region of space, NGC 2264, about 2500 light-years away. Its pillar-like appearance is a perfect example of the shapes that can develop in giant clouds of cold molecular gas and dust, known for creating new stars. This dramatic new view of the nebula was captured with the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), and released on the occasion of ESO’s 60th anniversary.

See the dark pillar of the Cone Nebula captured by the Very Large Telescope

A stunning image of the dramatic Cone Nebula has been taken using the Very Large Telescope.
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)-2 civilian polar-orbiting weather satellite for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA's Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) tech demo lifts off from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 1:49 a.m. PST (4:49 a.m. EST) Nov. 10, 2022.

NASA launches weather satellite and inflatable heat shield test

NASA has launched a new weather satellite, JPSS-2, into polar orbit. The launch also included a test of a new inflatable heat shield called LOFTID.
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard is seen atop the mobile launcher at Launch Pad 39B, Friday, Nov. 11, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Teams began walkdowns and inspections at the pad to assess the status of the rocket and spacecraft after the passage of Hurricane Nicole.

NASA sticks with Artemis I launch despite minor damage from Hurricane Nicole

NASA has announced that the Space Launch System rocket is still set to be launched this week, despite suffering minor damage during Hurricane Nicole.
COSMO-SkyMed mission ready for launch.

How to watch SpaceX launch two media satellites this morning

This morning, Saturday November 12, there's a chance to catch an early SpaceX launch as the company sends two communications satellites into orbit.
Illustration of the Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) satellite.

How to watch the launch of NASA’s JPSS-2 weather satellite this week

This Thursday, November 10, NASA will launch a weather satellite called JPSS-2 into a polar Earth orbit. Here's how to watch.
Artist’s impression of the old white dwarfs WDJ2147-4035 and WDJ1922+0233 surrounded by orbiting planetary debris, which will accrete onto the stars and pollute their atmospheres. WDJ2147-4035 is extremely red and dim, while WDJ1922+0233 is unusually blue.

Astronomers find remnants of planets around 10 billion-year-old stars

Astronomers discovered something special orbiting two ancient white dwarfs: the remains of planets, making this one of the oldest known rocky planetary systems.