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Latest by G. Torbet

This is an artist’s impression of a black hole drifting through our Milky Way galaxy. The black hole is the crushed remnant of a massive star that exploded as a supernova. The surviving core is several times the mass of our Sun. The black hole traps light because of its intense gravitational field. The black hole distorts the space around it, which warps images of background stars lined up almost directly behind it. This gravitational "lensing" effect offers the only telltale evidence for the existence of lone black holes wandering our galaxy, of which there may be a population of 100 million. The Hubble Space Telescope goes hunting for these black holes by looking for distortion in starlight as the black holes drift in front of background stars.

Hubble spots isolated black hole drifting alone through our galaxy

Out in the depths of our galaxy roam lonely monsters: Isolated black holes which drift through space unattached to stars or other black holes.
A rock in the front left wheel of Perseverance on Sol 343, image was acquired on Feb. 6, 2022 (Sol 343).

Perseverance rover picks up a rock friend on Mars

The Mars rover Perseverance has picked up a rock hitchhiker which has been riding in its wheel for the past four months.
This illustration shows the Lucy spacecraft passing one of the Trojan Asteroids near Jupiter.

The painstaking process of fixing NASA’s Lucy solar array issues

Engineers have been working to fix a problem with NASA's spacecraft Lucy which launched in October 2021 and is on its way to the Trojan asteroids near Jupiter.
Clockwise from top left are three of the observatories that participated in a 2021 planetary defense exercise: NASA’s Goldstone planetary radar, the Mount Lemmon telescope of the Catalina Sky Survey, and NASA’s NEOWISE mission. At bottom left is an illustration of the path of Apophis’ close approach in 2029.

Astronomers model an asteroid striking Earth using asteroid Apophis

An international team of space researchers recently came together to test what might happen if Earth were threatened by a large asteroid strike.
A test version of the payload module of ESA's exoplanet-detecting Plato spacecraft underwent a prolonged vacuum soak within Europe’s largest thermal vacuum chamber, to evaluate its endurance of space conditions.

Next-generation exoplanet hunter Plato goes through vacuum testing

Plato is a next-generation exoplanet-hunting satellite, set for launch in 2026.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:07 a.m. EST on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, carrying the Dragon spacecraft on its journey to the International Space Station for SpaceX’s 24th commercial resupply services mission.

How to watch SpaceX launch a cargo ship to the ISS this week

This week, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft will travel to the International Space Station carrying supplies and research. Here's how to watch.
The crewed spaceship Shenzhou-14, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, is launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, June 5, 2022.

Three Chinese astronauts arrive at new space station Tiangong

Three Chinese astronauts -- Chen Dong, Liu Yang, and Cai Xuzhe -- have arrived at China's new space station, which is currently under construction.
In this image, taken on 23 May 2022, engineers at Thales Alenia Space in Turin are attaching a combined sunshield and solar panel module to the main body of ESA’s Euclid spacecraft. The module has two functions: whilst the solar panels will provide the spacecraft with power, the sunshield will shade the instrument-carrying payload module from the Sun’s intense radiation.

Dark matter studying spacecraft Euclid gets its sunshield

Dark matter telescope Euclid is getting ready for launch, and recently a module of combination sunshield and solar panels has been added to the spacecraft.

Perseverance rover captures a Martian dust cloud forming for first time

Images captured by the Perseverance rover on Mars show a gust of wind lifting up a dust cloud, and data reveals how dramatic dust storms form.
The James Webb Space Telescope.

The first images from James Webb will be released in July

NASA has announced the date when the first full-color images from the new James Webb Space Telescope will be released.
Illustration of the MAVEN spacecraft in orbit around Mars.

NASA’s Mars orbiter MAVEN saved in a ‘race against time’

NASA's MAVEN spacecraft is back up and running following a scare that put it into safe mode for several months.
Blue Origin launching its fourth crewed flight.

How to watch Blue Origin launch space tourists to the edge of space today

Blue Origin, the private launch company owned by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, will shortly be launching six space tourists on a suborbital trip to the edge of space.
Scientists believe that the moon's snakelike Schroeter's Valley was created by lava flowing over the surface.

Ancient volcanoes could be a source of ice on the moon

Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder have found that there could be thick sheets of ice on the moon, created by ancient volcanoes.
This image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope features the Grand Design Spiral, NGC 3631, located some 53 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major. The “arms” of grand design spirals appear to wind around and into the galaxy’s nucleus.

Hubble captures a perfectly formed Grand Design Spiral

An image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and shared by NASA this week shows the most stunning of spiral galaxies: A Grand Design Spiral called NGC 3631.
Diffractive solar sails, depicted in this conceptual illustration, could enable missions to hard-to-reach places, like orbits over the Sun’s poles.

New developments in solar sails could enable missions to the sun’s poles

NASA is looking into new designs for solar sails which would improve their navigational capabilities.
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter made a record-breaking 25th flight on April 8, 2022.

See stunning footage captured by Mars helicopter Ingenuity in flight

NASA has released a stunning video, showing a helicopter's eye view of surface of Mars as seen from the air.
This infrared image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope shows the broken Comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann 3 skimming along a trail of debris left during its multiple trips around the sun. The flame-like objects are the comet’s fragments and their tails, while the dusty comet trail is the line bridging the fragments.

There could be a brand new meteor shower visible on Monday

This memorial day weekend there's a chance to view a special astronomical event: A never-before-seen meteor shower called the Tau Herculids.
This new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope looks at two spiral galaxies, collectively known as Arp 303. The pair, individually called IC 563 (bottom right) and IC 564 (top left), are 275 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Sextans.

Two galaxies captured by Hubble are a hotbed of star formation

This week's image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows two galaxies that are a hotbed of star formation.
The Psyche spacecraft sits in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft launch delayed by several weeks

The launch of NASA's Psyche spacecraft, set to visit a metal asteroid, has been delayed due to a software issue.
An image of NASA’s moon rocket at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, rolling out of the Vehicle Assembly Building for a 4.2-mile journey to Launch Complex 39B on March 17, 2022.

NASA’s next test of its new rocket is set for June

NASA has set the date for its next test of its new rocket, the Space Launch System, and the accompanying Orion spacecraft.
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is seen here in a close-up taken by Mastcam-Z, a pair of zoomable cameras aboard the Perseverance rover. This image was taken on April 5, the 45th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

NASA’s plan to save the Ingenuity helicopter from the cold Martian nights

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter has captured the world's affections. But after 28 flights, it is beginning to suffer from the harsh conditions of Martian winter.
This newly revised NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the Hickson Compact Group 31 (HCG 31) of galaxies highlights streams of star-formation as four dwarf galaxies interact.

See four dwarf galaxies merging into one in this Hubble image

An image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows an unusual interaction of four dwarf galaxies, so close together that all of them would fit within the Milky Way.
May 20, 2022: International Space Station Configuration. Six spaceships are parked at the space station including Boweing's Starliner crew ship and the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom; the Northrop Grumman Cygnus space freighter; and Russia's Soyuz MS-21 crew ship and the Progress 79 and 80 resupply ships.

Arrival of Starliner makes 5 types of spacecraft docked with ISS

The docking of Boeing's Starliner crew capsule means the International Space Station is hosting an unusually wide variety of spacecraft.
The James Webb Space Telescope.

James Webb will investigate targets in our cosmic backyard

Included in the objects James Webb will be studying, as well as distant galaxies and far-off stars, are targets right here in our own solar system,
Engineers at an Airbus Defence and Space facility in Toulouse, France, oversee the final integration and testing of the Juice spacecraft.

The Juice mission is almost ready to explore Jupiter’s icy moons

The European Space Agency's Juice spacecraft is getting ready for its mission to Jupiter to see if its icy moons could potentially host life.
An artists concept of DAVINCI+ on its way to Venus's surface.

How NASA’s DAVINCI probe will withstand the hellish conditions of Venus

Venus's acidic, high-pressure atmosphere is one of the most inhospitable places in our solar system -- and NASA is building a probe that can withstand it
NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, shown in this illustration, has been exploring our solar system since 1977, along with its twin, Voyager 2.

Something strange is up with 45-year-old spacecraft Voyager 1

Voyager 1's altitude articulation and control system (AACS) is sending back some strange readings, and engineers are puzzled.
Solar activity captured by Solar Orbiter.

Observing wild activity on the sun could help predict space weather

See the incredible data captured by the Solar Orbiter spacecraft on its recent close pass of the sun.
This collection of 36 images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope features galaxies that are all hosts to both Cepheid variables and supernovae. These two celestial phenomena are both crucial tools used by astronomers to determine astronomical distance, and have been used to refine our measurement of the Hubble constant, the expansion rate of the universe.

How fast is the universe expanding? It’s complicated, Hubble shows

Researchers using data from the Hubble Space Telescope have come up with the most precise measurement to date of the expansion of the universe.
This illustration shows the Lucy spacecraft passing one of the Trojan Asteroids near Jupiter.

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft captured this week’s lunar eclipse from space

This week's lunar eclipse wasn't only observed from the ground - it was also observed from 64 million miles away from Earth by the Lucy spacecraft.
Boeing’s Starliner crew ship is seen moments after docking to the International Space Station’s forward port on the Harmony module.

With only small hiccups, Boeing’s Starliner capsule docks successfully with ISS

Following a nail-biting launch on Thursday May 19, Boeing's new crew capsule Starliner has successfully docked with the International Space Station.
A telescopic visualization of the total lunar eclipse, happening May 15-16, 2022.

How to watch tonight’s lunar eclipse, online or in person

There's a chance to observe a special astronomical event this weekend, as the night of May 15/16 will see a total lunar eclipse.
The biological photovoltaic cell uses Synechocystis algae to harvest energy from the sun.

Going green with an algae-powered microprocessor computer

Researchers from the University of Cambridge, U.K., have created a computer system that is powered by algae that harvests energy from the sun.
The EHT Collaboration created a flurry of images of Sagittarius A*, using ray tracing, a technique that visualizes the properties of the black hole based on data collected with the radio telescope array and predictions made by Einstein's theory of general relativity. The images shown here were created by UArizona's Chi-kwan Chan.

Black holes all look like donuts, regardless of their size

The image of the black hole at the center of our galaxy isn't only an incredible scientific achievement - it also agrees precisely with predictions.