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This is an artist’s concept of a glow surrounding a drone at Mars during flight. The glow, exaggerated for visibility, might happen if the drone’s spinning rotor blades generate an electric field that causes electric currents to flow in the Martian air around the craft. Although the currents generated by the drone in the atmosphere are small, they might be large enough to cause the air around the blades and other parts of the craft to glow a blue-purple color.

Future Mars helicopter flights could make the air glow blue

That the blades of drones cutting through the thin atmosphere on Mars could cause the air around them to glow.
Space News
This artist’s conception shows the fully unfolded James Webb Space Telescope in space.

How James Webb will align its 18 primary mirror segments

With the James Webb Space Telescope arrived at its destination, the telescope has to go through a series of alignment processes to get it ready for science.
Space News
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How to watch Astra launch its first NASA mission today

Today, rocket startup Astra will launch four small satellites as part of its first mission for NASA. Here's how to watch.
Space News
An artist’s impression of what the object might look like if it’s a magnetar. Magnetars are incredibly magnetic neutron stars, some of which sometimes produce radio emission. Known magnetars rotate every few seconds, but theoretically, ultra-long period magnetars could rotate much more slowly.

Strange object giving off bursts of energy unlike anything known

Astronomers have discovered a strange object giving off regular bursts of energy, unlike anything seen before.
Space News
The subject of this image is a group of three galaxies, collectively known as NGC 7764A. They were imaged by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, using both its Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3.

Hubble spots three galaxies pulled into an unusual shape

This week's image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a group of three galaxies they are interacting with each other.
Space News
View of the Makushin Volcano summit captured by a camera on the wing of the S2 aircraft. The unmanned aircraft system flew autonomously beyond range of its pilot’s sight – 15 miles away and to an altitude of 6,000 feet – to capture data about volcanic activity during a flight demonstration in September 2021.

NASA plans to use drones to monitor active volcanoes

NASA is working on a plan to use drones to monitor active volcanoes and give warnings of potential eruptions.
Space News
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter used its Context Camera to capture this image of Bosporos Planum, a location on Mars. The white specks are salt deposits found within a dry channel. The largest impact crater in the scene is nearly 1 mile (1.5 kilometers) across.

Water could have been on Mars more recently than we thought

Recent data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter suggests there could have been water on Mars as recently as 2 billion years ago.
Space News
Artist’s impression of WASP-189b, an exoplanet orbiting the star HD 133112 which is one of the hottest stars known to have a planetary system.

Peering into the atmosphere of an ultra-hot exoplanet

Astronomers have investigated the ultra-hot exoplanet WASP-189b's atmosphere, and found that it's just as odd as the planet beneath.
Space News
Still from the visualization of the Great Erruption of the star Eta Carinae.

See the Great Eruption of star Eta Carinae in stunning visualization

Astronomers have released a striking visualization of the eruption of star Eta Carinae, showing how it formed a stunning nebula.
Space News
Webb's major subsystems and components.

James Webb Space Telescope turns on its high-gain antenna

This week, the James Webb Space Telescope turned on its high-gain antenna, which enables it to send data to Earth and receive commands.
Space News
The X-59 small-scale model is seen in NASA Glenn’s 8- by- 6-foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel. The model was inverted with the shock wave sensor array mounted on the tunnel’s ceiling during the testing.

NASA is designing a quieter supersonic plane, the X-59

NASA is working on a new design of supersonic plane which, instead of causing a sonic boom, causes a quieter sonic thump.
Space News
COSMO-SkyMed mission ready for launch.

How to watch SpaceX launch an Italian satellite on Monday

SpaceX will launch an Italian satellite on Monday in a mission that has already suffered several delays due to bad weather.
Space News
This artist’s conception shows the fully unfolded James Webb Space Telescope in space.

How to watch NASA’s update on James Webb’s arrival at L2

As the James Webb Space Telescope makes its final burn to enter its orbit around the sun, NASA will broadcast a Science Live show about the event.
Space News
The spiral arms of the galaxy NGC 3318 are lazily draped across this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This spiral galaxy lies in the constellation Vela and is roughly 115 million light-years away from Earth.

Hubble captures a beautiful galaxy with a nautical theme

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured another stunning image of deep space -- this one showing the distant galaxy NGC 3381.
Space News
NASA's Perserverance Mars rover.

Mars Perseverance rover shakes loose troublesome pebbles

NASA has shared an update on progress of dislodging pebbles from the Perseverance rover, and the signs are looking good for its continuing mission.
Space News
nas tess satellite begins exoplanet hunt orbits planet

NASA’s TESS has discovered 5,000 exoplanet candidates

NASA's planet-hunting satellite, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, has passed an impressive milestone, having identified 5,000 potential exoplanets.
Space News
This selfie of NASA’s InSight lander is a mosaic made up of 14 images taken on March 15 and April 11 – the 106th and 133rd Martian days, or sols, of the mission – by the spacecraft Instrument Deployment Camera located on its robotic arm.

Mars lander InSight is awake from safe mode after dust storm

NASA's InSight lander on Mars has returned to normal operations after a break of around two weeks due to a regional dust storm.
Space News
An artist's rendering of the Swift spacecraft with a gamma-ray burst going off in the background.

Swift Observatory in safe mode as NASA investigates issue

An issue with NASA's Swift Observatory has forced it to suspend science operations and enter safe mode while the team investigates.
Space News
Images acquired Jan. 9, 2022, from the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter were combined to create this view showing the presence of a regional dust storm obscuring the location of Perseverance rover and Ingenuity Mars Helicopter (white circle).

Martian dust storm delays next flight of Ingenuity helicopter

Earth isn't the only place where bad weather affects space flights. The weather on Mars can also be tricky, causing problems for the Ingenuity helicopter.
Space News
Image of a solar flare.

See the sun flaring thanks to the Solar Dynamics Observatory

This week, the Sun erupted with a powerful solar flare, and the incident was caught in real-time by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Space News
James Webb Space Telescope illustration.

James Webb is ready to settle into its new home: Lagrange Point L2

Webb is set to arrive at its new home on Monday: A location almost one million miles away called L2, or the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point.
Space News
Cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov works to configure and activate the Prichal module during a spacewalk on Jan. 19, 2022.

Cargo Dragon departure from ISS delayed until today due to weather

The departure of an uncrewed SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft from the ISS, which had been planned for this week, had to be delayed until this weekend.
Space News
The SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft is set to depart the International Space Station on Friday, Jan. 21, for a splashdown Saturday, Jan. 22, off the coast of Florida.

How to watch SpaceX Cargo Dragon depart from ISS this week

This week, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon craft will depart from the International Space Station (ISS) carrying supplies and scientific experiments back to Earth.
Space News
The Flame Nebula region as seen with APEX and VISTA.

See the dramatic and beautiful Flame Nebula in Orion

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released a spectacular pair of images showing the dramatic Flame Nebula as seen by a radio telescope.
Space News
This illustration depicts a Jupiter-like exoplanet called TOI-2180 b. It was discovered in data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.

Citizen scientists help discover a Jupiter-like planet 379 light-years away

Citizen scientists have helped comb through data from a NASA telescope to identify a gas giant planet located 379 light-years away.
Space News
Artist impression of planet WASP-103b and its host star: ESA’s exoplanet mission Cheops has revealed that an exoplanet orbiting its host star within a day has a deformed shape more like that of a rugby ball than a sphere. The planet, known as WASP-103b is located in the constellation of Hercules. It has been deformed by the strong tidal forces between the planet and its host star WASP- 103, which is about 200 degrees hotter and 1.7 times larger than the Sun.

This weird exoplanet is shaped like a rugby ball

Exoplanets come in many sizes, and sometimes they also come in unusual shapes - like this planet the shape of a rugby ball.
Space News
Pictured from left are the Soyuz MS-19 crew spacecraft and the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module with the Prichal docking module attached as the International Space Station orbited 266 miles above the Indian Ocean off the western coast of Australia.

How to watch the Russian spacewalk outside the ISS this week

This week, two Russian cosmonauts will be taking a spacewalk outside the International Space Station to prepare a Russian space station module.
Space News
The discovery of a second exomoon candidate hints at the possibility that exomoons may be as common as exoplanets.

Astronomers might have spotted one of the first exomoons

Astronomers from Columbia University believe they may have located evidence of an exomoon, or a moon outside our solar system.
Space News
NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image using its onboard SHERLOC WATSON imager. The camera is located on the turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm. The image was acquired on Jan. 13, 2022 (Sol 320).

How Perseverance is dealing with its pebble problem

The Perseverance rover, currently exploring Mars's Jezero Crater, has run into a challenge when collecting samples from the planet.
Space News
This selfie of NASA’s InSight lander is a mosaic made up of 14 images taken on March 15 and April 11 – the 106th and 133rd Martian days, or sols, of the mission – by the spacecraft Instrument Deployment Camera located on its robotic arm.

NASA’s InSight put into safe mode during Martian dust storm

A dust storm on Mars has required that the NASA InSight lander be placed into safe mode in order to preserve its battery power.
Space News
James Webb Space Telescope illustration.

James Webb begins careful, slow process of aligning mirrors

With deployment complete, the James Webb Space Telescope team is now embarking on their next challenge: Aligning the telescope's mirror segments.
Space News
Artist's conception of the James Webb Space Telescope

James Webb Space Telescope unfolds its primary mirror; is now fully deployed

The James Webb Space Telescope has been fully deployed, marking an important milestone in preparing the observatory for science operations.
Space News
The Hubble Space Telescope.

Hubble Space Telescope hits a milestone in its 31-year operation

The Hubble Space Telescope has passed a remarkable milestone, as it has now been operating for more than one billion seconds.
Space News
The SAINT-EX telescope

Exoplanet with eccentric orbit discovered in the habitable zone of a red dwarf

Astronomers have found a planet in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star, but its orbit is so elongated that it likely couldn't support life.
Space News
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