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Latest by G. Torbet

Illustration of NASA’s DART spacecraft and the Italian Space Agency’s (ASI) LICIACube prior to impact at the Didymos binary system.

NASA’s anti-asteroid DART mission sends back its first images

NASA's DART spacecraft which is on its way to crash into an asteroid has sent back its first images, confirming that its camera is operating well.
james webb space telescope exoplanet search

The James Webb Space Telescope is about to supercharge our hunt for exoplanets

The James Webb Space Telescope is set to launch in the coming months, and when it does, it will completely revolutionize how we hunt for habitable planets.
This illustration, updated as of March 2021, depicts NASA's Psyche spacecraft. Set to launch in August 2022, the Psyche mission will explore a metal-rich asteroid of the same name that lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

NASA is launching a mission to weird metal asteroid Psyche next year

NASA has revealed more about its plans to visit the strange metal asteroid Psyche, as part of a mission launching next year.
This artist’s impression shows an example of a rogue planet with the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex visible in the background. Rogue planets have masses comparable to those of the planets in our Solar System but do not orbit a star, instead roaming freely on their own.

Largest ever group of lonely rogue planets discovered in Milky Way

Deep in the cold, dark emptiness of interstellar space, you can find some lonely planets roaming freely and not orbiting a star.
Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope onboard, is seen at the launch pad, Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021, at Europe’s Spaceport, the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.

James Webb Space Telescope launched on mission to uncover secrets of the universe

A new era in astronomy is underway, with the successful launch today of the world's most powerful space telescope.
SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft, seen atop a Falcon 9 rocket, at the launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 24, 2021, in preparation for the company’s 23rd commercial resupply services mission.

How to watch SpaceX launch a cargo ship to the space station this week

This week, SpaceX will launch an uncrewed cargo ship to deliver supplies to the International Space Station, and we've got all the details on how to watch.
a Hatch chile pepper on the ISS

Spice in space: Inside NASA’s groundbreaking zero-gravity chile pepper project

Astronauts on the ISS are now growing and eating chile peppers in space, so we caught up with NASA to get some pointers on gardening in microgravity.
Illustration of the black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of the Milky Way.

Research confirms enormous mass of supermassive black hole at center of galaxy

A new study reveals the most precise information yet about the mass of the enormous black hole at the center of our galaxy.
spaceX falcon 9

SpaceX launches two missions in one day, setting new record

SpaceX has made two launches within one day using its Falcon 9 rockets, setting a new record for the shortest interval yet between launches.
Perspective view of Candor Chasma

Trace Gas Orbiter finds a canyon on Mars ‘packed full’ of water ice

A recent study has revealed plentiful water beneath the martian surface in the Valles Marineris canyon system.
This JunoCam image shows two of Jupiter's large rotating storms, captured on Juno’s 38th perijove pass, on Nov. 29, 2021.

Hear the sounds of Jupiter’s moon, Ganymede, as captured by the Juno spacecraft

The Juno spacecraft is famous for capturing images of Jupiter. But Juno scientists have released an audio track of its flyby of Jupiter's moon Ganymede.
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover.

Perseverance rover data reveals the secrets of Mars’ Jezero crater

The Perseverance rover has made exciting findings about the location it is exploring on Mars, the Jezero crater.
NASA technicians lift the James Webb Telescope, using a crane, and move it inside a clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope delayed until Christmas eve

NASA has announced that the launch of its next-generation telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, has been delayed until Christmas eve.
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is seen in a close-up taken by Mastcam-Z, a pair of zoomable cameras aboard the Perseverance rover. This image was taken on April 5, 2021, the 45th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

Mars helicopter Ingenuity reaches remarkable milestone in its mission

The little Mars helicopter Ingenuity has reached an impressive milestone, hitting a total of 30 minutes spent in the air above the red planet.
spacex sxm 8 launch how to watch sirius xm

How to watch SpaceX’s latest Starlink satellite launch today

SpaceX will shortly be launching a batch of Starlink satellites today, December 18, and we've got the details on how you can watch along at home.
This astronomical portrait from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcases an edge-on view of the majestic spiral galaxy UGC 11537. The infrared and visible light capabilities of Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 have captured the galaxy’s tightly wound spiral arms swirling around its heart. The image reveals the bright bands of stars and the dark clouds of dust threading throughout the galaxy.

Hubble image captures a stunning spiral galaxy in the constellation of Aquila

This week's image from Hubble captures a spiral galaxy at an angle which shows off both its long spiral arms and the bright clump of stars at its center
All meteors appear to come from the same place in the sky, which is called the radiant. The Geminids appear to radiate from a point in the constellation Gemini, hence the name “Geminids.” The graphic shows the radiants of 388 meteors with speeds of 35 km/s observed by the NASA Fireball Network in December 2020. All the radiants are in Gemini, which means they belong to the Geminid shower.

How to watch the Geminid meteor shower this week, in person or online

If you'd like to see the Geminid meteor shower, we have details on how to observe it either in person or online.
This ethereal image, captured from Chile by the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab, looks as delicate as a butterfly’s wing. It is, however, a structure known as the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula, which is located near the center of the even larger Chamaeleon I dark cloud, one of the nearest star-forming regions in our Milky Way.

A stunning infrared nebula hides astronomical objects of interest

A beautiful image of a distant nebula has been captured using the international Gemini Observatory, located in Chile.
The crew of New Shepard NS-19. Pictured from left to right: Dylan Taylor, Lane Bess, Cameron Bess, Laura Shepard Churchley, Michael Strahan, and Evan Dick.

Blue Origin launches crew of six space tourists to the edge of space

Blue Origin has successfully launched a six-person crew to the edge of space for the first time.
Caption: A false-color image of the sulfurous Venusian cloud cover was produced using two ultraviolet channels from Akatsuki, the Japanese PLANET-C, and Venus Climate Orbiter, which highlights the convective turbulence of the planet's tropical regions, in contrast with the clear, smoother polar regions.

MIT researchers detail plans for private missions to search for life on Venus

A suite of new privately-funded missions will be heading to Venus to search our neighboring planet for signs of life, beginning in 2023.
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is seen in a close-up taken by Mastcam-Z, a pair of zoomable cameras aboard the Perseverance rover. This image was taken on April 5, 2021, the 45th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

Mars helicopter taking a break due to communications issue with Perseverance

The Mars helicopter Ingenuity will be taking a break for a few days while NASA engineers work out a communications issue between it and the rover Perseverance.
This artist’s impression shows a close up of the planet b Centauri b, which orbits a binary system with mass at least six times that of the Sun. This is the most massive and hottest planet-hosting star system found to date. The planet is ten times as massive as Jupiter and orbits the two-star system at 100 times the distance Jupiter orbits the Sun.

Astronomers discover enormous planet in extreme, massive star system

Astronomers have discovered a planet some previously thought to be impossible, orbiting an enormous and extremely hot star system.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches with NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft onboard from Launch Complex 39A, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The IXPE spacecraft is the first satellite dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from a variety of cosmic sources, such as black holes and neutron stars. Launch occurred at 1 a.m. EST.

NASA launches Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer to study the X-ray universe

NASA launched its latest mission this week: A space-based observatory which will use X-ray instruments to study black holes, neutron stars, and pulsars.
The Hubble Space Telescope floats above Earth.

Hubble Space Telescope restored and active following synchronization issue

After an error that occurred in late October forced it into safe mode, the Hubble Space Telescope is now back up and running at full strength.
A strange cube-shaped feature spotted on the moon by China's Yutu-2 rover.

Chinese rover spots weird cube-shaped feature on the far side of the moon

China's Yutu-2 rover, currently exploring the far side of the moon, has spotted a strange cube-shaped object on the moon's surface.
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features the spiral galaxy Mrk (Markarian) 1337, which is roughly 120 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Virgo. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 snapped Mrk 1337 at a wide range of ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths, producing this richly detailed image. Mrk 1337 is a weakly barred spiral galaxy, which as the name suggests means that the spiral arms radiate from a central bar of gas and stars. Bars occur in roughly half of spiral galaxies, including our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

Hubble Space Telescope captures a sparkling spiral galaxy

This week's image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a picture-perfect galaxy, located 120 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo.
Just as people at a busy crossroad may accidentally bump into each other, so too can galaxies in the Universe! But in this case, the outcome is more dramatic than a small nudge. When two galaxies clash, they merge into each other, giving birth to a new, bigger one. One example is the NGC 7727 galaxy, shown in this image from ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) in Chile.

Closest pair of supermassive black holes is merging into one mega black hole

Astronomers have recently discovered the closest ever pair of supermassive black holes, which will eventually merge into one even larger black hole.
The four pepper plants that grew for 137 days aboard the International Space Station are pictured shortly before the second and final harvest for the Plant Habitat-04 experiment.

Astronauts on the ISS pick a second peck of chili peppers

Astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) have harvested a second batch of chili peppers grown on the station.
Illustration of NASA's Laser Communications Relay Demonstration communicating over laser links.

How to watch NASA’s Laser Communications launch early on Monday

NASA's communication system will soon be getting a serious upgrade, with the launch of a new laser communications relay system early tomorrow morning.
The Hubble Space Telescope is currently in safe mode once again after an instrument issue.

Hubble inches back to health with 3 out of 4 instruments now running

Hubble Space Telescope is moving toward recovery after an error caused it to switch into safe mode. Three out of its four (active) instruments are now running.
Artist im­pres­sion of Plan­et GJ 367

A year lasts just 8 hours on tiny, hellish planet bombarded by radiation

Astronomers have discovered a terrifying planet: Smaller than Earth and so close to its star that it completes an orbit in just eight hours.
A Total Solar Eclipse Over Hopkinsville, Kentucky in 2017

See a stunning view of today’s solar eclipse as captured from Antarctica

A solar eclipse passed over parts of the southern hemisphere early this morning, including parts of South Africa, Chile, New Zealand, and Australia.
An illustration of the low-Earth orbit space station planned by Northrop Grumman.

NASA picks 3 companies to design private space stations

NASA continues its push to commercialize low-Earth orbit, with the announcement of three companies which have been chosen to design private space stations.
disney plus free subscription trial psa 5 768x768

Is there an official Disney+ Cyber Monday deal in 2021?

Wondering if there's an official Disney+ Cyber Monday deal? The simple answer is no, but there's else something you should know.