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Latest by G. Torbet

The back of the iPhone 12 Pro being held by someone.

Make sure your Apple devices are updated to protect against this vulnerability

If you have an Apple device like an iPhone or an iPad, then you should make sure that you've updated to iOS 14.4.2 as soon as possible.
An artist's impression of an asteroid approaching Earth

Good news: The Earth won’t be impacted by a 1,100-foot-long asteroid after all

A huge asteroid that gained notoriety due to its potential to impact the planet in 2068 won't strike us after all, new data shows.
X-ray Image of Galaxy M51

Listen to the sound of a nebula with the space data sonification project

The data sonification project takes signals picked up by an X-Ray observatory and translates them into sound for an auditory experience of astronomical data.
spacex footage shows starship rocket test in stunning detail

SpaceX’s big Starship high altitude test delayed until Monday

SpaceX will soon perform a test on its Starship SN11 prototype in which it is launched 6 miles into the air before coming down and attempting a clean landing.
A view of the M87 supermassive black hole in polarised light

This incredible image shows the magnetic field of a black hole

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project has released another new and unique view of a black hole: An image which shows a black hole's magnetic field.
Illustration of TESS

2,200 exoplanet candidates discovered in 2 years: TESS has been busy

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite is celebrating more than 2,200 exoplanet candidates discovered in its first two years of operations.
Illustration of an exoplanet

NASA wants to use a tiny satellite to help investigate exoplanet atmospheres

NASA is considering launched a small satellite called Pandora that could help investigate the atmospheres of planets beyond our solar system.
An illustration of NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter flying on Mars

Here’s the plan for the first flight of the Mars helicopter Ingenuity

NASA has announced more details about the much-awaited first flight of the companion to the Mars rover Perseverance, the helicopter Ingenuity.
harvesting hydration on mars

Harvesting hydration: How future settlers will create and collect water on Mars

Mars looks like a dry, inhospitable desert. So where will explorers get water from? We spoke to three experts to find out.
harvesting hydration on mars

Finding blue on a red planet: How explorers will collect, cultivate water on Mars

Centaurus A sports a warped central disk of gas and dust, which is evidence of a past collision and merger with another galaxy. It also has an active galactic nucleus that periodically emits jets. It is the fifth brightest galaxy in the sky and only about 13 million light-years away from Earth, making it an ideal target to study an active galactic nucleus – a supermassive black hole emitting jets and winds – with NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope.

How James Webb will peer through a dusty cloud to study supermassive black hole

NASA has shared a glimpse into the work the James Webb telescope will perform in a profile of research to be conducted on the nearby galaxy Centaurus A.
This image shows an artist’s impression of winds in Jupiter’s stratosphere near the planet’s south pole, with the blue lines representing wind speeds.

Dramatic winds on Jupiter are a ‘unique meteorological beast’

The first measurement of winds in Jupiter's stratosphere found winds of up to 900 mph near the poles which whipped around in narrow bands called jets.
This mosaic of Mars is composed of about 100 Viking Orbiter images. The images were acquired in 1980 during mid-northern summer on Mars.

What happened to Mars’ water? It’s more complicated than we thought

Scientists agree that billions of years ago, Mars had liquid water on its surface which formed lakes and oceans. But where did Mars's water go?
Hubble Space Telescope images of Saturn taken in 2018, 2019, and 2020 as the planet’s northern hemisphere summer transitions to fall.

Hubble captures seasonal weather changes on Saturn

Saturn's seasons last more than seven years, but Hubble has captured small changes which show its northern hemisphere transitioning from summer to fall.
This image of the spiral galaxy Messier 106, or NGC 4258, was taken with the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. A popular target for amateur astronomers, Messier 106 can also be spotted with a small telescope in the constellation Canes Venatici.

This beautiful galaxy is being warped by its hungry supermassive black hole

This spiral galaxy is named Messier 106, or NGC 4258, and despite its apparently tranquil appearance, it is the site of a hungry, hungry black hole.
An artistic rendering of Kraken Mare, the large liquid methane sea on Saturn’s moon Titan.

Saturn’s moon Titan could be the perfect place to host life

New research suggests that hydrocarbons and liquid water could mix on TItan, creating the perfect petri dish for life to potentially emerge.
The Soyuz MS-17 crew ship, with three Expedition 64 crew members inside, is pictured after undocking from the Rassvet module beginning its short trip to the Poisk module.

International Space Station astronauts do a Soyuz shuffle

To prepare for the arrival of an incoming flight to the ISS, the crew took a currently docked Soyuz craft on a short trip to the other side of the station.
In this illustration, NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter stands on the Red Planet's surface as NASA's Perseverance rover (partially visible on the left) rolls away. Ingenuity arrived at Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, attached to the belly of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover.

Mars helicopter Ingenuity is getting ready for its first flight

NASA has announced that it plans to begin Ingenuity's test flights in the first week of April, depending on vehicle positioning and other details.
This painting by William K. Hartmann, who is a senior scientist emeritus at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, is based on a commission from Michael Belton and shows a concept of the ‘Oumuamua object as a pancake-shaped disk

Interstellar visitor ‘Oumuamua was a piece of Pluto-like planet, not aliens

In 2017, a cigar-shaped object was spotted in the sky and was identified as coming from outside our solar system. Now researchers think they know what it was.
Life on Mars Astro Agriculture Feature

Astroagriculture: How we’ll grow crops on Mars

If we ever hope to keep astronauts alive on Mars for a long-term visit, we'll need to figure out how to grow crops in Martian soil. Is such a thing possible?
This unusual lenticular galaxy, which is between a spiral and elliptical shape, has lost almost all the gas and dust from its signature spiral arms, which used to orbit around its center. Known as NGC 1947, this galaxy was discovered almost 200 years ago by James Dunlop, a Scottish-born astronomer who later studied the sky from Australia. NGC 1947 can only be seen from the southern hemisphere, in the constellation Dorado (the Dolphinfish).

Hubble captures an aging galaxy that is slowly fading away

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured this beautiful image of a lenticular galaxy called NGC 1947.
A strangely elongated cloud named the Arsia Mons Elongated Cloud or AMEC.

Mars webcam reveals the secrets of this enormous, elongated cloud

A huge cloud on Mars stretching over 1,100 miles long grows and shrinks considerably on a daily cycle that lasts for several months.
A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off on May 30, for the first crewed test flight of the Crew Dragon capsule. flight

SpaceX uses rocket booster for record 9th time in Starlink launch

SpaceX launched a batch of Starlink satellites and successfully caught the rocket's first stage for reuse for a record ninth time.
This photo shows the view from inside the dome of NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility during a night of observing. The 3.2-meter (10.5-foot) telescope atop Hawaii’s Mauna Kea will be used to measure the infrared spectrum of asteroid 2001 FO32.

Huge, speedy asteroid to pass close to Earth next week

As asteroid will be whipping past Earth on March 21, coming within just five times the distance between the Earth and the moon.
Glover and Hopkins working outside the ISS during their spacewalk on March 13, 2021

ISS astronauts checked for toxic ammonia contamination during spacewalk

Astronauts had to be checked for ammonia during a spacewalk outside the ISS, after the toxic chemical could have gotten on their spacesuits.
This image is an artist’s impression of the exoplanet GJ 1132 b. For the first time, scientists using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have found evidence of volcanic activity reforming the atmosphere on this rocky planet, which has a similar density, size, and age to that of Earth.

This weird exoplanet is regrowing its atmosphere

Researchers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a very odd planet that seems to be regrowing its atmosphere after having lost it in the past.
This image shows a close-up view of the rock target named “Máaz” from the SuperCam instrument on NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. It was taken by SuperCam’s Remote Micro-Imager (RMI). “Máaz” means Mars in the Navajo language.

See and hear the first science results from Perseverance’s SuperCam instrument

The Perseverance rover is now exploring Mars and its SuperCam was used to snap a close-up image of a rock and to take an audio recording.
NASA Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble Space Telescope back up and running following software error

Hubble paused its operations this week following a software issue. With the issue now resolved, the telescope has begun its scientific operations once more.
spacexs eighth starlink launch set for this weekend space x satellite

How to watch SpaceX’s Starlink launch early tomorrow morning

SpaceX is gearing up for another launch of Starlink satellites, with plans for a launch scheduled early in the morning of Sunday, March 14.
This artist’s illustration represents the possible interior dynamics of the super-Earth exoplanet LHS 3844b. The planet's interior properties and the strong stellar irradiation might lead to a hemispheric tectonic regime.

Tectonic activity on this exoplanet could mean one half is covered in volcanoes

Global tectonic activity has never been observed on a planet outside our solar system, but now a new study suggests that exoplanet LHS 3844b has interior flows.
NGC 2336 is the quintessential galaxy — big, beautiful and blue — and it is captured here by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The barred spiral galaxy stretches an immense 200 000 light-years across and is located approximately 100 million light years away in the northern constellation of Camelopardalis (The Giraffe).

Bask in this glorious Hubble image of a ‘quintessential’ barred spiral galaxy

The Hubble Space Telescope has snapped yet another beautiful image of the wonders to be found out in the depths of space.
NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins has tended to multiple plant experiments on the International Space Station (ISS). Hopkins believes plants grown in space can help astronauts become more self-sufficient.

ISS astronauts tend to their zero-gravity veggie garden

Astronauts on the International Space Station are tending to their veggie garden, where they are growing lettuce, radishes, and now mustard greens and pak choi.
During its final full systems test, technicians powered on all of the James Webb Space Telescope's various electrical components installed on the observatory, and cycled through their planned operations to ensure each was functioning, and communicating with each other.

Hubble successor James Webb Space Telescope is almost ready for launch

NASA's successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, is inching closer to its launch date.
Technicians observe Boeing’s Starliner crew module being placed on top of the service module in the Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 14, 2021. The Starliner spacecraft is being prepared for Boeing’s second Orbital Flight Test (OFT-2). As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, OFT-2 is a critical developmental milestone on the company’s path to fly crew missions for NASA.

Boeing Starliner test flight delayed once again

The Starliner test flight was already delayed last month, and has now been pushed back once more. The test flight is now aiming for April.