Great Space

2021-11-29 22:09:37 Strange signals on Venus may be coming from an erupting volcano
Future missions will settle the matter once and for all

A new study adds to a growing pile of evidence that Venus may be volcanically active — a finding that, if true, would help explain how volcanoes impact planetary evolution and habitability across the cosmos. The research, which focuses on strange signals coming from a Venusian volcano called Idunn Mons, is fueling excitement about future missions to Earth’s nearest neighbor that will settle the matter once and for all.

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2021-11-27 23:20:26 Black Hole Collision May Have Exploded With Light

Astronomers may have seen light from the merger of two black holes, providing opportunities to learn about these mysterious dark objects.

This artist's concept shows a supermassive black hole surrounded by a disk of gas. Embedded in this disk are two smaller black holes that may have merged together to form a new black hole.

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2021-11-25 23:12:15 NASA wants to defend Earth from asteroids — so it’s slamming a spacecraft into one

NASA launched a spacecraft the size of a refrigerator, sending it on a crash course with an asteroid in 2022 — and it’s all on purpose. This intentional self-destruction will tell us if slamming a spacecraft into an asteroid is enough to save Earth in the future if a massive space rock is headed our way

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2021-11-23 17:19:20 Hubble spots swirls of dust in the Flame Nebula

The Flame Nebula, also called NGC 2024, is a large star-forming region in the constellation Orion that lies about 1,400 light-years from Earth. It’s a portion of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, which includes such famous nebulae as the Horsehead Nebula and Orion Nebula. This image focuses on the dark, dusty heart of the nebula, where a star cluster resides, mostly hidden from view. Nearby (but not visible in this image) is the bright star Alnitak, the easternmost star in the Belt of Orion. Radiation from Alnitak ionizes the Flame Nebula’s hydrogen gas. As the gas begins to cool from its higher-energy state to a lower-energy state, it emits energy in the form of light, causing the visible glow behind the swirled wisps of dust.

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2021-11-21 23:18:48 Astra reaches orbit for the first time with LV0007 launch
The rocket reached orbit in about nine minutes

Astra is now on the list of privately-owned space companies that have successfully reached orbit. Its Launch Vehicle 0007 (LV0007), which was carrying a test payload for the US military, took off from the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak Island, Alaska on Saturday at 1:16AM ET. Following a smooth liftoff, the 43-foot rocket achieved orbit around nine minutes later at 500km above Earth.

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2021-11-19 20:09:52 Visualizations show the extensive cloud of debris Russia’s anti-satellite test created
It’s going to be a problem for years, if not decades

Satellite trackers have been working overtime to figure out just how much dangerous debris Russia created when it destroyed one of its own satellites early Monday — and the picture they’ve painted looks bleak. Multiple visual simulations of Russia’s anti-satellite, or ASAT, test show a widespread cloud of debris that will likely menace other objects in orbit for years.

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2021-11-15 18:44:00 Thing of mystery and beauty.

This complex nebula is filled with glowing gases, lanes of dust, and stars of all ages—but what interests astronomers the most is what ISN'T there. One of its most distinctive features is the dark, starry gap called a “superbubble,” visible in this image in the upper central region.

The hole is about 250 light-years wide and its presence is still something of a mystery. Stellar winds expelled by massive stars in the bubble's interior may have driven away the gas, but this is inconsistent with measured wind velocities in the bubble. Another possibility, since the nebula is filled with massive stars that would expire in titanic explosions, is that the expanding shells of old supernovae sculpted the cosmic cavern.

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2021-11-13 19:24:28 SpaceX launches 53 Starlink internet satellites and lands rocket in foggy flight

It's SpaceX's second rocket launch in a busy week.

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2021-11-13 19:19:39 Explore swirling deposits on Mars.

The swirling and looping texture is typical of the deposits on the floor of the Hellas impact basin in the Southern Hemisphere of Red Planet.

Hellas is one of the largest identified impact craters, both on Mars and within the Solar System. The exact reason for its origin is a puzzle however, and could be attributed to one of many different processes: salt tectonism, or viscous deformation of ice and sediments, for example.

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2021-11-11 23:39:47 Watch live: SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts headed to space station
Docking is Thursday, Nov. 11, at 7:14 p.m. EST (23:14 GMT).

SpaceX's successfully launched four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA on Nov. 10. They will arrive at the station Thursday evening. Known as Crew-3, the mission will mark SpaceX's fourth crewed spaceflight and will ferry NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Kayla Barron and European Space Agency Matthias Maurer on a six-month mission to the space station.

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