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From Moon landings to space-faring civilisation: Join the Vectis Astronomy Talk this month
The next Vectis Astronomical Society talk explores the incredible achievements of the post-Moon era. Presented by Neil Phillipson, Mankind’s Next Giant Leap takes place on Friday 27th September 2024 at 7.30pm at Newchurch Pavilion, Watery Lane, Newchurch (nearest postcode: PO36 0LX). This shows how the vast body of work the scientific community has done since…
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Small, untrackable pieces of space junk are cluttering low Earth orbit
This artist’s conception of orbital debris around Earth shows just the largest, trackable pieces. If one of these collides with a spacecraft, it could cause serious damage or failure. Credit: NASA It’s no question that we have begun polluting the space around Earth. While governments around the world have participated in cataloging and tracking the…
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Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse? One of the brightest stars in the sky may actually be 2 stars, study hints
The iconic star Betelgeuse, which is part of the constellation Orion, is one of the brightest stars visible from Earth and one of the most observed celestial objects in the night sky — but it may not be alone. A new theoretical study proposes that Betelgeuse has a sunlike companion that orbits it and may…
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Fans spot mystery symbol hidden in stunning James Webb Space Telescope photo
AN unexplained cosmic object has left scientists and space fans with more questions than answers. Nasa‘s James Webb Space Telescope captured a hazy red galaxy for the first time. A curious question mark shape has been spotted by Nasa’s James Webb Space TelescopeCredit: NASA While the finding was surprising on its own, it got even…
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Shortsighted, aging NASA faces uncertain future, says report to Congress
NASA’s Space Launch System stands beside Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA A report published Tuesday raises serious questions about NASA’s ability to effectively function as the nation’s preeminent space agency. The 218-page document, assembled by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) at the behest of Congress, warns that NASA is…
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Upcoming Polaris Dawn spacewalk will push the envelope
Astronaut Peggy Whitson performs a spacewalk in January 2017. Credit: NASA Space is an unnatural environment for humans. We can’t survive unprotected in a pure vacuum for more than two minutes. Getting to space involves being strapped to a barely contained chemical explosion. Since 1961, fewer than 700 people have been into space. Private space companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin hope to…
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Astronomers solve the mystery of the “robbery” of the jellyfish galaxy
The European Southern Observatory has published an image showing part of the Hydra cluster. In its center you can see the galaxy NGC 3312, which became a victim of a kind of cosmic “robbery”. It has lost almost all of its gas reserves. Galaxy NGC 3312. Source: ESO/INAF/M. Spavone, E. Iodice The Hydra cluster is…
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What??? James Webb telescope finds giant question mark in space
Since ancient times, humans have looked to the stars for answers to life’s biggest questions. Now, new images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) reveal a bizarre cosmic object that appears to be throwing a question of its own right back at us. Spotted by JWST’s Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph instrument, the object…
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Astronomy news, features and articles
Staring up into the night sky, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the seemingly infinite expanse of space, with every pinprick of light in the vast canopy of darkness a star holding secrets forged by 13.8 billion years of the universe’s existence. And yet, despite its great age and the unfathomable distance between us and…
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Astronomers worried by launch of five new super-bright satellites
Illustration of AST SpaceMobile’s satellites AST SpaceMobile An unusually reflective prototype satellite that outshines almost every star in the sky will be joined by another five later this week. Astronomers warn the appearance of more and more bright objects in the night sky will severely hinder their work and could even limit our ability to…