Science & Exploration 12/04/2024 574 views 9 likes One year of basic training will soon bear fruit for ESA’s astronaut candidates Sophie Adenot, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Rosemary Coogan, Raphaël Liégeois, Marco Sieber and Australian Space Agency astronaut...
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This Week In Space podcast: Episode 106 — Space Potpourri!
On Episode 106 of This Week In Space, Rod and Tariq take you on a tour of the coolest space places on Earth.Most you can visit; some are more problematic, but many are must-sees for we, the True Believers! They will tell you where they are, what's there to see,...
A galaxy’s bright flicker turned out to be two black holes dancing in the night
Scientists have found a large black hole that “hiccups,” giving off plumes of gas. Analysis revealed a tiny black hole was repeatedly punching through the larger black hole’s disk of gas, causing the plumes to release. Powerful magnetic fields, to the north and...
The Brightest Gamma Ray Burst Ever Seen Came from a Collapsing Star
After a journey lasting about two billion years, photons from an extremely energetic gamma-ray burst (GRB) struck the sensors on the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope on October 9th, 2022. The GRB lasted seven minutes but...
ESA – EarthCARE
The missionEquipped with four instruments, the Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite mission has been designed to make a range of different measurements that together will shed new light on the role that clouds and aerosols play in...
ULA chronicles the rise of Vulcan rocket in new employee-drawn comic book
Vulcan, United Launch Alliance's (ULA) new heavy-lift rocket, was not the result of having to flee an exploding planet, being exposed to gamma rays or even surviving the bite of a radioactive spider, but it does have an origin story compelling enough to warrant...
5 lesser-known stars that are worth the time and attention
Procyon. Credit: Fred Ringwald. There are many glittering Celebrity Stars in the Hollywood of the heavens, astronomical A Listers who everyone looks up at on every clear night and fawns over. But for every celestial Taylor Swift, Beyonce, or Tom Cruise, there...
Did An Ancient Icy Impactor Create the Martian Moons?
The Martian moons Phobos and Deimos are oddballs. While other Solar System moons are round, Mars’ moons are misshapen and lumpy like potatoes. They’re more like asteroids or other small bodies than moons. Because of their odd shapes and unusual compositions,...
ESA – Astro Chat with Sophie Adenot
Sophie Adenot is one of ESA's five astronaut candidates currently undergoing basic astronaut training at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany. Tune in as she shares her experiences in astronaut training, her favourite lessons, as well as tips on...
My formal 2024 solar eclipse apology
Since April 8, when I witnessed a total eclipse of the sun, I've been feeling progressively more melancholy. It isn't because I was underwhelmed, or because my vantage point wasn't ideal, or because of some depressing epiphany I had while watching the moon turn...