Alien and local comets
A team of NAOJ researchers has published in the MNRAS the orbits of two outbound comets and determined that these comets could easily be two more alien objects caught passing through our solar system. It is also possible that these are objects from the Oort Cloud that...
Strange Objects around Sag A*
Orbits of the G objects at the center of our galaxy, with the supermassive black hole marked with a white cross. Stars, gas, and dust are in the background. Credit: Anna Ciurlo, Tuan Do / UCLA Galactic Center Group We have known since the late 1990s that our galaxy...
Why are new planets still news?
Artist’s concept by Robin Dienel, courtesy of Carnegie Institution for Science Sometimes we as scientists forget to think of Earth when we think of planets. At NASA, they divide things up into Helioscience, Earth Science, Planetary Science, and Astrophysics, as if to...
Why is the sky red?
Wildfires rage under a plume of smoke in Barnsdale, Australia. December 30, 2019 If I sound like a curmudgeon, it may be because it’s a stormy Friday with unrelenting cold and cloud and ice pellets falling from the sky. Weather and light both affect mood. I can’t...
Weird Valtira asteroid
2020 AV2 orbits entirely within the orbit of Venus. Credit: Bryce Bolin/Caltech Sometimes these incremental steps are small and seemingly inconsequential. For instance, yesterday CalTech announced the discovery of the first asteroid discovered to have an orbit that...
Phosphorous from comets
Thanks to ALMA, astronomers could pinpoint where phosphorus-bearing molecules form in star-forming regions like AFGL 5142. Credit:ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Rivilla et al.; ESO/L. Calçada; ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM; Mario Weigand, www.SkyTrip.de Stuff smacking into other stuff is...
Merging binary stars near Sag A*
Artist's impression of G objects, with the reddish centers, orbiting the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. The black hole is represented as a dark sphere inside a white ring (above the middle of the rendering). Credit: Jack Ciurlo Filed under things...
SpaceX becomes the largest satellite operator
The first mission of the year was Starlink-2, where a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 60 additional satellites into orbit on January 7, 2020 at 2:19 AM (UTC). Before we go on, we need to chat about the mission name. Yes, it was the third launch of...
Dragon returns to earth
Around eight hours after a Falcon 9 was launched, CRS-19 came back to Earth after a month-long stay at the space station. According to a NASA press release, the SpaceX Dragon Cargo was released from the International Space Station at 10:05 AM UTC and splashed...
CASC launches TJSW-5
The TJSW 5 — or TJS 5 — is the fifth in a line of secretive satellites. China often announces the owner or end users of the satellites they launch, even if government-owned. This was not the case for this launch or for any of the others in the series. Chinese...
Join the Crew!
Escape Velocity Space News