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Posts by
Deborah Byrd
NASA to broadcast Sunday’s Solar Orbiter launch
Solar Orbiter - aka SolO - will take the first direct images of the sun’s poles. Following Sunday's launch, the spacecraft will take a loopy path through the inner solar system, borrowing thrust from the powerful gravitational fields of Earth and Venus.
February 7, 2020
Congratulations, Christina Koch!
Astronaut Christina Koch has returned to Earth after a record-breaking stay of 328 days aboard the International Space Station. She now holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman.
February 6, 2020
Citizen scientists identify new form of northern lights
Space researchers and amateur photographers in Finland have categorized a new type of aurora, or northern lights. They call them “dunes.” Read more and see a video.
February 4, 2020
Warm water measured below Antarctic glacier
The warm water found flowing under Thwaites Glacier in western Antarctica helps explain its rapid melting. Thwaites is part of what's described the "weak underbelly" of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Its melting has implications for sea-level rise around the world.
February 4, 2020
How likely is another Carrington Event?
New research shows that "severe" space super-storms occurred in 42 of the last 150 years. "Great" super-storms happened in 6 out of the last 150 years. The new work sheds light on the famous Carrington event of 1859, the largest super-storm in recorded history.
January 30, 2020
ESA’s Solar Orbiter will launch next month
We know our sun is surrounded by a great bubble-like heliosphere, which sets our solar system apart from the rest of interstellar space. ESA's Solar Orbiter - due to launch in February 2020 - will probe how the sun creates and controls this heliosphere.
January 30, 2020
This week’s Venus and Neptune conjunction
The Venus-Neptune in conjunction on January 27 was the closest planetary conjunction of 2020. But - because Neptune is so faint - it wasn't easy to capture. Plus a star near Venus confused people!
January 28, 2020
Astronomers date an ancient Milky Way collision
The Gaia-Enceladus dwarf galaxy slammed into our Milky Way 11.5 billion years ago. It added the mass of 50 billion suns to the Milky Way. Grand names and big numbers! Now new knowledge of this collision comes from a single bright star visible in Southern Hemisphere skies.
January 20, 2020
These 2 outbound comets are likely from another solar system
Hyperbolic comets fly through our solar system at high speed before heading out to interstellar space, never to return. A new study from astronomers in Japan identifies 2 hyperbolic comets that likely originated outside our solar system.
January 19, 2020
It’s probably nothing: Gravitational wave burst detected near Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse has dimmed recently, prompting some to wonder if it's about to explode. An explosion might trigger a gravitational wave burst. Betelgeuse is still there. The nearby gravitational wave burst probably means nothing for this star. Still ...
January 15, 2020
