Space

Space and science coverage including asteroids, galaxies, planets, NASA and SpaceX launches.

NASA’s TESS exoplanet hunter found its first Earth-size planet, but you wouldn’t want to visit

April 16th, 2019

NASA’s TESS exoplanet hunting telescope has been on the job for less than a year, but it’s already racking up some impressive discoveries. Following the announcement of a new “Hot Saturn” back in March, NASA just revealed that TESS found its first Earth-sized planet outside of our solar system. TESS — which stands for Transiting …

Science

Nearby exoplanet may have the potential to support life

April 16th, 2019

Mike Wehner

Finding planets outside of our solar system is a challenge, and determining the size, composition, and surface conditions of such planets is more difficult still. Figuring out whether life could exist on an exoplanet, based on all the previous information? Well that’s about as difficult a challenge as an astronomer can imagine, but researchers from …

Science

NASA’s Cassini discovers shockingly deep lakes on Saturn’s moon Titan

April 16th, 2019

Mike Wehner

It’s been well over a year since NASA’s incredibly trusty Cassini probe performed its final act, plunging into Saturn’s atmosphere where it was obliterated by the intense friction. It was a bittersweet day for the astronomy community, but the wealth of information Cassini gathered during its over 13 years orbiting Saturn is still yielding new …

Science

SpaceIL’s first lander crashed into the Moon, but they’re already planning a second try

April 15th, 2019

Mike Wehner

It’s been a very interesting month thus far for SpaceIL, the Israeli organization which sent the Beresheet lunar lander into space and subsequently crashed it into the Moon. Needless to say, things didn’t go exactly as planned, and while the mission was a huge success in a number of ways the company would love another …

Science

This is the last thing Israel’s lunar lander saw before smashing into the Moon

April 15th, 2019

Mike Wehner

Last week, Israel attempted to do something that only three other countries have accomplished in the history of mankind by landing a spacecraft on the Moon. The privately-funded mission, which is the first of its kind to attempt such a lofty feat, ultimately came up a little bit short. The Beresheet lander experienced a major …

Science

A new world was found in our solar system, and you can help name it

April 13th, 2019

Mike Wehner

Being allowed to officially name a planetary body is a privilege that few are ever granted. Typically, new planets, moons, and other large objects found in space are named by the person or group that discovered them, but many of them are never formally named at all, sitting with their scientifically-designated label for years. The …

Science

We now know why Israel’s lunar lander crashed into the Moon

April 12th, 2019

Mike Wehner

Yesterday, Israel’s first mission to the Moon ended in a rather abrupt and unsatisfying manner. SpaceIL’s Beresheet lunar lander, which was part of a privately-funded mission that would have made Israel the fourth country to successfully land on the Moon, faltered at the very last second. In the immediate aftermath of the lander’s crash it …

Science

Why didn’t scientists photograph the black hole at the center of the Milky Way?

April 11th, 2019

Mike Wehner

After years of work and a whole lot of hype, researchers working with the Event Horizon Telescope project finally unveiled the very first image ever captured of an actual black hole this week. The relatively low-res image was nonetheless fantastic, and the fact that scientists were able to capture an image of the black hole …

Science

SpaceX is going to try to launch its Falcon Heavy yet again – watch it live here

April 11th, 2019

Mike Wehner

It’s been a rough week for the folks at SpaceX. The second-ever launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket was supposed to happen on Sunday, and then again on Tuesday, and yet again on Wednesday. Needless to say, none of those dates fit the bill, with most of the delays related to poor weather conditions. Now, …

Science

Watch Israel’s first-ever Moon landing live

April 11th, 2019

Mike Wehner

It’s been a number of weeks since Israel launched a privately-funded mission orbit and then land on Earth’s Moon. Things got off to a bit of a rough start, with the spacecraft experiencing a strange computer glitch that prevented it from completing traveling all the way to lunar orbit on schedule, but it quickly got …