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The space shuttle Challenger — during its 10th launch – on Jan. 28, 1986, exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crewmembers and changing NASA’s space program forever. Challenger was the second shuttle to reach space, in April 1983. It successfully completed nine milestone missions during nearly three years of service. In total, the … Read more
Opinion The U.S. Congress needs to uphold the freedom to repair electronic devices Credit: Jacob SteadOpinion The U.S. Congress needs to uphold the freedom to repair electronic devices By: Kyle Wiens close Kyle Wiens is a right-to-repair advocate and CEO of iFixit, a free repair-manual Web site. He has dedicated his life to defeating the … Read more
In 2020, astronomers thought they’d found something incredible: the second so-called Earth Trojan asteroid ever seen. Now, a new team of researchers has confirmed that it’s real. Trojan asteroids are small space rocks that share their orbit with a planet, circling whatever host star that planet does in a stable orbit. While we have spotted … Read more
Spacecraft controllers started powering up the four cutting-edge instruments on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope as they prepare for the observatory’s first glimpses of a target star. That star, called HD 84406, is located 241 light-years from Earth and part of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The images will not be used for … Read more
Tick … tick … boom? In the center of a galaxy 1.2 billion light-years from Earth, astronomers say they have seen signs that two giant black holes, with a combined mass of hundreds of millions of Suns, are gearing up for a cataclysmic merger as soon as 100 days from now. The event, if it … Read more
The subject of astrophotography – taking photographs of the night sky – is such a broad one that it’s hard to know where to begin. We can help. Here, we’ve concentrated our knowledge into a beginner’s guide to astrophotography that will supply you with both basic techniques and creative ways to capture the night sky. … Read more
A new global estimate of tree diversity suggests there are thousands of undiscovered species, but many will be rare and vulnerable to extinction Environment 31 January 2022 By Adam Vaughan Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador, South America robertharding / Alamy Earth is home to many more types of tree than previously thought, according to researchers who … Read more
Earth has officially been joined in its orbit around the Sun by a new trojan asteroid. Named 2020 XL5, this chunk of rock is only the second object of its type ever to have been conclusively identified. Its discovery suggests that perhaps Earth trojans may be more common than we knew, and offers new insights … Read more
The Los Angeles City Council last week voted unanimously to ban new oil wells and phase out existing ones, a move leaders in the nation’s second-most populous city called essential for health reasons. The council declared oil wells “non-conforming” with the city’s land use requirements. A city commission now will study how to phase out … Read more
Digital cameras, and the excellent lenses that are available for them, mean it’s never been easier to photograph the Moon. Our nearest neighbor in space is a great object to start with if you’re a beginner looking to get into astrophotography, being bright, clear, and easy to spot (unless the weather gets in the way). … Read more