tricky

Look up to spot the tricky planet Mercury at its ‘greatest elongation’ from the sun tonight

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This sky map shows the view from New York City just after sunset on Jan. 7, 2022. (Image credit: SkySafari app) The flighty planet Mercury, typically a tricky observing challenge from planet Earth, will be at its greatest distance from the sun in our sky Friday (Jan. 7). While Mercury will be shining quite brightly … Read more

James Webb Space Telescope completes tricky sunshield deployment

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The James Webb Space Telescope has successfully deployed all five layers of its tennis-court-sized sunshield, a prerequisite for the telescope’s science operations and the most nerve-wracking part of its risky deployment. The challenging procedure, which required careful tensioning of each of the five hair-thin layers of the elaborate sunshield structure was a seamless success today … Read more