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Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders' plane crashes northwest of Seattle. Search and rescue underway

Prehistoric engravings of giant snakes along South America's Orinoco river are among the largest examples of rock art we know of anywhere in the world, with some stretching for more than 40 metres.The Orinoco is one of the world's largest rivers, flowing through Venezuela and along its border with Colombia. "There's an outstanding record of rock art along the Orinoco, especially on the Venezuelan side," says José Oliver at University College London. "Usually, they are paintings found in rock shelters."Engravings are common in many open-air sites along the river, he says, but not all of them have been officially recorded...Since...

Here is a live stream of the latest attempt to get Starliner off the ground from Nasa Space Flight's youtube channel. Launch is scheduled for 10:52 EDT. This is an instantaneous launch window. If they have any delay it will be scrubbed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rInMeY7m4vA I tried to find the betting odds on it actually getting off the ground today, but couldn't find anything. My bet is 50%. Tomorrow SpaceX is launching Starship Flight Test 4. Launch window starts at 8 am EDT. I give SpaceX 90% chance of getting it off the ground.

Explanation: Why does Comet Pons-Brooks now have tails pointing in opposite directions? The most spectacular tail is the blue-glowing ion tail that is visible flowing down the image. The ion tail is pushed directly out from the Sun by the solar wind. On the upper right is the glowing central coma of Comet 12P/Pons–Brooks. Fanning out from the coma, mostly to the left, is the comet's dust tail. Pushed out and slowed down by the pressure of sunlight, the dust tail tends to trail the comet along its orbit and, from some viewing angles, can appear opposite to the ion...

Explanation: No one, presently, sees the Moon rotate like this. That's because the Earth's moon is tidally locked to the Earth, showing us only one side. Given modern digital technology, however, combined with many detailed images returned by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a high resolution virtual Moon rotation movie has been composed. The featured time-lapse video starts with the standard Earth view of the Moon. Quickly, though, Mare Orientale, a large crater with a dark center that is difficult to see from the Earth, rotates into view just below the equator. From an entire lunar month condensed into 24...

The most distant galaxy discovered to date, JADES-GS-z14-0, less than 300 million years after the Big Bang. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Brant Robertson/UC Santa Cruz, Ben Johnson/CfA, Sandro Tacchella/Cambridge, Phill Cargile/CfA) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A newly discovered galaxy has just smashed the record for the earliest seen yet, presenting a major challenge to our current models of galaxy formation. It's called JADES-GS-z14-0, and its brightly gleaming in the early Universe, as it looked less than 300 million years after the Big Bang. A second recent discovery, called JADES-GS-z14-1, was confirmed to be nearly as distant. The detections, astronomers say, are now "unambiguous",...

Voyager 1 is once again returning data from two of four science instruments onboard. Things are looking better for one of NASA’s longest running deep space missions. After a several-month period of problems, engineers have announced that the Voyager 1 spacecraft is not only back online but also transmitting useful data from two of four science instruments. Work is now underway to bring the remaining two instruments up to operational status. Problems began last November, when Voyager 1 suddenly began sending a repeating gibberish signal instead of the science and engineering data it typically sends. Troubleshooting on the 46-year-old spacecraft...

Gliese 12 b is a newly discovered rocky exoplanet, between Earth and Venus in size. It orbits a red dwarf star 40 light-years away..."Transiting" means this world passes in front of its star from our earthly perspective. That fact makes it possible to observe with TESS, whose full name is the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite...The uncertainties about Gliese 12 b center on its possible atmopshere. If it doesn't have an atmosphere, computer models indicate its average surface temperature are slightly warmer than Earthlike, with an average temperature of only around 107 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius). That's in contrast to...

In 5,259 BC, our planet was bombarded with a shower of highly energetic particles resulting from a rare cosmic event of exceptional magnitude. Initially revealed through the discovery of carbon isotopes measured in ancient tree ring data, the event produced a roughly two percent increase in atmospheric Carbon-14 (14C), making it one of the strongest events of its kind known to scientists...The breakthrough relied on the combination of annual growth ring measurements with the measurable spike in cosmogenic radiocarbon that occurred during the 5259 BC event. This allowed them to establish a chronological reference point for producing accurate dates for...

A bright green fireball illuminated the night sky over Montana, U.S., at approximately 05:45 UTC on May 21, 2024 (23:45 LT, May 20). The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 65 reports from users in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, U.S., as well as in Alberta, Canada. This event follows an exceptionally bright meteor over Spain and Portugal on May 18. The meteor was described as unreal, massive, and a once-in-a-lifetime event. “That’s crazy! Mad props to the person that was able to get this footage,” one eyewitness wrote on X.

Two dwarf galaxies (top and bottom) orbit the much larger Andromeda galaxy. DAVID DAYAG/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When astronomers fret about the “missing satellites problem,” they’re not talking about spacecraft in Earth orbit. Their problem is much bigger: For decades, far fewer dwarf galaxies have been seen orbiting the Milky Way and other large galaxies than predicted by models of galaxy formation. But now, two groups of astronomers have found evidence for not just a sufficient number of satellite galaxies to satisfy the simulations—but too many. “Maybe we’ve oversolved the problem,” says Marcel Pawlowski, an astronomer at the Leibniz Institute for...

Scientists using the SPECULOOS (Search for Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars) telescope network have reported the discovery of an Earth-sized planet orbiting the most common star type in the galaxy a mere 55 light years away. Given that the farthest star ever spotted by human scientists lies over 9 billion light-years from Earth, this newly discovered rocky world is one of the closest such space bodies ever spotted. Dubbed SPECULOOS-3 b, the planet orbits an ultracool red dwarf star, the most common star in the Milky Way galaxy. This type of star can live 100 times longer than our Sun, making...

A groundbreaking new pulsed plasma propulsion system could soon enable faster and safer crewed missions to planets like Mars, according to a leading developer of novel technologies aimed at advancing the next stages of human space exploration. Scottsdale, Arizona-based space technology developer Howe Industries recently announced that its Pulsed Plasma Rocket (PPR) could represent a game-changer in advanced propulsion for space travel, allowing crewed missions to significantly reduce the travel time required to reach Mars. According to current timelines, NASA aims to send the first crewed missions to Mars within the next two decades using habitat-like spacecraft paired with hybrid...

Why is the warm gas-giant exoplanet WASP-107 b so puffy? Two independent teams of researchers have an answer. Data collected using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, combined with prior observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, show surprisingly little methane (CH4) in the planet’s atmosphere, indicating that the interior of WASP-107 b must be significantly hotter and the core much more massive than previously estimated. The unexpectedly high temperature is thought to be a result of tidal heating caused by the planet’s slightly non-circular orbit, and can explain how WASP-107 b can be so inflated without resorting to extreme theories of...

This Hubble Space Telescope image showcases a nearly edge-on view of the lenticular galaxy NGC 4753. ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Kelsey ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Featured in this new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is a nearly edge-on view of the lenticular galaxy NGC 4753. Lenticular galaxies have an elliptical shape and ill-defined spiral arms. This image is the object's sharpest view to date, showcasing Hubble’s incredible resolving power and ability to reveal complex dust structures. NGC 4753 resides around 60 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo and was first discovered by the astronomer William Herschel in 1784. It...

A Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launched the NS-25 mission from Texas on May 19, 2025. Full Story...According to Space.com, the Six people aboard were Ed Dwight, the U.S.'s first-ever Black astronaut candidate; venture capitalist Mason Angel; Sylvain Chiron, the founder of French craft brewery Brasserie Mont Blanc; entrepreneur Kenneth L. Hess; retired accountant Carol Schaller; and pilot and aviator Gopi Thotakura.Credit: Blue OriginBlastoff! Blue Origin launches space tourists for first time in almost 2 years | 11:58VideoFromSpace | 1.77M subscribers | 45,450 views | May 19, 2024

A survey of five million distant solar systems, aided by "neural network" algorithms, has discovered 60 stars that appear to be surrounded by giant alien power plants...Ever since theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson first proposed the idea at Princeton in 1960, astrophysicists have speculated that advanced extraterrestrials might have constructed massive solar energy collectors around one star or more. [Illustration in Comment #1]

The celestial wonders of April's solar eclipse and the mesmerizing dance of last weekend's aurora borealis captivated millions, yet the cosmos has an even more elusive spectacle in store. Before the year's end, the night sky will unveil an astronomical phenomenon so extraordinary that it eclipses the rarity of both these events combined. A blazingly bright event known as a nova, a light show that happens approximately once every 80 years, is expected to be visible in the coming months. "This could be a once-in-a-lifetime viewing opportunity," NASA said. An animation showing a nova of a white dwarf that is...

Around a star in our Milky Way galaxy, astronomers have discovered an extremely low-density planet that is as light as cotton candy. The new planet, named WASP-193b, appears to dwarf Jupiter in size, yet it is a fraction of its density. CREDIT: K. Ivanov ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A team of astronomers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say they have discovered a distant planet that they can’t explain with current planet evolutionary theories. The newly discovered WASP-193b is a gas giant 50 percent larger than Jupiter, the largest gas giant in our solar system. However, it is only one-tenth as dense,...

Explanation: A familiar sight from Georgia, USA, the Moon sets near the western horizon in this rural night skyscape. Captured on May 10 before local midnight, the image overexposes the Moon's bright waxing crescent at left in the frame. A long irrigation rig stretches across farmland about 15 miles north of the city of Bainbridge. Shimmering curtains of aurora shine across the starry sky, definitely an unfamiliar sight for southern Georgia nights. Last weekend, extreme geomagnetic storms triggered by the recent intense activity from solar active region AR 3664 brought epic displays of aurora, usually seen closer to the poles,...