ScientistPankaj: An asteroid zipped past Earth closer than the moon's orbit yesterday

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

An asteroid zipped past Earth closer than the moon's orbit yesterday

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October 18, 2021

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The Launchpad

Soyuz lands with film crew after space station movie shoot

(NASA TV)

The first professional film crew to fly into space has returned to Earth after 12 days of shooting a movie aboard the International Space Station. Russian actress Yulia Peresild and producer Klim Shipenko landed with cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy of the Russian federal space corporation Roscosmos on Sunday (Oct. 17). The three descended aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft to a touchdown at 12:35 a.m. EDT (0435 GMT or 10:35 a.m. local time) on the steppe of Kazakhstan.

Full Story: Space (10/17)

China successfully tested hypersonic weapon in August

China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic weapon two months ago, making strides with the technology that surprised and alarmed U.S. officials, according to a media report. In August, China launched a Long March rocket topped with a hypersonic glide vehicle, which ended up missing its target by just 24 miles (39 kilometers) or so, The Financial Times reported on Sunday (Oct. 17).

Full Story: Space (10/18)

Spaceflight

Artists launch colorful 'jellyfish' balloon to the stratosphere in inaugural test flight

(Beyond Earth/Space Perspective)

A group of artists has launched a colorful, jellyfish-looking craft into Earth's stratosphere as part of a unique test flight. This past summer, the Beyond Earth artist collective completed an artwork they've designated "Living Light." The piece of art "combines biology, artificial intelligence, and aerospace technology," and "explores the connections between our blue planet and the boundlessness of outer space," they wrote in a statement. And, on June 18, they flew the artwork nearly 19 miles up (just over 30.5 kilometers) above Earth's surface to the farthest reaches of Earth's stratosphere aboard the inaugural test flight of a craft called "Neptune One."

Full Story: Space (10/17)

Shenzhou 13 astronauts begin China's longest mission ever at space station module (video)

China's longest space mission ever is officially underway. The three astronauts of China's Shenzhou 13 mission entered the country's Tianhe module, the core of its Tiangong space station, on Saturday (Oct. 16) to kick off a six-month expedition to the fledgling orbital lab. The astronauts entered the station at 9:58 a.m. Saturday morning Beijing Time (8:58 p.m. Friday EDT, 0058 GMT) about eight hours after launching into orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launching Center in the Gobi Desert. Their arrival capped a smooth autonomous docking by the Shenzhou 13 spacecraft.

Full Story: Space (10/17)

Science & Astronomy

Water vapor detected on Jupiter's ocean moon Europa

(NASA)

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has spotted water vapor on Jupiter's ocean moon Europa, potentially revealing new clues about icy satellites in our solar system and beyond. Hubble had previously detected water vapor on Europa — in apparent plumes that arise sporadically and temporarily extend perhaps 120 miles (200 kilometers) into space from the moon's icy shell, which overlies a huge, buried ocean of liquid water. But this new finding is something quite different.

Full Story: Space (10/18)

An asteroid zipped past Earth closer than the moon's orbit yesterday

A bus-sized asteroid made a harmless close pass by our planet on Sunday (Oct. 17). Asteroid 2021 TG14 passed by Earth at a distance of roughly 155,000 miles (250,000 km). That's well within the orbit of our moon, which orbits at an average distance of nearly 239,000 miles (385,000 km).

Full Story: Space (10/18)

Stunning supernova remnant looks like Pac-Man gulping down stars

That is not a joyous Pac-Man munching its way across the cosmos. Even so, this remnant of a stellar explosion looks an awful lot like the iconic video game gobbler in a newly released NASA image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Full Story: Space (10/18)

Technology

NASA eyes solar array glitch on new Lucy asteroid spacecraft

(Lockheed Martin)

A new NASA spacecraft headed for the Trojan asteroids near Jupiter has a small issue with its solar panels, but the probe isn't in immediate danger, space agency officials said. The Lucy spacecraft, which launched smoothly on Saturday (Oct. 16) atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket, began unfolding its two massive solar panels about an hour after launch. At the time, all appeared to go smoothly, but now it seems one of the circular panels, each of which is nearly 24 feet (7 meters) wide, didn't quite secure itself in place properly.

Full Story: Space (10/18)

Wild idea: Tagalong spacecraft could watch a comet form

A few decades from now, humanity could get an up-close look at a comet blazing to life for the first time. In a new study, researchers investigated the dynamics of the Centaur population, a group of icy rocks orbiting the sun near Jupiter and Saturn. The Centaurs are so named because they're hybrids of a sort, sharing some characteristics with both asteroids and comets.

Full Story: Space (10/18)

Entertainment

PBS NOVA science series 'Universe Revealed' will explore the cosmos from birth to eventual demise

(PBS)

PBS viewers have a chance to go on a brilliant journey through the universe as the network launches a new, five-part NOVA series titled "Universe Revealed." Premiering Oct. 27 at at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT Oct. 28), PBS NOVA's new science series, created in collaboration with BBC Studios Science Unit, will air five hour-long episodes exploring the universe from its first moments 13.8 billion years ago to theories about its eventual end trillions of years into the future.

Full Story: Space (10/17)