ScientistPankaj: Mile-wide asteroid, the largest yet of 2022, flies by Earth

Saturday, May 28, 2022

Mile-wide asteroid, the largest yet of 2022, flies by Earth

Created for ceo.studentlike.spuniv@blogger.com | Web Version

May 27, 2022

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The Launchpad

Mars dust storm mysteries remain as scientists study the Red Planet

(ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO)

Mars is fast approaching its southern summer solstice, with scientists and spacecraft preparing for a new season of dust storms, mighty wind-driven clouds of dust that can cover thousands of square miles or even the entire planet.

To learn more about what drives dust storms on Mars, Space.com spoke with Claire Newman, an atmospheric scientist at Aeolis Research and the lead author of a new study exploring how dust devils and winds can fill the Martian atmosphere with dust.

Full Story: Space (5/27)

Mile-wide asteroid, the largest yet of 2022, flies by Earth

(Virtual Telescope Project)

A mile-wide asteroid passed by Earth on Friday (May 27) at a distance about 10 times that of the space between the Earth and moon.

The asteroid, known as asteroid 7335 (1989 JA), is roughly four times the size of the Empire State Building and is the largest yet to pass by our planet in 2022.

Full Story: Space (5/27)

May's possible meteor storm offers chance to hear 'shooting stars' on the radio

(Future Publishing via Getty Images)

"Shooting stars" from the tau Herculids meteor shower may be visible late this month, but you might want to listen for them instead.

Excitement among meteor enthusiasts is building as we get closer to the much-anticipated meteor outburst that might be produced by a concentrated trail of dusty debris from the nucleus of comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 (SW 3) late Monday night into early Tuesday morning (May 30 to 31). Even if you can't get a good view of the show because of clouds or light pollution, you can "observe" the meteor shower a different way: by listening to it on the radio!

Full Story: Space (5/27)

POLL QUESTION:

Space Quiz: A new Mars study is using erosion to trace signs of what on the Red Planet?

(Learn the answer here!)

Signs of life on the Red Planet

Water on Mars.

Impacts by human-built spacecraft.

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Spaceflight

Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Astronauts share their unique perspective

(Maxar/Getty Images)

European Space Agency astronaut Matthias Maurer, who returned to Earth from the International Space Station last month, said he could see the war unfolding from the orbiting lab, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) up. The invasion started on Feb. 24, roughly halfway into his six-month mission.

"When you're in space, you feel so far away at first," the German astronaut told broadcaster ARD's "Morgenmagazin" program, according to a Wednesday translation in Newsweek. "At the beginning of the war, the whole country went dark at night."

Full Story: Space (5/26)

Cockroach-eaten Apollo 11 moon dust goes up for auction

(RR Auction via collectSPACE.com)

For sale: One small sample of the moon brought back to Earth in 1969 by the Apollo 11 astronauts, the first humans to walk on the lunar surface.

Condition: Well-traveled and once digested. The dust was carefully extracted from the stomachs of cockroaches. Three of the insects are included with the lot.

Full Story: Space (5/26)

Science & Astronomy

Soar over Mars rover tracks with Ingenuity helicopter (video)

(NASA/JPL-Caltech)

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity cruised above some tracks made by its robotic partner on its most recent flight, as footage captured by the rotorcraft shows.

The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) Ingenuity conducted its 28th Red Planet flight on April 29, covering 1,371 feet (418 meters) while staying aloft for 2.5 minutes. The sortie took the little chopper over tracks made by NASA's Perseverance rover, which you can see in a video made up of images snapped by Ingenuity during the flight. (The tracks come into view around the 26-second mark.)

Full Story: Space (5/27)

High school students use tiny computer to measure Earth's magnetic field from space

(Shutterstock)

High school students in Portugal have programmed a small computer on the International Space Station to measure Earth's magnetic field from orbit.

The three students, with help from their faculty mentor, created an add-on component for a Raspberry Pi computer — a low cost, credit-card-sized computer that plugs into a computer or TV monitor — as a part of the Astro Pi Challenge, a competition sponsored by the European Space Agency and the U.K.'s Raspberry Pi Foundation. The contest asked high school students to program a Raspberry Pi computer with code to be run aboard the orbiting lab, according to a statement from the American Journal of Physics.

Full Story: Space (5/26)

SpaceX

NASA denies claim of dangerous heat shield issue during SpaceX's Ax-1 mission

(SpaceX/Axiom Space)

SpaceX made history on April 25 when its first all-private mission to the International Space Station returned four private space travelers to Earth on the Ax-1 mission for Axiom Space. A recent report by Space Explored has claimed the landing included a dangerous fuel leak into the spacecraft's heat shield, but NASA has completely debunked that claim as false.

Full Story: Space (5/27)

Star Wars

Watch the 1st Star Wars trailer for 'Andor' on Disney Plus

(Lucasfilm / Disney)

We first heard about actor Diego Luna returning to his "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story(opens in new tab)" role as the resourceful Alliance Intelligence Officer and starship pilot Captain Cassian Andor back in 2018, when plans for a then-untitled TV series were revealed that would occur prior to the Death Star blueprint heist in 2016's "Rogue One." Now, from day one of Star Wars Celebration 2022, we finally get our first glimpse of the Disney Plus show.

Full Story: Space (5/26)

Obi Wan Kenobi streaming guide: Episode release dates, plot, trailers and more

(Lucasfilm)

Want to know how to watch Obi Wan Kenobi online? Then you've come to right place, my young Padawan.

Obi-Wan Kenobi has finally launched on Disney Plus, with the first two episodes now available to watch. It's hard to argue that it's not one of the most anticipated shows in the current, vast Star Wars TV landscape (and we are spoiled for choice when it comes to upcoming Star Wars TV shows).

Full Story: Space (5/27)