ScientistPankaj: I'm taking the train to see the solar eclipse in Canada. Here's why I'm riding the rails

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

I'm taking the train to see the solar eclipse in Canada. Here's why I'm riding the rails

I'm taking the train to see the solar eclipse in Canada | Varda Space's meds: 'Them space drugs cooked real good' | April 8 solar eclipse: 6 zoos on the path of totality

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April 2, 2024

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The Launchpad

I'm taking the train to see the solar eclipse in Canada

(David Kawai/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

So often, space events require me to get on a plane and jet far away - the five human spaceflight launches I witnessed in Kazakhstan and Florida, for example, or the Artemis 2 astronaut announcement a year ago on the other side of the continent in Houston. I was certainly lucky to be in those places and to see those sights. But I can do this total solar eclipse, this one special space thing, near Ottawa. Why not enjoy it here, and let others I care about come along for the ride?

Full Story: Space (4/2)

Varda Space's meds: 'Them space drugs cooked real good'

(Varda Space Industries)

After some seven months in space, Varda Space Industries' W-1 capsule successfully returned to Earth, carrying with it a unique payload: the HIV/AIDS medication ritonavir. Varda Space seeks to autonomously manufacture pharmaceuticals in microgravity, a strategy that could ultimately reduce the cost of life-saving drugs - and, according to a new preprint paper, the company is one step closer to achieving that goal.

Full Story: Space (3/29)

Total Solar Eclipse 2024

April 8 solar eclipse: 6 zoos on the path of totality

(Getty Images)

Total solar eclipses make animals behave in strange ways. To see for yourself, stop by one of these zoos located on the path of totality on April 8, 2024.

Full Story: Space (4/1)

Eclipse photos will help us understand sun's atmosphere

There is a gap in our observations of the sun: Part of its atmosphere is effectively invisible to our telescopes. However, images taken from Earth during a solar eclipse are filling in that hole, providing an unprecedented look at our star's hidden layer.

Full Story: Space (4/1)

Skywatching

Why the April 8 eclipse repeats itself every 54 years

The total solar eclipse on April 8 is part of a repeating pattern of eclipses that last visited North America in 1970, and will visit again in 2078. Here's why the same eclipse repeats every 54 years.

Full Story: Space (3/30)

Spaceflight

SpaceX launches 22 Starlink satellites from California

(SpaceX)

SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites on Monday (April 1). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Bad weather scuttled two previous tries at the launch. This time the weather cooperated and the Falcon 9 left the pad at 10:30 p.m. EDT (7:30 p.m. Pacific time or 0230 GMT on April 2).

Full Story: Space (3/28)

Science & Astronomy

JWST joins the hunt for newborn exoplanets

(ESO/L. Calçada)

Astronomers are hunting for planets in the process of forming around infant stars using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The powerful space telescope quickly delivered the goods, albeit in an unexpected way. These infant planets take shape in swirling clumps of gas and dust called protoplanetary disks, gathering more mass as they do so. Humanity has imaged many of these protoplanetary disks, but astronomers have only glimpsed the forming planets within them a few times to date.

Full Story: Space (4/1)

SpaceX

Falcon Heavy rocket photobombs the moon, wins award

(Pascal Fouquet, United States, Winner, National Awards, Sony World Photography Awards 2024)

A rocket transiting the moon is a pretty rare sight. Capturing a good photo of that kind of transit takes some serious skill. That skill is worthy of some major praise. Pascal Fouquet, a photographer from Orlando, Florida, captured such a shot, and was chosen as the United States' National Award first place winner for the Sony World Photography Awards 2024. The awards program comes out of a partnership between Sony and the World Photography Organization, and receives hundreds of thousands of photo submission from across the globe.

Full Story: Space (4/1)

Entertainment

Dune: What Arrakis tells us about the hunt for alien life

(Warner Bros.)

Frank Herbert's Dune is epic sci-fi storytelling with an environmental message at its heart. The novels and movies are set on the desert planet of Arrakis, which various characters dream of transforming into a greener world - much like some envision for Mars today. We investigated Arrakis using a climate model, a computer program similar to those used to give weather forecasts. We found the world that Herbert had created, well before climate models even existed, was remarkably accurate - and would be habitable, if not hospitable.

Full Story: Space (3/30)

Star Wars

'Star Wars: Unlimited - Spark of Rebellion' card game

(Fantasy Flight Games)

One of the best ways to stay immersed in the world of "Star Wars" between offerings of feature films, TV series, novels and comics is to clear off the kitchen table and indulge in one of the many trading card games (TCGs) set in the "Star Wars" universe.

Full Story: Space (4/1)