ScientistPankaj: 'It was 3 hours of magic': Spectacular auroras thrill stargazers

SpaceX expects to launch next Starship test flight Oct. 13 | 'It was 3 hours of magic': Spectacular auroras thrill stargazers | Northern lights (aurora borealis): What they are & how to see them

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October 11, 2024

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The Launchpad

SpaceX expects to launch next Starship test flight Oct. 13

(SpaceX)

The upcoming test flight, called Starship Flight 5, will liftoff off from SpaceX's Starbase testing site near Boca Chica Beach in South Texas - the same site for four previous Starship launch tests - as early as Oct. 13 at 8 a.m. EDT. "Starship stacked ahead of its fifth flight test," SpaceX wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter) today. "We expect regulatory approval in time to fly on October 13."

Full Story: Space (10/10)

'It was 3 hours of magic': Spectacular auroras thrill stargazers

(Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)

A geomagnetic storm supercharged Earth's auroras, or the northern lights overnight on Thursday (Oct. 10), with aurora watchers in the U.S. and across the globe on hand to capture the stunning light-show. Not to be left out, Space.com's own crack team of aurora hunters (the A-Team?) were also out in the field to catch some incredible images.

Full Story: Space (10/11)

Northern lights (aurora borealis): What they are & how to see them
Space (1/7)

Space Quiz: How tall is SpaceX's Starship megarocket?

Find the answer HERE!

100 feet tall

400 feet tall

As tall as Godzilla

As tall as a Saturn V rocket

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Space Deal of the Day

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Paramount Plus launched March 4. (Image credit: ViacomCBS)

Get 50% off your first month of Paramount Plus when you get it via Sling TV and watch Star Trek, Halo and more for less.

Full Story: Space (10/7)

Skywatching

Dazzling Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS closest to Earth on Oct. 12

(NurPhoto/Getty Images)

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is arriving at its projected pinnacle of brightness, followed by a transition into the evening sky. Amateur astronomers have a fair chance of spotting the comet very low in the evening twilight, about 25 minutes after sunset.

Full Story: Space (10/8)

Solar storm bombarding Earth now may reach 'extreme' levels

(NASA/SDO)

A severe solar storm sparked by an intense flare from the sun could reach "extreme" levels as it bombards Earth, officials with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warned on Thursday (Oct. 10). Scientists with NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Group (SWPC) said that a cloud of charged solar material, called a coronal mass ejection, slammed into Earth around midday, triggering a "severe" geomagnetic storm that could impact power grids and GPS and radio communications systems, as well as amplify aurora displays in regions that typically don't see them.

Full Story: Space (10/10)

Spaceflight

'Stunning was the word': Astronauts snap amazing auroras

(NASA/Don Pettit)

NASA astronauts Don Pettit and Matthew Dominick are in that very exclusive club, getting a bird's-eye view of the amazing auroral displays — which were supercharged by a recent solar storm — from the International Space Station (ISS). And the sight took the spaceflyers aback. "The sun goes burp and the atmosphere turns red. Spectacular not only from Earth but from orbit as well."

Full Story: Space (10/11)

Science & Astronomy

NASA images Uranus with epic team up

(NASA, ESA, STScI, Samantha Hasler (MIT), Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), New Horizons Planetary Science Theme Team)

The views of Uranus, the coldest world in the solar system, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope and New Horizons Pluto probe are vastly different and are taken from different perspectives. Hubble studied the ice giant in high resolution, while New Horizons saw it as a mere smeared "blob." This actually gives astronomers a new view of the ice giant, with Hubble observing what the Uranian atmosphere is doing while New Horizons looks as well, providing vital added context.

Full Story: Space (10/11)

SpaceX

Starship could fly as early as Oct. 13, pending FAA approval

(SpaceX)

SpaceX is preparing to launch the fifth flight of its Starship megarocket as soon as Oct. 13, despite repeated statements from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that the flight test would likely have to wait until November.

Full Story: Space (10/8)

Technology

Space Force's mysterious X-37B attempts 'aerobraking'

(Boeing Space)

The U.S. military's X-37B space plane is about to begin a series of novel maneuvers, according to a rare official update on the spacecraft. The robotic X-37B has been in a highly elliptical, undisclosed orbit for 10 months since launching on its seventh mission on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in late December last year.

Full Story: Space (10/11)