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Happy Monday, space fans!
We hope that you had a nice July 4 weekend, and if you celebrated the holiday, we hope you were lucky enough to enjoy some fireworks lighting up the night sky. (It's not quite the same as stargazing, but once a year it's a pretty fun time). As we ease into a new week, we are already kicking things off with some big space news. Excitingly, Japan's Hayabusa2 asteroid probe didn't just get up close and personal with an asteroid, it got up close and personal with a DOUBLE asteroid. The probe spotted and captured incredible images of the two-headed, double-lobed asteroid Torifune. You'll have to see the pictures for yourself, it's really wild.
We've also learned that NASA will have to figure out a way to service its next planned flagship space telescope, the Habitable Worlds Observatory. This massive telescope will hunt for and study rocky, Earth-like planets orbiting sun-like stars, and could even be the key to finding life out in the cosmos. But to do it? We might have to send robots out into space to assemble, fix, or maintain it. Elsewhere, astronomers have also discovered a rare pulsar out in space, NASA is testing Mars rover tech out in the California desert, and we took a look back and the most nostalgic and beloved sci-fi for folks who grew up in the 80s and 90s.
Check out what's big in space below:
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We could see robots working on NASA's Habitable Worlds Observatory out in space. But in order for HWO to be serviceable, NASA will need to figure out a way to work on, repair, and maintain the observatory while it operates roughly a million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away.
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| (Space.com) |
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Ninety percent of the world's population could glimpse asteroid Apophis during its once-in-a-millennium close approach to Earth in 2029.
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A new rover prototype is teaching NASA scientists how to design robots that can think for themselves and navigate terrain that would leave old rovers stuck in the lunar or Martian dust.
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Astronomers have detected radio signals coming from a long-dead neutron star known as the 'Blue Eye Pulsar' after searching for decades.
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Following their return to Earth from a 10-day journey around the moon and back in April, NASA's Artemis II astronauts headed to Capitol Hill.
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On Episode 217 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik discuss the progression of American space efforts.
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"Independence Day" isn't technically "The War of the Worlds" but it's still one of the most successful adaptations of HG Wells' genre-defining novel.
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They had the power! Saturday morning cartoons introduced many kids to science fiction... and toys, lots and lots of toys
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That's it for our space update today!
Did you look up at some fireworks or watch Independence Day this July 4 weekend? I hope you had a blast and got some rest, because per usual, we are looking at another week of excitement in space. We are approaching the 50th anniversary of NASA's Viking 1 lander, the first successful Mars lander in history. What did it find? And why are we still debating its observations to this day?
In skywatching news, we are also coming up on just about one month away from a total solar eclipse. We will have a Space.com correspondent in Iceland reporting live from the incredible once-in-a-lifetime event, so even if you won't see anything from where you're at, we can all live vicariously through them and celebrate this perfect celestial alignment. And for those in the NYC area, your second (and last) shot at seeing a perfect Manhattanhenge is coming up in just a few days on July 11-12, so set your calendars and charge your camera batteries.
Ad astra, per aspera
Chelsea Gohd
Content Manager, Space.com
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