|
|
 
Happy Thursday, space fans!
Today, the four astronauts aboard the Crew-12 mission splashed back down to Earth after nearly 8 months in space. After undocking from the International Space Station yesterday, these astronauts are safely back on their home planet. For those living in North America, you might have a chance at seeing some northern lights this weekend as multiple solar eruptions have launched particles toward our planet that could collide with our atmosphere and put on a colorful light display. And over in the world of strange science, researchers have discovered a "vampire" star that is feasting on its neighboring brown dwarf in a creepy cosmic act of carnage.
Check out what's big in space below:
|
|
|
|
SpaceX is working hard to get historic Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center ready for launches of the company's Starship megarocket. The first such liftoff may be just a few months away.
|
|
|
Newly released footage shows Starship's upper stage separating from its booster and deploying Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit.
|
|
|
|
The Draconid meteor shower reaches peak activity on the evening of Oct. 8 in the beautifully dark skies ahead of the October new moon.
|
|
|
Clearer skies, comfortable temperatures, and a mix of summer and winter constellations make October a particularly rewarding month for stargazers across North America.
|
|
|
|
Astronomers have observed a stellar vampire feeding on a 'failed star' brown dwarf companion for the first time, and this will be a slow and gruesome death.
|
|
|
|
NASA's Curiosity rover recently captured a stunning panorama of a Martian mountain range bathed in golden early-morning light.
|
|
|
|
Boldly going where no casserole dish has gone before.
|
|
|
And that's it for our space update today.
Did you watch this morning's splashdown? We saw NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev finally return to Earth after nearly 8 months living in space. We're thrilled to see them return to Earth safely, as that ride home through the atmosphere is seriously hot, fast and dangerous. I'm sure they will need some well-deserved rest after that trip. You can keep up with all of the moments from the splashdown and beyond live here.
Coming up, we can look forward to hearing more about the first science data drop from NASA's Artemis II mission. While we all loved to follow along with that crew as they flew by the moon and back this past April, we now have a ton more photos, notes, audio recordings and scientific observations from their mission that will help scientists to better understand the moon and help NASA better prepare for future lunar travel. To follow closely along and stay up to date with all things space, you can now get Space.com right in the palm of your hand with our new app available now on iOS and Android.
Ad astra, per aspera
Chelsea Gohd
Content Manager, Space.com
|
|
|
| Stay up-to-date on all things space science, news, and entertainment by subscribing to our newsletters. |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
When you purchase through links in our content, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Future US LLC © |
| Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY, 10036 |
|
|
|
