Some of our Solar System’s moons have become very enticing targets in the search for life. There’s growing evidence that some of them have oceans under layers of ice and that these oceans are warm and rich in prebiotic chemistry. NASA’s Europa Clipper is on its way to examine Jupiter’s moon Europa, and the ESA’s … Read more
An annual safety report to NASA has both praise for the agency and also underscores a number of cautionary woes, including the space agency’s undertaking of the Artemis back-to-the-moon with humans campaign. The annual report from the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) has been released. The report observes that NASA has made impressive progress. Challenges … Read more
Scientists have been arguing about a curious topic recently: Did temperatures on the moon dip due to the world’s Covid-19 lockdown? Last year, a pair of researchers claimed that the shockwaves of the shutdown could be felt as far as the moon, causing a slight dip in lunar surface temperatures. Now, a new paper disputes … Read more
A SpaceX launch later this month will send a new type of lunar explorer to the moon. IM-2, the second moon mission by Houston company Intuitive Machines, will lift off from Florida’s Space Coast during a four-day window that opens on Feb. 26. If all goes to plan, Athena will land on a plateau just … Read more
View larger. | NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft captured this view of Uranus’ moon Ariel on January 24, 1986. We can clearly see various canyons and grooves. Image via NASA/ Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Uranus’ moon Ariel might have a subsurface ocean, a study found last year. The ocean could be ancient or it could still exist … Read more
Our Moon continues to surprise us with amazing features. Scientists recently shared new information about two canyons that branch out from a major lunar impact. The site is the Schrödinger basin near the Moon’s South Pole. It formed when an asteroid or possibly even a leftover planetesimal slammed into the surface. It took only minutes … Read more
Carlos Villagomez owns a golf ball that he believes was flown to the moon. If indeed it was, he may also hold the answer to a more than 50-year-old bit of trivia that otherwise may be forever lost to time. Villagomez was gifted the ball by Alan Shepard, the first American astronaut to fly into … Read more
We’ve only gotten one close-up view of Uranus and its moons, and it happened decades ago. In 1986, Voyager 2 performed a flyby of Uranus from about 81,500 km (50,600 mi) of the planet’s cloud tops. It was 130,000 km (80,000 mi) away from Uranus’ moon, Ariel, when it captured the leading image. It showed … Read more
Even to a casual viewer, the waxing gibbous moon of Friday, Feb. 7 will appear unusual. As it crosses the meridian shortly after 8 p.m. local standard time, it will climb so very high in the sky that from central Florida and southern Texas it will be seen overhead. For watchers in Miami or Brownsville, … Read more
To date it has been a superb winter for viewing the queen of the planets, Venus. February marks the pinnacle of the evening visibility of Venus as it stands like a sequined showgirl nearly halfway up in the western sky at sunset. Currently shining at its greatest brilliance for this current apparition, this dazzling evening … Read more