Space exploration – The Watchers

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft captures images of asteroid Donaldjohanson during flyby

Reet Kaur — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 09:06:46 +0000

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew by asteroid Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025, capturing images of its elongated, lumpy bowling pin shape. The flyby, conducted as a test for upcoming Jupiter Trojan asteroid missions, revealed the asteroid’s dimensions as approximately 8 km (5 miles) in length and 3.5 km (2 miles) in width.

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Unexpected signals from Voyager 1 baffle engineers after 46 years of service

TW — Sat, 09 Mar 2024 09:52:49 +0000

Over four decades after its launch, Voyager 1's journey takes a mysterious turn as it sends back incomprehensible signals from the edge of the solar system, sparking concern and curiosity among the team at NASA.

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First close-up images of Ganymede in more than 20 years

TW — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 16:33:00 +0000

The first two images from Juno spacecraft's June 7, 2021, flyby of Jupiter’s giant moon Ganymede have been received on Earth. This was the closest any spacecraft has come to this moon in a generation. The photos – one from the Jupiter orbiter’s...

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First flight of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

Teo Blašković — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 13:10:00 +0000

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter became the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet on April 19, 2019, NASA said in a press release. The Ingenuity team at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California...

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Hubble discovers concentration of small black holes at the heart of globular cluster NGC 6397

TW — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 19:52:00 +0000

Astronomers on the hunt for an intermediate-mass black hole at the heart of the globular cluster NGC 6397, found something they weren’t expecting -- a concentration of smaller black holes lurking there instead of one massive black hole. Image credits: NASA,...

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Hayabusa2 spacecraft carrying pieces of asteroid Ryugu returns to Earth on December 6

Julie Celestial — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 19:02:00 +0000

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Hayabusa2 spacecraft is set to return to Earth on December 6, 2020, after a yearlong journey to collect soil samples of asteroid Ryugu. These valuable samples could provide scientists with more clues to the origins of...

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Fermi Bubbles measured in visible light for the first time

Julie Celestial — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 18:51:00 +0000

For the first time, astronomers have observed visible light from two gigantic outflows of high-energy gas in our galaxy, known as Fermi Bubbles. The researchers announced their findings at the 236th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, which was held...

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Solar Ring: Researchers propose new concept for studying Sun and inner heliosphere

Julie Celestial — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 16:25:00 +0000

Researchers from China have proposed a new concept for understanding Sun and the inner heliosphere, which entails deploying six spacecraft in three elliptical orbits between the Earth and Venus and around the Sun to study the star from a 360-degree perspective. The...

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Mars 2020 mission: Perseverance rover features first-ever helicopter to fly on another planet

Julie Celestial — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 15:32:00 +0000

The Mars 2020 mission with its Perseverance rover is set to venture to the red planet on July 17, 2020, aiming to address high-priority scientific goals, including major astrobiology questions about the potential for life on Mars. As part of the final...

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Curiosity rover captures highest-definition Mars panorama featuring 1.8 billion pixels

Julie Celestial — Sun, 08 Mar 2020 13:15:00 +0000

NASA's Curiosity rover has snapped its largest and highest-resolution panorama ever, which features an astonishing 1.8 billion pixel view of Glen Torridon-- a region on the flanks of Mars' Mount Sharp. The stunning image is a composite of more than 1 000...

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