Astronomers Capture Stunning New Images of Jupiter
Three images of Jupiter from the 8-m Frederick C. Gillett Gemini North telescope at the Gemini Observatory and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope show the gas giant at three different types of light (infrared, visible, and ultraviolet) and reveal a multitude of atmospheric features such as the Great Red Spot, superstorms, and cyclones stretching across the planet's disk.
The new images of Jupiter highlight the key advantage of multiwavelength astronomy: viewing planets and other astronomical objects at different wavelengths of light allows scientists to glean otherwise unavailable insights.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a prominent feature of the visible and ultraviolet (UV) images, but it is almost invisible at infrared (IR) wavelengths. The planet's counter-rotating bands of clouds, on the contrary, are clearly visible in all three views.
Observing the Great Red Spot at multiple wavelengths yields other surprises — the dark region in the IR image is larger than the corresponding red oval in the visible image.
This discrepancy arises because different structures are revealed by different wavelengths; the IR observations show areas covered with thick clouds, while the visible and UV observations show the locations of chromophores — the particles that give the Great Red Spot its distinctive hue by absorbing blue and UV light.
China Launches more Classified Yaogan Satellites into Orbit
China conducted two launches of classified Yaogan satellites in the last week while much of the world waited to see where and when the Long March 5B would fall.
A Long March 2C rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China, sending the eighth trio of Yaogan-30 satellites into a 370-mile-altitude (600 kilometers) orbit.
The Yaogan-30 (08) triplets join seven previous groups in orbit which have been launched since 2017.
The satellites will be used for electromagnetic environment surveys and other related technology tests.
May 12, 2021
SpaceX Launches 60 Starlink Satellites in Record 10th Liftoff
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 60 Starlink internet satellites into orbit early Sunday (May 9) and then stuck a landing at sea to cap a record 10th flight for the company's reusable booster.
The veteran Falcon 9 rocket blasted off before dawn from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, marking the company's 14th launch of the year. It was also one for the record books as the flight was this particular booster's 10th launch and landing attempt. The rocket's once pristine exterior was almost black, charred by its many trips to orbit and back.
May 11, 2021
NASA Spacecraft Starts Trip Back to Earth after Collecting Asteroid Samples
A NASA spacecraft, which scientists believe has collected samples from an asteroid, began its two-year journey back to Earth.
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is attempting to complete a mission to visit Bennu, a skyscraper-sized asteroid some 200 million miles (320 million km) from Earth, survey the surface, collect samples and deliver them back to Earth.
Staff celebrated at the OSIRIS-REx control room in Colorado as the space vehicle pushed away from the asteroid, whose acorn-shaped body formed in the early days of our solar system.
OSIRIS-REx arrived at Bennu in 2018.
The spacecraft found traces of hydrogen and oxygen molecules - part of the recipe for water and thus the potential for life - embedded in the asteroid's rocky surface, said Dante Lauretta, the OSIRIS-REx mission's principal investigator, in 2018.
The trip back to Earth will take about two years. The spacecraft will then eject a capsule containing the asteroid samples, which NASA says will land in a remote area of Utah.
May 10, 2021
China's Biggest Rocket Long March 5B lands in Indian Ocean
Remnants of China's biggest rocket landed in the Indian Ocean, with the bulk of its components destroyed upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, according to Chinese state media, ending days of speculation over where the debris would hit.
Parts of the Long March 5B re-entered the atmosphere at 10:24 a.m. Beijing time (0224 GMT) and landed at a location with the coordinates of longitude 72.47 degrees east and latitude 2.65 degrees north.
Co-Win Introduces 4-digit Security Code Mandatory for Online Vaccine
Admitting data-entry error in marking many people who have booked vaccination slots as 'vaccinated', the Union health ministry on Friday said the Co-Win software through which registration and vaccination slot booking is taking place will have some additional security feature. Upon booking vaccination slots on cowin.gov.in website, people will receive a four-digit security code which will have to be produced at the vaccination centre.
The code will also be mentioned on the digital certificate, the ministry said.
The additional security feature has been introduced as many people received messages claiming that they have received one dose of the vaccine, while they did not actually turn up for the vaccination on the scheduled date.
May 09, 2021
Chinese Rocket Debris Set for Re-entry
Remnants of China's largest rocket launched last week are expected to plunge back through the atmosphere late Saturday or early Sunday, European and U.S. tracking centres said.
China's foreign ministry said on Friday that most debris from the rocket will burn on re-entry and is highly unlikely to cause any harm, after the U.S. military said that what it called an uncontrolled re-entry was being tracked by U.S. Space Command.
EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU SST) said that its latest prediction for the timing of the re-entry of the Long March 5B rocket body was 190 minutes either side of 0211 GMT on Sunday.
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