Collaborate Disseminate
Mankind will always wonder whether we’re alone in the universe. What is out there? Sure, these past weeks we’ve been increasingly wondering the same about our own, direct proximity, but that’s a different story. Up until two years ago, we had the Kepler space telescope aiding us in our quest …read more
K2-288Bb is located 226 light years away. Continue reading Citizen Scientists Help Spot a Potentially Habitable Planet Nearly Twice the Size of Earth
Since its launch in March 2009, the Kepler Space Telescope has provided us with an incredible amount of data about exoplanets within our galaxy, proving these worlds are more varied and numerous than we could ever have imagined. Before its launch we simply didn’t know how common planets such as ours were, but today we know the Milky Way contains billions of them. Some of these worlds are so hot they have seas of molten rock, others experience two sunsets a day as they orbit a pair of stars. Perhaps most importantly, thousands of the planets found by Kepler are …read more
Continue reading Kepler Closes Eyes After a Decade of Discovery
The Kepler spacecraft is in the final moments of its life. NASA isn’t quite sure when they’ll say their last goodbye to the space telescope which has confirmed the existence of thousands of exoplanets since its launch in 2009, but most estimates give it a few months at best. The prognosis is simple: she’s out of gas. Without propellant for its thrusters, Kepler can’t orient itself, and that means it can’t point its antenna to Earth to communicate.
Now far as spacecraft failures go, propellant depletion isn’t exactly unexpected. After all, it can’t pull into the nearest service station to …read more
Continue reading Kepler Planet Hunter Nears End of Epic Journey
Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 17, built in 1956, was demolished on Thursday. Continue reading Watch NASA Blow Up a Piece of Spaceflight History
Scientists have discovered thousands of alien worlds beyond the solar system. Here’s what some of them might look like on the surface. Continue reading Explore Distant Exoplanets With These NASA Simulations
Lucy will visit six of Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, while Psyche will aim for the exposed, metal-rich core of an ancient protoplanet. Continue reading NASA Announces Exotic Asteroid Missions, Fueling Space Mining Hopes
Space. The final frontier. Unfortunately, the vast majority of us are planet-locked until further notice. If you are dedicated hobbyist astronomer, you probably already have the rough positions of the planets memorized. But what if you want to know them exactly from the comfort of your room and educate yourself at the same time? [Shubham Paul] has gone the extra parsec to build a Real-Time Planet Tracker that calculates their locations using Kepler’s Laws with exacting precision.
An Arduino Mega provides the brains, while 3.5-turn-pan and 180-degree-tilt servos are the brawn. A potentiometer and switch allow for for planet and …read more
Continue reading Real-Time Planet Tracker With Laser-Point Accuracy
Space. The final frontier. Unfortunately, the vast majority of us are planet-locked until further notice. If you are dedicated hobbyist astronomer, you probably already have the rough positions of the planets memorized. But what if you want to know them exactly from the comfort of your room and educate yourself at the same time? [Shubham Paul] has gone the extra parsec to build a Real-Time Planet Tracker that calculates their locations using Kepler’s Laws with exacting precision.
An Arduino Mega provides the brains, while 3.5-turn-pan and 180-degree-tilt servos are the brawn. A potentiometer and switch allow for for planet and …read more
Continue reading Real-Time Planet Tracker With Laser-Point Accuracy
For the first time, scientists observed weather patterns on a gas giant beyond our solar system. Continue reading Clouds On This Planet Could Be Made Of The Same Stuff As Rubies