Author: Justin

4May

By JustinNo Comments

Czech Republic Signs Artemis Accords

Earlier today, the Czech Republic signed the Artemis Accords and became the 24th country to sign the agreement.Jan Lipavsky, who represented Czech Republic, formally signed the accords at NASA Headquarter with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson."I see this as an historic signature, not only because it opens up a new opportunity for cooperation between Czechia and the United States as well as other partners. It also marks our dedication to peaceful, transparent and responsible conduct for space exploration", he said.If you didn't know, the Artemis Accords sets principles to guide space exploration cooperation between nations. They were established in 2020 along with 8 other original signatories. According to NASA, even more countries are expected to sign in the future.

Some Things You May Not Know About Space

3May

By Justin4 Comments

General Space

Some Things You May Not Know About Space

Look above you and you will find space - a place full of countless planets, stars, nebulae, and who knows what else? For all we know, there would be life on some of those planets. We have gathered a list of some things you may not know about space.The Andromeda Galaxy and Milky Way will eventually collide.The Milky Way is on a course for collision with the Andromeda Galaxy. When this happens, stars from both galaxies will fall into new orbits. While all this sounds fascinating, it wont happen for another 2.5 billion years or so.Earth has it easy.We should be thankful we are here on Earth - it is one of the more easier planets to live on. For example, the Great Red Spot storm on Jupiter has been going on for about 300 years, with winds reaching about 270 mph.Saturn also...

Live: Czech Republic Artemis Accords Signing Ceremony

3May

By JustinNo Comments

NASA

Live: Czech Republic Artemis Accords Signing Ceremony

The Czech Republic will be signing the Artemis According during a ceremony at NASA HQ. The Artemis Accords sets a set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation between nations. This will happen on May 3rd at 10AM.https://www.youtube.com/embed/21X5lGlDOfg

Astronomers Find “Scary Barbie” Black Hole Ripping Apart Huge Star

2May

By Justin1 Comment

Black Holes

Astronomers Find “Scary Barbie” Black Hole Ripping Apart Huge Star

Astronomers have found another supermassive black hole, and this time it's being called "Scary Barbie".It's being called one of the "most luminous, energetic, long-lasting transient objects" found in the night sky. This just shows no matter how much we know about the sky above us, we are always learning more. Purdue University graduate student, Bhagya Subrayan, said researchers believe the black hole "pulled in a star and ripped it apart". The black hole was originally called "ZTF20abrbeie", which eventually led to the nickname "Scary Barbie".To help find the object, researchers used the Recommender Engine For Intelligent Transient Tracking engine (REFITT). This artificial intelligence technology looks at alerts to help researchers find interesting things in space.What's even ...

New NASA Animation Shows True Size of Black Holes

2May

By JustinNo Comments

NASA, Black Holes

New NASA Animation Shows True Size of Black Holes

Somewhere out there in the stars are black holes - a monstrous points in space time where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape it. These things are scary, since they consume everything in their path. The closest one is known as Gaia BH1 - located 1,560 light year away from us.A new video by NASA shows shows us the biggest ones we know of. The video starts of from our own sun, and pans out to show different black holes. In the video, NASA shows ten different supersized black holes. They range from a one in the center of the J1601+3113 galaxy, to the more widely known Sagittarius A.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU1DsipURcM&ab_channel=NASAGoddardThankfully, none of these will come close to us anytime soon. Also, it's cool to note the video also does an amazing ...

FAA Sued Over Recent SpaceX Starship Launch

2May

By Justin2 Comments

SpaceX

FAA Sued Over Recent SpaceX Starship Launch

Five different environmental agencies and cultural heritage groups are suing the FAA over a SpaceX Starship launch.The agencies are claiming the Federal Aviation Administration violated the National Environmental Policy Act, when it allowed SpaceX to launch a rocket from it's Texas Facility without an environmental review. The lawsuit against the FAA was filed in a court in Washington DC on Monday by plantiffs which include: The Center for Biological Diversity, the American Bird Conservancy, SurfRider Foundation, Save Rio Grande Valley, and the Carrizo-Comecrudio Nation of Texas.Plantiffs are arguing the FAA should have done a environmental report before launch, which is also known as a Environmental Impact Statement.Over the weekend, Elon Musk came onto a twitter space and sa...

NASA’s Super Pressure Balloon Test-Flight Has Been Rescheduled

30Apr

By JustinNo Comments

NASA

NASA’s Super Pressure Balloon Test-Flight Has Been Rescheduled

Originally, NASA was scheduled to run a test flight of a super pressure balloon. The balloon was supposed to be launched today, however it has been rescheduled for May 2nd (May 1st in the USA).The flight will take place in New Zealand, specifically at the Wanaka Airport. The purpose of this mission is to detect ultra-high energy cosmic-ray particles from beyond our galaxy as they penetrate our atmosphere.NASA also launched another balloon before this one, which carries the Super Pressure Balloon Imaging Telescope (SuperBIT). This high-resolution telescope captures images on the visible-to-near ultraviolet light spectrum, which equates to the same capabilities as the Hubble Space Telescope.You might be thinking, why bother with this telescope at all? Mainly, it comes down to co...

Falcon Heavy Is Expected To Launch Later Today

30Apr

By JustinNo Comments

SpaceX

Falcon Heavy Is Expected To Launch Later Today

Update: SpaceX has pushed the launch to 8:26PM.It looks like SpaceX is on track to launch Falcon Heavy later today, with an 80% chance of good weather. The launch will begin today at 7:29 PM EDT, with a webcast beginning 15 minutes before launch.Originally, the rocket was slated to launch on Friday. However, the rocket did not ignite it's 27 first-stage engines. The Falcon Heavy is a cargo rocket designed by SpaceX, which did it's first launch back in 2018. Since then, it had five other launches, with today marking its 6th.The reason for today's launch is a payload of ViaSat-33 Americas, a broadband internet satellite that will be operated by Viasat. The Falcon Heavy is also carrying Arcturus, a communications craft owned by a San Fransisco company called Astranis Space Techn...

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Image of Two Distant Galaxies

29Apr

By Justin2 Comments

NASA, Hubble

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Image of Two Distant Galaxies

Recently, astronomers celebrated the 33rd launch anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope. Launched back in 1990, the telescope provides us with amazing views and images.The image shown is taken by Hubble, and it shows us two distant galaxies. On the left, we see a tilted galaxy known as NGC 4302 On the right, we see another galaxy called NGC 4298. These galaxies reside in the constellation Coma Berenices, which are 55 million light years away from us. Both of these galaxies were discovered by William Herschel in 1784.Both of these galaxies are very similar - they are spiral galaxies which have arms of young stars that wind outward from the center. The bright arms are areas of strong star formation, and they have central bulges surrounded by a faint halo of stars and bars that ex...

A Great Intermediate Telescope: Celestron CPC 1100

29Apr

By JustinNo Comments

Product Reviews

A Great Intermediate Telescope: Celestron CPC 1100

A few years ago, I went ahead and bought my first decent telescope. While the $4000 price tag of the Celestron CPC 1100 might seem intimidating, it's worth it for what you get.However, we need to address something first: It's heavy. The telescope itself weights about 65 pounds, and the tripod an additional 19 pounds. Thankfully, you can take it apart bring each part outside separately.Now let's talk about the specifications of the Celestron CPC 1100 - It's got a 11 inch mirror, which lets you see loads of stars, and decent views of planets such as Saturn and Jupiter. It's also got a 9x50 finder scope, which can help you center objects within the telescope.What really makes this telescope powerful is that it's computerized - It uses a NexStar system, which can help you find anythi...