Observatory

The first private spacecraft to softly land on the moon carries a Canadian instrument that will test the possibility of building an observatory at the Lunar south pole.The phone booth-sized lander by Intuitive Machines, named Odysseus, launched on Feb. 15 and touched down on Thursday near a small impact crater about 300 kilometers from the moon's south pole.It was a stressful event with navigation and communication issues, but 15 nail-biting minutes after it landed, mission control confirmed that they were receiving a…

The LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission, led by ESA (European Space Agency) with NASA contributions, will detect gravitational waves in space using three spacecraft, separated by more than a million miles, flying in a triangular formation. Lasers fired between the satellites, shown in this artist’s concept, will measure how gravitational waves alter their relative distances. Credit: AEI/MM/ExozetLISA, a collaborative mission between ESA and NASA, aims to detect gravitational waves from space, offering new…

Way up in the sky and sprinkled across the seas, two of the littlest yet most influential things in the world have stubbornly guarded their secrets: aerosols and phytoplankton. Today, NASA launched its Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem mission, or PACE, to unravel their mysteries. The mission’s findings could be a key to understanding how drastically the world is changing as it warms.Aerosols are little bits of dust, wildfire smoke, and fossil fuel pollution floating around the atmosphere, which both absorb and…

ESA’s Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission will be the first space-based observatory dedicated to detecting ripples in the fabric of spacetime. These ripples, which we call gravitational waves, are emitted during some of the most powerful events in the Universe, such as when black holes collide. Credit: ESAESA’s approval of the LISA mission marks a significant advancement in space science, aiming to detect gravitational waves with a trio of spacecraft. Launching in 2035, it will offer new insights into cosmic…

ISRO's Aditya-L1 Solar Observatory has the 6-metre boom carrying 6 magnetometers while in orbit around the L1 point. The magnetometer boom is designed to study the low-intensity interplanetary magnetic field in space. A…

Stay calm, everybody stay calm. But it’s finally happening: The European Space Agency is committing itself to the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), a gravitational wave observatory that will study some of the universe’s most enigmatic phenomena.Alex Winter on the Most Important Modern Horror Movie On Thursday, LISA was formally adopted, meaning that ESA “recognizes that the mission concept and technology are sufficiently advanced,” according to an agency release, and construction on the observatory can officially…

A cache of scientific equipment that could fit in the back of an SUV has been lowered into the sea north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and is already streaming open-source data for anyone wanting to monitor the Southern Ocean's health.Scientists say the underwater observatory collects measurements, including temperature, oxygen concentration and chlorophyll levels, and will fill a gap in data to help understand the impact of climate change in the waters around Antarctica.The project is being jointly run by Ocean Networks…

Aditya L1, India's first space-based solar observatory has successfully reached an orbit around its intended destination: the Sun-Earth Lagrangian Point L1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on microblogging platform X at 4:11 pm.Nigar Shaji, project director of the solar mission on Friday had told ET the final manoeuvre would involve the firing of thrusters for a short period of time, which will end at 4 pm. Aditya L1 has 12 thrusters. Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill CoursesOffering…

India launched its first satellite to study black holes on Monday as part of an ambitious space exploration project.The X-ray Polarimeter Satellite will make India the second country to investigate black holes and other celestial objects using an astronomical space observatory.NASA launched a similar mission in 2021 and has since made unprecedented discoveries.Black holes are an enormous amount of matter packed into a very small area, formed from the remnants of a large star that collapses in a supernova explosion.Their…

Every year, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) ranks the top 10 Canadian weather stories. Senior climatologist David Phillips compiles the list and this year, there was no doubt about what would take the number one position: the record-setting wildfires."There's no drum roll here," Phillips said. "The fires dominated everything.... In 28 years of putting together , it's never been a more obvious number one."Wildfire season got an early start due, in part, to the persistent drought conditions across B.C. and in…