Observatory

Thirty years ago, an 11-day space shuttle mission involving seven veteran astronauts performed the first servicing mission to correct the Hubble Space Telescope's blurred vision.The unprecedented flight involved five spacewalks and would not have been possible without the assistance of the shuttle's robotic Canadarm.The multi-billion dollar Hubble Space Telescope was a crown jewel of NASA's space program. At the time, it was the largest and most capable astronomical observatory in orbit, with a clear view of the universe…

The Current13:00Turning deep space data into musicMusic can often transport you to another time and place. But now a Montreal composer is bringing listeners far out into the cosmos with a piece of music created from NASA's data on the Milky Way."At the end of the piece, especially … I'm focusing in on the black hole that's at the centre of the galaxy. And you get this feeling of stars spiralling toward the centre," said Sophie Kastner, composer of Where Parallel Lines Converge."I wanted to have all of these pingy, like,…

Just recently, it was revealed that Earth could be in the firing line of a solar storm as sigmoid eruption was observed on the surface of the Sun. This eruption hurled out a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) towards Earth, which has the potential to deliver a weak blow to the Earth's magnetic field. However, this isn't the only threat. In a new development, the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has tracked a dangerous sunspot and it could hurl an M-class solar flare towards Earth. This is the latest solar phenomenon to…

The European Space Agency's Gaia mission has released a new focused data release, marking a significant contribution to astronomy, Universe Today reports. Gaia's primary mission is to precisely measure the positions, motions, and distances of over a billion stars, while also studying exoplanets. NASA says, “Gaia will detect and very accurately measure the motion of each star in its orbit around the center of the galaxy.” While it may not generate the stunning images like the NASA/ESA-run Hubble Space Telescope or the…

Aditya-L1, the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun, is getting ready for its launch soon, ISRO said on Monday.The satellite realised at U R Rao Satellite Centre here, has arrived at the ISRO's spaceport in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency said in an update on the mission."Mostly September first week," an ISRO official told PTI when asked about the date of the launch.The spacecraft is expected to be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of…

It’s been three years since the Laser Interferometric Gavitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) went down for some major upgrades. Now, LIGO is finally up and running again, and this time it’s ready to help fully decipher the mysteries of gravitational waves. But what exactly is LIGO, and what mysteries can it help us solve? Tech. Entertainment. Science. Your inbox. Sign up for the most interesting tech & entertainment news out there. By signing up, I agree to the Terms of Use and have reviewed the…

The Sun has been showing all its might for the past couple of months and as we approach the solar maximum that will likely occur in 2025, its wrath is only expected to increase. For the unaware, solar maximum is the period of greatest solar activity during the Sun's 11-year cycle. At solar max, the changes in the Sun's magnetic field result in more solar activity such as sunspots, CMEs, eruptions, and more. The effects of this activity were seen on July 2 as the Sun hurled out a terrifying X-class solar flare.Solar flare…

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash on the top right area of the Sun – on July 2, 2023. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares and which is colorized in teal. Credit: NASA/SDOThe Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 7:14 p.m. <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>EDT</div><div…

In case you have been wondering why solar activity has increased exponentially over the last few months, you should know that scientists have predicted that the peak of the current solar cycle will arrive by the middle of 2025. The peak, also known as Solar Maximum, is the phase when the solar activity is at its highest in the 12-year period of the cycle. That's why we saw two separate solar flare incidents last week, both of which triggered a radio blackout on Earth. And now, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has…

The Sun has just spewed out a massive solar flare. While this one is big, the fact is that solar flares are increasing in number and strength and this is worrying astronomers. And this is despite the fact that we have not reached the peak of solar flare season yet. The current activity on the Sun is definitely exceeding scientific predictions, NASA reveals. Since December 2019, solar cycle 25 has marked a number of solar events that showed how far our Sun was exceeding expectation. According to NASA, these solar flares…