Space and Astronomy Megathread (MERGED) - Part 1

[SomeOldGuy]

On its way!!!

 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

On its way!!!

Finally!

 

[Dr. Evil]

Scientists discovered a massive new world and they have no idea how it formed (bgr.com)

 

[:eek:]

'Mystery hut' spotted by China's moon rover gets an explanation - CNET

 

[InCali]

'Mystery hut' spotted by China's moon rover gets an explanation - CNET

Well that was anti climactic. LOL

 

[:eek:]

NASA getting SLS megarockets ready for crewed moon missions | Space

 

[:eek:]

Watch the James Webb Space Telescope glide to its deep-space parking spot today | Live Science

 

[Breogan]

Watch the James Webb Space Telescope glide to its deep-space parking spot today | Live Science

That's awesome, burn complete, we are now parked in orbit, abt a million miles away!
Won't be till later in the year still, can't wait for the first "fixed" images to start coming in, and see what they begin reveal.

 

[:eek:]

The first images will be ugly and blurry. The telescope has 18 mirrors that need to be aligned and that will take some time. Probably won't see the first "real" images until late May at earliest:

Why The Webb Telescope’s ‘First Light’ Images Will Be Blurry—And The Naked-Eye Galaxy That NASA Will Use To Fix Them (forbes.com)

 

[Micromind]

Water flowed on Mars about a billion years longer than previously thought

 

[:eek:]

The International Space Station will plunge into the sea in 2031, NASA announces | Live Science

 

[Micromind]

The International Space Station will plunge into the sea in 2031, NASA announces | Live Science

Yikes !

Last time big Space station crashed to Earth was in 1979.

The Summer The Skylab Space Station Crashed, 41 Years Later

 

[Marvolo]

The International Space Station will plunge into the sea in 2031, NASA announces | Live Science

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Yikes !

Last time big Space station crashed to Earth was in 1979.

The Summer The Skylab Space Station Crashed, 41 Years Later

It was MIR in 2001.

 

[:eek:]

Possible 3rd planet spotted around Proxima Centauri, the sun's nearest neighbor star | Space

 

[:eek:]

Behold the 1st images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope! | Space

 

[:eek:]

The Ultimate Engineered Solar System – PLANETPLANET

NASA captures stunning, first of a kind images of Venus' surface | Live Science

 

[:eek:]

Largest galaxy ever discovered baffles scientists | Live Science

 

[:eek:]

Star twinkles 18 times to form hexagonal pattern in new James Webb telescope image | Live Science

 

[:eek:]

Metal clouds and liquid gems spotted in the atmosphere of hot Jupiter WASP-121 b | Space

 

[:eek:]

James Webb Space Telescope is nearly halfway through its mirror alignment stages | Space

 

[:eek:]

Largest shock wave in the universe is '60 times larger than the Milky Way,' new study finds | Live Science

 

[:eek:]

NASA gearing up for rollout of Artemis 1 mission next week | Space

 

[:eek:]

Dark matter may exist because a mirror universe is running backward in time | Live Science

 

[Dr.]

The Webb telescope is still doing its alignments and calibrations. But here's an impressive test image:

While the purpose of this image was to focus on the bright star at the center for alignment evaluation, Webb's optics and NIRCam are so sensitive that the galaxies and stars seen in the background show up. At this stage of Webb’s mirror alignment, known as “fine phasing,” each of the primary mirror segments have been adjusted to produce one unified image of the same star using only the NIRCam instrument. This image of the star, which is called 2MASS J17554042+6551277, uses a red filter to optimize visual contrast.
Credits: NASA/STScI

Spoiler: BIG image