On October 15, 2015, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) released the first images taken by Astrosat, its recently launched Multi-wavelength Space Observatory. Astrosat was launched into a 650 km (404 miles) orbit on September 28, 2015 by ISRO's Polar…
NASA has awarded three contracts amounting to $17.15 million USD for dedicated CubeSat (smallsat) launches as part of its Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) initiative on October 14, 2015. These initial CubeSat launches are expected to demonstrate the usability of…
NASA's scientists have produced new maps of Jupiter from images collected by the Hubble Space Telescope. Newly composed maps are the first in a series of yearly images of the Solar System's outer planets, designed to keep track of how these giant worlds…
The first color images of Pluto's atmospheric hazes, provided last week by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft show the hazes scatter blue light, NASA announced on October 8, 2015. New Horizons has also detected small, exposed regions of water ice on Pluto, using…
Astronomers have discovered unique and unusual features within the dusty disc of the AU Microscopii star on images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ESO's Very Large Telescope. Curious features are moving with an unusually fast speed, and are unlike…
In the previous Space News episode, we discussed recent, astonishing images of the surface of the dwarf planet Pluto. Many other surprises have already been revealed in the data thus far released from NASA’s New Horizons mission. Today, physicist Eugene…
Several months after the arrival at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/C-G) in August 2014, the Rosetta spacecraft has finally managed to observe and characterize comet's southern polar regions. The only instrument that was able to study this dark region of…
Newly discovered comet C/2013 US10 Catalina may reach naked eye visibility on October 1, 2015; it will continue to brighten and could reach magnitude 5 by November 6. Draconid meteor shower is scheduled to peak on October 8 with only about 10 meteors per hour. The…
A series of new images of Ceres have been provided by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, showing the geological features of the dwarf planet in amazing, unprecedented details. A new colored topographic map shows numerous recently approved names for various geological…
Our planet is constantly bombarded by small asteroids that try to penetrate its protective atmosphere. The vast majority don't get through, but larger asteroids could pose a threat. Understanding better the surface and internal structure of asteroids is crucial…
