Earlier this month, the European Space Agency (ESA) released observational data from the Gaia telescope (Gaia Early Data Release 3 or EDR3), in continuation to the DR1 and DR2 releases of the years 2016 and 2018. Gaia accrues accurate knowledge about, for example, the Milky Way stars, distant extragalactic quasars, and the asteroids of our Solar System.
Quasars are bright, star-like objects that allow for the determination of planet Earth’s orientation in space. With the help of their precise positions measured by Gaia, a new high-precision reference system can be constructed for defining the positions of stars, Solar System objects, and also satellites.
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Travel / Ride the Solar System - Adventure Rider
"Space is big," wrote Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. “You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space."
While clearly true, this did not discourage astronomer John Shobbrook from Coonabarabran near Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. To "give students and tourists a feel for the vastness of space and the fragility of the tiny planets – especially planet Earth," he proposed building a model of the Solar System.
2020 in Space: Ten Out-of-the-World Happenings That Kept Astronomy Enthusiasts on Their Toes This
In the year 2020—despite the widespread lockdowns and restricted movement—space exploration and research continued to proliferate across the globe. While some planned missions were delayed, multiple astronomical triumphs achieved this year demonstrated that nothing in this world can halt scientific ingenuity. The Weather Channel India has compiled some such exciting space discoveries and events that grabbed headlines in the year gone by.
While ISRO took a back seat with stalled missions in 2020, Indian astronomers proved their mantle in furthering space science by conducting breakthrough research. One of the most remarkable contributions was by two students from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay—Kunal Deshmukh and Kriti Sharma—who spotted the closest asteroid to ever fly past Earth. Back on August 16, a car-sized space rock, named 2020 QG, zipped past our planet and scientists had no clue about it.
New easy route to travel through solar system discovered - The Week
Researchers have discovered a previously unknown superhighway network that can be used to travel through the Solar System much easier and faster.
The new route could be used to send spacecraft to the far reaches of our planetary system relatively fast, and to monitor and understand near-Earth objects that might collide with our planet.
These routes can drive comets and asteroids near Jupiter to Neptune's distance in under a decade and to 100 astronomical units in less than a century.
Many things are taking place:
Solar System 'superhighway' could speed up space travel | Engadget
Future deep space missions might not take as long as you’d think. Researchers have discovered a Solar System “superhighway” network of routes that would let probes and other spacecraft travel outward at quicker pace. Asteroids near Jupiter, for example, could reach Neptune’s distance in less than 10 years and 100AU (about three times Neptune’s distance from the Sun) in 100 years. Spacecraft would theoretically be faster.
Scientists found the routes by computing how “millions” of Solar System orbits fit inside known space manifolds, or arch structures that extend from the asteroid belt.
NASA approves 2 missions to explore Sun, Earth's aurora : The Tribune India
NASA has approved two missions to explore the Sun and the system that drives space weather near Earth.
These two missions are Extreme Ultraviolet High-Throughput Spectroscopic Telescope Epsilon Mission, or EUVST, and the Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer, or EZIE .
Together, NASA's contribution to the missions will help us understand the Sun and Earth as an interconnected system, the US space agency said on Tuesday.
Understanding the physics that drive the solar wind and solar explosions -- including solar flares and coronal mass ejections -- could one day help scientists predict these events, which can impact human technology and explorers in space.
Rendezvous Mission for Interstellar Objects Using a Solar Sail-based Statite Concept
Using the "statite," or static-satelite, concept -- an artificial satellite capable of hovering in place using a solar sail -- this work proposes to create a dynamic orbital slingshot in anticipation of Interstellar Objects (ISOs) passing through our solar system.
Moon Phases 2021 – Northern Hemisphere | NASA Solar System Exploration
This 4K visualization shows the Moon's phase and libration at hourly intervals throughout 2021, as viewed from the Northern Hemisphere. Each frame represents one hour.
In addition, this visualization shows the Moon's orbit position, sub-Earth and subsolar points, and distance from the Earth at true scale. Craters near the terminator are labeled, as are Apollo landing sites, maria, and other albedo features in sunlight.
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