Quick. What's the closest star after the sun? If you said Alpha Centauri you're one-third correct. Alpha is actually a triple system comprised of Rigil Kentaurus (Alpha Centauri A), Toliman (Alpha B) and Proxima Centauri. The first two form a close, bright pair of sun-like stars located east of the Southern Cross. Standoffish Proxima, a dim red dwarf, orbits 2.2° away and requires a 4-inch telescope to see.
Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf star in the southern constellation Centaurus, is the sun's nearest neighbor. (ESA / Hubble)
Other things to check out:
NASA probe gets 'Christmas Star' photo while orbiting the moon - mlive.com
While many of us on Earth were craning our necks, trying to get a glimpse of the so-called "Christmas Star" earlier this week, a robotic spacecraft orbiting the moon was able to swing its camera around for an out-of-this-world photo of the celestial event.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) got a photo of "The Great Conjunction," which is when the big gas planets of Jupiter and Saturn get so close in the sky they appear to meld into one bright object from far away. A similar planetary conjunction may have been what gave rise to the phenomenon of what some call The Star of Bethlehem or The Christmas Star.
Scientists Propose Spinning Human Habitat Orbiting Ceres | IE
The enormous human habitat could act as a base for further exploration of the cosmos and could be built using materials mined from Ceres itself, Futurism reports.
In an example of reality imitating fiction, researchers proposed a megastructure orbiting Ceres, citing the dwarf planet's abundance of nitrogen, a substance that could enable the creation of an Earth-like atmosphere.
In their paper , uploaded on arXiv this week, the scientists detail their proposal for a disc-shaped megasatellite composed of smaller spinning satellites. These, in turn, would be attached to each other via magnetic tethers.
Japan Aims to Launch World's First Wooden Satellite
The goal is to help fight the problem of space junk . Space junk includes things like dead satellites, lost pieces of equipment and small pieces of paint. Such objects can present threats to spacecraft and satellites operating in space.
The project is a joint effort involving the company Sumitomo Forestry and Japan's Kyoto University. The development team recently announced plans for the satellite in a news release.
The researchers say the wooden satellite – which they call LignoSat – is one of several planned projects that seek to explore how wood might be used in space in the future.
And here's another article:
Two payloads orbited by SpaceX’s launch of NRO mission – Spaceflight Now
Tracking information released by the U.S. military indicates two government payloads rode a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into orbit Dec. 19 on the NROL-108 mission, a dedicated launch for the National Reconnaissance Office.
The identities and purposes of the satellites remain top secret, but both spacecraft are presumably owned by the NRO, the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency.
The two spacecraft — publicly designated USA 312 and USA 313 — have been catalogued by the Space Force unit charged with tracking all satellites and space debris orbiting Earth.
Space Force official: Russian missile tests expose vulnerability of low-orbiting satellites -
WASHINGTON — Russia on Dec. 15 conducted a ballistic missile test that U.S. Space Command condemned as a threat to satellites in orbit.
"The nation must do something about this," said Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno, director of staff of the Office of the Chief of Space Operations of the U.S. Space Force.
Speaking Dec. 16 at a Washington Space Business Roundtable virtual event, Armagno said the recent Russian missile test shows how vulnerable satellites are, and validates the decision to establish a military space service focused on defending U.S. space systems.
A Highly Eccentric Journey | astrobites
First Author's Institution: Department of Space Studies, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO
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Among the furthest reaches of the Solar System, beyond the orbits of the mighty ice giants, lies the Kuiper Belt . This circumstellar disk, roughly twenty times as wide as the asteroid belt, is home to many small bodies (defined by the IAU as any Sun-orbiting body that is neither a planet, dwarf planet or satellite), as well as various dwarfs, including what was once the ninth planet .
The Tiny Satellites That Will Connect Cows, Cars and Shipping Containers to the Internet - WSJ
Scientists who track the health of Adélie penguins on the ice-covered wastes of Antarctica are managing their cameras from thousands of miles away—via tiny satellites orbiting above our heads.
Energy companies are exploring using the same technology for monitoring hard-to-reach wind farms; logistics companies for tracking shipping containers ; and agribusiness companies for minding cattle. It even helped National Geographic track a discarded plastic bottle from Bangladesh to the Indian Ocean .
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