Space.com
• Robert Lea
Astronomers used machine learning to filter starlight from James Webb Space Telescope observations, bringing a distant giant exoplanet into view. The approach offers a way to extract faint planetary signals from the glare of their host stars in telescope data.
Space Exploration & Science Missions
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Astronomers used machine learning to filter starlight from James Webb Space Telescope observations, bringing a distant giant exoplanet into view. The approach offers a way to extract faint planetary signals from the glare of their host stars in telescope data.
The two identical spacecraft launched outside the usual Mars launch window and will use powered slingshot maneuvers to increase their speed on the journey to the planet. The mission’s trajectory makes use of propulsion maneuvers to send both spacecraft onward to Mars.
High activity
The European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft has returned its first close-up images of the Didymos binary asteroid system, which NASA’s DART mission struck in humanity’s first deliberate test of asteroid deflection. The observations give Hera an initial view of the target it is traveling to study.
Launched in 1977 for a Grand Tour of the solar system, the Voyager spacecraft have reached a milestone: a “Big Bang” fix has put Voyager across the one-light-day mark. The milestone underscores the distance covered by NASA’s long-running deep-space mission.
A meteorite discovered in the Sahara Desert and dated to about 4.1 billion years old could offer a rare window into Mars’ early history. Researchers say the rock may help unlock the planet’s long-standing water story, linking an ancient sample to questions about conditions on early Mars.
Researchers are using software to optimize a physical model of a telescope, reducing noise as it blocks a star’s light. The approach aims to make the much fainter signals of orbiting exoplanets easier to detect.
A stand-off nuclear blast could redirect a hazardous asteroid on short notice, using the burst’s X-ray pulse rather than an atmospheric shock wave, according to the article. But asteroids’ irregular shapes and uneven composition make their response difficult to predict, complicating the use of this approach for planetary defense.
Images from the James Webb Space Telescope show an apparent abundance of bright galaxies just 400 to 500 million years after the Big Bang. Researchers propose that powerful winds cleared gas from these early galaxies, making their light more visible and offering an explanation for the unexpectedly bright population.
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