Space

Space
KIDS NEWS 2024: students watch the launch at the Powerhouse Future Space Launch of their algae experiment for the International Space Station. Picture: Powerhouse Future Space Launch/Maja Baska.

Student experiment goes to space

Australian students are celebrating the successful lift off of their history-making space mission, as their algae experiment heads to the International Space Station in a bid to grow a greener future

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The Europa Clipper will embark on a journey of 2.8 billion km to reach Europa, a mysterious moon orbiting Jupiter. 

NASA blasts off to Jupiter’s moon

NASA has embarked on a 2.8 billion km journey to Europa to see if life could be sustained on the mysterious icy moon, which has twice the amount of water as Earth’s ocean under its icy shell

Space
The meteor seen over Sydney on Thursday monring. Picture: Channel 7

What was ‘fireball’ in Aussie skies?

Early risers along the east coast of Australia spotted a bright ‘fireball’ streaking across the sky early Thursday morning, with astrophysicists suggesting the celestial treat was likely a meteor

Space
The 500m diameter asteroid Bennu, imaged by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in December 2018. Picture NASA For Martin George col for The Mercury

Aussie team to assess asteroid risk

Australian researchers are studying samples taken from a 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid to figure out how we can prevent a future collision while unlocking the mind-boggling secrets of our universe

Space
TOPSHOT - This still image taken from a SpaceX and Polaris broadcast on September 12, 2024, shows US fintech billionaire Jared Isaacman (EV1) peeking out to space from a hatch structure called "Skywalker", during the first private spacewalk performed by the crew of the SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission. After trekking deeper into space than any humans in the last half-century, a pioneering private crew is set to make history September 12, 2024, with the first-ever spacewalk by non-professional astronauts. The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, led by fintech billionaire Jared Isaacman, launched early Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, reaching a peak altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometers). (Photo by Polaris Program / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / SpaceX / Polaris" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

First tourist ‘sets foot’ in space

A tech billionaire has made history as the first civilian to complete a space walk – a feat only ever accomplished previously by professional astronauts. See the amazing photos here

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(FILES) This undated handout picture from Nasa released on July 2, 2024 shows NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts (from top) Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station’s Harmony module and Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. NASA needs to decide by the end of August whether to return two astronauts to Earth aboard Boeing's Starliner, which flew them to the International Space Station (ISS), or bring them home on a SpaceX craft, officials said on August 14, 2024. NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams blasted off for the ISS on Starliner on June 5 for what was meant to be an eight-day stay. (Photo by Handout / NASA / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / NASA" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Two astronauts stranded in space

Two Boeing Starliner astronauts are settling in for the long haul after their eight-day mission to the International Space Station turned into 80 days and has now blown out a further six months

Space
It flared over a highway in Portugal. Picture: X

Eerie blue fireball lights the sky

A sudden blue flash has stunned people in parts of Portugal and Spain after the fragment of a comet entered Earth’s atmosphere in a spectacular cosmic show that looked like an alien landing

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Aurora Australis from  Goolwa  , 11th May 2024 . Picture: Photography by Nikki

The greatest show on Earth

Stunned Aussies looked skyward over the Mother’s Day weekend as a once in a lifetime showing of the aurora australis turned the night sky into a rainbow of coloured lights following a solar storm

Space
This artists concept shows what the exoplanet 55 Cancri e could look like. The illustration is of the rocky exoplanet and its star. The star is in the background at the lower left and appears somewhat smaller in the sky than the planet. The planet has hints of a rocky, partly molten surface beneath the haze of a thin atmosphere. Picture: NASA, ESA, CSA, R. Crawford (STScI)

Atmosphere found on rocky planet

The super-Earth planet known as 55 Cancri e is surrounded by an atmosphere of gases, a groundbreaking new study has revealed – but does this mean it holds the conditions to sustain life?

Space
A fireball was captured as it streaked across the US sky on 28/4/24 Picture: Julie D. / www.amsmeteors.org

Meteors puts on cosmic show

This year’s Eta Aquariid meteor shower is set to be extra special as Jupiter sends the space dust left by Halley’s comet in a closer direction to Earth – and Australia is in a prime position to see it

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A closer look at the Devil's comet. Picture: Gideon van Buitenen

‘Won’t be back for 71 years’

It’s been more than seven decades since Australians have viewed the bright green Devil’s Comet in our night sky. Here’s how and where you can see it over coming weeks

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 08: People gather to view the solar eclipse at the Empire State Building on April 08, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Empire State Realty Trust)

Millions pause to see rare eclipse

About 180 million North Americans stopped what they were doing and looked skyward as the shadow of the moon blocked out the sun in a rare solar eclipse lasting an hour-and-a-half

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KIDS NEWS 2024: A view of the M87 supermassive black hole in polarised light, Wednesday 27 March 2024. Picture: EHT Collaboration
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, who produced the first ever image of our Milky Way black hole released in 2022, has captured a new view of the massive object at the centre of our Galaxy: how it looks in polarised light. This is the first time astronomers have been able to measure polarisation, a signature of magnetic fields, this close to the edge of Sagittarius A*. This image shows the polarised view of the Milky Way black hole. The lines overlaid on this image mark the orientation of polarisation, which is related to the magnetic field around the shadow of the black hole.

New view of Milky Way monster

The twisted spiral pattern around the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, newly observed by astronomers, reveals new qualities of the hugely powerful object lurking at the centre of our galaxy

Space
18/11/2010 WIRE: NOTE: All information about this discovery is EMBARGOED until 2PM ET on Thursday 18 November 2010 TO GO WITH AFP STORY US-SPACE-ASTRONOMY-EUROPE-GERMANY-CHILE This artist?s impression shows HIP 13044 b, an exoplanet orbiting a star that entered our galaxy, the Milky Way, from another galaxy. European astronomers say they have discovered the first planet that comes from a galaxy outside the Milky Way, according to research released November 18, 2010 in the United States. The exoplanet is slightly larger than the size of Jupiter, the gaseous planet that is the largest in our solar system, and is orbiting a star 2,000 light years from Earth that has found its way into the Milky Way. The pair are believed to be part of the Helmi stream, a group of stars that remains after its mini-galaxy was devoured by the Milky Way some six to nine billion years ago, said the study in Science Express. AFP PHOTO/ESO/L. Cal?ada/RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE

Stars snack on planets in space

The uneven composition of twin stars in the Milky Way suggests not all planetary systems are as stable as our own, with a new study concluding that some planets end up as dinner to the stars