The U.S. Space Force tracks many different objects near Earth such as human-made debris, commercial satellites, spacecraft and natural debris. Now, it’ll also track “objects that exhibit abnormal observables and patterns of life and cannot by correlated to any owner or point of origin.” Image via U.S. Space Force/ Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain). Have you heard of STARCOM? It’s also known as the Space Training and Readiness Command, headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado. STARCOM works in education and training, and in doctrine, for the U.S. Space Force. And on November 16, 202 ..read more

View larger. | This is an artist’s concept of LTT 1445Ac, an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf star 22 light-years away. The planet is the black dot silhouetted against the star. And 2 other stars in the triple-star system can also be seen nearby. A second planet, LTT 1445Ab, is in the foreground. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope accurately measured the diameter of LTT 1445Ac for the 1st time, at 1.07 time the diameter of Earth. Image via NASA/ ESA/ Leah Hustak (STScI). Astronomers have been discovering an ever-growing number of rocky exoplanets orbiting distant stars. Some are similar i ..read more

Where is Voyager 2 going? On November 27, 2023, on the platform X, the spacecraft’s handlers answered this question. You’ll find their answers below, or in the video above. 1/ In answer to 'where are you going?': ?The journey will effectively end (for you) when my power supply is so low that I can't operate any of my instruments. The EOM command will shut down communication with Earth. When? Within the next few years. — NSFVoyager2 (@NSFVoyager2) November 28, 2023 3/ The final goal was 2 send radio signals back 2 Earth through Triton's atmosphere, yielding data on its composition & den ..read more

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is adding the world’s largest optical telescope to its collection of observatories in Chile. Construction on the Extremely Large Telescope, or ELT, as it’s called, began in August 2023 and should be completed in 2028. Image via ESO/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). Derryck Telford Reid, a professor of physics at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, wrote this article. It was published originally at The Conversation with the title “How we’re building the world’s biggest optical telescope to crack some of the greatest puzzles in science.” The world ..read more

View larger. | Artist’s concept of the sub-Neptune exoplanet called TOI-421 b. In a new study, scientists have found new evidence suggesting this type of planet can lose its atmosphere. If so, it could cause them to “shrink” in overall size. The existence of shrinking exoplanets might explain a puzzling size gap between sub-Neptune and super-Earth sized worlds. Image via NASA/ ESA/ CSA/ D. Player (STScI). Like the planets in our solar system, exoplanets come in various sizes and types. But some apparently don’t stay the same size. In fact, some exoplanets appear to be able to shrink. How is th ..read more

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Makrem Larnaout in Tunis, Tunisia, captured this image of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot on November 20, 2023. Thank you, Makrem! People have been observing the Great Red Spot since at least 1830, but it has changed over time. The earliest images show it larger and more oblong. Today’s Great Red Spot is smaller and rounder.Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is shrinking Jupiter is a gas giant planet with an atmosphere that teems with whorls and bands. The most famous feature on Jupiter is its stormy Great Red Spot, which has raged on the planet for hundreds of years. It’s ..read more

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Sergei Timofeevski shared this image from November 13, 2023. Sergei wrote: “The constellation Orion and Sirius rising just above the eastern horizon in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.” Thank you, Sergei! See the orangish star marking one of Orion’s shoulders? That’s Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse will dim – or maybe even disappear – as an asteroid passes in front of it. But you’ll have to be in the right location to see it. The event will last for several seconds on December 11 or 12, 2023, depending on your time zone.Betelgeuse will dim or disappea ..read more

View larger. | This enhanced-color image of Mercury comes from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft. The colors enhance the chemical, mineralogical and physical differences between the rocks that make up Mercury’s surface. Scientists know that water ice can exist in permanently shadowed craters near the planet’s poles. Now there is new evidence for salt glaciers on Mercury as well. Image via NASA/ Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/ Carnegie Institution of Washington. Mercury – the closest planet to the sun – is probably one of the last places you would expect to find glaciers. Surpris ..read more

Artist’s concept of the dwarf planet called Eris, with its single known moon – called Dysnomia – nearby. Like dwarf planet Pluto, Eris orbits in our solar system’s Kuiper Belt, out past Neptune. And Eris and Pluto are similar in some ways. But a new study suggests that the interior of Eris might be very different from Pluto’s. Image via NASA/ ESA/ STScI. Eris is the 2nd-largest of the dwarf planets. It’s slightly smaller than Pluto. Both are rocky worlds located far from our sun, in the deep freeze of the outer solar system … in the Kuiper Belt out past Neptune. So you might assume the two lit ..read more

Solar conjunction for Mars happened yesterday, November 18, 2023. That’s when Mars was most directly behind the sun for this 25-month period. In 2023, from the vantage point of spacecraft controllers on Earth, the season of Mars’ 2023 conjunction takes place between November 5 and December 2, 2023. During this time, data exchange between Mars spacecraft and Earth is limited. This image – via ESA – was created with the orbit visualization tool of ESA’s Planetary Defence Office. Between now and early December, radio signals used to send commands from Earth to Mars spacecraft – and to receive sig ..read more