Earth will capture 'second moon' this weekend | Space Quiz! How long will Earth's new 'mini moon' travel alongside our planet? | Helene to bring floods, tornadoes, 'devastating' winds
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NASA scientists have calculated that Earth will capture a "second moon" on Sunday (Sept. 29). The "mini-moon" comes in the form of the tiny asteroid 2024 PT5, which usually orbits the sun as part of a small asteroid belt that follows Earth. While Earth's primary companion, the moon, has lingered around our planet for around 4 billion years since its formation in the solar system's infancy, this asteroid will be a temporary fixture that won't even see the year out.
The NHC warns that impacts of Helene have the potential to be "life-threatening." Those life-threatening conditions include possible flash and urban flooding this week in areas of northwestern and northern Florida as well as the U.S. Southeast in general, the southern Appalachians and the Upper Tennessee Valley. In some places, flooding could reach about 10 feet (3 meters) above ground level.
(Sergio Pitamitz / robertharding via Getty Images)
Would you travel 8,467 miles to see a ring around the moon for less than six minutes? On Oct. 2, 2024, a few hundred eclipse chasers will be on the volcanic Easter Island - called Rapa Nui by natives and one of the most remote places on Earth - to witness an annular solar eclipse.
Japan's workhorse H-2A rocket flew for the second-to-last time early Thursday morning (Sept. 26). An H-2A topped with a secret spy satellite called IGS-Radar 8 lifted off from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center on Thursday at 1:24 a.m. EDT (0524 GMT and 2:24 p.m. local Japan time). The rocket deployed the satellite as planned, according to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which builds and operates the H-2A.
Astronomers have used the wide-field view of the Dark Energy Camera to confirm that supermassive-black-hole-powered quasars in the early universe were packed into dense neighborhoods. However, it seems these cosmic beasts weren't exactly the best neighbors. The team behind this research found quasars are "noisy neighbors" blasting out radiation that can cut off star formation, thus "killing" galaxies that live in their close cosmic neighborhoods. As a result, the closest companion galaxies around some quasars fail to grow and are thus too small and dim to see.
SpaceX continues to engage the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in a heated and very public debate over launch licensing and alleged violations. Earlier this month, the FAA announced that it planned to fine SpaceX a total of $630,000 for violations stemming from two launches in 2023. SpaceX fired back with a letter to the U.S. Congress contesting the fines, arguing that the two alleged infractions were frivolous and should not be viewed as violations at all. In addition to the letter, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X, the social media company he owns, that his company intendeds to sue the FAA for "regulatory overreach."
Blue Origin carried out a hotfire test for its New Glenn rocket second stage on Monday (Sept. 23) as the company moves toward the huge vehicle's debut flight. The 15-second hotfire test was conducted on Sept. 23 to validate interactions between the subsystems on the New Glenn second stage, its two BE-3U engines and the ground control systems. The company is now into the final stretch of preparations for the upcoming launch attempt in November. New Glenn will carry the company's new Blue Ring spacecraft platform on a National Security Space Launch certification flight.
A striped rock that looks out of place in its surroundings on the slopes of the inner wall of Jezero crater has scientists excited about what it may reveal about the Red Planet's history. NASA's Perseverance Mars rover spotted the striped rock, and the rover's initial measurements suggest it could be volcanic in origin. The rock, which has been nicknamed 'Freya Castle,' may originate from an outcropping of more of this strange material further up the slopes of Jezero.
