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Happy Friday, space fans
We have made it through another week! Always worth celebrating. And, as always, we've got a lot to share from outer space. Starting with some strange science, astronomers have discovered the first "microquasar" in the Milky Way. This black hole-powered particle accelerator is blasting near-light-speed plasma jets at our home planet -- wild! On the spaceflight front, we are just days away from SpaceX's next Starship launch. And we can now report that launch rehearsal for Flight 14 went swimmingly, so our fingers are crossed for this next test flight. And taking things back down to planet Earth, NOAA's GOES-18 satellite has spotted a terrifying, swirling, lightning-filled view of Hurricane Polo as it approaches the coast of Mexico.
Check out what's big in space below:
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After more than 36 years in orbit and 1.7 million observations, Hubble continues to explore the universe and provide new insights into the cosmos.
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SpaceX completed a wet dress rehearsal with its Starship megarocket today (Sept. 24), keeping the vehicle on track for a Sept. 28 launch of its first-ever orbital flight.
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A prototype satellite that will test hardware for Google's planned Project Suncatcher AI constellation will launch aboard a SpaceX rocket next week, if all goes to plan.
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Use September's full moon as a guide to spot the ringed planet, then turn a telescope toward two of the night sky's most rewarding sights.
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Using the X-ray spacecraft XRISM, astronomers have observed stellar winds from a hypermassive star feeding a neutron star.
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Black holes come in a vast array of sizes, from many times the mass of the sun, up to billions of times the size of our star, but the "burps" they emit when feeding seem to be remarkably similar.
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This is looking like one nasty storm.
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An imaginative new "Star Trek" comic book dropping this week from IDW Publishing sounds like a seriously suitable candidate for a film adaptation.
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And that's it for our space update today!
If you're facing the upcoming Hurricane Polo or the storms on the east coast of the U.S., stay safe this weekend! As the satellites in orbit show us, we've got some serious storms on our hands. If you're stuck inside, however, it might be the perfect time to catch up on your space news. Dive into microquasars, or black hole "burps," or the latest in new spaceflight ventures that seem to get stranger every day. And Saturday night, don't forget to look up and enjoy a beautiful Harvest Moon (maybe even throw on some Neil Young and really lean into the moment).
And next week: mark your calendars for the next Starship launch. With Flight 14, SpaceX aims to put Starship into orbit. And with a successful launch rehearsal now behind them, things are starting to look good. But we will keep you up-to-date as we learn more as the countdown nears launch. And coming up in October, we are now counting down to World Space Week. It's never a dull moment on the final frontier. To follow closely along and stay up to date with all things space, you can now get Space.com right in the palm of your hand with our new app available now on iOS and Android.
Ad astra, per aspera
Chelsea Gohd
Content Manager, Space.com
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