Science & Technology

Europe’s Hera Mission Launches to Visit an Asteroid Smacked by NASA

Posted by author-avatar
0
NASA Space Technology October 8, 20243 min readHera will arrive in 2026 at Dimorphos, an asteroid deliberately struck by NASA’s DART spacecraftBy Elizabeth Howell & SPACE.comESA’s Hera mission lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA, on 7 October at 10:52 local time. ESA - S. CorvajaA unique asteroid mission is underway.The European Space Agency's Hera mission launched today (Oct. 7) at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 GMT), riding a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in coastal Florida.ESA's Hera spacecraft soared into a cloudy sky above Florida to begin a multimillion-mile trek across the solar system to the binary asteroid system Didymos, which became famous in September 2022 after NASA smacked its DART (Double Asteroid Redirect Mission) into Didymos' smaller companion, Dimorphos. That...
Continue reading
Hubble Observes a Peculiar Galaxy Shape
06 Oct
Science & Technology

Hubble Observes a Peculiar Galaxy Shape

Posted by author-avatar
0
NASA Space Technology This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image reveals the galaxy, NGC 4694. Most galaxies fall into one of two basic types. Spiral galaxies are young and energetic, filled with the gas needed to form new stars and sporting spiral arms that host these hot, bright youths. Elliptical galaxies have a much more pedestrian look, and their light comes from a uniform population of older and redder stars. But some galaxies require in-depth study to classify their type: such is the case with NGC 4694, a galaxy located 54 million light-years from Earth in the Virgo galaxy cluster.NGC 4694 has a smooth-looking, armless disk which like an elliptical galaxy is nearly devoid of star formation. Yet its stellar population is still relatively young and new stars are actively forming in its core,...
Continue reading
Hera mission set to revisit asteroid after NASA’s redirection test
06 Oct
Science & Technology

Hera mission set to revisit asteroid after NASA’s redirection test

Posted by author-avatar
0
NASA Space Technology The European Space Agency’s Hera mission will study the asteroids Dimorphos aided by two CubeSats called Juventas and MilaniESA/ScienceOffice.orgTwo years after a NASA spacecraft slammed into the asteroid Dimorphos, another mission to map the space rock is about to launch. The data it collects will refine Earth’s planetary defences against asteroid threats, say researchers.In 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft collided with the asteroid Dimorphos at 6.6 kilometres per second as it orbited its parent asteroid Didymos. The mission was an attempt to show that bodies on a collision course with our planet could be redirected, and subsequent observations from Earth showed that it had successfully changed...
Continue reading
Load more posts
Loading...