Tag

Telescope

All articles tagged with #telescope

technology1 month ago•138 min saved

Pocketable starter telescope steals the show for quick skywatching

Space.com promotes the Celestron FirstScope tabletop telescope, on sale for about $60 at Amazon—cheaper than Prime Day—lauding its ultra-portable, beginner-friendly design (no assembly, 76mm aperture, 300mm focal length) with 20mm and 4mm eyepieces. Ideal for quick, entry-level skywatching and kids, it delivers solid views of the Moon and planets, though it isn’t a deep-sky instrument; accessories like a separate finderscope are available, and the piece notes Prime Day pricing history to reinforce its value as a budget pick for new observers.

via Space|

#astronomy #firstscope #portable

space1 month ago•25 min saved

Private craft nears NASA telescope, but rescue attempt falls short

A private spacecraft from Katalyst Space approached a NASA telescope during thermal vacuum testing at Goddard Space Flight Center, but the mission will not be able to save the telescope.

via AP News|

#katalyst-space #nasa #private-spaceflight

space1 month ago•161 min saved

Roman Space Telescope Emerges in Space After Falcon Heavy Launch

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, launched Aug. 30, 2026 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, successfully separated from the rocket and began autonomous deployment about 31 minutes after liftoff, entering a 90-day commissioning period on the way to sun-Earth L2 to study dark matter, dark energy and exoplanets.

via Space|

#exoplanets #nasa #space

space1 month ago•10 min saved

Giant 3.2-Gigapixel Eye to Map Billions of Galaxies Each Night

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s LSST camera—the largest digital camera ever built—uses a 3,200-megapixel (3.2 gigapixel) sensor array spread across 1.57 meters, with 189 ultra-clean CCDs cooled to -100°C to image the southern sky. It captures wide, fast exposures that sweep about seven times the width of a full moon, producing roughly 10 terabytes of data per night and aiming to catalog billions of galaxies and stars over its 10-year Legacy Survey, enabling unprecedented wide-field, time-domain astronomy and detailed structure in star-forming regions.

via ZME Science|

#astronomy #galaxies #lsst

space1 month ago•1 min saved

NASA's Roman Space Telescope set to unlock dark matter and distant worlds

NASA plans to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope later this month, featuring a 2.4-meter mirror and a 300-megapixel infrared camera to survey wide swaths of the sky. Its field of view will be about 100 times larger than Hubble’s, enabling studies of dark matter and exoplanets, with Japan contributing an instrument and ground stations for data. The launch from Kennedy Space Center is slated for August 30, with first observations after about three months of testing.

via nhk.or.jp|

#dark-matter #exoplanets #nasa

science1 month ago•7 min saved

NASA’s Roman Telescope to Scout the Cosmos at Scale

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will survey vast areas of the infrared sky, acting as a wide-field scout that finds targets for Hubble and Webb, maps the distribution of galaxies to test cosmology, and demonstrates coronagraphy for direct imaging of exoplanets, all while informing future missions like Habitable Worlds Observatory.

via Mashable|

#astronomy #cosmology #exoplanets

science1 month ago•2 min saved

Flagstaff Rescue Fails: Swift Observatory Headed for Fiery Reentry

Flagstaff-based Katalyst Space Technologies canceled its Link rescue mission for NASA’s Swift Observatory after Link could not be controlled to capture or boost the telescope; Swift will reenter the atmosphere later this year, with NASA not expecting the demise before October. NASA paid about $30 million for the attempt, and Katalyst will continue to operate Link nearby to demonstrate proximity operations for future rescues. Had the mission succeeded, Hubble could have been next, but its status remains unclear.

via AZ Family|

#nasa #orbital-rescue #science

space3 months ago•12 min saved

SKA-Low Delivers Strong First Light With Only 1% of Antennas

In March 2025, SKA-Low produced its first image using 1,024 antennas out of 131,072, spotting 85 galaxies and exceeding expectations, proving the array’s design works and signaling far deeper surveys as hundreds of stations come online to enable the cosmic-dawn science.

via Space Daily|

#astronomy #cosmic-dawn #radio-astronomy

space3 months ago•14 min saved

Hubble’s Dark Patch Reveals a Crowded Cosmos: 3,000 Galaxies in a Tiny Sky

In 1995, the Hubble Space Telescope fixed its gaze on a seemingly empty patch of sky for ten days, assembling hundreds of exposures into the Hubble Deep Field and turning a void into a crowded image of roughly 3,000 distant galaxies—each billions of years old—demonstrating that the universe is full of structure even in directions that appear empty and paving the way for deeper surveys with Hubble and Webb.

via Space Daily|

#astronomy #deep-field #galaxies

space3 months ago•5 min saved

NASA deploys a robotic grab to rescue the Swift telescope from re-entry

NASA is funding and launching the LINK spacecraft, a three‑armed robot, to intercept and retrieve the aging Swift space telescope as its orbit decays, with the aim of lifting it back to a stable altitude in an unprecedented, high-risk rescue that could keep Swift studying extreme cosmic events.

via BBC|

#nasa #orbital-rescue #space

science3 months ago•5 min saved

Eyes on the Sky: Spot the 1997 NC1 Near-Earth Flyby This Weekend

ESA says asteroid 1997 NC1 will make its closest approach to Earth in 400 years this weekend, passing about 2.56 million kilometers away on June 27. It poses no risk but will be visible only through a telescope or large binoculars (brightness near magnitude 10). Observers worldwide can track it with astronomy apps and the Virtual Telescope Project livestreams (June 26–27); best viewing times vary by location, with the path near Ophiuchus and Serpens Cauda.

via WIRED|

#1997-nc1 #asteroid #astronomy

space4 months ago•72 min saved

NASA's Roman Space Telescope Passes Final Mirror Check, Set for Launch

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has passed its final prelaunch checks, including a last-look inspection of its 2.4-meter primary mirror and a shake test to ensure it can withstand launch. The mirror performed flawlessly, and the telescope is now being prepared for shipping to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a launch window as early as Aug. 30 or in early September.

via Space|

#launch #mirror #nasa

science4 months ago•5 min saved

Canada-led quantum sensors empower new telescope to map the cosmos from the Chilean summit

Canadian researchers are contributing cryogenic quantum-sensor cameras to the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope in Chile’s Atacama Desert, a high-altitude instrument designed to map large swaths of the sky in submillimeter wavelengths to study how stars form, how galaxies move, and the nature of dark matter and dark energy. The project involves international partners and will produce terabytes of data processed by dedicated computing centers; first results are expected mid-fall, with public releases about a year later.

via CBC|

#astronomy #canada #cosmology

science4 months ago•3 min saved

Basketball-court-sized asteroid to skim past Earth closer than the Moon

A 16–35 metre near-Earth asteroid named 2026 JH2 will pass about 90,000 km from Earth on May 18, 2026—roughly a quarter of the Earth–Moon distance— posing no danger and may be visible with a small telescope (mag ~11.5). It was discovered May 10 by the Mt. Lemmon Survey and will be tracked with a livestream by the Virtual Telescope project.

via BBC Sky at Night Magazine|

#2026jh2 #asteroid-observation #moon-distance

space5 months ago•75 min saved

Odyssey Pro drops to year-low price in Earth Day sale

Space.com’s sponsored deal reports that Unistellar’s Odyssey Pro smart telescope is now $3,909 during an Earth Day sale, the lowest price this year (down from $4,599). The promo also features discounts across the brand’s line (eQuinox 2, eVscope 2) with price checks at Unistellar, B&H, and Amazon showing the same $3,909 tag. The Odyssey Pro, praised for its image quality and built‑in light-pollution removal, is easy to use and portable—great for beginners and astrophotographers, though less ideal for planet imaging. It was previously rated four-and-a-half stars in Space.com’s review.

via Space|

#earth-day #odyssey-pro #price-drop