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2 commercial spaceflight astronomy news items found

Inside view of a Dragon belly captured

Saturday, November 2, 2024 by Richard Harris

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has captured a haunting image of SpaceX's Dragon capsule. The spacecraft, named Freedom, is currently undertaking SpaceX's Crew-9 mission for NASA. This striking photograph, taken from the vantage point of the orbiting laboratory, has garnered attention for its eerie and surreal depiction of the Dragon ca...

Exploring controlled propulsion techniques for gentle landings

Monday, October 28, 2024 by Richard Harris

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has pioneered a technology originally crafted for the precise landing of rovers on distant planetary surfaces. This technology, a specialized valve, has now found a new application in the commercial spaceflight sector. It is instrumental in ensuring the effective separation of rocket stages, a critical process in the journey to and f...

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

2026-04-05

NGC 3310: A Starburst Spiral Galaxy

Image Credit: AAO ITSO Office, Gemini Obs./AURA & T. A. Rector (U. Alaska Anchorage)

The party is still going on in spiral galaxy NGC 3310. Roughly 100 million years ago, NGC 3310 likely collided with a smaller galaxy causing the large spiral galaxy to light up with a tremendous burst of star formation. The changing gravity during the collision created density waves that compressed existing clouds of gas and triggered the star-forming party. The featured image from the Gemini North Telescope shows the galaxy in great detail, color-coded so that pink highlights gas while white and blue highlight stars. Some of the star clusters in the galaxy are quite young, indicating that starburst galaxies may remain in star-burst mode for quite some time. NGC 3310 spans about 50,000 light years, lies about 50 million light years away, and is visible with a small telescope towards the constellation of Great Bear Ursa Major.