The Psyche space probe blasting off atop a Falcon Heavy rocket (Image NASA TV)

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A little while ago, NASA’s Psyche space probe blasted off atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center. After just over an hour, it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage and set off on its route that will take it into deep space, towards asteroid 16 Psyche, which it will reach towards the end of July 2029 to study its structure composed mainly of iron-nickel.

Within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and right now about 3.6 billion kilometers away from Earth, asteroid 16 Psyche is one of the largest known. It’s an M-type asteroid, the type with the highest metal content. It has an irregular shape with a maximum length of almost 280 kilometers, which brings it close to the size of a dwarf planet.

Artistic concept of a red dwarf in a phase of flares that strip the atmosphere from one of its planets (Image NASA, ESA, and D. Player (STScI))

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An article accepted for publication in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports the results of spectroscopic observations of the activity of the star TRAPPIST-1 conducted with the James Webb Space Telescope. A team of researchers observed four flares of this ultra-cool dwarf, which occurred over the course of about 27 hours. By adding data obtained with other instruments, it was possible to develop a mathematical method to separate the light of those flares from normal stellar radiation. In the study of a very small but also active star, this is very useful to improve the quality of observations of the seven rocky planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system.

AT2023fhn as seen by Hubble

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An article being published in the journal “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society” reports the observation of a Luminous Fast Blue Optical Transient (LFBOT), a rare type of cosmic explosion of still uncertain nature which was cataloged as AT2023fhn. A team of researchers used various telescopes to try to study one of the few phenomena of this type known so far but this brought more questions than answers because its origin was found far from any galaxy.

A mosaic of photos of Arrokoth taken by the New Horizons space probe's LORRI instrument on the left and a geologic map of the asteroid on the right

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An article published in the journal “The Planetary Science Journal” reports a study on the mound-like formations found on asteroid Arrokoth by NASA’s New Horizons space probe. The images collected show that especially the largest lobe, which was named Wenu, is dominated by these geological features but the smaller lobe, which was named Weeyo, has some of them as well. A team of researchers led by Alan Stern conducted simulations that indicate that these are the traces of smaller bodies that coalesced in the very early history of the solar system. This offers new insights into the formation mechanisms not only of asteroids but also of larger rocky bodies.

The G35.2-0.7N region (Image ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Fedriani, J. Tan)

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An image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope depicts the star-forming region cataloged as G35.2-0.7N, in which massive stars form. Protostars are surrounded by cocoons of gas and dust which in turn are inside larger clouds, and that usually makes them invisible. However, one of those protostars near the center of the image is emitting jets of materials that illuminate the region and dig into the gas, allowing some of the protostellar light to escape.

About 7,200 light-years away from Earth, the G35.2-0.7N region is of interest to astronomers who are studying the processes that lead to the birth of stars. The Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument is one of many that have been used over time in various studies taking photos that have now been assembled into a single image.