June 2019

The asteroid 1999 KW4 photographed by the SPHERE instrument

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ESO has published photos of the asteroid 1999 KW4 taken using the SPHERE instrument mounted on the VLT in Chile. This is part of a campaign of observations coordinated by the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN), which followed the UN recommendations to set up the control of potentially dangerous asteroids. 1999 KW4 passed 5.2 million kilometers from the Earth on May 25, 2019, an absolutely safe distance but it was a good opportunity to assess the possibility of keeping an eye on the trajectory of what’s actually a double asteroid even using an instrument designed to photograph exoplanets.

The Dragon cargo spacecraft departing the International Space Station to end its CRS-17 mission (Image NASA TV)

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A few hours ago the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft ended its CRS-17 (Cargo Resupply Service 17) mission for NASA splashing down smoothly in the Pacific Ocean a little more than 325 kilometers (about 202 miles) off the coast of California. The Dragon left the International Space Station a few hours earlier.

Shortly after landing, SpaceX boats went to retrieve the Dragon to transport it to the coast. The cargo brought back to Earth will be delivered to NASA soon, probably tomorrow. The Dragon spacecraft reached the International Space Station on May 6, 2019.

A stellar panorama between the Cepheus C and Cepheus B regions

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An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports a study of an area containing a number of star clusters that have a common origin even if their formation had slightly different timescales in the various regions. A team of researchers used NASA’s Spitzer space telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory to examine the many different objects present between the regions known as Cepheus C and Cepheus B and map the cluster called Cep OB3b.