A few hours ago, the Chinese Tianhe module was launched from the Wenchang base atop a Long March 5B Y2 rocket. After about an hour, it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage, deployed its solar panels, and reached its orbit. Over the next few days, its thrusters will be used to adjust the orbit to an altitude between 340 and 350 kilometers.
An article published in “The Astrophysical Journal Letters” reports an analysis of a superflare of the star Proxima Centauri observed in 2019 in various bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. A team of researchers led by Meredith MacGregor of the University of Colorado at Boulder used various ground-based and space telescopes to obtain complete observations of a flare one hundred times more powerful than solar flares on the closest star to the Sun. It’s the most powerful flare ever observed on Proxima Centauri and one of the most powerful observed in the entire Milky Way.
A new photo of AG Carinae, a hypergiant star that belongs to the Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) class, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope has been released to celebrate the 31st anniversary of Hubble being deployed into orbit. The star is surrounded by a nebula formed by materials ejected from the star itself in a period in which instability caused one or more extremely powerful outbursts. The shell that was created is about five light-years across.
A little while ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft docked to the International Space Station’s Harmony module completing the first part of its Crew-2 or SpaceX Crew-2 mission that began yesterday with its launch. After checking that the pressure is correctly balanced, the hatch will be opened to allow Thomas Pesquet, Megan McArthur, Shane Kimbrough, and Akihiko Hoshide to enter the Station.
A little while ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft blasted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in its Crew-2 o SpaceX Crew-2 mission. After about eleven minutes, it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage and went en route to carry out its mission. This is the second crewed mission of the Crew Dragon spacecraft within the normal rotation of the International Space Station crew, the third one overall. This is also the second mission for the Endeavour, used also for the SpX-DM2 mission.
