Massimo Luciani

Some of the galaxies observed in the 3D-DASH survey

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An article accepted for publication in “The Astrophysical Journal” reports the release of the results of the 3D-DASH survey, which aims to map star-forming regions to understand the formation of the most ancient galaxies, which from the Earth’s point of view are the most distant. A team of researchers used the Hubble Space Telescope to capture near-infrared images in the area known as the COSMOS (Cosmic Evolution Survey) field, a previous survey conducted with Hubble.

The Shenzhou 14 mission starts blasting off atop a Long March-2F rocket (Photo courtesy Xinhua/Li Gang)

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The confirmation has arrived that three Chinese taikonauts of the Shenzhou 14 mission have reached the Chinese space station’s Tianhe core module with an automated docking maneuver. They blasted off about seven hours earlier atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. They’re the third crew of the Chinese space station and will remain there for about six months, the standard duration for a mission.

The Progress MS-20 spacecraft approaching the International Space Station (Image NASA TV)

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A few hours ago, the Progress MS-20 spacecraft blasted off atop a Soyuz 2.1a rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After about nine minutes it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage and was placed on its ultra-fast track in its resupply mission to the International Space Station also called Progress 81 or 81P. After almost 3.5 hours it reached the International Space Station docking with its Zvezda module.

Artist's concept of a super-Earth orbiting close to a red dwarf (Image courtesy Gabriel Pérez Díaz, SMM (IAC))

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An article accepted for publication in the journal “Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan” reports the discovery of the exoplanet Ross 508 b, probably a super-Earth at the edge of ​​its star system’s habitable zone. A team of researchers led by Hiroki Harakawa used the IRD (InfraRed Doppler) instrument mounted on the Subaru Telescope to examine the star Ross 508, a red dwarf that has a mass that is only 18% of the Sun’s. The radial velocity method allowed to identify what from the collected data looks like a rocky planet with a mass that is about 4 times the Earth’s. This discovery confirms the value of infrared spectroscopic examinations of red dwarfs.

The CST-100 Starliner spacecraft landing to end its OFT 2 mission (Photo NASA/Bill Ingalls)

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A few hours ago, Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft landed at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, ending its Boe-OFT 2 (Boeing Orbital Flight Test 2) mission. It departed the International Space Station, where it arrived on May 21, just over 4 hours earlier. The Starliner doesn’t splash down in the ocean but lands on the ground. The ground staff intervened in an assistance activity exercise that will take place in missions with astronauts. On board were over 250 kg of miscellaneous cargoes that need to be unloaded and the Rosie dummy.