Russia lost control of an orbiting radio telescope

Russia’s astronomy program is facing a significant setback. The country’s orbital Spektr-R radio telescope has stopped responding to commands since January 11th. While it’s still transmitting signals, the satellite effectively can’t be used for future tasks in its current state. The space agency Roscosmos said it would next try to regain control and fix issues […]

Insta360’s next camera may shoot orbiting video while stationary

If you’ve tinkered with a consumer 360 camera lately, chances are you have already tried the “round view” or “little planet” viewing mode in the companion app for a good laugh. But what if you could take things to the next level so that rather than spinning a 360 video on a fixed spot, you […]

Lunar surprise: Astronomers discover moon orbiting ‘Snow White’ dwarf planet

Published time: 20 May, 2017 21:57 Edited time: 20 May, 2017 22:01 A new study has revealed that the third-largest dwarf planet in our solar system has its own moon. Researchers used three different space observatories to confirm that dwarf planet 2007 OR10, which is nicknamed “Snow White,” is orbited by a moon. Snow White […]

One of Jupiter’s asteroid ‘moons’ is orbiting backwards

As a rule, you can safely assume that moons and asteroids will all orbit a planet in the same direction. If they didn’t, interactions with their host would likely send them flying off course. However, it’s now clear that there are exceptions to this rule: researchers have discovered that an asteroid is circling Jupiter in […]

NASA Just Found a Lost Spacecraft Orbiting the Moon

Image: NASA Much like George Clooney in Gravity, sometimes, spacecrafts meet unfortunate fates—they get lost in space, and are almost always victims of the final frontier. But over the last few years, NASA has been having some real success locating wayward spacecrafts, including its STEREO-B solar observer. The agency has now done it again, locating […]