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News

ULA's Vulcan rocket lifting off for the Cert-2 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Pad 41. Credits: ULA

ULA’s Vulcan Completes Its Second Certification Flight Despite SRB Anomaly

ByLuca MastrorilliOct 4, 20248 min read

Mercury view from BepiColombo spacecraft during the third flyby. Credits:ESA/BepiColombo/MTM

News Missions Space Agencies

BepiColombo: ESA Shares Third Mercury Flyby Exciting Results

ByDaniele ParozziOct 3, 20245 min read

Radian Aerospace's (Radian) PFV01 prototype vehicle. Credits: Radian Aerospace

Taxi Testing for the New Radian One Prototype

ByGiancarlo AlbertinazziSep 30, 20243 min read

Footage of the New Glenn’s Second Stage hot fire test. Credits: Blue Origin

News Space Agencies

Blue Origin Completes Hot Fire Test for New Glenn’s Second Stage

ByBeatrice RomeoSep 30, 20243 min read

The ESA Flyeye Telescope, a render showing the telescope pointing an (enlarged) asteroid in the night sky

News Space Agencies Astronomy

ESA’s New Flyeye Telescope to Begin Construction in Sicily

ByMarco GuardabassoSep 29, 20245 min read

Liftoff of Crew-9. Credits: NASA/Keegan Barber

News Launches Missions Space Agencies

SpaceX Launched Downsized Crew-9 Towards the ISS

ByFrancesco Sebastiano MoroSep 28, 20244 min read

Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket, rendered launching from Wallops Island, Virginia

News Missions Space Agencies

FireFly Selected by NASA to Launch NOAA’s QuickSounder Satellite

ByGiovanni OdontiSep 26, 20244 min read

In mid-August 2010 ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky snapped this amazing photo at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. A group of astronomers were observing the centre of the Milky Way using the laser guide star facility at Yepun, one of the four Unit Telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT). Yepun’s laser beam crosses the majestic southern sky and creates an artificial star at an altitude of 90 km high in the Earth's mesosphere. The Laser Guide Star (LGS) is part of the VLT’s adaptive optics system and is used as a reference to correct the blurring effect of the atmosphere on images. The colour of the laser is precisely tuned to energise a layer of sodium atoms found in one of the upper layers of the atmosphere — one can recognise the familiar colour of sodium street lamps in the colour of the laser. This layer of sodium atoms is thought to be a leftover from meteorites entering the Earth’s atmosphere. When excited by the light from the laser, the atoms start glowing, forming a small bright spot that can be used as an artificial reference star for the adaptive optics. Using this technique, astronomers can obtain sharper observations. For example, when looking towards the centre of our Milky Way, researchers can better monitor the galactic core, where a central supermassive black hole, surrounded by closely orbiting stars, is swallowing gas and dust. The photo, which was chosen as Astronomy Picture of the Day for 6 September 2010 and Wikimedia Picture of the Year 2010, was taken with a wide-angle lens and covers about 180 degrees of the sky. This image is available as a mounted image in the ESOshop. #L

ESO Unveils Most Detailed Map of the Milky Way

ByMatteo FerrariniSep 26, 20244 min read

The cover of Reentry by Eric Berger

Reentry by Eric Berger: The Epic Tale of SpaceX’s Ascent

ByEdoardo GiammarinoSep 24, 20246 min read

ESA DRACO

News Missions Space Agencies

Deimos Selected by ESA to Develop DRACO Demonstration Mission

ByFrancesco Sebastiano MoroSep 24, 20243 min read

View from the Neptune capsule at DF2 apogee. Credits: Space Perspective

Space Perspective Flew to the Edge of Space

ByGiancarlo AlbertinazziSep 22, 20243 min read

Insights

Delta Clipper DC-X first flight. Credits: NASA

The McDonnell Douglas DC-X: Testing the Reusable Rocket Technology

ByFederico CoppolaSep 16, 20245 min read

YPSat view on Earth from atop Ariane 6

Insights Interviews

YPSat: the Success of ESA Young Professionals on Ariane 6 Maiden Flight

ByBeatrice RomeoSep 1, 20247 min read

Some members of the team at ESA's ESTEC. Credits: Alba CubeSat

AlbaSat: the First CubeSat of the University of Padua

ByFrancesco Sebastiano MoroJul 29, 20247 min read

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Guides

Starship potrotypes SN9 and SN10 awaiting their flights, and Starhopper, at the Suborbital Launch Site in Starbase, Texas. Credits: SpaceX

Starship, the complete guide

James Webb Space Telescope Guide

James Webb Space Telescope Guide