pan-starrs
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Scientists observe a red supergiant going supernova for the first time
Astronomers have captured a red supergiant supernova explosion for the first time, gathering crucial new information about these dramatic events.
One of Jupiter's asteroid 'moons' is orbiting backwards
As a rule, you can safely assume that moons and asteroids will all orbit 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 crossing Jupiter in the opposite direction of all planets in the Solar System. These backwards-orbiting rocks are rare anywhere in the system (they represent just 0.01 percent of known asteroids), but this is the very first time one has been caught doing so in tandem with a planet. How is it sticking around, then?
There's something weird going on beyond Neptune
Past Neptune, in the outer solar system, astronomers have recently discovered a new mystery object orbiting the sun on a plane nearly perpendicular to the rest of the planets. Adding to the weirdness, the trans-Neptunian object, which has been nicknamed "Niku," is also spinning around the sun backwards, in the opposite direction of the rest of the planets. So far, astronomers have little idea what could cause such abnormal celestial behavior.
Asteroid making surprise flyby at an 'unusually high' velocity
A newly discovered asteroid (not pictured) will make Halloween more thrilling by passing within 1.3 lunar distances (310,000 miles) of Earth. The object, which measures between 300 and 600 meters (1,000 and 2,000 feet) across, was discovered last week by the asteroid-hunting Pan-STARRS observatory in Hawaii, according to NASA. It'll streak by on October 31st at an "unusually" high encounter velocity of 35 km/s, or around 78,000 mph. By contrast, the Russian meteorite caught by vehicle cameras in 2013 was 17 meters (55 feet) across and traveled at a top speed of 19 km/s, while the one that flattened a Russian forest in 1908 measured 40 meters (130 feet).
The hunt for killer asteroids is on with the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope
The Pan-STARRS 1 telescope was unveiled on the Hawaiian island of Maui in 2007, and in early 2009, the telescope went fully online and began producing some amazing images. Now, the telescope has a nightly from dusk 'til dawn routine -- and it's looking for asteroids and comets which could threaten Earth. The PS-1, as it's known, boasts a 1,400 megapixel (that's 1.4 gigapixels!) sensor and can photograph an area about 36 times the size of the Moon in one exposure and is expected to map about one sixth of the sky per month. There's a sample shot of what the telescope's photographed below, but hit up the coverage link for many more.
