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The Perseids are here. Here's how to see the 'fireballs' of summer's brightest meteor shower
In this long exposure photo, a streak appears in the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower at the Guadarrama mountains, near Madrid, in the early hours of Aug. 12, 2016. Credit: AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File

The Perseids are back to dazzle the sky with bursts of light and color.

The annual meteor shower, active since July, peaks before dawn Monday. It's one of the brightest and most easily viewed showers of the year, producing "bright blue meteors—and lots of them," said University of Warwick astronomer Don Pollacco.

More than 50 per hour are expected, according to the American Meteor Society. The shower lasts through Sept.

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Here's how Curiosity's sky crane changed the way NASA explores Mars
This artist’s concept shows how NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover was lowered to the planet’s surface using the sky crane maneuver. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Twelve years ago, NASA landed its six-wheeled science lab using a daring new technology that lowers the rover using a robotic jetpack.

NASA's Curiosity mission is celebrating a dozen years on the red planet, where the six-wheeled scientist continues to make big discoveries as it inches up the foothills of a Martian mountain. Just landing successfully on Mars is a feat, but the Curiosity mission went several steps further on Aug. 5, 2012, touching down with a bold new technique: the sky crane maneuver.

A swooping robotic jetpack delivered Curiosity to its landing area and lowered it to the surface with nylon ropes, then cut the ropes and flew off to conduct a controlled crash landing safely out of range of the rover.

Mermaid on salty Mars

Thursday, 08 August 2024 07:04
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Mermaid on salty Mars Image: Mermaid on salty Mars
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ESA’s star-surveying Gaia mission has again proven to be a formidable asteroid explorer, spotting potential moons around more than 350 asteroids not known to have a companion.

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NASA says chances are growing that astronauts may switch from Boeing to a SpaceX ride back to Earth
This photo provided by NASA shows Boeing's Starliner spacecraft which launched astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station docked to the Harmony module's forward port on July 3, 2024, seen from a window on the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft docked to the adjacent port. Credit: NASA via AP

What should have been a quick trip to the International Space Station may turn into an eight-month stay for two NASA astronauts if they have to switch from Boeing to SpaceX for a ride home.

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Washington DC (UPI) Aug 6, 2024
SpaceX has delayed this month's Crew-9 astronaut launch to Sept. 24, to accommodate a traffic jam at the International Space Station as Boeing's Starliner remains stalled at the orbiting laboratory. SpaceX was scheduled to launch its ninth operational flight for NASA with four astronauts to the ISS on Aug. 18, before the space agency announced the delay Monday. "This adjustment a
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Washington DC (UPI) Aug 6, 2024
Northrup Grumman's Cygnus resupply spacecraft reached the International Space Station early Tuesday morning, delivering some four tons of supplies to the orbiting laboratory, NASA said. Cygnus completed installation on the ISS at 5:33 a.m. EDT, NASA said. It brought 8,200 pounds of scientific investigation and cargo to the ISS's orbiting laboratory on the 21st resupply mission ca
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Washington (AFP) Aug 6, 2024
NASA on Tuesday postponed the departure of astronauts bound for the International Space Station on a SpaceX flight due to ongoing issues with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. The Starliner, which brought two NASA astronauts aboard the ISS in early June, has been docked for the past two months due to anomalies detected in its propulsion system during its flight, with the mission's return date i
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Washington DC (UPI) Aug 6, 2024
China on Tuesday successfully launched a satellite group up into space with more on the way aimed at improving broadband services across the massive Asian nation. The group of 18 satellites were launched at 2:42 p.m. local time from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern China's Shanxi Province attached to a Long March 6A rocket for Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology, which
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London, UK (SPX) Aug 05, 2024
A newly developed timeline of early animal fossils reveals a link between sea levels, changes in marine oxygen, and the appearance of the earliest ancestors of present-day animals. The study reveals clues into the forces that drove the evolution of the earliest organisms, from which all major animal groups descended. A team from the University of Edinburgh studied a compilation of ro
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London, UK (SPX) Aug 02, 2024
A team of researchers, including scientists from the University of Oxford, has uncovered a new species of mollusc dating back 500 million years. Named Shishania aculeata, this fossil reveals that the earliest molluscs were flat, shell-less slugs protected by spiny armor. These findings are published in the journal Science. The discovery comes from well-preserved fossils found in eastern Yu
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Sydney, Australia (SPX) Aug 05, 2024
This study, led by Dr. Wei Wei, PhD student Lin-Hui Dong, and Prof. Fang Huang at the University of Science and Technology of China, investigates the removal of excess barium and sulfide from seawater and its impact on marine habitability during the Cambrian Explosion. Lin-Hui Dong analyzed excess barium contents (Baexcess) and isotope compositions (d138Baexcess) at the State Key Laborator
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