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Friday 24 March 2023 Dublin: 7°C

# Space

All time
# supermassive big star
Meet Katie Bouman, the MIT computer scientist who made the black hole image possible
Bouman has herself became an internet celebrity after yesterday’s picture.
# no escape
This is the first ever image of a black hole, located in a galaxy 53 million light years away
“It’s like trying to photograph a golf ball on the Moon.”
# ideal touchdown
Japan probe lands 300 million km away in hunt for clues to origin of life
Meanwhile, Israel began a mission to make its first Moon landing.
# mission complete
After roving on Mars for 15 years and sending back 217,594 images, Opportunity is now dead
The rover has been out of contact since a dust storm on the Red Planet.
# Mars One
That plan to make a colony on Mars and film it for reality TV has gone bust
The company is in the red, as it were.
# Fast radio bursts
Discovery of 'repeating' radio waves from deep space baffles astronomers
The waves were discovered by Canadian scientists, who cannot explain their origin.
# change 4
Chinese spacecraft makes first landing on moon's far side
China plans to send its Chang’e 5 probe to the moon next year.
# the great beyond
A meteor shower peaking tonight rings in the start of a busy year for stargazing
A supermoon later this month is the first of three in a row.
# new horizons
Celebrations as NASA spacecraft successfully passes by oldest cosmic body ever studied
The cosmic object – known as Ultima Thule – is about the size of the US capital, Washington, and orbits in the Kuiper Belt about a billion miles beyond Pluto.
# new horizons
Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft closing in on most distant world ever studied
The spacecraft’s closest approach to the cosmic object, known as Ultima Thule, comes 1 January at 5.33am.
# Research
Saturn is losing its rings at the 'worst-case scenario' rate
The rings are being pulled into Saturn by gravity as a dusty rain of ice particles under the influence of Saturn’s magnetic field.
# VSS Unity
Virgin Galactic reaches space for first time
“This is a momentous day and I could not be more proud of our teams,” Richard Branson said.
# interstellar
Nasa's Voyager 2 reaches interstellar space 41 years after launch
Voyager 2 is now more than 18 billion kilometres from Earth.
# Mars
Here are the first photos of Mars from the InSight explorer
A lovely sight this grim morning.
# Out of this World
Quiz: How much do you know about the moon?
This quiz is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind*.
# Space Exploration
Mission to discover the mysteries of Mercury blasts off
The BepiColombo blasted off from French Guiana earlier today.
# International Space Station
'Thank God they're alive': Crew of Soyuz rocket safe after emergency landing
The rocket landed in Kazakhstan.
# the farthest
Irish-produced documentary about Voyager space programme wins Emmy award
The American awards recognise excellence in the television industry.
# in sight
A Nasa spacecraft that will land on an asteroid and take a sample has just glimpsed its target
The asteroid named Bennu is about the size of a mountain.
# SpaceX
SpaceX vows manned flight to space station is on schedule
On 3 August the agency named the first nine astronauts who will fly to space on Boeing and SpaceX vehicles in 2019.
# guns in space
Space Force to be a branch of US military and will prepare for 'next battlefield'
Nasa, by comparison, is an independent and civilian branch of government.
# the bloodening
Tonight's blood moon is the longest of the 21st century - here's when you can see it best
The lunar eclipse coincides with a close passing of Mars in tonight’s sky.
# Discovery
'Oddball' among 12 new moons discovered around Jupiter
The Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered the first four of Jupiter’s moons in 1610.
# space tourism
The first space tourist flights could happen over the next year
Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin are racing to be the first to finish their tests.
# Interstellar Technologies
Japanese rocket crashes and explodes shortly after take off
No injuries were reported in the spectacular explosion.
# arralis
Meet the 'secretive' Limerick man who's quietly putting eyes on spacecraft and cars
Arralis CEO Barry Lunn is working towards the motoring industry’s ‘iPhone moment’.
# Gimme space
'It's like standing inside the yellow line when a train goes past' - Why cyclists want a bit of space
Motorists are being asked to give cyclists space this weekend.
# Astronomy
Galaxies grow bigger and puffier as they age, new study finds
“This is the first time we’ve shown shape and age are related for all kinds of galaxies.”
# Out of this World
Irish scientists will help build the world's most powerful and expensive telescope
The new telescope will be 10 times more powerful than the Hubble telescope and help us observe the first stars in the universe.
# Dragon
SpaceX capsule reaches space station with food and experiments
The supply capsule launched on Monday from Florida.
# tiangong-1
Defunct Chinese space station plunges back to Earth over South Pacific
The remote location of its landing made it difficult for stargazers to witness the event.
# omg moment
Astronomers find the 'impossible': A galaxy without dark matter
The discovery could revise or even upend theories of how galaxies are formed.
# do not panic
Debris from space station hurtling towards Earth not expected to hit populated areas
One expert said the odds of being struck by space debris are 10 million times less likely than getting hit by lightening.
# Prostitution
Buying sex has been illegal in Ireland for one year but 'very little' has changed
Supporters and detractors of the new law have spoken of their frustration over the new bill.
# to boldly grow
Japanese astronaut apologises after saying he'd grown 9cm while in space
His Russian captain suspected that 9cm was “too much elongation”. He was right.
# tabby's star
We're one step closer to understanding the 'most mysterious star in the universe'
Tabby’s Star has been inexplicably dimming and brightening sporadically like no other for years.
# star gazing
Pics: Here's how the first supermoon of the year looked around the world last night
Did you see it?
# it's... beautiful
Someone sent a kebab into space, and it's strangely majestic
One small step for kebab, one giant leap for kebab-kind.
# RIP
Bruce McCandless, the first astronaut to fly untethered in space, has died
He was famously photographed in 1984 flying with a hefty spacewalker’s jetpack.
# to boldly go
Trump signs order to send astronauts to the moon, to Mars and 'perhaps many worlds beyond'
Budget issues have curtailed similar efforts by other Republican presidents.