A Day in Astronomy: The Successful Launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 1

Posted on by onespaceman2000

On this day in 2008, SpaceX had a successful launch of its Falcon 1 rocket after three earlier failures. Launched from Omelek Island in the Marshall Islands, the rocket would fly only one more mission before being retired. It was replaced by the Falcon 9, which is still in service today.

After the third failure of the Falcon 1 in August 2008, Elon Musk stated:

The most important message I’d like to send right now is that SpaceX will not skip a beat in execution going forward. We have flight four of Falcon 1 almost ready for flight and flight five right behind that. I have also given the go ahead to begin fabrication of flight six. Falcon 9 development will also continue unabated, taking into account the lessons learned with Falcon 1. We have made great progress this past week with the successful nine engine firing.

He did not give up, and today’s successful test of a Starship rocket is testimony to Mr. Musk’s determination to continue unabated.

Study Findings: Early Metal-enriched Baryon Cycling Before the Midpoint of Cosmic Reionization

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The James Webb Space Telescope’s deep field image of Galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 showing thousands of galaxies. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)

Nature Astronomy abstract of study findings:

Models predict that chemical enrichment and gas redistribution should begin rapidly once star formation starts, but direct constraints at the earliest epochs have been scarce. Here we show that metal-enriched gas in multiple ionic phases was already present around galaxies before the midpoint of cosmic reionization. Using JWST/NIRSpec rest-frame ultraviolet spectroscopy from SPURS, we detect blueshifted metal absorption in three galaxies at 7.2 < z < 9.3. The detected transitions span neutral, low-ionization and high-ionization species, including O I, Si II, C II, Si IV and C IV, with velocity offsets of ∣Δv∣ ≈ 50–250 km s−1 relative to nebular systemic redshifts. The ionic coexistence, overlapping velocity structure and equivalent-width ratios are consistent with outflowing or otherwise kinematically disturbed galaxy-associated gas, implying rapid metal enrichment. These results show that key conditions for baryon cycling were established in at least a subset of luminous galaxies within the first several hundred million years of cosmic time, well before the completion of reionization.

Citation: Zhu, Y., Ji, Z., Becker, G.D. et al. Early metal-enriched baryon cycling before the midpoint of cosmic reionization. Nat Astron (2026).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02988-2

Study-related stories:

EurekAlert! – “JWST Finds Early Galaxies Were Already Seeding the Universe with Heavy Elements”

Cornell Chronicle – “Astronomers Discover Metal-rich Galaxies in Early Universe”

Astro Current – “JWST Finds Early Galaxies Seeded the Infant Universe with Heavy Elements”

Space Quote: A New Space Telescope is Being Planned

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the PRIMA space telescope. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

“With our Webb and Roman space telescopes, we set a cadence of launching premiere-class missions in both halves of the decade. We’re going to keep that up and kick off the next decade with PRIMA, as part of a pipeline that will consistently have missions of this caliber ready to go.”

–Statement by Shawn Domagal-Goldman, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters, regarding the planned $1.2 billion PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics (PRIMA) space telescope. The plan is to launch the space telescope in 2033 to conduct a five-year mission. The main mission of the space telescope will pertain to exoplanet origins, galaxy growth and black hole evolution. It is encouraging to hear about NASA planning these future missions with all the talk of program cuts from the White House. It is probably presumed that the Congress will keep the funding coming.

The Original Star Wars Returns: Get Your Tickets

Posted on by onespaceman2000

If The Mandalorian and Grogu was not your favorite film this summer, you have plenty of time to prepare for the release of the original Star Wars film on its 50th anniversary. That’s right, it will be 50 years old next year.

The original Star Wars film was released on May 25, 1977. The re-release on IMAX will be available on February 19, 2027. You can sign up here to be notified when tickets become available in your area.

By original, I mean the version of the film before George Lucas started mucking it up with extra effects, such as the addition of a CGI Jabba the Hutt. You will be able to watch what everyone was watching in 1977.

And if that’s not enough, next year will also see the release of Star Wars: Starfighter with Ryan Gosling. It will premiere on 28 May, 2027, the same week as the original film in 1977. Starflighter was filmed for IMAX screens, so that will be an option as well.

Pic of the Week: 2026 Astronomy Photographer of the Year Winner

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): “The Quiet Predator” by Ali Alobaidly.

This week’s image is the winning entry in the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2026 contest at the Royal Museums Greenwich. The photo of the Shark Nebula is titled “The Quiet Predator,” and it was submitted by Ali Alobaidly.

Here is how Ali Alobaidly describes his photo:

 The Shark Nebula (LDN 1235) prowls 650 light years away in the constellation Cepheus, its silhouette carved not from flesh and teeth, but from interstellar dust dense enough to block starlight.

This predator drifts silently through space, camouflaged against the faint glow of the background stars, lit only by nearby blue-coloured reflection nebulae.

Unlike its oceanic cousins, the Shark Nebula doesn’t bite, but it does photobomb astrophotographers with a molecular cloud big enough to make Earth look like a speck of plankton.

You can see the other winning and shortlisted images at the main site.