Latest news with #telescopes
Sky News
8 hours ago
- Business
- Sky News
Satellite tracker Spaceflux reaches lift-off with £5m funding boost
A British space surveillance company which has won a string of government contracts will this week announce a £5.4m fundraising to expand its global network of advanced telescopes. Sky News understands that Spaceflux, which was founded three years ago, has secured the injection of capital in a round led by the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund (UKI2S), which is managed by Future Planet Capital, as well as Foresight Group and Blackfinch Ventures. Seraphim Space, the listed specialist investor in space-related companies, is also contributing funding. Spaceflux uses artificial intelligence and optical sensors to track satellites and debris across all orbits, with its daylight tracking capability meaning it can expand the observation window beyond night-time operations. Its provision of space situational awareness technologies is in growing demand amid warnings that a week-long disruption to satellite navigation could incur a £7.6bn hit to the UK economy. In a statement to Sky News, Marco Rocchetto, CEO and co-founder of Spaceflux, said: "As space becomes increasingly essential to our economy, environment and daily lives, it is also becoming more congested and contested. "This investment strengthens our ability to protect satellite technology that delivers crucial insights to Earth around the clock, reducing collision risks, and supporting a safer, more sustainable space environment for future generations". The valuation at which the funding was being committed was unclear on Thursday. Spaceflux, which serves government and commercial customers, has been the exclusive provider of geostationary satellite tracking for the Ministry of Defence and UK Space Agency since 2023. Alex Leigh, UKI2S investment director, defence and security, said: "This investment marks a significant step in the convergence of defence and space, where dual-use technologies are becoming increasingly important to UK capability. "Spaceflux's technology offers critical insights to help monitor and safeguard orbital assets - supporting both national security and the wider commercial ecosystem.
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Rubin observatory will be a new step in accessing far reaches of space
An exciting new step in access to the far reaches of space and time increasingly will become available when the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory comes into full operation ('Providing a detailed look at the cosmos,' June 25). Funded by the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy's Office of Science, and located on an Andean mountain in Chile, its unprecedented telescopic and camera capacity will secure data and imagery essential to further knowledge of the dark energy and dark matter composing most of the universe. In my opinion, telescopic exploring of the cosmos, along with extraterrestrial probes and telescopes, deserve top priority over anything like a plan to colonize Mars. Cannot far-flung telescopes, robotic craft and AI be combined to obviate the need for human presence requiring a transported environment? Would that not be a better investment of resources? Putting humans on Mars would be a new place for old problems. Thomas Hughson SJ, emeritus Marquette University, Milwaukee Letters: Wisconsin GOP's real problem is lousy campaigns, not party chairman Schimming Opinion: Statistics don't support UW-Milwaukee shuttering materials engineering program Here are some tips to get your views shared with your friends, family, neighbors and across our state: Please include your name, street address and daytime phone. Generally, we limit letters to 200 words. Cite sources of where you found information or the article that prompted your letter. Be civil and constructive, especially when criticizing. Avoid ad hominem attacks, take issue with a position, not a person. We cannot acknowledge receipt of submissions. We don't publish poetry, anonymous or open letters. Each writer is limited to one published letter every two months. All letters are subject to editing. Write: Letters to the editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 330 E. Kilbourn Avenue, Suite 500, Milwaukee, WI, 53202. Fax: (414)-223-5444. E-mail: jsedit@ or submit using the form that can be found on the on the bottom of this page. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Telescopes, robots, AI could end need for human transport | Letters
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
How to see the letters X and V on the moon tonight
The full moon is a glorious sight, and the sliver of a brand-new moon a wispy delight, but tonight's first-quarter moon has its own unique treat — for a few hours, you can make out the letters X and V on the lunar surface. Here's how. As the photo shows, the lunar X appears about a third of the way from the bottom of the moon, while the Lunar V is a little above the centre. Both features straddle the line between the light and dark sides of the moon, known as the terminator, with the X appearing a little into the dark side, and the V closer to the light side. They're not really there on the surface, and you can't see them at any other time. What you're looking at is called the 'clair-obscur' effect, in which the play of light and shadow on the surface creates the appearance of shapes; in this case, giant letters, formed by the partially lit edges of craters. According to British astronomer Mary McIntyre, the effect kicks off tonight at about 7:30 p.m. ET, and should last about four hours. That means by the time the sun has set and the moon is at its brightest, you should be able to get a good look, clouds permitting. Naked eye is a little tricky, since they are quite small. But decent binoculars (or better yet a small telescope) should bring them into focus. Humans have been looking at the moon since we were human, and through telescopes since they were invented, so it's not surprising that other transient shapes have been noticed and given evocative names, including the jewelled handle, Cassini's moon maiden, Plato's hook and the eyes of Clavius, not to mention the so-called 'man in the moon' that many people see in the full moon. McIntyre has a chart of when to look for them, while BBC's Sky at Night Magazine has a nice picture that shows their locations. The best part about all this is that if you miss them, they'll come back again every 28 days, forever. The European Space Agency just made Lego bricks out of moon dust China plans to wave its flag on the surface of the moon — literally Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our newsletters here.
The Independent
02-07-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Scientists spot potential ‘interstellar object' in our solar system
Scientists have identified a new object that may have originated outside our solar system. If confirmed, this would be only the third instance of an interstellar object ever spotted. The object has been temporarily named A11pl3Z and is being tracked by telescopes worldwide. The two previously confirmed interstellar visitors were ʻOumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019. Researchers anticipate discovering more such objects in the future with the help of new, powerful telescopes.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Space photo of the day for June 17, 2025
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Big telescopes feature some of the finest and most precise mirrors in the world. So when one gets dirty, what happens? The European Southern Observatory (ESO) operates some of the most powerful telescopes in the world. Established in 1962 by 16 countries across the globe, the ESO is a hub for astronomers looking to uncover the mysteries of our universe. The observatory hosts four extremely powerful telescopes, which are used to survey the farthest corners of our galaxy, studying a variety of space structures and phenomena, from black holes to stars to asteroids. While ESO's headquarters are in Garching, Germany, its four telescopes all sit in the Atacama Desert in Chile (hence the "Southern" part of ESO name). This photo was taken at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. ESO hosts four different telescopes in Chile: the Very Large Telescope (VLT), the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT, which is currently being built), and La Silla, the subject of this photo. While all four facilities focus on solving the mysteries of space, La Silla is centered specifically on finding exoplanets. Its two telescopes, the 11.5-foot (3.5 meters) New Technology Telescope (NTT) and the 11.8-foot (3.6 m) telescope both use ultraprecise mirrors to bounce images back from space for analysis. In this photo, staff at La Silla work to clean the 11.8-foot telescope's primary mirror. As the mirror was made with fused silica, it takes a delicate process to restore it to a clean, ultraprecise state. Staff have to chemically strip the mirror's old aluminum coating before rinsing it with demineralized water. The mirror then goes into a special vacuum chamber, where aluminum is deposited in a new layer thinner than the width of a human hair. If the aluminum layer were too thick or uneven, the mirror would lose its precision and with it, data from space. You can read more about ESO's many telescopes and their work looking at exoplanets and other structures within our universe.
