compiled by Arlene & David Kaplan

Jupiter, Saturn Will Look Like Double Planet Scientists have been greeted by the sight of jet black chunks of rock and soil from an asteroid after opening a capsule that returned from deep space a week ago. It’s the first significant sample of material to be delivered to Earth from a space rock and was grabbed last year by Japan’s Hayabusa-2 spacecraft…more

In pictures: The great conjunction It might be Christmas, but for keen stargazers this was the time when Jupiter and Saturn crossed paths in the night sky, reaching their closest point on 21 December. Photographers have been out recording the moment…more

Christmas star: Jupiter and Saturn align in the night sky Jupiter and Saturn have crossed paths in the night sky, appearing to the naked eye as a “double planet”. The timing of this conjunction, as the celestial event is known, has caused some to suggest it may have been the source of a bright light in the sky 2,000 years ago. That became known as the Star of Bethlehem…more

Nasa’s Mars rover and the ‘seven minutes of terror’ The US space agency (Nasa) has released an animation showing how its one-tonne Perseverance rover will land on Mars on 18 February. The robot is being sent to a crater called Jezero where it will search for evidence of past life. But to undertake this science, it must first touch down softly…more

Nasa’s new ‘megarocket’ set for critical tests Nasa has been developing a “megarocket” to send humans to the Moon and, eventually, Mars. The last critical tests of the giant launcher’s core section are expected to take place within the next few weeks. Sometimes compared to the iconic Saturn V, can the Space Launch System (SLS) help capture the excitement of lunar exploration for a new generation?…more

This May Be the First Complete Observation of a Nanoflare Researchers may have found the long-sought “nanoflares” thought to heat the solar corona to its incredible temperatures. A new study published in Nature Astronomy marks the first time researchers have captured the full lifecycle of a putative nanoflare – from bright origins to blistering demise…more

Astronaut Scott Kelly: How to survive a year in space Astronaut Scott Kelly tells the BBC how he managed to live for a year on the International Space Station and why, four years into his retirement from Nasa, he would go back if someone asked. It’s 16 July 2015, and all three occupants of the International Space Station are squeezing ..more

A Martian Roundtrip: NASA’s Perseverance Rover Sample Tubes The tubes carried in the belly of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover are destined to carry the first samples in history from another planet back to Earth. Future scientists will use these carefully selected representatives of Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust)…more

 NASA Approves Heliophysics Missions to Explore Sun NASA has approved two heliophysics missions to explore the Sun and the system that drives space weather near Earth. Together, NASA’s contribution to the Extreme Ultraviolet High-Throughput Spectroscopic Telescope Epsilon Mission, or EUVST, and the Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer, or EZIE, will help us understand the Sun and Earth as an interconnected system…more