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- Hera asteroid mission’s side-trip to Marson April 25, 2024
ESA’s Hera asteroid mission for planetary defence will make a swingby of Mars next March, borrowing speed to help reach its target Didymos binary asteroid system.
- Ariane 6 standing tallon April 24, 2024
Image: Ariane 6 standing tall
- Dead star lights up nearby galaxy on April 24, 2024
While ESA's Integral was observing the sky, it suddenly spotted a burst of gamma-rays coming from the nearby galaxy M82. Only a few hours later, ESA’s XMM-Newton searched for an afterglow from the explosion but found none. Astronomers realised that the burst must have been an extra-galactic flare from a magnetar, a young neutron star with an exceptionally strong magnetic field.
- Signs of spiders from Marson April 24, 2024
No sign of Ziggy Stardust – but ESA’s Mars Express has snapped the telltale traces of ‘spiders’ scattered across the southern polar region of Mars.