The Stellar Survey for October 20 - 26

• Finally! Some steps toward a collective space future! | Say hello to The Artemis Accords.

• Oh, more space pictures, blah de blah, no big deal. | Voila: Earth and the moon as seen from the Hera spacecraft.

• Speaking of underwhelming (lol) space pictures…check out these images of the first brown dwarf stars seen outside of our galaxy, in the star cluster NGC 602. | Good ol’ JWST, just being brilliant everywhere it looks.

Photo credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Zeidler, E. Sabbi, A. Nota, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb). Originally retrieved from esawebb.org.

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• Looks like our gradual full-steam-ahead march to a privatized universe has just gotten even more momentum. Sigh. | Budget woes and other political considerations signal hard times ahead for NASA. Wouldn’t it be great if we spent more money on space and world hunger and less money on, I don’t know, war?

• Doritos are officially the first chips in space! | I hate crunching sounds, and also commercials, but I am trying hard to be zen today and so. Chips in space it is.

• Most of earth’s meteorites come from the same three spots in our friendly neighbourhood asteroid belt. | Again—it boggles my mind how we can figure stuff like this out. Yay science!

• The Pluto Problem! Is it time to rethink our definition of a planet? | This petition says yes plz, some scientists say maybe, and Mike Brown says nope. (He’s very funny and charming about it, though. You should read his book if you haven’t already.)

• Betelgeuse, everyone’s favourite red giant, might have a “Betelbuddy”—a companion star—hiding in the glare of its faraway shine. | The buddy system! Good for school, good for the universe!

• Solar flare alert! | Watch this video of a solar flare erupting out from the Sun.

• Iceland could get solar power from space starting in 2030. | One small step for renewable energy—one giant step for…space junk? (I know, I know. Me and my space junk again.)

• SPEAKING OF SPACE JUNK! More than 25 partners have signed Europe’s “Zero Debris” Charter. | This is what I call progress.

• Crew 8 of Space-X’s Dragon Endeavour has safely splashed down in Florida, after 235 days in space. | Welcome home, space friends.

• Anyone have cash to burn and a burning desire to go up into space? Deep Blue Aerospace has your back! | The Chinese company plans to start taking tourists into space as of 2027.

• And finally: some happysad news. | Star Trek: Lower Decks is back for its fifth and final season!