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NASA launched the James Webb Telescope on 12/25/2021. The University of Arizona designed the Near-Infrared Camera that the telescope will use.

Space telescope launched on daring quest to behold 1st stars

The University of Arizona designed one of the instruments on board.
The Near Earth Object Surveyor infrared telescope is moving toward its preliminary design phase, led by University of Arizona professor Amy Mainzer. NASA plans to launch the surveyor in 2026.

Arizona professor will lead NASA project to locate menacing objects near Earth

An infrared telescope will track any asteroids that one day could crash into the planet
Astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr., lunar module pilot of the Apollo 16 lunar landing mission, is photographed collecting lunar samples at Station no. 1 during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity at the Descartes landing site. This picture, looking eastward, was taken by Astronaut John W. Young, commander. Duke is standing at the rim of Plum crater, which is 40 meters in diameter and 10 meters deep. The parked Lunar Roving Vehicle can be seen in the left background.

New exhibit spotlights Arizona's place in space exploration

The exhibit includes relics such as a spacesuit worn by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin
Susan Miner in a photo illustrating an average day of virtual connections and distractions. Miner advises using your remote control in a new way - a self-help tool, being as selective with your media as you are with your food.

Susan Miner on finding acceptance and growth in times of difficult transition.

Also on Arizona Spotlight: The NPR Student Podcast Challenge continues; and "Stories That Soar!" celebrates the boundless creativity of youth during a difficult year.
Border wall fencing with concertina wire attached in Douglas, Ariz. January 2021.

Understanding walls: "The barrier that we create in our hearts must be broken to heal and grow".

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Remembering the first space shuttle launch, 40 years ago; the uncertain state of the film industry reflected at the 93rd annual Academy Awards; and the tale of a very silly man.
Bruce McGrew (photo from Joy Fox Mcgrew archive)

"Bend in the Wash: The Rancho Linda Vista Artist Community"

Also on Arizona Spotlight: Searching for gamma-rays with a telescope array in the Santa Rita Mountains, and film essayist Chris Dashiell on the masterpiece “La Jetée”.
Composed of images taken by the Galileo spacecraft in 1995 and 1998, this reprocessed image of the icy Jovian moon Europa shows cracks, ridges, “microchaos,” and more. We now believe that Europa, like several other moons in the solar system, is an ocean world. Due to heat caused by Jupiter’s gravitational push-and-pull, there is liquid salt water beneath the ice, water that may contain life.

"Beyond Earth's Edge: The Poetry of Spaceflight".

Also on Arizona Spotlight: "DUSTWUN", a film about life, death and trust on the U.S. / Mexico Border.
The TusCon Science Fiction Convention was begun in Tucson in 1974, long before the internet made communication between fans of fantastic fiction possible.

The TusCon Science Fiction & Fantasy Convention goes virtual.

Also on Arizona Spotlight: "Stories That Soar!" brings a 2nd grade writer's story to life; and author Benjamin Lorr talks about his book "The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket".
The Tucson Skyline. October 23, 2019.

News roundup: Halloween parties raided at UA, spending big on Prop 208, trails reopen in Santa Catalinas

Recent coverage impacting Southern Arizona, Nov. 2
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft stows the TAGSAM collection head after gathering samples from the surface of the asteroid Bennu, Oct. 29, 2020

OSIRIS-REx stows its asteroid sample earlier than planned

The decision was made when the team determined they had plenty of material, which was leaking from the collection head.
Artist’s conception of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collecting a sample from the asteroid Bennu.

OSIRIS-REx touches an asteroid

The UA-led project is a first for NASA.
Simulation of M87 black hole showing bright blue thin ring — the edge of the black hole shadow.

Black hole study narrows leeway for tweaks to Einstein's gravity theory

The theory of general relativity remains hugely successful, but it leaves open some enduring questions surrounding the origins of dark matter.
The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft hovers above the asteroid Bennu during a rehearsal on August 11, 2020, months ahead of a planned mission to collect a sample of the asteroid from its surface.

Successful OSIRIS-REx rehearsal boosts optimism

The rehearsal put the spacecraft within 40 meters of the asteroid Bennu's surface.
Image shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft approaching the asteroid Bennu in an April 14 rehearsal of the sample collection.

OSIRIS-REx passes milestone by rehearsing approach to asteroid

The first major rehearsal had the added challenge of COVID-19, which meant the mission's team could not be together for the test.
Two images captured approximately one year apart with the SPHERE instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope show the apparent dimming of the star Betelgeuse.

Star Betelgeuse's mysterious dimming has the attention of UA astronomer

If the star goes “supernova,” Narsi Anugu says it will provide a boost the field of astronomy.
A true color image of moon of Jupiter Io.

NASA considering UA-backed trip to moon of Jupiter

Exploration of the volcanic moon Io is among four choices for the future mission.

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