Understand the Universe, one layer at a time.
Category

Methods, Telescopes & Missions

How observatories, instruments, light and missions make it possible to discover and measure objects in the Universe.

5articles
Ilustração do Sol com a Terra em duas posições orbitais e linhas de visada pontilhadas convergindo para uma estrela distante.
Methods, Telescopes & Missions27/09/20264 min read

Stellar parallax: how geometry reveals the distance to stars

Learn how Earth’s orbit makes stellar parallax measurements possible, how to calculate distances in parsecs, and how to interpret telescope uncertainties.

Read article
Rover Curiosity em primeiro plano sobre terreno rochoso de Marte, com colinas estratificadas, montanhas distantes e céu alaranjado.
Methods, Telescopes & Missions17/09/20268 min read

Curiosity reaches 5,000 sols: the discoveries that still guide the Mars mission

Sol 5,000 condenses 14 years of Mars science. See how water, habitability, clays, organics, wet-dry cycles, and recent finds changed Curiosity's scientific questions.

Read article
Sonda Parker Solar Probe diante do Sol, com o escudo térmico voltado para a intensa superfície solar e estruturas brilhantes da coroa ao fundo.
Methods, Telescopes & Missions11/09/20267 min read

Parker Solar Probe’s 29th perihelion: why it spent nine days out of contact and what its camera targeted near the Sun’s north pole

The communications gap was planned and the spacecraft operated autonomously. Here is the timeline of the 29th perihelion, WISPR’s role, and what still depends on data returned to E...

Read article
Observatório sob céu estrelado ligado a diagramas orbitais, entrada atmosférica luminosa e mapa com uma área elíptica prevista para queda de fragmentos.
Methods, Telescopes & Missions11/09/20267 min read

Asteroid 2026 RW1: how ESA estimated entry and the strewn field without direct footage

See how astrometry, orbit determination, atmospheric modelling and Monte Carlo turned a few hours of observations into an entry and possible strewn-field forecast.

Read article
Observatório do VLT sob um céu estrelado, com muitos alvos celestes ligados por fibras luminosas a um espectrógrafo e a painéis de espectros multicoloridos.
Methods, Telescopes & Missions11/09/20267 min read

MOONS on the VLT: how 1,000 fibres observe a thousand stars and galaxies at once — and what first light really tests

MOONS uses roughly 1,000 robotic fibres to obtain hundreds of spectra in parallel on the VLT. Learn how light travels through the instrument, how an image differs from a spectrum, ...

Read article