NASA working to fix space station's NICER X-ray telescope
NASA engineers are working to fix the problem after pausing the telescope's operations on June 17, when its ability to track celestial objects degraded, according to NASA.
The space agency did not say when the telescope might resume working.
The telescope is mounted on the International Space Station near its starboard solar array and has been in use since 2017.
It can measure neutron stars, identify black holes, active galaxies and other phenomena. It also can help to map routes to Mars for future exploration and other missions.
The latest issue with the NICER telescope is among many that it has experienced since its 2017 deployment.
The NICER telescope developed a light leak in May 2023 when several thin thermal shields were damaged and let in sunlight that made the telescope useless during daylight hours.
NASA astronaut Nick Hague in January installed nine patches to fix the worst areas of damage, but some light interference continued to affect the telescope's performance.
A closer inspection showed several smaller cracks and holes that still allowed light to enter the telescope.
NASA engineers reconfigured the telescope's measurement-power unit to compensate for the light intrusion, which enabled the telescope to resume its normal operations on March 12.
Additional damage to at least one thermal shield forced NASA to minimize daytime observations on May 22, which caused another modification in the telescope's use.
X-ray telescopes, like the NICER, enable NASA scientists to study and better understand extreme radio events in space.
Observations from the NICER telescope and a Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array that is in low-Earth orbit enabled NASA scientists to assess a rapid burst of radio waves from a dead star called a magnetar in 2020.
The burst released as much energy in a fraction of a second as the sun does during an entire year, according to a study published in the journal Nature.
The powerful energy burst produced a laser-like beam instead of an explosion.
NASA scientists in October 2022 used the same two telescopes to observe another burst of radio waves from the same magnetar.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Moon phase today: What the moon will look like on August 16, 2025
The moon is half lit up tonight, which means a lot of things. Namely, we're in a new lunar cycle. The lunar cycle is a series of eight unique phases of the moon's visibility. The whole cycle takes about 29.5 days, according to NASA, and these different phases happen as the Sun lights up different parts of the moon whilst it orbits Earth. So, what's happening with the moon tonight, Aug. 16? What is today's moon phase? As of Saturday, Aug. 16, the moon phase is Third Quarter (also known as the Last Quarter) and it is 46% lit up to us on Earth, according to NASA's Daily Moon Observation. From this point onwards, the moon will be less and less visible, as we're now on day 23 of the lunar cycle. But there's still plenty to spot on the moon's surface, if you look hard enough. With your naked eye, catch a glimpse of the Aristarchus Plateau, the Tycho Crater, and the Copernicus Crater. With binoculars, see even more, including the Archimedes Crater, Alphonsus Crater, and the Clavius Crater. If you have a telescope, look out for the Apollo 12, Reiner Gamma, and the Schiller Crater, too. When is the next full moon? The next full moon will be on Sept. 7. The last full moon was on Aug. 9. What are moon phases? According to NASA, moon phases are caused by the 29.5-day cycle of the moon's orbit, which changes the angles between the Sun, Moon, and Earth. Moon phases are how the moon looks from Earth as it goes around us. We always see the same side of the moon, but how much of it is lit up by the Sun changes depending on where it is in its orbit. This is how we get full moons, half moons, and moons that appear completely invisible. There are eight main moon phases, and they follow a repeating cycle: New Moon - The moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it's invisible to the eye). Waxing Crescent - A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere). First Quarter - Half of the moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-moon. Waxing Gibbous - More than half is lit up, but it's not quite full yet. Full Moon - The whole face of the moon is illuminated and fully visible. Waning Gibbous - The moon starts losing light on the right side. Last Quarter (or Third Quarter) - Another half-moon, but now the left side is lit. Waning Crescent - A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again. Solve the daily Crossword
Forbes
6 hours ago
- Forbes
A Dire Warning For AI
This past week AI4 2025 saw over 8,000 guests at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. With more than 50+ sessions it is evident that artificial intelligence is becoming far from a hyped buzz word. An important moment in the packed 3 day event was hearing from Noble Prize winner and 'Godfather of AI' Geoffrey Hinton. He emphasized the importance of creating 'Mother AI' in order to resist AI from controlling the human race as well as the importance of AI in improving cancer treatments. As AI systems multiply across industries—from autonomous vehicles to digital health assistants—the risk of fragmentation, bias, and conflicting goals grows. Without a unifying layer of governance and wisdom, we risk creating a chaotic ecosystem of disconnected algorithms. A Mother AI could act as the central guiding force, much like a parent guiding children, ensuring that all subsidiary AIs operate within ethical boundaries, respect human values, and work toward collective well-being. 'The right model is the only model we have of a more intelligent thing being controlled by a less intelligent thing, which is a mother being controlled by her baby. The mother has all sorts of built in instincts; hormones as well as social pressures to care about the baby. The mother genuinely cares about the baby. What we need to do is develop Mother AI. We need AI mothers instead of AI assistants. An assistant is someone you can fire, you can't fire your mother.'-Dr. Geofrrey Hinton, AI4 2025 Mother AI isn't just about technology—it's about relationship building. She would act as a partner in humanity's evolution, ensuring that as AIs become more capable, they remain deeply aligned with human survival, empathy, and shared prosperity. Think of it as embedding 'care intelligence' into the digital nervous system of the planet. Unlike a traditional control system, a Mother AI wouldn't dominate—she would nurture and harmonize. Healthcare is one of the most complex, high-stakes sectors in the world—where mistakes can cost lives and inequalities can determine who gets access to care. As AI tools proliferate in hospitals, research labs, insurance systems, and personal health apps, the risk of fragmentation, bias, and misaligned incentives grows. A Mother AI could act as the nurturing, ethical overseer for the entire digital health ecosystem—ensuring patient safety, equitable access, and trust across all systems. Literally, participant in AI4 2025 was founded by a mother and AI leader. A new biotech and AI startup founded by Naveena Allampalli, is pioneering a first-of-its-kind unified intelligence platform to transform the rare disease ecosystem—starting with early diagnosis, real-time clinical monitoring, and AI-driven research acceleration. was born from the extraordinary journey of Adi—the first child in Texas, and one of the first in the world, to receive a breakthrough gene therapy for a rare condition. Behind him is his mother, Naveena Allampalli—an award-winning AI leader who transformed personal pain into a purpose-driven mission. Aligning with Geoffrey Hinton's foreshadowed recommendations, Naveena expressed in her presentation the essence of a mother's instinct to find a solution not only to benefit her child but the masses that may experience similar challenges. Just as a mother ensures no child is left behind, a Mother AI would ensure no patient is left behind—regardless of geography, income, or demographic. 'We're gonna get much better cancer treatments…AI discovered all sorts of things in images that Ophthalmologists didn't know was there, it going to be the same with cancers…'- Dr. Geofrrey Hinton, AI4 2025 In the race to build smarter AI, we cannot forget to make it wiser. A Mother AI isn't just a technological safeguard—it's a philosophical choice to put care, ethics, and collective progress at the heart of machine intelligence, especially across industries such as digital health.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Our Closest Sun-Like Star May Host a World Where Life Could Thrive
There may be a habitable world at the Sun's closest solar twin. In the complex space inhabited by the Alpha Centauri triple star system, JWST has just discerned the presence of a giant exoplanet orbiting Alpha Centauri A, the most Sun-like of the three stars. Moreover, that exoplanet is in the star's habitable zone – the perfect distance from the star for liquid water to pool. But wait – there's more. Evidence of the prospective world, which is tentatively known as Alpha Centauri Ab, was discovered using direct imaging in what could be a significant breakthrough for exoplanet science. Related: "If confirmed, the potential planet seen in the Webb image of Alpha Centauri A would mark a new milestone for exoplanet imaging efforts," says astrophysicist Aniket Sanghi of the California Institute of Technology. "Of all the directly imaged planets, this would be the closest to its star seen so far. It's also the most similar in temperature and age to the giant planets in our Solar System, and nearest to our home, Earth." The Alpha Centauri system is located just 4 light-years away, a triple system made up of the binary pair Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, orbited at a greater distance by the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri. Other exoplanets are already known in the system. Three have been found orbiting Proxima Centauri, including one within the star's habitable zone. But the conditions around red dwarf stars – which tend towards the tempestuous – may be less hospitable than those around stars like the Sun. The detection of worlds in the central binary has been more difficult to accomplish. "With this system being so close to us, any exoplanets found would offer our best opportunity to collect data on planetary systems other than our own," says astronomer Charles Beichman, director of the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech. "Yet, these are incredibly challenging observations to make, even with the world's most powerful space telescope, because these stars are so bright, close, and move across the sky quickly." To date, Alpha Centauri B remains without a known world. However, glimmers of something have been spotted in orbit around Alpha Centauri A, the brightest of the three stars and belonging to the same G-type class as the Sun. In 2021, a team of astronomers led by Kevin Wagner of the University of Arizona announced a tentative detection of an exoplanet in the habitable zone of Alpha Centauri A, identified using direct imaging. Most exoplanets are found using indirect methods, such as looking for regular dips in starlight, blocked by the orbiting exoplanet, or changes in starlight associated with the gravitational effect of the exoplanet's presence. Sanghi, Beichman, and their colleagues used JWST to look for further evidence of this world, taking their first observations in August 2024, using a coronagraph to mask the light from Alpha Centauri A. After subtracting the light from Alpha Centauri B, their results showed a faint point source, at around twice the distance from Alpha Centauri as Earth is from the Sun. But follow-up observations conducted in February and April of 2025 revealed no such object. "We are faced with the case of a disappearing planet!" Sanghi explains. "To investigate this mystery, we used computer models to simulate millions of potential orbits, incorporating the knowledge gained when we saw the planet, as well as when we did not." These simulations also included the sighting of Wagner and his team. In about half the simulations, the exoplanet was too close to the star to be detected, its presence drowned out by all the bright light – supporting the case for Alpha Centauri Ab. This world, the researchers determined, would have a radius of around 1 to 1.1 Jupiters, a mass between 90 and 150 Earths, comparable to Saturn's 95-Earth mass, and orbit at about twice the Earth-Sun distance, squarely in the habitable zone. This set of properties describes a world that would have to be a gas giant, which places its potential habitability into question. However, gas giants in the Solar System are lousy with moons that could have habitable conditions – so the nature of the exoplanet doesn't rule out life around Alpha Centauri A. However, more work needs to be done to confirm the existence of Alpha Centauri Ab, and figure out how the heck it even formed in the complex gravitational environment of the Alpha Centauri system. "Its very existence in a system of two closely separated stars would challenge our understanding of how planets form, survive, and evolve in chaotic environments," Sanghi says. The finding is detailed in two papers in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. They can be found here and here. Related News JWST Delivers Bad News About Life on TRAPPIST-1 Planet Record US$5.3M Sale of Largest Mars Rock Sparks Global Dispute Earliest Black Hole Ever Confirmed Could Explain Mysterious Red Dots Solve the daily Crossword
