European Space Agency's new asteroid hunter opens its eye to sky
10 June 2025 12:03
SICILY (ALETIHAD) The European Space Agency's (ESA) newest planetary defender has opened its 'eye' to the cosmos for the first time. The Flyeye telescope's 'first light' marks the beginning of a new chapter in how to scan the skies for new near-Earth asteroids and comets.Inspired by an insect's compound eye, ESA and OHB Italia designed Flyeye to capture a region of the sky more than 200 times as large as the full Moon in a single exposure – much larger than a conventional telescope.It will use this wide field of view to automatically survey the sky each night independent from human operation and identify new asteroids that could pose a hazard to Earth.
'In the future, a network of up to four Flyeye telescopes spread across the northern and southern hemispheres will work together to further improve the speed and completeness these automatic sky surveys and to reduce the dependence on good weather at any individual site,' said ESA's Ernesto Doelling, Flyeye Project Manager.'The earlier we spot potentially hazardous asteroids, the more time we have to assess them and, if necessary, prepare a response,' said Richard Moissl, Head of ESA's Planetary Defence Office. 'ESA's Flyeye telescopes will be an early-warning system, and their discoveries will be shared with the global planetary defence community.'ESA's Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC) will verify any potential new asteroid detections made by the Flyeye telescopes and submit the findings to the Minor Planet Centre, Earth's hub for asteroid observational data. Astronomers, including experts from the NEOCC, will then carry out follow-up observations to further assess the hazard that the object may pose.Roberto Aceti, Managing Director at OHB Italia, explained, 'The unique optical design of the Flyeye telescope is optimised for conducting large sky surveys while maintaining high image quality throughout the wide field of view."He added that the telescope is equipped with a one-metre primary mirror, which efficiently captures incoming light. This light is then divided into 16 separate channels, each equipped with a camera capable of detecting very faint objects. This enables simultaneous high-sensitivity observations over a large region of the sky.
During operations, Flyeye's observation schedule will be optimised to consider factors such as Moon brightness and the work of other survey telescopes such as the NASA-funded ATLAS telescopes, the Zwicky Transient Facility and the upcoming Vera Rubin Telescope.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Dubai Eye
a day ago
- Dubai Eye
UAE astronomers detect exoplanets orbiting distant stars
Astronomers in the UAE have detected exoplanets orbiting stars far beyond the solar system, the Abu Dhabi-based International Astronomy Centre announced. Al Khatem Astronomical Observatory, located deep in the Abu Dhabi desert, worked in partnership with the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission. The astronmers analysed subtle changes in the brightness of stars to detect the transit of planets in front of them - a technique used to discover exoplanets. Eng. Khalfan Al Nuaimi, Chairman of the International Astronomy Center, said the detection of these planets is based on preliminary data provided by the TESS telescope, and is being verified on Earth through a global network of specialised observatories. Eng. Mohammed Shawkat Awda, Director of the International Astronomy Center, said that the Al Khatim Observatory officially joined the TESS Follow-Up Observing Program (TFOP) program in June 2024, after completing a rigorous training program conducted by international experts, followed by a successful practical test to observe one of the candidate planets. He explained that since joining, it has conducted a series of nighttime observations, each lasting between four and seven hours, focusing on 12 stars suspected of having planets. He noted that using its main telescope, it was able to transform the status of 10 of these stars from "candidate planets" to "confirmed planets," an achievement that demonstrates the precision of the observatory's research. Official documents from the Global Programme indicate that the Khatem Observatory achieved these results independently, reflecting the efficiency of its equipment and the accuracy of the observations it provides, especially in light of the environmental challenges facing ground-based observations. Awda emphasised that this contribution represents an important scientific step for the UAE in the field of space exploration, placing it in a leading position in the search for planets that may be habitable, or providing new insights into the formation and evolution of planets in distant galaxies.
Al Etihad
a day ago
- Al Etihad
Solar Orbiter spacecraft obtains first images of the sun's poles
11 June 2025 18:13 (REUTERS)The robotic Solar Orbiter spacecraft has obtained the first images ever taken of our sun's two poles as scientists seek a deeper understanding of Earth's host star, including its magnetic field, its 11-year cycle of activity and the solar European Space Agency on Wednesday released images taken in March using three of Solar Orbiter's onboard instruments. They show the sun's south pole from a distance of roughly 40 million miles (65 million km), obtained at a period of maximum solar activity. Images of the north pole are still being transmitted by the spacecraft back to Orbiter, developed by ESA in collaboration with the U.S. space agency NASA, was launched in 2020 from now, all the views of the sun have come from the same vantage point - looking face-on toward its equator from the plane on which Earth and most of the solar system's other planets orbit, called the ecliptic Orbiter used a slingshot flyby around Venus in February to get out of this plane to view the sun from up to 17 degrees below the solar equator. Future slingshot flybys will provide an even better view, at beyond 30 degrees."The best is still to come. What we have seen is just a first quick peek," said solar physicist Sami Solanki of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany, who heads the scientific team for the spacecraft's Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager instrument."The spacecraft observed both poles, first the south pole, then the north pole," Solanki said. "The north pole's data will arrive in the coming weeks or months."Solar Orbiter is gathering data on phenomena including the sun's magnetic field, its activity cycle, and the solar wind, a relentless high-speed flow of charged particles emanating from the sun's outermost atmospheric layer that fills interplanetary space."We are not sure what we will find, and it is likely we will see things that we didn't know about before," said solar physicist Hamish Reid of University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UK co-principal investigator of Solar Orbiter's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager sun is a ball of hot electrically charged gas that, as it moves, generates a powerful magnetic field, which flips from south to north and back again every 11 years in what is called the solar magnetic field drives the formation of sunspots, cooler regions on the solar surface that appear as dark blotches. At the cycle's beginning, the sun has fewer sunspots. Their number increases as the cycle progresses, before starting all over again."What we have been missing to really understand this (solar cycle) is what is actually happening at the top and bottom of the sun," Reid sun's diameter is about 865,000 miles (1.4 million km), more than 100 times wider than Earth."Whilst the Earth has a clear north and south pole, the Solar Orbiter measurements show both north and south polarity magnetic fields are currently present at the south pole of the sun. This happens during the maximum in activity of the solar cycle, when the sun's magnetic field is about to flip. In the coming years, the sun will reach solar minimum, and we expect to see a more orderly magnetic field around the poles of the sun," Reid said."We see in the images and movies of the polar regions that the sun's magnetic field is chaotic at the poles at the (current) phase of the solar cycle - high solar activity, cycle maximum," Solanki sun is located about 93 million miles (149 million km) from our planet."The data that Solar Orbiter obtains during the coming years will help modelers in predicting the solar cycle. This is important for us on Earth because the sun's activity causes solar flares and coronal mass ejections which can result in radio communication blackouts, destabilise our power grids, but also drive the sensational auroras," Reid said."Solar Orbiter's new vantage point out of the ecliptic will also allow us to get a better picture of how the solar wind expands to form the heliosphere, a vast bubble around the sun and its planets," Reid added.A previous spacecraft, Ulysses, flew over the solar poles in the 1990s. "Ulysses, however, was blind in the sense that it did not carry any optical instruments - telescopes or cameras - and hence could only sense the solar wind passing the spacecraft directly, but could not image the sun," Solanki said.
Economy ME
a day ago
- Economy ME
UAE contributes to discovering new exoplanets, marks major milestone in astronomical research
The UAE's International Astronomical Center announced today that the Al Khatim Astronomical Observatory, located in the Abu Dhabi desert, has participated in observing and confirming the existence of exoplanets, marking a scientific milestone that reflects the UAE's growing role in astronomical research. An exoplanet is any planet located beyond the solar system. The achievement reinforces the UAE's active participation in leading international scientific projects aimed at deepening the understanding of the universe and exploring the potential for life beyond Earth. UAE collaborates with NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite Commenting on the UAE's latest achievement, Eng. Khalfan Al Nuaimi, president of the International Astronomical Center, said that this contribution formed part of a collaboration with NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The UAE-based observatory employs techniques to analyze minute fluctuations in stellar brightness to detect planets passing in front of their host stars, a widely adopted method for discovering exoplanets. Meanwhile, Eng. Mohammad Shawkat Odeh, director of the center, added that the Al Khatim Observatory officially joined the TESS Follow-up Observing Program (TFOP) in June 2024, following the successful completion of a rigorous training program led by international experts, followed by a successful practical test observing a candidate planet. The accomplishment of discovering exoplanets aligns with the UAE's strategic directives to strengthen its scientific leadership and contribute to global efforts to unlock the secrets of the cosmos, supported by state-of-the-art infrastructure and an ambitious vision for the future. Source: WAM Read: UAE's MBRSC, Firefly Aerospace partner to deploy Rashid 2 Rover to far side of moon UAE expands space exploration efforts The discovery of exoplanets is yet another milestone in the UAE's space exploration success story. In April this year, the UAE marked the anniversary of the first human spaceflight, continuing its significant contributions to space exploration led by its qualified national workforce and ambitious youth. This year's anniversary highlighted the UAE's emergence as a leading space exploration success story in the Arab and regional spheres. Its accomplishments include groundbreaking projects and the development of a skilled generation of astronauts, administrators and technical personnel. The UAE achieved a historic milestone in the first quarter of this year by launching six satellites: Thuraya 4, MBZ-SAT, Al Ain Sat-1, HCT-SAT 1, the second phase of Foresight Constellation, and Etihad-SAT. Recent milestones also included February's agreement between Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC) and Thales Alenia Space. Under the agreement, Thales Alenia Space will be a strategic partner in the development of the Pressure Equalisation Unit of the Gateway Lunar Space Station. The UAE's participation in this project signifies a major step in its strategy to establish a prominent global presence in space science and technology. The UAE joined the Gateway project in January 2024 alongside the U.S., Japan, Canada, and the European Union, and announced its intent to send the first Emirati and Arab astronaut to lunar orbit.
