Latest news with #Astrolab
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Was it a plane? Was it a UFO? Bright light over Quebec captivates stargazers
With eyes turned to the skies, stargazers taking in the Perseid meteor shower on Tuesday night witnessed something out of this world. In a publication on Facebook, the Astrolab du parc national du Mont-Mégantic in Quebec's Eastern Townships described it as "a magnificent and luminous spiral streaking across the sky at around 10:40 p.m." Several people in the Montreal area also witnessed the strange phenomenon and reached out to CBC News describing a bright light enveloped by a fuzzy halo and warning of a UFO sighting. While it was certainly unusual, it wasn't really an unidentified flying object, but more likely the result of a rocket launch, according to the Astrolab. "It was in all likelihood the second stage of an Ariane 6 rocket which was igniting its engine in order to de-orbit itself after having released the European satellite Metop-SGA1 in a polar orbit," the Facebook post explained. The European Space Agency confirmed on its website that a weather satellite was launched Tuesday evening at 9:37 p.m. local time, from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana — an overseas department of France located in South America. The new satellite is meant to usher in "a new era of weather and climate monitoring from polar orbit." WATCH | What was that bright object flying in the sky over Quebec: According to astrophysicist Robert Lamontagne, the rocket's orbit is what allowed for the spectacle to be visible in Quebec. Most of the time rocket launches are on an equatorial orbit and so will be visible near the equator, he said. In a polar orbit, the rocket has to go around the earth circling each pole of the planet. "So the the trajectory of that the rocket made it so that from our latitude it could be seen in Montreal or the south of Quebec," he said. But to witness the phenomena, other factors also need to align, according to Lamontagne, including the time of launch and the altitude reached by the rocket. "From our point of view, we were in the dark, the sun was low below the horizon, but the rocket itself was so high that it was still lit by the by the sun," he said. And as the second stage of the rocket re-entered the earth's atmosphere, he said, "it was spinning a little bit, there was exhaust gases coming out from it and that's what people saw in the sky." A spokesperson for the Canadian Space Agency told CBC News that many observers captured video of the event, with the agency confirming it was the ESA's Ariane 6 rocket.
5 days ago
- Science
Was it a plane? Was it a UFO? Bright light over Quebec captivates stargazers
With eyes turned to the skies, stargazers taking in the Perseid meteor shower on Tuesday night witnessed something out of this world. In a publication on Facebook, the Astrolab du parc national du Mont-Mégantic (new window) in Quebec's Eastern Townships described it as a magnificent and luminous spiral streaking across the sky at around 10:40 p.m. Several people in the Montreal area also witnessed the strange phenomenon and reached out to CBC News describing a bright light enveloped by a fuzzy halo and warning of a UFO sighting. While it was certainly unusual, it wasn't really an unidentified flying object, but more likely the result of a rocket launch, according to the Astrolab. It was in all likelihood the second stage of an Ariane 6 rocket which was igniting its engine in order to de-orbit itself after having released the European satellite Metop-SGA1 in a polar orbit, the Facebook post explained. Astronomers may have discovered 3rd-known interstellar visitor (new window) The European Space Agency confirmed on its website that a weather satellite was launched Tuesday evening at 9:37 p.m. local time, from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana — an overseas department of France located in South America. The new satellite is meant to usher in a new era of weather and climate monitoring from polar orbit. Enlarge image (new window) A bright spiraling light in the sky was confirmed to be part of a spacecraft. Photo: Submitted by Alexis Sanchez According to astrophysicist Robert Lamontagne, the rocket's orbit is what allowed for the spectacle to be visible in Quebec. Most of the time rocket launches are on an equatorial orbit and so will be visible near the equator, he said. In a polar orbit, the rocket has to go around the earth circling each pole of the planet. So the the trajectory of that the rocket made it so that from our latitude it could be seen in Montreal or the south of Quebec, he said. But to witness the phenomena, other factors also need to align, according to Lamontagne, including the time of launch and the altitude reached by the rocket. From our point of view, we were in the dark, the sun was low below the horizon, but the rocket itself was so high that it was still lit by the by the sun, he said. And as the second stage of the rocket re-entered the earth's atmosphere, he said, it was spinning a little bit, there was exhaust gases coming out from it and that's what people saw in the sky. A spokesperson for the Canadian Space Agency told CBC News that many observers captured video of the event, with the agency confirming it was the ESA's Ariane 6 rocket. Annabelle Olivier (new window) · CBC News · Journalist Annabelle Olivier is a digital journalist at CBC Montreal. She previously worked at Global News as an online producer. You can reach her at With files from Gloria Henriquez
CBC
5 days ago
- Science
- CBC
Was it a plane? Was it a UFO? Bright light over Quebec skies captivates stargazers
Social Sharing With eyes turned to the skies, stargazers taking in the Perseid meteor shower on Tuesday night witnessed something out of this world. In a publication on Facebook, the Astrolab du parc national du Mont-Mégantic in Quebec's Eastern Townships, described it as "a magnificent and luminous spiral streaking across the sky at around 10:40 p.m." Several people in the Montreal area also witnessed the strange phenomenon and reached out to CBC News describing a bright light enveloped by a fuzzy halo and warning of a UFO sighting. While it was certainly unusual, it wasn't really an unidentified flying object, but more likely the result of a rocket launch, according to the Astrolab. "It was in all likelihood the second stage of an Ariane 6 rocket which was igniting its engine in order to de-orbit itself after having released the European satellite Metop-SGA1 in a polar orbit," the Facebook post explained. The European Space Agency confirmed on its website that a weather satellite was launched Tuesday evening at 9:37 p.m. local time, from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana — an overseas department of France located in South America. The new satellite is meant to usher in "a new era of weather and climate monitoring from polar orbit." According to astrophysicist Robert Lamontagne, the rocket's orbit is what allowed for the spectacle to be visible in Quebec. Most of the time rocket launches are on an equatorial orbit and so will be visible near the equator, he said. In a polar orbit, the rocket has to go around the earth circling each pole of the planet. "So the the trajectory of that the rocket made it so that from our latitude it could be seen in Montreal or the south of Quebec," he said. But to witness the phenomena, other factors also need to align, according to Lamontagne, including the time of launch and the altitude reached by the rocket. "From our point of view, we were in the dark, the sun was low below the horizon, but the rocket itself was so high that it was still lit by the by the sun," he said. And as the second stage of the rocket re-entered the earth's atmosphere, he said, "it was spinning a little bit, there was exhaust gases coming out from it and that's what people saw in the sky."
Geek Wire
05-08-2025
- Science
- Geek Wire
Seattle-based Avail acquired by Upstack in tech consultancy deal
Interlune will team up with Astrolab to send a camera to the moon for helium-3 survey
Geek Wire
05-08-2025
- Business
- Geek Wire
Interlune will team up with Astrolab to send a camera to the moon for helium-3 survey
An artist's conception shows Astrolab's FLIP rover on the moon. Interlune plans to put a helium-hunting multispectral camera on the rover. (Astrolab Illustration) Seattle-based Interlune says it's struck a deal with California-based Astrolab to send a multispectral camera to the moon to estimate how much helium-3 is present in lunar soil. Interlune's camera will be one of the payloads aboard Astrolab's FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform rover, or FLIP for short. The FLIP rover is scheduled to take a piggyback ride to the moon's south polar region aboard Astrobotics' Griffin lander as soon as late 2025. The mission will mark Interlune's first off-Earth step in its campaign to identify and extract helium-3 from the moon and return it to Earth. Helium-3 can be used for applications ranging from quantum computing to security screening to fusion energy production. But it's rare on Earth: Interlune has pegged the commercial price of helium-3 at as much as $20 million per kilogram. Interlune is betting that lunar helium-3, which is produced when charged particles from the sun hit moon dirt, will become a cheaper source — and a source of revenue for the startup. The multispectral camera that Interlune has developed in partnership with NASA's Ames Research Center will be used to estimate helium-3 quantities and concentration around Griffin's landing site, without having to bring samples back to Earth. 'This is our first lunar mission and a seminal milestone toward being the first company to harvest natural resources from space,' Interlune's co-founder and CEO, Rob Meyerson, said today in a news release. 'Astrolab's ability to provide reliable mobility on the moon to partners like Interlune is the quintessential example of the collaboration and innovation building the lunar economy.' Astrolab's founder and CEO, Jaret Matthews, said his company was 'thrilled to be carrying Interlune's multispectral camera to the moon.' 'This is exactly the kind of mission we built Astrolab for — delivering breakthrough science to the lunar surface,' Matthews said. Interlune was founded in 2020 and raised $18 million in seed capital last year. In May, the startup announced that the U.S. Department of Energy and Maybell Quantum Industries would be among its first customers. At the time that announcement was made, Interlune said it would start delivering helium-3 in 2029.
