Articles by Stephen Clark

China launched the eighth satellite for its Tianlian data relay network in geostationary orbit on a Long March 3B rocket Tuesday, adding capacity to a constellation linking mission controllers with the Chinese space station and other low-orbiting spacecraft.

Rocket Lab launched a classified payload into orbit from New Zealand Wednesday for the National Reconnaissance Office, the first of two back-to-back Rocket Lab missions for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency.

Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher lifted off from New Zealand Wednesday with classified cargo for the National Reconnaissance Office, the first of two dedicated Rocket Lab flights for the NRO this month. Liftoff occurred at 2:30 a.m. EDT (0630 GMT).

Among the dazzling images from the James Webb Space Telescope released Tuesday was a squiggly line of spectral data that contained the tell-tale chemical fingerprint of water vapor and clouds in the atmosphere of a scorching hot planet circling a star 1,150 light-years from Earth.

The James Webb Space Telescope’s multi-wavelength observations of the Southern Ring Nebula reveal the dying throes of a star flinging off vast amounts of stellar debris, and showed for the first time the star responsible for the spectacle is sheathed in its own cloak of dust.

The five galaxies of Stephan’s Quintet, prominently featured at the beginning of the holiday film “It’s a Wonderful Life,” were seen with new eyes by the James Webb Space Telescope.

The James Webb Space Telescope’s first image of Carina Nebula shows an iconic star-forming cloud of gas and dust 7,600 light-years away, revealing previously unseen vistas of young stars thanks to the new observatory’s sharp-eyed infrared vision.