Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Proton rocket with Europe’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and the Schiaparelli entry, descent and landing demonstrator module to Mars. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
News
Saturn’s moon Enceladus and its paper-thin crust
Researchers have used data collected by the Cassini spacecraft to build a computer simulation of Saturn’s icy ocean moon Enceladus that includes the thickness of the ice crust. At its south poles, huge geysers of water jet into space. These come from the ocean depths and suggest that the ice there must be relatively thin for this to happen.
Observing
View the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century on 27 July
Friday, 27 July sees the second total lunar eclipse of 2018, which also happens to be the longest of the 21st century. Observers in Antarctica, Australasia, Russia, Asia, Africa, Scandanavia, Europe, Central and Eastern South America will see the event. The Moon rises at mid-eclipse as seen from the British Isles, some 6 degrees north of Mars at opposition.