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A seat on a spaceship ride with billionaire Jeff Bezos went for $28 million (roughly Rs. 205 crores) during a live auction on Saturday, concluding the month-long bidding process for the sightseeing trip on the Blue Origin’s maiden voyage next month.

Within four minutes of the open of Saturday’s live phone auction, bids reached beyond $20 million (roughly Rs. 150 crores). The bidding closed seven minutes after the auction began. The identity of the winner – presumably an ultra-wealthy space aficionado – was not immediately disclosed.

The July 20 launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard booster from West Texas would be a landmark moment as US firms strive toward a new era of private commercial space travel.

Blue Origin’s founder and Amazon executive Bezos, the world’s wealthiest man and a lifelong space enthusiast, has been racing against fellow aspiring billionaire aeronauts Richard Branson and Elon Musk to be the first of the three to travel beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

“To see the earth from space, changes you. It changes your relationship with this planet, with humanity,” Bezos said in a video before the final bidding took place, adding that his brother Mark will join him on the trip.

As the month-long bidding process leading up to the live auction closed on Thursday, the winning figure stood at $4.8 million (roughly Rs. 38 crores), fueled by entries from more than 6,000 people from at least 143 countries, Blue Origin said.

“Putting the world’s richest man and one of the most recognised figures in business into space is a massive advertisement for space as a domain for exploration, industrialisation, and investment,” Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas told clients earlier this month.

While the funds raised from the event are earmarked for charity, Blue Origin is hoping to galvanise enthusiasm for its nascent suborbital tourism business.

However, Branson, who founded Virgin Galactic, may attempt to steal Bezos’ thunder by joining a possible test flight to the edge of space over the July 4 weekend aboard Virgin’s VSS Unity spaceplane, one person familiar with the matter said.

The race is fueled by optimism that space travel will become mainstream as nascent technology is proven and costs fall, fueling what UBS estimates could be a $3 billion (roughly Rs. 21,950 crores) annual tourism market by 2030.

Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, as well as Musk’s SpaceX, have also discussed using their rockets to link far-flung global cities. UBS says that long-haul travel market could be worth more than $20 billion (roughly Rs. 150 crores), though several barriers such as air-safety certification could derail the plans.

Blue Origin has not divulged its pricing strategy for future trips.

Reuters reported in 2018 that Blue Origin was planning to charge passengers at least $200,000 (roughly Rs. 1.5 crores) for the ride, based on a market study and other considerations, though its thinking may have changed.

© Thomson Reuters 2021

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Rare Titan Shadow Transits Will Sweep Across Saturn in Summer 2025

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June 30, 2025

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Rare Titan Shadow Transits Will Sweep Across Saturn in Summer 2025

Saturn’s largest moon Titan will cast its shadow across the planet’s surface in a rare spectacle this summer. Over the coming months, observers on Earth may see a dark “hole” move across Saturn’s disk as Titan passes in front of the planet. This event is tied to a special alignment: roughly every 15 years, Saturn’s rings become edge-on to our view (a ring-plane crossing or equinox). Indeed, in March 2025 the rings briefly vanished as they lined up edge-on, setting the stage for Titan’s shadow to loom large on Saturn’s globe. After this year’s transit season, the configuration won’t recur until about 2040, making these transits uniquely unmissable.

Saturn’s Equinox and Titan’s Transits

According to Space.com, right now Saturn is near its equinox, meaning its tilted rings are edge-on to Earth. This geometry allows Titan’s shadow – a dark spot on Saturn – to sweep across the planet’s face, much like a lunar eclipse but on Saturn. Titan orbits Saturn about every 16 days, so during this alignment we can see its shadow cross Saturn’s disk repeatedly. In fact, roughly ten Titan shadow-transit events are expected during 2025. Three have already occurred (most recently on June 16), and seven more are forecast from July through early October 2025. When visible, each transit looks like a moving dark spot (a “hole”) on Saturn’s bright disk.

Viewing the Titan Shadow Transits

These transits are faint and require planning. A good telescope (at least 200× magnification) is needed to see Titan and its shadow. For viewers in North America, Saturn will be low in the pre-dawn sky during the event dates. According to Sky & Telescope, the remaining 2025 transit dates are July 2, July 18, August 3, August 19, September 4, September 20 and October 6 (local viewing times vary by location).

Early-season events last several hours, but the crossings shorten as the year goes on: by Oct. 6 the shadow is only visible briefly at the exact mid-transit moment. Observers should consult astronomy software and aim for clear skies on those dates, as any clouds or mist will obscure the subtle shadow.

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NASA’s Chandra Reveals Stunning Multi-Wavelength Image of Andromeda Galaxy

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June 30, 2025

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NASA’s Chandra Reveals Stunning Multi-Wavelength Image of Andromeda Galaxy

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory provides a new look at the Andromeda galaxy in this multi-wavelength image that includes X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and radio images and illustrates the “collaboration of light” across the spectrum. The structure and future fate of the Milky Way are modelled with the help of Andromeda, which is 2.5 million light years away. This combined image not only shows high-energy radiation from a supermassive black hole but also provides a clear view of the arms and core of M31 in remarkable detail. The light is transformed into a sound with a sonification video, bringing another level of sensation.

Chandra X-ray Data Reveals Black Hole Flares and Dark Matter Legacy in New View of Andromeda

As per NASA’s Chandra team, the X-ray observations — alongside data from ESA’s XMM-Newton, NASA’s GALEX and Spitzer, Planck, IRAS, COBE, Herschel, and more — reveal distinct galactic features. Notably, a flare detected in 2013 from Andromeda’s supermassive black hole showed enhanced X-ray emission. The data also honours astronomer Vera Rubin, whose M31 rotation studies led to the first convincing evidence for dark matter. Rubin is now commemorated on a 2025 U.S. quarter.

Among the release features is a signature sonification, with different categories of light — X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and radio — translated into sound tones. Volume is controlled by brightness, pitch by frequency position. The result is a sound map of the galaxy’s internal structure.

The Chandra programme for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington is managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama. Chandra’s overseer is the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

With this updated M31 panorama in hand, astronomers are in for a beautiful sight, but the broader population is also treated to a sight and sound experience that transports us to our Milky Way’s closest galactic neighbour.

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Could These Meteorites Be from Mercury? New Research Hints at Rare Discovery

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June 30, 2025

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Could These Meteorites Be from Mercury? New Research Hints at Rare Discovery

Scientists have observed whether the meteorites can reach Earth from Mercury. Over thousands of meteorites from Mars and the Moon have been observed, but none have been from Mercury, despite it being a nearby rocky planet. A new study revealed Icarus suggests two meteorites, Ksar Ghilane 022 and Northwest Africa 15915, could belong to Mercurian origin. Such a kind of meteorite can offer a realistic opportunity to study the material of the surface of the planet, if the technical challenges and the cost of sending a spacecraft to Mercury are met.

New Meteorite Samples Show Strong Similarities

As per the new studies reported to Physics.org , Meteorite NWA 7325 and aubrites in the past were considered to be possibly from Mercury. However, the mineral composition of their samples has inconsistencies with the known surface data from the Messenger mission of NASA. Aubrites formed on a planet similar in size to Mercury, lacking spectral and chemical similarities, and further weakened as Mercurian fragments.

Ksar Ghilane 022 and NWA 15915, the new samples, share many traits of Mercury crust, with olivine, oldhamite, pyroxene, and minor albitic plagioclase. The oxygen composition of these matched with the aubrites, signalling a similar planetary origin and putting them among strong Mercurian members.

Key Differences Raise Scientific Questions

There are key differences even after that, and the two meteorites contain very little plagioclase than on the Mercury surface, and are about 4,528 million years older than Mercury’s surface material. If they are from Mercury, there is a possibility that they can represent an ancient crust which is no longer visible on the planet.

Future Missions and Scientific Verification

Relating a meteorite to a particular planet is quite difficult without direct samples. BepiColombo missions are orbiting Mercury currently, and can offer valuable insights to confirm meteorites source. Mercurian meteorites can get valuable insights into the formation, composition and history of the planet. There are further findings to be presented at the Meteoritical Society Meeting 2025 in Australia.

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