Half of Canadians have negative opinion of latest Liberal budget: poll
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
An expert in software tracking objects in space says that a SpaceX rocket booster is "certain" to impact the moon in a few weeks, marking what is believed to be the first case of unintentional space junk hitting the Earth's moon.
Bill Gray has been tracking the Falcon 9 upper stage as part of his Project Pluto blog. The rocket booster was originally launched from Florida in February 2015 in order to send up a space weather satellite, marking the first SpaceX launch into interplanetary space.
Since then, the booster has run out of fuel and is unable to return to Earth or to get out of the gravity of the Earth-Moon system, according to meteorologist Eric Berger, who wrote about the Falcon 9's upper stage in a recent post for Ars Technica. Since then, Berger says the booster has been following a "chaotic orbit" in space.
But Gray, using his software and other available data, wrote in his Jan. 21 blog post that he predicts the booster will hit the far side of the moon on March 4. The four-ton booster is calculated to make impact at 2.58 km/second.
His calculations, as well as his prediction of March 4 as the date of impact, were confirmed in a tweet by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer from the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
There are some small uncertainties that could impact the orbit of the booster, including light from the sun "pushing" the object and altering its course minutely. These changes may impact exactly where the booster lands, which Gray is continuing to track and predict, but he says he is "100 per cent certain" that it will make an impact somewhere on the moon.
When it comes to whether people should be worried about the impact, Gray says there is "zero concern," adding that the moon is hit with larger natural space objects like asteroids at even faster speeds "fairly routinely." But when it comes to man-made objects and space junk, Gray says this is the first unintentional case of impact of which he is aware.
While this event will likely be unobservable from Earth, Gray says there is a possibility that there could be something to learn about the moon because of this impact.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and India's Chandrayaan-2 are expected to eventually pass over the site of the booster's hit. If the exact location on the moon can be determined, Gray says the lunar orbiters could "see a very fresh impact crater" and possible "ejecta" -- material expelled from under the surface of the moon from the force of the impact.
From these observations, researchers could learn more about the geological makeup of the moon.
"I am rooting for a lunar impact," Gray wrote.
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
Appointing a trusted person to help with financial obligations can give you peace of mind. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew outlines the key benefits of naming a confidant to take over your financial responsibilities, if the need ever arises.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
A Minnesota state senator and former broadcast meteorologist told police that she broke into her stepmother's home because her stepmother refused to give her items of sentimental value from her late father, including his ashes, according to burglary charges filed Tuesday.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
Organizations across the country are gearing up for what they describe as the largest LGBTQ2S+ mobilization since the push for marriage equality.
Catholic public schools across Toronto will not be flying the "pro-life" flag in the month of May after school board trustees voted against it.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.