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coreyspowell

@coreyspowell@mastodon.social

Writer, editor, magazine maker, podcaster, procrastinator.

Former editor of Discover and American Scientist magazines. Co-host of #ScienceRules podcast. Invisible Universe on Substack: https://invisibleuniverse.substack.com/

Co-founder of OpenMind magazine.

#science #nature #space #scicomm

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coreyspowell , to Space & Science
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Uh oh. The ambitious European-Japanese BepiColombo mission to Mercury has experienced a worrisome "glitch" in its thrusters.

Engineers are scrambling for a fix so the spacecraft can enter orbit around Mercury late next year, as planned.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/05/europe-is-uncertain-whether-its-ambitious-mercury-probe-can-reach-the-planet/

The joint European-Japanese BepiColombo mission captured this view of Mercury on 1 October 2021 as the spacecraft flew past the planet for a gravity assist manoeuvre. This image was taken at 23:44:57 UTC by the Mercury Transfer Module’s Monitoring Camera 3, when the spacecraft was 2687 km from Mercury. Closest approach of 199 km took place shortly before, at 23:34:41 UTC. The cameras provide black-and-white snapshots in 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution. The high-gain antenna of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter and part of the body of the spacecraft are visible in front of Mercury.
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    coreyspowell , to Space & Science
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    After years of searching, astronomers have finally detected an atmosphere on a rocky planet around another star.

    But what a strange planet it is! 55 Cancri e seems to be blanketed in carbon dioxide gas bubbling out of a global ocean of lava. Like an image out of Dante's Inferno.

    https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2024/news-2024-102

    A thermal emission spectrum captured by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) in November 2022, and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) in March 2023, shows the brightness (y-axis) of different wavelengths of infrared light (x-axis) emitted by the super-Earth exoplanet 55 Cancri e. The spectrum shows that the planet may be surrounded by an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide and other volatiles, not just vaporized rock. The graph compares data collected by NIRCam (orange dots) and MIRI (purple dots) to two different models. Model A, in red, shows what the emission spectrum of 55 Cancri e should look like if it has an atmosphere made of vaporized rock. Model B, in blue, shows what the emission spectrum should look like if the planet has a volatile-rich atmosphere outgassed from a magma ocean that has a similar volatile content as Earth’s mantle. Both MIRI and NIRCam data are consistent with the volatile-rich model. (Credit: NASA-JWST)
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    One of the great frustrations in the search for life in the universe: It's much easier to study extreme, hellish planets (huge, hot, etc) than to study the moderate worlds where life could plausibly exist.

    coreyspowell , to Space & Science
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    So many beautiful aurora photos going around right now. Wonder where those amazing colors come from? Here's a helpful breakdown.

    When you split up the light of a typical aurora, it looks like this.

    Many colors from just nitrogen & oxygen!

    https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/content/aurora-tutorial

    Different auroral colors come from different heights in the atmosphere primarily because the life-time of an excited atom or molecule (time spent in its excited state) is vastly different for different colors of the aurora. The green aurora from oxygen in the 1S state typically occurs from 120 to 400 km (80 to 250 miles) above the surface of Earth. The red aurora from oxygen in the 1D state is restricted to altitudes above 300 km (180 km). This is because oxygen in the 1D state has a very long lifetime (>150 sec) and can only survive in the thinner atmosphere above 300 km. At lower altitudes the oxygen in the 1D state collides with other atmospheric atoms or molecules before it can emit a photon which deactivates or quenches the excited oxygen. The 1S state of oxygen has a lifetime of about 1 second and therefore emits a photon more quickly and thus can emit at lower altitudes where the density is higher. The aurora sometimes has a purplish lower border which comes from emissions from molecular nitrogen. This "prompt" emission is emitted from excited states of nitrogen that have almost no delay between excitation and emission. It survives at even lower altitudes between 120 and 200 km (80 to 120 miles).
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    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    Our galaxy seems to be full of "rogue" planets wandering alone between the stars.

    A new observation from NASA's TESS space telescope hints that these dark worlds might hugely outnumber the normal (?) planets, like Earth, that bask in the warmth and light of a sun.

    https://astrobiology.com/2024/04/searching-for-free-floating-planets-with-tess-i-discovery-of-a-first-terrestrial-mass-candidate.html

    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    Jupiter's moon Io is the most hellish spot in the solar system -- a place of nonstop, sulfur-laced volcanic eruptions.

    This new NASA visualization shows a strangely calm-looking lake of magma on Io. The video is directly based on imagery from the Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter.

    https://www.nasa.gov/missions/juno/nasas-juno-gives-aerial-views-of-mountain-lava-lake-on-io/

    This animation is an artist’s concept of Loki Patera, a lava lake on Jupiter’s moon Io, made using data from the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft. With multiple islands in its interior, Loki is a depression filled with magma and rimmed with molten lava. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    The astronauts aboard the ISS were amazed by the April 8 solar eclipse, just like the rest of us, and went crazy snapping photos from orbit.

    They got some amazing views of the Moon's shadow sweeping across southern Canada & Maine, seen from 420 km (261 miles) above: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/with/53645140833

    The Moon's shadow, or umbra, is pictured covering portions of the Canadian provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick and the American state of Maine in this photograph from the International Space Station as it soared into the solar eclipse from 261 miles above.
    The Moon's shadow, or umbra, is pictured covering portions of the Canadian provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick and the American state of Maine in this photograph from the International Space Station as it soared into the solar eclipse from 261 miles above.

    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    Today's dose of cosmic beauty: Comet Pons-Brooks, photographed from southern Spain by Fritz Helmut Hemmerich.

    The eerie green glow is from diatomic carbon. The ripples show the flow of the solar wind.

    https://www.facebook.com/fritzhelmut.hemmerich/

    coreyspowell , to Photography
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    Even with all the eclipse photos circulating right now, this one made my eyes pop. Great shot of jet contrails breaking up the edge of the eclipsed Sun. Quick calculation: The Sun is about 30,000,000 times wider than the jet.

    (Photo by Bobby Goddin, Bloomington, IN)

    coreyspowell , to History
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    Johannes de Sacrobosco ("John of Hollywood") published detailed geometric descriptions of a solar eclipse in the year 1230. People in the "dark ages" were not so dumb!

    I dig through 5000 years of eclipse investigations in my latest Invisible Universe column:

    https://invisibleuniverse.substack.com/p/how-we-learned-to-love-the-invisible

    coreyspowell OP ,
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    In 1715, Edmund Halley (of comet fame) was able to predict the timing of the next solar eclipse with an accuracy of 4 minutes! He also produced the first illustrated eclipse forecast.

    That's what is possible once you understand the nature of orbits and have a working theory of gravity...

    https://invisibleuniverse.substack.com/p/how-we-learned-to-love-the-invisible

    Edmond Halley (1656-1742), the namesake of Halley’s Comet, accurately predicted the timing of the solar eclipse of May 3, 1715, to within four minutes, leading it to be known as “Halley’s Eclipse.” That same event also seems to have marked the introduction of a distinctive twenty-five-frame format for predictive illustrations of eclipses: a 5×5 grid with the moment of totality shown at the center and a time base running primarily from right to left and secondarily from top to bottom.
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    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    Eclipse news from 3,246 years ago:

    The earliest well-established observation a solar eclipse was recorded on March 5, 1222 BCE. It was inscribed in a clay tablet from Ugarit, a city in modern-day Syria.

    https://theconversation.com/archeoastronomy-uses-the-rare-times-and-places-of-previous-total-solar-eclipses-to-help-us-measure-history-222709

    coreyspowell OP ,
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    Bur wait! There might be an even earlier description of a solar eclipse from as long ago as 2137 BCE in the Chinese book "Shujing."

    The text references a startling event when "the Sun and Moon did not meet harmoniously."

    https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.04674

    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    Amazing research out today:

    The DESI survey has created the largest-ever 3D map of the structure of the universe.

    It has also found intriguing (though tentative) evidence that cosmic "dark energy" is not what we thought -- a hint of new, unknown physics.

    https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2024/04/04/desi-first-results-make-most-precise-measurement-of-expanding-universe/

    DESI has made the largest 3D map of our universe to date. Earth is at the center of this thin slice of the full map. In the magnified section, it is easy to see the underlying structure of matter in our universe. Credit: Claire Lamman/DESI collaboration; custom colormap package by cmastro
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    Only three humans have ever witnessed an eclipse of the Sun by the Earth. It happened while the Apollo 12 crew was returning home from the Moon, on November 21, 1969.

    Fortunately, the astronauts filmed the moment so you can share in the experience.

    https://archive.org/details/Apollo1216mmOnboardFilm [at the 4:50 mark]

    Footage of the eclipse of the sun was taken with a 16mm motion picture camera from the Apollo 12 spacecraft during its trans-Earth journey home from the moon. The fascinating view was created when the Earth moved directly between the sun and the Apollo 12 spacecraft. Aboard Apollo 12 were astronauts Charles Conrad Jr., commander; Richard F. Gordon Jr., command module pilot; and Alan L. Bean, lunar module pilot. While astronauts Conrad and Bean descended in the Lunar Module (LM) "Intrepid" to explore the Ocean of Storms region of the moon, astronaut Gordon remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) "Yankee Clipper" in lunar orbit. Source: NASA/Johnson Space Center

    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    NASA has just announced three major lunar science experiments for the Artemis III mission, which will send the first astronauts to the Moon since 1972.

    One of the experiments, LEAF, will study how plans sprout and grow on the Moon. A little lunar garden!

    https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-selects-first-lunar-instruments-for-artemis-astronaut-deployment/

    The LEAF β (“LEAF Beta”) payload will protect plants within from excessive Lunar sunlight, radiation, and the vacuum of space, while observing their photosynthesis, growth, and responses to stress. The experiment includes a plant growth chamber with an isolated atmosphere, housing red and green varieties of Brassica rapa, Wolffia (duckweed), and Arabidopsis thaliana.
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    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    Here's a beautiful oddity: This nebula was created by a very rare type of supernova that HALF-exploded 800 years ago.

    Two white dwarf stars collided & detonated, lighting up Earth's skies. Somehow one of the white dwarfs survived, leaving behind the hottest star in our galaxy.

    https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/03/Marvel_at_stunning_echo_of_800-year-old_explosion?rand=771654

    coreyspowell OP ,
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    The supernova that created nebula Pa30 was seen by Chinese astronomers in the constellation Cassiopeia for 6 months in 1181 CE.

    Glowing sulfur atoms trace the shape of the explosion & winds from the stellar remnant.

    https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2024/snr1181/

    This image of supernova remnant Pa30 contains infrared data from the WISE telescope as well as sulfur seen in a specific band of visible light from the MDM Observatory in Arizona and stars in the field of view from the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii. Astronomers studying this supernova remnant think it is the result of an unusual type of supernova explosion caused by two white dwarf stars merging. Typically no remnant is left behind, but Pa 30 appears to be an example where the result of the merger was not destroyed.
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    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    How big is big? Here's one answer.

    Meet the largest galaxy supercluster in the known universe: the Einasto Supercluster. It measures 360 million light years across and contains 26 quadrillion times the mass of the Sun. So...big!

    https://ut.ee/en/content/einasto-supercluster-new-heavyweight-contender-universe

    The Einasto Supercluster, the most massive among those discovered, is situated about 3 billion light-years away from the earth. This colossal structure contains the mass equivalent of around 26 million times billion suns. Its enormous size can be appreciated by the fact that if a light ray starts from one end of the Einasto Supercluster, it will take 360 million years to reach its other end.
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    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    Last night's Asimov Debate at the American Museum of Natural History covered the latest cosmic findings from JWST. A few highlights:

    Early results from JWST show a lot more bright galaxies & massive black holes than expected in the very early universe. Cosmologist Rachel Somerville admitted that her galaxy-formation models turned out to be way off. We still have a lot to learn!

    https://www.vox.com/science/24040534/jwst-galaxies-big-bright-mystery-black-holes-cosmology

    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    This is how technology changes our view of reality.

    The enormous LSST camera (the eye of the Rubin Observatory) will will soon start scanning the entire visible universe every 3-4 days. It will create the grandest movies ever made, watching for anything moving, flickering , appearing, or vanishing in deep space.

    https://rubinobservatory.org/about

    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    This is the surface of a comet! Dust is swirling around the surface of Comet 67/P -- captured in 2016 by ESA's Rosetta spacecraft, processing by Jacint Roger Perez.

    Still one of the most remarkable scenes in space exploration.

    INT. #ROSETTA MISSION #COMET #67P/CHURYUMOV-GERASIMENKO 01 jun 2016 Distance to Target: 13.5 km Camera: OSINAC Near_Ir+Orange+blue filt.

    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    Reports of the death of the Voyager 1 spacecraft may have been premature!

    NASA engineers have received a promising response from humanity's most distant explorer. The new signal could help pinpoint the problem with Voyager's aging data system.

    https://gizmodo.com/nasa-voyager-1-reconnects-data-glitch-1851334565

    In 1977, NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft began their pioneering journey across the Solar System to visit the giant outer planets. Now, the Voyagers are hurtling through unexplored territory on their road trip beyond our Solar System. Along the way, they are measuring the interstellar medium, the mysterious environment between stars that is filled with the debris from long-dead stars. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is providing the roadmap, by measuring the material along the probes' trajectories as they move through space. Hubble finds a rich, complex interstellar ecology, containing multiple clouds of hydrogen, laced with other elements. Hubble data, combined with the Voyagers, have also provided new insights into how our sun travels through interstellar space. Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)
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    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    I needed a break from grim political news...so I switched to reading about the IDEFIX rover, launching in 2026, which will explore Mars's tiny moon Phobos.

    Fascinating robot explorer, dealing with a tricky problem: How do you drive in a place where the gravity is 1/1000th that of Earth?

    https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2024/02/idefix-interview/

    The Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission is JAXA’s lead mission that plans to survey and explore Mars’ two moons, Phobos and Deimos. While the Japanese agency will build the main payload, the German Space Agency (DLR) and the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) will contribute to the mission. “IDEFIX,” a small secondary payload, will ride with MMX and is planned to touch down on the surface of Phobos in 2029.

    The IDEFIX rover itself weighs 25 kilograms, is 51 centimeters long, and is designed to explore up to 100 meters of Phobos’ surface. During one of MMX’s closest approaches to Phobos, the rover will be released at an altitude between 40 and 100 meters above the surface and touch down on Phobos.
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    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    I turn philosophical in my latest column.

    The starlight you see at night is many years old. And for each one of us, there's a bright star whose light is the same age that you are!

    When you find your corresponding star, it can trigger a profound perspective shift & sense of connection. Read the column here:

    https://invisibleuniverse.substack.com/p/stars-of-your-life

    coreyspowell , to History
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    The first published photo of Earth from space was released 77 years ago today (7 March 1947).

    It was taken from a captured German V-2 rocket, used by the US Army as part of Operation Paperclip, at an altitude of 101 miles (162km).

    https://historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=4722

    coreyspowell , to Photography
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    Halley's Comet won't reappear until 2061, but Pons-Brooks is a similar big, long-period comet putting -- and it's putting on a show right now.

    You'll need good binoculars, but oh is it pretty. Photo taken on Monday by Michael Jäger.

    https://theskylive.com/12p-info

    coreyspowell OP ,
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    Comet Pons-Brooks is currently low in the west after sunset for Northern Hemisphere viewers, not far from the Andromeda galaxy in the sky.

    Here's another lovely view of the comet, taken on March 2 by Michael Jäger.

    https://earthsky.org/tonight/12-p-comet-pons-brooks-outburst-millennium-falcon-bright-2024-eclipse/

    Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks 2024 march 2 18.28-19.28 UT 11" RASA QHY600 filter blue. Photography: Michael Jäger

    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    Keep your eyes to the sky! There's a good chance that a bright new star will appear in the constellation Corona Borealis over the next six months.

    This is a rare event: a recurring nova that last erupted 80 years ago. (I've simulated the view so you can see what to expect.)


    https://blogs.nasa.gov/Watch_the_Skies/2024/02/27/view-nova-explosion-new-star-in-northern-crown/

    A star system, located 3,000 light-years away from Earth, is predicted to become visible to the unaided eye soon. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime viewing opportunity as the nova ouburst only occurs about every 80 years. T Coronae Borealis, or T CrB, last exploded in 1946 and astronomers believe it will do so again between February and September 2024.

    coreyspowell OP ,
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    Huh, the gif wasn't supposed to look like that. Here are the before & after views of nova T Coronae Borealis.

    "After" view of nova T Coronae Borealis.

    coreyspowell OP ,
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    T Coronae Borealis is a recurring nova: a thermonuclear bomb that goes off every 80 years.

    A dense white dwarf star slowly pulls gas from its companion. The gas piles up until it goes critical and -- boom! -- a huge flash.

    More info:
    https://www.aavso.org/news/t-crb-pre-eruption-dip
    https://blogs.nasa.gov/Watch_the_Skies/2024/02/27/view-nova-explosion-new-star-in-northern-crown/

    A red giant star and white dwarf orbit each other in this animation of a nova. The red giant is a large sphere in shades of red, orange, and white, with the side facing the white dwarf the lightest shades. The white dwarf is hidden in a bright glow of white and yellows, which represent an accretion disk around the star. A stream of material, shown as a diffuse cloud of red, flows from the red giant to the white dwarf. The animation opens with the red giant on the right side of the screen, co-orbiting the white dwarf. When the red giant moves behind the white dwarf, a nova explosion on the white dwarf ignites, filling the screen with white light. After the light fades, a ball of ejected nova material is shown in pale orange. A small white spot remains after the fog of material clears, indicating that the white dwarf has survived the explosion. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    Oh wow! Look at this image of the Odysseus Moon lander at the moment of touchdown, with its engines firing like mad to avoid a fatal skid.

    Just released by Intuitive Machines.

    This image illustrates Odysseus' landing strut performing its primary task, absorbing first contact with the lunar surface to preserve mission integrity. Meanwhile, the lander's liquid methane and liquid oxygen engine is still throttling, which provided stability. The Company believes the two insights from this image enabled Odysseus to gently lean into the lunar surface, preserving the ability to return scientific data.
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    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    In 2022, NASA's DART spacecraft rammed an asteroid at high speed. But it probably didn't leave a mark!

    Most likely, DART changed the shape of the entire asteroid -- an important thing to know before we need to deflect a dangerous space rock away from Earth.

    https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera/DART_impact_might_have_reshaped_Hera_s_target_asteroid

    Stereoscopic movie derived from Bern SPH simulations showcasing the aftermath of the DART impact, spanning the initial 30 minutes post-collision. These stereoscopic pairs can be viewed in ”parallel’’ stereo mode simply by relaxing the eye convergence. CREDIT S. D. Raducan (UNIBE)/C. Manzoni/B.H. May

    coreyspowell OP ,
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    In 2026, ESA's Hera spacecraft will visit asteroid Dimorphos to examine the effects of the DART impact.

    This is what Dimorphos looked like before. What will the "after" version of the asteroid look like?

    (It's weird to think that humans have just redesigned an entire asteroid.)

    DART's last complete image of the Dimorphos asteroid before impact. It was taken when the spacecraft was about 12 km from the asteroid and two seconds before impact. Dimorphos, at 160 m across is about the same size as the Great Pyramid of Giza. Its surface is covered with large boulders, the largest of them house-sized. The current estimate is there is about 1 000 tonnes of debris on the surface in all, enough to fill 60 train carriages.
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    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    Oh THERE you are! The Odysseus lunar lander was just spotted at its touchdown site near the Moon's south pole.

    These before & after images were taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter from 90 km above the lunar surface.

    https://www.nasa.gov/missions/lro/nasas-lro-images-intuitive-machines-odysseus-lander/

    This image pair shows LRO views of the area surrounding the Odysseus site before (frame M172936310) and after (frame M1463440322L) its landing near the Moon's south pole. NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University

    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    Scientists have to reset their superlatives. A quasar known as J0529-4351 is the most luminous single object in the known universe, emitting as much energy as 500 trillion suns.

    It's powered by a supermassive black hole that swallows 300,000 Earth masses of gas every day.

    https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2402/

    Left: This image shows the region of the sky in which the record-breaking quasar J0529-4351 is situated. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, this quasar has been found to be the most luminous object known in the Universe to date. This picture was created from images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2, while the inset shows the location of the quasar in an image from the Dark Energy Survey. Right: This artist’s impression shows the record-breaking quasar J059-4351, the bright core of a distant galaxy that is powered by a supermassive black hole. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, this quasar has been found to be the most luminous object known in the Universe to date. The supermassive black hole, seen here pulling in surrounding matter, has a mass 17 billion times that of the Sun and is growing in mass by the equivalent of another Sun per day, making it the fastest-growing black hole ever known.(ESO)
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    coreyspowell OP ,
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    More crazy numbers: The quasar J0529-4351 is powered by a black hole 17 billion times as massive as the Sun. It's the fastest-growing black hole ever observed. And it's so far away that its light has taken 12 billion years to reach us.

    We're seeing it as it was more than 7 billion years before the Earth even formed.

    https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2402/

    This image shows the region of the sky in which the record-breaking quasar J0529-4351 is situated. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, this quasar has been found to be the most luminous object known in the Universe to date. This picture was created from images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2, while the inset shows the location of the quasar in an image from the Dark Energy Survey. Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2/Dark Energy Survey
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    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    5/6th of the matter in the universe seems to be missing. The search "dark matter" has inspired some fascinating ideas.

    One far-out but intriguing new proposal: Dark matter could consist of failed atoms in a shadow universe that coexists with ours.

    https://www.livescience.com/space/cosmology/there-may-be-a-dark-mirror-universe-within-ours-where-atoms-failed-to-form-new-study-suggests

    NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail. Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time. This slice of the vast universe is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length by someone on the ground. This deep field, taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), is a composite made from images at different wavelengths, totaling 12.5 hours – achieving depths at infrared wavelengths beyond the Hubble Space Telescope’s deepest fields, which took weeks.
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    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    In the frigid outer solar system, beyond Pluto, dwarf planets appear to be surprisingly dynamic worlds.

    The JWST observatory sees chemical signs of geologic activity on distant dwarf planets Eris and Makemake.

    https://www.swri.org/press-release/swri-scientists-find-evidence-of-geothermal-activity-within-icy-dwarf-planets
    [note: image is an illustration]

    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
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    For a little dose of perspective: Here's a partial solar eclipse on Mars! It was captured by NASA's Perseverance rover two weeks ago.

    Tiny moon Deimos can't cover the whole Sun, but it does make a cool looking transit. (Event sped up 10x, processing by Simeon Schmauss.)
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/semeion/53481345691/

    This sequence was from 177 Left Mastcam-Z images that were upscaled 2x using the Enhance function in Adobe Lightroom. According to the image metadata the transit was on January 20th and started at 01:32:18 UTC and lasted until 01:34:18 UTC. In local mean solar time on Mars this corresponds to 08:41:34 to 08:43:31. The full sequence lasted 137 seconds in reality and is shown at 10x speed. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Simeon Schmauß

    coreyspowell , to Art
    @coreyspowell@mastodon.social avatar

    Saturn seen in ultraviolet light -- a very different look for the ringed planet.

    In this Hubble image, the bright middle zone shows that Saturn's rings are heating up the planet's atmosphere.

    How does that work? Scientists haven't figured it out yet...

    https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-009

    This is a composite image showing the Saturn Lyman-alpha bulge, an emission from hydrogen which is a persistent and unexpected excess detected by three distinct NASA missions, namely Voyager 1, Cassini, and the Hubble Space Telescope between 1980 and 2017. The rings appear much darker than the planet's body because they reflect much less ultraviolet sunlight. Above the rings and the dark equatorial region, the Lyman-alpha bulge appears as an extended (30 degree) latitudinal band that is 30 percent brighter than the surrounding regions. A small fraction of the southern hemisphere appears between the rings and the equatorial region, but it is dimmer than the northern hemisphere. North of the bulge region (upper-right portion of image), the disk brightness declines gradually versus latitude toward the bright aurora region that is here shown for reference (not at scale). A dark spot inside the aurora region represents the footprint of the spin axis of the planet. It's believed that icy rings particles raining on the atmosphere at specific latitudes and seasonal effects cause an atmospheric heating that makes the upper atmosphere hydrogen reflect more Lyman-alpha sunlight in the bulge region. This unexpected interaction between the rings and the upper atmosphere is now being investigated in depth.
    ALT
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    • + AstroMigration
    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
    @coreyspowell@mastodon.social avatar

    People sometimes ask, "Why are there no pictures of Earth from space where you can see stars in the background?" Well -- there are!

    This is one of my favorites. Apollo 16 carried an ultraviolet telescope that took this marvelous image of Earth nestled among the stars in the constellation Aquarius.
    https://www.quora.com/Why-do-we-never-see-a-picture-of-Earth-from-space-with-stars-in-the-background/answer/Corey-S-Powell

    UV photo of Earth taken by Apollo 16 with the Far UV Camera/Spectrograph. AS16-123-19657. A version of this photo was used in Figure 13-7 of the Apollo 16 Preliminary Science Report (NASA SP-315), which has the following caption: Frame 45, the Earth, target 2M, 10-min ICa exposure, showing the overexposed polar aurora and two equatorial airglow belts. "ICa" means imagery through a CaF2 filter-corrector with a passband of 123 to 160 nm. (Credit: NASA)
    ALT
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    • + xdydx
    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
    @coreyspowell@mastodon.social avatar

    Something strange in the early universe: For some reason, many (perhaps most) young galaxies were shaped like pickles or bread sticks, according to a new study.

    Possibly these peculiar shapes track giant filaments of dark matter. https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.15232

    arstechnica , to Random stuff
    @arstechnica@mastodon.social avatar

    Ford will cut F-150 Lightning production in half in light of weaker demand

    Perhaps setting expectations of a $40,000 electric truck was a mistake.

    https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/12/ford-will-cut-f-150-lightning-production-in-half-in-light-of-weaker-demand/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

    coreyspowell ,
    @coreyspowell@mastodon.social avatar

    @arstechnica It was not just a mistake, it was a fantasy on the part of Ford management: Promise a price the company couldn't afford, and production numbers it couldn't possibly deliver, in the hopes that the vehicles would magically appear through sheer force of will.

    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
    @coreyspowell@mastodon.social avatar

    Breathtaking new image from JWST
    About 340 years ago (Earth time) a star exploded in the constellation Cassiopeia. These are its shattered remains. Just look at the exquisite detail visible in the space telescope's view!

    https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-149

    A new high-definition image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) unveils intricate details of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A), and shows the expanding shell of material slamming into the gas shed by the star before it exploded. The most noticeable colors in Webb’s newest image are clumps of bright orange and light pink that make up the inner shell of the supernova remnant. These tiny knots of gas, comprised of sulfur, oxygen, argon, and neon from the star itself, are only detectable by NIRCam’s exquisite resolution, and give researchers a hint at how the dying star shattered like glass when it exploded. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Danny Milisavljevic (Purdue University), Ilse De Looze (UGent), Tea Temim (Princeton University)
    ALT
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    • + ScienceDesk
    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
    @coreyspowell@mastodon.social avatar

    Meanwhile over on the ex-bird site, giant doomsday accounts are peddling nonsense like this.

    Part of what is funny/sad is how lazy these accounts are. The promoted video has a time stamp right at the bottom showing that it was taken a week ago!

    The Sun develops magnetic holes like this all the time. It has moved on, and so have we. (Real Sun news at the link.)
    https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

    coreyspowell , to Random stuff
    @coreyspowell@mastodon.social avatar

    Here's a fun disaster scenario (ie, not happening anytime soon). Over the next billion years there a 1% chance one of them could pass close enough to disrupt our solar system.

    Then things could go crazy: Earth collides with Venus, for instance, plunges into the Sun, or gets tossed into the Oort Cloud.
    https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.12171

    coreyspowell OP ,
    @coreyspowell@mastodon.social avatar

    Astronomer Sean Raymond and team threw 12,000 stars toward a simulation of our solar system to see what would happen. Mainly out of pure curiosity.

    Good news: Most of the time Earth survives.
    Surprise: The planet most likely to get destroyed is Mercury.

    https://planetplanet.net/2023/11/21/could-a-stellar-flyby-save-earth-from-impending-doom/

    By far, the most likely outcome is that all of the Solar System’s planets will survive, with very small perturbations to their orbits. Graphic: Sean Raymond.

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