coreyspowell

coreyspowell, 8 days ago to space

The center of our galaxy is streaked with puzzling filaments of radio emission, some of them hundreds of light years long.

Now we have a clue to how they work. At least one of them seems to be energized by a pulsar -- a tiny, rapidly spinning stellar corpse.

https://www.spaceaustralia.com/news/millisecond-pulsar-lurking-galactic-centre #space #science #astronomy #astrodon #nature

coreyspowell, 8 days ago to spiders

There are lots of clickbait-y stories circulating about the invasive Joro spider.

For context, Joro spiders are shy, harmless to humans, and they eat many common flying insects, including mosquitoes, lanternflies, and stinkbugs.

In the eastern US, you're likely to see their webs on power lines. You are NOT likely to see them hanging out on your hand.

https://news.uga.edu/joro-spiders-are-shy/ #spider #invasive #nature #science

coreyspowell, 9 days ago to space

Some planets are born alone, live alone, and die alone. The ESA's Euclid space telescope just found a nest of these loners in the constellation Orion.

At least the rogue planets have chosen a gorgeous spot to go about their business: This is where the newfound worlds are hanging out (toward the top of the image).

https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.13497 #space #science #astronomy #nature #astrodon

coreyspowell, 13 days ago to science

"How it started/how it's going," space edition:

On March 17, 2013 a flash appeared on the Moon. It was bright enough to see with the naked eye.

Now we can see the result: a new 18-meter-wide crater, blasted out by a watermelon-size meteoroid.

https://www.lroc.asu.edu/featured_sites/40 #science #space #NASA #astronomy #Moon

A team of Marshall Space Flight Center scientists monitors the Moon for flashes of light caused by meteoroids impacting the surface. Their brightest recorded flash was captured on 17 March 2013, this event was so bright that an observer on the Earth could spot it without a telescope! According to the Marshall Space Flight Center team, the meteor involved in the March 17th event weighed 40 kg, was 0.3 - 0.4 meters in diameter, and was traveling at an approximate speed of 56,000 mph. A LROC NAC image acquired on 28 July 2013 revealed a new 18-meter (59 feet) diameter crater that corresponds to the location of the bright flash. We are certain it is the correct crater because it does not appear in the “before” NAC image (10 March 2012).

coreyspowell, 14 days ago to science

Simply astonishing.

Astronomers using JWST have just identified the earliest, most distant galaxy known. This image shows JADES-GS-z14-0 as it was when the universe was 2.2% its current age.

We are looking 13.5 billion years into the past!

https://webbtelescope.org/contents/early-highlights/nasas-james-webb-space-telescope-finds-most-distant-known-galaxy #science #space #astronomy #NASA #nature

coreyspowell, 20 days ago to space

Exciting space-discovery alert!

Gliese 12 b is an Earth-size planet orbiting in the temperate zone around a nearby, stable red dwarf star. It's a Rosetta Stone world that will tell us a lot about how many superficially earthlike planets actually have the right conditions for life.

Are we rare? Are we common? Let's find out.

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2024/nasas-tess-finds-a-world-sized-between-earth-and-venus #space #science #astronomy #astrodon #life #aliens

coreyspowell, 21 days ago to space

I love serendipitous art!

ESA's Euclid space telescope is designed to map dark matter and dark energy across the universe. But as it is getting started, Euclid is also sending back gorgeous cosmic snapshots.

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Euclid/ESA_s_Euclid_celebrates_first_science_with_sparkling_cosmic_views #space #science #art #astronomy #astrodon

Euclid’s image of galaxy cluster Abell 2390 reveals more than 50 000 galaxies and shows a beautiful display of gravitational lensing, depicting giant curved arcs on the sky – some of which are actually multiple views of the same distant object. Euclid will use lensing (where the light travelling to us from distant galaxies is bent and distorted by gravity) as a key technique for exploring the dark Universe, indirectly measuring the amount and distribution of dark matter both in galaxy clusters and elsewhere. Euclid scientists are also studying how the masses and numbers of galaxy clusters on the sky have changed over time, revealing more about the history and evolution of the Universe.
Here, Euclid captures galaxies evolving and merging ‘in action’ in the Dorado galaxy group, with beautiful tidal tails and shells seen as a result of ongoing interactions. Scientists are using this dataset to study how galaxies evolve, to improve our models of cosmic history and understand how galaxies form within halos of dark matter. This image showcases Euclid’s versatility: a wide array of galaxies is visible here, from very bright to very faint. Thanks to Euclid’s unique combination of large field-of-view, remarkable depth, and high spatial resolution, it can capture tiny (star clusters), wider (galaxy cores) and extended (tidal tails) features all in one frame. Scientists are also seeking distant individual clusters of stars known as globular clusters to trace their galactic history and dynamics.
In this image Euclid showcases NGC 6744, an archetype of the kind of galaxy currently forming most of the stars in the local Universe. Euclid’s large field-of-view covers the entire galaxy, capturing not only spiral structure on larger scales but also exquisite detail on small spatial scales. This includes feather-like lanes of dust emerging as ‘spurs’ from the spiral arms, shown here with incredible clarity. Scientists are using this dataset to understand how dust and gas are linked to star formation; map how different star populations are distributed throughout galaxies and where stars are currently forming; and unravel the physics behind the structure of spiral galaxies, something that is still not fully understood after decades of study.

coreyspowell, 21 days ago to science

Hello out there!

More than 46 years after launch, more than 15 billion miles from home, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is restored, rebooted, and once again sending data back to Earth.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/voyager/2024/05/22/voyager-1-resumes-sending-science-data-from-two-instruments/ #science #space #tech #nasa

coreyspowell, 23 days ago to science

The birth of a new, sunlike star is beautiful and spooky in this new image from Hubble. (34 years old and going strong!)

The ominous "mask" is a cloud of cool dust. The baby star HP Tau, top of the trio, is flickering madly due to inspiraling gas, jets, and huge starspots.
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-views-the-dawn-of-a-sun-like-star/ #science #space #astronomy #astrodon #nature

coreyspowell, 27 days ago to science

A mind-blower for a Friday evening:

This deceptively simple-looking graph is a spectrum of gravitational waves ringing through the Milky Way.

The waves may be caused by a chorus of supermassive black holes colliding all across the universe. Whoa!

https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.16227 #science #space #physics #astronomy

coreyspowell, 27 days ago to science

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/ #science #space #astronomy #tech

coreyspowell, 28 days ago to space

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 #space #science #nasa #astronomy