@kellylepo@astrodon.social
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kellylepo

@kellylepo@astrodon.social

Astronomer | Science communicator | Adult Lisa Simpson
Education and Outreach Scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute supporting JWST
Personal account — Views are my own

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spacetelescope, to random
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#NASAWebb mapped the weather on an exoplanet 280 light-years away, where it’s cloudy on the nightside and clear on the dayside—with equatorial winds howling around the planet at 5,000 miles per hour. (1/6)

video/mp4

kellylepo,
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@spacetelescope #ALT4you A spinning globe with a gradient colors, showing the temperature map of a planet, with colors that range from blue (about 600˚C), through pink(about 1000˚C), to yellow (about 1400˚C). The hottest yellow point is centered at the equator and spreads through the mid latitudes of one side of the globe. The coolest blue point is centered at the equator and spreads almost to the poles on the opposite side of the globe. Between them is a ring of pink from pole to pole.

kellylepo,
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@croyle @spacetelescope WASP-43b is a hot Jupiter. Like Jupiter, it's atmosphere is made of hydrogen and helium, with small amounts of other atoms and molecules.

The winds in the thick atmosphere transport heat away from the hot side of the planet that is always facing its star to the cooler side of its planet that is always facing away from its star.

More info:
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2024/news-2024-117

kellylepo, to Astronomy
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Look how tiny JWST's view of the sky is, especially compared to Euclid's wide field of view.

took an image of the very top of the Horsehead Nebula, focusing in on a region that transitions from a dense, warm area of gas and dust (blue) to an area of hot, ionized gas (red).

https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2024/news-2024-119

kellylepo,
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A comparison of the NIRCam near-infrared and the MIRI mid-infrared views of the top of the Horsehead Nebula

In the NIRCam image, the blue clouds show the warm glow of the nebula, filled with molecules like hydrogen, methane, and water ice. The red whisps are mostly atomic and molecular hydrogen.

In the MIRI image, we see the glowing dust made of silicate particles and soot-like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules.

📷 https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2024/119/01HV4BAFBCNVV1VFQ4XMASPGV9?news=true
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/media/images/2024/119/01HV6KVHFVCAEDBK9AXCYX46VJ?news=true

Video fades between two images, the JWST NIRCam view of the top of the Horsehead Nebula, and the MIRI view of the Horsehead Nebula. The two images do not perfectly overlap. The MIRI image covers the area in the bottom left corner of the NIRCam image and extends down and to the left. NIRCam Image: A clumpy dome of blueish-gray clouds rises about a third of the way from the bottom. Above it, streaky, translucent red wisps brush upward to about halfway up the image. The top half of the image is the black background of space with one prominent, bright white star with Webb’s 8-point diffraction spikes. Additional stars and galaxies are scattered throughout the image, although very few are seen through the thick clouds at bottom and all are significantly smaller than the largest star. MIRI Image: The image is more than half-filled from the bottom up by a small section of the Horsehead Nebula. Streaky clouds of white, gray and blue resemble a foamy wave crashing at the seashore. The nebula stops at a textured, fuzzy-looking edge that follows a slight curve. Above it a small number of distant stars and galaxies lie on a dark but multi-colored background.

kellylepo,
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@nSonic Yes! The "spiky" things in the background are stars, the little ovals and spirals are galaxies, and the dots could be either faint stars or distant galaxies.

kellylepo, to random
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Millennial telescope tries to celebrate 34th birthday, but instead goes into safe mode because of gyroscope issues (relatable).

The same gyroscope that was causing issues back in November is acting up again, so Hubble has paused science operations while operators troubleshoot the issue. If needed, Hubble can operate with only one of its three remaining gyroscopes, with reduced observing efficiency.

https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasas-hubble-pauses-science-due-to-gyro-issue/

kellylepo,
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... And it's back. #Hubble resumed science operations yesterday.

It's using all three gyroscopes, all of the instruments are online, and it's taking science observations. Huzzah!

https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasas-hubble-pauses-science-due-to-gyro-issue/

kellylepo, (edited ) to space
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Happy Birthday ! It was launched April 24, 1990 on the Space Shuttle Discovery.

This year's anniversary image is of the Little Dumbbell Nebula, or M76.

M76 is a planetary nebula, a glowing cloud of gas ejected by a sun-like star at the end of its lifetime. The central bar structure is actually a ring seen edge-on. This was likely sculpted by a binary companion star. Two lobes extend from the bar to the left and right of the ring.

More: https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2024/news-2024-013

kellylepo, (edited )
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A video tour of 's 34th anniversary image of M76, the Little Dumbbell Nebula.

🎞️ https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/videos/2024/013/01HVPERG96SK2NTF0MHGFRB7FD?news=true

kellylepo,
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@conflummoxed The Dumbbell Nebula (M 27) is 2.1 light years or 12.5 trillion miles across 😀

It's not physically that much bigger, but it is closer to us, so it appears bigger in the sky.

Here are two images taken by amateur astronomer David Arditti using the same equipment on the same night, so you can see the relative sizes.

📷 https://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/2008JBAA..118..357A

kellylepo, to random
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Good news from Voyager 1.

NASA teams were able to move code that was on a section of corrupted memory in one of the spacecraft's computers. Now it's sending back usable engineering data for the first time since November 2023.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/voyager/2024/04/22/nasas-voyager-1-resumes-sending-engineering-updates-to-earth/

kellylepo,
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@garygouldsberry Yep. Voyager 1 and 2 were launched 46 years ago. Their vintage 70s computers are constantly irradiated, they don't have a lot of power anymore, and it takes more than 22 hours to send a signal to the spacecraft and another 22 hours to see if it worked. Yet they are still mostly working. Hats off to the folks at JPL who make this possible.

kellylepo, to random
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A behind the scenes look at the recent press release on finding asteroid trails in 's back catalog of images.

The first image is uncalibrated. Most of the dots and streaks are from cosmic rays, high-energy particles from space, hitting the detector. The long streaks running across the middle top of the image are from the asteroid.

The post explains the choices Visuals Developer Joe DePasquale made to get to the second full-color image that ran with the release.

https://illuminateduniverse.org/2024/04/19/asteroids-photobomb-the-universe/

spacetelescope, to random
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Cataloging asteroids is tricky because they are faint and they don't stop to be photographed as they zip along their orbits around the Sun. Astronomers recently used a trove of archived Hubble images to snag a largely unseen population of smaller asteroids in their tracks. (1/6)

kellylepo,
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@WardMB @spacetelescope The asteroid is photobombing the image. As Hubble was taking images of this galaxy in different filters, an asteroid in our solar system streaked in front of Hubble's view, creating the slightly wavy white line.

Each exposure was 10-20 minutes long.

Does that help?

kellylepo, to random
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The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) was able to observe the April 8 partial solar eclipse from Maui.

https://nso.edu/blog/the-eclipse-as-seen-by-the-daniel-k-inouye-solar-telescope-in-maui/

#eclipse #eclipse2024

The surface of the Sun fills the frame. It is covered in granules, cells with yellow interiors and orange boundaries. It looks somewhat like a large pile of dried corn kernels. The Moon, seen as a black shape with a slightly serrated edge, cuts diagonally, filling the upper left quarter of the frame. It gradually moves up and to the left.

ThomasConnor, to random

Has anyone figured out a good way to inform Zoom speakers of how they're doing on time at conferences? Interrupting them seems to be the only method that works, but that's also ... Sub ideal...

kellylepo,
@kellylepo@astrodon.social avatar

@ThomasConnor I haven't found a good way, which is frustrating.

I try to mitigate this by sending out emails in advance letting the speakers know we will be very strict on time. That sometimes works, but only for early career people.

kellylepo, to random
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Going through my feed, liking every eclipse photo I see. My favorite are the blobby ones people share out of excitement. #eclipse2024

kellylepo,
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@conflummoxed These look great. And I understand being exhausted.

One thing that really surprised me is that you could see those red prominences by eye.

kellylepo,
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@conflummoxed Ha! That's hilarious.

kellylepo, to Indiana
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Ok, that was awesome. We had some very thin clouds but still got a good view of totality in #Indianapolis.

#Eclipse #eclipse2024

kellylepo, to Indiana
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Huge crowds here at the Indianapolis Speedway for the eclipse event. Looks like the clouds will cooperate. Huzzah!

The stands at the Indianapolis Speedway. They are mostly empty.

kellylepo, to random
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Final reminder: don't stare directly at the Sun.

During a solar eclipse, you have to use special solar filters, like those found in eclipse glasses, to view the partial solar eclipse. If you don't have eclipse glasses, use an indirect viewer like a pinhole projector or a colander.

If you are in the path of totality, you can take your glasses off during the total eclipse, but you have to put them back on the second totality ends.

https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety

kellylepo, to Indiana
@kellylepo@astrodon.social avatar

I'm cautiously optimistic about the eclipse here in #Indianapolis. It looks like the cloud forecast is partially cloudy at the beginning of the eclipse, with things getting clearer near totality. Of course, this all could change. #eclipse2024

kellylepo,
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@apalu Yes, it's very good at telling me it will be cloudy whenever I schedule a public observing night, lol.

kellylepo, to random
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Off to Indianapolis for the eclipse! Let's hope for clear skies so I can finally see totality.

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