coreyspowell

coreyspowell, 6 months ago to space

The laws of physics can produce beautiful natural harmony. Astronomers just found a remarkable example 100 light years away:
Six planets orbit their star in near-perfect resonance, maintaining a tight rhythm for a billion years.
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Cheops/ESA_s_Cheops_helps_unlock_rare_six-planet_system #space #science #astronomy

coreyspowell, 2 months ago to space

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 #space #science #astronomy #eclipse

coreyspowell, 6 months ago to science

Viruses are not exactly alive...and yet they are able to collaborate. Some viruses will grab another virus by the neck so that they can work together to infect their hosts.

Scientists just observed this disturbing infectious team-up for the first time.
https://umbc.edu/stories/first-observed-virus-attaching-to-another/ #science #biology #health #life

coreyspowell, 3 months ago to space

NASA's Perseverance rover can see other planets from Mars!

Last October, the rover's Mastcam-Z camera tracked Mercury as it passed in front of the Sun. Look closely...

https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26250 #space #astronomy #science

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z camera to capture Mercury – seen as a tiny speck – passing in front of the Sun on Oct. 28, 2023, the 953th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The top portion of the GIF zooms in on the upper part of the Sun seen in Mastcam-Z's view; the reticle highlights the planet's transit. The GIF has been sped up 400 times; the portion of Mercury's transit captured by Mastcam-Z took place in just under an hour. (NASA-JPL)

coreyspowell, 7 months ago to space

Another day, another new (little) world explored!
Earlier today, NASA's Lucy spacecraft flew just 270 miles (430 km) from asteroid Dinkinesh. This video shows how the spacecraft contorted itself to observe the high-speed encounter. #space #science #nasa
https://lucy.swri.edu/DinkineshEncounter.html

An animation approximating the expected motion of the NASA Lucy spacecraft and its Instrument Pointing Platform (IPP) during its encounter with the asteroid Dinkinesh. The spacecraft’s terminal tracking system is designed to actively monitor the location of Dinkinesh, enabling the spacecraft and IPP to move autonomously in order to observe the asteroid throughout the encounter. The yellow, blue, and grey arrows indicate the directions of the Sun, Earth, and Dinkinesh, respectively. The red arrow indicates the direction of motion of the spacecraft with respect to Dinkinesh. Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI

coreyspowell, 4 months ago to space

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 #space #astronomy #science #art

coreyspowell, 4 months ago to Astronomy

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 #astronomy #space #science #astrodon

coreyspowell, 1 month ago to space

NASA has launched a next-generation solar sail. It will unfurl a lightweight, 80-square-meter reflective sail from a tiny cubesat body.

Then will run experiments using the pressure of sunlight to steer and maneuver through space.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/smallsatellites/2024/04/30/ahoy-nasas-solar-sail-mission-successfully-phones-home/ #space #science #NASA #travel

Engineers at NASA’s Langley Research Center test deployment of the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System’s solar sail. The unfurled solar sail is approximately 30 feet (about 9 meters) on a side. Since solar radiation pressure is small, the solar sail must be large to efficiently generate thrust. NASA

coreyspowell, 8 months ago to science

Quantum dots are everywhere: in research, TVs, and now the Nobel prize. They are also fascinating systems that exist in the gray zone between quantum and classical physics. No time like the present to learn how they work!
Here's a good (though slightly technical) breakdown:
https://physicsopenlab.org/2015/11/20/quantum-dots-a-true-particle-in-a-box-system/ #nobel #science #tech

coreyspowell, 9 months ago to india

Earlier today, India's #chandrayaan3 mission achieved the first soft landing near the Moon's south pole. Now its rover, Pragyan, has deployed to study the composition of the local surface...and to take some cool images.
https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=CHANDRYN3
#India #Moon #space

India's Pragyan rover deploying its solar panel. Image: ISRO

coreyspowell, 2 months ago to space

We can now DIRECTLY OBSERVE planets being born!

Each of the arrow-marked blobs is a likely planet-in-the-making around the infant star FU Orionis (great name), located 1,350 light years away in the constellation Orion.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.05797 #space #science #astronomy #astrodon

coreyspowell, 8 months ago to Astronomy

NASA's Psyche mission just launched on its 2-billion-mile journey to a metal asteroid!
Amazing shot of the Falcon Heavy rocket carrying it away from Earth:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/psyche/
#astronomy #asteroids #space #science

coreyspowell, 1 month ago to space

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 #aurora #space #science #nature

coreyspowell, 1 month ago to space

We're about to get our first taste of the far side of the Moon.

This morning, China's Chang'e-6 spacecraft set off to collect samples of the lunar farside & bring them back to Earth. The complex mission includes a drill, a scoop, and a mini rover.

https://spacenews.com/china-launches-change-6-mission-to-collect-first-samples-from-the-moons-far-side/ #space #science #tech #china

Chang'e-6 spacecraft ready for launch in its cleanroom. The stacked components include the lander, ascent vehicle, and rover. Credit: CNSA

coreyspowell, 1 year ago to space

What does a supernova look like before it blows? Archival images from the Hubble telescope captured the progenitor of #SN2023ixf, the intense stellar explosion now visible in nearby galaxy M101.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.14447
https://www.wis-tns.org/astronotes/astronote/2023-139 #space #astrodon

coreyspowell, 1 month ago to space

Can you handle one more eclipse photo? Because this one is quite amazing. It shows the April 8 solar eclipse...as seen from the Moon!

Taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, gazing back at the Moon's shadow as it swept across the Earth.

https://www.lroc.asu.edu/images/1368 #space #science #NASA #eclipse

coreyspowell, 6 months ago to random

Through most of history, there was an unbreakable rule about studying the heavens: You can look, but you can’t touch.

Missions like NASA's OSIRIS-REx have broken that rule, and changed the way we think about the universe.

My latest Invisible Universe column: https://invisibleuniverse.substack.com/p/bringing-it-all-back-home #science #space #astronomy #history

coreyspowell, 10 months ago to science

There's a dent in Earth's gravitational field, centered on the Indian Ocean, and nobody really knows why.

(Put another way: "There's a hole in the bottom of the sea. There's a hole. There's a hole...")
https://eos.org/science-updates/seismologists-search-for-the-indian-oceans-missing-mass #science #earth #ocean

coreyspowell, 6 months ago to science

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.) #science #conspiracy #fakenews
https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

coreyspowell, 10 months ago to science

The European Space Agency's Cheops mission has discovered a "mirror" world that reflects a remarkable 80% of incoming light. Even its composition resembles a mirror -- the planet's atmosphere is full of glass and metal. https://w ww.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Cheops/Cheops_shows_scorching_exoplanet_acts_like_a_mirror #science #space #ESA

coreyspowell, 1 year ago to space

More information about the new supernova in galaxy M101 (near the Big Dipper in the sky). It is the closest supernova observed in a decade, though "closest" is relative: M101 is 21 million light years away.
https://earthsky.org/todays-image/supernova-in-m101-pinwheel-galaxy-closest-in-a-decade-how-to-see/ #Supernova #Astronomy

coreyspowell, 11 months ago to science

The JWST observatory just observed planet TRAPPIST-1c & took another crucial step in the search for habitable worlds in our galaxy. It's going to be a long, difficult job...but we're finally getting started. [thread 1/n]
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-125 #science #space #NASA

coreyspowell, 3 months ago to science

NASA engineers are still struggling to fix a data glitch that has left Voyager 1 unable to talk to Earth.

For most if my life, Voyager 1 has been exploring our solar system & beyond. This could be the end for humanity's most distant space probe, currently venturing into interstellar space.

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/nasa-engineers-rally-to-save-voyager-1-the-icon-of-space-exploration #science #space #technology

coreyspowell, 4 months ago to Astronomy

Each time we look at the universe in a new light, big surprises pop out.

A new map of the gamma-ray sky shows that it is unexpectedly lopsided, ten times as much as expected. Maybe there are giant, hidden sources of energetic radiation out there? Nobody really knows.

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14476 #astronomy #space #science #nature