More Musk Clutter in the Sky

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s drawing of spacecraft and debris circling the Earth. (Taken from Scientific American’s article, “Relentless Rise of Space Junk Threatens Satellites and Earth.”)

I have written about satellite pollution a few times on this site, and now I need to address it one more time by citing even more bad news. As noted in the news, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is allowing SpaceX to place another 7,500 satellites into orbit. SpaceX wanted permission for about 30,000 new satellites, so stay tuned for whining and more pressure on the FCC.

In making its decision, the FCC acknowledged and addressed concerns related to orbital debris and space safety, and required SpaceX to report back on mitigation efforts. You can read the full FCC decision here.

Given that Mr. Musk does not seem to believe in limitations on Twitter or satellite activities, we will need to rely on the regulators to keep an eye on him.

Pic of the Week: Stellar Glitter

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): NGC 2260 in the constellation Vela. (NASA, ESA, and T. von Hippel (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America))

This week’s image containing all of the sparkling stellar glitter is from the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble continues to astound with an ongoing stream of amazing images.

Here is a little more from NASA on the image above:

This glittering group of stars, shining through the darkness like sparks left behind by a firework, is NGC 2660 in the constellation Vela, best viewed in the southern sky. NGC 2660 is an open cluster, a type of star cluster that can contain anywhere from tens to a few hundreds of stars loosely bound together by gravity. The stars of open clusters form out of the same region of gas and dust and thus share many characteristics, such as age and chemical composition. Unlike globular clusters – their ancient, denser, and more tightly-packed cousins – open clusters are easier to study since astronomers can more easily distinguish between individual stars. Their stars can be old or young, and they may disperse after a few million years into the spiral or irregular galaxies where they are born.

The spikes surrounding many of the stars in this image are “diffraction spikes,” which occur when the glow from bright points of light reflects off of Hubble’s secondary mirror support. The bright red object to the left with the very prominent diffraction spikes is a foreground star that is not part of the cluster. Hubble observed this open cluster as part of a program to study the ages of white dwarf stars in open clusters.