Space Stories: 25 Years of Humans on the ISS, Life in Outer Space, and Astronomical Interference

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins space-walking outside the International Space Station (ISS) on December 24, 2013. (NASA)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—NASA: “Celebrating 25 Years of Continuous Human Presence Aboard the International Space Station “

NASA and its partners have supported humans continuously living and working in space since November 2000. A truly global endeavor, the International Space Station has been visited by more than 280 people from 23 countries and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The unique microgravity laboratory has hosted more than 4,000 experiments from more than 5,000 researchers in more than 110 countries. The space station also is facilitating the growth of a commercial market in low Earth orbit for research, technology development, and crew and cargo transportation.

—Max Planck Institute: “The Evolution of Life May Have Its Origins in Outer Space“

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team of astronomers led by Abubakar Fadul from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) has discovered complex organic molecules – including the first tentative detection of ethylene glycol and glycolonitrile – in the protoplanetary disc of the outbursting protostar V883 Orionis. These compounds are considered precursors to the building blocks of life. Comparing different cosmic environments reveals that the abundance and complexity of such molecules increase from star-forming regions to fully evolved planetary systems. This suggests that the seeds of life are assembled in space and widespread.

—Curtin University: “Interference to Astronomy the Unintended Consequence of Faster Internet“

Curtin University researchers have undertaken the world’s biggest survey of low frequency satellite radio emissions, finding Starlink satellites are significantly interfering with radio astronomy observations, potentially impacting discovery and research. Unintended signals from satellites – leaked from onboard electronics – can drown out the faint radio waves astronomers use to study the universe.

Space Stories: Watching a Newborn Planet, Investigating a Cosmic Fossil, and TRACERS to Study Magnetic Fields

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Yol Gezer from Pixabay.

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—European Southern Observatory: “Astronomers Witness Newborn Planet Sculpting the Dust Around It“

Astronomers may have caught a still-forming planet in action, carving out an intricate pattern in the gas and dust that surrounds its young host star. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), they observed a planetary disc with prominent spiral arms, finding clear signs of a planet nestled in its inner regions. This is the first time astronomers have detected a planet candidate embedded inside a disc spiral. “We will never witness the formation of Earth, but here, around a young star 440 light-years away, we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time,” says Francesco Maio, a doctoral researcher at the University of Florence, Italy, and lead author of this study, published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

—Space.com: “Astronomers Discover a Cosmic ‘Fossil’ at the Edge of Our Solar System. Is this Bad News for ‘Planet 9’?“

Astronomers have discovered a massive new solar system body located beyond the orbit of Pluto. The weird elongated orbit of the object suggests that if “Planet Nine” exists, it is much further from the sun than thought, or it has been ejected from our planetary system altogether. The strange orbit of the object, designated 2023 KQ14 and nicknamed “Ammonite,” classifies it as a “sednoid.” Sednoids are bodies beyond the orbit of the ice giant Neptune, known as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), characterized by a highly eccentric (non-circular) orbit and a distant closest approach to the sun or “perihelion.”

—Southwest Research Institute: “TRACERS Mission Prepares for Launch“

NASA’s Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) mission, a collaborative effort led by the University of Iowa (UI) with substantial contributions from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), has entered its final integration phase. NASA is set to launch TRACERS’ two satellites into low Earth orbit on July 22, 2025, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The TRACERS mission will explore the dynamic interactions between the Sun’s and Earth’s magnetic fields.

Pic of the Week: Trifid and Lagoon Nebulas

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Image (Credit): The Trifid and Lagoon Nebulas as captured by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. (NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory)

This week’s colorful image is from the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. It is part of the initial images being released as the observatory comes online. This particular image was created by combining 678 separate images. It shows clouds of gas and dust that comprise the Trifid nebula (top of image) and the Lagoon nebula (middle of image).

The new observatory is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and is expected to operate for at least 10 years so it can provide more amazing images and information for astronomers. The timeline related to the creation of the observatory is provided below as well as via this link.

Dr. Vera C. Rubin was an American astronomer known for her work proving the existence “dark matter” in the Universe.

Credit: Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

Space Quote: The Pope Discusses the JWST

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Nimrod Oren from Pixabay.

“Do not the James Webb images also fill us with wonder, and indeed a mysterious joy, as we contemplate their sublime beauty?…The authors of sacred Scripture, writing so many centuries ago, did not have the benefit of this privilege, yet their poetic and religious imagination pondered what the moment of creation must have been like.”

–Statement by Pope Leo XIV to astronomy students who are part of a summer program hosted by the Vatican Observatory. This year the students are studying data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Space Stories: Spirals in the Oort Cloud, Killer Asteroid Heading Towards Moon, and Starlink Messes Up Astronomy

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Halley’s Comet. (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—NDTV: “Visual Glitch Leads To Accidental Discovery Of Spiral In Mysterious Oort Cloud“

Scientists have long assumed the Oort Cloud, one of the most mysterious structures in our solar system, to be spherical. But during the pre-production of their new space show, “Encounters in the Milky Way,” they noticed a strange spiral pattern in the middle of the cloud. The show, which premiered on Monday at New York City’s Hayden Planetarium, featured a computer-generated visualisation of the Oort Cloud on the dome. The team was reviewing the animation when they noticed what appeared to be a spiral structure inside the typically spherical cloud shape.

—Daily Mail: “NASA Issues Urgent Update on ‘City Killer’ Asteroid Heading Towards the Moon in 2032“

The ‘city killer’ asteroid 2024 YR4 may not be on a collision course with Earth anymore. But NASA has raised the odds of it hitting the moon in just seven years’ time. According to the space agency, there’s now a 4.3 per cent chance that 2024 YR4 will smash into the moon on December 22, 2032…The impact event would be the first time scientists could watch a known asteroid create a lunar crater in real-time.

—New Scientist: “Starlink Satellites are Leaking Radio Signals that May Ruin Astronomy“

SpaceX’s Starlink satellites are leaking radio waves to such an extent that it could threaten our ability to study and understand the early universe, say astronomers. Interference from the thousands of Starlink satellites in orbit, where they provide a global internet service, has been a continuing concern for astronomers, who say that the radio emissions from the craft could affect sensitive telescopes that observe distant, and faint, radio sources. SpaceX has worked with astronomers to try to prevent this interference, by switching off their internet-transmitting beams when they fly over key telescopes, but it turns out that this isn’t enough.