RIP: June Lockhart, Actress

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): June Lockhart in the television series Lost in Space. (20th Century Fox Television)

Actress June Lockhart passed away last Thursday at the age of 100. She had a storied career in both movies and television, including the 1960s television shows Lassie and Lost in Space.

Lost in Space was a somewhat silly story about the Robinson family migrating from an overpopulated Earth to a exoplanet orbiting Alpha Centauri. Of course, just like the story in Gilligan’s Island, the five-and-a-half year tour turned into a new adventure among the stars.

The show was best known for the robot always spouting “Danger, Will Robinson!” in reference to the son whose mother was played by June Lockhart. Of course, Star Trek premiered during that same period with some of the same silliness. It seems we did not achieve our darker sentiments about humans in space until somewhat later.

With regard to her time with Lost in Space, Ms. Lockhart stated to Fox News:

I was over the moon – pun intended. … I have been told that my contribution inspired many astronauts to pursue a career in space science and exploration … it is lovely to know that I touched so many people by doing things that interested me!

The 1998 movie Lost in Space did little to revive interest in the series (or space from what I can tell), but the Neflix television series of the same name did a nice job bringing the Robinson family back to life. If you are looking for a great updated adventure story about a boy and his robot traveling through space, you might want to start with the Netflix version.

You can read more on Ms. Lockhart’s life and career at these sites:

BBC
CBS News
The New York Times

Rest in peace.

Image (Credit): Poster for the 1998 movie Lost in Space. (New Line Cinema)
Image (Credit): Poster for the 2018 television series Lost in Space. (Netflix)

Potential Exomoon Being Studied by JWST

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of WASP-39b. (NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI))

We hear plenty about all the exoplanets being studies at the moment, but we hear very little about exomoons, though several astronomers are eager to find them and learn more about them.

This time last year I highlighted a paper that discussed a possible exomoon circling an exoplanet called WASP-49Ab located about 635 light-years away . It was spotted by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile.

Well, now the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has provided data related to another possible exomoon orbiting a hot Jupiter-like exoplanet called WASP-39b. It is located about 700 million light-years away.

In a Scientific American article titled “Have Astronomers Finally Found an Exomoon?” we learn that a paper is being released shortly outlining the argument for this potential “hypervolcanic exomoon.” This presumed IO-like exomoon is being cooked by the parent sun.

The paper accepted for publication, Volcanic Satellites Tidally Venting Na, K, SO2 in Optical & Infrared Light, states the following:

Recent infrared spectroscopy from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has spurred analyses of common volcanic gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), alongside alkali metals sodium (Na I) and potassium (K I) surrounding the hot Saturn WASP-39 b. We report more than an order-of-magnitude of variability in the density of neutral Na, K, and SO2 between ground-based measurements and JWST, at distinct epochs, hinting at exogenic physical processes similar to those sourcing Io’s extended atmosphere and torus. Tidally-heated volcanic satellite simulations sputtering gas into a cloud or toroid orbiting the planet, are able to reproduce the probed line-of-sight column density variations. The estimated SO2 flux is consistent with tidal gravitation predictions, with a Na/SO2 ratio far smaller than Io’s. Although stable satellite orbits at this system are known to be < 15.3 hours, several high-resolution alkali Doppler shift observations are required to constrain a putative orbit. Due to the Roche limit interior to the planetary photosphere at ~ 8 hours, atmosphere-exosphere interactions are expected to be especially important at this system.

It is a dense summary, but also a hopeful finding that may lead to more focused searches for exomoons.

The addition of exomoons to the list of new discoveries will only increase the chances that some form of life can be found among he many solar systems we can study. Interestingly enough, we are still probing our own solar system’s moons with the same hope.

Space Stories: Questionable Move of Space Shuttle Discovery, the Problem with Red Dwarf Exoplanets, and a Rare Sight from Mars

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Space shuttle Discovery landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. (NASA)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Chron: “Historic Space Shuttle Could Be Compromised for Trip to Texas“

Within the next 18 months, the space shuttle Discovery may be disassembled in Washington D.C., transported more than 1,000 miles to Houston and reassembled. But not if grassroots group Keep The Shuttle has anything to say about it. The plan to move a shuttle, notably an unnamed shuttle, was part of President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” passed this summer. The Smithsonian and others have dug in against the move, saying the research institute actually owns the Discovery in a trust for the American people, nothing that it’s unclear if Congress even has the authority to order the Smithsonian transfer an artifact.

—Universe Today “New Research Suggests Red Dwarf Systems are Unlikely to Have Advanced Civilizations“

Thanks to the huge spate of exoplanet discoveries, multiple rocky planets have been found orbiting within the habitable zones (HZs) of red dwarf stars. For decades, there has been an ongoing debate as to whether these systems could be our best bet for finding evidence of life beyond Earth. In a recent study, Professor David Kipping addresses two key facts that could mean humanity is an outlier. Based on the age of the Universe and the relatively rare nature of our Sun, he concludes that astrobiologists examining red dwarf planets may be looking in the wrong place.

—CBS News: “Interstellar Comet Passing by Mars Seen in Rare Images“

A rare interstellar comet — only the third ever confirmed to enter our solar system — was photographed last week, closely approaching Mars, the European Space Agency said Tuesday. The images taken on Friday by two Mars orbiters show a bright, fuzzy white dot of the comet, also known as 3I/ATLAS, appearing to move against a backdrop of distant stars as it was about 18,641,135 miles away from Mars. The comet poses no threat to Earth, NASA has previously said.

Pic of the Week: The Butterfly Star

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The protostar IRAS 04302. (ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, M. Villenave et al.)

This week’s image comes from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It shows the beginning of exoplanets about 525 light-years away. Labeled the ever appealing name of IRAS 04302+2247, or better yet the Butterfly Star, the young star with its protoplanetary disc provides astronomers with plenty of information about the development of a protostar and its solar system.

Here is more from the European Space Agency (ESA):

In stellar nurseries across the galaxy, baby stars are forming in giant clouds of cold gas. As young stars grow, the gas surrounding them collects in narrow, dusty protoplanetary discs. This sets the scene for the formation of planets, and observations of distant protoplanetary discs can help researchers understand what took place roughly 4.5 billion years ago in our own Solar System, when the Sun, Earth, and the other planets formed.

IRAS 04302+2247, or IRAS 04302 for short, is a beautiful example of a protostar – a young star that is still gathering mass from its environment – surrounded by a protoplanetary disc in which baby planets might be forming. Webb is able to measure the disc at 65 billion km across – several times the diameter of our Solar System. From Webb’s vantage point, IRAS 04302’s disc is oriented edge-on, so we see it as a narrow, dark line of dusty gas that blocks the light from the budding protostar at its centre. This dusty gas is fuel for planet formation, providing an environment within which young planets can bulk up and pack on mass.

When seen face-on, protoplanetary discs can have a variety of structures like rings, gaps and spirals. These structures can be signs of baby planets that are burrowing through the dusty disc, or they can point to phenomena unrelated to planets, like gravitational instabilities or regions where dust grains are trapped. The edge-on view of IRAS 04302’s disc shows instead the vertical structure, including how thick the dusty disk is. Dust grains migrate to the midplane of the disc, settle there and form a thin, dense layer that is conducive to planet formation; the thickness of the disc is a measure of how efficient this process has been.

The dense streak of dusty gas that runs vertically across this image cocoons IRAS 04302, blotting out its bright light such that Webb can more easily image the delicate structures around it. As a result, we’re treated to the sight of two gauzy nebulas on either side of the disc. These are reflection nebulas, illuminated by light from the central protostar reflecting off of the nebular material. Given the appearance of the two reflection nebulas, IRAS 04302 has been nicknamed the ‘Butterfly Star’.

Space Stories: Dragon Docks with ISS, a Braille Astronomy Book, and an Exoplanet with No Atmosphere

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Dragon cargo capsule approaching the ISS. (NASA)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—NASA: “SpaceX Dragon Docks to Station Delivering New Science, Supplies“

At 7:05 a.m. EDT, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the forward port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module.  The spacecraft carried over 5,000 pounds of scientific investigations and cargo to the orbiting laboratory on SpaceX’s 33rd commercial resupply services mission for NASA. The mission launched at 2:45 a.m. on Aug. 24 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. 

—Cincinnati Enquirer: “New Braille Book from Cincinnati Astronomer Lets You See Constellations Without Your Eyes“

Longtime readers will recognize the name Dean Regas, astronomy contributor to The Enquirer and former cohost of the PBS series “Star Gazers,” but they may not know that Regas is also the author of seven books about astronomy. His latest foray into the world of writing, “All About Orion,” is a children’s book focused on its namesake, Orion, with a twist: the book features braille writing and textile constellations as well as large print for blind and visually impaired children.

—Universe Today: “Another Earth-like Exoplanet Crossed Off the List: JWST Shows that GJ 3929b Has No Atmosphere“

The JWST’s latest exoplanet atmosphere target is GJ 3929 b. Astronomers discovered it in TESS data in 2022. “Our analysis confirms the planetary nature of the transiting planet GJ 3929 b,” the authors of the 2022 paper wrote. “Its mass and radius (~ 0.43 Earth masses and ~1.15 Earth radii) put it into the regime of small Earth-sized planets.” Earth-like planets attract attention for obvious reasons. Now the JWST’s results are in, and the once-promising planet appears to be barren.