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 Quote: US Astronomy Students Are Looking Overseas

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Kamil from Pixabay.

“Historically we’ve been a department that has really tried to make a culture where people minoritized in the field feel like they have a home…The current administration is really driving against that, which has really caused a lot of damage to how people are feeling about their place in astronomy, and whether they feel they have a place here in our country.”

-Statement by University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) Astronomy & Astrophysics department chair Jonathan Fortney in a Lookout Santa Cruz article. He was discussing recent federal cuts at UCSC as well as NASA. He said his students are looking overseas now for educational and career opportunities given the continuing cuts in US astronomy programs.

Space Quote: Oops – Sorry About All That Excitement About K2-18b

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): An artist’s illustration showing a possible K2-18b. (ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser)

“We found the data we have so far is much too noisy for the proof that would be needed to make that claim…There’s just not enough certainty to say one way or the other.”

–Statement by Rafael Luque, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago, regarding stories last month about the possible detection of life on exoplanet K2-18b. New analysis from the University of Chicago calls into question the interpretation of the scientific data, and also notes that other factors could account for what was initially detected. A lot of this debate is better explained in a recent video from Cool Worlds Lab titled “The K2-18b Video You’ve Been Waiting For.”

Space Quote: Lunar Sample Sharing

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Image (Credit): China’s Chang’e-5 lunar lander. (China National Space Administration)

“I wish that every country would follow in the footsteps of the U.S. and now China.”

–Statement by Frédéric Moynier, a cosmochemist at the Paris Institute of Planetary Physics, regarding China’s sharing of lunar samples from its 2020 Chang’e-5 mission. Seven institutions in six countries now have access to these samples, including two institutions in the United States. Unfortunately, the sample sharing goes only one way because the US Congress bans the sharing of space samples and technology with China.

Space Quote: Soviet-Era Space Probe May Come Down Tonight

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Replica of the Soviet Union’sVernera 8 landing capsule launched towards Venus. (European Space Agency)

“As this is a lander that was designed to survive passage through the Venus atmosphere, it is possible that it will survive reentry through the Earth atmosphere intact, and impact intact.”

-Statement by Marco Langbroek, an expert on Space Situational Awareness at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands, pertaining to the Venera 8 probe that was to be sent to Venus by the Soviets more than 50 years ago. However, the probe, renamed Kosmos 482, never left Earth orbit. Only now is it ready to return to the Earth’s surface tonight, though the exact location is unknown.

Update: Sunday morning at 2:24 am EST the lander broke up over the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta.