Space Stories: JWST, a Galaxy Catalog, and a Stellar Graveyard

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): JWST image of the Tarantula Nebula, which is about 160,000 light-years away. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—Nature.com: “‘Bit of Panic’: Astronomers Forced to Rethink Early Webb Telescope Findings“

Astronomers have been so keen to use the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that some have got a little ahead of themselves. Many started analysing Webb data right after the first batch was released, on 14 July, and quickly posted their results on preprint servers — but are now having to revise them. The telescope’s detectors had not been calibrated thoroughly when the first data were made available, and that fact slipped past some astronomers in their excitement.

—DailyScience.com: “‘Astronomers Map Distances to 56,000 Galaxies, Largest-ever Catalog“

How old is our universe, and what is its size? A team of researchers led by University of Hawaii at Manoa astronomers Brent Tully and Ehsan Kourkchi from the Institute for Astronomy have assembled the largest-ever compilation of high-precision galaxy distances, called Cosmicflows-4. Using eight different methods, they measured the distances to a whopping 56,000 galaxies. The study has been published in the Astrophysical Journal.

—University of Sydney: “Milky Way’s Graveyard of Dead Stars Found“

The first map of the ‘galactic underworld’ – a chart of the corpses of once massive suns that have since collapsed into black holes and neutron stars – has revealed a graveyard that stretches three times the height of the Milky Way, and that almost a third of the objects have been flung out from the galaxy altogether.

A Day in Astronomy: Launch of Sputnik

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Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the orbiting Sputnik 1. (thegravitywell.org/)

On this day in 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, humanity’s first artificial satellite, setting of a space race that continues to this day. The U.S. National Archives has a copy of minutes from an October 9 meeting between President Eisenhower and his advisors to discuss Sputnik I. The text accompanying the minutes demonstrates the shock this event caused:

At first, some in the Eisenhower administration downplayed the satellite as a “useless hunk of iron.” As David Halberstam wrote in The Fifties, “The success of Sputnik seemed to herald a kind of technological Pearl Harbor, which was exactly what Edward Teller said it was.” Others in America and around the world saw Sputnik as an ominous leap ahead in prestige and military ability, whether or not the new missiles could actually hit a target with nuclear weapons. President Eisenhower and some of his advisors, when they realized the significance of the Soviet achievement, met to discuss the alarming developments.

Of course, Russia is more of a wounded bear at the moment while China tries to take the lead in the latest space race. This is not to diminish what the Soviet Union accomplished in the last century, nor what Russia can accomplish tomorrow if it put its energy into science rather than war.

The New Space Force Anthem

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Baltimore Oriole, the Maryland State Bird. (Statesymbolsusa.org).

You may not have heard the news, but the U.S. Space Force now has its own anthem, similar to other military services. Here are the lyrics to the new song called “Semper Supra” (Latin for “Always Above”) first unveiled at the 2022 Air & Space Forces Association Air, Space and Cyber Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, September 20th:

We’re the mighty watchful eye,
 Guardians beyond the blue,
 The invisible front line,
 Warfighters brave and true.
 Boldly reaching into space,
 There’s no limit to our sky.
 Standing guard both night and day,
 We’re the Space Force from on high.

You can hear the anthem here. It is not something I will be humming in the shower, but maybe some will like knowing the words to this new song, like knowing the name of the Maryland State Bird (Baltimore Oriole) or Maryland State Reptile (Diamondback Terrapin Turtle).

And you can read more about the anthem itself here.

Image (Credit): Diamondback Terrapin Turtle, the Maryland State Reptile. (Statesymbolsusa.org)

A Day in Astronomy: New Space Agencies

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Image (Credit): Original NASA seal. (NASA)

October 1 is a significant date for two of the world’s largest space agencies.

On this day in 1958, NASA had its first day of operations after being created a few months earlier by President Eisenhower in the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958. Here is more about the creation of the Agency as noted by NASA’s History Division:

On this date the National Aeronautics and Space Administration began operation. At the time it consisted of only about 8,000 employees and an annual budget of $100 million. In addition to a small headquarters staff in Washington that directed operations, NASA had at the time three major research laboratories inherited from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics-the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory established in 1918, the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory activated near San Francisco in 1940, and the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory built at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1941-and two small test facilities, one for high-speed flight research at Muroc Dry Lake in the high desert of California and one for sounding rockets at Wallops Island, Virginia. It soon added several other government research organizations.

Today NASA has a budget of about $24 billion and approximately 17,000 employees.

And on this day in 2003, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was formed from a merger of three previous Japanese space agencies – the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan, and National Space Development Agency of Japan.

Here is more information about JAXA today:

With about 1,500 staff, JAXA carries out the following main activities:

  • Promoting satellite utilization to enhance the quality of life;
  • Advancing scientific knowledge of the universe and the origin of life;
  • Exploring the Moon and planets, to broaden the horizon of human activity;
  • Ensuring the operation of the ISS and promoting space environment utilisation to create new opportunities for the society;
  • Developing rocket technologies, to respond to diversifying launch needs;
  • Advancing engineering research, to pursue aviation safety and environmentally-friendly technologies; and
  • Pursuing fundamental engineering research, to carry out autonomous space activities.
Credit: JAXA