Carolyn Collins Petersen, Author at Universe Today

June 15, 2023June 15, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

A Planet So Hot Its Atmosphere Contains the Raw Material for Rocks

An artist's impression of WASP-76b, a planet with an atmosphere so hot it vaporizes metals. Courtesy: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/Spaceengine/M. Zamani

In the annals of “strange new worlds”, the ultra-hot Jupiter planet WASP-76b ranks right up there as a very unusual place. There’s no surface, but it does have a massive, hot atmosphere. Temperatures average a raging 2000 C and rise up to 2400 C in one hemisphere. That’s hot enough for mineral and rock-forming elements like calcium, nickel, and magnesium to get vaporized and float around in that thick blanket of air. Not only that, but iron probably rains down through the clouds.

June 14, 2023June 14, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

An Element Critical for (Earth) Life is Spewing out of Enceladus

Saturn's moon Enceladus sprays its salty sea out into space. Those plumes are rich in phosphates. (NASA/JPL/SSI/J. Major)

We really need to get back to Enceladus. Not to send people necessarily, although that would be nice. But, we need to get some more robotic missions out there. This moon is one of the most intriguing places in the solar system. Not only has it got oceans under that icy crust, but it’s spewing salty water out to space. Plus, that water seems to be rich in phosphates, which contain phosphorus, which is a building block of life.

June 14, 2023June 14, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Curiosity Takes One Final Postcard Image of a Picturesque Valley Before Moving on to its Next Destination

A "postcard" from Mars Curiosity rover combines two images at two different times of day with a color overlay to show the different views. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech — A "postcard" view from Mars Curiosity rover. It combines images from two different times of day with a color overlay to show how the view changes. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Mars rover Curiosity continues to make its way up the slopes of Mount Sharp on Mars. On April 8th, its navigation cameras snapped a pair of images—one in the morning and one in the afternoon. They show distinctly different lighting angles during a crisp Martian winter day. The images got combined with a color overlay to produce a fantastic “postcard” from the Red Planet.

June 12, 2023June 12, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Astronomers Have Figured Out Clever Tricks to Reduce the Impact of Satellite Trails

A long-exposure image of the Orion Nebula with a total exposure time of 208 minutes showing satellite trails in mid-December 2019. Credit: A. H. Abolfath

A clear sky is a prerequisite for most astronomers imaging the cosmos. However, with the proliferation of satellite trails, astronomers see a lot more streaks in their images. That’s particularly true for people using professional ground-based and orbiting telescopes. When Hubble Space Telescope opened its eye on the sky, there were less than 500 satellites orbiting our planet. Now, there are nearly 8,000 of them, leaving their mark across the sky.

June 9, 2023June 9, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Parker Solar Probe Flies Close Enough to the Sun to See the Source of the Fast Solar Wind

NASA's Parker Solar Probe studies the fast solar wind and its origins on the Sun. Credit: NASA

Where does the solar wind come from? That’s a question solar physicists have wanted an answer to for decades. Now, the Parker Solar Probe is showing them exactly where this stream of particles exits our star on a journey out through interplanetary space.

June 8, 2023June 8, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Triggered Star Birth in the Nessie Nebula

A three-color composite of a portion of the Nessie Nebula that shows infrared observations from two Spitzer instruments. The bright red circular region in the center is the site of triggered star formation. Courtesy NASA/JPL. — A three-color composite of a portion of the Nessie Nebula that shows infrared observations from two Spitzer instruments. The bright red circular region in the lower center is the site of triggered star formation. Courtesy NASA/JPL.

Star formation is one of the oldest processes in the Universe. In the Milky Way and most other galaxies, it unfolds in cold, dark creches of gas and dust. Astronomers study sites of star formation to understand the process. Even though they know much about it, some aspects remain mysterious. That’s particularly true for the “Nessie Nebula” in the constellation Vulpecula. An international team led by astronomer James Jackson studies the nebula and its embedded star-birth regions. They found that it experienced a domino effect called “triggered star formation.”

June 6, 2023June 6, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

There Are Hundreds of Mysterious Filaments at the Center of the Milky Way

A radio image of the central portions of the Milky Way galaxy composited with a view of the MeerKAT radio observatory. Radio bubbles and associated vertical magnetized filaments can be seen. Courtesy: MeerKAT/SARAO/Oxford University/Heywood

Several million years ago, the core of our galaxy experienced a powerful event. It blew out a huge bi-lobed bubble that blasted through the interstellar medium in two directions. Whatever it was, it released huge amounts of energy from the central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A* for short).

June 1, 2023June 1, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

You Can Detect Tsunamis as They Push the Atmosphere Around

The Tonga Hunga volcanic eruption sent a tsunami across the Pacific. Air pressure disturbances from the tsunami distorted GPS signals. GOES imagery courtesy NOAA,NESDIS. — The Tonga Hunga volcanic eruption as seen by a GOES satellite. Credit: NOAA,NESDIS.

Anyone who’s ever lived along a coastline or been at sea knows the effects of tsunamis. And, they appreciate all the early warning they can get if one’s on the way. Now, NASA’s GNSS Upper Atmospheric Real-time Disaster and Alert Network (GUARDIAN) is using global navigation systems to measure the effect these ocean disturbances have on our atmosphere. The system’s measurements could provide a very effective early warning tool for people to get to higher ground in the path of a tsunami.

May 31, 2023May 31, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

ESA is Testing How Iron Burns in Weightlessness

ESA tested a process called discrete burning, using iron powder mixed with oxygen while in microgravity. The result is a possible way to create sustainable fuels on Earth and in space. Courtesy ESA. — ESA tested a process called discrete burning, using iron powder mixed with oxygen while in microgravity. The result is a possible way to create sustainable fuels on Earth and in space. Courtesy ESA and photo by TU/e, Bart van Overbeeke

What happens when you burn iron in space? The European Space Agency is torching iron powder in microgravity, to find out. They aren’t doing it for the fun of it, but to understand something called “discrete burning.” It turns out that this process might enable more efficient iron-burning furnaces right here on Earth. It could eventually join other renewable energy sources as a way to combat the release of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.

May 30, 2023May 30, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

HAKUTO-R’s Software Got Confused at the Last Minute, Causing it to Crash into the Moon

LROC narrow-angle-cameras mosaic of the HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Lunar Lander impact site. The blue cross marks the impact site near Atlas crater. Courtesy of NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University — LROC narrow-angle-cameras mosaic of the HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Lunar Lander impact site. The blue cross marks the impact site Courtesy of NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

On April 26, 2023, people around the world watched as the HAKUTO-R lander made its final approach for a landing on the Moon. It had been “on the road” since December 11, 2022, and completed eight Mission 1 milestones. Numbers 9 and 10 would have been landing and establishing a base on the Moon. As we all know, it reached the lunar surface, but not the way the ispace team expected. NASA images confirmed its final resting place.