Nancy Atkinson, Author at Universe Today

May 24, 2023May 24, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

There's a Polar Cyclone on Uranus' North Pole

NASA scientists used microwave observations to spot the first polar cyclone on Uranus, seen here as a light-colored dot to the right of center in each image of the planet. The images use wavelength bands K, Ka, and Q, from left. To highlight cyclone features, a different color map was used for each. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/VLA.

Uranus takes 84 years to orbit the Sun, and so that last time that planet’s north polar region was pointed at Earth, radio telescope technology was in its infancy.

But now, scientists have been using radio telescopes like the Very Large Array (VLA) the past few years as Uranus has slowly revealing more and more of its north pole. VLA microwave observations from 2021 and 2022 show a giant cyclone swirling around this region, with a bright, compact spot centered at Uranus’ pole. Data also reveals patterns in temperature, zonal wind speed and trace gas variations consistent with a polar cyclone.

May 22, 2023May 22, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

Four Private Astronauts Are Now on the International Space Station

The SpaceX Dragon crew ship launches four Axiom Mission-2 astronauts to the space station from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on May 21, 2023. Credit: SpaceX

On Sunday, May 21, the 4-person crew of Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) blasted off to the International Space Station (ISS) on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon, and today, May 22, the private astronaut crew boarded the International Space Station for a scheduled 10-day stay.

May 18, 2023May 18, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

Astronomers Find an Earth-Sized World That May Be Carpeted in Volcanoes

LP 791-18 d, shown here in an artist's concept, is an Earth-size world about 90 light-years away. The gravitational tug from a more massive planet in the system, shown as a blue disk in the background, may result in internal heating and volcanic eruptions – as much as Jupiter’s moon Io, the most geologically active body in the solar system. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KRBwyle)

Astronomers think they’ve found an extrasolar planet covered in volcanoes like Jupiter’s moon Io, but this world is about the same size as Earth. Designated LP 791-18 d, the planet is probably tidally locked around a small, red dwarf star about 90 light-years away in the constellation Crater. There are two other more massive planets in the system, and their tidal interactions could cause enough tidal flexing that it unleashes planet-wide volcanoes on LP 791-18 d.

Planet d is located within the habitable zone of the star, and with all the other conditions, astronomers think it might be temperate enough on the permanent night side of this world to allow water to exist.

May 17, 2023May 17, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

Kathy Lueders Was NASA's Top Human Spaceflight Official. Now She Works for SpaceX

Kathy Lueders, seen in the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center applauds during the SpaceX Demo-2 mission in May 2020, the first launch with astronauts on board the SpaceX Crew Dragon. At the time, Lueders the manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program; she has now joined SpaceX. Credit: NASA

Another of NASA’s top human spaceflight officials has joined SpaceX. Kathy Leuders, the former associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, retired from NASA on May 1 after 31 years of service. But this week, CNBC reports that Lueders has joined SpaceX at the company’s Starbase facility in Texas. She follows Bill Gerstenmaier, who retired from NASA in 2020 and became a senior executive at SpaceX as build and flight reliability vice president.

May 16, 2023May 16, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

NASA Tests a Robotic Snake That Could Explore Other Worlds

A snake-like robot called EELS is tested at a ski resort in Southern California to determine how well it can traverse across snowy environments. Credit: NASA/JPL/Caltech.

Rovers have enabled some amazing explorations of other worlds like the Moon and Mars. However, rovers are limited by the terrain they can reach. To explore inaccessible terrain, NASA is testing a versatile snake-like robot that could crawl up steep slopes, slither across ice, and even slide into lava tubes. Called Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (or EELS), this robot could cross different terrains and create a 3D map of its surrounding to autonomously pick its course, avoiding hazards to reach its destination.

May 16, 2023May 16, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

Hurray! Juice Deploys its Stuck Antenna

One of the stuck parts of Juice's RIME antenna deploys. Credit: ESA/Juice mission.

ESA’s Juice mission launched last month on April 14, beginning its long journey to explore Jupiter’s icy moons, Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto. But soon after launch, mission controllers realized a 16-meter (52.5 ft)-long antenna for a radar instrument was jammed and couldn’t deploy. The Radar for Icy Moons Exploration (RIME) antenna is mission critical, as it gathers data for the instrument that will be able to map beneath the ice at these moons.

But, whew, the story has a happy ending. After nearly a month of efforts to free the stuck antenna, engineers figured out a fix for the RIME antenna. They fired a mechanical device in the jammed bracket, which created enough jiggling and rattling to allow the antenna to fully deploy.

May 13, 2023May 13, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

New Photos Show Collapsed Chains of Craters on a Martian Volcano

This image from ESA’s Mars Express shows the southern flanks of Ascraeus Mons, the second-tallest volcano on Mars. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin,.

Most everyone is familiar with Olympus Mons, the largest volcano on Mars and also the largest in the Solar System. But there are several other enormous shield volcanoes on Mars. The second largest is Ascraeus Mons, and new images from ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft reveal some interesting features on the side or flank of the mountain.

May 6, 2023May 6, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

Watch a SpaceX Fairing's Fiery Re-Entry Through the Atmosphere

An artist's illustration of the Falcon Heavy. Will it send Mars One colonists to Mars?Image: SpaceX — An artist's illustration of the Falcon Heavy. Credit: SpaceX

During the recent ViaSat-3 launch on a Falcon Heavy rocket, SpaceX released the protective spacecraft fairing at the highest altitude ever attempted. Therefore, the fairing reached incredible speeds during its fiery re-entry through the Earth’s atmosphere. Fortunately, there was a camera on board so we could watch. At one point, the one half of the fairing was traveling 15 times faster than the speed of sound, releasing a trail of plasma in its wake as it returned to Earth.

May 4, 2023June 6, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

It’s Surprisingly Easy to Hurl Rocks From Mars Into Space

A Martian meteorite, designated Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034 and nicknamed "Black Beauty," weighing approximately 11 ounces. Credit: NASA,

Of the thousands of meteorites found on Earth, about 188 have been confirmed to be from Mars. How did they get here? Over the tumultuous history of our Solar System, asteroids have smashed into Mars with such force, the debris was blasted off the planet and then drifted through space, eventually entering Earth’s atmosphere, and surviving the journey to the ground.

Astronomers once thought it was a complex process, with only the most powerful impacts capable of throwing rocks from Mars into space. But new research shows that it takes much less pressure than previously believed, which means there could be more chunks of Mars floating in space and on their way to Earth.

May 2, 2023May 2, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

Gaze at a Nearby Actively Feeding Supermassive Black Hole

This Hubble image shows the central region of NGC 4395. The image uses data from Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3. Credits: NASA, ESA, S. Larsen (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen) and E. Sabbi (STScI); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)

Astronomers recently shared a new image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope of the galaxy NGC 4395. This relatively diffuse and dim dwarf galaxy is located just 14 million light-years from Earth.

NGC 4395 has several oddities, and this new image zooms in on the galaxy’s central region to highlight just one of those quirks. NGC 4395 is different from other dwarf galaxies because it contains an actively feeding supermassive black hole at its center.

But this black hole is considered one of the lowest mass supermassive holes ever detected, an oxymoron if there ever was one.