Nancy Atkinson, Author at Universe Today

April 24, 2023April 24, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

Here's How NASA is Planning to Protect Earth From Asteroids and Comets

This diagram shows the orbits of 2,200 potentially hazardous objects as calculated by JPL’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). Highlighted is the orbit of the double asteroid Didymos, the target of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART) mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The large impact craters dotting our planet are powerful reminders that asteroids and comets strike the Earth from time to time. As often said, it’s not a question of “if”; it’s a matter of “when” our planet will face an impending strike from space. But an impact is one existential threat humanity is finally starting to take seriously and wrap its head around.

Seemingly spurred by the success of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), NASA just released a new planetary defense strategy and action plan, describing its efforts to find and identify potentially hazardous objects to provide an advanced warning, and then even push them off an impact trajectory.

This 10-year strategy looks to advance efforts to protect the Earth from a devastating encounter with a Near Earth asteroid or comet.

April 24, 2023April 24, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

Hakuto-R Spacecraft Just Captured its Own Stunning Version of ‘Earthrise’

The Hakuto-r lunar lander took this 'Earthrise"-like image from its current location in lunar orbit. Credit: ispace.

The Hakuto-R lunar lander, currently in orbit around the Moon, just captured a beautiful “Earthrise”-like image, and one with an interesting side note. The Mission 1 lander, from the Tokyo-based commercial company ispace, took the image during the time of the April 20 solar eclipse, where totality was visible in Australia; and so the photo includes a perfect view of the shadow of the Moon passing above the Land Down Under.

The spacecraft was approximately 100 km (60 miles) above the lunar surface when it took the photo.

April 22, 2023April 22, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

UFO Office Fails to Find Anything That Defies the Laws of Physics

UFO encounter video — Cockpit video shows an anomalous aerial encounter in 2015. Credit: U.S Navy Video

The head of the Pentagon office that is reviewing reported unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP – commonly known as UFOs, unidentified flying objects) told the US Congress this week that his office is now reviewing more than 650 incidents, but so far, none exhibited anything that was evidence of extraterrestrial activity or defied the known laws of physics.

April 20, 2023April 20, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

The Perseverance Rover has Lost its Pet Rock

NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image of a rock inside the rover's wheel, along with the area in front of it using its onboard Front Left Hazard Avoidance Camera A. This image was acquired on May 26, 2022 (Sol 449). Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

It’s the end of an era, at least for the Perseverance rover on Mars, who has lost a long-time friend.

For 427 sols or days on Mars, Perseverance has been carrying around a rock in one of its wheels. We’ve been following the saga of this pet rock, which for over a year has stuck with Perseverance over the hills and sands of the Martian landscape.

However, according to Dr. Gwénaël Caravaca, who works with the rover’s SuperCam instrument, the team found out overnight in the latest Hazcam image that the rock has been lost.

April 20, 2023April 20, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

Solar Orbiter Continues to Get Closer to the Sun, Revealing More and More With Each Pass

An artists concept of the Solar Orbiter spacecraft studying the Sun. Credit: ESA.

On April 10th, ESA’s Solar Orbiter made its closest flyby of the Sun, coming to within just 29% of the distance from the Earth to the Sun. From this vantage point, the spacecraft is performing close-up studies of our Sun and inner heliosphere. This is basically uncharted territory, as we’ve never had a spacecraft this close to the Sun.

One of the goals of the mission is to figure out why the Sun’s corona — its outer atmosphere — is so hot. The corona can reach temperatures of 2 million degrees C, vastly hotter than its 5,500 C surface. A new paper based on Solar Orbiter data, may offer some clues.

April 20, 2023April 20, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

Aurora Hunter Todd Salat Captures a Bizarre Spiral Made by a SpaceX Fuel Dump

A mysterious spiral appeared in the sky over Donnelly Dome near Delta Junction, Alaska on April 15, 2023, caused by a fuel dump from a SpaceX rocket. Credit and copyright: Todd Salat/AuroraHunter.com

Astrophotographer Todd Salat was out in the early hours of April 15, 2023, hoping to capture an aurora display over Donnelly Dome near Delta Junction, Alaska. While the stunning aurora didn’t disappoint, Salat was in for a surprise: a weird spiral appeared in the sky over the summit.

“I had no idea of what I was seeing,” Salat said on his website, “but this phenomenon appears to be caused by engine exhaust from a SpaceX Transporter-7 mission that launched southward on the Falcon 9 about three hours earlier from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.”

April 18, 2023April 18, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

Three Fast Radio Bursts Punched Right Through a Nearby Galaxy

Three new Fast Radio Bursts discovered by the Westerbork telescope were shown to have pierced the halo of our neighbouring Triangulum Galaxy. Invisible electrons in that galaxy deform the FRBs. From sharp, new, live images, astronomers could estimate the maximum number of invisible atoms in the Triangulum Galaxy for the first time. (Credit: ASTRON/Futselaar/van Leeuwen)

Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are cosmic mysteries that are slowly but surely revealing their secrets. These bright flashes of light are visible in the radio wave part of the spectrum and usually last only a few milliseconds before fading away forever. They come from random locations across the Universe and are so powerful that we can see them emanating from billions of light-years away.

Astronomers have used a newly upgraded radio telescope array to find five new FRBs and discovered that multiple bursts pierced right through the Triangulum Galaxy (M33). These brief flashes lit up the gas inside M33, allowing astronomers to calculate the maximum number of otherwise invisible atoms.

April 17, 2023April 17, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

ESA's Juice is On Its Way to Visit Jupiter's Moons

ESA’s Juice mission lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on April 14, 2023 to begin its eight-year journey to Jupiter, where it will study in detail the gas giant planet’s three large ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Credits: ESA - S. Corvaja

A new era of exploration at Jupiter’s moons began last week with the launch of the European Space Agency’s Juice, the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer. This mission will visit three of Jupiter’s largest moons — Europa, Callisto and Ganymede — to investigate whether they could be potentially habitable, a question that’s been highly debated since the first evidence of subsurface oceans on these moons was seen by the Galileo mission in the 1990s.

April 13, 2023April 13, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

Navigate a Global Image of Mars (If Your Computer Can Handle It)

The Global CTX Mosaic of Mars allows scientists and the public to explore the planet like never before. It includes different layers of data that can be turned on or off, like these labels for named geographic features on the planet. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS,

Using data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), planetary scientists have created one of the most unique and detailed maps of Mars ever. But fair warning, the biggest version of this is a could overload your computer.

Global CTX Mosaic of Mars is the highest-resolution global image of the Red Planet ever created and it even allows you see Mars in 3D.

April 7, 2023April 7, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

An Amazing New Map of the Moon, In LEGO

A new LEGO Idea concept, a detailed lunar map called The Moon: Earth's Companion. Image courtesy Marc Sloan.

OK, LEGO fans, it’s time to vote this awesome new LEGO Idea into existence! A stunning new 2,360-piece Lego Art space poster called “The Moon: Earth’s Companion” is currently gathering supporters on the LEGO Ideas website. If it gets enough votes, LEGO will review it and possibly create it.

This highly detailed, retro-style brick-built Moon map is not only beautiful, but educational. When put together, it shows the Moon’s craters and terrain features, displaying lunar geology and maria. It also includes geometrical phases of the Moon and a brick-built panorama depicting the Earth rising over the lunar landscape.

Not surprisingly, the idea was chosen as one of the LEGO Ideas Staff Picks, which celebrates “fantastic projects that show off something out of the ordinary.” In just a matter of weeks, the submission has already notched up over 8,800 supporters, and is well on its way to the 10,000-supporter milestone needed for it to be considered for production by Lego. Let’s do this, vote here!