Space and astronomy news
One of the most difficult challenges when assembling a telescope is aligning it to optical precision. If you don’t do it correctly, all your images will be fuzzy. This is particularly challenging when you assemble your telescope in space, as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) demonstrates.
Continue reading “How Webb Stays in Focus”
Massive stars about eight times more massive than the Sun explode as supernovae at the end of their lives. The explosions, which leave behind a black hole or a neutron star, are so energetic they can outshine their host galaxies for months. However, astronomers appear to have spotted a massive star that skipped the explosion and turned directly into a black hole.
Continue reading “A Star Disappeared in Andromeda, Replaced by a Black Hole”
About half a century ago, astronomers theorized that the Solar System is situated in a low-density hot gas environment. This hot gas emits soft X-rays that displace the dust in the local interstellar medium (ISM), creating what is known as the Local Hot Bubble (LHB). This theory arose to explain the ubiquitous soft X-ray background (below 0.2 keV) and the lack of dust in our cosmic neighborhood. This theory has faced some challenges over the years, including the discovery that solar wind and neutral atoms interact with the heliosphere, leading to similar emissions of soft X-rays.
Thanks to new research by an international team of scientists led by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), we now have a 3D model of the hot gas in the Solar System’s neighborhood. Using data obtained by the eROSITA All-Sky Survey (eRASS1), they detected large-scale temperature differences in the LHBT that indicate that the LHB must exist, and both it and solar wind interaction contribute to the soft X-ray background. They also revealed an interstellar tunnel that could possibly link the LHB to a larger “superbubble.”
Continue reading “eROSITA All-Sky Survey Takes the Local Hot Bubble’s Temperature”
A new space-based telescope aims to address a key solar mystery.
A new experiment will explore a region of the Sun that’s tough to see from the surface of the Earth. The solar corona—the elusive, pearly white region of the solar atmosphere seen briefly during a total solar eclipse—is generally swamped out by the dazzling Sun. Now, the Coronal Diagnostic Experiment (CODEX) will use a coronagraph to create an ‘artificial eclipse’ in order to explore the poorly understood middle corona region of the solar atmosphere.
Continue reading “CODEX Coronagraph Heads to the ISS on Cargo Dragon”
Space debris, which consists of pieces of spent rocket stages, satellites, and other objects launched into orbit since 1957 – is a growing concern. According to the ESA Space Debris Office, there are roughly 40,500 objects in LEO larger than 10 cm (3.9 inches) in diameter, an additional 1.1 million objects measuring 1 and 10 cm (0.39 to 3.9 inches) in diameter, and 130 million objects 1 mm to 1 cm (0.039 to 0.39 inches). The situation is projected to worsen as commercial space companies continue to deploy “mega-constellations” of satellites for research, telecommunications, and broadband internet services.
To address this situation, researchers from the University of Kyoto have developed the world’s first wooden satellite. Except for its electronic components, this small satellite (LingoSat) is manufactured from magnolia wood. According to a statement issued on Tuesday, November 5th, by the University of Kyoto’s Human Spaceology Center, the wooden satellite was successfully launched into orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This satellite, the first in a planned series, is designed to mitigate space debris and prevent what is known as “Kessler Syndrome.”
Continue reading “Japan Launches the First Wooden Satellite to Space”
In 1963, the Arecibo Observatory became operational on the island of Puerto Rico. Measuring 305 meters (~1000 ft) in diameter, Arecibo’s spherical reflector dish was the largest radio telescope in the world at the time – a record it maintained until 2016 with the construction of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China. In December 2020, Arecibo’s reflector dish collapsed after some of its support cables snapped, leading the National Science Foundation (NSF) to decommission the Observatory.
Shortly thereafter, the NSF and the University of Central Florida launched investigations to determine what caused the collapse. After nearly four years, the Committee on Analysis of Causes of Failure and Collapse of the 305-Meter Telescope at the Arecibo Observatory released an official report that details their findings. According to the report, the collapse was due to weakened infrastructure caused by long-term zinc creep-induced failure in the telescope’s cable sockets and previous damage caused by Hurricane Maria.
Continue reading “New Report Details What Happened to the Arecibo Observatory”
Space-based telescopes are remarkable. Their view isn’t obscured by the weather in our atmosphere, and so they can capture incredibly detailed images of the heavens. Unfortunately, they are quite limited in mirror size. As amazing as the James Webb Space Telescope is, its primary mirror is only 6.5 meters in diameter. Even then, the mirror had to have foldable components to fit into the launch rocket. In contrast, the Extremely Large Telescope currently under construction in northern Chile will have a mirror more than 39 meters across. If only we could launch such a large mirror into space! A new study looks at how that might be done.
Continue reading “Future Space Telescopes Could be Made From Thin Membranes, Unrolled in Space to Enormous Size”
Voyager 1 was launched waaaaaay back in 1977. I would have been 4 years old then! It’s an incredible achievement that technology that was built THAT long ago is still working. Yet here we are in 2024, Voyager 1 and 2 are getting older. Earlier this week, NASA had to turn off one of the radio transmitters on Voyager 1. This forced communication to rely upon the low-power radio. Alas technology around 50 years old does sometimes glitch and this was the result of a command to turn on a heater. The result was that Voyager 1 tripped into fault protection mode and switch communications! Oops.
Continue reading “Voyager 1 is Forced to Rely on its Low Power Radio”
Neutron stars are extraordinarily dense objects, the densest in the Universe. They pack a lot of matter into a small space and can squeeze several solar masses into a radius of 20 km. When two neutron stars collide, they release an enormous amount of energy as a kilonova.
That energy tears atoms apart into a plasma of detached electrons and atomic nuclei, reminiscent of the early Universe after the Big Bang.
Continue reading “The Aftermath of a Neutron Star Collision Resembles the Conditions in the Early Universe”
Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS survived perihelion to become a fine dusk object for northern hemisphere observers.
It was an amazing month for astronomy. Not only were we treated to an amazing second solar storm for 2024 that sent aurorae as far south as the Caribbean, but we had a fine naked eye comet: C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS.
Continue reading “Amazing Reader Views of Comet A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS From Around the World”