Universe Today

September 9, 2021September 9, 2021 by Matt Williams

Perseverance Drills Another Hole, and This Time the Sample is Intact

When it landed on Mars in February of 2021, the Perseverance rover joined a small armada of robotic explorers working hard to characterize Mars’ environment and atmosphere and determine if it ever supported life. But unlike its predecessors, one of the key objectives of the rover is to obtain samples of Martian soil and rock, which it will leave in a cache for later retrieval by a joint NASA-ESA mission.

This will be the first sample return from Mars, and the analysis of these samples will provide new insight into the geological and environmental evolution of Mars. The first attempt to obtain a sample didn’t go so well, with the sample crumbling before it was placed in the cache. Undeterred, the science team moved onto the next site and prepared to try again. A few days ago, NASA confirmed that the rover succeeded in its second attempt and has the pictures to prove it!

September 9, 2021September 8, 2021 by Paul M. Sutter

White Dwarfs can Continue Burning Hydrogen, Even After They’re Dead

White dwarfs are supposed to be dead remnants of stars, doomed to simply fade away into the background. But new observations show that some are able to maintain some semblance of life by wrapping themselves in a layer of fusing hydrogen.

September 9, 2021September 9, 2021 by Evan Gough

Protoplanetary Disks Throw Out More Material Than Gets Turned Into Planets

A protosolar disk is the disk of material around a young stellar object that isn't yet a star. It's called a protoplanetary disk once the star has formed and begun fusion. Planetesimals are the building blocks of planets and are present in both stages of a disk's evolution. Image Credit: NASA/JPL

When a young solar system gets going it’s little more than a young star and a rotating disk of debris. Accepted thinking says that the swirling debris is swept up in planet formation. But a new study says that much of the matter in the disk could face a different fate.

It may not have the honour of becoming part of a nice stable planet, orbiting placidly and reliably around its host star. Instead, it’s simply discarded. It’s ejected out of the young, still-forming solar system to spend its existence as interstellar objects or as rogue planets.

September 8, 2021September 8, 2021 by Andy Tomaswick

Space Continues to be Hard. Firefly’s Alpha Rocket Detonates Shortly After Launch

Rocket science is hard. So far, no commercial rocket launch company has ever successfully gotten to orbit on the first try. The first flight of Firefly‘s Alpha rocket prototype did not break that streak last week when it exploded two and a half minutes after takeoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

September 8, 2021September 7, 2021 by Paul M. Sutter

Ground-Based Observatories Could use Starshades to see Planets too

Artist's concept of the prototype starshade, a giant structure designed to block the glare of stars so that future space telescopes can take pictures of planets. Credit: NASA/JPL

All hail the occulter: an orbiting starshade for ground-based telescopes.

September 8, 2021September 8, 2021 by Matt Williams

This is a 3D-Printed Steel Floor Prototype for a Lunar Habitat

In this decade, multiple space agencies and commercial space entities will be taking us back to the Moon. But unlike the Apollo Era, the goal of these programs is not “footprints and flags,” but to establish the necessary infrastructure to keep going back. In particular, NASA, the ESA, Roscosmos, and China are all planning on establishing outposts that will allow for scientific research and a sustained human presence.

The ESA is currently showcasing what its outpost will look like at the 17th annual Architecture Exhibition at the La Biennale di Venezia museum in Venice. It’s known as the International Moon Village, which was designed by the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) with technical support from the ESA. This same company recently unveiled a prototype of the skeletal metal component that will one day be part of the Village’s lunar habitats.

September 8, 2021September 8, 2021 by Andy Tomaswick

NASA has too Many Spacecraft to Communicate With. Time to Build More Dishes

NASA is a sprawling organization that has to talk to everything from politicians in Washington DC to space probes that have left the solar system. Discussions with the first might be as simple as a written letter for informal conversation, while the second requires a high-power network of ground-based antennas. Known as the Deep Space Network (DSN) this series of antennas spread over three continents is the backbone of NASA’s communications with its various space probes. Now the DSN is in the process of implementing a well-deserved upgrade.

September 8, 2021September 8, 2021 by Nancy Atkinson

Pencil December 18th (tentatively) into your calendar. That’s when James Webb probably launches

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in Dec. 2021, will be capable of measuring the spectrum of the atmospheres of Earthlike exoplanets orbiting small stars. Credit: NASA, Northrop Grumman

You may have heard this one before, but encouraging news comes from NASA, ESA, and Arianespace today: they are now targeting December 18, 2021 as the new launch date for the oft-delayed James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

September 8, 2021September 7, 2021 by Paul M. Sutter

What Formed the Strange Troughs on Vesta?

A view of Vesta. Image credit: NASA and JPL

New research suggests that the humble asteroid Vesta may have cracked open like an egg.

September 8, 2021September 8, 2021 by David Dickinson

A Flurry of Fall Binocular Comets

Fall 2021 offers up an all-night parade of challenging telescopic comets.

Ready for the next big one? If you’re like us, the surprise appearance of Comet F3 NEOWISE last summer was a great teaser of what could be. To be sure, we’re still long overdue for the next great naked eye comet, but there’s always a steady stream of fainter fuzzies out there for owners of large light buckets to hunt down. Fall of 2021 sees half a dozen comets knocking on binocular visibility around +10^th magnitude, from dusk ‘til dawn. So without further fanfare, here are the best cometary targets for September into October 2021: