Posted on by Evan Gough

Some of the Stars in this Cluster are Almost as Old as the Universe Itself While Others Formed in a Second Generation. It Looks Young and Old at the Same Time

Hubble captured this image of star cluster NGC 1866 with its Wide Field Camera 3. It's an unusual cluster full of both old and young stars. The orange/red stars are older stars, and the blue stars are younger stars. Image: ESA/Hubble & NASA
Hubble captured this image of star cluster NGC 1866 with its Wide Field Camera 3. It's an unusual cluster full of both old and young stars. The orange/red stars are older stars, and the blue stars are younger stars. Image: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Star clusters are not rare. They’re one of the most common arrangements of stars in the Universe. But star cluster NGC 1866, as seen in this image from Hubble, is different than its brethren. Most clusters are populated by stars the same age, BUT NGC 1866 is like an all-ages club.
Continue reading “Some of the Stars in this Cluster are Almost as Old as the Universe Itself While Others Formed in a Second Generation. It Looks Young and Old at the Same Time”

Posted on by Matt Williams

InSight Lander Touches Down! Begins Mission to Unlock the Secrets of Mars

Artist's impression of the InSight Lander commencing its entry, descent and landing (EDL) phase to Mars. Credit: NASA
Artist's impression of the InSight Lander commencing its entry, descent and landing (EDL) phase to Mars. Credit: NASA

On of May 5th, 2018, NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander launched from Vandenburg Air Force Base atop an Atlas V rocket. Over the next seven months, the mission traveled some 458 million km (300 mi) to Mars for the sake of studying its deep interior and learn how this planet – and all the other terrestrial planets of the Solar System (like Earth) – formed.

At 11:47 am PST (2:47 pm EST), after a seven month journey, NASA’s InSight Lander entered the Martian atmosphere to begin the entry, descent and landing (EDL) phase of its mission. Over the course of the next five minutes, the mission controllers at NASA-JPL watched eagerly as the spacecraft went through the careful process of conducting a textbook landing.

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Posted on by Tammy Plotner

Messier 72 – the NGC 6981 Globular Cluster

Messier 72 and Messier 73. Credit: Wikisky

Welcome back to Messier Monday! Today, we continue in our tribute to our dear friend, Tammy Plotner, by looking at the globular cluster known as Messier 72.

During the 18th century, famed French astronomer Charles Messier noticed the presence of several “nebulous objects”  while surveying the night sky. Originally mistaking these objects for comets, he began to catalog them so that others would not make the same mistake. Today, the resulting list (known as the Messier Catalog) includes over 100 objects and is one of the most influential catalogs of Deep Space Objects.

One of these objects is Messier 72, a globular cluster about 54,570 light years away in the direction of the Aquarius constellation. Originally discovered by French astronomer Pierre Méchain a few years prior, Messier would go on to include this star cluster in his catalog. Located in close proximity to Messier 73, this globular cluster is one of the smaller and fainter Messier objects in the night sky. Continue reading “Messier 72 – the NGC 6981 Globular Cluster”

Posted on by Matt Williams

The Earth’s Wandering Poles Could Have Caused the Ice Age

Artist's impression of ice age Earth at glacial maximum. Credit: Wikipedia Commons/Ittiz

Earth’s last great ice age, known as the Quaternay Glaciation, began roughly 3.2 million years ago. This period was characterized by the expansion of ice sheets out of Antarctica and Greenland, as well as the fluctuation of the Laurentian ice sheet, which covered most of Canada and the United States. The retreat of this glacier is responsible for the creation of millions of standing bodies of water across North America, including the Great Lakes.

While the causes of ice ages have been attributed to a combination of astronomical cycles, atmospheric conditions, ocean currents and plate tectonics, a complete explanation has been lacking thus far. However, according to a new research findings by a team of Rice University geophysicists, Earth’s last ice age may have been caused by shifts in the Earth relative to its spin axis that caused its poles to wander.

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Posted on by Matt Williams

Name Change Alert! SpaceX’s BFR is Now Just Called “Starship”

In September of 2016, Musk treated the world to an early sneak-peak at his proposed super-heavy launch vehicle. Previously known as the Mars Colonial Transporter, the renamed Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) was the centerpiece to Musk’s long-term vision of conducting commercial trips to orbit, to the Moon, and even to Mars. Since that time, the mission architecture and even the name of the system have changed a few times.

For example, in September of 2017 – during a presentation titled “Making Life Interplanetary” – Musk presented the world with an updated design of launch system, which had been renamed the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) and the Big Falcon Spacecraft (BFS). And just recently, Musk announced the system will henceforth be known as the “Starship”, and its rocket the “Super Heavy“.

Continue reading “Name Change Alert! SpaceX’s BFR is Now Just Called “Starship””

Posted on by Evan Gough

Europe’s Vision of a Future Moon Base. Made out of Moon Dust.

An illustration of a Moon base that could be built using 3D printing and ISRU, In-Situ Resource Utilization. Credit: RegoLight, visualisation: Liquifer Systems Group, 2018
An illustration of a Moon base that could be built using 3D printing and ISRU, In-Situ Resource Utilization. Credit: RegoLight, visualisation: Liquifer Systems Group, 2018

We all know that the time is past due for a Moon base. But the cost of sending everything needed from Earth to build a base is prohibitive. Earth’s gravity well is too deep and too strong to get everything there with rockets. So what’s the solution?

Continue reading “Europe’s Vision of a Future Moon Base. Made out of Moon Dust.”

Posted on by Matt Williams

Massive Triple Star System Creates this Bizarre Swirling Pinwheel of Dust. And it Could be the Site of a Gamma Ray Burst

The VISIR instrument on ESO’s VLT captured this stunning image of a newly-discovered massive binary star system. Nicknamed Apep after an ancient Egyptian deity, it could be the first gamma-ray burst progenitor to be found in our galaxy. Apep’s stellar winds have created the dust cloud surrounding the system, which consists of a binary star with a fainter companion. With 2 Wolf-Rayet stars orbiting each other in the binary, the serpentine swirls surrounding Apep are formed by the collision of two sets of powerful stellar winds, which create the spectacular dust plumes seen in the image. The reddish pinwheel in this image is data from the VISIR instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), and shows the spectacular plumes of dust surrounding Apep. The blue sources at the centre of the image are a triple star system — which consists of a binary star system and a companion single star bound together by gravity. Though only two star-like objects are visible in the image, the lower source is in fact an unresolved binary Wolf-Rayet star. The triple star system was captured by the NACO adaptive optics instrument on the VLT. Credit: ESO/Callingham et al.

When stars reach the end of their lifespan, many undergo gravitational collapse and explode into a supernova, In some cases, they collapse to become black holes and release a tremendous amount of energy in a short amount of time. These are what is known as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), and they are one of the most powerful events in the known Universe.

Recently, an international team of astronomers was able to capture an image  of a newly-discovered triple star system surrounded by a “pinwheel” of dust. This system, nicknamed “Apep”, is located roughly 8,000 light years from Earth and destined to become a long-duration GRB. In addition, it is the first of its kind to be discovered in our galaxy.

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Posted on by Matt Williams

Lakes on Mars Filled up so Quickly They Would Overflow Catastrophically Carving Canyons Within Weeks

Artist rendition of how the "lake" at Gale Crater on Mars may have looked millions of years ago. Credit and copyright: Kevin Gill.

Roughly 4.2 billion years ago, Mars was a much different place than it is today. It’s atmosphere was thicker and warmer and its surface much wetter. Unfortunately, the planet’s atmosphere was stripped away by solar wind over the next 500 million years, causing the surface to become so cold and dry that it makes Antarctica look balmy by comparison!

As a result, most of Mars’ water is currently locked away in its polar ice caps. But billions of years ago, water still flowed freely across the surface, forming ancient rivers and lakes. In fact, new research led by The University of Texas at Austin indicates that sometimes these lakes would fill so fast that they would overflow, causing massive floods that had a drastic impact on the surface.

Continue reading “Lakes on Mars Filled up so Quickly They Would Overflow Catastrophically Carving Canyons Within Weeks”

Posted on by Evan Gough

Astronomers Detect Water in the Atmosphere of a Planet 179 Light-Years Away

The HR 8799 system contains the first exoplanet be directly imaged. Image Credit: NRC-HIA/C. MAROIS/W. M. KECK OBSERVATORY
The HR 8799 system contains the first exoplanet be directly imaged. Image Credit: NRC-HIA/C. MAROIS/W. M. KECK OBSERVATORY

Gathering detailed information on exoplanets is extremely difficult. The light from their host star overwhelms the light from the exoplanet, making it difficult for telescopes to see them. But now a team using cutting-edge technology at the Keck Observatory has taken a big leap in exoplanet observation and has detected water in the atmosphere of a planet 179 light years away.

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