Astronomy

[Danik 2016]

Interesting post. I didn´t know that Earth´s magnetism was involved in the turtles migration cyclus.

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/earth/how-do-flocking-birds-move-in-unison

I thought this was intriguing - its just a theory, though.

[Danik 2016]

Thank you DW, this is beautiful. Even the 20 or 30 doves in my street seem to move together when they fly.

"Moving in unison": I think that is something men could learn from these birds.

[Danik 2016]

This intrigued me too:

Projectile cannon experiments show how asteroids can deliver water

Date:
April 25, 2018
Source:
Brown University
Summary:
New research shows that a surprising amount of water survives simulated asteroid impacts, a finding that may help explain how asteroids deposit water throughout the solar system.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180425162042.htm

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/earth/what-is-an-airplane-glory

I've been on many plane journeys but never seen a glory...

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.livescience.com/62405-what-if-earth-rotation-reversed.html?

This is something I have never thought of. Quite drastic!

[Danik 2016]

https://www.livescience.com/62405-what-if-earth-rotation-reversed.html?

This is something I have never thought of. Quite drastic!

Indeed!

"Deserts would cover North America, arid sand dunes would replace expanses of the Amazon rainforest in South America, and lush, green landscapes would flourish from central Africa to the Middle East, according to a computer simulation presented earlier this month at the annual European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2018 in Austria."

https://www.livescience.com/62405-what-if-earth-rotation-reversed.html?

But why should it be reversed?

[Danik 2016]

"Glories are common. They’re seen all the time by people traveling in airplanes. You need the sun to be directly behind your head. In front, you need an ordinary cloud. As you look toward the cloud, look for the shadow of the airplane. The plane’s shadow may be surrounded by a multi-colored circle of light. That’s the glory."

Not travelling much these days, but I shall watch out for them next time I am on a plane.

[Dreamwoven]

I've flown a lot, but didn't know about glories then: Real shame!

[Danik 2016]

Neither did I.

Today is Pink Moon night!

April Full Moon 2018: When to See the 'Pink Moon' Tonight!

https://www.space.com/36040-april-full-moon.html

[Dreamwoven]

This tells you when to se a Pink Moon in the USA. Not much help if you don't live in New York!

[Danik 2016]

That´s true, DW. But we haven´t got telescopes anyway.

[Dreamwoven]

But you don't need a telescope to see the moon!

[Danik 2016]

But one misses the details.

That video was intended for post #1762:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0lCU3YJKl8

[Dreamwoven]

That video of the moon is very detailed, but am I being dense, I can't see that it is a Pink Moon.

[Danik 2016]

Here is the explanation:

"What is a Pink Moon and when is the next full moon in March 2018?

Despite its name, don't be expecting a pink moon. This spectacle is named after the wildflowers which grow in the United States and Canada in the spring.

It's also known as the Egg Moon or Fish Moon, because of the shad fish that swim upstream at this time of year.

This moon is particularly important because it is used to fix the date of Easter, which falls on the first Sunday after the Pink Moon, and marks the start of the Jewish Passover.

In 2018, the pink moon rises at 2.37pm on March 31 - and Easter Sunday falls on April 1.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/2633741/worm-pink-moon-next-full-moon-febnruary-2018-date-lunar-calendar/

[Dreamwoven]

OK, so pink moon is not pink. Refers to flowers in Canada and USA. I've no idea when the Jewish passover is, either. I can see that all this is American influence on language. so I am slowly learning...

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/37724/messier-68-1/

We haven't had anyone writing about globular clusters. Universe today does this so well. I've learned a lot about them in the article.

[Danik 2016]

Yes, DW. I suppose the observation of them as of other Deep Sky Objects. has been improved by the arrival of better telescopes.

"In the 18th century, while searching the night sky for comets, French astronomer Charles Messier kept noting the presence of fixed, diffuse objects he initially mistook for comets. In time, he would come to compile a list of approximately 100 of these objects, hoping to prevent other astronomers from making the same mistake. This list – known as the Messier Catalog – would go on to become one of the most influential catalogs of Deep Sky Objects.

One of these objects is the globular cluster known as Messier 68. Located roughly 33,000 light-years away in the Constellation of Hydra, this cluster is orbiting through the Milky. In addition to being one of the most metal-poor globular clusters, it may be undergoing core collapse, and is believed to have been acquired from a satellite galaxy that merged with the Milky Way in the past."

[Dreamwoven]

THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 467 2018 April 22


DEAD STAR CIRCLED BY LIGHT
ESO

New data from the MUSE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile
have revealed a remarkable ring of gas in a system called 1E 0102.2-7219,
expanding slowly within the depths of numerous other fast-moving filaments
of gas and dust left behind after a supernova explosion that took place 2000
years ago in the Small Magellanic Cloud. That discovery allowed astronomers
to identify for the first time an isolated neutron star with low magnetic
field located beyond our own Milky Way galaxy. The team noticed that the
ring was centred on an X-ray source that had been noted years before and
designated p1. The nature of that source had remained a mystery. In
particular, it was not clear whether p1 actually lies inside the remnant or
behind it. It was only when the ring of gas -- which includes both neon and
oxygen -- was observed with MUSE that the scientific team noticed that it
perfectly circled p1. The coincidence was too great, and they realised that
p1 must lie within the supernova remnant itself. Once p1's location was
known, the team used existing X-ray observations of it from the Chandra
X-ray Observatory to determine that it must be an isolated neutron star,
with a low magnetic field. When massive stars explode as supernovae, they
leave behind curdled webs of hot gas and dust, known as supernova remnants.
Those turbulent structures are key to the redistribution of the heavier
elements -- which are cooked up by massive stars as they live and die --
into the interstellar medium, where they eventually form new stars and
planets. Typically barely ten kilometres across, yet with masses more than
our Sun's, isolated neutron stars with low magnetic fields are thought to be
abundant across the Universe, but they are very hard to find because they
shine only at X-ray wavelengths. The fact that the confirmation of p1 as an
isolated neutron star was enabled by optical observations is thus
particularly exciting.

[Danik 2016]

Hubble detects helium in the atmosphere of an exoplanet for the first time

"Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have detected helium in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-107b. This is the first time this element has been detected in the atmosphere of a planet outside the Solar System. The discovery demonstrates the ability to use infrared spectra to study exoplanet extended atmospheres."

http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1809/

[Danik 2016]

THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 467 2018 April 22


DEAD STAR CIRCLED BY LIGHT
ESO

New data from the MUSE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile
have revealed a remarkable ring of gas in a system called 1E 0102.2-7219,
expanding slowly within the depths of numerous other fast-moving filaments
of gas and dust left behind after a supernova explosion that took place 2000
years ago in the Small Magellanic Cloud. That discovery allowed astronomers
to identify for the first time an isolated neutron star with low magnetic
field located beyond our own Milky Way galaxy. The team noticed that the
ring was centred on an X-ray source that had been noted years before and
designated p1. The nature of that source had remained a mystery. In
particular, it was not clear whether p1 actually lies inside the remnant or
behind it. It was only when the ring of gas -- which includes both neon and
oxygen -- was observed with MUSE that the scientific team noticed that it
perfectly circled p1. The coincidence was too great, and they realised that
p1 must lie within the supernova remnant itself. Once p1's location was
known, the team used existing X-ray observations of it from the Chandra
X-ray Observatory to determine that it must be an isolated neutron star,
with a low magnetic field. When massive stars explode as supernovae, they
leave behind curdled webs of hot gas and dust, known as supernova remnants.
Those turbulent structures are key to the redistribution of the heavier
elements -- which are cooked up by massive stars as they live and die --
into the interstellar medium, where they eventually form new stars and
planets. Typically barely ten kilometres across, yet with masses more than
our Sun's, isolated neutron stars with low magnetic fields are thought to be
abundant across the Universe, but they are very hard to find because they
shine only at X-ray wavelengths. The fact that the confirmation of p1 as an
isolated neutron star was enabled by optical observations is thus
particularly exciting.

I saw that post only today. Neutron stars, Helium, I wonder what more is coming.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/139215/pros-and-cons-of-various-methods-of-interstellar-travel/

Pros and Cons of Various Methods of Interstellar Travel
14 May , 2018 by Matt Williams
A new study by a UK scientists takes a look at the different means of interstellar travel, and considers the pros and cons of each.

[Danik 2016]

Considering that the next star is right around the corner, amazing!

"[...]Dr. Braddock considers five principle means for mounting crewed missions to other star systems in his study. These include super-luminal (aka/ FTL) travel, hibernation or stasis regimes, negligible senescence (aka. anti-aging) engineering, world ships capable of supporting multiple generations of travellers (aka. generation ships), and cyogenic freezing technologies."
https://www.universetoday.com/139215/pros-and-cons-of-various-methods-of-interstellar-travel/

I am quite interested in the anti-aging part, but without having to travel for it. ;)

[Dreamwoven]

See also this from EarthSky: http://earthsky.org/space/marco-cubesats-insight-new-comm-tech. New technology using cube sats...

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/32601-where-to-see-northern-lights.html

Aberdeen is one place I have seen the Northern Lights. Old Aberdeen to be more precise, where they have a song about "the Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_College,_Aberdeen

[Danik 2016]

"Survival is far from guaranteed. As the saying goes: space is hard. The first challenge will be switching on. The MarCO batteries were last checked in March by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems of Irvine, California, which inserted each CubeSat into a special dispenser that will propel it into space. Those batteries will be used to deploy each CubeSat’s solar arrays, with the hope that enough power will be left over to turn on their radios. If power is too low, the MarCO team may hear silence until each spacecraft is more fully charged.

If both MarCOs make the journey, they’ll test a method of communications relay that could act as a “black box” for future Mars landings, helping engineers understand the difficult process of getting spacecraft to safely touch down on the red planet."
http://earthsky.org/space/marco-cubesats-insight-new-comm-tech

Can´t say that looks very inviting but they are on it and will be improving fastly!

[Danik 2016]

This one is related. But in fact, photos don´t do the Aurora borealis justice. On has to see the movements.

https://www.space.com/32610-amazing-auroras-northern-lights-pictures-2016.html

[Dreamwoven]

That is true, the Northern Lights we see from Old Aberdeen are less prominent than the shifting blue curtains of polar light!

[Dreamwoven]

King's College in Aberdeen was founded in 1495: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King's_College%2C_Aberdeen and also has the oldest endowed Chair of Medicine in Britain.

Scottish higher education has been pre-eminent from very early on, King's College was founded under a Papal Bull dated 10 February 1495.

[Dreamwoven]

I subscribe to EarthSky separately:http://earthsky.org/space/marco-cubesat-wall-e-distance-record-pale-blue-dot:

It seems that 2 cubesats are travelling to Mars, the first time that they are being employed beyond Earth:

"The Voyager 1 spacecraft took a classic portrait of Earth – the famous Pale Blue Dot image – from several billion miles away in 1990. On May 9, 2018, two tiny, boxy spacecraft known as CubeSats – nicknamed Wall-E and Eva by spaceflight engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California – took their own version of a pale blue dot image, capturing Earth and its moon in one shot.

This is the Mars Cube One or MarCO mission, launched on May 5 along with NASA’s InSight lander. InSight will touch down on Mars this November and study the planet’s deep interior for the first time."

[Dreamwoven]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics

Not strictly about Astronomy, but it does seem that opinion in Scotland do not want to leave the UK.

Read the above link and see what you think!

[Danik 2016]

I subscribe to EarthSky separately:http://earthsky.org/space/marco-cubesat-wall-e-distance-record-pale-blue-dot:

It seems that 2 cubesats are travelling to Mars, the first time that they are being employed beyond Earth:

"The Voyager 1 spacecraft took a classic portrait of Earth – the famous Pale Blue Dot image – from several billion miles away in 1990. On May 9, 2018, two tiny, boxy spacecraft known as CubeSats – nicknamed Wall-E and Eva by spaceflight engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California – took their own version of a pale blue dot image, capturing Earth and its moon in one shot.

This is the Mars Cube One or MarCO mission, launched on May 5 along with NASA’s InSight lander. InSight will touch down on Mars this November and study the planet’s deep interior for the first time."

Yes. They look more like big suitcases than spacecrfts.

[Danik 2016]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics

Not strictly about Astronomy, but it does seem that opinion in Scotland do not want to leave the UK.

Read the above link and see what you think!

For some unknown reason the BBC page is not available to me. But here we are. It´s almost half and half:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independence

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/todays-image/kilauea-volcano-situation-worsening-1st-injury-laze

This post revealed to me much new information about Volcanoes

[Danik 2016]

"Kilauea Volcano has been spewing lava and belching hazardous gases on Hawaii’s Big Island since early May, and the BBC reported on Sunday, May 20, 2018, that the situation for residents is “steadily worsening.” At the summit, a large explosion happened at around midnight on Friday night (May 18) into Saturday, sending a plume of volcanic gas some 10,000 feet (two miles, or 3 km) into the air. Early in the day on May 20, media outlets were reporting the first serious injury from Kilauea. Hawaii News Now reported:

The injured man was sitting on a balcony at his home when “lava spatter” – projectile molten rock – landed on him. “It hit him on the shin and shattered everything there down on his leg,” a spokeswoman for the county mayor said.

Lava spatters can weigh “as much a refrigerator,” she told Reuters.

The man has reportedly been hospitalized with serious injuries."

http://earthsky.org/todays-image/kilauea-volcano-situation-worsening-1st-injury-laze

More recent news:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/19/hawaii-lava-40-homes-kilauea-volcano-eruption

[Dreamwoven]

#1784: we like to believe that in this age of free information there is no censorship or that information is unlimited. Sadly that is not so. "The Local" is not accessible to all. Nor, it would seem are many websites with political content. That is very sad!

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-2015-bz509-1st-permanent-immigrant

A new study has discovered the first known permanent immigrant to our solar system. The asteroid, currently nestling in Jupiter’s orbit, is the first known asteroid to have been captured from another star system. The new work is published in the peer-reviewed Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.

The object known as ‘Oumuamua was the last interstellar interloper to hit the headlines in 2017. However, it was just a tourist passing through, whereas this former exo-asteroid – given the catchy name (514107) 2015 BZ509 – is a long-term resident.

[Danik 2016]

It deserves a better name: (514107) 2015 BZ509 doesn´t have the necessary charm for headlines. I want to suggest ET1.

[Dreamwoven]

They won't change it, there must a reason for its length and complexity.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/40642-space-rock-generates-planet-nine-excitement.html

"The solar system just got a bit stranger. As astronomers continue their ongoing quest to find the elusive Planet Nine, a team found a space rock that lends credence to the idea that a huge super-Earth planet really exists in the outer reaches of our solar system.

The newfound asteroid, called 2015 BP519, adds to a growing body of evidence about little worlds in the solar system being perturbed by something big. Astronomers detailed its discovery and description in a new paper, adding that the bizarre angle of its orbit gives more weight to the idea that a big planet is out there — somewhere — tugging on the asteroid's path around the sun."

[Dreamwoven]

Its funny, isn't it that there is likely to be a big planet in orbit around our sun that we have not yet found!

I think the orbit is likely to be once every thousand years.

[Danik 2016]

Amazing!
As I am also interested In Astrology I wonder how Astrology is dealing with this never ending discoveries. There Pluto is considered a planet as before and one related to very powerful events.

[Dreamwoven]

I've done a search in Universe Today - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe_Today - for "Planet 9" and come up with many hits. It circles the sun far beyond the orbit of Neptune, so it is a Kuiper Belt object, and estimates of its orbit are well beyond every thousand years, so we really have no idea of its orbit. That is about the sum of our knowledge at this point. It is quite amusing that we know so little about this planet, given that we have a lot of indirect indications of its existence, and how far knowledge of near space has taken us.

[Danik 2016]

estimates of its orbit are well beyond every thousand years

From the astrological point of view that means that it´s position covers 10 to 11 generations. It changes only once each millennium. That is very slow indeed.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/40650-astronomers-may-miss-rocky-planet-rings.html

"Astronomers may have unknowingly discovered rocky planets with rings, which they mistook for other kinds of worlds, a new study finds.

Rings surround all this solar system's gas giant planets; they most famously wrap around Saturn, but also encircle Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus. In contrast, the solar system's rocky planets all currently lack rings.

However, rocky planets can have rings. For instance, Mars' moon Phobos might once have taken the form of rings around the Red Planet, the new study's author, Anthony Piro, an astrophysicist at the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Pasadena, California, told Space.com. And as that moon gets closer to Mars over time, Phobos will likely get torn into a ring again "on a timescale of about 50 million years,"

[Danik 2016]

Interesting post, DW. But, believe it or not, sometimes I long for old simple solar system with its moon and its sevenplanets.

[Danik 2016]

Important!

Trump to Sign New Policy Directive Aimed at Commercial Space Regulation Reforms

"PASADENA, Calif. — A new policy President Trump will sign May 24 will implement a series of regulatory reforms to support commercial space recommended by the National Space Council earlier this year.

Space Policy Directive (SPD) 2, to be signed by the president at the White House, includes several sections to carry out streamlining of launch and remote sensing regulations, creation of a "one-stop-shopping" office for commercial space, and reviews of radiofrequency and export control policy"

https://www.space.com/40692-president-trump-private-spaceflight-policy-directive.html

[Dreamwoven]

What, not even Mars and its two moons? Or the many moons of our largest planet Jupiter?

[Danik 2016]

Well, they are older discoveries. But I think the representation of the universe was more charming, when it was less cluttered. Just a bit "Little Prince" reasoning.

https://archive.org/stream/TheLittlePrince-English/littleprince#page/n0/mode/2up

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-2015-bz509-1st-permanent-immigrant

A new study has discovered the first known permanent immigrant to our solar system. The asteroid, currently nestling in Jupiter’s orbit, is the first known asteroid to have been captured from another star system. The new work is published in the peer-reviewed Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.

The object known as ‘Oumuamua was the last interstellar interloper to hit the headlines in 2017. However, it was just a tourist passing through, whereas this former exo-asteroid – given the catchy name (514107) 2015 BZ509 – is a long-term resident.

All of the planets in our solar system, and the vast majority of other objects as well, travel around the Sun in the same direction. However, 2015 BZ509 is different – it moves in the opposite direction in what is known as a “retrograde” orbit. Fathi Namouni, lead author of the study, said:

How the asteroid came to move in this way while sharing Jupiter’s orbit has until now been a mystery. If 2015 BZ509 were a native of our system, it should have had the same original direction as all of the other planets and asteroids, inherited from the cloud of gas and dust that formed them.

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/space/asteroid-2015-bz509-1st-permanent-immigrant

A new study has discovered the first known permanent immigrant to our solar system. The asteroid, currently nestling in Jupiter’s orbit, is the first known asteroid to have been captured from another star system. The new work is published in the peer-reviewed Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.

The object known as ‘Oumuamua was the last interstellar interloper to hit the headlines in 2017. However, it was just a tourist passing through, whereas this former exo-asteroid – given the catchy name (514107) 2015 BZ509 – is a long-term resident.

All of the planets in our solar system, and the vast majority of other objects as well, travel around the Sun in the same direction. However, 2015 BZ509 is different – it moves in the opposite direction in what is known as a “retrograde� orbit. Fathi Namouni, lead author of the study, said:

How the asteroid came to move in this way while sharing Jupiter’s orbit has until now been a mystery. If 2015 BZ509 were a native of our system, it should have had the same original direction as all of the other planets and asteroids, inherited from the cloud of gas and dust that formed them.

[Danik 2016]

Interesting, DW!

Here are some unusual space pictures:

https://www.space.com/32252-amazing-images.html

[Danik 2016]

Interstelar translations:

Decoding Alien Messages Could Be the Biggest Citizen-Science Project Ever

"An experiment performed recently by Wells-Jensen shows why we may need the power of the human hive-mind. She presented college students with several puzzles that had been coded in the manner of Lincos, a constructed language designed to be understood by intelligent extraterrestrials. The students figured out the simple stuff, such as basic mathematical functions, quite well — but things got dicey when the concepts got more complicated.

For example, Wells-Jensen gave the students the equation for the circumference of a circle, as well as a lightly coded representation of "pi" (the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter).

"And I said, 'OK, what is this real word?' And they came up with all kinds of crazy things," she said. "Some made poetic jumps and said, 'world'; some of them made an opposite poetic jump and said, 'infinity.' Some of them thought that I meant that the diameter of the circle ended at a wall, and said 'prison.'"

And that's for a message drawn up by a fellow human. It will doubtless be much tougher to decode something devised by creatures from a distant solar system who share no cultural or evolutionary history with us, who may rely upon different senses to perceive their environment and to communicate, and who are probably far more advanced technologically than we are.

So, we'll likely need to marshal the collective wisdom of the world, in a massive citizen-science project, to identify (and agree upon) the "right" answer, Wells-Jensen said. And our chances of success in this endeavor would be greatly increased if we all hit the books a little, to increase our critical-thinking skills and our understanding of nature and how it works, she added.

"One of the goals of METI — and I really think it should be a goal of all of us — is to work on this science-literacy problem," Wells-Jensen said.
https://www.space.com/40717-decoding-alien-messages-citizen-science.html

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/139289/what-are-the-chances-that-the-next-generation-lsst-could-find-new-planets-in-the-solar-system/

This is an update on the current status of the universe.

"In the past few decades, thanks to improvements in ground-based and space-based observatories, astronomers have discovered thousands of planets orbiting neighboring and distant stars (aka. extrasolar planets). Strangely enough, it is these same improvements, and during the same time period, that enabled the discovery of more astronomical bodies within the Solar System.

These include the “minor planets” of Eris, Sedna, Haumea, Makemake, and others, but also the hypothesized planetary-mass objects collectively known as Planet 9 (or Planet X). In a new study led by the Lowell Observatory, a team of researchers hypothesize that the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) – a next-generation telescope that will go online in 2022 – has a good chance of finding this mysterious planet."

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/139289/what-are-the-chances-that-the-next-generation-lsst-could-find-new-planets-in-the-solar-system/

"In the past few decades, thanks to improvements in ground-based and space-based observatories, astronomers have discovered thousands of planets orbiting neighboring and distant stars (aka. extrasolar planets). Strangely enough, it is these same improvements, and during the same time period, that enabled the discovery of more astronomical bodies within the Solar System.

These include the “minor planets” of Eris, Sedna, Haumea, Makemake, and others, but also the hypothesized planetary-mass objects collectively known as Planet 9 (or Planet X). In a new study led by the Lowell Observatory, a team of researchers hypothesize that the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) – a next-generation telescope that will go online in 2022 – has a good chance of finding this mysterious planet.

Their study, titled “On the detectability of Planet X with LSST“, recently appeared online. The study was led by David E. Trilling, an astrophysicist from the Northern Arizona University and the Lowell Observatory, and included Eric C. Bellm from the University of Washington and Renu Malhotra of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at The University of Arizona."

[Danik 2016]

I think it will depend largely on the interest of the new generations in finding that planet, and the available amount of money to invest on such a project.

[Danik 2016]

An interesting article on alien life:

Table for One?
How the Fermi Paradox attempts to settle the issue of our apparent aloneness in the universe.

"While most science fiction books and movies portray a universe teeming with a plethora of space-faring alien species, the reality may be quite different. Few of us could look up into the night sky and not feel the enormity of the cosmos and the seemingly infinite number of stars that should, at least in theory, harbor a multitude of intelligent civilizations. Yet so far, our attempts to identify signs of extraterrestrial life have all amounted to nothing. The apparent lack of observed intelligent life in the universe beyond Earth in the face of what would seem to be an almost limitless potential for such life to arise is known as the Fermi Paradox."
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/05/table-for-one

[Dreamwoven]

Yes, it is odd, isn't it...

[Danik 2016]

It is. Specially as we have no idea what real aliens would be like as we know only those produced by US film industry.

[Dreamwoven]

THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 470 2018 June 3

Here is the latest round-up of news from the Society for Popular
Astronomy. The SPA is arguably Britain's liveliest astronomical
society, with members all over the world. We accept subscription
payments online at our secure site and can take credit and debit
cards. You can join or renew via a secure server or just see how
much we have to offer by visiting http://www.popastro.com/

FIRST INTERSTELLAR IMMIGRANT FOUND IN SOLAR SYSTEM
RAS

A new study has discovered the first known permanent immigrant to our Solar
System. The asteroid, currently nestling in Jupiter's orbit, is the first
asteroid known to have been captured from another star system. An object
known as 'Oumuamua was the last interstellar interloper to hit the headlines,
in 2017. However, it was just a tourist passing through, whereas the new
exo-asteroid -- given the catchy name (514107) 2015 BZ509 -- is a long-term
resident. All of the planets in the Solar System, and the vast majority of
other objects as well, travel around the Sun in the same direction. But
2015 BZ509 is different -- it moves in the opposite direction, in what is
known as a 'retrograde' orbit. How the asteroid came to move in that way
while sharing Jupiter's orbit has until now been unknown. If 2015 BZ509
were a native of our system, it should have had the same original direction
as all of the other planets and asteroids, inherited from the cloud of gas
and dust that formed them. However, the team ran simulations to trace the
location of 2015 BZ509 right back to the birth of our Solar System, 4.5
billion years ago when the era of planet formation ended. They show that
2015 BZ509 has always moved in that way, and so could not have been there
originally and must have been captured from another system.

[Dreamwoven]

THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 470 2018 June 3

Here is the latest round-up of news from the Society for Popular
Astronomy. The SPA is arguably Britain's liveliest astronomical
society, with members all over the world. We accept subscription
payments online at our secure site and can take credit and debit
cards. You can join or renew via a secure server or just see how
much we have to offer by visiting http://www.popastro.com/

FIRST INTERSTELLAR IMMIGRANT FOUND IN SOLAR SYSTEM
RAS

A new study has discovered the first known permanent immigrant to our Solar
System. The asteroid, currently nestling in Jupiter's orbit, is the first
asteroid known to have been captured from another star system. An object
known as 'Oumuamua was the last interstellar interloper to hit the headlines,
in 2017. However, it was just a tourist passing through, whereas the new
exo-asteroid -- given the catchy name (514107) 2015 BZ509 -- is a long-term
resident. All of the planets in the Solar System, and the vast majority of
other objects as well, travel around the Sun in the same direction. But
2015 BZ509 is different -- it moves in the opposite direction, in what is
known as a 'retrograde' orbit. How the asteroid came to move in that way
while sharing Jupiter's orbit has until now been unknown. If 2015 BZ509
were a native of our system, it should have had the same original direction
as all of the other planets and asteroids, inherited from the cloud of gas
and dust that formed them. However, the team ran simulations to trace the
location of 2015 BZ509 right back to the birth of our Solar System, 4.5
billion years ago when the era of planet formation ended. They show that
2015 BZ509 has always moved in that way, and so could not have been there
originally and must have been captured from another system.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/40769-nasa-dawn-closest-to-dwarf-planet-ceres-soon.html

A NASA spacecraft is about to get up close and personal with Ceres, a giant asteroid that also happens to be the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system.

This month, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will shift into an orbit that will skim just 22 miles (35 kilometers) above Ceres at its closest point, allowing Dawn to get its best views yet of the dwarf planet. At its farthest point, the new elliptical orbit will carry Dawn out 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers).

"The team is eagerly awaiting the detailed composition and high-resolution imaging from the new, up-close examination," Carol Raymond, principal investigator for the Dawn mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement. "These new high-resolution data allow us to test theories formulated from the previous data sets and discover new features of this fascinating dwarf planet." [See Dawn's Amazing Photos of Dwarf Planet Ceres]

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/40769-nasa-dawn-closest-to-dwarf-planet-ceres-soon.html

A NASA spacecraft is about to get up close and personal with Ceres, a giant asteroid that also happens to be the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system.

This month, NASA's Dawn spacecraft will shift into an orbit that will skim just 22 miles (35 kilometers) above Ceres at its closest point, allowing Dawn to get its best views yet of the dwarf planet. At its farthest point, the new elliptical orbit will carry Dawn out 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers).

"The team is eagerly awaiting the detailed composition and high-resolution imaging from the new, up-close examination," Carol Raymond, principal investigator for the Dawn mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement. "These new high-resolution data allow us to test theories formulated from the previous data sets and discover new features of this fascinating dwarf planet." [See Dawn's Amazing Photos of Dwarf Planet Ceres]

[Danik 2016]

Hi, DW!

Post still appear doubled on the site.
I didn´t know that Ceres was the only dwarf planet of the solar system.

[Dreamwoven]

The doubling of posts happens when a post is created that has already been published once. It doesn't count as a new post.

Ceres is not the only dwarf planet in the solar system, it shares that status with Pluto. There may be others, too, that have not yet been identified. I think it is safer not to use the term "dwarf planet" until the term is redefined, though this may take several years, perhaps decades.

[Dreamwoven]

The doubling of posts happens when a post is created that has already been published once. It doesn't count as a new post.

Ceres is not the only dwarf planet in the solar system, it shares that status with Pluto. There may be others, too, that have not yet been identified. I think it is safer not to use the term "dwarf planet" until the term is redefined, though this may take several years, perhaps decades.

[Danik 2016]

Of late, the double post seems to be created, while one is still working on the first post. I hope someone is looking after it.

I still prefer to consider Pluto as a planet. From the astrological point of view he is one of the most powerful, related to earthquakes, water-quakes and other radical processes of change.

[Dreamwoven]

That is why I prefer not to call Pluto a dwarf planet. I have every confidence that this odd concept of "dwarf planet" will be replaced by the next generation of astronomers.

This thread is not about Astrology, its about Astronomy, they are two quite different concepts, so lets not contribute to confusion.

[Dreamwoven]

That is why I prefer not to call Pluto a dwarf planet. I have every confidence that this odd concept of "dwarf planet" will be replaced by the next generation of astronomers.

This thread is not about Astrology, its about Astronomy, they are two quite different concepts, so lets not contribute to confusion.

[Danik 2016]

No, it was just a comment.

[Pompey Bum]

That is why I prefer not to call Pluto a dwarf planet. I have every confidence that this odd concept of "dwarf planet" will be replaced by the next generation of astronomers.

This thread is not about Astrology, its about Astronomy, they are two quite different concepts, so lets not contribute to confusion.

Sneezey's a dwarf planet, though. So's Bashful.

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/40830-nasa-extends-juno-jupiter-mission-2021.html

NASA's Juno spacecraft will continue studying Jupiter for another three years.

The $1.1 billion Juno mission has been extended through at least July 2021, NASA officials announced yesterday (June 6). The agency will fund Juno into 2022, to cover the cost of data analysis and close-out activities.

"With these funds, not only can the Juno team continue to answer long-standing questions about Jupiter that first fueled this exciting mission, but they'll also investigate new scientific puzzles motivated by their discoveries thus far," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C., said in a statement. "With every additional orbit, both scientists and citizen scientists will help unveil new surprises about this distant world." [In Photos: Juno's Amazing Views of Jupiter]

[Danik 2016]

I`m always divided about those fund announcements. Research must go on, ok, but there are so many earthly situations badly in need of funds.

[desiresjab]

https://www.space.com/40830-nasa-extends-juno-jupiter-mission-2021.html

NASA's Juno spacecraft will continue studying Jupiter for another three years.

The $1.1 billion Juno mission has been extended through at least July 2021, NASA officials announced yesterday (June 6). The agency will fund Juno into 2022, to cover the cost of data analysis and close-out activities.

"With these funds, not only can the Juno team continue to answer long-standing questions about Jupiter that first fueled this exciting mission, but they'll also investigate new scientific puzzles motivated by their discoveries thus far," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C., said in a statement. "With every additional orbit, both scientists and citizen scientists will help unveil new surprises about this distant world." [In Photos: Juno's Amazing Views of Jupiter]

Very exciting stuff. I hope they uncover why the psychology of Jupiter causes such instability in water. Jove is known to implant a deep yearning for knowledge. I have always considered it a benignant planet, as I am sure you have as well.

[Danik 2016]

Thanks, DJ!
Now this seems important too and preocupying.


Senators Reiterate Opposition to International Space Station Transition Proposal
Senators Reiterate Opposition to International Space Station Transition Proposal
WASHINGTON — Members of the Senate space subcommittee used a June 6 hearing to once again express opposition to the administration's proposal to end NASA funding of the International Space Station in 2025.

In the second in a series of hearings on the future of the ISS, witnesses from industry and other organizations said either transitioning the ISS to commercial operators, or shifting to new commercial space stations, may not be feasible by that time, and that even consideration of the proposal may scare away potential station users.

"We understand that commercialization is imminent, and we are fully supporting this process. However, to achieve this goal, enough time must be given both for a smooth transition and for the nation to realize a return on investment," said Cynthia Bouthot, director of commercial innovation and sponsored programs at the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which operates the portion of the ISS designated a national laboratory.
https://www.space.com/40827-senators-opposition-space-station-transition.html

[desiresjab]

I guess I never gave any detailed thought before to how the transition from government project to personal enterprise would take place. The corporations cannot wait to start charging everybody. Now that my eyes are open it is natural to assume the focus of space research in the immediate decades will become almost entirely commercially oriented. People simply have to pay for sunlight. They have been getting free sunlight for way too long. Don't laugh. Bechtel found a way in Bolivia to make it illegal to collect rainwater for personal consumption once they had control of the municipal water supplies.

Personally, I do not trust corporate mentality and ethics to be in charge of space research, national parks or morals. They can probably handle the mail, though.

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/space/no-planet-9-collective-gravity-orbits-outer-solar-system

Perhaps there is no planet 9?

"Astronomers have been searching for a Planet Nine – a world about 10 times Earth’s mass – for about 2 years and have yet to spot it. Maybe there’s another explanation?"

"As recently as late May, an international team of researchers presented new evidence for an unknown Planet Nine at the fringes of our solar system. The evidence came from analysis of an oddball object in the outer solar system – 2015 BP519 (aka Caju) – whose unusual orbit had been predicted by computer models used by astronomers who’ve been searching for Planet Nine since 2016. Last week, however, other astronomers – members of the Eccentric Dynamics group at University of Colorado, Boulder – presented evidence that Planet Nine might not need to exist, after all. Ann-Marie Madigan, who leads the group, presented the group’s findings at last week’s American Astronomical Society meeting, which ran from June 3-7, 2018 in Denver. Her team’s statement said:

"Bumper car-like interactions at the edges of our solar system — and not a mysterious ninth planet — may explain the the dynamics of strange bodies called “detached objects”.

In the new study, Madigan and colleagues Jacob Fleisig and Alexander Zderic, also of CU Boulder, looked carefully at the orbits of some of these objects. For example, they looked at the small outer solar system body 90377 Sedna, which orbits our sun at a distance of nearly 8 billion miles (13 billion km). The orbits of Sedna and a handful of other bodies at that distance look separated – or detached – from the rest of the solar system. These strange orbits are what led Caltech astronomers Mike Brown and Konstanin Batygin to propose a Planet Nine in the first place."

"Brown and Batygin had suggested that an as-yet-unseen ninth planet – four times the size of Earth and 10 times Earth’s mass – may be lurking beyond Neptune. They suggested the unknown planet’s gravity was influencing the orbits of the “detached objects.” Since 2016, astronomers around the world have been searching for Planet Nine, but no one has found it yet."

"Meanwhile, Madigan, Fleisig and Zderic have explored a new idea about the orbits of these outer solar system bodies. The new calculations show the orbits might be the result of these bodies jostling against each other and debris in that part of space. In that case, no Planet Nine would be needed. Madigan said:

There are so many of these bodies out there. What does their collective gravity do? We can solve a lot of these problems by just taking into account that question."

"Madigan pointed out that the outer solar system is:

… an unusual place, gravitationally speaking.

Once you get further away from Neptune, things don’t make any sense, which is really exciting."

Her team’s statement explained:

"Among the things that don’t make sense: Sedna. This minor planet takes more than 11,000 years to circumnavigate Earth’s sun and is a little smaller than Pluto … Sedna and other detached objects complete humongous, circle-shaped orbits that bring them nowhere close to big planets like Jupiter or Neptune. How they got out there on their own remains an ongoing mystery."

[Dreamwoven]

I think the search for Planet 9 illustrates how little we know about our own solar system, quite laughably little...

[Danik 2016]

Yes, I agree, DW. I think I said that before, all these fantasies about life in another planet, ETs, etc. remind me of the reveries Europeans had about the ocean and the unknown continents in the Middle Ages.

[Danik 2016]

Invisible storms!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUV0tA-R3aE

[Pompey Bum]

I think the search for Planet 9 illustrates how little we know about our own solar system, quite laughably little...

So if I understand you correctly, Planet 9 has been sort of detected but not really discovered. That's problematic since those who discover a planet are the ones (in theory) who get to name it. My research indicates that the sort of detectors of Planet Nine would like to name their alleged Heavenly body George, after the insane British tyrant, George III. That is a bad idea and a slippery slope that will lead eventually (trust me) to a Planet Trump. So I'm hoping the discoverers and the sort of detectors don't end up being the same people.

I generally support sticking with the time-tested Roman deity nomenclature, but perhaps some compromise is possible. Diana was the Roman goddess of the hunt and also a screwy (if not actually insane) British royal. But Diana was also the goddess of virgins, so forget it. If we must do crazy Brits, I would prefer a Planet Python (we could pretend it was named after the Python slain by Apollo at Delphi). Unfortunately that suggestion is not on the table at the moment, but the following are:

Terminus: the Roman god of boundaries. I like it in principle, but it will make us the laughing stock of the galaxy when Planet Ten is found just beyond. And sexual reproduction will already be getting us enough hoots and haws out on Alpha C.

Tartarus: another name for hell. Again, not bad in principle, but wouldn't it hurt the feelings of future astronauts who received orders to go there?

Fortuna: The Roman goddess of fortune (alleged by Moll Flanders to be the real God of this earth, and still invoked by Vegas punters under the name Lady Luck). I vote no. It sets the planet up to become a kind of interstellar brothel. What happens on Fortuna stays on Fortuna--that sort of thing. I'd prefer Christa, a combination of another God worshipped in Rome and Christa Mcauliffe, the civilian martyr of space exploration. If anyone deserves a planet she does. But mentioning her name would remind everyone how badly NASA screwed up, so don't hold your breath.

Shango: an African thunder god. This suggestion has a whiff of PC about it, but I do not actually oppose the idea. In fact, I would like to see the categories expand further to include all myths. There needs to be a Sun Wukong planet (named Wukong, of course--calling it Sun would only confuse people). But starting with Shango would be fine, too.

Nimoy/Spock: Forget it. The slippery slope would be even worse with 1960s television show characters. Do you really want a planet Agarn? Or Gidget? The same principle applies to the proposed planets [David] Bowie, [Han] Solo, and Olaf (apparently a snowman from the Disney movie "Frozen").

So for me the finalists are Python, Christa, Wukong, and Shango. Any further nominees?

[tailor STATELY]

I like the idea of using Sun Wukong's name (a favorite of mine) for a new celestial body. I'll try to think up some more. We'll need two for the next 2-planets discovered:


All Your Base...


The Oort Cloud men
Teach of the
Planets of the sun
As ten

10/11/2006

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Danik 2016]

For me the ninth planet is still powerful Pluto. "The strongest perfume is contained in the smallest vessels".

But keep on with your imaginative name choices. I hope some one from the NASA visits this page. No planet deserves to be called ABC-123 or anything similar.

[tailor STATELY]

I found a list of Minor Planets on Wikipedia which already exist: 1-1000 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meanings_of_minor_planet_names:_1–1000

There are subsequent pages that list over 100,000 names... so I'm thinking we need to become even more creative still.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Danik 2016]

Some o them are quite funny. There is one called Papagena. Yea, I suspect they are running out o names, that´s why they are using numbers and letters.

[Pompey Bum]

There's a Planet Ohio? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! :eek6:

I notice, though, that Fortuna has already been taken. And there's a Georgia named after George II. So maybe we'll end up with a Planet Gidget after all.

P.S. Nice that Beatrix Potter got something.

[Danik 2016]

Puzzling Cosmic Glow Is Caused by Diamond Dust Glamming Up Stars

Diamond dust is responsible for a mysterious glow emanating from certain regions of the Milky Way galaxy, a new study reports.
https://www.space.com/40840-nanodiamonds-mysterious-cosmic-microwave-light.html

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/139455/one-way-to-find-aliens-would-be-to-search-for-artificial-rings-of-satellites-clarke-belts/

This article was interesting. Also about future financial limits on space telescopes.

[Danik 2016]

Interesting article, DW!


Given the practicality of satellites and the fact that humanity has come to rely on them so much, Socas-Navarro considers that a belt of artificial satellites could naturally be considered “technomarkers” (the analogues of “biomarkers”, which indicate the presence of life).

I guess that is the point.

But I think there might be markers of other civilizations which we wouldn´t recognize, because it is not similar to ours.

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/space/could-life-exist-at-alpha-centauri?

"While the other two stars, Alpha Centauri A and B, are both similar to our sun, Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf, which emits much more deadly X-ray radiation. That is bad news for its one known Earth-sized planet, Proxima b. However, observations from Chandra since 2005 show that conditions around the other two stars are about the same or even better than around our own sun. In terms of the radiation, the prospects for life are actually better for habitable zone planets around Alpha Centauri A than our own sun, with lower doses of X-rays than similar planets in our solar system, and only slightly worse around Alpha Centauri B, by a factor of five."

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/space/could-life-exist-at-alpha-centauri?

"While the other two stars, Alpha Centauri A and B, are both similar to our sun, Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf, which emits much more deadly X-ray radiation. That is bad news for its one known Earth-sized planet, Proxima b. However, observations from Chandra since 2005 show that conditions around the other two stars are about the same or even better than around our own sun. In terms of the radiation, the prospects for life are actually better for habitable zone planets around Alpha Centauri A than our own sun, with lower doses of X-rays than similar planets in our solar system, and only slightly worse around Alpha Centauri B, by a factor of five."

[Danik 2016]

http://earthsky.org/space/could-life-exist-at-alpha-centauri?

"While the other two stars, Alpha Centauri A and B, are both similar to our sun, Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf, which emits much more deadly X-ray radiation. That is bad news for its one known Earth-sized planet, Proxima b. However, observations from Chandra since 2005 show that conditions around the other two stars are about the same or even better than around our own sun. In terms of the radiation, the prospects for life are actually better for habitable zone planets around Alpha Centauri A than our own sun, with lower doses of X-rays than similar planets in our solar system, and only slightly worse around Alpha Centauri B, by a factor of five."

I wonder if life would be really better there. A future holiday resort?

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/139478/ceres-has-even-more-organic-molecules-on-it-than-previously-thought/

This was an interesting observation!

"In March of 2015, NASA’s Dawn mission became the first spacecraft to visit the protoplanet Ceres, the largest body in the Main Asteroid Belt. It was also the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet, having arrived a few months before the New Horizons mission made its historic flyby of Pluto. Since that time, Dawn has revealed much about Ceres, which in turn is helping scientists to understand the early history of the Solar System.

Last year, scientists with NASA’s Dawn mission made a startling discovery when they detected complex chains of carbon molecules – organic material essential for life – in patches on the surface of Ceres. And now, thanks to a new study conducted by a team of researchers from Brown University (with the support of NASA), it appears that these patches contain more organic material than previously thought."

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/139478/ceres-has-even-more-organic-molecules-on-it-than-previously-thought/

"In March of 2015, NASA’s Dawn mission became the first spacecraft to visit the protoplanet Ceres, the largest body in the Main Asteroid Belt. It was also the first spacecraft to visit a dwarf planet, having arrived a few months before the New Horizons mission made its historic flyby of Pluto. Since that time, Dawn has revealed much about Ceres, which in turn is helping scientists to understand the early history of the Solar System.

Last year, scientists with NASA’s Dawn mission made a startling discovery when they detected complex chains of carbon molecules – organic material essential for life – in patches on the surface of Ceres. And now, thanks to a new study conducted by a team of researchers from Brown University (with the support of NASA), it appears that these patches contain more organic material than previously thought."

[tailor STATELY]

IMBH's: The trap-door spider of Black Holes - https://newatlas.com/intermediate-black-hole-signature/55088/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-06-19%20143747%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-06-19%20144719%20Toyota%20throws%20its%20hat%20back%2 0in%20the%20supercar%20ring%20with%201000-hp%20GR%20Super%20Sport&utm_content=2018-06-19%20143747%20USA%20Daily%20Basic%202018-06-19%20144719%20Toyota%20throws%20its%20hat%20back%2 0in%20the%20supercar%20ring%20with%201000-hp%20GR%20Super%20Sport+CID_2fbd4b01f95f325c3f385e 533659b134&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Read%20more

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/space/observe-black-holes-destroying-stars

Black holes are surely one of the most incredible phenomena in the universe. Their masses are so concentrated that their gravitational pull is powerful; nothing, not even light, can escape from inside them. We can see black holes only because material being drawn into them – such as stars that wander too close – typically form a rotating disk encircling the hole. Light and other radiation from this disk can be seen by telescopes, and there’s plenty to see. For example, fast-moving jets of material may be ejected from a disk surrounding a supermassive black hole. On June 15, 2018, NASA announced that astronomers have directly imaged the formation and expansion of a fast-moving black hole jet for the first time. Miguel Pérez-Torres, of the Astrophysical Institute of Andalucia in Granada, Spain, and an author on a new study in the peer-reviewed journal Science, described the finding:

[Danik 2016]

Great articles tS and DW. Black holes are one of the mysteries that most seem to fascinate astronomers.
"Black holes are one of the most bizarre cosmic phenomena that we know of. The new observations show how black holes can not only suck material in, but also violently eject it as well, making them an even more compelling target of future study."
http://earthsky.org/space/observe-black-holes-destroying-stars

[Danik 2016]

An asteroid that looks like a rune:

Japan's Hayabusa2 Asteroid Probe Snaps Best Pics Yet of Its Target Ryugu

"The newest asteroid views reveal that Ryugu is a world of dramatic angles, covered with dents and craters, rotating in the opposite direction that Earth and the sun are as the object orbits. According to the newest data, the asteroid rotates fully around, perpendicular to its orbit, every 7.5 hours. [Photos: Japan's Hayabusa2 Asteroid Mission in Pictures]"
https://www.space.com/40948-japan-hayabusa2-probe-nears-asteroid-ryugu.html

[Dreamwoven]

That post from a Japanese website provides a view of the asteroid Hayabusa2. But they must have a programme as well. Or is the article a one-off perhaps?

[Dreamwoven]

It would be useful to know where the asteroid is located. Hayabusa2 is obviously named after the Suzuki motorbike of the same name. But I can't find any more information on it. Hayabusa2 appears in a Wikipedia disambiguation item, but once more it says nothing about where the asteroid is! It could be in the asteroid belt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_belt. I doubt if it is further out still, where New Horizons is currently exploring after having discovered Pluto...

[Dreamwoven]

I mean the Kuiper Belt.

[Danik 2016]

I think these article contains more details:
"162173 Ryugu (provisional designation 1999 JU3), is an asteroid classified as a near-Earth object and as a potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group. It measures nearly one kilometer in diameter and is a dark object of the rare spectral type Cg, with qualities of both a C-type asteroid and a G-type asteroid.

Ryugu is the planned target of the Japanese space probe Hayabusa2, a sample return mission launched in late 2014, and approaching the asteroid in June 2018. It is planned to return material from the asteroid to Earth by the end of 2020."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/162173_Ryugu

I never read about this Apollo group before.

Here is the link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_asteroid

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.space.com/40987-japan-hayabusa2-asteroid-probe-closes-on-ryugu.htm

More information on this probe as it approaches rendezvous with the asteroid.

[Danik 2016]

I get "Link not found" when I try to open the link above, DW!

[Danik 2016]

I get "Link not found" when I try to open the link above, DW!

[Dreamwoven]

Hmm, now I get the same. Sorry about that. I'll try again.

[Dreamwoven]

Try this one?

https://www.space.com/40161-hayabusa2.html

[Dreamwoven]

Try this one?

https://www.space.com/40161-hayabusa2.html

[Danik 2016]

Thanks, DW, this one works. Have you had a look at my links about Ryugu and Hayabusa2?

Sorry for the repetitions above. Thats not me, thats from the site. I have learned to avoid these repetition of posts but sometimes it doesn´t work.

[Dreamwoven]

Same here, though this time I hung on for 10 minutes, but in the end gave up and published the repetition anyway.

I got the link from your post. My post updated yours with more info on the Japanese rendezvous with the satellite.

[Dreamwoven]

Same here, though this time I hung on for 10 minutes, but in the end gave up and published the repetition anyway.

I got the link from your post. My post updated yours with more info on the Japanese rendezvous with the satellite.

[Danik 2016]

Thanks for the informative link, DW!

Never mind the double posts. You don´t need to hang on. The trick is to save your content, and then look at "What is new" to see if your content hasn´t been posted already. If it is there, you can leave the page.

[Dreamwoven]

More information on Hayabusa2. The Japanese are planning to sample several asteroids in the asteroid belt to learn more about asteroids in general. Quite smart to do this!

[Danik 2016]

I guess the Japanese are good scientist. And they also that they have provided the money for the research.

[Danik 2016]

Here is a very recent comparison study on Ryugu:
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2018/0627-hayabusa2-arrived-at-ryugu.html

[Dreamwoven]

The Japanese plans are complex, they are planning to land a series of landing craft on the asteroid. That are still approaching the asteroid, doing it carefully.

Hayabusa 2 has already been providing the first-ever close-up views of this asteroid, which is classified as a near-Earth object. The images show a roughly diamond-shaped body – also being compared to a spinning top – with boulders and craters.

Hayabusa 2 aims to study Ryugu in detail, deposit a European and a series of Japanese landers on the surface and return a sample of ancient asteroid rock back to Earth in 2020. The tweet below simulates your eavesdropping on the craft as its tells its MASCOT lander – designed to hop from place to place on Ryugu’s surface – to wake up!

[Dreamwoven]

Hayabusa 2 has already been providing the first-ever close-up views of this asteroid, which is classified as a near-Earth object. The images show a roughly diamond-shaped body – also being compared to a spinning top – with boulders and craters.

Hayabusa 2 aims to study Ryugu in detail, deposit a European and a series of Japanese landers on the surface and return a sample of ancient asteroid rock back to Earth in 2020. The tweet below simulates your eavesdropping on the craft as its tells its MASCOT lander – designed to hop from place to place on Ryugu’s surface – to wake up!

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/139537/complex-organics-molecules-are-bubbling-up-from-inside-enceladus/

The Cassini orbiter revealed many fascinating things about the Saturn system before its mission ended in September of 2017. In addition to revealing much about Saturn’s rings and the surface and atmosphere of Titan (Saturn’s largest moon), it was also responsible for the discovery of water plumes coming from Enceladus‘ southern polar region. The discovery of these plumes triggered a widespread debate about the possible existence of life in the moon’s interior.

This was based in part on evidence that the plumes extended all the way to the moon’s core/mantle boundary and contained elements essential to life. Thanks to a new study led by researchers from of the University of Heidelberg, Germany, it has now been confirmed that the plumes contain complex organic molecules. This is the first time that complex organics have been detected on a body other than Earth, and bolsters the case for the moon supporting

[Dreamwoven]

https://www.universetoday.com/139537/complex-organics-molecules-are-bubbling-up-from-inside-enceladus/

The Cassini orbiter revealed many fascinating things about the Saturn system before its mission ended in September of 2017. In addition to revealing much about Saturn’s rings and the surface and atmosphere of Titan (Saturn’s largest moon), it was also responsible for the discovery of water plumes coming from Enceladus‘ southern polar region. The discovery of these plumes triggered a widespread debate about the possible existence of life in the moon’s interior.

This was based in part on evidence that the plumes extended all the way to the moon’s core/mantle boundary and contained elements essential to life. Thanks to a new study led by researchers from of the University of Heidelberg, Germany, it has now been confirmed that the plumes contain complex organic molecules. This is the first time that complex organics have been detected on a body other than Earth, and bolsters the case for the moon supporting

[Danik 2016]

Hayabusa 2 has already been providing the first-ever close-up views of this asteroid, which is classified as a near-Earth object. The images show a roughly diamond-shaped body – also being compared to a spinning top – with boulders and craters.

Hayabusa 2 aims to study Ryugu in detail, deposit a European and a series of Japanese landers on the surface and return a sample of ancient asteroid rock back to Earth in 2020. The tweet below simulates your eavesdropping on the craft as its tells its MASCOT lander – designed to hop from place to place on Ryugu’s surface – to wake up!
Well, I don´t know if it is not a bit too early for that. Anyway as long as they experiment only with robots it is mainly a matter of costs I think.

[Danik 2016]

Time for refreshments!
SpaceX Dragon Delivers 'World's Strongest Coffee,' Blueberries & More to Space Station

"A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station early Monday (July 2) carrying nearly 3 tons of supplies for astronauts, including super-caffeinated coffee, Texas blueberries and an extra special treat: ice cream bars.

The Dragon, which astronauts captured using a robotic arm at about 6:54 a.m. EDT (1054 GMT), is carrying a batch of Death Wish Coffee — billed as the "world's strongest coffee" — for astronauts to enjoy in orbit.

"We like to keep our astronauts super-caffeinated because they work harder," Kirk Shireman, NASA's space station program manager, joked just after SpaceX launched the Dragon mission Friday (June 29). Jokes aside, Shireman said he's tried the coffee. It was different and new, and that's really the point behind all the goodies on this flight. [In Photos: SpaceX's Dazzling Dragon Launch to Space Station]

"Food's a huge psychological benefit," Shireman said. "When you're living in a closed environment, you're basically eating the same menu every 8 or 9 days, and then you repeat. So, having something different is a real treat."
https://www.space.com/41054-spacex-dragon-delivers-worlds-strongest-coffee-space-station.html

[Danik 2016]

Important research:
Why bacteria survive in space
Hardy organisms threaten interplanetary contamination
Date:
June 27, 2018
Source:
University of Houston
Summary:
Earth germs could be contaminating other planets. Despite extreme decontamination efforts, bacteria from Earth still manages to find its way into outer space aboard spacecraft. Biologist are working to better understand how and why some spores elude decontamination.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180627160249.htm

[Dreamwoven]

The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 456 2017 November 5

"DAWN MISSION TO CERES EXTENDED
NASA

NASA has authorized a second extension of the Dawn mission at Ceres, the
largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. During
this extension, the spacecraft, which has been orbiting Ceres since 2015
March, will descend to lower altitudes than ever before. The spacecraft
will continue at Ceres for the remainder of its investigation and will
remain in a stable orbit indefinitely after its hydrazine fuel runs out.
The Dawn flight team is studying ways to manoeuvre Dawn into a new
elliptical orbit, which may take the spacecraft to less than 200 km from
the surface of Ceres at closest approach. Previously, Dawn's lowest
altitude was 385 km. A priority of the second Ceres mission extension
is collecting data with Dawn's gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer,
which measures the number and energy of gamma rays and neutrons. That
information is important for understanding the composition of Ceres'
uppermost layer and how much ice it contains. The spacecraft will also
take visible-light images of Ceres' surface with its camera, as well as
measurements of Ceres' mineralogy with its visible and infrared mapping
spectrometer.

The extended mission additionally allows Dawn to be in orbit while Ceres
goes through perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, which will
occur in 2018 April. At closer proximity to the Sun, more ice on Ceres'
surface may turn to water vapour, which may in turn contribute to the
weak transient atmosphere detected by ESA's Herschel space observatory
before Dawn's arrival. Building on Dawn's findings, the team has
hypothesized that water vapour may be produced in part from energetic
particles from the Sun interacting with ice at shallow depths in Ceres'
surface. Scientists will combine data from ground-based observatories
with Dawn's observations to study these phenomena further as Ceres
approaches perihelion."

[Dreamwoven]

The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 456 2017 November 5

"DAWN MISSION TO CERES EXTENDED
NASA

NASA has authorized a second extension of the Dawn mission at Ceres, the
largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. During
this extension, the spacecraft, which has been orbiting Ceres since 2015
March, will descend to lower altitudes than ever before. The spacecraft
will continue at Ceres for the remainder of its investigation and will
remain in a stable orbit indefinitely after its hydrazine fuel runs out.
The Dawn flight team is studying ways to manoeuvre Dawn into a new
elliptical orbit, which may take the spacecraft to less than 200 km from
the surface of Ceres at closest approach. Previously, Dawn's lowest
altitude was 385 km. A priority of the second Ceres mission extension
is collecting data with Dawn's gamma-ray and neutron spectrometer,
which measures the number and energy of gamma rays and neutrons. That
information is important for understanding the composition of Ceres'
uppermost layer and how much ice it contains. The spacecraft will also
take visible-light images of Ceres' surface with its camera, as well as
measurements of Ceres' mineralogy with its visible and infrared mapping
spectrometer.

The extended mission additionally allows Dawn to be in orbit while Ceres
goes through perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, which will
occur in 2018 April. At closer proximity to the Sun, more ice on Ceres'
surface may turn to water vapour, which may in turn contribute to the
weak transient atmosphere detected by ESA's Herschel space observatory
before Dawn's arrival. Building on Dawn's findings, the team has
hypothesized that water vapour may be produced in part from energetic
particles from the Sun interacting with ice at shallow depths in Ceres'
surface. Scientists will combine data from ground-based observatories
with Dawn's observations to study these phenomena further as Ceres
approaches perihelion."

[Dreamwoven]

The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 456 2017 November 5

FRESH FINDINGS FROM CASSINI
NASA

The Cassini spacecraft ended its journey on Sept. 15 with an intentional
plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn, but analysis continues on the
mountain of data the spacecraft sent during its long 'life'. The
spacecraft's Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) returned a lot
of direct measurements of the components in Saturn's upper atmosphere,
which stretches almost to the rings. From those observations, the team
sees evidence that molecules from the rings are raining down onto the
atmosphere. That influx of material from the rings was expected, but
INMS data show hints of ingredients more complex than just water, which
makes up the bulk of the rings' composition. In particular, the
instrument detected methane, a volatile molecule that scientists would
not expect to be abundant in the rings or found so high in Saturn's
atmosphere.

Chief among the questions that scientists hope to answer by using data
from Cassini is the age and origin of the rings. Theoretical modelling
has shown that, without forces to confine them, the rings would spread
out over hundreds of millions of years -- much younger than Saturn
itself. Such spreading happens because faster-moving particles that
orbit closer to Saturn occasionally collide with slower particles on
slightly farther-out orbits. When that happens, some momentum from the
faster particles is transferred to the slower particles, speeding the
latter up in their orbit and causing them to move farther out. The
inverse happens to the faster, inner particles. Previous research had
shown that gravitational tugs from the moon Mimas are solely responsible
for halting the outward spread of Saturn's B ring -- that ring's outer
edge is defined by the dark region known as the Cassini Division. Ring
scientists had thought that the small moon Janus was responsible for
confining the outer edge of the A ring, but a new modelling study shows
that the A ring's outward creep is kept in check by a confederation of
moons, including Pan, Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Janus, Epimetheus and
Mimas.

[Dreamwoven]

The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 456 2017 November 5

FRESH FINDINGS FROM CASSINI
NASA

The Cassini spacecraft ended its journey on Sept. 15 with an intentional
plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn, but analysis continues on the
mountain of data the spacecraft sent during its long 'life'. The
spacecraft's Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) returned a lot
of direct measurements of the components in Saturn's upper atmosphere,
which stretches almost to the rings. From those observations, the team
sees evidence that molecules from the rings are raining down onto the
atmosphere. That influx of material from the rings was expected, but
INMS data show hints of ingredients more complex than just water, which
makes up the bulk of the rings' composition. In particular, the
instrument detected methane, a volatile molecule that scientists would
not expect to be abundant in the rings or found so high in Saturn's
atmosphere.

Chief among the questions that scientists hope to answer by using data
from Cassini is the age and origin of the rings. Theoretical modelling
has shown that, without forces to confine them, the rings would spread
out over hundreds of millions of years -- much younger than Saturn
itself. Such spreading happens because faster-moving particles that
orbit closer to Saturn occasionally collide with slower particles on
slightly farther-out orbits. When that happens, some momentum from the
faster particles is transferred to the slower particles, speeding the
latter up in their orbit and causing them to move farther out. The
inverse happens to the faster, inner particles. Previous research had
shown that gravitational tugs from the moon Mimas are solely responsible
for halting the outward spread of Saturn's B ring -- that ring's outer
edge is defined by the dark region known as the Cassini Division. Ring
scientists had thought that the small moon Janus was responsible for
confining the outer edge of the A ring, but a new modelling study shows
that the A ring's outward creep is kept in check by a confederation of
moons, including Pan, Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Janus, Epimetheus and
Mimas.

[Danik 2016]

Interesting article:

"Building on Dawn's findings, the team has
hypothesized that water vapour may be produced in part from energetic
particles from the Sun interacting with ice at shallow depths in Ceres'
surface."
That seems to me to be the most important aspect of the mission. Another concern is the composition of Ceres.

[Danik 2016]

The SOCIETY for POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 456 2017 November 5

FRESH FINDINGS FROM CASSINI
NASA

The Cassini spacecraft ended its journey on Sept. 15 with an intentional
plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn, but analysis continues on the
mountain of data the spacecraft sent during its long 'life'. The
spacecraft's Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) returned a lot
of direct measurements of the components in Saturn's upper atmosphere,
which stretches almost to the rings. From those observations, the team
sees evidence that molecules from the rings are raining down onto the
atmosphere. That influx of material from the rings was expected, but
INMS data show hints of ingredients more complex than just water, which
makes up the bulk of the rings' composition. In particular, the
instrument detected methane, a volatile molecule that scientists would
not expect to be abundant in the rings or found so high in Saturn's
atmosphere.

Chief among the questions that scientists hope to answer by using data
from Cassini is the age and origin of the rings. Theoretical modelling
has shown that, without forces to confine them, the rings would spread
out over hundreds of millions of years -- much younger than Saturn
itself. Such spreading happens because faster-moving particles that
orbit closer to Saturn occasionally collide with slower particles on
slightly farther-out orbits. When that happens, some momentum from the
faster particles is transferred to the slower particles, speeding the
latter up in their orbit and causing them to move farther out. The
inverse happens to the faster, inner particles. Previous research had
shown that gravitational tugs from the moon Mimas are solely responsible
for halting the outward spread of Saturn's B ring -- that ring's outer
edge is defined by the dark region known as the Cassini Division. Ring
scientists had thought that the small moon Janus was responsible for
confining the outer edge of the A ring, but a new modelling study shows
that the A ring's outward creep is kept in check by a confederation of
moons, including Pan, Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Janus, Epimetheus and
Mimas.

That´s a new idea for me, that Saturns rings are kept in check by moons. The universe has its own balance.

[Dreamwoven]

On a similar theme - Hubble has discovered a dozen previously unknown moons going round Jupiter:

See Astronomy Now.

Astronomers searching for a hypothesised large planet in the outer Solar System far beyond Pluto stumbled across 12 previously undetected moons orbiting Jupiter, pushing the giant planet’s total to a record 79.

[Dreamwoven]

See Astronomy Now

Astronomers searching for a hypothesised large planet in the outer Solar System far beyond Pluto stumbled across 12 previously undetected moons orbiting Jupiter, pushing the giant planet’s total to a record 79.

[Dreamwoven]

On a similar theme - Hubble has discovered a dozen previously unknown moons going round Jupiter:

From: Astronomy Now <[email protected]>
Subject: 12 new moons found orbiting Jupiter
Date: 17 July 2018 at 20:07:44 GMT+2
Reply-To: Astronomy Now <[email protected]>

[Danik 2016]

79 moons is quite a lot. But it definitely takes away the romantic aura of this heavenl body.

[Dreamwoven]

The James Webb Telescope keeps getting postponed. Today the next postponement was announced. See https://www.universetoday.com/139620/nasas-james-webb-space-telescope-will-inspect-the-atmospheres-of-distant-gas-giants/

[Dreamwoven]

So the Hubble Telescope remains the main space telescope we have.

[Dreamwoven]

The James Webb Space telescope will be concentrating on examining variations in planets that have some kind of atmosphere, to ascertain what its potential will be for its suitability to support life.

[tailor STATELY]

Saw a short on the James Webb Space telescope on NOVA last night. It has nearly 2 ounces of gold on its receiver as a coating 600 atoms thick ! Must be nightmare to calibrate.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Danik 2016]

"The James Webb Space Telescope is like the party of the century that keeps getting postponed. Due to its sheer complexity and some anomalous readings that were detected during vibration testing, the launch date of this telescope has been pushed back many times – it is currently expected to launch sometime in 2021."

I think it must be a money matter too. I somehow have the, maybe wrong idea, that NASA is doing less research this year.

[Danik 2016]

Her is a bit more about the 12 Jupiter moons:

https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/jupiters-moons-12-more-found-79-now-known/

[Danik 2016]

Astronaut news!

NASA Will Announce Commercial Crew Astronaut Picks

"Boeing's Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft will soon have their first riders: NASA plans to announce on Aug. 3 the astronauts assigned to the test flights and maiden voyages of the agency's commercial crew program.

NASA will air the event live from Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston starting at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), where NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine will introduce the astronauts. JSC Director Mark Geyer and Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, as well as representatives from SpaceX and Boeing, will also be involved, NASA officials said in a statement. The program will reveal the astronauts assigned to each of the companies' crewed test flights and their first missions to the space station, which will all launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida."
https://www.space.com/41288-nasa-will-announce-commercial-crew-astronauts.html

[desiresjab]

This is pretty exciting stuff. My hair stood up reading it. Especially the analogy with the lake under Antactica which houses several thousand species.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/underground-lake-found-mars-raising-possibility-life-140133549.html

[desiresjab]

The dreaded double post again.

[desiresjab]

What's with all these double posts? They keep occurring because the4 message I get bacfk after trying to post suggests the post did not get through when it actually did get through and was posted.

Does anyone have a suggestion for this?

[Dreamwoven]

I think there is a time-delay working here.

[Dreamwoven]

So you just need patience...

[Dreamwoven]

I know it is not easy...

[Danik 2016]

All you have to do is see if your post has been published in the "what is new session". And never mind if it is double.

[Dreamwoven]

That's a good tip: I always forget to check the "What's new session"

[Danik 2016]

I ignore the recomendation to hang on for 30 seconds. If I see that the post is published I go on with my other activities.

[Dreamwoven]

How did it go?

[Danik 2016]

Fine!

[Danik 2016]

The red moon (just the images):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB0YKH8r5gw

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/space/an-easier-way-to-search-for-life-on-europa

[Danik 2016]

"Europa’s subsurface ocean offers the tantalizing possibility of alien life elsewhere in our solar system. Drilling through the thick ice crust on top of it for a sample would be difficult though. But now new research shows that a future lander might only have to “scratch the surface” to access any organic molecules deposited from the ocean below, in areas where there is less radiation exposure. Looking for life on Europa may actually be easier than we thought."

Well, there is Europa and Europa! :D

[Danik 2016]

Life on the Moon? Maybe long ago
"Today, the Moon is about as inhospitable to life as it gets. The little water that’s there is trapped in ice or rock. It’s otherwise dry and airless, fluctuating in temperature by hundreds of degrees anywhere the sun shines. But long ago? That’s an entirely different story.

New research published in Astrobiology suggests that the Moon may have been shockingly habitable in the past during at least two periods — shortly after the Moon formed, and when volcanic activity was at its highest."
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/07/life-on-the-moon

[Dreamwoven]

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/08/why-did-it-take-us-so-long-to-send-a-mission-to-pluto?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=News0_ASY_180810_000000_Final%20C&utm_content=&recipientID=NjQ5MTMzNjkzMTMwS0%20&spMailingID=35521790&spUserID=NjQ5MTMzNjkzMTMwS0&spJobID=1340873880&spReportId=MTM0MDg3Mzg4MAS2

It was to do with the voyager crafts who first discovered Pluto. Before that we knew nothing about another planet going around the sun.

[Danik 2016]

"The Voyager program can only be called an unparalleled success; still, Pluto remained totally unexplored. Interest in a Pluto mission was high, and to fill this gap in our knowledge the so-called Pluto Fast Flyby mission was proposed in 1992. This mission, which was also known as Pluto Express and later Pluto Kuiper Express, was designed to incorporate two space probes that would be sent to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. Sadly, this mission was ultimately cancelled in 2000 after almost a decade of planning. Two other similar proposals (Mariner Mark II and Pluto 350) were also cancelled along the way. This left Pluto completely unexplored years after Voyager 1 could have beamed back detailed images and information about what was at that time still considered the Sun’s ninth planet."

Pluto is decidedly low profile. I wonder how he will welcome visitors, once they start coming.
Glad to see you are back, DW!

[Danik 2016]

Direct Evidence of Water Ice at the Moon’s Poles

"After more than a decade of tantalizing but inconclusive hints, new research shows convincingly that patches of water ice lie exposed on the floors of many permanently shadowed lunar craters.

The quest to find water on the Moon is a scientific pendulum that has swung widely over the centuries. Long ago we used "seas" to denote the Moon's dark, roughly circular areas, believing them to be reflections of Earth's oceans. The telescope changed that fanciful notion, and then our thinking was totally reset when the first Apollo samples proved bone dry and lacked any minerals consistent with a moist Moon. Another return swing occurred when reanalysis of Apollo samples found substantial amounts water trapped in tiny beads of volcanic glass."
https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/direct-evidence-of-water-ice-at-the-moons-poles/

[Dreamwoven]

Report calls for direct images of Earth-like exoplanets
By Paul Scott Anderson in SPACE | September 16, 2018
A congressionally-mandated report recommends that NASA lead efforts to directly image possibly Earth-like exoplanets, using upcoming technologies. A major goal is finding habitable – maybe even inhabited – worlds.


The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) in Washington, D.C., just released a new congressionally mandated report that aims to guide scientists’ study of exoplanets in the years to come. Among other things, the report urges NASA to lead a comprehensive direct imaging mission – using a new advanced space telescope – to study Earth-like exoplanets orbiting stars similar to our sun. The report is called Exoplanet Science Strategy.

The past several years have seen an explosion in the number of known exoplanets, or planets orbiting distant suns. At the moment, there are 3,779 confirmed planets, plus an additional 2,737 candidates awaiting verification. How many have been directly imaged? Fewer than two dozen, according to Wikipedia’s list of directly imaged exoplanets.

Many of the discovered exoplanets orbit close to their stars, and thus images are exceedingly difficult to image. Many are gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, but others are smaller and rocky, like Earth. These rocky worlds would be the most difficult to image, but they’re of particular interest to astronomers and scientists, since at least some of them have the potential to be habitable and maybe even host life of some sort.

When scientists speak of Earth-like exoplanets, they’re basically referring to rocky planets of a similar size to Earth. With the limited information we currently have about these worlds, it’s still unknown how many of them have actual similarities to Earth, in terms of water, atmosphere, composition, habitability and so on. Obtaining that information is the next step in exoplanet research. From the report:

The past decade has delivered remarkable discoveries in the study of exoplanets. Hand-in-hand with these advances, a theoretical understanding of the myriad of processes that dictate the formation and evolution of planets has matured, spurred on by the avalanche of unexpected discoveries. Appreciation of the factors that make a planet hospitable to life has grown in sophistication, as has understanding of the context for biosignatures, the remotely detectable aspects of a planet’s atmosphere or surface that reveal the presence of life.

[Danik 2016]

Glad to see you back, DW! Hope you are well.

Very interesting article. I found the link which also contains a video and illustrations:
http://earthsky.org/space/congressionally-mandated-report-urges-nasa-to-directly-image-earth-like-exoplanets

"The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) in Washington, D.C., just released a new congressionally mandated report that aims to guide scientists’ study of exoplanets in the years to come."
http://earthsky.org/space/congressionally-mandated-report-urges-nasa-to-directly-image-earth-like-exoplanets

As it is a national academy I suppose that the guide is intended for US scientists.

[Dreamwoven]

Thanks, Danik. I spent 2 weeks in Gävle Hospital and still feel rough! !Hopefully will improve slowly over the coming month..

[Dreamwoven]

I was re-reading through my Swedish posts to Populär Astronomi. Some of them are quite good, so I plan to publish them here, together with Wikipedia English translations.

[Dreamwoven]

I did not know that Sweden had its own space agency pages. You can find the English pages here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esrange. This is quite well-developed, so a read through will be helpful to orientating yourself.

Sweden is also developing its own Esrange organisations and infrastructure.

[Dreamwoven]

A lot is happening in astronomy. China is investigating the dark side of the moon, the side we never see because the Moon always faces the Earth. China has launched a probe to study this. The probe will travel across the Moonscape The Moon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_1

New Horizons continues its exploration of the area beyond Pluto and is now far out in the vast Kuiper belt. See this update for more info-:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Horizons

[Dreamwoven]

The successor to the Hubble space telescope will be the James Webb telescope, postponed launch dates have resulted in several delays and the latest estimate for launch is now 2021. See https://www.space.com/43047-edwin-hubble-universe-expanding.html.

See also https://www.space.com/21925-james-webb-space-telescope-jwst.html

[Dreamwoven]

Israel have just yesterday launched a probe to the Moon, it landed on the dark side of the moon, much like China did with their probe, although the Chinese probe was deliberately aimed at the dark side of the moon and is exploring there, moving about.

[Danik 2016]

Noticed just now that you have reactivated the thread.

That are fine news about the dark side of the moon.

I had to put in this video about the first collective image of a black hole. I hope some black hole fans are still around:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpYcCI9uzKo

[tailor STATELY]

Sad to hear: not an auspicious landing... but a move forward in private investment exploration.

Thank you for the link Danik 2016... very informative.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Danik 2016]

Thanks, Tailor!

[Danik 2016]

Just to remember, 50 years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=hxPbnFc7iU8

[Danik 2016]

"In 2018, astronomers discovered what could be an exomoon, estimated to be the size of Neptune. It was found in orbit around a gigantic gas planet 8,000 light-years from Earth. But the scientists behind this discovery, hesitant to confirm that the new find is an exomoon due to some of its peculiarities, say more observation is needed. Their findings were published in the journal Science Advances.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/17/world/ploonets-moon-astronomy-mystery-scn-trnd/index.html

[tailor STATELY]

Hope their science proves out. The word "ploonet" grates on me for some reason.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Danik 2016]

Yes, moon planet sounds better.

[tailor STATELY]

I've been giving it some thought and researched a bit and found some words that might be adapted better:

From https://www.theintrepidguide.com/travel-words-that-describe-wanderlust-perfectly/#.XTIk9SrQi00

Perhaps a Dérivet

from #9...
Dérive (n)
Origin: French

Definition: A spontaneous and unplanned journey where the traveller leaves their life behind allows themselves to be guided by the landscape and architecture.

Literally translated as “drift”, dérive is the idea that even if you drift you will end up on the right path. This could describe life in general, but it also describes small journeys. When you’re wandering through a new city and you just happen to wander on a path that takes you to great discoveries.

Anyone else ?

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Danik 2016]

That would be a kind of celestial flaneur. The best I can think of is wander-moon.

[tailor STATELY]

I love this: "celestial flaneur"... a poem in this vein: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44382/the-flaneur by Oliver Wendell Holmes

In Maori "wander-moon" would be "ara-marama" (according to google translate) which might be a poetic touch.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Danik 2016]

"A black, round spot,—and that is all;
And such a speck our earth would be
If he who looks upon the stars
Through the red atmosphere of Mars
Could see our little creeping ball
Across the disk of crimson crawl
As I our sister planet see."

Very much to the point, Tailor, specially when you think of the Mars generation. And "ara-marana" is the winner up to now.

https://futurism.com/19188-2

[Danik 2016]

I had to post this. Though 31 years away it may be related to earth in some future:

Astronomers have discovered a 'super-Earth' just 31 light-years away. But, is it habitable or glacial?

"A potentially habitable 'super-Earth' has been discovered just 31 light-years away from our solar system, astronomers announced Wednesday."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/31/super-earth-potentially-habitable-planet-found-31-light-years-away/1884130001/

[tailor STATELY]

Exciting news. We need a catalog of hundreds of "Goldilocks" type planets so we can colonize the stars in an "Interstellar" way; 31 LY is a long ways away with our current understanding and application of physics.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Danik 2016]

What are Goldie Locks planets?

[tailor STATELY]

My bad, I misspelled "Goldilocks"... Goldilocks Planets are "Just Right" for human habitation (from "Goldilocks and the Three Bears")

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Danik 2016]

Thanks, tailor. I haven´t read the book, but I guess it will take a good time until they find habitable planets that are more around the corner.

[tailor STATELY]

Spitzer, Chandra, and Keck (Oh my)... M87/et al:

https://www.livescience.com/supermassive-black-hole-weird-flare.html?fbclid=IwAR3Tluj2XFA5oKQ2k6TaugGsEzmHJv ARHKBhoq52Yj3B8J2y6Dh6tWqc7R0

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Danik 2016]

Very curious, Tailor, thanks for posting! A bit early to know what it means. But with those powerful telescopes they also see phenomena they didn´t see before.

[tailor STATELY]

Just learned this today from one of my news feeds (How-To-Geek)...


The Sweden Solar System (SSS) is the world’s largest model of our planetary system: http://www.swedensolarsystem.se/en/

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Danik 2016]

Thanks Tailor for reviving this thread. Very up to date this Planetarium, even Oumuamua is represented here.

This thread reminds me strongly of DW. Hope you are well DW!

[tailor STATELY]

Yes, I thought of him as well...

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Danik 2016]

Just an overwiew:

Top 10 Astronomy News Stories of 2019
Our pick for the biggest astronomy news story of the year is the first-ever image of a black hole “shadow.”
https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/top-10-astronomy-news-stories-2019/

[Danik 2016]

Just registering the passage of Comet Neowise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz27yrQTQZU

[tailor STATELY]

Beautiful comet... I haven't gone out to see for myself but have seen a number of photos on fb.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Danik 2016]

They spotted another older (or younger?) Milky Way:

"Astronomers spy a Milky Way–like galaxy in very early universe

Astronomers imagine the early universe as a wild and lawless place, with chaotic fledgling galaxies full of swirling gases and frantic star formation. So an image released today comes as a surprise: a young galaxy, spied when the universe was just 10% of its current age, that looks remarkably like our calm and well-ordered Milky Way.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/08/astronomers-spy-milky-way-galaxy-very-early-universe"

[tailor STATELY]

Fixed hot link above: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/08/astronomers-spy-milky-way-galaxy-very-early-universe

"12 billion light-years of space" away... very mature now in real time.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Danik 2016]

Thanks for fixing the link, Tailor :). I should have tested it

[Danik 2016]

Registering Nobel 2020 in physics winners for extraordinary discoveries on black holes: Reinhard Genzel, Andrea Ghez and Sir Roger Penrose

2020 Nobel Prize in physics awarded for work on black holes
https://theconversation.com/2020-nobel-prize-in-physics-awarded-for-work-on-black-holes-an-astrophysicist-explains-the-trailblazing-discoveries-147614

[Danik 2016]

Meet Sagittarius A the first photographed and videod black hole:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRCD-zx5QFA

[tailor STATELY]

Incredible sequence !

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[free]

Sent to universe:

Chuck Berry - Johnny B Goode

[tailor STATELY]

I know ! So cool :)

More stuff from NASA on the Golden Record contents... https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[free]

I know ! So cool :)

More stuff from NASA on the Golden Record contents... https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

I could not open your link. Sometimes I wonder ...

:boxing_smiley:

[tailor STATELY]

Just checked the link... OK in my little corner of the world... must be a regional thing...

Here's a wikipedia link that might be more accessible... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Record#:~:text=The%20Voyager%20Gold en%20Records%20are,form%20who%20may%20find%20them.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[tailor STATELY]

Appropriate for yesterday's Valentine's Day... https://www.space.com/black-hole-vibing-valentines-day

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Danik 2016]

:D Well, I never..but very appropriate revival of this thread opened and maintained for so many years by Dreamwoven.