It is clear to everyone that astronomy at all events compels the soul to look upwards, and draws it from the things of this world to the other.

— Plato

Astronomy

What Will We See in the Sky During Totality?

Sky & Telescope Magazine - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 10:58am

Most of our time will be focused on Sun during the minutes of totality on April 8th, but consider tearing yourself away for a few seconds to put it all in context.

The post What Will We See in the Sky During Totality? appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Categories: Astronomy

I toured NASA's Mission Control ahead of Boeing's 1st Starliner astronaut flight. Here's what it was like (exclusive)

Space.com - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 10:00am
Reporters toured NASA's Johnson Space Center last week, getting a look at the rooms from which the first crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner will be controlled. And we got to watch a SpaceX launch, too.
Categories: Astronomy

SOHO reaches 5000 comets

ESO Top News - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 10:00am
Image:

A citizen scientist digging through data from the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory has found the mission’s 5000th comet.

The tiny comet – indicated between the vertical lines in the inset – belongs to the ‘Marsden group’, named after the British astronomer Brian Marsden, who first recognised the group based on SOHO observations. Marsden group comets are thought to be pieces shed by the much bigger Comet 96P/Machholz, which SOHO observes as it passes close to the Sun every 5.3 years.

This 5000th comet was discovered by Hanjie Tan, an astronomy PhD student in Prague, Czechia. Hanjie has been comet hunting since he was just 13 years old, discovering over 200 comets since 2009.

Hanjie explains how he felt upon spotting this comet in the data: “The Marsden group comets represent only about 1.5% of all SOHO comet discoveries, so finding this one as the 5000th SOHO comet felt incredibly fortunate. It's really exciting to be the first to see comets get bright near the Sun after they've been travelling through space for thousands of years.”

Launched in 1995, SOHO studies the Sun from its interior to its outer atmosphere, providing unique views and investigating the cause of the solar wind. During the last three decades, SOHO has become the most prolific discoverer of comets in astronomical history.

The telescope’s prowess as a comet-hunter was unplanned, but turned out to be an unexpected success. With its clear view of the Sun’s surroundings, SOHO can easily spot a special kind of comet called a sungrazer – so-called because of their close approach to the Sun.

Like most who have discovered comets in SOHO’s data, Hanjie Tan is a volunteer citizen scientist, searching for comets in his free time with the Sungrazer Project. This NASA-funded citizen science project, managed by Karl Battams from the US Naval Research Lab, grew out of the huge number of comet discoveries by citizen scientists early into SOHO’s mission.

“Prior to the launch of the SOHO mission and the Sungrazer Project, there were only a couple dozen sungrazing comets on record – that’s all we knew existed,” said Karl Battams, who is the principal investigator for the Sungrazer Project. “The fact that we’ve finally reached this milestone – 5000 comets – is just unbelievable to me.”

SOHO is a cooperative effort between ESA and NASA. Mission control is based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. SOHO’s Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment, or LASCO, which is the instrument that provides most of the comet imagery, was built by an international consortium, led by the US Naval Research Lab.

Full story

SOHO’s 4000th comet

SOHO’s 3000th comet

 

[Image description: A bright orange circle covers almost the whole image, with a smaller disc in the middle. Out of the smaller disc protrude wisps of the Sun's atmosphere. To the upper right of the inner circle, an inset zooms in on a small square, with vertical lines surrounding a faint smudge.]

Categories: Astronomy

Strong Magnetic Fields Swirl Near Milky Way’s Black Hole

Sky & Telescope Magazine - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 9:12am

Astronomers have detected twisted, orderly magnetic fields near the event horizon of Sagittarius A*.

The post Strong Magnetic Fields Swirl Near Milky Way’s Black Hole appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Categories: Astronomy

New view of our galaxy's black hole reveals a swirling magnetic field

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 9:00am
The black hole at the centre of our galaxy, known as Sagittarius A*, has been captured in polarised light to reveal its magnetic field
Categories: Astronomy

New view of our galaxy's black hole reveals a swirling magnetic field

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 9:00am
The black hole at the centre of our galaxy, known as Sagittarius A*, has been captured in polarised light to reveal its magnetic field
Categories: Astronomy

New view of the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way hints at an exciting hidden feature (image)

Space.com - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 9:00am
Astronomers have for the first time imaged the powerful magnetic fields that dwell around the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, Sagittarius A*.
Categories: Astronomy

Radar journey to centre of Hera’s asteroid with Juventas CubeSat

ESO Top News - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 8:47am

A small, shoebox-sized spacecraft delivered to ESA’s Hera mission this week promises to make a giant leap forward in planetary science. Once deployed from the Hera spacecraft at the Didymos binary asteroid system, the Juventas CubeSat perform the first radar probe within an asteroid, peering deep into the heart of the Great-Pyramid-sized Dimorphos moonlet.

Categories: Astronomy

Most accurate clock ever can tick for 40 billion years without error

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 8:00am
The record for the most accurate clock has been broken in an experiment with strontium atoms almost as cold as absolute zero, and it is twice as accurate as any predecessor
Categories: Astronomy

Most accurate clock ever can tick for 40 billion years without error

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 8:00am
The record for the most accurate clock has been broken in an experiment with strontium atoms almost as cold as absolute zero, and it is twice as accurate as any predecessor
Categories: Astronomy

Total solar eclipse 2024: Live updates

Space.com - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 6:27am
Stay up-to-date with the latest news on the total solar eclipse that will be visible across North America on April 8, 2024.
Categories: Astronomy

AI chatbots are improving at an even faster rate than computer chips

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 6:00am
The large language models behind AI chatbots are developing so rapidly that after eight months, a model only needs half the computing power to hit the same benchmark score - which is much faster than the rate at which computer chips improve
Categories: Astronomy

AI chatbots are improving at an even faster rate than computer chips

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 6:00am
The large language models behind AI chatbots are developing so rapidly that after eight months, a model only needs half the computing power to hit the same benchmark score - which is much faster than the rate at which computer chips improve
Categories: Astronomy

Will the total solar eclipse on April 8 be the most watched ever?

Space.com - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 6:00am
With over 43 million people living in the path of totality, we look at how this eclipse measures up compared to previous years and the upcoming 'eclipse of the century'.
Categories: Astronomy

Mars Express celebrates 25 000 orbits

ESO Top News - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 6:00am

ESA’s Mars Express recently looped around Mars for the 25 000th time – and the orbiter has captured yet another spectacular view of the Red Planet to mark the occasion.

Categories: Astronomy

Mucus Saves Your Life Every Day

Scientific American.com - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 6:00am

The slimy substance is so powerful that doctors once made hog stomach mucus milkshakes to treat ulcers.

Categories: Astronomy

Vegetation gets a boost with data from space

ESO Top News - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 4:40am

When it comes to predicting what our climate will be like in the future, vegetation matters. Plants and trees exert a powerful influence over both the energy cycle and the water cycle. And, crucially, it is estimated that vegetation draws down well over three billion tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year – this is equivalent to a third of greenhouse-gas emissions from human activity.

Accounting for vegetation growth is clearly important in the complex climate puzzle – and the release of a new satellite dataset is set to help climate modellers with the challenge of evaluating the impacts of climate change.

Categories: Astronomy

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APOD - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 4:00am

Comet Pons-Brooks has quite a tail to tell.


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

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APOD - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 4:00am

What does a supernova remnant sound like?


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

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APOD - Wed, 03/27/2024 - 4:00am

Here is what the Earth looks like during a


Categories: Astronomy, NASA