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Black Holes are Firing Beams of Particles, Changing Targets Over Time
Black holes seem to provide endless fascination to astronomers. This is at least partly due to the extreme physics that takes place in and around them, but sometimes, it might harken back to cultural touchpoints that made them interested in astronomy in the first place. That seems to be the case for the authors of a new paper on the movement of jets coming out of black holes. Dubbing them “Death Star” black holes, researchers used data from the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) and the Chandra X-ray Observatory to look at where these black holes fired jets of superheated particles. And over time the found they did something the fiction Death Star could also do – move.
The black holes at the center of the study were supermassive ones at the centers of galaxies. Importantly, they were all surrounded by hot gases that were visible to Chandra’s X-ray sensors. The jets themselves were clearly visible in the data, but there was other important information hiding in it—namely, pockets free from gas, which had been pushed away by the jets.
Each black hole has particle jets in two opposing directions. As those jets push away gas and dust, they open up a pocket in space surrounding the black hole. These are visible in the X-ray data due to a lack of signal from those regions. The researchers hypothesized that the jets should align with the pockets of free space they create.
Black holes have been known to spin for a while – as Fraser discusses.However, they found that, in at least 6 of the 16 black holes they were studying, the beams had completely changed direction such that the pockets of missing gas no longer aligned with the jets currently emitted from the black hole. In some cases, these changes added up to a 90-degree shift in the direction the jets were facing. What’s even more impressive, they seemed to move on a relatively small time scale, with estimates ranging from 1 to 10 million years. That is a blink of an eye for a black hole over 10 billion years old.
So why is this important? Cosmologists theorize that these disruptive jets put an upper limit on the number of stars that form in the host galaxy of the black holes. They don’t let the gas and dust surrounding them cool down enough to start to form stars and rocky planets. So, while it isn’t clear if the jets of particles themselves are roasting any formed planets like the actual Death Star, it is clear that moving the jets around would cause an even more massive disruption in the star-forming process. In theory, this would mean that galaxies containing these moving jets would have fewer stars, but that is a study for another paper.
Understanding exactly why this is happening might also need to be researched in another paper, but the authors have a few theories. Matter orbiting around the black hole and falling into it could cause the black hole to rotate, causing the jets it emits to move with it.
How a black hole forms could hold the key to understanding why its jets move over time. Fraser discusses how that happens.Another explanation is that the gas is moving around the galaxy without being impacted by the beams. In essence, the “cavities” of no gas in a galaxy are remnants of other cosmological forces and have nothing to do with the black hole beams. However, the authors don’t think this is likely because the galaxy mergers that could be one source of causing the “sloshing” happened in the galaxies that had the moving beams and those that didn’t. One would expect the cavities to be present in both types if they were caused by galaxies merging rather than moving jets of particles.
As always, there is more science to do. Thanks to the wonderful world of video streaming, a whole generation of new scientists inspired by the same Death Star could do it.
Learn More:
Chandra – Spotted: ‘Death Star’ Black Holes in Action
Ubertosi et al. – Jet reorientation in central galaxies of clusters and groups: insights from VLBA and Chandra data
UT – It’s Confirmed. M87’s Black Hole is Actually Spinning
UT – The Milky Way’s Black Hole is Spinning as Fast as it Can
Lead Image:
Image from Chandra’s X-Ray and VLBA’s radio data set of a black hole’s jets with “cavities” surrounding it.
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Bologna/F. Ubertosi; Inset Radio: NSF/NRAO/VLBA; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk
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Will a 'rare' lineup of planets be visible to the naked eye in the night sky on June 3?
NASA Launches Small Climate Satellite to Study Earth’s Poles
The first of a pair of climate satellites designed to study heat emissions at Earth’s poles for NASA is in orbit after lifting off atop Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand at 7:41 p.m. NZST (3:41 a.m. EDT) on Saturday.
The agency’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission consists of two shoebox-size cube satellites, or CubeSats, that will measure the amount of heat Earth radiates into space from two of the coldest, most remote regions on the planet. Data from the PREFIRE mission will help researchers better predict how Earth’s ice, seas, and weather will change in a warming world.
“NASA’s innovative PREFIRE mission will fill a gap in our understanding of the Earth system – providing our scientists a detailed picture of how Earth’s polar regions influence how much energy our planet absorbs and releases,” said Karen St. Germain, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division in Washington. “This will improve prediction of sea ice loss, ice sheet melt, and sea level rise, creating a better understanding of how our planet’s system will change in the coming years — crucial information to farmers tracking changes in weather and water, fishing fleets working in changing seas, and coastal communities building resilience.”
Ground controllers successfully established communications with the CubeSat at 8:48 EDT. The second PREFIRE CubeSat will set off on its own Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 in the coming days. Following a 30-day checkout period during which engineers and scientists will make sure both CubeSats are working normally, the mission is expected to operate for 10 months.
At the heart of the PREFIRE mission is Earth’s energy budget – the balance between incoming heat energy from the Sun and the outgoing heat given off by the planet. The difference between the two is what determines the planet’s temperature and climate. A lot of the heat radiated from the Arctic and Antarctica is emitted as far-infrared radiation, but there is currently no detailed measurement of this type of energy.
The water vapor content of the atmosphere, along with the presence, structure, and composition of clouds, influences the amount of far-infrared radiation that escapes into space from Earth’s poles. Data collected from PREFIRE will give researchers information on where and when far-infrared energy radiates from the Arctic and Antarctic environments into space.
“The PREFIRE CubeSats may be small, but they’re going to close a big gap in our knowledge about Earth’s energy budget,” said Laurie Leshin, director, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Their observations will help us understand the fundamentals of Earth’s heat balance, allowing us to better predict how our ice, seas, and weather will change in the face of global warming.”
The mission’s CubeSats each carry an instrument called a thermal infrared spectrometer, which use specially shaped mirrors and sensors to measure infrared wavelengths. Miniaturizing the instruments to fit on CubeSats necessitated downsizing some parts while scaling up other components.
“Our planet is changing quickly, and in places like the Arctic, in ways that people have never experienced before,” said Tristan L’Ecuyer, PREFIRE’s principal investigator, University of Wisconsin, Madison. “NASA’s PREFIRE will give us new measurements of the far-infrared wavelengths being emitted from Earth’s poles, which we can use to improve climate and weather models and help people around the world deal with the consequences of climate change.”
NASA’s Launch Services Program, based out of the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in partnership with NASA’s Earth System Science Pathfinder Program is providing the launch service as part of the agency’s Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) launch services contract.
The PREFIRE mission was jointly developed by NASA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. NASA JPL manages the mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate and provided the spectrometers. Blue Canyon Technologies built the CubeSats and the University of Wisconsin-Madison will process the data the instruments collect. The launch services provider is Rocket Lab USA Inc. of Long Beach, California.
To learn more about PREFIRE, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/prefire/
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Karen Fox / Elizabeth Vlock
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / elizabeth.a.vlock@nasa.gov
Jane J. Lee / Andrew Wang
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0307 / 626-379-6874
jane.j.lee@jpl.nasa.gov / andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov
Share Details Last Updated May 25, 2024 EditorJennifer M. DoorenLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms'Alien' heard us all scream 45 years ago today. Here's what it was like on opening day
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NASA TACP Team Visits with UCF Students, Faculty
1 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Representatives of NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program (TACP) pose with students and faculty from the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando who are participating in the agency’s University Leadership Initiative (ULI). From left: Ramees Khaleel Rahman; John Cavolowsky, NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program director; Marc Heinrich; Andrew Provenza, NASA’s University Innovation deputy project manager for tchnology; Connor Wall; Lucas Cavalcante; Andrew Menendez; Jayanta Kapat, principal investigator of UCF’s ULI project; Claire-Phonie Silaire; Koushik Datta, NASA’s University Innovation project manager; Marcel Otto, UCF’s ULI project manager.
Representatives of NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program (TACP) recently shared information about their work to develop innovation and advance aviation and space exploration with students at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
Here are some images of the event showing NASA team members interacting with students and faculty during the April Town Hall.
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Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Composites Consortium team members gathered during May 2024 at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia for a technical review of all tasks in progress for the Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing project.
NASA and its partners in the Advanced Composites Consortium gathered at the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, May 7-9.
Team members from 20 organizations across the country recently discussed progress on all technology development tasks underway in NASA’s Hi-Rate Composite Aircraft Manufacturing (HiCAM) project. The project is competing manufacturing approaches that reduce labor, equipment, and tooling costs without compromising strength or safety.
Results will help determine which technologies will have the greatest impact on the manufacturing rate and allow downselect for the demonstration phase of the project beginning this fall.
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Share Details Last Updated May 24, 2024 EditorJim BankeContactJim Bankejim.banke@nasa.gov Related TermsAnother Giant Antarctic Iceberg Breaks Free
On May 20th, 2024, an iceberg measuring 380 square kilometers (~147 mi2) broke off the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica. This event (A-83) is this region’s third significant iceberg calving in the past four years. The first came In 2021, when A-74 broke off the ice sheet, while an even larger berg named A-81 followed in 2023. The separation of this iceberg was captured by two Earth Observation satellites – the ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-1 and NASA’s Landsat 8 satellites – which provided radar imaging and thermal data, respectively.
The iceberg has been officially designated A-83 by the U.S. National Ice Center, which assigns names based on the Antarctic quadrant where the iceberg was first sighted. Since Brunt is located in the eastern Weddell Sea, its bergs receive an ‘A’ designation while the numbers are assigned sequentially. Routine monitoring of ice shelves by satellites allows scientists to track the effects of Climate Change in remote regions like Antarctica. In particular, scientists can monitor how ice shelves retain their structural integrity in response to changing ice dynamics and increases in atmospheric and ocean temperatures.
Brightness temperature data from the U.S. Landsat 8 mission. Credit: ESA/USGSThis calving event (like its predecessors) was caused by the weakening of the ice at the McDonald Ice Rumples and the extension of the ‘Halloween Crack’ into the ice shelf. The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission relies on radar imaging to return images throughout the year, regardless of whether it’s day or night. This is especially important during the winter when there is virtually no sunlight for six months (known as Antarctic Night). Missions like Landsat 8 rely on thermal imaging to help scientists characterize ice sheet thickness.
As the image above shows, the thinner ice appears warmer since it is closer in temperature to open water, while thicker continental ice appears darker. The temperature differences between the ocean and ice sheets also help scientists identify where the calving line is. Fortunately, the iceberg does not threaten the British Antarctic Survey’s Halley VI Research Station, an international research platform that observes Earth, atmospheric, and space weather. While it is still located on the Brunt Ice Shelf, the station was relocated in 2017 to the Caird coast after the outer ice shelf was deemed unstable.
The ongoing loss of Antarctic ice is one of the clearest indications of rising global temperatures and a dire warning. In addition to contributing to rising sea levels, coastal flooding, and extreme weather, the loss of polar ice leads to additional solar radiation being absorbed by Earth’s oceans, causing temperatures to rise further. Monitoring the polar ice sheets is vital to adaptation and mitigation strategies, as spelled out in the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6).
Further Reading: ESA
The post Another Giant Antarctic Iceberg Breaks Free appeared first on Universe Today.
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Fish are Adapting to Weightlessness on the Chinese Space Station
Four zebrafish are alive and well after nearly a month in space aboard China’s Tiangong space station. As part of an experiment testing the development of vertebrates in microgravity, the fish live and swim within a small habitat aboard the station.
While the zebrafish have thus far survived, they are showing some signs of disorientation. The taikonauts aboard Tiangong – Ye Guangfu, Li Cong, and Li Guangsu – have reported instances of swimming upside down, backward, and in circular motions, suggesting that microgravity is having an effect on their spatial awareness.
The zebrafish were launched aboard Shenzhou-18, which carried them, as well as a batch of hornwort, to orbit on April 25, 2024. The aim of the project is to create a self-sustaining ecosystem, studying the effects of both microgravity and radiation on the development and growth of these species.
As a test subject, zebrafish have several advantages. Their short reproductive and development cycle, and transparent eggs, allow scientists to study their growth quickly and effectively, and their genetic makeup shares similarities with humans, potentially offering insights that are relevant to human health. The zebrafish genome has been fully sequenced, and for these reasons zebrafish are commonly used in scientific experiments on Earth. Seeing how these well-studied creatures behave in such an extreme environment may have a lot to tell us about the life and development of vertebrates across species while exposed to microgravity.
The developmental stages of a zebrafish (danio rerio). Ed Hendel, Wikimedia Commons.The taikonauts aboard Tiangong perform feeding and water sampling at regular intervals, and cameras allow scientists on the ground to monitor the aquarium.
This is not the first time fish have been to space. Starting in 2012, a Japanese research project brought medaka and zebrafish to the International Space Station for study in a similar aquatic habitat. The results of those studies revealed a decrease in bone density in the fish within just ten days. Human astronauts experience similar effects in orbit, though not on such quick time scales, and they can be mitigated somewhat through rigorous exercise routines.
Earlier fish in space include a mummichog aboard Skylab 3 in 1973 (and again in 1975 aboard Apollo-Soyuz), and zebrafish aboard the Soviet space station Salyut 5 in 1976. A variety of fish reached orbit aboard space shuttles in the 1990s, too.
The health and sustainability of animal life in space is a key area of research for human spaceflight efforts. If humans are to travel on long-term space missions, like those required to reach Mars, then understanding the biological implications of space travel is vital. These zebrafish are the latest in a long line of experiments undertaken in this pressing area of research.
Learn More:
Gong Zhe “Aquatic antics: Fish exhibit disorientation in China Space Station.” CGTN.
The post Fish are Adapting to Weightlessness on the Chinese Space Station appeared first on Universe Today.
NASA Engages in Artemis Accords Workshop to Advance Exploration
NASA participated in the second international face-to-face workshop this week among Artemis Accords signatories, which featured space officials from two dozen nations focused on advancing the principles for the safe, peaceful, and responsible exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond. This year’s workshop was hosted by CSA (Canadian Space Agency) at their headquarters in Montreal May 21-23.
Since the Artemis Accords were created nearly four years ago, 39 countries have joined the United States in a voluntary commitment to engage in transparent and responsible behavior in space. The accords are meant to push humanity’s reach farther safely and sustainably into space than ever before and build on more than 23 years of continuous human presence aboard the International Space Station.
“The Artemis Accords represent a shared vision for humanity’s exploration of space —one that transcends borders and fosters unity in our quest to expand our understanding of the cosmos,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, who participated virtually to jointly kick-off the workshop with CSA President Lisa Campbell. “The days of going to space alone are long over. We are in a new age where nations globally go to space to both explore deeper and gain better understanding about our place in the universe.”
During workshop, participants from 24 countries engaged in robust discussions and conducted a tabletop exercise centered on further defining and implementing key tenets, including considering views on non-interference, interoperability, and scientific data sharing among nations.
“The Artemis Accords are an important part of humanity’s future in space and Canada is very much committed to these principles. As we explore beyond Earth, we must do so in ways that are safe and sustainable, for the benefit of humanity and future generations. It was an honour to welcome brilliant minds from around the world to discuss how to conduct present and future space exploration activities safely, sustainably, and transparently through the application of the Artemis Accords,” said Campbell.
For example, during the workshop participants delved more deeply into topics such as non-interference and interoperability. These discussions build upon prior work such as an initial set of mission data parameters agreed to by the signatories last October. The data parameters identify necessary information about planned lunar surface missions including expected launch dates, the general nature of activities, and the landing location.
Sharing such information will support safer lunar operations by ensuring signatories respective missions do not inadvertently interfere with each other. Transparency and communication are keys to peaceful exploration, and the Artemis Accords signatories are committed to sharing information about their activities and outcomes through the United Nations of Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) and other appropriate channels.
The commitments undertaken under the Artemis Accords, and the significant efforts by the signatories to advance implementation of these principles, are essential to the success of the Artemis campaign for NASA and its partners, as well as for the success of the safe and sustainable exploration activities of the other Accords signatories.
As the Artemis Accords workshop concluded May 23, participants reaffirmed their commitment to upholding the principles outlined in the Artemis Accords and to continue working collaboratively. The first workshop was hosted by Poland in 2023. Additional countries are expected to sign the Artemis Accords in the weeks and months ahead. Signatory principals will gather again for face-to-face discussions on the margins of the International Astronautical Congress in October.
The United States and seven other nations were the first to sign the Artemis Accords in 2020, which identified an early set of principles that promote the beneficial use of space for all humanity, grounded in the Outer Space Treaty and other agreements including the Registration Convention, the Rescue and Return Agreement, as well as best practices and norms of responsible behavior that NASA and its partners have supported, including the public release of scientific data.
For more information about the Artemis Accords, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords/
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Amber Jacobson / Jennifer Dooren
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202-358-1600
amber.c.jacobson@nasa.gov / jennifer.m.dooren@nasa.gov
Massive new NASA exoplanet catalog unveils 126 extreme and exotic worlds
Marvel at the Variety of Planets Found by TESS Already
The hunt for new exoplanets continues. On May 23rd, an international collaboration of scientists published the NASA TESS-Keck Catalog, an effort to publicly release over 9000 radial velocity measurements collected by NASA’s space-based Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the ground-based Keck Observatory, located in Hawai’i, and the Automated Planet Finder, located at the Lick Observatory in California. An accompanying analysis of these validated 32 new planetary candidates and found the masses of 126 confirmed planets and candidates with a wide range of masses and orbits. Let’s dig into some details.
Radial velocity (RV) measurements are a backbone of exoplanet hunting. Telescopes collect data on how a star “wobbles” by checking for a red-shift (if it’s moving toward the Earth) or blue-shift (if it’s moving away) based on the gravitational pull of an exoplanet orbiting it. If the data presents a repeating pattern, the scientists know they have a likely exoplanet candidate on their hands.
To calculate the planet’s rotational period, scientists use the frequency of the changes in light from the star. They can estimate a planet’s orbital period based on how quickly the star cycles through the red and blue shifts they would expect from a complete planetary orbit. Unfortunately, since telescope time is limited, most of the exoplanets found so far using this method have much shorter orbital periods than the Earth.
Fraser discusses the end of TESS’s first mission.Calculating a planet’s mass is also possible using the RV method – simply by calculating the planet’s gravitational pull as it is either directly behind or in front of the star. The magnitude of the respective red or blue shift can be directly tied to the planet’s mass, causing the gravitational pull.
Some truly unique worlds are hiding in the data, with two that stood out enough to be mentioned in a press release from the Keck Observatory. One is an overweight version of a “sub-Neptune”,” while another is a rapidly orbiting “super-Earth”.”
A “sub-Neptune” is a category of planet that is a gas giant slightly smaller than Neptune, the smallest gas giant in our solar system. A planet known as TOI-1824 falls into this category but has a unique weight – it’s 19 times as massive as Earth despite being only about 2.6 times its size. That is an extremely dense planet and well outside of the range of other typical sub-Neptunes, which typically vary between 6 and 12 times the mass of our own planet.
TESS has had plenty of data updates over its lifetime – Fraser discusses one here.A planet in the dataset that is closer in size to our own is TOI-1798c. From the mass perspective, it’s about the same size as Earth. However, it is so close to its parent’s star that it orbits it every 12 hours. This puts it in the category of an “Ultra-short period” (USP) orbit. Typically, USPs are tidally locked to their star and blasted with massive amounts of radiation. Estimates put the solar radiation it receives from its host star at 3000 times that received by the Earth. It doesn’t sound like an enjoyable vacation spot.
Doubtless, other exoplanets are hiding in the trove of data released as part of this paper. And each of those unique systems warranted their own published paper as well. As humanity begins to collect more and more discovered exoplanets, more strange and exciting new worlds will be found. It’s a crazy galaxy out there, and we’re only just starting to explore it.
Learn More:
Keck Observatory – New Catalog Showcases a Diverse Exoplanet Landscape with Strange, Exotic Worlds
Polanski et al. – The TESS-Keck Survey. XX. 15 New TESS Planets and a Uniform RV Analysis of All Survey Targets
UT – TESS Has Found Thousands of Possible Exoplanets. Which Ones Should JWST Study?
UT – Six Planets Found Orbiting an Extremely Young Star
Lead Image:
Artist’s rendering of some of the exoplanets contained in the TESS-Keck Catalog.
Credit – W. M. Keck Observatory / Adam Makarneko
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