Astronomy

A surprisingly low amount of methane explains how WASP-107 b grew into the inflated world we see today.

Scientists are diving into the mystery of the missing storm in Earth's magnetotail, which refers to our planet's magnetic field tail.

SpaceX just fueled up its giant Starship rocket, checking another box ahead of the vehicle's fourth test flight.

The auroral displays that wowed observers around the world two weekends ago may have been among the strongest such light shows since record-keeping began.

Sending tourists to space is still relatively novel in the grand scheme of humanity’s journey to the stars. Dennis Tito took the first-ever paid trip in 2001, but since then, plenty of others have journeyed to the heavens. Increasingly, they’ve done so via systems developed by private companies. On Sunday, May 19th, Blue Origin, originally founded by Jeff Bezos to pursue his dreams of humanity’s future in space, successfully launched its seventh crewed mission – this time containing six first-time astronauts, including one that waited a long time for his day in space.

The astronauts’ professions and ages varied widely—from a twenty-something male venture capitalist to a retired female CPA, they came from different walks of life and various stages of life. One owns a brewery in France, while another is a trained stunt pilot. Most impressively, this was the opportunity for Ed Dwight to go into space.

He’s a former Air Force Captain who was the first black person ever to be selected for the Aerospace Research Pilot School, which he reached after being a test pilot in the Air Force for eight years. After making it through the first cut, Captain Dwight wasn’t selected to join NASA’s astronaut program, and many modern-day observers think that was simply down to the racism prevalent in the country back then.

Blue Origin promotional video for the NS-25 mission.
Credit – Blue Origin YouTube Channel

After leaving the military, he went on to have a successful life as an entrepreneur and became a well-regarded sculptor. Many of his themes focused on black culture, and he has over 100 pieces on show. He was also eventually made an honorary member of the US Space Force back in 2020.

Most importantly, he had never made it to space until now. Did we mention he’s also 90 years old and now, officially, the oldest person to have ever been sent to space? He and his fellow travelers—Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Carol Schaller, Kenneth Hess, and Thotakura Gopichand—spent 10 minutes in space. If you’re interested in watching the process, there’s a YouTube video that tracks the whole mission—the launch takes place near 1:22 into the video.

Blue Origin video tracking the successful NS-25 mission – the company’s seventh crewed flight.
Credit – Blue Origin YouTube Channel

Congratulations to Blue Origin and the Shepard rocket team on another successful mission. This surely won’t be their last.

Learn More:
Blue Origin – Blue Origin Completes 25th Mission to Space with Six Crew Onboard
UT – Blue Origin’s New Shepard Completes 24th Flight; New Glenn Hopefully on the Horizon
UT – Finally! Blue Origin’s New Glenn Goes Vertical on the Launch Pad
UT – Blue Origin Reveals its Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle: Blue Ring

Lead Image:
A New Shepard launching.
Credit – Blue Origin

The post New Shepard’s 25th Launch Carries Six to the Edge of Space and Back appeared first on Universe Today.

These samples are uniquely important for return to Earth for further study.

On May 10th, 2024, people across North America were treated to a rare celestial event: an aurora visible from the Eastern Seabord to the Southern United States. This particular sighting of the Northern Lights (aka. Aurora Borealis) coincided with the most extreme geomagnetic storm since 2003 and the 27th strongest solar flare ever recorded. This led to the dazzling display that was visible to residents all across North America but was also detected by some of Ocean Networks Canada‘s (ONC) undersea sensors at depths of almost three kilometers.

ONC, an initiative of the University of Victoria supported by the Government of Canada, is one of the country’s major research facilities. Its network includes cabled observatories along the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic coasts of Canada and the Southern Ocean. that supply continuous power and internet to scientific instruments, cameras, and over 12,000 ocean sensors. According to a statement released on May 15th, ONC instrument platforms on Canada’s west and east coasts recorded the temporary distortion of Earth’s magnetic field at depths up to 2.7 km (1.68 mi) under the ocean.

Ocean Networks Canada infrastructure map. ONC operates world-leading observatories in the deep ocean, coastal waters, and the land of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic coasts of Canada and the Southern Ocean. Credit: UVic/ONC

The disturbances triggered the movement of compasses, which the ONC uses to orient its Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) instruments that measure ocean currents. The most significant magnetic shift was detected by the ONC NEPTUNE cabled observatory off the coast of Vancouver Island. A compass belonging to this observatory, at a depth of 25 meters (82 ft) at the Folger Passage site, shifted within a range of +30 to -30 degrees. These magnetic disturbances were discovered during data quality control checks, which the ONC routinely performs to ensure their sensors work.

ONC data specialist Alex Slonimer was completing a daily check on the Ocean 3.0 Data Portal in late March when he first noticed the anomaly. Last week’s much larger solar storm reinforced the observation. Slonimer noticed that the peaks in compass headings were closely correlated to the peaks in the visible activity in the aurora. “I looked into whether it was potentially an earthquake, but that didn’t make a lot of sense because the changes in the data were lasting for too long and concurrently at different locations,” said Slonimer in a UVic News release. “Then, I looked into whether it was a solar flare as the sun has been active recently.” 

Professor Justin Albert of UVic’s Department of Physics and Astronomy welcomes this news and sees great potential for subsea detection of solar storms:

“The next two years will be the peak of the 11-year solar cycle. After a decade of relative inactivity, aurora events like this past weekend are likely to become more frequent over the next couple of years, although solar variability makes precise prediction of such events impossible. ONC’s network might provide a very helpful additional window into the effects of solar activity on the Earth’s terrestrial magnetism.”

Further Reading: UVIC

The post That Recent Solar Storm Was Detected Almost Three Kilometers Under the Ocean appeared first on Universe Today.

Ninety-year-old Ed Dwight got to live out his long-delayed spaceflight dream with a suborbital launch this weekend. Here's what he had to say about it.

The CPORT algorithm, commonly used to estimate the risk that a child pornography offender will offend again, hasn’t been validated for use in the U.S.

There are all kinds of different ways to measure biodiversity. But if we are to arrest its alarming decline, biologists must agree on a method that best captures how it changes over time

There are all kinds of different ways to measure biodiversity. But if we are to arrest its alarming decline, biologists must agree on a method that best captures how it changes over time

Nighttime, ground-level view of the Apollo 10 space vehicle on Pad B, Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center. This photograph of the 363-feet tall Apollo/Saturn V stack was taken during pull back of the mobile service structure. The Apollo 10 crew was astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young, and Eugene A. Cernan.

Our galaxy series continues with elliptical galaxies. Unlike other types, these are large, smooth with very few distinguishing features. They’re filled with red and dead stars, a clue to their evolution.

For the first time, a quantum sensor has been used to record magnetic signals from the heart of a living animal, opening the door for future uses of quantum technology in medical settings

For the first time, a quantum sensor has been used to record magnetic signals from the heart of a living animal, opening the door for future uses of quantum technology in medical settings

Experiments show that effect doesn’t always follow cause in the weird world of subatomic particles, offering fresh clues about the quantum origins of space-time

Experiments show that effect doesn’t always follow cause in the weird world of subatomic particles, offering fresh clues about the quantum origins of space-time

The rare Bornean flat-headed frog was thought to be the only frog with no lungs, but we now know it has very, very tiny ones

The rare Bornean flat-headed frog was thought to be the only frog with no lungs, but we now know it has very, very tiny ones

Electrical stimulation on the back during rehabilitation exercises causes lasting improvements in people’s ability to use their hands.