Astronomy

Chemists are hard at work figuring out how to make tattoos last—and ensure they’re safe.

Image: Drone test of planetary landing radar

Video: 00:02:54

Proba-3 is ESA’s – and the world’s – first precision formation flying mission. A pair of satellites will fly together relative to the Sun so that one casts a precisely-controlled shadow onto the other, to create a prolonged solar eclipse in orbit. In the process the mission will open up the Sun’s faint surrounding coronal atmosphere for sustained study. Normally this corona is rendered invisible by the brilliant face of the Sun, like a firefly next to a bonfire.

Due for launch together this autumn, the two Proba-3 satellites will fly 144-m apart for up to six hours at a time to create these eclipses. Beside its scientific interest, this experiment will be a perfect method to demonstrate the precise positioning of the two platforms. It will be enabled using a novel combination of guidance technologies. In this video the Proba-3 team details the mission concept.

Find out more here.

Access the related broadcast quality video material.

A new collaboration between ESA and Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands has got passengers thinking about space. Digital screens throughout the airport featuring stunning  satellite images of Earth have been stopping travellers in their tracks. That's because these pictures from space are part of a fun Where on Earth? travel quiz.

Production of Galileo Second Generation satellites advances at full speed after two independent Satellite Critical Design Review boards have confirmed that the satellite designs of the respective industries meet all mission and performance requirements. This achievement is another crucial milestone hit on time in the ambitious schedule to develop the first 12 satellites of the Galileo Second Generation fleet.

A small trial has found that electrical stimulation of arm muscles while people do physiotherapy exercises leads to more improvement

A small trial has found that electrical stimulation of arm muscles while people do physiotherapy exercises leads to more improvement

Many astronomy-interested people know of the Hyades and the Pleiades. They’re star clusters in the Taurus constellation. They’re two out of a handful of star clusters that are visible to the unaided eye under dark sky conditions.

It turns out that these clusters, along with more than 150 other nearby clusters, all originated in only three massive star-forming regions.

Open star clusters like Hyades and Pleiades contain hundreds of stars that are loosely bound together by mutual gravitation. They have fewer stars than globular clusters and aren’t as tightly packed. They also aren’t spherical like globulars; instead, they follow the galactic plane. They’re usually found in the Milky Way’s spiral arms rather than the halo where globulars reside.

Eventually, open clusters lose their gravitational bond with one another and are called stellar associations. They still move through space together and are then known as a moving group. Their movement allows astronomers to understand their origins.

In a new research article in Nature, a team of researchers traced the origins of 155 young star clusters within about 3,500 light years from the Sun. The article is titled “Most nearby young star clusters formed in three massive complexes.” The authors are from institutions in Austria, Germany, and the United States.

“Young star clusters are excellent for exploring the history and structure of the Milky Way. By studying their movements in the past and thus their origin, we also gain important insights into the formation and evolution of our galaxy,” says João Alves from the University of Vienna, co-author of the study.

The researchers used Gaia data and spectroscopic observations of star clusters to trace their histories back over 60 million years. They uncovered three families of star clusters, each one associated with one of three star-formation regions. “This indicates that the young star clusters originate from only three very active and massive star-forming regions,” says Alves.

The researchers began with a sample of 272 clusters. They found that between 30 and 50 million years ago, almost 60% of their trajectories converged in three locations. This showed that “a large fraction of clusters in the solar neighbourhood share common origins.”

The three families of clusters are named after their most prominent members: Collinder 135 (Cr135), Messier 6 (M6), and Alpha Persei (?Per). The clusters contain 39, 34, and 82 clusters, respectively. Collectively, they contain 57% of the 272 clusters in the sample and 59% of the 48,514 stars in the sample.

This figure from the research shows the all-sky positions of the clusters’ stars along with some optical images of some of their members. The Alpha Persei members are more spread across the sky because they’re closest to the Sun. (Interactive Version Here.)Image Credit: Swiggum et al. 2024.

“These findings offer a clearer understanding of how young star clusters in our galactic neighbourhood are interconnected, much like members of a family or ‘bloodlines’,” says lead author Cameron Swiggum, a doctoral student at the University of Vienna. “By examining the 3D movements and past positions of these star clusters, we can identify their common origins and locate the regions in our galaxy where the first stars in these respective star clusters formed up to 40 million years ago.”

The team’s research uncovered more than just the history of star clusters. They also worked out that over 200 supernova explosions must have occurred in the three star-forming regions to eject all of these clusters. But supernova explosions are extraordinarily powerful and 200 of them release enough energy to shape their environment on a grand scale.

The authors say that these explosions created a gigantic bubble in the ISM. “This could explain the formation of a superbubble, a giant bubble of gas and dust with a diameter of 3,000 light-years around the Cr135 family,” Swiggum said in a press release.

Our Solar System is also inside one of these bubbles, called the Local Bubble. Inside the bubble the gas is thinner and hotter than outside it. “The Local Bubble is probably also linked to the history of one of the three star cluster families,” adds Swiggum. “And it has likely left traces on Earth, as suggested by measurements of iron isotopes (60Fe) in the Earth’s crust.”

This figure from the research shows three star cluster families and other local features on a dust map. The dust is shown in grey, and two prominent dust features, the Vela Molecular Ridge and the Radcliffe Wave, are labelled. The Sun is the yellow dot, and the Local Bubble is shown in blue. (Interactive Version Here.) Image Credit: Swiggum et al. 2024.

It’s a truism to say that finding connections between things creates meaning. The stars in the sky aren’t just “there.” There’s a long story to be told by unravelling what we see as static. This research is another example of the powerful Gaia spacecraft’s ability to find relationships between stars and weave an evidence-based tale of their histories. And we’re somewhere in the middle of it all.

“We can practically turn the sky into a time machine that allows us to trace the history of our home galaxy,” says João Alves. “By deciphering the genealogy of star clusters, we also learn more about our own galactic ancestry.”

The post The Nearby Star Clusters Come from Only Three Places appeared first on Universe Today.

Starfield might have disappointed some at launch, but in typical Bethesda fashion, it's continuing to expand and giving more power to the players.

More than 200 Chinese scientists gathered in Beijing recently for a seminar about the geology of the Chang'e 6 mission's landing area. Samples from the site are scheduled to arrive on Earth on June 25.

It’s been known for years that there are large quantities of water ice locked up in the Martian poles. Around the equator however it is a barren dry wasteland devoid of any surface ice. Recent observations of Mars have discovered frost on the giant shield volcanoes but it only appears briefly after sunrise and soon evaporates. Estimates suggest that 150,000 tons of water cycle between the surface and atmosphere on a daily basis. 

The polar caps of Mars have been the subject of many studies in particular, since the discovery of water ice in 2008. They are permanent but vary in size with the seasons. During the winter and in complete darkness, the surface chills allowing gas in the atmosphere to deposit on the surface as great bit chunks of carbon dioxide ice. Then the poles are exposed to sunlight again the frozen carbon dioxide sublimes straight back into a gas. 

Mars’ north polar ice cap, captured by NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Aside from the carbon dioxide, the poles are mostly composed of frozen water ice. The carbon dioxide deposits are relatively thin compared to the water ice, only about 1metre thick over the north pole. The south pole has a more permanent carbon dioxide cap about 8 metres thick. 

A team of planetary scientists led by Adomas Valantinas, a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University who led the work as a PhD student at the University of Bern have detected water frost on top of the Tharsis volcanoes on Mars. These volcanoes are among the tallest on the planet and indeed one of them; Olympus Mons is the tallest in the solar system. 

Olympus Mons, captured by the ESA’s Mars Express mission from orbit. Credit: ESA/DLR/FUBerlin/AndreaLuck

The frost was discovered using high-resolution images from the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) which is just one of the instruments on the ESA Trace Gas Orbiter. The discovery was validated using further independent observations from the High Resolution Stereo Camera on Mars Express Orbiter. 

Visualisation of the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter aerobraking at Mars. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab.

This is the first time water frost has been discovered in the vicinity of the planet’s equator calling for a rethink of the planets climate dynamics. Until now, we thought it was quite unlikely for frost to form around the equator due to the levels of solar radiation and the thin atmosphere. The conditions mean the surface temperatures can reach reasonably high temperatures, too high for frosts to form even at the top of the volcanoes. 

The study seems to show that frost is only fleeting present for a few hours after sunrise before the high temperatures cause it to evaporate in the solar radiation. It is important to note that even though the frost is only a very thin later (just about the width of a human hair) it is thought that there is something like 150,000 tons of water that cycles between the surface and the atmosphere every day. 

The frost the team have discovered deposits in the caldera of the volcanoes. These hollows are the openings at the summit of the volcano where eruptions have previously exploded out through the crust. It is now thought that there are unusual microclimates at the tops of the volcanoes which allows the thin layers of frost to form. 

The discovery means we need to model how the frost forms to get a real understanding of where water might exist on Mars, how it moves and how it interacts with the atmosphere. 

Source : In a significant first, researchers detect water frost on solar system’s tallest volcanoes

The post Frost Seen on Olympus Mons for the First Time appeared first on Universe Today.

The JWST has proven itself to be a "supernova discovery machine" by finding 80 exploding stars in the infant universe, including the most distant and earliest supernova ever seen.

Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders, who took the iconic “Earthrise” photo of our home planet from the Moon in 1968, was killed on June 7, 2024. Anders was flying alone in his Beechcraft T-34 Mentor aircraft  when the plane plunged into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. Anders was 90.

“At every step of Bill’s life was the iron will of a pioneer, the grand passion of a visionary, the cool skill of a pilot, and the heart of an adventurer who explored on behalf of all of us,” said NASA Administrator Bill in Nelson in a statement. “His impact will live on through the generations. All of NASA, and all of those who look up into the twinkling heavens and see grand new possibilities of dazzling new dreams, will miss a great hero who has passed on.”

A video of the accident taken by a bystander who witnessed the crash appears to show Anders failing to pull up at the bottom of a loop, with the plane impacting the water at high speed.

His family issued a statement that they were devastated. “He was a great pilot and we will miss him terribly,” they said.

After becoming a fighter pilot in the Air Force, Anders was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1964. He was backup pilot for the Gemini XI and Apollo 11 flights, and he was lunar module pilot for Apollo 8, the first mission with humans on board to enter lunar orbit.  

During the first three orbits around the Moon, the Apollo 8 crew of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders kept the Apollo Command Module’s windows pointing down toward the surface of the Moon while they hurriedly filmed and photographed the craters and mountains below. One of their main tasks was reconnaissance for future Apollo landings.

The Earth rising over the Moon’s surface, as seen by the Apollo 8 mission. Credit: NASA

On the fourth swing around from the Moon’s farside, Borman rolled the spacecraft to a different orientation, pointing the windows toward the horizon to get a navigational fix. A few minutes later, Anders spotted a blue and white object appearing over the Moon’s horizon, a heart-catching sight of planet Earth, a “grand oasis in the vast loneliness of space,” as Lovell later described it.

“Oh my God, look at that picture over there!” Anders said. “There’s the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!” Anders called for Lovell to quickly grab some color film.

Apollo 8’s flight was a bold and unexpected move by NASA to send a crew to lunar orbit, but the audacious flight in December 1968 set the stage for the Apollo 11 Moon landing seven months later. Apollo 8 also capped off a turbulent year on Earth, following the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, the escalating Vietnam War and anti-war protests that led to violence, and an intensifying Cold War with the USSR. After the Apollo 8 crew returned home, a well-wisher sent a telegram to the crew, saying that they had saved 1968.

Apollo 8 crew. Credit: NASA

The Earthrise photo has been called one of the most important images ever taken.

On Earth Day in 2008, Anders reflected on the famous picture that’s become one of the most frequently used images ever. Anders said even though it wasn’t in the original flight plan to take pictures of Earth, it didn’t take much time for him to realize how striking this view of the Earth was, and quickly snapped the celebrated image.

“I instantly thought it was ironic; we had come all this way to study the moon, and yet it was this view of the Earth that was one of the most important events for Apollo,” said Anders in an interview on NASA TV.

“There are basically two messages that came to me,” Anders said of the picture. “One of them is that the planet is quite fragile. It reminded me of a Christmas tree ornament. But the other message to me, and I don’t think this one has really sunk in yet, is that the Earth is really small. We’re not the center of the universe; we’re way out in left field on a tiny dust mote, but it is our home and we need to take care of it.”

Anders said it didn’t take long after the crew had returned home for this photograph to become iconic for the environmental movement.

Earthrise in the original orientation that was seen by the Apollo 8 astronauts. Image credit: NASA

“Back in the 60’s, it gave us a sense that the world was a place we all shared together,” Anders said. “We couldn’t see any boundaries from space.”

Anders left NASA in 1969 to become the executive secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council. In 1973, he was appointed to the Atomic Energy Commission, where he led all nuclear and non-nuclear power research and development. Later, he was named the U.S. chairman of the technology exchange program for nuclear fission and fusion power with the Soviet Union.

Very saddened about the passing of my friend, USAF Major Gen Bill Anders. Bill, you will always be an inspiration and you will be missed. My deepest condolences to Bill’s family during this difficult time. pic.twitter.com/ccDf8Pblbv

— Dr. Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) June 8, 2024

In 1975, Anders was named the first chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. At the end of his term, he was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to Norway, a position he held until 1977.

Anders served on several organizational boards and joined General Electric as its vice president and the general manager of its nuclear products division and later the general manager of GE’s aircraft equipment division. Then he became vice chairman of General Dynamics and, in 1991, its chairman and chief executive officer. He retired as CEO in 1993 and the left the company in 1994.

Anders retired from the Air Force reserves in 1988 with the rank of major general.

In retirement, Anders  and his family founded the Heritage Flight Museum in Washington state, which features a variety of aircraft, several antique military vehicles, a library and many artifacts donated by veterans, according to the museum’s website.

The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA are investigating the crash that killed Anders.

Bill Anders forever changed our perspective of our planet and ourselves with his famous Earthrise photo on Apollo 8. He inspired me and generations of astronauts and explorers. My thoughts are with his family and friends. https://t.co/duYdSbSZ0C

— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) June 8, 2024

“Bill Anders forever changed our perspective of our planet and ourselves with his famous Earthrise photo on Apollo 8,” said retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, who is now a US Senator from Arizona Senator.  “He inspired me and generations of astronauts and explorers. My thoughts are with his family and friends.”

The post Remembering Apollo 8 Astronaut Bill Anders appeared first on Universe Today.

So far, scientists have found around 34,000 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) that could serve as humanity’s stepping stone to the stars. These balls of rock and ice hold valuable resources as we expand throughout the solar system, making them valuable real estate in any future space economy. But the 34,000 we know of only make up a small percentage of the total number of asteroids in our vicinity – some estimates theorize that up to 1 billion asteroids larger than a modern car exist near Earth. A project from the Trans Astronautics Corp (TransAstra), an asteroid-hunting start-up based in California, hopes to find the missing billion.

The Sutter Ultra project is funded by NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts and received a Phase II grant in 2021. Before we get into what Sutter Ultra is, it’s best to understand why we have such a hard time finding the hundreds of millions of small asteroids in our vicinity.

To put it bluntly, the problem is twofold—brightness and speed. Most ground-based observatories have long exposure times, allowing them to capture brighter but more stationary objects. NEAs, on the other hand, zip by the planet quickly and typically are so faint that the long exposure times on most observatories fail to see them at all. Since they move multiple pixels during each exposure, they don’t appear bright enough to capture in this kind of survey.

Presentation at the end of NIAC Phase II by TransAstra President Joel Sercel.
Credit – TransAstra YouTube Channel

That’s where Sutter Ultra comes in. It’s named after the Sutter Mill discovery that started the California gold rush of 1849 (and unfortunately, not after our own resident astrophysics expert – Paul Sutter). However, TransAstra’s idea is significantly more technologically advanced than the prospector’s pan used in that discovery. Sutter Ultra would be three separate systems, each containing over one hundred 30 cm telescopes. They would fly in coordination in a type of orbit called a heliocentric Psuedo Geocentric Distant Retrograde (PRO) oribt. This would allow all three spacecraft to regularly focus on Earth and triangulate their readings in a way that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.

Once the data has been captured, TransAstra has developed an algorithm to track individual asteroids on the paths they could travel throughout the image. They also released a neat explainer video that details the process they use and how it’s superior to existing asteroid tracking techniques.

The company’s calculations show that it is by far superior. Their write-up for the Sutter Ultra project estimates that the program could find 300x the total number of NEAs humanity has ever found in only its first year of operation. That would garner an astonishing 10 million asteroid finds every year, or 19 every minute of every day. And yet, it would still only be 1% of the total number of NEAs out there.

NEAs are some of the most dangerous objects in the solar system, as Fraser explains.

If that wasn’t enough reason to be interested in the project, Sutter Ultra can also be used to track space debris, which is becoming an ever-increasing problem as most and most junk starts to fill the orbital space. Plenty of companies have developed business models around deorbiting space junk or zapping it with lasers, but if it lives up to the hype, Sutter Ultra would be by far the best way to track it.

For now, the company is tempering its ambitions with a three-step approach, which would make the $400 million potential price tag a bit more digestible for funding agencies. TransAstra has a ground system in place as part of its NIAC Phase II project. They’re currently focusing on defining a “Sutter Alpha” mission utilizing a CubeSat platform as a proof of concept. A Sutter Survey mission would then follow with three crafts in LEO with four telescopes each.

That means timing for the Sutter Ultra mission is still unclear, and the end goal of the original grant is in jeopardy. But even with a scaled down version that is more palatable to funding agencies, TransAstra is leading the charge on surveying systems for nearby asteroids. If they are lucky they might just strike more gold than even the Californian 49ers could dream of.

Learn More:
Joel Sercel – Sutter Survey: Telescope Breakthrough Enables MicroSats to Map Accessible NEOs
UT – A New Space Telescope will Map the Universe and Help Protect the Earth from Asteroids
UT – Next-Generation Radar Will Map Threatening Asteroids
UT – What are Asteroids?

Lead Image:
Artist’s depiction of a Sutter demonstration mission.
Credit – Sercel / TransAstra Corporation / Anthony Longman

The post A Mission To Find 10 Million Near Earth Asteroids Every Year appeared first on Universe Today.

NASA's fleet of robotic Martian explorers measured the effects of May's dramatic solar storms, experiencing the equivalent of undergoing about 30 chest X-rays all at once.

The Intersex Progress Pride flag flies beneath the American flag on the center pole with the California state and NASA flag at either side. The Intersex Progress Pride flag flies for the first time at any NASA center in front of the Ames Administration Building, N200, to commemorate Pride Month.

Millions of hand-size Joro spiders are moving up the East Coast. Don’t panic

India's Aditya-L1 spacecraft imaged the sun a week after it unleashed the rare G5 geomagnetic storm that sparked some of the strongest auroras in centuries.

Planet Earth is in for some amazing geomagnetic storms in the next year or so. That’s because it’s in a period of peak activity called “solar maximum” (solar max, for short). But, what happens at other planets, especially Mars, during this time? Mars mission scientists got a sneak peek at the effect of a major solar storm thanks to one hitting the Red Planet on May 20th, 2024.

During that event, the Curiosity Mars rover’s Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) measured a very sharp increase in radiation during the solar storm. At the same time, the navigation camera captured views of a wind gust stirring up surface dust. The radiation count was the highest the instrument has seen since the rover landed on Mars. In space, the Mars Odyssey orbiter’s star camera also experienced a shower of solar particles. The bombardment knocked the camera out for a short time. During its recovery time, the spacecraft continued collecting data. That included information about the x-rays, gamma rays, and other charged particles streaming from the Sun.

NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft also collected data about the bombardment from the May 20th event. “This was the largest solar energetic particle event that MAVEN has ever seen,” said MAVEN Space Weather Lead, Christina Lee of the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory. “There have been several solar events in past weeks, so we were seeing wave after wave of particles hitting Mars.”

The purple color in this video shows auroras on Mars’ nightside. The ultraviolet instrument aboard NASA’s MAVEN orbiter detected them between May 14 and 20, 2024. The brighter the purple, the more auroras that were present.  Credit: NASA/University of Colorado/LASP What Protects Planets from the Solar Storm?

There’s not much we as a species can do to protect our planet from a solar storm. However, we’re lucky—we have a strong magnetic field to ward off the worst solar outbursts. Mars is not so lucky. It doesn’t have as much of a magnetic field to ward off the deadly radiation. Space weather experts estimated that if someone had been standing on the Martian surface during that storm, they would have been irradiated with the equivalent of 30 chest X-rays in just a short time.

That storm, and others have sparked auroras on Mars (as well as on Earth). A storm earlier in May sparked off major auroral displays on Earth on May 10-11, but otherwise didn’t severely damage any vital systems. Solar storms, however, do offer a good chance for scientists to track the Sun’s outbursts as they rampage across the Solar System. The data they get gives more insight into solar activity. However, the data from the Mars missions also provides a chilling look at just what kind of risky environment Mars is for future explorers.

Sheltering from the Solar Storm on Mars

Here on Earth, if we have plenty of notice of a solar outburst, people can get ready for the inevitable damage a solar storm can cause. For example, satellite operators can prepare their assets to protect them. NASA can advise astronauts in space to take shelter and other precautions. Ground-based power and telecommunications operators have plans in place to protect their systems from the tremendously strong ground currents that get stirred up by solar storms.

But, what if you’re on your way to Mars when a storm hits? Or, you’re actually ON Mars? Those questions occupy a lot of study time at NASA and other space agencies. People in space, whether orbiting Earth or en route to the Moon or Mars can take shelter inside their craft. In those cases, they have to depend on hardened shelters to keep them safe. But, on Mars, things are different. There’s no strong magnetic field to ward off the strong particles from the Sun. Inhabitants will have to take shelter, according to Don Hassler of Southwest Research Institute’s Solar System Science and Exploration Division.

“Cliffsides or lava tubes would provide additional shielding for an astronaut from such an event. In Mars orbit or deep space, the dose rate would be significantly more,” Hassler said.“I wouldn’t be surprised if this active region on the Sun continues to erupt, meaning even more solar storms at both Earth and Mars over the coming weeks.”

What Happened on May 20th?

The storm that Curiosity recorded began with an X12-class solar flare. That’s one of the strongest solar flares recorded and, if it had been aimed at Earth, could have caused some major damage. As it turns out, Mars was in the pathway of that flare and a subsequent coronal mass ejection. It launched a cloud of charged particles through space. When the outburst from the flare and the CME arrived at Mars, it triggered auroral displays on the Martian night side. At the same time, the outbursts showered the surface with charged particles. If someone had been on Mars and working outside a shelter, they would have been dosed with the equivalent of 30 chest X-rays. That’s not a deadly exposure, but over time if someone experienced many such events, the damage to their body would add up.

Luckily, the storm did no damage to Curiosity or any of the spacecraft at Mars. But, that won’t always be the case, and mission planners can use the data from this storm and others to figure out how best to protect future explorers.

A NASA video about how a solar storm affected Mars. For More Information

NASA Watches Mars Light Up During Epic Solar Storm
NASA Curiosity Mars Mission

The post A Recent Solar Storm Even Had an Impact on Mars appeared first on Universe Today.