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— I Ching

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23andMe Bankruptcy Leaves Troves of Genetic Data at Risk

Scientific American.com - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 4:10pm

The bankruptcy of 23andMe highlights a lack of protections for genetic privacy in the U.S.

Categories: Astronomy

NASA completes SLS core stage stacking for Artemis 2 moon mission (photos)

Space.com - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 4:00pm
NASA's next moon rocket is coming together at the agency's Kennedy Space Center, as the SLS core stage gets its solid rocket boosters.
Categories: Astronomy

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Team Wins 2024 Collier Trophy

NASA - Breaking News - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 3:01pm

The innovative team of engineers and scientists from NASA, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, and more than 40 other partner organizations across the country that created the Parker Solar Probe mission has been awarded the 2024 Robert J. Collier Trophy by the National Aeronautic Association (NAA). This annual award recognizes the most exceptional achievement in aeronautics and astronautics in America with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles in the previous year.   

“Congratulations to the entire Parker Solar Probe team for this well-earned recognition,” said NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro. “This mission’s trailblazing research is rewriting the textbooks on solar science by going to a place no human-made object has ever been and advancing NASA’s efforts to better understand our solar system and the Sun’s influence, with lasting benefits for us all. As the first to touch the Sun and fastest human-made object ever built, Parker Solar Probe is a testament to human ingenuity and discovery.”

An artist’s concept of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. NASA

On Dec. 24, 2024, Parker Solar Probe made its closest approach to the Sun, passing deep within the Sun’s corona, just 3.8 million miles above the Sun’s surface and at a top speed of close to 430,000 mph, ushering in a new era of scientific discovery and space exploration.

“This award is a recognition of the unrelenting dedication and hard work of the Parker Solar Probe team. I am so proud of this team and honored to have been a part of it,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “By studying the Sun closer than ever before, we continue to advance our understanding of not only our closest star, but also stars across our universe. Parker Solar Probe’s historic close approaches to the Sun are a testament to the incredible engineering that made this record-breaking journey possible.”

Three novel aerospace technology advancements were critical to enabling this record performance: The first is the Thermal Protection System, or heat shield, that protects the spacecraft and is built to withstand brutal temperatures as high as 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The Thermal Protection System allows Parker’s electronics and instruments to operate close to room temperature.

Additional Parker innovations included first-of-their-kind actively cooled solar arrays that protect themselves from overexposure to intense solar energy while powering the spacecraft, and a fully autonomous spacecraft system that can manage its own flight behavior, orientation, and configuration for months at a time. Parker has relied upon all of these vital technologies every day since its launch almost seven years ago, in August 2018.

“I am thrilled for the Parker Solar Probe team on receiving this well-deserved award,” said Joe Westlake, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. “The new information about the Sun made available through this mission will improve our ability to prepare for space weather events across the solar system, as well as better understand the very star that makes life possible for us on Earth.”

Parker’s close-up observations of solar events, such as coronal mass ejections and solar particle events, are critical to advancing our understanding of the science of our Sun and the phenomena that drive high-energy space weather events that pose risks to satellites, air travel, astronauts, and even power grids on Earth. Understanding the fundamental physics behind events which drive space weather will enable more reliable predictions and lower astronaut exposure to hazardous radiation during future deep space missions to the Moon and Mars.

“This amazing team brought to life an incredibly difficult space science mission that had been studied, and determined to be impossible, for more than 60 years. They did so by solving numerous long-standing technology challenges and dramatically advancing our nation’s spaceflight capabilities,” said APL Director Ralph Semmel. “The Collier Trophy is well-earned recognition for this phenomenal group of innovators from NASA, APL, and our industry and research partners from across the nation.”

First awarded in 1911, the Robert J. Collier Trophy winner is selected by a group of aviation leaders chosen by the NAA. The Collier Trophy is housed in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington.

“Traveling three times closer to the Sun and seven times faster than any spacecraft before, Parker’s technology innovations enabled humanity to reach inside the Sun’s atmosphere for the first time,” said Bobby Braun, head of APL’s Space Exploration Sector. “We are all immensely proud that the Parker Solar Probe team will join a long legacy of prestigious aerospace endeavors that redefined technology and changed history.”

“The Parker Solar Probe team’s achievement in earning the 2024 Collier is a shining example of determination, genius, and teamwork,” said NAA President and CEO Amy Spowart. “It’s a distinct honor for the NAA to acknowledge and celebrate the remarkable team that turned the impossible into reality.”

Parker Solar Probe was developed as part of NASA’s Living With a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The Living With a Star program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Applied Physics Laboratory designed, built, and operates the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA.

By Geoff Brown
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Share

Details

Last Updated

Mar 25, 2025

Editor Sarah Frazier Contact Abbey Interrante abbey.a.interrante@nasa.gov Location Goddard Space Flight Center

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5 min read NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Makes History With Closest Pass to Sun

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A major milestone and new results from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe were announced on Dec.…



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Categories: NASA

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Team Wins 2024 Collier Trophy

NASA News - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 3:01pm

The innovative team of engineers and scientists from NASA, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, and more than 40 other partner organizations across the country that created the Parker Solar Probe mission has been awarded the 2024 Robert J. Collier Trophy by the National Aeronautic Association (NAA). This annual award recognizes the most exceptional achievement in aeronautics and astronautics in America with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles in the previous year.   

“Congratulations to the entire Parker Solar Probe team for this well-earned recognition,” said NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro. “This mission’s trailblazing research is rewriting the textbooks on solar science by going to a place no human-made object has ever been and advancing NASA’s efforts to better understand our solar system and the Sun’s influence, with lasting benefits for us all. As the first to touch the Sun and fastest human-made object ever built, Parker Solar Probe is a testament to human ingenuity and discovery.”

An artist’s concept of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. NASA

On Dec. 24, 2024, Parker Solar Probe made its closest approach to the Sun, passing deep within the Sun’s corona, just 3.8 million miles above the Sun’s surface and at a top speed of close to 430,000 mph, ushering in a new era of scientific discovery and space exploration.

“This award is a recognition of the unrelenting dedication and hard work of the Parker Solar Probe team. I am so proud of this team and honored to have been a part of it,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “By studying the Sun closer than ever before, we continue to advance our understanding of not only our closest star, but also stars across our universe. Parker Solar Probe’s historic close approaches to the Sun are a testament to the incredible engineering that made this record-breaking journey possible.”

Three novel aerospace technology advancements were critical to enabling this record performance: The first is the Thermal Protection System, or heat shield, that protects the spacecraft and is built to withstand brutal temperatures as high as 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The Thermal Protection System allows Parker’s electronics and instruments to operate close to room temperature.

Additional Parker innovations included first-of-their-kind actively cooled solar arrays that protect themselves from overexposure to intense solar energy while powering the spacecraft, and a fully autonomous spacecraft system that can manage its own flight behavior, orientation, and configuration for months at a time. Parker has relied upon all of these vital technologies every day since its launch almost seven years ago, in August 2018.

“I am thrilled for the Parker Solar Probe team on receiving this well-deserved award,” said Joe Westlake, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. “The new information about the Sun made available through this mission will improve our ability to prepare for space weather events across the solar system, as well as better understand the very star that makes life possible for us on Earth.”

Parker’s close-up observations of solar events, such as coronal mass ejections and solar particle events, are critical to advancing our understanding of the science of our Sun and the phenomena that drive high-energy space weather events that pose risks to satellites, air travel, astronauts, and even power grids on Earth. Understanding the fundamental physics behind events which drive space weather will enable more reliable predictions and lower astronaut exposure to hazardous radiation during future deep space missions to the Moon and Mars.

“This amazing team brought to life an incredibly difficult space science mission that had been studied, and determined to be impossible, for more than 60 years. They did so by solving numerous long-standing technology challenges and dramatically advancing our nation’s spaceflight capabilities,” said APL Director Ralph Semmel. “The Collier Trophy is well-earned recognition for this phenomenal group of innovators from NASA, APL, and our industry and research partners from across the nation.”

First awarded in 1911, the Robert J. Collier Trophy winner is selected by a group of aviation leaders chosen by the NAA. The Collier Trophy is housed in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington.

“Traveling three times closer to the Sun and seven times faster than any spacecraft before, Parker’s technology innovations enabled humanity to reach inside the Sun’s atmosphere for the first time,” said Bobby Braun, head of APL’s Space Exploration Sector. “We are all immensely proud that the Parker Solar Probe team will join a long legacy of prestigious aerospace endeavors that redefined technology and changed history.”

“The Parker Solar Probe team’s achievement in earning the 2024 Collier is a shining example of determination, genius, and teamwork,” said NAA President and CEO Amy Spowart. “It’s a distinct honor for the NAA to acknowledge and celebrate the remarkable team that turned the impossible into reality.”

Parker Solar Probe was developed as part of NASA’s Living With a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The Living With a Star program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Applied Physics Laboratory designed, built, and operates the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA.

By Geoff Brown
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Share

Details

Last Updated

Mar 25, 2025

Editor Sarah Frazier Contact Abbey Interrante abbey.a.interrante@nasa.gov Location Goddard Space Flight Center

Related Terms Explore More

5 min read NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Makes History With Closest Pass to Sun

Article


3 months ago

4 min read Final Venus Flyby for NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Queues Closest Sun Pass

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5 months ago

11 min read NASA Enters the Solar Atmosphere for the First Time, Bringing New Discoveries

A major milestone and new results from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe were announced on Dec.…



Article


3 years ago

Categories: NASA

10 things we want from the next Mass Effect game

Space.com - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 3:00pm
BioWare's follow-up to the original Mass Effect trilogy is still a ways off, but we already have an extensive list of things we'd love to see happen.
Categories: Astronomy

NASA Demonstrates New Wildland Fire Airspace Management System

NASA - Breaking News - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 2:02pm

5 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) researchers Lynne Martin, left, and Connie Brasil use the Portable Airspace Management System (PAMS) to view a simulated fire zone and set a drone flight plan during a flight test the week of March 17, 2025.NASA/Brandon Torres-Navarrete

NASA researchers conducted initial validation of a new airspace management system designed to enable crews to use aircraft to fight and monitor wildland fires 24 hours a day, even during low-visibility conditions.  

From March 17-28, NASA’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project stationed researchers at multiple strategic locations across the foothills of the Sierra de Salinas mountains in Monterey County, California. Their mission: to test and validate a new, portable system that can provide reliable airspace management under poor visual conditions, one of the biggest barriers for aerial wildland firefighting support. 

The mission was a success. 

“At NASA, we have decades of experience leveraging our aviation expertise in ways that improve everyday life for Americans,” said Carol Carroll, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at agency headquarters in Washington. “We need every advantage possible when it comes to saving lives and property when wildfires affect our communities, and ACERO technology will give responders critical new tools to monitor and fight fires.” 

NASA ACERO researchers Samuel Zuniga,left, and Jonathan La Plain prepare for a drone flight test using the PAMS in Salinas on March 19, 2025.NASA/Brandon Torres-Navarrete

One of the barriers for continued monitoring, suppression, and logistics support in wildland fire situations is a lack of tools for managing airspace and air traffic that can support operations under all visibility conditions. Current aerial firefighting operations are limited to times with clear visibility when a Tactical Air Group Supervisor or “air boss” in a piloted aircraft can provide direction. Otherwise, pilots may risk collisions. 

The ACERO technology will provide that air boss capability for remotely piloted aircraft operations – and users will be able to do it from the ground. The project’s Portable Airspace Management System (PAMS) is a suitcase-sized solution that builds on decades of NASA air traffic and airspace management research. The PAMS units will allow pilots to view the locations and operational intents of other aircraft, even in thick smoke or at night. 

During the testing in Salinas, researchers evaluated the PAMS’ core airspace management functions, including strategic coordination and the ability to automatically alert pilots once their aircrafts exit their preapproved paths or the simulated preapproved fire operation zone.  

Using the PAMS prototype, researchers were able to safely conduct  flight operations of a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft operated by Overwatch Aero, LLC, of Solvang, California, and two small NASA drones. 

Flying as if responding to a wildfire scenario, the Overwatch aircraft connected with two PAMS units in different locations. Though the systems were separated by mountains and valleys with weak cellular service, the PAMS units were able to successfully share and display a simulated fire zone, aircraft location, flight plans, and flight intent, thanks to a radio communications relay established by the Overwatch aircraft.  

Operating in a rural mountain range validated that PAMS could work successfully in an actual wildland fire environment.   

“Testing in real mountainous environments presents numerous challenges, but it offers significantly more value than lab-based testing,” said Dr. Min Xue, ACERO project manager at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “The tests were successful, providing valuable insights and highlighting areas for future improvement.”

NASA ACERO researchers fly a drone to test the PAMS during a flight test on March 19, 2025.NASA/Brandon Torres-Navarrete

Pilots on the ground used PAMS to coordinate the drones, which performed flights simulating aerial ignition – the practice of setting controlled, intentional fires to manage vegetation, helping to control fires and reduce wildland fire risk. 

As a part of the testing, Joby Aviation of Santa Cruz, California, flew its remotely piloted aircraft, similar in size to a Cessna Grand Caravan, over the testing site. The PAMS system successfully exchanged aircraft location and flight intent with Joby’s mission management system. The test marked the first successful interaction between PAMS and an optionally piloted aircraft. 

Fire chiefs from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) attended the testing and provided feedback on the system’s functionality, features that could improve wildland fire air traffic coordination, and potential for integration into operations. 

“We appreciate the work being done by the NASA ACERO program in relation to portable airspace management capabilities,” said Marcus Hernandez, deputy chief for CAL FIRE’s Office of Wildfire Technology. “It’s great to see federal, state, and local agencies, as it is important to address safety and regulatory challenges alongside technological advancements.” 

ACERO chief engineer Joey Mercer, right, shows the Portable Airspace Management System (PAMS) to Cal Fire representatives Scott Eckman, center, and Pete York, left, in preparation for the launch of the Overwatch Aero FVR90 Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) test “fire” information sharing, airspace management, communication relay, and aircraft deconfliction capabilities during the Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) test in Salinas, California.NASA/Brandon Torres-Navarrete

These latest flights build on successful PAMS testing in Watsonville, California, in November 2024. ACERO will use flight test data and feedback from wildland fire agencies to continue building out PAMS capabilities and will showcase more robust information-sharing capabilities in the coming years.  

NASA’s goal for ACERO is to validate this technology, so it can be developed for wildland fire crews to use in the field, saving lives and property. The project is managed by NASA’s Airspace Operations and Safety Program and supports the agency’s  Advanced Air Mobility mission. 

ACERO’s PAMS unit shown during a flight test on March 19, 2025NASA/Brandon Torres-Navarrette Share Details Last Updated Mar 25, 2025 Related Terms Explore More 3 min read New Aircraft Wing Undergoes Crucial NASA Icing Testing Article 8 hours ago 3 min read Engineering Reality: Lee Bingham Leads Lunar Surface Simulation Support for Artemis Campaign Article 1 day ago 3 min read Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) Services Article 1 day ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA

Missions

Humans in Space

Climate Change

Solar System

Categories: NASA

NASA Demonstrates New Wildland Fire Airspace Management System

NASA News - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 2:02pm

5 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) researchers Lynne Martin, left, and Connie Brasil use the Portable Airspace Management System (PAMS) to view a simulated fire zone and set a drone flight plan during a flight test the week of March 17, 2025.NASA/Brandon Torres-Navarrete

NASA researchers conducted initial validation of a new airspace management system designed to enable crews to use aircraft to fight and monitor wildland fires 24 hours a day, even during low-visibility conditions.  

From March 17-28, NASA’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project stationed researchers at multiple strategic locations across the foothills of the Sierra de Salinas mountains in Monterey County, California. Their mission: to test and validate a new, portable system that can provide reliable airspace management under poor visual conditions, one of the biggest barriers for aerial wildland firefighting support. 

The mission was a success. 

“At NASA, we have decades of experience leveraging our aviation expertise in ways that improve everyday life for Americans,” said Carol Carroll, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at agency headquarters in Washington. “We need every advantage possible when it comes to saving lives and property when wildfires affect our communities, and ACERO technology will give responders critical new tools to monitor and fight fires.” 

NASA ACERO researchers Samuel Zuniga,left, and Jonathan La Plain prepare for a drone flight test using the PAMS in Salinas on March 19, 2025.NASA/Brandon Torres-Navarrete

One of the barriers for continued monitoring, suppression, and logistics support in wildland fire situations is a lack of tools for managing airspace and air traffic that can support operations under all visibility conditions. Current aerial firefighting operations are limited to times with clear visibility when a Tactical Air Group Supervisor or “air boss” in a piloted aircraft can provide direction. Otherwise, pilots may risk collisions. 

The ACERO technology will provide that air boss capability for remotely piloted aircraft operations – and users will be able to do it from the ground. The project’s Portable Airspace Management System (PAMS) is a suitcase-sized solution that builds on decades of NASA air traffic and airspace management research. The PAMS units will allow pilots to view the locations and operational intents of other aircraft, even in thick smoke or at night. 

During the testing in Salinas, researchers evaluated the PAMS’ core airspace management functions, including strategic coordination and the ability to automatically alert pilots once their aircrafts exit their preapproved paths or the simulated preapproved fire operation zone.  

Using the PAMS prototype, researchers were able to safely conduct  flight operations of a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft operated by Overwatch Aero, LLC, of Solvang, California, and two small NASA drones. 

Flying as if responding to a wildfire scenario, the Overwatch aircraft connected with two PAMS units in different locations. Though the systems were separated by mountains and valleys with weak cellular service, the PAMS units were able to successfully share and display a simulated fire zone, aircraft location, flight plans, and flight intent, thanks to a radio communications relay established by the Overwatch aircraft.  

Operating in a rural mountain range validated that PAMS could work successfully in an actual wildland fire environment.   

“Testing in real mountainous environments presents numerous challenges, but it offers significantly more value than lab-based testing,” said Dr. Min Xue, ACERO project manager at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “The tests were successful, providing valuable insights and highlighting areas for future improvement.”

NASA ACERO researchers fly a drone to test the PAMS during a flight test on March 19, 2025.NASA/Brandon Torres-Navarrete

Pilots on the ground used PAMS to coordinate the drones, which performed flights simulating aerial ignition – the practice of setting controlled, intentional fires to manage vegetation, helping to control fires and reduce wildland fire risk. 

As a part of the testing, Joby Aviation of Santa Cruz, California, flew its remotely piloted aircraft, similar in size to a Cessna Grand Caravan, over the testing site. The PAMS system successfully exchanged aircraft location and flight intent with Joby’s mission management system. The test marked the first successful interaction between PAMS and an optionally piloted aircraft. 

Fire chiefs from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) attended the testing and provided feedback on the system’s functionality, features that could improve wildland fire air traffic coordination, and potential for integration into operations. 

“We appreciate the work being done by the NASA ACERO program in relation to portable airspace management capabilities,” said Marcus Hernandez, deputy chief for CAL FIRE’s Office of Wildfire Technology. “It’s great to see federal, state, and local agencies, as it is important to address safety and regulatory challenges alongside technological advancements.” 

ACERO chief engineer Joey Mercer, right, shows the Portable Airspace Management System (PAMS) to Cal Fire representatives Scott Eckman, center, and Pete York, left, in preparation for the launch of the Overwatch Aero FVR90 Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) test “fire” information sharing, airspace management, communication relay, and aircraft deconfliction capabilities during the Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) test in Salinas, California.NASA/Brandon Torres-Navarrete

These latest flights build on successful PAMS testing in Watsonville, California, in November 2024. ACERO will use flight test data and feedback from wildland fire agencies to continue building out PAMS capabilities and will showcase more robust information-sharing capabilities in the coming years.  

NASA’s goal for ACERO is to validate this technology, so it can be developed for wildland fire crews to use in the field, saving lives and property. The project is managed by NASA’s Airspace Operations and Safety Program and supports the agency’s  Advanced Air Mobility mission. 

ACERO’s PAMS unit shown during a flight test on March 19, 2025NASA/Brandon Torres-Navarrette Share Details Last Updated Mar 25, 2025 Related Terms Explore More 3 min read New Aircraft Wing Undergoes Crucial NASA Icing Testing Article 9 hours ago 3 min read Engineering Reality: Lee Bingham Leads Lunar Surface Simulation Support for Artemis Campaign Article 1 day ago 3 min read Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) Services Article 1 day ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA

Missions

Humans in Space

Climate Change

Solar System

Categories: NASA

Rare moonbow shines below total lunar eclipse in stunning photo: 'This is definitely the first time I've tried something like this, but will not be the last'

Space.com - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 2:00pm
"The respective sizes of the two arcs also create a great symbolic representation of the difference in scale between what we experience and deal with as humans on Earth and the vastness and grandeur of the scale of space and our closest neighbor"
Categories: Astronomy

A New Theory Explains the Surprising Origin of the Planet Mercury

Universe Today - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 1:36pm

Compared to the other terrestrial planets, Mercury has always been a bit of a mysterious one. It’s internal structure is very different from its planetary siblings with its core accounting for 70% of its overall mass and an unusually thin mantle composed of silicates. One theory suggests a head-on collision between a larger proto-Mercury and a smaller object while another suggests Mercury sideswiped an Earth-mass object. It may be something completely different and a new paper suggests that a grazing collision between two similarly sized bodies led to the formation of the planet we see today.

Categories: Astronomy

'It's coming!' New 'Alien: Earth' trailer is packed with nostalgia, a creepy android, and some very unfortunate humans (video)

Space.com - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 1:00pm
Retrofuturistic styling, synthetics with no regard for human life, and people being munched like popcorn — that's the Alien we know and love alright.
Categories: Astronomy

Valkyrie: Exploring Venus With Multiple Small Landers

Universe Today - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 12:58pm

Shrouded in thick clouds, our erstwhile sister planet Venus is rife with mysteries. Among the Solar System's rocky planets, Venus is the one begging for more exploration. While potential habitability always catches people's attention, scientists crave more fundamental knowledge about Venus: its geology.

Categories: Astronomy

'City of Lights' as seen at night from space: Space photo of the day

Space.com - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 12:53pm
Paris, France is seen lit up in this photo taken aboard the International Space Staton.
Categories: Astronomy

The Moon Might Have Formed Earlier Than We Thought

Universe Today - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 12:51pm

The Moon is a common sight in our night time (and sometimes daytime) skies but it hasn’t always been there. The widely accepted theory of lunar formation involves a Mars-sized planet crashing into the Earth, creating a cloud of debris that eventually that eventually coalesced to form the Moon. Estimates of this cataclysmic event that gave us the Moon range from between 4.52 to 4.35 billion years ago however a new presentation at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference have pushed that timeline back even further!

Categories: Astronomy

Investigaciones de la NASA en la estación espacial ayudan a impulsar la ciencia lunar

NASA - Breaking News - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 12:34pm
En esta ilustración se muestra al telescopio NICER (a la izquierda) montado en la Estación Espacial Internacional y al telescopio LEXI (a la derecha) sujeto a la parte superior del módulo Blue Ghost de Firefly Aerospace.NASA/Firefly Aerospace

La Estación Espacial Internacional sustenta una amplia gama de actividades científicas, desde la observación de nuestro universo hasta el logro de avances en investigaciones médicas, y es un campo de pruebas activo en la tecnología para futuras misiones de exploración en la Luna y más allá. La misión Blue Ghost 1 de Firefly Aerospace aterrizó en la Luna el 2 de marzo de 2025, dando inicio a las operaciones científicas y tecnológicas en su superficie, las cuales incluyen tres experimentos que fueron evaluados o habilitados con las investigaciones de la estación espacial. Estos proyectos están ayudando a los científicos a estudiar la meteorología espacial, la navegación, y el desempeño de las computadoras en el espacio, los cuales son conocimientos cruciales para futuras misiones a la Luna.

Uno de los experimentos, el Generador de imágenes de rayos X heliosférico para el entorno lunar (LEXI, por sus siglas en inglés), es un pequeño telescopio diseñado para estudiar el entorno magnético de la Tierra y su interacción con el viento solar. Al igual que el telescopio Explorador de la composición interior de las estrellas de neutrones (NICER, por sus siglas en inglés) que está montado fuera de la estación espacial, LEXI observa las fuentes de rayos X. LEXI y NICER observaron la misma estrella en rayos X para calibrar el instrumento de LEXI y analizar mejor los rayos X emitidos desde la atmósfera superior de la Tierra, que es el objetivo principal de LEXI. El estudio de LEXI sobre la interacción entre el viento solar y la magnetosfera protectora de la Tierra podría ayudar a los investigadores a desarrollar métodos para salvaguardar la futura infraestructura espacial y comprender cómo responde esta frontera a las condiciones meteorológicas en el espacio.

Otros investigadores enviaron a la Luna el Sistema informático tolerante a la radiación (RadPC, por sus siglas en inglés) para realizar pruebas sobre cómo las computadoras pueden recuperarse de fallas relacionadas con la radiación. Antes de que RadPC volara a bordo de Blue Ghost, los investigadores hicieron pruebas con una computadora tolerante a la radiación en la estación espacial y desarrollaron un algoritmo para detectar posibles desperfectos en el hardware y evitar fallas críticas. RadPC tiene como objetivo demostrar la resistencia de las computadoras en el entorno de radiación de la Luna. La computadora puede medir su propia salud en tiempo real, y RadPC puede identificar un punto defectuoso y repararlo en segundo plano, según sea necesario. Los conocimientos adquiridos con esta investigación podrían mejorar el hardware informático para futuras misiones en el espacio profundo.

Además, el Experimento del receptor lunar de GNSS (LuGRE, por sus siglas en inglés) situado en la superficie de la Luna ha recibido oficialmente una señal del Sistema Global de Navegación por Satélite (GNSS, por sus siglas en inglés) a la distancia más lejana de la Tierra. Estas son las mismas señales para la navegación que se utilizan en la Tierra en todo, desde teléfonos inteligentes hasta aviones. A bordo de la Estación Espacial Internacional, el Banco de Pruebas de Navegación y Comunicaciones (NAVCOM, por sus siglas en inglés) ha llevado a cabo pruebas de un sistema de respaldo para el GNSS de la Tierra utilizando estaciones terrestres como un método alternativo para la navegación lunar cuando las señales del GNSS puedan tener limitaciones. Unir los sistemas existentes con soluciones emergentes específicas para la navegación lunar podría ayudar a dar forma al modo en que las naves espaciales navegan por la Luna en futuras misiones.

La Estación Espacial Internacional funciona como un importante banco de pruebas para las investigaciones que se llevan a cabo en misiones como Blue Ghost y continúa sentando las bases para las tecnologías del futuro.

Destiny Doran
Equipo de Comunicaciones de Investigaciones en la Estación Espacial Internacional

Read this story in English here.

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Investigaciones de la NASA en la estación espacial ayudan a impulsar la ciencia lunar

NASA News - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 12:34pm
En esta ilustración se muestra al telescopio NICER (a la izquierda) montado en la Estación Espacial Internacional y al telescopio LEXI (a la derecha) sujeto a la parte superior del módulo Blue Ghost de Firefly Aerospace.NASA/Firefly Aerospace

La Estación Espacial Internacional sustenta una amplia gama de actividades científicas, desde la observación de nuestro universo hasta el logro de avances en investigaciones médicas, y es un campo de pruebas activo en la tecnología para futuras misiones de exploración en la Luna y más allá. La misión Blue Ghost 1 de Firefly Aerospace aterrizó en la Luna el 2 de marzo de 2025, dando inicio a las operaciones científicas y tecnológicas en su superficie, las cuales incluyen tres experimentos que fueron evaluados o habilitados con las investigaciones de la estación espacial. Estos proyectos están ayudando a los científicos a estudiar la meteorología espacial, la navegación, y el desempeño de las computadoras en el espacio, los cuales son conocimientos cruciales para futuras misiones a la Luna.

Uno de los experimentos, el Generador de imágenes de rayos X heliosférico para el entorno lunar (LEXI, por sus siglas en inglés), es un pequeño telescopio diseñado para estudiar el entorno magnético de la Tierra y su interacción con el viento solar. Al igual que el telescopio Explorador de la composición interior de las estrellas de neutrones (NICER, por sus siglas en inglés) que está montado fuera de la estación espacial, LEXI observa las fuentes de rayos X. LEXI y NICER observaron la misma estrella en rayos X para calibrar el instrumento de LEXI y analizar mejor los rayos X emitidos desde la atmósfera superior de la Tierra, que es el objetivo principal de LEXI. El estudio de LEXI sobre la interacción entre el viento solar y la magnetosfera protectora de la Tierra podría ayudar a los investigadores a desarrollar métodos para salvaguardar la futura infraestructura espacial y comprender cómo responde esta frontera a las condiciones meteorológicas en el espacio.

Otros investigadores enviaron a la Luna el Sistema informático tolerante a la radiación (RadPC, por sus siglas en inglés) para realizar pruebas sobre cómo las computadoras pueden recuperarse de fallas relacionadas con la radiación. Antes de que RadPC volara a bordo de Blue Ghost, los investigadores hicieron pruebas con una computadora tolerante a la radiación en la estación espacial y desarrollaron un algoritmo para detectar posibles desperfectos en el hardware y evitar fallas críticas. RadPC tiene como objetivo demostrar la resistencia de las computadoras en el entorno de radiación de la Luna. La computadora puede medir su propia salud en tiempo real, y RadPC puede identificar un punto defectuoso y repararlo en segundo plano, según sea necesario. Los conocimientos adquiridos con esta investigación podrían mejorar el hardware informático para futuras misiones en el espacio profundo.

Además, el Experimento del receptor lunar de GNSS (LuGRE, por sus siglas en inglés) situado en la superficie de la Luna ha recibido oficialmente una señal del Sistema Global de Navegación por Satélite (GNSS, por sus siglas en inglés) a la distancia más lejana de la Tierra. Estas son las mismas señales para la navegación que se utilizan en la Tierra en todo, desde teléfonos inteligentes hasta aviones. A bordo de la Estación Espacial Internacional, el Banco de Pruebas de Navegación y Comunicaciones (NAVCOM, por sus siglas en inglés) ha llevado a cabo pruebas de un sistema de respaldo para el GNSS de la Tierra utilizando estaciones terrestres como un método alternativo para la navegación lunar cuando las señales del GNSS puedan tener limitaciones. Unir los sistemas existentes con soluciones emergentes específicas para la navegación lunar podría ayudar a dar forma al modo en que las naves espaciales navegan por la Luna en futuras misiones.

La Estación Espacial Internacional funciona como un importante banco de pruebas para las investigaciones que se llevan a cabo en misiones como Blue Ghost y continúa sentando las bases para las tecnologías del futuro.

Destiny Doran
Equipo de Comunicaciones de Investigaciones en la Estación Espacial Internacional

Read this story in English here.

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Categories: NASA

Supersymmetry’s Long Fall from Grace

Scientific American.com - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 12:00pm

Supersymmetry, long considered the golden child of theoretical physics, has officially lost its luster at the world’s reigning particle accelerator

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Curiosity Mars rover discovers largest organic molecules ever seen on Red Planet

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While the presence of these molecules is not proof of ancient life on Mars, scientists say it shows we could detect chemical signatures of past life, if it ever existed.
Categories: Astronomy

#748: Fast Radio Bursts

Astronomy Cast - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 11:58am

Fast Radio Bursts the briefest of moments, some dead stars can flash brighter than their entire galaxy (in Radio light) and then live to do it again and again. It’s time for an update on fast radio bursts, a phenomenon we’ve only known about for a few decades. In this time astronomers have learned a tremendous amount them. They’re not solved, but we’re getting closer!

Show Notes
  • What Are Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs)?
  • Discovery
  • Nature of FRBs
  • How Do We Detect FRBs?
  • CHIME Telescope
  • Microlensing and Scintillation
  • Current Theories on FRBs’ Origins
  • Leading Candidate: Magnetars
  • Other Hypotheses
  • The Odd Case of FRB 1809-16
  • Unlike most FRBs, this one repeats every 16.35 days, suggesting an orbital pattern.
  • Its location in a star-forming region strengthens the magnetar theory.
  • Future Research & Discoveries
  • Upcoming Telescopes & Observatories
  • Exciting Possibilities
Transcript

Fraser Cain:  AstronomyCast, Episode 748, New Insights into Fast Radio Bursts. Welcome to AstronomyCast, our weekly facts-based journey through the Cosmos, where we help you understand not only what we know, but how we know what we know.

I’m Fraser Cain, I’m the publisher of Universe Today. With me as always is Dr. Pamela Gay, a Senior Scientist for the Planetary Science Institute and the Director of CosmoQuest. Hey Pamela, how are you doing?

Dr. Pamela Gay: I am doing well. We had massive storms over the weekends. My studio is a hot mess because we all hid down here, but everything here is fine.

Heart goes out to everyone in Alabama. They got it much, much worse than we did. We just have downed tree lands.

Spring is here.

Fraser Cain: Yeah. Spring is here. So I had a week, which was, you know, we weren’t here last week, that was because I was dealing with my server.

We were here last week. We weren’t here two weeks ago. Two weeks ago.

Right.

Dr. Pamela Gay: You were still dealing with your server last week.

Fraser Cain: Yeah. Yeah. So I guess, right.

So last week was before I’d sent out the video explaining what had happened and sort of what we needed. And now the response has been overwhelming, that people have just jumped to our assistance and the gap that I needed to fill for astronomy, sorry, astronomy, the gap I needed to fill for Universe Today, you know, from the shortfall of the advertising has been filled. So we are set.

You know, we have the budget to continue on with all of the writing, with all of the team that we even have. I think we’ll have budget to bring on new writers if we need to. And it’s just, it’s so surreal to look at the Universe Today website and it just has no ads.

It has nothing. It’s just, it’s just gorgeous. It’s gorgeous.

Yeah.

Dr. Pamela Gay: Yeah. Yeah. You need to do archives back though.

Fraser Cain: I was trying to find old posts and couldn’t. I’m at 2013. So I’m bringing the years back one at a time very carefully because each one is injecting a thousand new articles into the database and then the site kind of freaks out for an hour after I do that.

So I’m doing this one year per day. And so I’m still, still catching up. But it’s funny because I still have this very instinctive, like, I’ve got to be careful about the topics that we choose.

I’m like, no, I don’t, I don’t care anymore. And so, and so the, the new cycle for James Webb was released. So all of the stuff they’re going to be doing for cycle four, all of the planetary stuff, all of the, and so I was, I was talking to Matt, who’s going to write a story about this.

I’m like, let’s do like a four part series on cycle four. And he says, actually, I think it, I think it needs five. I’m like, done.

So we’re doing a five part deep dive into all of the different science that’s planned for, for Webb for the upcoming next cycle. So one whole thing about exoplanets, one whole thing about cosmology, one whole thing about Milky Way stuff and stuff in the solar system and, and so on. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And it’s great.

Cause it’s just like, this is what I want to see. This is what I want to know. I want us to investigate this.

And so we, I chewed up, uh, 30 stories from the LPSC meeting in, um, The Venus news that came out, Houston, it was in Houston. Yeah. Yeah.

So yeah, the, the, there’s, there’s mission ideas. There’s incredible new stuff that’s, that’s, and nobody is reporting on this because there’s no press releases. I was so frustrated with that.

Because everybody’s uncertain. Well, we are certain we’re moving forward. So I’ve got probably 30 stories coming out just about this one meeting, new mission ideas.

Look, we’ve got a couple of them already on the site. Uh, the thing called the Night Hawk, which is a, uh, beefed up version of the, um, ingenuity space helicopter that would go to Noctis Labyrinthus and fly at a hundred meters and carry a five kilogram payload and, and circumnavigate the whole area. So we’ve got a lot of really cool stories.

So anyway, thank you everybody who responded and helped us make this reality. And I will pay back your kindness in a fire hose of ad free space news. Enjoy.

It’s time for an update on fast radio bursts and phenomena that we’ve only known about for a few decades. In this time, astronomers have learned a tremendous amount about them. They’re not solved, but we’re getting closer and we’ll talk about it in a second, but it’s time for a break and we’re back.

So we last covered fast radio bursts. I just checked the, uh, the site was episode four 75, which that’s 300 ish episodes ago, which is six, six, eight years old. Six years.

We do about 40 episodes a year.

Dr. Pamela Gay: Yeah. Something like that.

Fraser Cain: Yeah. It’s time for an update on fast radio bursts. What have we learned?

I guess, well, let’s go back first and let’s just like set the mystery, which is like, how did we first even find out about fast radio bursts?

Dr. Pamela Gay: It was a student. So back in 2007, uh, David Lohemar, and I’m sure I mispronounced that. And I’m very sorry if you are out there human, you do lovely research.

Um, and he was going through looking at pulsar data and in the midst of the pulsar data, saw this super weird flash, brought it to the attention of his advisor. They confirmed it was real. And since then people have been finding them both in archival data and then finding them in real time, including with, they did a purpose built radio array chime just to study these things.

So since 2007, we went from a student going, Hey, there’s this weird thing in the archive to now building telescope arrays that have multiple systems scattered about Canada and the United States that are trying to pinpoint what they are, where they are and exactly what they do and do not do in the sky.

Fraser Cain: I mean, to be fair, time wasn’t purpose built for this. It’s more designed to, it was originally designed to observe the sort of radio afterglow of the big bang, the early universe, but it, but it’s like perfectly capable for this job.

Dr. Pamela Gay: And so to it that, right. Yeah.

Fraser Cain:Yeah. And most of the discoveries about fast radio bursts have come from time, which is this awesome snowboard half pipe, like a radio telescope here in British Columbia. Um, yeah, I hear it’s a sick ride.

If you, you know, you catch the, get the snows, right. Um, so, okay. So we’ve got these, this, this weird mystery.

And, and so here we are now 20 plus years after that, or not almost 20 years after that first discovery. And like, what have we learned in this intervening time?

Dr. Pamela Gay: So the first thing that we’re able to figure out is to get something that exists for that brief a moment in time. So the longest of these are three seconds ish. Most of them are millisecond in time.

That means they have to be super small because light takes time to move and the larger, the thing giving off the light, the longer, the amount of duration it has to have for the light from the entire object to get to us. So the fact that they exist for such a brief moment in time means they have to be measured in hundreds of kilometers or less. So that instantly implied, this has to be something that’s going on with a very tiny object or taking place in the environments of an object where the part of the environment that is doing the thing that is being done must be very small.

Fraser Cain: It’s funny. Like originally there was a lot of these questions of, are these just reflections coming from earth? Is this something that’s happening within the solar system?

And over time, they’re at least able to confirm, no, no, these things are extra galactic. And then once, as you say, once you get extra galactic, then whatever it is has got to be releasing a ludicrous amount of energy, but in the radio spectrum. So you’re not getting this gamma ray burst where the telltale signature of a star going boom or two neutron stars colliding with each other, you’ve got this thing that is sending out this weird radio blast, which is a colossal amount of energy, but without all of the other stuff.

And at random times, you’re not getting this repeating thing like we see with pulsars. You’re not getting the radio, but also some kind of visible afterglow that you see with supernova and other things. You just get this random flash of a ludicrous amount of radio energy, and then mostly you don’t see it anymore.

So how did astronomers start to really chip away at this problem?

Dr. Pamela Gay: So the first thing was that lack of gamma rays that you mentioned is hugely important because when we start thinking about what creates light and is tiny, the first thing you go to is neutron stars. We had in 2004 this amazing moment where a magnetar on the other side of the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, so on the other side of the core of the galaxy, decided it was going to rearrange its magnetic field, and it released a massive gamma ray burst that went through the sides of space telescopes and saturated the detectors. And so we know that magnetars can do these super brief, massive amounts of energy across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, but we don’t see gamma rays associated with these fast radio bursts.

And then we realized, okay, so most of the ones that we’re seeing, we’re only catching one at a time. So like one goes off here, silence. One goes off over here, silence.

But occasionally, just occasionally, we will get these repeaters that don’t repeat with any pattern we’ve been able to figure out. So that was new.

Fraser Cain: But at least they give us the dignity of flashing from the same location multiple times.

Dr. Pamela Gay: And then, because the universe likes to confuse us, there is FRB fast radio burst 1809-16. So 2018, September 16th.

Fraser Cain: Wait, you know what? This is exciting. We need to take another break.

Dr. Pamela Gay: Okay.

Fraser Cain: And we’re back. All right. After that cliffhanger, tell us about the fast radio burst.

Dr. Pamela Gay: So there’s FRB 1809-16, and we were able to identify where it is. It’s in a star forming region of a spiral galaxy. And this one, because it was determined to be different, repeats every 16.35 days. So we have one FRB, one fast radio burst, that for reasons we can only assume have to do with orbital motion maybe, it repeats every 16.35 days. So what do we know? Up until recently, we’re going to have one more cliffhanger.

Up until recently, what we understood was they have to be tiny. And we know that because of how briefly they flicker and flare. Milliseconds.

Fraser Cain: They have to be extra galactic.

Dr. Pamela Gay: We have found some in our galaxy.

Fraser Cain: Okay, but they have to be outside of the solar system.

Dr. Pamela Gay: Yes, they have to be outside of the solar system. And we know some of them have cosmological distances. We know most of them don’t repeat that we have seen.

That doesn’t mean they haven’t repeated. It means we haven’t seen them repeat. We know most of the ones that repeat do it randomly.

We know there is one that repeats every 16.35 days. Plus or minus 0.15 for those keeping track. And up until recently, all of them that we had found and been able to identify the location, which is a pain with these radio sources, were in active galaxies, star-forming galaxies, near the cores of galaxies.

And we were associating them with areas that had very young stars, which is key. Because certain objects can only exist in star-forming regions, particularly magnetars. And so the thought was, these must be neutron stars that have recently formed, are fast rotating, have powerful magnetic fields.

The powerful magnetic fields being the key point. And something happens in the magnetic field that creates this massive release of energy. So, since we only find magnetars in areas that have had stars that recently died, that were massive, they have to be found in areas that are young and have star-forming regions.

So things that are less than millions to billions of years old, not ancient things, not dead things.

Fraser Cain: Right, because the biggest stars only die in millions of years. And so you’re going to have some star-forming region, all of the O’s and the B’s, they detonate within a few million years, and large stars leave neutron stars as their remnant, or black holes, but neutron stars. And then the neutron stars, when they’re freshly made, are spinning very quickly, and they’re the ones that turn into pulsars.

But also some subgroup, and this is a mystery for another episode, some subgroup turn into magnetars, and we don’t entirely know why.

Dr. Pamela Gay: There are a lot of papers that this is what my gut thinks is going to prove out to be true. There are multiple theories out there. The one that I’m liking the most is that when you get stellar mergers leading to neutron stars, that’s where you get the powerful magnetic fields.

But that’s just one of the many different explanations out there.

Fraser Cain: We just did a story about this, about the source of magnetars, that we’re pretty close. I think we called it like, so this is how you get magnetars. I mean, I’m going to try this.

Dr. Pamela Gay: I couldn’t find that one on your site. Yes, I saw that one when I googled it.

Fraser Cain: Yeah, so this is how you get magnetars. Stellar remnants, dynamo, supernova, differential rotation. Yeah.

Dr. Pamela Gay: Is that the binary star model for how to form them, where you have a supernova in a binary system?

Fraser Cain:  There are so many cool theories. So they did, sorry, they did simulations, and the best fit is known as the Taylor-Spruit dynamo, which is well-known stellar objects involves a differential rotation of a stellar core. So stars don’t rotate, so it’s caused by a fast rotating core.

So the core and the surface have differential rotation. Right. And that the magnetar, that the supernova, that the supernova, that created the magnetar transfers angular momentum to its core, thus creating a differential rotation in the star.

And this then creates the burst of the magnetic field that power the x-rays and gamma rays that we observe from these stars. That’s the most recent, highest, I don’t know, one leading theory of how you get magnetars. But you know, like one possibility is you have a star eat another star, and then that sets up differential rotation inside the star that then leads to the magnetar.

But this is still an unsolved, and this is why I said this is an unsolved mystery. It could be that you had a binary star, and one of the stars went off, and that changed the rotation of the star, that it’s going a lot faster. But neutron stars are limited.

When you get a blue star, they’re really limited to about just shy of 1,000 rotations a minute.

Dr. Pamela Gay: So something weird has to happen to get the magnetic field, which is where interactions with something else, or I guess special supernovae that allow the core to have a different… Yeah, this is one of these things where our ability to understand the universe is held back by our lack of creativity at times.

Fraser Cain: But both of these, I mean, they’re clearly connected. Yeah. And both of them are on their last, like they can’t hide for much longer.

Both of them, new instruments, new observatories, new techniques are coming online, new theories, better models, and both will fall, I think, within our lives anyway. All right, you threatened that there might be another cliffhanger, and why don’t we go into that right now?

Dr. Pamela Gay: So it could…

Fraser Cain: Hold on. No, break. And we’re back.

Dr. Pamela Gay: All right. So all these cool theories on we have understood what these are, they are magnetars in star forming regions, was the excitement of the journal articles. And then a paper came out that had found a new magnetar clearly located in an ancient galaxy.

And there’d been a couple of others that were associated with probably the outskirts of a galaxy with globular clusters. And so suddenly we have to figure out how to explain having these things in ancient areas, in places without star formation, in places where no self-respecting magnetar has thus far been found and clearly identified.

Fraser Cain: Right.

Dr. Pamela Gay: So the question becomes, how do you get these things occurring in the outskirts of galaxies? And the answer to that was, well, globular clusters do have stars that collide. And maybe if you have stars that collide just right, you get magnetars.

So that is one straw that is being grasped at. And this raises the distinct possibility that we’re going to find fast radio bursts, just like gamma ray bursts and just like so many other things in the universe have multiple origins that more than one of the theories that we’ve looked at so far start to become true. And it’s interesting to look at all the different things that are being figured out.

Just at the very end of December, there were researchers at MIT that figured out using scintillation, which is how radio light can flicker as it passes through a medium, to figure out that the source of a fast radio burst is hundreds of kilometers likely from the surface. So this is part of the magnetic field that is creating this flicker or flash that we are seeing, again, milliseconds to three seconds in time. And so we’re figuring out where in the environment of a magnetar these could exist.

And we’re also finding that they can exist in star forming regions. They appear to be able to exist in the outskirts of galaxies, potentially in globular clusters.

Fraser Cain: And so to summarize, the most likely cause at this point, the one that if you were to have astronomers place their bets, is that fast radio bursts are coming from magnetars. The flash of radiation is coming from magnetic reconnection events around the magnetar in the same way that… So it’s not the surface.

It’s the magnetic field. Right, that flares. And that matches our observation of the sun.

And we get these solar flares. And the flares can be of differing strengths. They go in different directions.

And it’s really just how the magnetic field lines twist and tangle around the sun until they’re finally released in this burst of energy. But we see it in X-rays. We see it in gamma rays coming off of the sun.

We see it in invisible light. And yet, whatever is happening with the magnetar, the bulk of the photons are coming in the radio. And so we’re just not seeing the other glows.

Except occasionally that we do. And then, of course, how do you get magnetars? And that’s a whole separate question that is still a bit of a mystery.

And so I love that these are both… We know that they’re related, but both are kind of mysterious. And both will probably fall together once it’s been figured out.

Dr. Pamela Gay: And I love this idea that magnetars can exist primarily in star-forming regions, but maybe also in globular clusters that the universe finds so many different ways to create things.

Fraser Cain: Well, and I know you really like this idea of the blue stragglers in globular clusters, right? You get these blue stars where there should be no blue stars in these ancient clusters. And the only explanation is that you have stars collide, which makes sense when you’ve got a bunch of stars buzzing around like busy bees in this ball that every now and then two of them are going to strike one another.

And then you get a new star that is either one star that’s had half of its surface torn off and added to the other star, or actually two stars have just directly collided and begun a new life as a fresh blue star again, which is really interesting.

Dr. Pamela Gay: The whole idea that stars never collide that they taught when we were young, totally wrong. Stars totally do collide. And this is how we get weird things sometimes.

It’s just one of the ways we get weird things. And this is why our show never needs to stop because astronomers keep rewriting the books. They keep discovering new things.

Every increase in our technology, whether it be the computational ability to do simulations or the observational ability to see the universe brings us new understanding. One of the things that came out of the Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference last week is just the time scales that we sometimes have to wait for new things to get put into orbit. And this is why we will probably never retire.

Fraser Cain: Yeah, people ask us if we’re ever going to run out of topics, and the answer is absolutely not. That every time Pamela’s like, you know, can you got any suggestions for topics? I throw 30 her way without even blinking.

It’s easy every time. No problem. So yeah, the updates and the new things that are discovered.

And just think about the new observatories that are coming online. I mean, later this year, we’ll see Vera Rubin.

Dr. Pamela Gay: It put its camera on last week.

Fraser Cain: What? Oh, yeah. We’ve got the Extremely Large Telescope coming in 2028.

And each of these will give us a dramatic new view into the cosmos and overturn and both discover entirely new things, right? At some point, I guarantee we will be talking in about three years about a thing that happens in the universe that astronomers had absolutely no idea that this was an existence and that this was a thing. And it turns out this thing is incredibly important.

It gives valuable insights into the very nature of the cosmos itself. And yet here we are just completely ignorant to what that thing is. I look forward to that episode.

It’s awesome. Awesome. All right.

Thanks, Pamela.

Dr. Pamela Gay: Thank you, Fraser. And thank you so much to all of our patrons out there. You allow us to keep going no matter how bad the rest of the world may seem.

And thank you for giving us something joyful to do every week and to be able to pay our staff to do something joyful with us. This week, I would like to thank Sergey Manilov, Conrad Hailing, Tushar Nikhini, the Mysterious Mark, Hal McKinney, John Herman, Joanne Mulvey, Katie and Alyssa, Papa Hot Dog, Michael Hartford, Will Hamilton, Fairchild, just as it sounds, J.P. Sullivan, Galactic President, Scooper Star, McScoopsalot, Bogey Nat, or sorry, Bogey Nat, Sagi Kemmler, David Troge, Nick Boyd, William Andrews, Alexis Adam, Anis Brown, Astro Sets, Gold, Simon Parton, Claudia Mastroianni, Abraham Cottrell, Arctic Fox, Andrew Stevenson, Jim McGeehan, Gregory Singleton, David Gates, Georgie Ivanov, Yvonne Zegrev, Father Prax, Nate Detweiler, Dwight Ilk, Disastrina, Lou Zealand, Paul D.

Disney, Peter, Alex Rain, Reuben McCarthy, Astro Bob, Bob Zatsky, Alan Gross, Elliot Walker, Jeff McDonald, David Resetter, Travis C. Porco, Mike Heise, Jonathan Poe, RJ Basque, Demi Drake, Bob Crail, Tricor, Noah Albertson, Ryan Amari. Thank you all so very much.

Fraser Cain: Thanks, everyone. And we will see you next week.

Dr. Pamela Gay: Bye-bye.

Dr. Pamela Gay: AstronomyCast is a joint product of Universe Today and the Planetary Science Institute. AstronomyCast is released under a Creative Commons Attribution License. So love it, share it, and remix it.

But please credit it to our hosts, Fraser Cain and Dr. Pamela Gay. You can get more information on today’s show topic on our website, AstronomyCast.com. This episode was brought to you thanks to our generous patrons on Patreon.

If you want to help keep this show going, please consider joining our community at Patreon.com slash AstronomyCast. Not only do you help us pay our producers a fair wage, you will also get special access to content right in your inbox and invites to online events. We are so grateful to all of you who have joined our Patreon community already.

Anyways, keep looking up. This has been AstronomyCast.

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Categories: Astronomy

Babies Do Make Memories—So Why Can't We Remember Them as Adults?

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Categories: Astronomy

Leading AI models fail new test of artificial general intelligence

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Tue, 03/25/2025 - 11:02am
A new test of AI capabilities consists of puzzles that humans are able to solve without too much trouble, but which all leading AI models struggle with. To improve and pass the test, AI companies will need to balance problem-solving abilities with cost.
Categories: Astronomy