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Do Sperm Whales Have Culture?
As hard as it is to study these denizens of the deep, researchers have found some intriguing evidence to support the idea that “sperm whale culture” exists.
The Incredible Adventures of the Hera mission – The Missing Puzzle Piece
Meet Hera, our very own asteroid detective. Together with two CubeSats – Milani the rock decoder and Juventas the radar visionary – Hera is off on an adventure to explore Didymos, a double asteroid system that is typical of the thousands that pose an impact risk to planet Earth.
In September 2022 NASA’s DART spacecraft tested if it was possible to divert an asteroid by giving it a shove – and found out that it was! Important knowledge, should we wish to avoid going the same way as the dinosaurs. Astronomers can observe from afar how the smaller asteroid’s orbit has shifted since DART’s impact, but there is still a missing piece of the puzzle if we want to fully understand how ‘kinetic impacting’ works in practice. Suitable for kids and adults alike, this episode of ‘The Incredible Adventures of Hera’ explains why ESA’s asteroid detective and its CubeSat assistants need to get up close and personal to shine light on this cosmic mystery.
Watch the other episodes of The Incredible Adventures of the Hera Mission
See What Happens When Stars Collide
A star in the constellation Norma appears to have been created when two stars merged.
The post See What Happens When Stars Collide appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Nuclear fusion reactor in South Korea runs at 100 million degrees C for a record-breaking 48 seconds
1st female ISS program manager looks ahead to new spaceships, space stations (exclusive)
This little robot can hop in zero-gravity to explore asteroids
Stellar Winds Coming From Other Stars Measured for the First Time
An international research team led by the University of Vienna has made a major breakthrough. In a study recently published in Nature Astronomy, they describe how they conducted the first direct measurements of stellar wind in three Sun-like star systems. Using X-ray emission data obtained by the ESA’s X-ray Multi-Mirror-Newton (XMM-Newton) of these stars’ “astrospheres,” they measured the mass loss rate of these stars via stellar winds. The study of how stars and planets co-evolve could assist in the search for life while also helping astronomers predict the future evolution of our Solar System.
The research was led by Kristina G. Kislyakova, a Senior Scientist with the Department of Astrophysics at the University of Vienna, the deputy head of the Star and Planet Formation group, and the lead coordinator of the ERASMUS+ program. She was joined by other astrophysicists from the University of Vienna, the Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LAMOS) at the Sorbonne University, the University of Leicester, and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL).
Astrospheres are the analogs of our Solar System’s heliosphere, the outermost atmospheric layer of our Sun, composed of hot plasma pushed by solar winds into the interstellar medium (ISM). These winds drive many processes that cause planetary atmospheres to be lost to space (aka. atmospheric mass loss). Assuming a planet’s atmosphere is regularly replenished and/or has a protective magnetosphere, these winds can be the deciding factor between a planet becoming habitable or a lifeless ball of rock.
Logarithmic scale of the Solar System, Heliosphere, and Interstellar Medium (ISM). Credit: NASA-JPLWhile stellar winds mainly comprise protons, electrons, and alpha particles, they also contain trace amounts of heavy ions and atomic nuclei, such as carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, silicon, and even iron. Despite their importance to stellar and planetary evolution, the winds of Sun-like stars are notoriously difficult to constrain. However, these heavier ions are known to capture electrons from neutral hydrogen that permeates the ISM, resulting in X-ray emissions. Using data from the XXM-Newton mission, Kislyakova and her team detected these emissions from other stars.
These were 70 Ophiuchi, Epsilon Eridani, and 61 Cygni, three main sequence Sun-like stars located 16.6, 10.475, and 11.4 light-years from Earth (respectively). Whereas 70 Ophiuchi and 61 Cygni are binary systems of two K-type (orange dwarf) stars, Epsilon Eridani is a single K-type star. By observing the spectral lines of oxygen ions, they could directly quantify the total mass of stellar wind emitted by all three stars. For the three stars surveyed, they estimated the mass loss rates to be 66.5±11.1, 15.6±4.4, and 9.6±4.1 times the solar mass loss rate, respectively.
In short, this means that the winds from these stars are much stronger than our Sun’s, which could result from the stronger magnetic activity of these stars. As Kislyakova related in a University of Vienna news release:
“In the solar system, solar wind charge exchange emission has been observed from planets, comets, and the heliosphere and provides a natural laboratory to study the solar wind’s composition. Observing this emission from distant stars is much more tricky due to the faintness of the signal. In addition to that, the distance to the stars makes it very difficult to disentangle the signal emitted by the astrosphere from the actual X-ray emission of the star itself, part of which is “spread” over the field-of-view of the telescope due to instrumental effects.”
XMM-Newton X-ray image of the star 70 Ophiuchi (left) and the X-ray emission from the region (“Annulus”) surrounding the star represented in a spectrum over the energy of the X-ray photons (right). Credit: C: Kislyakova et al. (2024)For their study, Kislyakova and her team also developed a new algorithm to disentangle the contributions made by the stars and their astrospheres to the emission spectra. This allowed them to detect charge exchange signals from the stellar wind oxygen ions and the neutral hydrogen in the surrounding ISM. This constitutes the first time X-ray charge exchange emissions from the extrasolar astrospheres have been directly detected. Moreover, the mass loss rate estimates they derived could be used by astronomers as a benchmark for stellar wind models, expanding on what little observational evidence there is for the winds of Sun-like stars. As co-author Manuel Güdel, also of the University of Vienna, indicated:
“There have been world-wide efforts over three decades to substantiate the presence of winds around Sun-like stars and measure their strengths, but so far only indirect evidence based on their secondary effects on the star or its environment alluded to the existence of such winds; our group previously tried to detect radio emission from the winds but could only place upper limits to the wind strengths while not detecting the winds themselves. Our new X-ray based results pave the way to finding and even imaging these winds directly and studying their interactions with surrounding planets.”
In the future, this method of direct detection of stellar winds will be facilitated by next-generation missions like the European Athena mission. This mission will include a high-resolution X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) spectrometer, which Athena will use to resolve the finer structure and ratio of faint emission lines that are difficult to distinguish using XMM-Newton’s instruments. This will provide a more detailed picture of the stellar winds and astrospheres of distant stars, helping astronomers constrain their potential habitability while also improving solar evolution models.
Further Reading: University of Vienna, Nature Astronomy
The post Stellar Winds Coming From Other Stars Measured for the First Time appeared first on Universe Today.
Neutron Stars Could be Heating Up From Dark Matter Annihilation
One of the big mysteries about dark matter particles is whether they interact with each other. We still don’t know the exact nature of what dark matter is. Some models argue that dark matter only interacts gravitationally, but many more posit that dark matter particles can collide with each other, clump together, and even decay into particles we can see. If that’s the case, then objects with particularly strong gravitational fields such as black holes, neutron stars, and white dwarfs might capture and concentrate dark matter. This could in turn affect how these objects appear. As a case in point, a recent study looks at the interplay between dark matter and neutron stars.
Neutron stars are made of the most dense matter in the cosmos. Their powerful gravitational fields could trap dark matter and unlike black holes, any radiation from dark matter won’t be trapped behind an event horizon. So neutron stars are a perfect candidate for studying dark matter models. For this study, the team looked at how much dark matter a neutron star could capture, and how the decay of interacting dark matter particles would affect its temperature.
The details depend on which specific dark matter model you use. Rather than addressing variant models, the team looked at broad properties. Specifically, they focused on how dark matter and baryons (protons and neutrons) might interact, and whether that would cause dark matter to be trapped. Sure enough, for the range of possible baryon-dark matter interactions, neutron stars can capture dark matter.
The team then went on to look at how dark matter thermalization could occur. In other words, as dark matter is captured it should release heat energy into the neutron star through collisions and dark matter annihilation. Over time the dark matter and neutron star should reach a thermal equilibrium. The rate at which this occurs depends on how strongly particles interact, the so-called scattering cross-section. The team found that thermal equilibrium is reached fairly quickly. For simple scalar models of dark matter, equilibrium can be reached within 10,000 years. For vector models of dark matter, equilibrium can happen in just a year. Regardless of the model, neutron stars can reach thermal equilibrium in a cosmic blink of an eye.
If this model is correct, then dark matter could play a measurable role in the evolution of neutron stars. We could, for example, identify the presence of dark matter by observing neutron stars that are warmer than expected. Or perhaps even distinguish different dark matter models by the overall spectrum of neutron stars.
Reference: Bell, Nicole F., et al. “Thermalization and annihilation of dark matter in neutron stars.” Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics 2024.04 (2024): 006.
The post Neutron Stars Could be Heating Up From Dark Matter Annihilation appeared first on Universe Today.
This Week In Space podcast: Episode 106 — Space Potpourri!
Tiny black holes left over from the Big Bang may be prime dark matter suspects
'You could feel the energy and wonder': Despite clouds, totality wows crowds during solar eclipse in Syracuse
In a virtual reality universe, upcoming 'JUICE' mission flies by Jupiter's moon Callisto
Artemis 2 Orion spacecraft starts testing ahead of moon mission with astronauts in 2025 (video)
SpaceX Starship will be 500 feet tall to prepare for Mars missions, Elon Musk says (video)
The NRP Post
Current partners are encouraged to share their stories with NASA and our local communities. If partners do not have the time to prepare a story for the NRP post, the NRP team encourages partners to submit their latest press release and it can be included in the Post!
Please submit your stories and high quality photos (including captions) to: theodore.r.triano@nasa.gov.
4 | CMU Designed Satellite Launched Into Low-Earth Orbit
Brandon Lucia’s lab developed the Tartan-Artibeus-1 Satellite, the world’s first battery-less PocketQube satellite, deployed to low-Earth orbit aboard the SpaceX Transporter-3 Rocket
3 | CAL FIRE Operations at NASA Ames
CAL FIRE expands its firefighting and rescue operations at NASA Ames
6 | Breakthrough Initiatives and SETI Finding Signals
The blc1 signal is not alien – but it is a huge leap forward for SETI
10 | Hangar 1 Restoration Begins
Planetary Ventures began restoration efforts to Hangar 1 at NASA Ames
12 | RMV Develops ESD Evaluation Protocols
NASA Industry Partner Develops ESD Evaluation Protocols for Launch Integrity and CubeSat Startup Success
3 | Autonomous Systems and Robotics
Intelligent Robotics Group, USGS, and NOAA team demonstrate UAS streamflow mapping over the Sacramento River
4 | Iris Lunar Rover Meets Milestone for Flight
Ribbon cutting for new facility on the Center
6 | Innovatus Capital Partners teams with Verdigris Technologies
Verdigris teams with Capital Partners to reduce energy costs by bringing energy intelligence to its buildings
9 | USGS-Black Swift-NASA Partnership
USGS-Black Swift-NASA partnership to reduce volcanic hazards
12 | RMV Coming to you Virtually
Vermillion innovates a unique virtual platform in place of traditional “hands-on” learning
14 | NASA and USGS Partner to Measure
Stream Flow Remotely with UAS NASA and USGS are developing an autonomous UAS to map stream flow
3 | Farewell to Lauren Ladwig NASA Attorney
Mejghan Haider and the NRP Team wish great success to an amazing colleague and friend.
4 | California Air National Guard 129th
Rescue Wing – Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at Moffett Ribbon cutting for new facility on the Center.
6 | CMU Orbital Edge Computing
CMU creating the computing systems to get us to outer space.
8 |USGS Now has Earthquake Early Warning System
Entire U.S. west coast now has access to ShakeAlert® earthquake early warning.
10 |Breakthrough Initiatives Finding Low Mass Planets
Imaging low-mass planets within the habitable zone of Centauri.
3 | Geoffrey Ament of STC Receives NASA Ames Contractor of the Year Award
NASA recognizes Mr. Geoffrey Ament’s accomplishments at Ames Research Center
4 | CMU Reducing Interference
ECE researchers were awarded a $1M NSF grant to investigate new ways to avert interference
6 | Breakthrough Initiatives Help to Look for Life in the Clouds of Venus
Initiatives to fund study into search for primitive life in the clouds of Venus
8 |RMV’s Hands on Approach to Education on ESD
RMV’s in person and virtual classes on electrostatic discharge by Bob Vermillion
10 |USGS’s Study on the Movements of Smaller Earthquakes
Study by USGS on how smaller quakes can actually shake more aggressively
3 | RMV to Provide Virtual Training and Risk Mitigation of Covid 19
RMV training for space and defense material han- dling of electronics
4 | Made in Space Acquired by Redwire
SpaceNews announces Redwire acquisition of Made In Space
6 | Collaboration of CMU and Tech Giants in Silicon Valley
Students at the Silicon Valley campus of CMU collaborate with Tech Giants in Silicon Valley
8 | Breakthrough Invite Looking for Signs of Extraterrestrial Life
Thousands of new planets found by TESS will be scanned for “technosignatures” by Breakthrough Listen partner facilities across the globe
10 |AUVSI – One Giant Leap for Silicon Valley
AUVSI Brings Together Industry Heavy-Hitters for Technical Discussions at NASA AMES
12 |CMU-SV Orbital Edge Computing
CMU working on getting humanity into space
14 |Metis Presents at AIAA Scitech Forum 2020
Metis working with NASA assisting in US Coast Guard training
15 | NASA Ames Photo Ops
Photos from the NRP.
3 | NRP Welcomes New Partners
NASA Research Park welcomes new partners Flirtey and AUVSI Silicon Valley to Moffett Field.
4 | Making Tracks in the Desert
Carnegie Mellon University’s Catherine Pavlov testing space rovers in the Atacama Desert.
6 | Coronavirus: Tech Firm Bloom Energy Fixes Broken U.S. Ventilators
Bloom Energy is helping out the effort in the United States by fixing broken ventilators.
8 | Made in Space 3D Printing in Orbit
Made in Space discusses the expanding use of 3D printing to NASA’s Jim Bridenstine.
10 | Producing Hydrogen Peroxide When and Where it’s Needed
Does a material exist that can be used to selectively, reliably, and efficiently form hydrogen peroxide whenever and wherever it’s needed?
12 | Bloom Energy Helps Customers Prepare for Wildfire Season
Bloom Energy launches quick deploy microgrid Program for PSPS Readiness and Power Outage Map.
14 | Eugene Tu Announces New Appointment
Eugene L. Tu announces the appointment of Verron “Ron” Brade as Ames Center Associate Director.
15 | NASA Ames Photo Ops
Photos from the NRP.
2 | USGS Ribbon Cutting
USGS ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 10th is key milestone for USGS move to Moffett Field
3 | NASA Administrator Visits SimLabs
Jim Bridenstine visits SimLabs flight simulators
5 | NASA Invests in 3D Printing
3D Printing in the aviation field, a future that NASA and CMU wish to be on the forefront
7 | Bob Vermillion Inducted into Military Packaging Hall of Fame
The National Institute of Packaging honor Bob Vermillion with induction into Military Packaging Hall of Fame
9 | Verdigris Helping Save Energy
New technology in familiar app makes it even easier for customers to save energy
11 | CMU Working on Buffering, Burstables, and Better Websites
Joe-Wong and Jiang are working on issues that can help everyone improve their experience on the web
13 | Eugene Tu Announces New Appointments
Janice Fried joined the Director’s staff as Mejghan Haider was appointed the Director of the NASA Research Park
14 | NASA Ames Photo Ops
Photos from the NRP
COVER | USGS & NASA
Collaboration Dr. Jim Reilly, Director of USGS visited Ames on to discus collaborative opportunities with Dr. Tu Director of NASA Ames
2 | Planetary Ventures Building at NASA Ames to Build Bay View Campus
Building of new Bay View Campus on track
3 | Airmap Working on Drone Recognition
Airmap continues to make mass use of drones a reality
5 | Bloom Energy
A closer look at Bloom Enegery
7 | RMV iNARTE® ESD Aerospace &
Defense Engineer
RMW receives highest level of ESD certification and training for NASA
9 | Verdigris Helping Save Energy
Verdigris Technologies announces latest smart building advancement
11 | Vasper – A Better Way to Workout
Vasper showing how a shorter workout using advanced technology is a better workout
13 | Bay Aera Environmental Research Institute
Numerical Model Simulates Entire Evolution of a Solar Flare for First Time
14 | NASA Ames Photo Ops
Photos from the NRP
1 | NASA’s Silicon Valley Housing
Development NASA is narrowing the search for the contractors to build on its Silicon Valley housing development
1 | CMU Team in NASA Mars Ice
Drilling Competition CMU looking to collaborate with NASA in Mars ice drilling
2 | New Partners
NRP Welcomes
2 | Orange Silicon Valley Finds Savings with Verdigris
Verdigris saving companies on energy costs in Silicon Valley
3 | Made In Space Wins Next-Gen
‘Vulcan” Contract Made In Space to make metallic components in space
4 | CMU – Footsteps to Preventing Falls
CMU coming up with technology to help prevent falls
5 | Boeing Investing in
Singularity University Boeing investing in global learning and innovation with Singularity University
5 | Interesting Podcasts
USGS has some interesting pod-casts you should hear
7 | Boreal & Stanford
Exploring Extreme Space Collaboration to explore extreme space environments
8 | Bob Vermillion Receives Lifetime Achievement Award
Bob Vermillion receives James A. Russell Lifetime Achievement Award
9 | Medal of Honor on Display
Moffett Museum has Metal of Honor on display
10 | Made In Space Bid on Archinaut
Made In Space working on bid for next phase of Archinaut Development Program
11 | Rosenbert’s Mission at CMU
Rosenberg is on a mission at CMU’s Silicon Valley campus
12 | Photo Ops
Photos from the NRP
1 | New Chapter for NanoRacks
NanoRacks and Ixion team up to explore space together
1 | Made In Space 3D Printing
Made In Space continues to prove 3D printing in space does work including testing in a “space-like environment”
3 | Singularity University (SU) Announces SU Ventures
Partners being recognized in Spinoff 2017
4 | Eugene Tu Announces NASA Ames Deputy Center Director
Carol Carrol announced as new Deputy Center Director
5 | RVM Helping ONE NASA Program Managers
NanoRacks announced as Small Business Prime Contractor of the year
6 | CMU-SV Mentor Teens in Hackathon
CMU-SV working with students to make a better society through coding
7 | Moon Express & NanoRacks Working Together Beyond Earth Orbit
Looking for new breakthroughs
8 | USGS Using Real-Time Hydrologic Data
Spinoff features Verdigris and its energy conservation technology at Ames
8 | NanoRacks at Dubai Expo 2020
NanoRacks to attend Dubai Expo in 2020
9 | AirMap & Kespry and Drones
AirMap and Kespry team up on drone research and development
10 | Drones in the Matrix
CMU teaching drones to fly
12 | CMU and USGS Working Together
Crowd-sourced Geodesy to study earthquakes
1 | Tools of Change
GSP Class talking technology. Where we are now and where it will take us in the future.
1 | First Commercial Interplanetary Mission
Deep Space Industries planning first commercial interplanetary mission
2 | SkyTran Bridge Loan
30 Mil series B financing
3 | Global Entrepreneurship
Lecture panel for 2016 a success
4 | Optical Fiber in Microgravity
Made In Space at the forefront of technologies in microgravity
5 | CMU-SV Wireless to the Rescue
When the wires go down CMU and its drones are there to fix the problem
7 | Wireless Emergency Alert Technology
CMU Working with FCC for Emergency Wireless Alerts
10 | Modern Requirements Management
CMU Teaching future leaders for Fortune 100 companies
11 | CMU-SV’s Welcomes Vivek Wadhwa
Vivek Wadhwa Joins Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley
12 | Geo Cosmo Honored
GeoCosmo honored at NASA Research Park
12 | Jason Dunn
Jason presented the future of making things in space
12 | Photo Recognition
NRP Photos and Recognition
1 | Next Generation Space Manufacturing Program
Made In Space chosen to work on next generation of space manufacturing
1 | 3D Printer to Go Into Space
Made In Space to put printer into Internation Space Station
2 | New Partners
NRP Welcomes
2 | Appointment of Janice Fried
Ms. Janice Fried appointed as Director of the NASA Research Park
3 | Energy Tracker by Verdigris
Verdigris announces newest building intelligence platform: Energy Tracker
4 | NASA, Aerodynamics & Sports Balls
Dr. Rabindra Mehta, chief of the Experimental Aero-Physics lecture on sports ball aerodynamics
5 | Carnegie Mellon University – SV
Partner with Cheetah Mobile to improve mobile advertising
6 | NRP Showcased
NRP showcased in Spinoff Magazine 2016
7 | CMU-SVʼs Karishma Shah
Karishma Show Honored with Forbes 30 Under 30 2016
9 | DMI Brings Wireless to Nepal
DMI helping Nepal bring communication back after earthquake
10 | Making History Again
Made Ins Space featured on NBC Bay Area
11 | NASA Ames Hosts GIDEP
NASA Ames hosts GIDEP for RMV site visit
11 | Connect 2016 a Big Hit
Big ideas make a big hit for Connect 2016
1 | Messages from Charles Bolden
Please Welcome Deputy Administrator Dava Newman & Announcement of New Ames Center Director
1 | Messages from Center Director
Selection of NASA Ames Research Center Deputy Center Director
2 | New Partners
NRP Welcomes
2 | NASA Research Park
NASA Research Park Wins Bright Idea Award
3 | SETI Institute
Pascal Lee Wins Children’s Book Prize
4 | Moon Express
An Audacious Plan to Mine the Surface of the Moon
6 | Rhombus Power Inc.
Frost & Sullivan Recognizes Rhombus as New Product Innovation Leader
6 | Rhombus Power Inc.
Mercury Headed to International Space Station
7 | NASA Research Park
NRP & DOC work together for National Event
8 | Singularity University
24-year-old Wins India’s First Smart City Contest; Winning Entry Focuses on Pollution Free Cities for India
10 | Singularity University
Google Pledges $3M to put Students through Singularity University Program
10 | Photozig
PepBlast Motion Pictures, the Slide Show Maker with Music, is Launched
11| Vasper
Liquid Cooling Technology Increases Exercise Efficiency
12 | RMV Technology Group LLC
NRP Research Center Veteran Owned Company Receives SBA Business Award & NIPHLE Packaging Engineering Award
13| Scanadu
Scanadu Raises $35 Million From Fosun, Tencent for Its Health Scanner
13| Made In Space
Made in Space, Now Taking Orders
14 | skyTran
skyTran™, Inc., Entered into an Agreement with Sustainable Systems of Colorado
15 | NeuroVigil
NeuroVigil Closes 2nd Financial Round
16 | NeuroVigil
Neurotech Goes Global: Tens of Thousands of Brains Coming Online
1| Innovation Space
1| PocketQube
2| New Partners
3| A Day at Singularity University
3| CO2 Workshop
7| Singularity University GSP
7| reQall’s reqallable App
8| M2Mi/Electrical Grid
9| M2Mi/Sarah Cooper
9| Taksha University
10| Rhombus
11| Made In Space
12| skyTran
13| OpenNEX
13| Space Development Panel
14| UAV Collaborative
14| CMU Alerts
15| RMV
16| Mars Institute
18| Google Lunar XPRIZE
18| Scanadu/Smartest City
19| LatIPnet
20| CMU Software
21| Planners Collaborative
21| Polish Delegation
22| Connect Bogota
23| Bloom Energy Japan
23| Bloom Energy Earth Day
24| Medical Technology Panel
1| NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Institute (SSERVI)
1| Moon Express
1| The Sky Isn’t the Limit
2| New Partners
5| Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project
6| IPADE Business School Visit
7| LatIPnet: Sustainability and Living Lab
8| NRP Lecture: Planetary Sustainability for Survival and Profit
9| CMU Names Bob Iannucci to Head SV Campus
9| KleenSpeed Collaborates with Oracle Team USA
10| Space Portal Leaders at AIAA Space 2013
11| ‘Maker’ Ideas Wanted for First 3D Printer in Space
11| BASF Extends Agreement with Apprion
12| Scanadu: Tricorders and the Idea of Mapping One’s Body
13| RMV Capabilities
14| NASA Begins Exploring Quantum Computing
16| Getting City Commuters Out of Their Car—SkyTran
17| Wyle Sponsors Rocket Launch
18| Kentucky Space
19| Vasper: Biomimicry and Cooling Technologies for Sports Rehabilitation
20| reQall Rover App
21| Singularity University Features Female Entrepreneurs at CROWDFUNDxWOMEN
21| Intrinsyx’s Wireless Technology for Space Applications
23| NeuroVigil Opens Satellite Research Lab
1| 2013 West Summit
1| NASA’s IRIS Launched with Antennas from CMU-SV Startup X5 Systems
1| Made in Space Bringing 3D Printing to Space
2| New Partners
4| Managing Irrigation from Space 3 World’s First Mission to Moon’s South Pole
6| CMU-SV Director Martin Griss to Step Down, Continue as Research Scientist
7| Space Artists Converge on the NASA Research Park
8| CREST/SCU Program Recognized by the National Academy of Engineering
8| Santa Clara University and Space Portal Aerospace Innovation Events
9| NASA’s Newest Virtual Institute Celebrates First Anniversary
10| First Field Simulation of Human Exploration of Near-Earth Asteroids, Phobos, & Deimos
10| Mars Institute: Educating Future Mars Explorers
11| Bloom Energy in Japan
14| NewSpace 2013 and AIAA Joint Propulsion Conference
14| Verdigris Technologies Named Founder.org Winner
15| Real-Life ‘Star Trek’ Tricorder Project Raises $1 Million
17| Quantum Supercomputer
18| NASA ROSES Seagrass/Coral Reef Project
19| Singularity University’s Graduate Studies Program
20| RMV Technology Group Invited to Chair G-19 & G-21 Sub-Committee Packaging Engineering Working Groups
1| Google Starting Construction on New Campus
1| BBC TV Visits NRP
2| New Partners
2| New Company in NRP Brings Back Former NASA Employee
3| BBC World News Launches New Series of Horizons
3| Space Portal Delivers
6| NASA Invites Media to Showcase of Solutions Finalists
7| May 23 Showcase of Solutions for Planetary Sustainability
7| What if You Could Mine the Moon?
9| Wattminder, Inc. Building Stem Education Resources
10| STC’s Education Outreach
11| Tibion’s Bionic Leg
12| NASA Ames and Swedish National Space Board Join Forces to Integrate and Test AAC Microtec 6U Satellite
12| PepBlast eCards App Approved by Apple iTunes App Store
13| First ICES Workshop Held Among USGS, NASA and CMU-SV
13| Newly Renovated Carnegie Mellon Innovations Laboratory Unveiled
14| M2Mi Celebrates 7 Years with NRP
15| Kentucky Space Announces Space Tango
15| NASA Pod Transports Are Close to Reality—in Tel Aviv
16| Intrinsyx Technologies Corp. Empowers Biological Research on the ISS
17| Chandah Collaborations Underway
18| University Associates Silicon Valley
1| Singularity Hub Acquired! Now Part Of Singularity University
1| Personal Health Tricorders Made at NASA Ames
2| New Partners
2| NASA Research Park Post Editor’s Farewell
3| Peter Diamandis Inspires Crowd at December 2012 NRP Lecture
5| Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley Holds 3rd Annual DMI Workshop
5| Entrepreneurship Program at CMUSV Opens with Idea Workshop
6| CMUSV and NASA Researchers Map Underground Faults Using UAS
9| Wyle Employees Receive 2012 Agency Honor Award from NASA
10| Verdigris Technology Plans Smart Grid Shakeup with Building AI
11| AAC Microtec-Supported 1U CubeSat Successfully Launched from ISS in October
12| Mars Institute: We are Go for Mars
14| RMV Developments
15| IntraPoint Continues to Establish itself as the Global Leader in Enterprise Resiliency
15| ARCTek 3
1| CMUSV 10th Anniversary
1| President of Bulgaria Visits NRP
2| New Partners
4| NASA Earth Exchange
5| Airship Venture’s Zeppelin Airship Pilot School
6| NASA Lunar Science Forum
8| NASA Roses Seagrass/Coral Reef Project
9| Hangar One UAV Project
10| Kentucky Space Developments
11| PepBlast Animated eCards
12| KleenSpeed Wins Refuel 2012
12| KleenSpeed Battery
13| NRP Hosts UN leaders
14| Bloom Energy Brings on Big Customers
15| Singularity University’s Summer Graduate Studies Program
15| Google’s Cyborg Glasses
16| Moon Express New Hires
1| N-CITE to Enhance NASA NRP Collaborations
1| Photozig–New Apps, Programs, & Webnovela
2| New Partners
3| CMUSV Tenth Anniversary
4| Singularity University Brings in Gabriel Baldinucci
5| NASA Awards Moon Express New Task
6| Moon Express: A New Breed of Space Explorers
6| AAC Microtec & Ames’ First Plug-and-Play Compatible Spacecraft
7| Ray Kurzweil Talks About ‘Singularity’
8| GaryAir Participates in Technical Interchange Meeting
9| NASA and CMUSV Host “Big Data Management”
11| Is Vasper Really the Exercise of the Future?
14| NRP Lecture Series Hosts Disaster Resiliency Panel
17| STC Sponsors First Journal of Small Satellites
17| STC’s Science and Technology International Education Program
17| Taksha University Courses
18| In Memoriam: Rich Davies
1| Proposal Featuring SkyTran Wins Judges’ Choice
1| New Partner Scanadu
3| Next NRP Lecture
4| FutureMed Program
5| Singularity University’s New CEO
6| Eureka is Back at Moett
7| Disaster Management Technologies
8| NASA WRAP in Next-Gen EOC
8| CMUSV Designated CUDA Research Center
9| SkyTran’s Magnetic Pods
10| reQall’s N. Rao Machiragu
10| Photozig’s New App
11| Bloom Energy
12| KleenSpeed KAR
13| KleenSpeed E-BIKE
14| A Rewarding Year for Intrinsyx
15| Intrinsyx Open House
15| ACE Manufacturing Developers visit NRP
15| Students and Professors Meet NRP Innovators
16| Delegation from Mexico Visits NRP
1| Kentucky Space on ISS
1| Moon Express Lunar Lander
2| New Partners
3| Google Lunar X Names New Chief
4| KleenSpeed EV-X11
4| KleenSpeed Eiata
6| CMUSV Disaster Management
8| FutureMed Executive Program
9| Packing for Mars NRP Lecture
10| Benetech – Technology for Humanity
11| Intrinsyx Showcase
12| Pete Conrad Spirit of Innovation Award
13| Airship Ventures Tour
13| Taksha University
14| Five9 Network Systems
15| ReQall Rover
16| Moon Express Announces Chief Scientist
1| Vasper Systems California, LLC
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15| The Latest in Technology from the NY Times — NRP’s reQall Adds Location-Based Reminders
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1| Ames and Airship Ventures Celebrate Moffett Field’s 75th Anniversary and Airship’s Return
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2| NRP Welcomes New Tenants
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3| Intrinsyx Technologies Receives NASA Ames 2008 Award for Small Business Subcontractor of the Year
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4| GaryAir Partners with Ames’ Flight Deck Display Research Lab (FDDRL)
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Are panda sex lives being sabotaged by the wrong gut microbes?
Are panda sex lives being sabotaged by the wrong gut microbes?
The Brightest Gamma Ray Burst Ever Seen Came from a Collapsing Star
After a journey lasting about two billion years, photons from an extremely energetic gamma-ray burst (GRB) struck the sensors on the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope on October 9th, 2022. The GRB lasted seven minutes but was visible for much longer. Even amateur astronomers spotted the powerful burst in visible frequencies.
It was so powerful that it affected Earth’s atmosphere, a remarkable feat for something more than two billion light-years away. It’s the brightest GRB ever observed, and since then, astrophysicists have searched for its source.
NASA says GRBs are the most powerful explosions in the Universe. They were first detected in the late 1960s by American satellites launched to keep an eye on the USSR. The Americans were concerned that the Russians might keep testing atomic weapons despite signing 1963’s Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Now, we detect about one GRB daily, and they’re always in distant galaxies. Astrophysicists struggled to explain them, coming up with different hypotheses. There was so much research into them that by the year 2,000, an average of 1.5 articles on GRBs were published in scientific journals daily.
There were many different proposed causes. Some thought that GRBs could be released when comets collided with neutron stars. Others thought they could come from massive stars collapsing to become black holes. In fact, scientists wondered if quasars, supernovae, pulsars, and even globular clusters could be the cause of GRBs or associated with them somehow.
GRBs are confounding because their light curves are so complex. No two are identical. But astrophysicists made progress, and they’ve learned a few things. Short-duration GRBs are caused by the merger of two neutron stars or the merger of a neutron star and a black hole. Longer-duration GRBs are caused by a massive star collapsing and forming a black hole.
This sample of 12 GRB light curves shows how no two are the same. Image Credit: NASANew research in Nature examined the ultra-energetic GRB 221009A, dubbed the “B.O.A.T: Brightest Of All Time,” and found something surprising. When it was initially discovered, scientists said it was caused by a massive star collapsing into a black hole. The new research doesn’t contradict that. But it presents a new mystery: why are there no heavy elements in the newly uncovered supernova?
The research is “JWST detection of a supernova associated with GRB 221009A without an r-process signature.” The lead author is Peter Blanchard, a Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) postdoctoral fellow.
“The GRB was so bright that it obscured any potential supernova signature in the first weeks and months after the burst,” Blanchard said. “At these times, the so-called afterglow of the GRB was like the headlights of a car coming straight at you, preventing you from seeing the car itself. So, we had to wait for it to fade significantly to give us a chance of seeing the supernova.”
“When we confirmed that the GRB was generated by the collapse of a massive star, that gave us the opportunity to test a hypothesis for how some of the heaviest elements in the universe are formed,” said lead author Blanchard. “We did not see signatures of these heavy elements, suggesting that extremely energetic GRBs like the B.O.A.T. do not produce these elements. That doesn’t mean that all GRBs do not produce them, but it’s a key piece of information as we continue to understand where these heavy elements come from. Future observations with JWST will determine if the B.O.A.T.’s ‘normal’ cousins produce these elements.”
Scientists know that supernova explosions forge heavy elements. They’re an important source of elements from oxygen (atomic number 8) to rubidium (atomic number 37) in the interstellar medium. They also produce heavier elements than that. Heavy elements are necessary to form rocky planets like Earth and for life itself. But it’s important to note that astrophysicists don’t completely understand how heavy elements are produced.
This periodic table from the NASA Scientific Visualization Studio shows where the elements come from, though scientists still have some uncertainty. Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterScientists naturally wondered if an extremely luminous GRB like GRB 221009A would produce even more heavy elements. But that’s not what they found.
“This event is particularly exciting because some had hypothesized that a luminous gamma-ray burst like the B.O.A.T. could make a lot of heavy elements like gold and platinum,” said second author Ashley Villar of Harvard University and the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. “If they were correct, the B.O.A.T. should have been a goldmine. It is really striking that we didn’t see any evidence for these heavy elements.”
Stars forge heavy elements by nucleosynthesis. Three processes are responsible for that: the p-process, the s-process and the r-process (proton capture process, slow neutron capture process, and the rapid neutron capture process.) The r-process captures neutrons faster than the s-process and is responsible for about half of the elements heavier than iron. The r-process is also responsible for the most stable isotopes of these heavy elements.
That’s all to illustrate the importance of the r-process in the Universe.
The researchers used the JWST to get to the bottom of GRB 221009A. The GRB was obscured by the Milky Way, but the JWST senses infrared light and saw right through the Milky Way’s gas and dust. The telescope’s NIRSpec (Near Infrared Spectrograph) senses elements like oxygen and calcium, usually found in supernovae. But the signatures weren’t very bright, a surprise considering how bright the supernova was.
“It’s not any brighter than previous supernovae,” lead author Blanchard said. “It looks fairly normal in the context of other supernovae associated with less energetic GRBs. You might expect that the same collapsing star producing a very energetic and bright GRB would also produce a very energetic and bright supernova. But it turns out that’s not the case. We have this extremely luminous GRB, but a normal supernova.”
Confirming the presence of the supernova was a big step to understanding GRB 221009A. But the lack of an r-process signature is still confounding.
Scientists have only confirmed the r-process in the merger of two neutron stars, called a kilonova explosion. But there are too few neutron star mergers to explain the abundance of heavy elements.
This artist’s illustration shows two neutron stars colliding. Known as a “kilonova” event, they’re the only confirmed location of the r-process that forges heavy elements. Credits: Elizabeth Wheatley (STScI)“There is likely another source,” Blanchard said. “It takes a very long time for binary neutron stars to merge. Two stars in a binary system first have to explode to leave behind neutron stars. Then, it can take billions and billions of years for the two neutron stars to slowly get closer and closer and finally merge. But observations of very old stars indicate that parts of the universe were enriched with heavy metals before most binary neutron stars would have had time to merge. That’s pointing us to an alternative channel.”
Researchers have wondered if luminous supernovae like this can account for the rest. Supernovae have an inner layer where more heavy elements could be synthesized. But that layer is obscured. Only after things calm down is the inner layer visible.
“The exploded material of the star is opaque at early times, so you can only see the outer layers,” Blanchard said. “But once it expands and cools, it becomes transparent. Then you can see the photons coming from the inner layer of the supernova.”
All elements have spectroscopic signatures, and the JWST’s NIRSpec is a very capable instrument. But it couldn’t detect heavier elements, even in the supernova’s inner layer.
“Upon examining the B.O.A.T.’s spectrum, we did not see any signature of heavy elements, suggesting extreme events like GRB 221009A are not primary sources,” lead author Blanshard said. “This is crucial information as we continue to try to pin down where the heaviest elements are formed.”
Scientists are still uncertain about the GRB and its lack of heavy elements. But there’s another feature that might offer a clue: jets.
“A second proposed site of the r-process is in rapidly rotating cores of massive stars that collapse into an accreting black hole, producing similar conditions as the aftermath of a BNS merger,” the authors write in their paper. “Theoretical simulations suggest that accretion disk outflows in these so-called ‘collapsars’ may reach the neutron-rich state required for the r-process to occur.”
The “accretion disk outflows” the researchers refer to are relativistic jets. The narrower the jets are, the brighter and more focused their energy is.
Could they play a role in forging heavy elements?
“It’s like focusing a flashlight’s beam into a narrow column, as opposed to a broad beam that washes across a whole wall,” Laskar said. “In fact, this was one of the narrowest jets seen for a gamma-ray burst so far, which gives us a hint as to why the afterglow appeared as bright as it did. There may be other factors responsible as well, a question that researchers will be studying for years to come.”
The researchers also used NIRSpec to gather a spectrum from the GRB’s host galaxy. It has the lowest metallicity of any galaxy known to host a GRB. Could that be a factor?
“This is one of the lowest metallicity environments of any LGRB, which is a class of objects that prefer low-metallicity galaxies, and it is, to our knowledge, the lowest metallicity environment of a GRB-SN to date,” the authors write in their research. “This may suggest that very low metallicity is required to produce a very energetic GRB.”
The host galaxy is also actively forming stars. Is that another clue?
“The spectrum shows signs of star formation, hinting that the birth environment of the original star may be different than previous events,” Blanshard said.
Yijia Li is a graduate student at Penn State and a co-author of the paper. “This is another unique aspect of the B.O.A.T. that may help explain its properties,” Li said. “The energy released in the B.O.A.T. was completely off the charts, one of the most energetic events humans have ever seen. The fact that it also appears to be born out of near-primordial gas may be an important clue to understanding its superlative properties.”
This is another case where solving one mystery leads to another unanswered one. The JWST was launched to answer some of our foundational questions about the Universe. By confirming that a supernova is behind the most powerful GRB ever detected, it’s done part of its job.
But it also found another mystery and has left us hanging again.
The JWST is working as intended.
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