It is clear to everyone that astronomy at all events compels the soul to look upwards, and draws it from the things of this world to the other.

— Plato

Feed aggregator

Meet the Real-Life Versions of Dune’s Epic Sandworms

Scientific American.com - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 4:00pm

A Dune-loving worm paleontologist makes the case that worms have been just as important on Earth as they are in the blockbuster film

Categories: Astronomy

Martian Barchan Dunes

NASA Image of the Day - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 3:17pm
This image shows two types of sand dunes on Mars. The small dots are called barchan dunes, and from their shape we can tell that they are upwind. The downwind dunes are long and linear. These two types of dune each show the wind direction in different ways: the barchans have a steep slope and crescent-shaped "horns" that point downwind, while the linear dunes are stretched out along the primary wind direction. Linear dunes, however, typically indicate a wind regime with at least two different prevailing winds, which stretch out the sand along their average direction. In several places in this image, you can find barchan dunes turning into linear dunes as they are stretched out, but they both seem into indicate the same wind direction.
Categories: Astronomy, NASA

Martian Barchan Dunes

NASA - Breaking News - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 3:16pm
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

On Jan. 16, 2020, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) captured this image of two types of sand dunes on Mars: barchan and linear dunes.

The small dots are called barchan dunes, and from their shape we can tell that they are upwind. The downwind dunes are long and linear. These two types of dune each show the wind direction in different ways: the barchans have a steep slope and crescent-shaped “horns” that point downwind, while the linear dunes are stretched out along the primary wind direction. Linear dunes, however, typically indicate at least two different prevailing winds, which stretch out the sand along their average direction.

Barchan and linear dunes aren’t just a Martian phenomenon – we can also see them on Earth. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have snapped photos of them occurring in Brazil and Saudi Arabia.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Categories: NASA

NASA to Highlight Artemis, US Space Leadership During Annual Address

NASA - Breaking News - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 2:42pm
Credit: NASA

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will discuss the agency’s goals for the benefit of humanity during the annual State of NASA address on Monday, March 11. The event will coincide with the release of the Biden-Harris Administration’s fiscal year 2025 budget proposal.

The event will air live at 1 p.m. EDT on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website. NASA TV can be streamed on a variety of platforms, including social media.

During State of NASA, Nelson will speak about the agency’s plans for promoting U.S. leadership in space exploration, improving life on Earth through innovation, humanity’s return to the Moon under the Artemis campaign, and more. Senior leaders from each of NASA’s mission directorates also will discuss advancements in their areas ranging from aeronautics and science research to space operations.

At 2:30 p.m., Nelson will kick off a media teleconference with Chief Financial Officer Margaret Vo Schaus, who will present information about the fiscal year 2025 funding request for the agency. Media interested in participating in the teleconference must RSVP no later than two hours prior to the start of the call to: hq-media@mail.nasa.gov.

The schedule of activities is based on the president’s budget release on Monday and is subject to change.

The budget proposal for NASA and supporting information will be available online that afternoon at:

https://www.nasa.gov/budget

-end-

Abbey Donaldson
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
abbey.a.donaldson@nasa.gov

Share Details Last Updated Mar 08, 2024 EditorTiernan DoyleLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Categories: NASA

Quantum memory device could stop unhackable networks from failing

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 2:00pm
A memory device that temporarily saves quantum information could become an important addition to quantum networks because it would allow users to salvage information if it fails to transfer properly
Categories: Astronomy

Quantum memory device could stop unhackable networks from failing

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 2:00pm
A memory device that temporarily saves quantum information could become an important addition to quantum networks because it would allow users to salvage information if it fails to transfer properly
Categories: Astronomy

Pentagon UFO office finds 'no empirical evidence' for alien technology in new report

Space.com - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 1:33pm
The Pentagon's UFO office says there is no evidence for claims that any sightings represent extraterrestrial technology or that the government possesses crashed alien spacecraft.
Categories: Astronomy

These Lego Ideas SLS rocket, Kerbal Space Program and 'The Martian' concepts are incredible, and we hope they get made

Space.com - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 1:00pm
'The Martian,' Kerbal Space Program, and NASA's Space Launch System rocket are among awesome space-themed Lego Ideas concepts up for submission right now.
Categories: Astronomy

Here's how to see 'horned' comet 12P/Pons-Brooks in the night sky this month (video)

Space.com - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 1:00pm
All you'll need to see comet 12P/Pons-Brooks this month, besides fair weather and a little luck, are good binoculars or a telescope and sky map to help guide you.
Categories: Astronomy

Lead from Old Paint and Pipes Is Still a Deadly Hazard in Millions of U.S. Homes

Scientific American.com - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 1:00pm

Protecting people from lead poisoning requires developing and using powerful tests

Categories: Astronomy

Biden’s State of the Union Promises Big Job Gains from Clean Energy Policy

Scientific American.com - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 12:30pm

President Biden made big promises about what his climate and energy agenda could deliver during his State of the Union speech

Categories: Astronomy

NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson 'super-pumped' for 3rd space mission (exclusive video)

Space.com - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 12:00pm
NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson will launch toward the ISS no earlier than March 21. She talks to Space.com about what she and other astronauts will do on the mission, her third spaceflight.
Categories: Astronomy

Damaged coral reefs can recover quickly after restoration work

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 12:00pm
Four years after being restored with steel frames, coral reefs in Indonesia damaged by blast fishing grow at the same rate as healthy reefs, but they have lower levels of species diversity
Categories: Astronomy

Damaged coral reefs can recover quickly after restoration work

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 12:00pm
Four years after being restored with steel frames, coral reefs in Indonesia damaged by blast fishing grow at the same rate as healthy reefs, but they have lower levels of species diversity
Categories: Astronomy

Chemical injection brings dying batteries back to life

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 12:00pm
Researchers restored degraded lithium-ion batteries to nearly full capacity by injecting them with a chemical that creates more charged particles inside them
Categories: Astronomy

Chemical injection brings dying batteries back to life

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 12:00pm
Researchers restored degraded lithium-ion batteries to nearly full capacity by injecting them with a chemical that creates more charged particles inside them
Categories: Astronomy

NASA Unveils Design for Message Heading to Jupiter’s Moon Europa

NASA - Breaking News - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 11:54am
This side of a commemorative plate mounted on NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft features U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s handwritten “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa.” It will be affixed with a silicon microchip stenciled with names submitted by the public. NASA/JPL-Caltech

When it launches in October, the agency’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will carry a richly layered dispatch that includes more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public.

Following in NASA’s storied tradition of sending inspirational messages into space, the agency has special plans for Europa Clipper, which later this year will launch toward Jupiter’s moon Europa. The moon shows strong evidence of an ocean under its icy crust, with more than twice the amount of water of all of Earth’s oceans combined. A triangular metal plate on the spacecraft will honor that connection to Earth in several ways.

At the heart of the artifact is an engraving of U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s handwritten “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa,” along with a silicon microchip stenciled with more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public. The microchip will be the centerpiece of an illustration of a bottle amid the Jovian system – a reference to NASA’s “Message in a Bottle” campaign, which invited the public to send their names with the spacecraft.

A ‘Golden Record’ for Europa

Made of the metal tantalum and about 7 by 11 inches (18 by 28 centimeters), the plate features graphic elements on both sides. The outward-facing panel features art that highlights Earth’s connection to Europa. Linguists collected recordings of the word “water” spoken in 103 languages, from families of languages around the world. The audio files were converted into waveforms (visual representations of sound waves) and etched into the plate. The waveforms radiate out from a symbol representing the American Sign Language sign for “water.”

To hear audio of the spoken languages and see the sign, go to: go.nasa.gov/MakeWaves.

In the spirit of the Voyager spacecraft’s Golden Record, which carries sounds and images to convey the richness and diversity of life on Earth, the layered message on Europa Clipper aims to spark the imagination and offer a unifying vision.

The art on this side of the plate, which will seal an opening of the vault on NASA’s Europa Clipper, features waveforms that are visual representations of the sound waves formed by the word “water” in 103 languages. At center is a symbol representing the American Sign Language sign for “water.”NASA/JPL-Caltech

“The content and design of Europa Clipper’s vault plate are swimming with meaning,” said Lori Glaze, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The plate combines the best humanity has to offer across the universe – science, technology, education, art, and math. The message of connection through water, essential for all forms of life as we know it, perfectly illustrates Earth’s tie to this mysterious ocean world we are setting out to explore.”

Reaching Out to the Cosmos

In 2030, after a 1.6-billion-mile (2.6-billion-kilometer) journey, Europa Clipper will begin orbiting Jupiter, making 49 close flybys of Europa. To determine if there are conditions that could support life, the spacecraft’s powerful suite of science instruments will gather data about the moon’s subsurface ocean, icy crust, thin atmosphere, and space environment. The electronics for those instruments are housed in a massive metal vault designed to protect them from Jupiter’s punishing radiation. The commemorative plate will seal an opening in the vault.

Because searching for habitable conditions is central to the mission, the Drake Equation is etched onto the plate as well – on the inward-facing side. Astronomer Frank Drake developed the mathematical formulation in 1961 to estimate the possibility of finding advanced civilizations beyond Earth. The equation has inspired and guided research in astrobiology and related fields ever since.

Learn more about how Europa Clipper’s vault plate engravings were designed and the inspiration for the plate’s multilayered message. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In addition, artwork on the inward-facing side of the plate will include a reference to the radio frequencies considered plausible for interstellar communication, symbolizing how humanity uses this radio band to listen for messages from the cosmos. These particular frequencies match the radio waves emitted in space by the components of water and are known by astronomers as the “water hole.” On the plate, they are depicted as radio emission lines.

Finally, the plate includes a portrait of one of the founders of planetary science, Ron Greeley, whose early efforts to develop a Europa mission two decades ago laid the foundation for Europa Clipper.

“We’ve packed a lot of thought and inspiration into this plate design, as we have into this mission itself,” says Project Scientist Robert Pappalardo of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “It’s been a decades-long journey, and we can’t wait to see what Europa Clipper shows us at this water world.”

Once assembly of Europa Clipper has been completed at JPL, the spacecraft will be shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for its October launch.

More About the Mission

Europa Clipper’s main science goal is to determine whether there are places below Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, that could support life. The mission’s three main science objectives are to determine the thickness of the moon’s icy shell and its surface interactions with the ocean below, to investigate its composition, and to characterize its geology. The mission’s detailed exploration of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet.

Find more information about Europa here:

europa.nasa.gov

News Media Contacts

Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-6215
gretchen.p.mccartney@jpl.nasa.gov

Karen Fox / Alana Johnson
NASA Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

2024-024

Share Details Last Updated Mar 08, 2024 Related Terms Explore More 2 min read NASA Launches Snap It! Computer Game to Learn About Eclipses

On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will be visible to over 30 million…

Article 3 days ago
5 min read NASA’s Network of Small Moon-Bound Rovers Is Ready to Roll Article 4 days ago 4 min read SWOT Satellite Catches Coastal Flooding During California Storms Article 6 days ago
Categories: NASA

Astronomers Image 62 Newly-Forming Planetary Systems

Universe Today - Fri, 03/08/2024 - 11:39am

Astronomers using the Very Large Telescope in Chile have now completed one of the largest surveys ever to hunt for planet-forming discs. They were able to find dozens of dusty regions around young stars, directly imaging the swirling gas and dust which hints at the locations of these new worlds.

Just like the wide variety in the types of exoplanets that have been discovered, these new data and stunning images show how protoplanetary systems are surprisingly diverse, with different sizes and shapes of disks.

In research presented in three new papers, researchers imaged 86 young stars and found 62 of them had a wide range of star-forming regions surrounding them. The astronomers say this study provides a wealth of data and unique insights into how planets arise in different regions of our galaxy.

Planet-forming discs around young stars and their location within the gas-rich cloud of Taurus, roughly 600 light-years from Earth. The background image shows an infrared view of Taurus captured by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite. Credit: ESO/A.Garufi et al.; IRAS

“Some of these discs show huge spiral arms, presumably driven by the intricate ballet of orbiting planets,” said Christian Ginski, from the University of Galway, Ireland, and lead author of one of the three papers published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

“Others show rings and large cavities carved out by forming planets, while yet others seem smooth and almost dormant among all this bustle of activity,” said Antonio Garufi, an astronomer at the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory, Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), and lead author on another paper.

As of this writing, there are 5595 confirmed exoplanets that have been discovered, with more than another 5000 candidate planets yet to be confirmed. From these strange new worlds, we’ve found a wide variety of planetary systems, very different from our own. In order to understand this variety, a large international group of astronomers combined forces to observe the dust- and gas-rich discs that envelop young stars, where the very early stages of planet formation takes place.

Planet-forming discs around young stars and their location within the gas-rich cloud of Orion, roughly 1600 light-years from Earth. The background image shows an infrared view of Orion captured by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite. Credit: ESO/P.-G. Valegård et al.; IRAS

The 86 stars studied were in three different star-forming regions of our galaxy: Taurus and Chamaeleon I, both about 600 light-years from Earth, and Orion, a gas-rich cloud about 1,600 light-years from us that is known to be the birthplace of several stars more massive than the Sun.

In total, the team observed 43 stars in the Taurus region, and found planet-forming disks around 39 of them; 20 stars in the Chamaeleon I region, detecting discs around 13; and 23 stars in the Orion region, with planet-forming discs around 10 of them.

They used the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch instrument (SPHERE) mounted on ESO’s VLT, and were able to image discs around stars with masses as low as half the mass of the Sun, which are typically too faint for most other instruments. Additional data for the survey were obtained using the VLT’s X-shooter instrument, which allowed astronomers to determine how young and how massive the stars are. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), also in Chile provided data on the amount of dust surrounding some of the stars.

One of the key findings from the observations of young stars in Orion showed that stars that are in systems with two or more stars were less likely to have large planet-forming discs. The astronomers said this is a significant result given that, unlike our Sun, most stars in our galaxy have companions. Additionally, they found that any uneven appearance of the planet-forming discs suggests the possibility of massive planets embedded within them, which could be causing the discs to warp and become misaligned.

Planet-forming discs around young stars and their location within the gas-rich cloud of Chamaeleon I, roughly 600 light-years from Earth. The stunning images of the discs were captured using the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument mounted on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). The background image shows an infrared view of Chamaeleon I captured by the Herschel Space Observatory. Credit: ESO/C. Ginski et al.; ESA/Herschel

The researchers say they will continue to study the data gathered, but so far the beautiful images and insightful data have provided a wealth of information to help study the mysteries of planet formation.

“It is almost poetic that the processes that mark the start of the journey towards forming planets and ultimately life in our own Solar System should be so beautiful,” concludes Per-Gunnar Valegård, a doctoral student at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, who led the Orion study.

Further reading:
ESO press release 
Papers on ChamaeleonTaurusOrion

The post Astronomers Image 62 Newly-Forming Planetary Systems appeared first on Universe Today.

Categories: Astronomy