Space
- JWST: NIRCam - Protostar L1527
[Image description: A growing protostar embedded within a molecular cloud. The center of the image shows a bright, red region, where the growing protostar resides, with a thin, gray lane of matter cutting through it horizontally, which is the protostar’s accretion disk. Above and below this region are blue triangular-shaped molecular clouds, which give the overall object an hourglass shape. The areas in the molecular clouds closest to the protostar have more pronounced plumes of blue gas. There are red, yellow, orange, blue, and green stars and galaxies scattered across the background.]
https://esawebb.org/images/L1527-1/
- JWST: NIRCam - Galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0615−5746
[Image description: A field of galaxies on the black background of space. In the middle is a collection of dozens of yellowish galaxies that form a foreground galaxy cluster. Among them are distorted linear features, which mostly appear to follow invisible concentric circles curving around the centre of the image. The linear features are created when the light of a background galaxy is bent and magnified through gravitational lensing. A variety of brightly coloured, red and blue galaxies of various shapes are scattered across the image, making it feel densely populated.]
https://esawebb.org/images/weic2418d/
*[Image description: This image shows two panels. On the right is field of many galaxies on the black background of space, known as the galaxy cluster SPT-CL J0615−5746. On the left is a callout image from a portion of this galaxy cluster showing two distinct lensed galaxies. The Cosmic Gems arc is shown with several galaxy clusters.]
https://esawebb.org/images/weic2418b/
- NASA indefinitely delays return of Starliner to review propulsion dataarstechnica.com NASA indefinitely delays return of Starliner to review propulsion data
“We are letting the data drive our decision."
“We are letting the data drive our decision."
- JWST: NIRCam - Serpens Nebula
[Image description: A young star-forming region is filled with wispy orange, red, and blue layers of gas and dust. The upper left corner of the image is filled with mostly orange dust and within that orange dust are several small red plumes of gas that extend from the top left to the bottom right, at the same angle. The centre of the image is filled with mostly blue gas. At the centre, there is one particularly bright star that has an hourglass shadow above and below it. To the right of that is what looks like a vertical eye-shaped crevice with a bright star at the centre. The gas to the right of the crevice is a darker orange.]
https://esawebb.org/images/weic2415c/
Un-cropped image and more information:
https://esawebb.org/images/weic2415a/
- Family whose roof was damaged by space debris files claims against NASAarstechnica.com Family whose roof was damaged by space debris files claims against NASA
"Whatever NASA does is going to send a strong signal to the space industry."
>Alejandro Otero, owner of the Naples, Florida, home struck by the debris, was not home when part of a battery pack from the International Space Station crashed through his home on March 8. His son Daniel, 19, was home but escaped injury. NASA has confirmed the 1.6-pound object, made of the metal alloy Inconel, was part of a battery pack jettisoned from the space station in 2021.
>An attorney for the Otero family, Mica Nguyen Worthy, told Ars that she has asked NASA for "in excess of $80,000" for non-insured property damage loss, business interruption damages, emotional and mental anguish damages, and the costs for assistance from third parties.
>"We intentionally kept it very reasonable because we did not want it to appear to NASA that my clients are seeking a windfall," Worthy said.
Seems reasonable to me. If I accidentally caused damages to someone's home, I'd certainly be held liable. But, I'm just some guy.
- Waxing gibbous from my balcony
Alt text: An image of our moon against a black starless sky. It is in the waxing gibbous phase, and you are able to see about fifty-five percent of the celestial body.
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Think I'm getting the hang of this thing! Shot with my Canon Rebel T7 and a 300mm lens, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/125 shutter speed.
- JWST: NIRCam/MIRI - Crab Nebula (NGC 1952)
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope dissected the Crab Nebula’s structure, aiding astronomers as they continue to evaluate leading theories about the supernova remnant’s origins. With the data collected by Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), a team of scientists were able to closely inspect some of the Crab Nebula’s major components.
For the first time ever, astronomers mapped the warm dust emission throughout this supernova remnant. Represented here as fluffy magenta material, the dust grains form a cage-like structure that is most apparent toward the lower left and upper right portions of the remnant. Filaments of dust are also threaded throughout the Crab’s interior and sometimes coincide with regions of doubly ionised sulphur (sulphur III), coloured in green. Yellow-white mottled filaments, which form large loop-like structures around the supernova remnant’s centre, represent areas where dust and doubly ionised sulphur overlap.
The dust’s cage-like structure helps constrain some, but not all of the ghostly synchrotron emission represented in blue. The emission resembles wisps of smoke, most notable toward the Crab’s centre. The thin blue ribbons follow the magnetic field lines created by the Crab’s pulsar heart — a rapidly rotating neutron star.
https://esawebb.org/images/weic2417a/
https://esawebb.org/images/weic2417b/
- NASA's Perseverance Mars rover enters new Red Planet territory: 'Bright Angel'www.space.com NASA's Perseverance Mars rover enters new Red Planet territory: 'Bright Angel'
"We had been eyeing the river channel just to the north as we went, hoping to find a section where the dunes were small and far enough apart for a rover to pass between."
- Frosty volcanoes discovered in Mars’s tropicswww.esa.int Frosty volcanoes discovered in Mars’s tropics
ESA’s ExoMars and Mars Express missions have spotted water frost for the first time near Mars’s equator, a part of the planet where it was thought impossible for frost to exist.
- The New Space Race, SpaceX & Starship - Satellite constellations & Launcher Evolutionyt.artemislena.eu The New Space Race, SpaceX & Starship - Satellite constellations & Launcher Evolution
For both military and civilian applications, launching satellites into orbit has long been both useful and incredibly expensive. But over the last decade, the costs to put payload into orbit have shrunk dramatically, driven by launchers like the SpaceX Falcon 9 & Falcon Heavy while the number of sat...
- Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders killed in plane crash | CNNwww.cnn.com Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders killed in plane crash | CNN
William Anders, a NASA astronaut who was part of the Apollo 8 crew who became the first three people to circle the moon, has died in a plane crash.
William Anders, a NASA astronaut who was part of the Apollo 8 crew who became the first three people to circle the moon, has died in a plane crash.
- Spacex team’s Starship partially melts during renterty of test flight 4, makes soft splash down anyway.
Evidently the joints on the flaps still need a little work into not letting gases through, but it seemed to still have enough actuation to keep the spacecraft stable until the engines took over for the landing burn.
- Radio signal from space repeats every hour, defying explanationnewatlas.com Radio signal from space repeats every hour, defying explanation
The universe is awash with strange radio signals, but astronomers have now detected a really bizarre one that repeats every hour, cycling through three different states. While they have some ideas about its origin it can’t be explained by our current understanding of physics.
- Japan loses contact with Akatsuki, humanity's only active Venus probewww.space.com Japan loses contact with Akatsuki, humanity's only active Venus probe
Akatsuki has overcome big challenges in the past.
- The Space Shuttle: A $200 Billion Lesson in Risk Management
A detailed discussion of the Shuttle program as well as some ethics in airspace.
- JWST: NIRCam - ZS7 environment
https://esawebb.org/images/weic2413a/
[Image description: This image features the ZS7 galaxy system, showing a large field of hundreds of galaxies on the black background of space.]
- JWST: NIRCam - Uranuswww.nasa.gov NASA’s Webb Scores Another Ringed World With New Image of Uranus - NASA
Following in the footsteps of the Neptune image released in 2022, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has taken a stunning image of the solar system’s other ice giant, the planet Uranus. The new image features dramatic rings as well as bright features in the planet’s atmosphere.
- JWST: NIRCam - NGC 6440
https://esawebb.org/images/potm2404b/
[Image Description: A spherical collection of stars which fills the whole view. The cluster is dominated by a concentrated group of bright white stars at the centre, with several large yellow stars scattered throughout the image. Many of the stars have visible diffraction spikes. The background is black.]
- JWST: NIRCam - Horsehead Nebula
https://esawebb.org/images/weic2411a/
[Image description: At the bottom of the image a small portion of the Horsehead Nebula is seen close-in, as a curved wall of thick, smoky gas and dust. Above the nebula various distant stars and galaxies can be seen up to the top of the image. One star is very bright and large, with six long diffraction spikes that cross the image. The background fades from a dark red colour above the nebula to black.]
- Is there a download for new map of the moon from China?
Seems similar to the one released in 2022. I've searched for 15 minutes to try to find a new download or purchase link, without any luck! All the news stories just have low-res previews.
- Dragonfly mission to Titan gets the green lightarstechnica.com NASA officially greenlights $3.35 billion mission to Saturn’s moon Titan
Dragonfly will push the boundaries of engineering and science as it explores Titan.
The mission includes a quadcopter to explore different locations on the surface.
- Dr. Becky - Has JWST [solved] the crisis in cosmology?vid.lilay.dev Has JWST SOLVED the crisis in cosmology?!
AD - Go to https://ground.news/drbecky to stay fully informed on Space and Science News. Subscribe through my link to get 40% off the Vantage plan for unlimited access this month only | Last weekend the lead researcher of a group using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to calculate the...
Edited title for less cringe. Still a good video, regardless.
Original youtube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKmPJmaeP8A
*WHAT THE HELL IS THAT HUGE BODY OF TEXT
- James Webb telescope confirms there is something seriously wrong with our understanding of the universewww.livescience.com James Webb telescope confirms there is something seriously wrong with our understanding of the universe
Depending on where we look, the universe is expanding at different rates. Now, scientists using the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes have confirmed that the observation is not down to a measurement error.
Astronomers have used the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes to confirm one of the most troubling conundrums in all of physics — that the universe appears to be expanding at bafflingly different speeds depending on where we look.
This problem, known as the Hubble Tension, has the potential to alter or even upend cosmology altogether. In 2019, measurements by the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed the puzzle was real; in 2023, even more precise measurements from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) cemented the discrepancy.
Now, a triple-check by both telescopes working together appears to have put the possibility of any measurement error to bed for good. The study, published February 6 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, suggests that there may be something seriously wrong with our understanding of the universe.
- Ignition! – An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants [PDF]
Ignition! is part memoir and part history book from the 70's, written by John D. Clark who was an American rocket fuel chemist.
It doesn't go too deep into the chemistry side of things, so even if you're like me and don't understand that side at all you might enjoy reading it if you're into space history nerdery. Clark had a pretty hilarious writing style, so it's a surprisingly entertaining book considering the subject matter. As an example, here's what he had to say about chlorine trifluoride:
> All this sounds fairly academic and innocuous, but when it is translated into the problem of handling the stuff, the results are horrendous. It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that's the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water — with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals — steel, copper, aluminum, etc. — because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminum keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.
- The diagnosis is in—bad memory knocked NASA’s aging Voyager 1 offlinearstechnica.com NASA knows what knocked Voyager 1 offline, but it will take a while to fix
"Engineers are optimistic they can find a way for the FDS to operate normally."
"Engineers are optimistic they can find a way for the FDS to operate normally."
- In a Distant Solar System, the JWST Sees the End of Planet Formationwww.universetoday.com In a Distant Solar System, the JWST Sees the End of Planet Formation
Planet formation is ending around a distant young protostar. The planet-forming gas in the star's disk is being dispersed into space.
- JWST: NIRCam - Zwicky 18
https://esawebb.org/images/potm2403b/
[Image Description: Many small galaxies are scattered on a black background: mainly, white, oval-shaped and red, spiral galaxies. The image is dominated by a dwarf irregular galaxy, which hosts a bright region of white and blue stars at its core that appear as two distinct lobes. This region is surrounded by brown dusty filaments. At the bottom centre of the image, a companion galaxy is visible that appears as a collection of blue stars.]
- JWST: MIRI - Sombrero galaxy by Thomas Carpentier
https://www.flickr.com/photos/197464132@N05/53610345625/
- Geomagnetic storm from a solar flare could disrupt radio communications and create a striking auroraapnews.com Geomagnetic storm from a solar flare could disrupt radio communications and create a striking aurora
Space weather forecasters have issued a geomagnetic storm watch through Monday. They say a plasma burst from a solar flare could interfere with radio transmissions on Earth.
