NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
25 Sep 2020, 12:25 UTC
Resting on the tail of the Great Bear in the constellation of Ursa Major lies NGC 5585, a spiral galaxy that is more than it appears.
Hubble Views a Galaxy on the ‘Dark Side’
25 Sep 2020, 12:25 UTC
Resting on the tail of the Great Bear in the constellation of Ursa Major lies NGC 5585, a spiral galaxy that is more than it appears.
ESA Top News
25 Sep 2020, 11:29 UTC
Packed safely within protective containers, SEOSAT-Ingenio was transported together with its co-passenger, the CNES French space agency’s Taranis satellite – both scheduled for launch on a Vega rocket in November. Following the airplane off-loading procedures, SEOSAT-Ingenio was then transferred on a dedicated trailer for transport to Guiana Space Centre.
SEOSAT-Ingenio arrives in French Guiana
25 Sep 2020, 11:29 UTC
Packed safely within protective containers, SEOSAT-Ingenio was transported together with its co-passenger, the CNES French space agency’s Taranis satellite – both scheduled for launch on a Vega rocket in November. Following the airplane off-loading procedures, SEOSAT-Ingenio was then transferred on a dedicated trailer for transport to Guiana Space Centre.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
24 Sep 2020, 18:30 UTC
A historic moment is on the horizon for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. In just a few weeks, the robotic OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will descend to asteroid Bennu’s boulder-strewn surface, touch down for a few seconds and collect a sample of the asteroid’s rocks and dust – marking the first time NASA has grabbed pieces of an asteroid, which will be returned to Earth for study.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Begins its Countdown to TAG
24 Sep 2020, 18:30 UTC
A historic moment is on the horizon for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission. In just a few weeks, the robotic OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will descend to asteroid Bennu’s boulder-strewn surface, touch down for a few seconds and collect a sample of the asteroid’s rocks and dust – marking the first time NASA has grabbed pieces of an asteroid, which will be returned to Earth for study.
MIT
23 Sep 2020, 16:00 UTC
In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, including a team of MIT Haystack Observatory scientists, delivered the first image of a black hole, revealing M87* — the supermassive object in the center of the M87 galaxy. The EHT team has used the lessons learned last year to analyze the archival data sets from 2009 to 2013, some of which were not published before. The analysis reveals the behavior of the black hole image across multiple years, indicating persistence of the crescent-like shadow feature, but also variation of its orientation — the crescent appears to be wobbling. The full results appear today in The Astrophysical Journal in an article titled, “Monitoring the Morphology of M87* in 2009–2017 with the Event Horizon Telescope.”
The wobbling shadow of the M87* black hole
23 Sep 2020, 16:00 UTC
In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration, including a team of MIT Haystack Observatory scientists, delivered the first image of a black hole, revealing M87* — the supermassive object in the center of the M87 galaxy. The EHT team has used the lessons learned last year to analyze the archival data sets from 2009 to 2013, some of which were not published before. The analysis reveals the behavior of the black hole image across multiple years, indicating persistence of the crescent-like shadow feature, but also variation of its orientation — the crescent appears to be wobbling. The full results appear today in The Astrophysical Journal in an article titled, “Monitoring the Morphology of M87* in 2009–2017 with the Event Horizon Telescope.”
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
23 Sep 2020, 13:16 UTC
Recent science missions and results are bringing the search for life closer to home, and scientists at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) and the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) may have figured out how to determine whether life is—or was—lurking deep beneath the surface of Mars, the Moon, and other rocky objects in the universe.
Could Life Exist Deep Underground on Mars?
23 Sep 2020, 13:16 UTC
Recent science missions and results are bringing the search for life closer to home, and scientists at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) and the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) may have figured out how to determine whether life is—or was—lurking deep beneath the surface of Mars, the Moon, and other rocky objects in the universe.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
21 Sep 2020, 15:00 UTC
In an interplanetary faux pas, it appears some pieces of asteroid Vesta ended up on asteroid Bennu, according to observations from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. The new result sheds light on the intricate orbital dance of asteroids and on the violent origin of Bennu, which is a “rubble pile” asteroid that coalesced from the fragments of a massive collision.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx to Asteroid Bennu: “You’ve got a little Vesta on you…”
21 Sep 2020, 15:00 UTC
In an interplanetary faux pas, it appears some pieces of asteroid Vesta ended up on asteroid Bennu, according to observations from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. The new result sheds light on the intricate orbital dance of asteroids and on the violent origin of Bennu, which is a “rubble pile” asteroid that coalesced from the fragments of a massive collision.
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Blogs
Universe Today
25 Sep 2020, 20:18 UTC
In an expected move, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced a mission extension for their Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Hayabusa2 will be sent to rendezvous with another asteroid in a few years time.
Hayabusa2’s Mission isn’t Over. It has a New Asteroid Target to Visit: 1998 KY26
25 Sep 2020, 20:18 UTC
In an expected move, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has announced a mission extension for their Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Hayabusa2 will be sent to rendezvous with another asteroid in a few years time.
The Planetary Society Blog
25 Sep 2020, 14:30 UTC
What is this alien world? Believe it or not, it’s our very own Moon. International Observe the Moon Night takes place this Saturday, 26 September. Whether by using a telescope, taking photos of the night sky, joining a virtual event, learning about our planet’s natural satellite, looking at images of the Moon, or just going outside and looking up, there are lots of ways you can join in on the lunacy. Plus, we’ve put together an explanation of the fascinating phenomenon of why the Moon appears upside down or even sideways depending on where you are and what time it is.
We’re over the Moon for… well, for the Moon!
25 Sep 2020, 14:30 UTC
What is this alien world? Believe it or not, it’s our very own Moon. International Observe the Moon Night takes place this Saturday, 26 September. Whether by using a telescope, taking photos of the night sky, joining a virtual event, learning about our planet’s natural satellite, looking at images of the Moon, or just going outside and looking up, there are lots of ways you can join in on the lunacy. Plus, we’ve put together an explanation of the fascinating phenomenon of why the Moon appears upside down or even sideways depending on where you are and what time it is.
SciTech Daily
25 Sep 2020, 11:28 UTC
In a delightful alignment of astronomy and mathematics, scientists at MIT and elsewhere have discovered a “pi Earth” — an Earth-sized planet that zips around its star every 3.14 days, in an orbit reminiscent of the universal mathematics constant. The researchers discovered signals of the planet in data taken in 2017 by the NASA Kepler Space Telescope’s K2 mission. By zeroing in on the system earlier this year with SPECULOOS, a network of ground-based telescopes, the team confirmed that the signals were of a planet orbiting its star. And indeed, the planet appears to still be circling its star today, with a pi-like period, every 3.14 days.
Alignment of Astronomy and Mathematics: Earth-Sized “Pi Planet” With a 3.14-day Orbit Discovered
25 Sep 2020, 11:28 UTC
In a delightful alignment of astronomy and mathematics, scientists at MIT and elsewhere have discovered a “pi Earth” — an Earth-sized planet that zips around its star every 3.14 days, in an orbit reminiscent of the universal mathematics constant. The researchers discovered signals of the planet in data taken in 2017 by the NASA Kepler Space Telescope’s K2 mission. By zeroing in on the system earlier this year with SPECULOOS, a network of ground-based telescopes, the team confirmed that the signals were of a planet orbiting its star. And indeed, the planet appears to still be circling its star today, with a pi-like period, every 3.14 days.
Many Worlds
24 Sep 2020, 14:12 UTC
As we grow more ambitious in our desires to see further and more precisely in space, the need for larger and larger telescope mirrors becomes inevitable. Only with collection of significantly more photons by a super large mirror can the the quality of the “seeing” significantly improve.
Why Not Assemble Space Telescopes In Space?
24 Sep 2020, 14:12 UTC
As we grow more ambitious in our desires to see further and more precisely in space, the need for larger and larger telescope mirrors becomes inevitable. Only with collection of significantly more photons by a super large mirror can the the quality of the “seeing” significantly improve.
Physics World Blog
24 Sep 2020, 09:03 UTC
A new class of stars called “fast yellow pulsating supergiants” has been identified by astronomers in the US and Switzerland. The discovery could solve the “red supergiant problem” of astrophysics, which refers to the lack of observations of Type IIP supernova progenitor stars with masses in the range of 16-30 solar masses. Stars heavier than about 8 solar masses are thought to spent their final phase of life as red supergiants, before undergoing core collapse and exploding as supernovae. The mass of a Type IIP supernova progenitor can be determined by measuring the star’s brightness just before it collapses – which itself occurs before the star explodes. Although red supergiants have been observed in the 16-30 solar masses range, none so far have been identified as progenitors of Type IIP supernovae. This contradiction of the current theory of stellar evolution is known as the red supergiant problem.It seems that only the lower-mass RSG’s explode, which raises the question: what is the fate of the more massive RSGs? One possibility is that many RSG’s evolve back to their previous yellow or blue stages of their lifecycle. Such post-RSGs would end their lives as something other than RSGs, thereby resolving the red ...
New class of supergiant stars could explain missing supernova progenitors - Astronomy and space – Physics World
24 Sep 2020, 09:03 UTC
A new class of stars called “fast yellow pulsating supergiants” has been identified by astronomers in the US and Switzerland. The discovery could solve the “red supergiant problem” of astrophysics, which refers to the lack of observations of Type IIP supernova progenitor stars with masses in the range of 16-30 solar masses. Stars heavier than about 8 solar masses are thought to spent their final phase of life as red supergiants, before undergoing core collapse and exploding as supernovae. The mass of a Type IIP supernova progenitor can be determined by measuring the star’s brightness just before it collapses – which itself occurs before the star explodes. Although red supergiants have been observed in the 16-30 solar masses range, none so far have been identified as progenitors of Type IIP supernovae. This contradiction of the current theory of stellar evolution is known as the red supergiant problem.It seems that only the lower-mass RSG’s explode, which raises the question: what is the fate of the more massive RSGs? One possibility is that many RSG’s evolve back to their previous yellow or blue stages of their lifecycle. Such post-RSGs would end their lives as something other than RSGs, thereby resolving the red ...
Starts With a Bang!
23 Sep 2020, 14:02 UTC
100 years ago, our understanding of the Universe was very different from what it is today. Einstein’s General Relativity, our theory of space, time, and gravitation, was only five years old, and was far from universally accepted. Most astronomers thought that the entire Universe was contained within the Milky Way and was static: neither expanding nor contracting with time. And the largest, most powerful telescope in the world had just been completed: the 100-inch (2.5 meter) Hooker telescope, which reigned as the largest-aperture observatory from its completion in 1917 until 1949.
Will The Most Important Observatory In Astronomy’s History Survive The 2020 Wildfires?
23 Sep 2020, 14:02 UTC
100 years ago, our understanding of the Universe was very different from what it is today. Einstein’s General Relativity, our theory of space, time, and gravitation, was only five years old, and was far from universally accepted. Most astronomers thought that the entire Universe was contained within the Milky Way and was static: neither expanding nor contracting with time. And the largest, most powerful telescope in the world had just been completed: the 100-inch (2.5 meter) Hooker telescope, which reigned as the largest-aperture observatory from its completion in 1917 until 1949.
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