INFORMATION

Astronomers have discovered two known interstellar objects (ISO), ‘Oumuamua and 21/Borisov. But there could be thousands of these objects passing through the Solar System at any time. According to a new paper, the upcoming Vera Rubin Telescope will be a fantastic interstellar object hunter, and could possibly find up to 70 objects a year coming from other star systems. The Rubin Observatory is a ground-based telescope located high in the Chilean Andes. It is expected to see first light sometime in 2025, a timeline that has already been pushed back a few times. The observatory’s 8.4-meter Simonyi Survey Telescope will take images of the sky using the highest resolution digital camera in the world, a 3,200-megapixel camera that includes the world’s largest fish-eye lens. The camera is roughly the size of a small car and weighs almost 2800 kg (6200 lbs). This survey telescope is fast-moving and will be able to scan the entire visible sky in the southern hemisphere every few nights. ...

The Crab Nebula – otherwise known as the first object on Charles Messier’s list of non-cometary objects or M1 for short – has never really failed to visually underwhelm me! I have spent countless hours hunting down this example of a supernova remnant and found myself wondering why I have bothered. Yet here I am, after decades of looking at it, and I still find it one of the most intriguing objects in the sky. Never has this interest been piqued more than right now after another mirror-smashing beauty of an image from the James Webb Space Telescope, and it’s already found its way to my mobile phone wallpaper! The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb telescope was launched back in December 2021, and from its position 1.5 million km away, it orbits the Sun, giving us a brand new window out into the Universe. Using its Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCAM) and the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) JWST has been exploring the Crab Nebula, the remains of a star whose explosion was recorded back in 1054. The obje...

Every year, NASA’s Breakthrough, Innovative, and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge invites student innovators to build and demonstrate concepts that can benefit future human missions to the Moon and beyond. This year’s theme is “ Inflatable Systems for Lunar Operations ,” which could greatly reduce the mass and stowed volume of payloads sent to the Moon. This is critical for the Artemis Program as it returns astronauts to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo Era over fifty years ago. It will also reduce the costs of sending payloads to the Moon, Mars, and other deep-space destinations. The BIG Idea Challenge is sponsored by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) as part of a collaborative effort between its Game Changing Development (GCD) program and the agency’s Office of STEM Engagement . The competition is managed jointly by the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) and funded by the GCD and the Na...

The Fomalhaut system is nearby in astronomical terms, and it’s also one of the brightest stars in the night sky. That means astronomers have studied it intensely over the years. Now that we have the powerful James Webb Space Telescope the observations have intensified. The Fomalhaut system has a confounding and complex dusty disk, including a dusty blob. The blob has been the subject of an ongoing debate in astronomy. Can the JWST see through its complexity and find answers to the systems unanswered questions? Like all stars this bright, Fomalhaut has been known since antiquity. Its name comes from ancient Arabic and means “mouth of the <southern> fish.” That makes sense, since it’s in the Piscis Austrinus (Southern Fish) constellation. Its designation is HR 8728, but in 2016 the IAU officially named it Fomalhaut. Fomalhaut is the brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus. Image Credit: By IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine (Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg) – ...

With thousands of known exoplanets and tens of thousands likely to be discovered in the coming decades, it could be only a matter of time before we discover a planet with life. The trick is proving it. So far the focus has been on observing the atmospheric composition of exoplanets, looking for molecular biosignatures that would indicate the presence of life. But this can be difficult since many of the molecules produced by life on Earth could also be produced by geologic processes. A new study argues that a better approach would be to compare the atmospheric composition of a potentially habitable world with those of other planets in the star system. Since planets form within the debris disk of a young star, they will generally have similar compositions. Because of the migration of certain molecules such as water ice, the outer planets can have a slightly different composition than the inner planets, but overall their composition is similar. For this study, the team looked at the ab...

Researchers have built a superconducting camera with 400,000 pixels, which is so sensitive it can detect single photons. It comprises a grid of superconducting wires with no resistance until a photon strikes one or more wires. This shuts down the superconductivity in the grid, sending a signal. By combining the locations and intensities of the signals, the camera generates an image. The researchers who built the camera, from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) say the architecture is scalable, and so this current iteration paves the way for even larger-format superconducting cameras that could make detections across a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum.  This would be ideal for astronomical ventures such as imaging faint galaxies or extrasolar planets, as well as biomedical research using near-infrared light to peer into human tissue. These devices have been possible for decades but with a fraction of the pixel count. This new version has 400 ti...

On January 3rd, 2019 , China’s Chang’e-4 lander touched down on the far side of the Moon and deployed the Yutu rover. In addition to its many instruments, the rover carried an important science experiment known as the Biological Experiment Payload (BEP). Over the next eight days, this payload conducted a vital experiment where it attempted to grow the first plants on the Moon. Included in the payload were cotton, potato, arabidopsis, and rape seeds, along with fly eggs, yeast, and 18 ml (0.6 fluid oz) of water, which was kept at a constant atmospheric pressure. The results of this experiment will help inform future Bioregenerative Life Support System (BLSS), which will prove vital to habitats and missions beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO). A team of scientists from China recently released a study that reviewed the experiment, its results, and its potential implications for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and other deep-space locations. As they concluded, the experiment demonstrated ...

Just in time for Hallowe’en, astronomers confirmed the existence of spooky-looking infrared auroras on Uranus. Their existence reveals something about that planet’s misaligned magnetic field. Auroras happen when charged particles in the solar wind and near-planet environment get trapped by a planet’s magnetic field. They funnel down to the atmosphere and collide with gas molecules. This happens on Earth and we see auroras over the north and south poles of our planet. They also happen at other planets. Astronomers detect them on the other giant planets, and a smaller version of them occurs on Mars. Venus probably doesn’t experience similar types of auroral displays, since it has no intrinsic magnetic field. However, it may experience something like them during particularly gusty solar wind events. At the outer planets, the gas mix is different in the atmospheres. That means their aurorae show up in ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths. Detecting the Infrared Auroras of Uranus Uranus...

In July of this year, an asteroid roughly 30 to 60 meters across passed Earth to within one-quarter of the distance to the Moon. It posed no threat to our world, but if it had struck Earth it would have created a blast three times greater than the 2013 Chelyabinsk impact. And we only noticed it two days after it passed. It’s a good example of how sizable asteroids still miss detection. Not ones large enough to threaten our extinction, but large enough to threaten millions of lives. If a similar asteroid was detected just days before impact, could we stop it? That’s the question raised by a recent study in the arXiv . The paper considers an asteroid similar to the aforementioned 2023 NT1 and looks at whether it could be countered by the Pulverize It (PI) method. It sounds like something out of a blockbuster movie, where the heroes blow up the rock at just the last minute, but with only a short warning it is about the only option. Deflecting an asteroid can be done, but only if we hav...

Asteroid mining is one of those topics that sounds like it’s straight out of science fiction. But, in recent years, with the growth of lower-cost launch options, mining space rocks could become downright economical. As an added plus, getting important resources from asteroids could help drive the switchover to clean environmental practices and technologies right here on Earth. In a recent exploratory paper, a group of academic researchers at Colorado School of Mines led by Dr. Maxwell Fleming joined an International Monetary Fund member Martin Stuermer to explore the topic. Their work looks at a variety of factors, including those lower launch costs, and asks the question “What if these costs continue to decline, making mining from asteroids or the Moon feasible?” They analyzed the most relevant factors and used a Ramsay growth model to look at cost savings and investment dynamics involved with a transition from Earth-based to space mining. That model outlines a steady economic grow...

The China National Space Agency (CNSA) has drawn a lot of attention to its space programs in recent years. In addition to their Tiangong space station and crewed missions to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), there’s also been a lot of buzz surrounding the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) and its Human Lunar Space Program . The high points have included the announcement of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) – a joint operation with Roscosmos – and shared concept art for their next-generation spacecraft and lunar lander . As always, what we know about China’s plans for space exploration is limited to snippets of news, public statements, and the occasional video, which are the direct result of state-controlled media and tight secrecy regarding the country’s space program. The latest is a bootleg video that recently appeared online, which shows a video presentation that provides some insight into China’s long-term plans for crewed lunar exploration. The video is captioned with the wo...

There’s a running joke among astronomy students that the most-dreaded question on a final in cosmology is “Define the Universe and give three examples.” Nowadays, the answer could just very well be, “See the FLAMINGO simulations.” They’re a product of the VIRGO consortium for cosmological supercomputer simulations. FLAMINGO stands for Full-hydro Large-scale structure simulations with All-sky Mapping for the Interpretation of Next Generation Observations. Its main science goals are to carry out a suite of massive cosmological simulations. These latest and largest model universe simulations executed on a supercomputer cluster at Durhan University in the UK. A Sizeable Simulation The largest simulations in the suite use 300 billion resolution elements. These are particles with the mass of a small galaxy, all arrayed in a cubic volume with edges of ten billion light-years. It’s likely the largest cosmological computer simulation with ordinary matter ever completed. Matthieu Schaller (L...