Study reveals why mysterious gamma-ray bursts appear to blink and suggests that these mysterious phenomena might be much rarer than astronomers thought.
Space News & Blog Articles
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EGNOS technology for Africa – ESA signs deal with ASECNA
European technology that allows satellite navigation signals to safely guide aircraft down for landing in the majority of Europe’s airports will now be put to use across Africa and the Indian Ocean. ASECNA, the Agency for Air Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar, and ESA today signed an agreement to deploy a Satellite-based Augmentation System (SBAS) across a service region of more than 16.5 million sq. km, one and a half times the size of Europe’s coverage area.
Record ‘Fast Nova’ Flares Over a Single Day
A galactic nova flared briefly into naked eye visibility for a day, before vanishing from sight.
Some stars burn bright but brief. These transitory novae pepper the sky, with one flaring into naked eye visibility every few years… but it was a recent brief appearance of just such a ‘new star’ that gave astronomers a chance to probe the secrets of the Universe.
Japanese amateur astronomer Seidji Ueda was the first to raise the alarm worldwide. Amateurs are always on the hunt for galactic novae, as it’s one of the key fields where they can contribute to real science. The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) has been the key clearinghouse for novae observations and light curves since 1911.
The discovery was made on the night of June 21st, 2021. The ‘star’ was a galactic nova in the northern constellation of Hercules the Hero, right along its border with Sagitta and Aquila, just off the galactic plane. Soon, the nova had a name: V1674 Herculis (V1674 Her or Nova Herculis 2021).
The location of Nova Herculis 2021 in the sky. Credit: Stellarium.Generally, novae reach a peak brightness for several days or weeks before fading from view. Recent memorable novae include Nova Delphini 2013 and Nova Centauri 2013. Such ‘new stars’ can give familiar constellations a decidedly strange look.
Virgin Orbit ready for first night launch on Space Force mission
Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket under the wing of the company’s Boeing 747 carrier aircraft. Credit: Virgin Orbit
The first nighttime flight of Virgin Orbit’s commercial air-launched rocket is on track for Wednesday night off the coast of California, carrying seven small payloads into orbit on a mission for the U.S. military’s Space Test Program.
The mission will be the fifth flight of Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket. The company, founded by billionaire Richard Branson, has accomplished three consecutive successful missions since the first LauncherOne test flight failed to reach orbit.
The fifth LauncherOne mission will be the Virgin Orbit’s launch at night. The company wants to demonstrate its ability to conduct nighttime launch operations before they are required on future missions. The launch Wednesday night is not constrained to a specific launch window, and could fly in daytime or nighttime, according to Dan Hart, Virgin Orbit’s chief executive officer.
The nighttime launch is “expanding the envelope” of Virgin Orbit’s capabilities, giving the ground team and flight crew practice to run through their procedures at night.
“We have some of those (night launches) on our books that are required, and we want to make sure that we do them first in our backyard here in Mojave,” Hart said in a pre-launch conference call with reporters.
How black holes and galaxies play tug-of-war across the cosmos
How monster black holes overpower their much larger host galaxies.
Meet The Sun, Our Home Star
The Sun isn't exactly your typical star, but its light, warmth, and overall stability has helped lead to life on Earth.
The post Meet The Sun, Our Home Star appeared first on Sky & Telescope.
Hypersonic missile defense program moves toward 2 prototypes
The Pentagon continues to develop its new hypersonic interceptor.
ULA ready to roll Atlas 5 rocket to launch pad today
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket inside the Vertical Integration Facility earlier this month. Credit: United Launch Alliance
United Launch Alliance teams at Cape Canaveral are preparing to roll an Atlas 5 rocket to its launch pad Wednesday, moving the launcher into position for liftoff Thursday evening with a pair of geostationary satellites for the U.S. Space Force.
The rollout is expected to begin around 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT), when the Atlas 5 is expected to emerge from the Vertical Integration Facility south of the launch pad. The 196-foot-tall (59.7-meter-tall) rocket will ride a mobile launch platform along rail tracks to Space Launch Complex 41, the East Coast home of Atlas 5 launch operations.
The 1,800-foot (550-meter) trip should take about one hour, with the Atlas 5 and its mobile launch platform driven by a pair of trackmobile locomotives. The rocket and its platform weigh about 1.8 million pounds during the rollout to the pad.
Once in position at pad 41, the Atlas 5 will be connected to propellant loading lines and other ground systems. ULA’s launch team plans to load rocket-grade RP-1 kerosene fuel into the Atlas 5’s first stage Wednesday afternoon. The kerosene will feed the rocket’s Russian-made RD-180 main engine, in combination with super-cold liquid oxygen to be pumped into the Atlas 5 during the countdown Thursday.
Liftoff Thursday is set for 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT), the opening of a two-hour launch window. There is a 60% chance of favorable weather for Thursday’s launch window, according to the Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron.
Watch SpaceX launch communications satellite, land rocket at sea Wednesday
SpaceX will launch a commercial communications satellite and land a rocket at sea on Wednesday (June 29), and you can watch the action live.
Hubble Space Telescope shows distortions of massive galaxy cluster in stunning image
A massive galaxy cluster shines in a new telescope image, distorting the view of more distant galaxies lying in the background.
NASA's Europa Clipper may crash into Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, at mission's end
The Europa Clipper mission, due to launch in 2024, was originally supposed to crash into Jupiter, but there's been a change of plans.
Watch Virgin Orbit launch 7 satellites early Thursday
Virgin Orbit's carrier plane, known as Cosmic Girl, is scheduled to lift off from Mojave Air and Space Port in California on Thursday (June 30) during a window that opens at 1 a.m. EDT (0500 GMT).
NASA's solar forecast is turning out to be wrong. This team's model is still on track.
The sun is acting out, and solar weather forecasters are baffled. But one scientist might know what's going on.
Amazon Prime Day 2022: The best space deals to watch
Amazon.com's annual Amazon Prime Day megasale begins on Monday, July 12 with deals in telescopes, binoculars, Star Wars and other space gear.
One ESA: an interactive journey around ESA sites!
We are a huge organisation of 5000+ people operating at nine different locations. How do we work together to achieve our goals and fly our missions?
SpaceX postpones space station cargo mission again, to July 14
The latest delay will allow teams more time to assess and mitigate the consequences of elevated propellant vapor readings inside Dragon's propulsion system.
A Star has Grown Spiral Arms
Astronomers using the ALMA Observatory have discovered an unusual, massive star near the center of our galaxy, a star that has two spiral arms. The arms are part of an accretion disk, a broad disk of dust and gas surrounding the protostar. While this is not the first star to be seen with such rare arm-like features, researchers say they believe they can track the formation of the spiral arms to a close encounter the star had with another object.
Accretions disks, also known as protostellar disks, usually form quickly around young stars, and over time the disks can stretch out to distances hundreds of times bigger than the nascent star. Astronomers say the disks are essential to star formation because they continuously feed gas from the surrounding environment to the growing stars.
Because of newer observatories with submillimeter observing capabilities like ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in the Atacama Desert in Chile, astronomers have been able to study distant protostars in the last few years. This has led to a wealth of observational and theoretical advances. However, much of the previous observations of these objects have been for lower mass, Sun-like stars.
A time-lapse image of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at the Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes, showing a blazing meteor dishes that make up the array. Credit: ALMA.The star observed in this study is near the galactic center and is an early O-type star that is extremely hot (over 30,000 Kelvin) and massive, at 32 solar masses. The disk is gigantic, with a diameter of about 4,000 astronomical units.
Since so few stars of this type have been observed so far, the researchers say it is still unclear whether accretion disks play a role in their formation, and if so, how. These massive stars are far more luminous than the Sun — several hundreds of thousands of times greater — which strongly impact the environment of the entire galaxy. Therefore, say the researchers, understanding the formation of massive stars is of great importance.
Curiosity Finds Life-Crucial Carbon in Mars Rocks
We are carbon-based life forms. That means the basis for the chemical compounds that forms our life is the element carbon. It’s crucial because it bonds with other elements such as hydrogen and oxygen to create the complex molecules that are part of life. So, when we look for evidence of life elsewhere in the solar system, we look for carbon. That includes Mars.
A few years ago, the Mars Curiosity rover measured the abundance of total organic carbon in rock samples it took in Gale Crater. The amounts it found are higher than in rocks from some of the driest areas on Earth. The question now is whether Curiosity’s measurement indicates the presence of life-creating compounds. Or, could the carbon have come from other non-organic sources? Either way, its presence unveils an interesting chapter in Mars’s past.
The Mars Curiosity Rover’s mission is, in large part, to find evidence of life and habitability on Mars. It does that by studying the chemical and geological environment on the surface. In particular, it helps unveil what role water has played in the past. Its measurement of total organic carbon is part of that mission.
Knowing the carbon species on Mars helps scientists understand how they may have formed. Total organic carbon is special because it’s a crucial part of life’s recipe. Scientists studied Mars rocks dug up in 2014 to see if they could figure out what the abundance of this element means for the existence of life on ancient Mars.
The Key to Life
What’s so important about organic carbon? According to scientist Jennifer Stern, Curiosity’s finding helps scientists understand important factors about Mars and its life-bearing capability. “Total organic carbon is one of several measurements [or indices] that help us understand how much material is available as feedstock for prebiotic chemistry and potentially biology,” Stern said in a press release statement.
'The Orville' Season 3 episode 4 takes its world building to a new level
'The Orville' season 3 continues to wow us with enthralling stories, just the right amount of humor and mind-blowing space battles.
