Space News and Discussions

[weatheriscool]

Astronomers discover strangely massive black hole in Milky Way satellite galaxy
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-astronome ... -hole.html
by University of Texas at Austin

Astronomers at The University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory have discovered an unusually massive black hole at the heart of one of the Milky Way's dwarf satellite galaxies, called Leo I. Almost as massive as the black hole in our own galaxy, the finding could redefine our understanding of how all galaxies—the building blocks of the universe—evolve. The work is published in a recent issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

The team decided to study Leo I because of its peculiarity. Unlike most dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way, Leo I does not contain much dark matter. Researchers measured Leo I's dark matter profile—that is, how the density of dark matter changes from the outer edges of the galaxy all the way into its center. They did this by measuring its gravitational pull on the stars: The faster the stars are moving, the more matter there is enclosed in their orbits. In particular, the team wanted to know whether dark matter density increases toward the galaxy's center. They also wanted to know whether their profile measurement would match previous ones made using older telescope data combined with computer models.

Led by recent UT Austin doctoral graduate María José Bustamante, the team includes UT astronomers Eva Noyola, Karl Gebhardt and Greg Zeimann, as well as colleagues from Germany's Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE).

For their observations, they used a unique instrument called VIRUS-W on McDonald Observatory's 2.7-meter Harlan J. Smith Telescope.

[caltrek]

White House Unveils ‘Space Priorities Framework’ as Vice President Kamala Harris Leads First Space Council Meeting
by Michael Sheetz
December 1, 2021

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/01/white-h ... ework.html

Introduction:

(CNBC) The first National Space Council of the Biden administration is meeting on Wednesday, with Vice President Kamala Harris set to outline the White House’s approach to space policy.

Revived after two decades under the previous presidency, the National Space Council met eight times during the prior administration and often came alongside executive orders such as returning U.S. astronauts to the moon, cleaning up space debris, and making use of space resources.

With Harris leading Wednesday’s meeting, the White House released a document called the “United States Space Priorities Framework,” which gives an overview of how the Biden administration plans “to develop and implement national space policy and strategy going forward.”

The framework emphasizes that the U.S. seeks to promote and protect the “data, products, and services from space” that “enable American businesses and create American jobs in sectors as varied as manufacturing, transportation, logistics, agriculture, finance, and communications.”

Additionally, the framework says the U.S. wants to openly distribute “Earth observation data” to “support both domestic and international efforts to address the climate crisis.” Similarly, the White House document says it is transferring “space situational awareness information” services “to an open data platform” that will be hosted by a U.S. agency to improve spaceflight safety.

Edit: Here is a link to the Executive Order reorganizing the National Space Council. Mostly bureaucratic detail and not a statement of strategy:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documen ... ce-council

[caltrek]

Astronomers Have Watched a Jet Launch from a Stellar-mass Black Hole Inside the Milky Way
by Lyndie Chiou
November 29, 2021

https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-n ... et-launch/

Introduction:

(Sky and Telescope) When X-rays flared from an area of the sky previously thought to be empty in March 2018, they triggered an early alert system. Astronomers around the world stopped what they were doing to turn six telescopes, including one aboard the International Space Station, toward the flare.

In the resulting observations, which ranged from radio to X-rays, Alex Tetarenko (Texas Tech University) and her collaborators caught something never seen before: the creation and launching of jets from a black hole, named MAXI J1820+070, about 10,000 light-years away in our galaxy. With observations in hand, they calculated physical properties of the jet, such as its distance and motion relative to the black hole.

“Jet materials alter the chemistry of interstellar gas and affect galaxy and star formation,” Tetarenko explains. “They also provide laboratories to test fundamental physics, so understanding what causes them is so important.”

[caltrek]

What You Really Need to Know About That Asteroid Flying 'Towards' Earth Next Week
by Michelle Starr
December 2, 2021

https://www.sciencealert.com/yes-a-rela ... n-t-hit-us

Introduction:

(Science Alert) A larger-than-usual asteroid is due to make a flying visit past Earth next week, on December 11.

It's called 4660 Nereus, a relatively frequent visitor to near-Earth space, which means it's been well characterized, with a diameter of 330 meters (1,083 feet). That's a little bit smaller than the height of the Empire State Building.

Despite the sensationalized tabloid headlines, 4660 Nereus is going to skim by at a nice, safe distance of 3.93 million kilometers (2.44 million miles) – just over 10 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.

Because of its size and distance from Earth, 4660 Nereus is classified as a potentially hazardous object. That classification includes any asteroid that will pass within 7.48 million kilometers (4.65 million miles) of Earth's orbit, and is larger than about 140 meters (500 feet) across. There are a lot of rocks that fall into that category.

There are many reasons for tracking them. These include making sure that they haven't deviated off their known orbits onto a trajectory more dangerous to Earth, and keeping an eye on groups of asteroids to maintain an awareness of what's moving through near-Earth space.

4660 Nereus, first discovered in 1982, is special – not because it is dangerous, but because it flies by Earth with relative frequency. Its 1.82-year orbit around the Sun brings it near to us roughly every 10 years or so, although although in space terms 'near' is still 'a safe distance away'.

[wjfox]

[funkervogt]

Is Spinlaunch viable?

At this point I think it is more likely than not that this company will not be able to solve all the engineering challenges. I think they will fail when they try to scale up, mainly because of the need for a vacuum in the chamber. But even if they do succeed I think the company will still fail for two reasons. The first is risk – spinning at 10,000 Gs is extremely risky. If anything goes wrong the result is likely to be catastrophic, like a rocket blowing up on launch. When a rocket blows up, however, you lose that one rocket, and there are many more to take its place. If the SpinLaunch fails you lose the entire thing. There are no others, and the majority of the cost in the system is building the giant SpinLaunch chamber. Losing the chamber would likely bankrupt the company, whereas SpaceX planned on blowing up lots of rockets while developing the technology.

The second fatal flaw is that solving all the engineering problems will likely result in a cost to orbit that exceeds the declining cost of reusable rockets. While the fuel savings would be great, that may not be enough to warrant the higher risks and costs.

https://theness.com/neurologicablog/ind ... ch-viable/

[weatheriscool]

Gemini South telescope catches a one-winged butterfly
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-gemini-so ... erfly.html
by NOIRLab

This breathtaking visible-light image, taken with the Gemini South telescope, looks as though it is ready to flutter off the screen. This apparently wispy object is an outflow of gas known as the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula—so named because it is bright at some infrared wavelengths of light, although it can also be seen in visible light, as in this view. Hidden at the core of this reflection nebula, and at the center of this image, is the engine of the nebula, a low-mass star (less massive than our sun) that is eclipsed by a dark vertical band. Even though it is concealed from view, this young, cool star emits streams of fast-moving gas that have carved a tunnel through the interstellar cloud from which the young star formed. Infrared and visible light emitted by the star escapes along this tunnel and scatters off its walls, giving rise to the wispy reflection nebula.

The bright red object to the right of the image center marks where some of the fast-moving stream of gas lights up after colliding with slower-moving gas in the nebula. It is known as a Herbig-Haro (HH) object and has the designation HH 909A. Other Herbig-Haro objects have been found along the axis of the star's outflow beyond the edges of the image to the right and left.

[weatheriscool]

VLA reveals double-helix structure in massive galaxy's jet
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-vla-revea ... alaxy.html
by National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have shown that a jet of material propelled from the core of a giant galaxy is channeled by a corkscrew-shaped magnetic field out to nearly 3,300 light-years from the galaxy's central supermassive black hole. That is much farther than such a magnetic field previously had been detected in a galactic jet.

"By making high-quality VLA images at several different radio wavelengths of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87), we were able to reveal the 3-dimensional structure of the magnetic field in this jet for the first time," said Alice Pasetto of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, leader of the team. "The material in this jet traces a double helix, similar to the structure of DNA," she added.

M87 is a giant elliptical galaxy about 55 million light-years from Earth. A supermassive black hole some 6.5 billion times more massive than the Sun lurks at the center of M87. That black hole is the first one ever to be imaged—an achievement done with the world-wide Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration and announced in 2019. Earlier this year, new EHT images traced the magnetic field in the vicinity of the black hole event horizon.

[caltrek]

Evidence Found of Recent Volcanic Activity on Venus
by Charles Q. Choi
December 9, 2021

https://www.space.com/venus-volcanoes-a ... w-research

Introduction:

(Space.com) A volcanic peak standing more than a mile high on Venus may still be active, new findings show, possibly shedding light on hotly debated findings that suggest that life may exist on the hellish planet.

Venus has more volcanoes than any other planet in our solar system. Previous research suggests that Venus possesses more than 1,600 major volcanoes, and could have more than 100,000 or even more than 1 million smaller volcanoes.

However, it has been hotly debated whether any remain active today, as the planet's extreme surface pressure and temperatures make it difficult for surface probes to last very long (if at all) on Venus, and its thick clouds of sulfuric acid limit analysis of its surface from space.

In a new study, researchers analyzed Idunn Mons, a Venusian volcanic peak about 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) high and 125 miles (200 km) wide located in Imdr Regio, a volcano-rich highlands region in southern Venus. And they found what they think could be recent activity.

[weatheriscool]

A young, sun-like star may hold warnings for life on Earth

by University of Colorado at Boulder
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-young-sun ... earth.html

Astronomers spying on a stellar system located dozens of lightyears from Earth have, for the first time, observed a troubling fireworks show: A star, named EK Draconis, ejected a massive burst of energy and charged particles much more powerful than anything scientists have seen in our own solar system.

The researchers, including astrophysicist Yuta Notsu of the University of Colorado Boulder, will publish their results Dec. 9 in the journal Nature Astronomy.

The study explores a stellar phenomenon called a "coronal mass ejection," sometimes known as a solar storm. Notsu explained that the sun shoots out these sorts of eruptions on a regular basis—they're made up of clouds of extremely-hot particles, or plasma, that can hurtle through space at speeds of millions of miles per hour. And they're potentially bad news: If a coronal mass ejection hit Earth dead on, it could fry satellites in orbit and shut down the power grids serving entire cities.

"Coronal mass ejections can have a serious impact on Earth and human society," said Notsu, a research associate at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at CU Boulder and the U.S. National Solar Observatory.

The new study, led by Kosuke Namekata of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and formerly a visiting scholar at CU Boulder, also suggests that they can get a lot worse.

[weatheriscool]

Researchers capture the fastest optical flash emitted from a newborn supernova

by Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-capture-f ... wborn.html

A team of astronomers has discovered the fastest optical flash of a Type Ia supernova, and reports a study in Astrophysical Journal Letters published on December 8.

Many stars end their lives through a spectacular explosion. Most massive stars will explode as a supernova. Though a white dwarf star is the remnant of an intermediate mass star like our sun, it can explode if the star is part of a close binary star system, where two stars orbit around each other. This type of supernovae is classified as Type Ia supernovae.

Because of the uniform and extremely high brightness of the Type Ia supernova, which is about 5 billion times brighter than our sun, they are widely used by researchers as a standard candle for distance measurements in astronomy. As the most successful example Type Ia supernovae helped researchers discover the accelerating expansion of our universe. But despite the great success of the Type Ia supernova cosmology, researchers are still puzzled by basic questions such as what the progenitor systems of Type Ia supernovae are, and how Type Ia supernova explosions are ignited.

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

"Newer, nimbler, faster:" Venus probe will search for signs of life in clouds of sulfuric acid
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-nimbler-f ... -life.html
by Massachusetts Institute of Technology

With multiple rovers landed and a mission set to return samples to Earth, Mars has dominated the search for life in the solar system for decades. But Venus has some fresh attention coming its way.

In a new report published today, a team led by MIT researchers lays out the scientific plan and rationale for a suite of scrappy, privately-funded missions set to hunt for signs of life among the ultra-acidic atmosphere of the second planet from the sun.

"We hope this is the start of a new paradigm where you go cheaply, more often, and in a more focused way," says Sara Seager, Class of 1941 Professor of Planetary Sciences in MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) and principal investigator for the planned Venus Life Finder Missions. "This is a newer, nimbler, faster way to do space science. It's very MIT."

The first of the missions is set to launch in 2023, managed and funded by California-based Rocket Lab. The company's Electron rocket will send a 50-pound probe on board its Photon spacecraft for the five-month, 38-million-mile journey to Venus, all for a three-minute skim through the Venusian clouds.

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

Parker Solar Probe: A spacecraft has 'touched' the sun for the first time
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-parker-so ... t-sun.html
by American Physical Society

On April 28, 2021, at 0933 UT (3:33 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time), NASA's Parker Solar Probe reached the sun's extended solar atmosphere, known as the corona, and spent five hours there. The spacecraft is the first to enter the outer boundaries of our sun.

The results, published in Physical Review Letters, were announced in a press conference at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2021 on December 14. The manuscript is open-access and freely available to download.

"This marks the achievement of the primary objective of the Parker mission and a new era for understanding the physics of the corona," said Justin C. Kasper, the first author, Deputy Chief Technology Officer at BWX Technologies, and a professor at the University of Michigan. The mission is led by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL).

The probe made the first direct observations of what lies within the sun's atmosphere, measuring phenomena previously only estimated.

[wjfox]

[raklian]

NASA promotes East Coast Starship option at LC-49 following SpaceX interest

The prospect of Starship making its mark on the Space Coast entered another level this week when NASA revealed it would conduct environmental assessments on LC-49 to support Starship launch and landing operations.

With SpaceX already confirming they will restart work on a Starship pad inside 39A, the potential of a second site at LC-49 could provide a considerable increase in Starship launch cadence from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/12 ... lc-49-ksc/

[weatheriscool]

Juno spacecraft 'hears' Jupiter's moon
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-juno-spac ... -moon.html
by Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Sounds from a Ganymede flyby, magnetic fields, and remarkable comparisons between Jupiter and Earth's oceans and atmospheres were discussed during a briefing today on NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in New Orleans.

Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio has debuted a 50-second audio track generated from data collected during the mission's close flyby of the Jovian moon Ganymede on June 7, 2021. Juno's Waves instrument, which tunes in to electric and magnetic radio waves produced in Jupiter's magnetosphere, collected the data on those emissions. Their frequency was then shifted into the audio range to make the audio track.

"This soundtrack is just wild enough to make you feel as if you were riding along as Juno sails past Ganymede for the first time in more than two decades," said Bolton. "If you listen closely, you can hear the abrupt change to higher frequencies around the midpoint of the recording, which represents entry into a different region in Ganymede's magnetosphere."

Detailed analysis and modeling of the Waves data are ongoing. "It is possible the change in the frequency shortly after closest approach is due to passing from the nightside to the dayside of Ganymede," said William Kurth of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, lead co-investigator for the Waves investigation.

At the time of Juno's closest approach to Ganymede—during the mission's 34th trip around Jupiter—the spacecraft was within 645 miles (1,038 kilometers) of the moon's surface and traveling at a relative velocity of 41,600 mph (67,000 kph).

[weatheriscool]

Stunning close-up reveals secrets of Milky Way's neighbour
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-stunning- ... milky.html
by Australian National University

A stunning image captured by researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) and Australia's national science agency, CSIRO, shows one of the Milky Way's closest neighbors in new detail.

Lead author of the study, Dr. Nickolas Pingel, says it is the clearest ever picture of hydrogen emitted from the Small Magellanic Cloud.

"The clarity of this image is unprecedented," he said.

"We're able to see all of the small-scale structures for the first time. It's an important step in understanding the role hydrogen plays in the evolution of galaxies.

"For example, you can see holes within the gas. This shows us that hydrogen interacts with supernovae."

This study focused on the Small Magellanic Cloud—the nearest satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.

The team used the CSIRO's ASKAP radio telescope and high-tech software to capture and process 100 hours of data.

[caltrek]

Colossal 'Fossil' Structures Have Been Detected Lurking on The Outskirts of Our Galaxy
by Michele Starr
December 18, 2021

https://www.sciencealert.com/colossal-f ... -milky-way

Introduction:

(Science Alert) From Earth's vantage point in one of the Milky Way's spiral arms, the structure of our galaxy is pretty difficult to reconstruct.
That's because gauging the distance to something in space when you don't know its intrinsic brightness is really, really hard. And there are a lot of objects in the Milky Way whose brightness is unknown to us. This means that sometimes, we can totally miss huge structures that you'd think should be right under our noses.

A new set of such enormous structures has now been unveiled at the outer regions of the Milky Way disk: massive, spinning filaments with unclear provenance. Astronomers will be conducting follow-up surveys to try and solve the mystery.

The discovery came about thanks to the European Space Agency's Gaia space observatory, a project to map the Milky Way in three dimensions with the highest precision yet.

Gaia orbits the Sun with Earth, in a looping orbit around the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrangian point, a gravitationally stable pocket of space created by the interactions between the two bodies.