Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 33

Follow-up observations of a luminous fast blue optical transient (LFBOT), a massive bright flash of light, one of the brightest in the universe, that are typically traced back to the arms of a spiral galaxy was photographed by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

These massive bursts of bright light are a mystery, with the first being detected in 2018, and then more being detected once per year. What are they? Researchers originally believed they are supernova, the result of a star exhausting all its fuel and dying. However, data indicates these LFBOTs can be 100 times brigher than a supernova, and only hung around for a few days when a typical supernova can be detected for weeks.

The latest of these LFBOTs that was detected is called "the Finch" and was measured by the The Gemini South telescope in Chile, which found its temperature was 20,000 degrees Celicus - not hot enough to be a supernova. Additional measurements revealed the event took place 3 billion light years away within a galaxy that Hubble took aim at.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk appeared via video link at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Baku, Azerbaijan, where he gave an update on the recent capabilities of Starship, and expectations for the future.

Musk can be seen in the above video discussing SpaceX's roadmap for its Starship launch vehicle, ahead of the company's highly anticipated second orbital attempt that is currently unscheduled. Musk explains that before Starship is caught by the chopstick arms equipped to its Mechazilla, the launch tower located at Starbase, the world's largest and most powerful rocket will attempt a landing at a precise location within the Pacific Ocean.

The reasoning behind this is simple: there are fewer people, no people, out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and if something goes wrong with Starship, it would be better if it went wrong over the ocean than over civilization. Musk projects that SpaceX will be able to "catch the booster within the next year, or maybe less than a year," and the upper stage of the rocket, or the ship, "toward the end of next year".

During his interview at the 74th International Astronautical Congress, Elon Musk discussed the possibility of life outside of Earth and whether he has encountered such evidence during his space fairing ventures.

The CEO of SpaceX was awarded the World Space Award and appeared at the event via video link to discuss some of the developmental changes of Starship, the world's largest and most powerful rocket that has ever taken flight. Musk explained that the design behind Starship is purposeful, with the primary objective of providing a reusable transportation method to set up colonies of humans on the surface of the Moon, and ultimately Mars.

Additionally, Musk touched on the hot-button topic of aliens, beginning the conversation with, "People often ask me if I'm seeing any evidence of aliens - and I unfortunately have seen no evidence of aliens yet." Musk jokingly added, "We are the aliens". This take on Musk is nothing unusual as the SpaceX CEO has long pointed out the lack of substantial evidence for extra-terrestrial life.

Astrophysicists are on the brink of seeing the universe right before the Big Bang, and it's all thanks to NASA's immensely powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Astrophysicist Richard Ellis from the University College London spoke at New Scientists Live, where he explained the raw power of the Webb telescope and how close astrophysicists are from seeing the very first stars and galaxies forming - a feat that is currently breaking the standard model of the nature of the universe, including its evolution.

The preliminary results from Webb's observations of the early universe reveal there are fewer and brighter galaxies than the Lambda cold dark matter model states possible. Webb is capable of looking further back in time than any other space telescope, and according to Ellis, Webb can see as far back as just 400 million years after the occurrence of the Big Bang.

A team of researchers has published a new study confirming the age of the oldest fossilized human footprints discovered in North America.

The new study was published in the journal Science and details fossilized human footprints in White Sands National Park, New Mexico, which were originally discovered in 2021. These footprints have since undergone thorough dating through various methods, with each of the methods arriving at the same approximate figure of 21,500 years. Leading to the conclusion that humans were present during the Last Glacial Maximum that occurred around 20,000 years ago, during the last phase of the Pleistocene epoch.

So, how are the scientists so sure about the age of the footprints? Scientists performed radiocarbon dating on the seeds of an aquatic plant named Ruppia cirrhosa, which was discovered embedded within the footprints. These results suggested the footprints were between 21,000 and 23,000 years old. Next, the team took 75,000 pollen grains, along with quartz, which is also within the fossilized footprint. Radiocarbon dating on the pollen put its age between 22,600 to 23,400 years ago.

Astronauts exploring the surface of the moon will want to send back items back to Earth, especially those discovered on the lunar surface. But how can that be done safely? NASA proposes a "lunar freezer".

The space agency has taken to the federal contracting website SAM.gov with a request for information regarding a "freezer" that will be used to safely transport materials from the lunar surface back to Earth.

According to NASA, this freezer design will need to reach a myriad of requirements for it to be considered, such as having capabilities of transporting "human biological/physiological samples collected during the missions," which will be analyzed by researchers in an attempt to measure the impact of prolonged lunar stay on astronauts' bodies.

NASA's latest Mars rover has captured some incredible footage of a dust devil gliding across the Martian surface.

The footage was captured on August 30, 2023, by NASA's Mars rover named Perseverance, with the selection of images that were then converted into the above GIF being snapped by the rover's Navigation Cameras.

The video is comprised of 21 frames that were taken four seconds a part and then sped up 20x. As with dust devils on Earth, Martian dust devils form in a similar way - pockets of hot air close to the surface of the planet rise sharply through the cooler air above it, creating a vortex.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has conducted observations on the Orion nebula, revealing something that has peaked the interest of astronomers.

The Webb telescope pointed its extremely powerful instruments at the Orion nebula, capturing observations of the Trapezium cluster in different wavelengths of light. The data was used in a study that has been submitted to Nature and uploaded to the preprint server, and reveals the discovery of 42 Jupiter-mass objects that are untethered to any star, seemingly drifting freely throughout the nebula.

The discovery of these objects goes against classical evolutionary formation of stars and planets, as objects of these sizes shouldn't exist according to the laws of physics, per study author Mark McCaughrean of the European Space Agency (ESA). If you are interested in reading more about this story, check out post on the ESA website here.

NASA is releasing a new image snapped by the famous Hubble Space Telescope every day this week, and the latest image published by the space agency highlights a spiral galaxy officially called NGC 6951.

NASA has taken to its social media channels and its blog on its website to highlight NGC 6951, explaining the spiral galaxy is located approximately 78 million light-years away from Earth within the Cepheus constellation. This particular spiral galaxy is of interest to astronomers for its stellar history, with researchers estimating that the galaxy reached its peak of star formation around 800 million years ago, and then cooled down production for about 300 million years, only to start back up.

The space agency notes that the average age of star clusters, gravitationally bound groups of stars, is 200 to 300 million years old, while some are as old as one billion years. As for the colors in the image and what they represent - NASA writes dark red represents turbulent regions of gas, and bright blue pinpricks are star clusters. Furthermore, at its core, NGC 6951 harbors a supermassive black hole that is estimated to be 3,700 light-years across and features a ring of stars, gas, and dust.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, despite its age, is hard at work documenting the cosmos, and one of the images it has snapped showcases true cosmic beauty.

The space agency's iconic space telescope, which has been in operation for more than 30 years, has pointed its sensitive instruments at the spiral galaxy known as NGC 4654, which resides approximately 55 million light years away from Earth within the constellation Virgo. NASA writes in its official blog post that NGC 4654 features characteristics of both unbarred and barred spirals. Additionally, NGC 4654 is located slightly north of the celestial equator, meaning it is observable from both the northern and southern hemispheres.

The space agency explains that NGC 4654 is just one of many Virgo Cluster galaxies, and astronomers theorize that NGC 4654 may be currently undergoing a process called "RAM pressure stripping". NASA writes that this process is a result of the gravitational pull of the Virgo Cluster putting pressure on NGC 4654 as it "moves through a superheated plasma made largely of hydrogen called the" intracluster medium.""

NASA researchers have cracked open the capsule containing the space agency's first asteroid sample, collected from the asteroid named Bennu.

NASA took to its official website to announce that the curation process for NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample is moving slower than was previously anticipated and that a problem presented itself when officials got the capsule back to the Johnson Space Center. However, this problem is a good one to have, at least according to the space agency.

When NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft landed on the surface of Bennu three years ago, researchers discovered the density of the surface material was much looser than what they expected, as the landing resulted in a lot of material being ejected from the asteroid's surface. Much of this loose asteroid material coated the outside of the Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism) head, which was used to collect the bulk of the asteroid sample.

The mystery behind what is inside the Moon, or more specifically, what makes up the inner core of Earth's closest neighbor, may have finally been solved.

Newly published research published in the scientific journal Nature details a set of measurements researchers conducted on the Moon using lunar lasers, and collected data from space missions. The team created a profile that contained various lunar characteristics, such as its degree of deformation as a result of being gravitationally bound to Earth, the different distances it orbited Earth, and its density. With this data, the researchers created models containing different core types and attempted to match the profile data with a core type.

What they found was that the inner core of the Moon is likely a solid ball that has a similar density to iron, and that deep beneath the mantle, there is active overturn, which means denser material close to the core is falling inward while less dense material moves outwards, toward the surface of the Moon. This point ties perfectly into the evidence of volcanic activity seen on the surface of the Moon.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has been in operation for more than 30 years and is still able to produce some of the most impressive photographs of the cosmos, such as this recently highlighted image of a galaxy known as NGC 612.

NASA has taken to its website with a brand new image snapped by the Hubble Space Telescope, with the iconic space telescope pointing its sensitive instruments at the lenticular galaxy called NGC 612, capturing its beauty in visible and infrared light. Notably, lenticular galaxies feature a central budge and disk that's similar to spiral galaxies, but they lack the long spirally arms. NASA explains that these types of galaxies harbor older star populations that range between 40 to 100 million years.

The above image shows a massive galactic disk that is mostly comprised of dust and hydrogen, with red and orange colors indicating matter. Furthermore, NGC 612 is a Seyfert galaxy, which means it has an active nucleus that's 100 times brighter than the combined light of its stars. More specifically, NGC 612 is a Type II Seyfert galaxy, meaning matter moves slowly around its nucleus.

SpaceX launched Starship back in April, and the first orbital attempt for the world's largest and most powerful rocket ended in flames, with SpaceX losing communication with the rocket due to fires and ultimately resulting in a self-detonation.

Despite what appears to be a catastrophic failure in every regard, SpaceX deemed the mission a success as much was learned about how to fly Starship, and it even reaching the altitude of 24 miles was impressive as many staff, including Elon Musk, believed there was a decent chance the rocket wouldn't even get off the launch pad. The necessary changes were implemented into the next model of Starship, and that one is now standing on the Starbase launch pad waiting to take off.

So, what is stopping the next orbital test flight? The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) needs to grant SpaceX a license for launch, which the company is currently working through right now. Musk said back on September 10 that SpaceX had completed 57 of the 63 items the FAA required for a license to be granted. Musk wrote on October 1 that "Starship is ready for flight 2!". SpaceX wrote on the same day that its "team continues to work with the FAA on a launch license."

On October 12, 2023, NASA will be launching a mission to an astronomical object called Psyche, which could possibly harbor the secrets to the evolution of Earth's core.

New research out of NASA's Ames Research Center in California has summarized what NASA will find when its spacecraft arrives at the solar system's second-largest metallic asteroid called Psyche. Researchers behind the study bounced different wavelengths of light off Psyche, and from the data received, were able to determine how porous the surface has, and the amount of energy it emits. This leads to the conclusion that Psyche is a metal-rich asteroid with a "fluffy" surface.

How does this relate to Earth? Researchers believe that planets such as Earth, Mars, and Mercury have metallic cores, but due to their depth, observations are extremely difficult. There is speculation that Psyche may be the core of a planet, which will assist scientists in understanding the evolution of Earth and other planet cores. Psyche is a large asteroid, with NASA writing that it would be able to cover "the distance from New York City to Baltimore, Maryland."

An exploding star captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may be what researchers need to solve one of the biggest mysteries of the universe.

Researchers are still attempting to figure out what is called the "Hubble tension", which is the discrepancy that lies between measuring the expansion of the universe in two different ways. The first method measures the cosmic microwave background (CMB), leftover radiation from the Big Bang, or what is commonly referred to as the beginning of the universe as a whole. The second is the Hubble constant, the speed at which astronomical objects such as galaxies and supernovas are moving away from Earth.

Notably, the Hubble constant consistently produces a higher number than CMB measurements, and the discrepancy between these two is what researchers have been trying to explain. NASA's Webb telescope snapped an image of a type 1a supernova called SN H0pe back in March, and the image, as seen above, showcases the exploding star as a streak of orange light, an effect called the gravitational lensing that occurs when light passes through space-time that has been warped by the intense gravitational pull generated by an astronomical object.

Space is a weird and wonderful place, and instruments that space agencies have put out into the void are constantly at work documenting anything of interest to researchers.

One of those instruments is the famous Hubble Space Telescope, which has been in operation for more than 30 years. Despite its age, Hubble is regularly used to snap extremely impressive and scientifically valuable images of the cosmos, with NASA highlighting one such image of a pair of interacting galaxies called Arp 107. NASA explains in a recent blog post that Arp 107 is a celestial object that is in the midst of a collision, with one Seyfert galaxy on the left and a smaller companion galaxy on the right.

Notably, a Seyfert galaxy is a galaxy that contains an active nucleus, or an active supermassive black hole at its center. NASA writes that it can observe Arp 107's spiraling whorls, which are areas of intense star formation, along with a "bridge" that's connected to the smaller companion galaxy. NASA explains that this "bridge" consists of dust and gas, and is a result of the gravity of the larger Seyfert Galaxy. Furthermore, Arp 107 resides approximately 465 million light years away from Earth.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has discovered new evidence of fragile astronomical objects that is making scientists question their own theories about how the universe evolved over millions of years.

Astronomers generally agree that our Milky Way galaxy is quite a fragile galaxy that couldn't have existed in the early tumultuous stage of the universe when galaxies were continuously colliding and merging into each other. So, what makes the Milky Way fragile? Astronomers recognize the Milky Way as a spiral galaxy because if you were to view the galaxy from the top or bottom, it would look like a spinning pinwheel.

These long spiral arms wouldn't have survived galactic mergers and would have been ripped apart, leading astronomers to believe galaxies such as the Milky Way wouldn't be able to survive in the chaotic environment of the early universe.

A new record has been set for the longest time spent in space by an American, with the welcoming home celebrations beginning immediately for Dr. Frank Rubio, who landed safely back on Earth with his fellow crewmates on Wednesday.

Rubio spent a record-breaking 371 days in space aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and on Wednesday departed the floating laboratory with Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, at 3:54 a.m. EDT, eventually touching down southeast of the remote town in Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

Notably, Rubio launched from Earth on September 21, 2022, alongside Prokopyev and Petelin, and after a delay in his mission duration, which prolonged his stay, Rubio clocked up 371 days in space. More than any other US astronaut. During his time spent aboard the ISS, the NASA astronaut orbited Earth 5,936 times, journeyed more than 157 million miles, or approximately 328 trips to the moon and back, and saw 15 spacecraft arrive at the ISS.

NASA made history this week when it safely landed asteroid samples for the very first time back on Earth, paving the way for researchers to develop a deeper understanding of these space rocks and the solar system's evolution.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft delivered the capsule containing samples from the asteroid Bennu to the Utah desert at 10:52 a.m. EDT on September 24, 2023. Notably, Bennu is located approximately 4 billion miles away from Earth, and is the first asteroid sample NASA has ever collected, marking a milestone for the space agency.

The container containing the samples was immediately transported to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and has now been cracked open. According to a new blog post on NASA's website and posts on the space agency's social media channels, the lid was taken off the canister, and inside was "dark powder and sand-sized particles on the inside of the lid and base," per the NASA Astromaterials X account.