Category: Astronomy

Interview: It’s time to rethink the Milky Way

Post author By Horizon Magazine
Post date December 7, 2020
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The Milky Way might be right on our cosmic doorstep, but a group of astronomers suspects that the way we currently study it is stunting our understanding. Professor Ralf Klessen at Heidelberg University in Germany is one of four researchers who have recently begun a six-year project, ECOGAL, to try something new: imagine our home galaxy as one huge galactic ecosystem. Prof. Klessen believes that using this lens could answer fundamental questions about how stars and planets form, and how they shape the Milky Way’s future.

NASA’s SOFIA Discovers Water on the Moon

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date October 27, 2020
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NASA SOFIA Discovers Water on Moon — NASA's SOFIA Discovers Water on Moon

For a long time, the Moon was considered bone dry. And that’s not a surprise since our satellite has no atmosphere that could prevent liquid water from immediately evaporating into space. But what remained hidden from even the eyes of the Moon travelers, discovered by the probes, orbiters, and observers: there are enormous amounts of water on the Moon, frozen to ice. And, in time, more and more water on the moon is being discovered. Now, two new studies show that there is probably even more water on the Moon than expected.

Space Exploration Solar System

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Collects a Significant Amount of Material from Asteroid Bennu

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date October 24, 2020
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NASA's OSIRIS-REx collects asteroid material — Captured by the spacecraft's SamCam camera on October 22, 2020, this image shows that the sampler head on NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is full of rocks and dust collected from the surface of the asteroid Bennu. This is a static image I produced from a series of three images published by NASA which show also that some of these particles are slowly escaping the sampler head. Analysis by the OSIRIS-REx team suggests that bits of material are passing through small gaps where the head's mylar flap is slightly wedged open. The mylar flap (the black bulge on the left inside the ring) is designed to keep the collected material locked inside, and these unsealed areas appear to be caused by larger rocks that didn't fully pass through the flap. Based on available imagery, the team suspects there is a plentiful sample inside the head and is on a path to stow the sample as quickly as possible. Credits: NASA

NASA’s OSIRIS REx spacecraft was supposed to grab a sample of the asteroid Bennu so that it could be returned to Earth for analysis. The spacecraft grabbed the sample on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, but, it’s taken a few days to actually get photos of the tool. Now the mission scientists at NASA realized that they have a problem with too much material. OSIRIS-REx collects a significant amount of asteroid material that larger pieces of regolith have kept the sample head from closing properly, so the material is slowly being lost. As a result, the mission operators are skipping past a number of important tests and going straight to storing the sample for return to avoid losing more.

Solar System Space Exploration

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Successfully Touches Asteroid Bennu

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date October 21, 2020
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This illustration shows NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft descending towards asteroid Bennu to collect a sample of the asteroid's surface. Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

Exciting news: NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, the first United States spacecraft to return samples from an asteroid has successfully touched down the Asteroid Bennu. The touchdown and sample collection occurred on October 20, 2020, at about 22:12 UTC.

Solar System

Oceans of the Solar System

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date October 18, 2020
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Created by the Universidad de Puerto Rico en Arecibo (the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo) scientists, this amazing infographic shows the volumes of the oceans of the Solar System. The unit used is the volume of the liquid water on Earth, so the ocean volumes of the other planetary objects are given by the multiples of the volume of the oceans on our planet.

Astronomy Astrobiology

NASA’s Planet Patrol Project lets the volunteers help to find exoplanets

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date October 10, 2020
No Comments on NASA’s Planet Patrol Project lets the volunteers help to find exoplanets

Want to hunt the skies for uncharted worlds from home? Join Planet Patrol! Watch to learn how you can collaborate with professional astronomers and analyze images from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) on your own. You’ll answer questions about each TESS image and help scientists figure out if they contain signals from new worlds or planetary imposters.

NASA announced a new citizen science project called “Planet Patrol” which lets the volunteers help to find exoplanets using TESS Space Telescope (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) data. It is similar to another NASA citizen science project, “Backyard Worlds”, where volunteers or the “citizen scientists” are checking telescope images the same way the American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh (February 4, 1906 – January 17, 1997) found Pluto, the original “Planet 9” in 1930. In this case, volunteers will collaborate with professional astronomers as they sort through a stockpile of star-studded images collected by NASA’s TESS Space Telescope (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite).

Solar System Astronomy

Moon passing in front of Mars in this spectacular video

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date September 28, 2020
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On September 6, 2020, French astrophotographer Thierry Legault (@ThierryLegault) went to the South of Lisbon to capture the event of the Moon passing in front of Mars. The result is this spectacular video, titled “Occultation of Mars by the Moon” by Legault himself.

Astrobiology Solar System

Life on Venus? Astronomers detected phosphine which is a strong signature of life

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date September 14, 2020
No Comments on Life on Venus? Astronomers detected phosphine which is a strong signature of life

Life on Venus? Astronomers have detected the first sign of life in the deadly clouds of Venus. They found phosphine which displays a strong signature of life. If we can detect life itself soon, this might be the most exciting news in history.

Solar System Astronomy

Backyard Worlds: NASA is asking for volunteers to help find the hypothetical Planet 9

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date August 23, 2020
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Ninth Planet, artist's concept — An illustration of what Planet Nine might look like from an artist's eye. Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)

Some astronomers think in our outer solar system there’s a giant, undiscovered world hiding and they call it (for obvious reasons) Planet Nine. Whether it exists, it could be 5-10 times the size of the Earth and orbit Sun hundreds of times farther away than Earth orbiting Sun. Now, a NASA citizen science project called Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 enlists volunteers to help find this hypothetical giant planet.

Solar System

Ancient Mars: how Mars looked like when there was liquid water on its surface

Post author By M. Özgür Nevres
Post date August 12, 2020
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The Planetary Society published an amazing animation showing the ancient Mars – how the red planet looked like when there was liquid water on its surface.