Subscriber nudge+ Posted December 7, 2018 Subscriber Share Posted December 7, 2018 2 minutes ago, CaaC - John said: A women of my heart, sigh, now, seeing you have the tools maybe you can merge all the space content posts in Science & Discovery into here, cough, cough Done and dusted! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 7, 2018 Author Subscriber Share Posted December 7, 2018 Astronomy Picture of the Day 2018 December 7 December's Comet Wirtanen Image Credit & Copyright: Juan Carlos Casado (TWAN, Earth and Stars) Explanation: Coming close in mid-December, Comet 46P Wirtanen hangs in this starry sky over the bell tower of a Romanesque church. In the constructed vertical panorama, a series of digital exposures capture its greenish coma on December 3 from Sant Llorenc de la Muga, Girona, Catalonia, Spain, planet Earth. With an orbital period that is now about 5.4 years, the periodic comet's perihelion, its closest approach, to the Sun will be on December 12. On December 16 it will be closest to Earth, passing at a distance of about 11.6 million kilometers or 39 light-seconds. That's close for a comet, a mere 30 times the Earth-Moon distance. A good binocular target for comet watchers, Wirtanen could be visible to the unaided eye from a dark sky site. To spot it after dusk on December 16, look close on the sky to the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ Posted December 7, 2018 Subscriber Share Posted December 7, 2018 2 hours ago, Bluewolf said: Beat me to it... I was going to start 'All Things Sci-Fi' thread last week but got side tracked with mafia wars... Do it do it do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ Posted December 7, 2018 Subscriber Share Posted December 7, 2018 Successfully launched! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 7, 2018 Author Subscriber Share Posted December 7, 2018 Upcoming Live Events (all times Eastern) Thursday, Dec. 6, 2 p.m.: Hubble servicing mission 25th-anniversary discussion of the history of Hubble servicing missions and the future of satellite servicing. Friday, Dec. 7, 1:30 p.m.: Hubble servicing mission 25th-anniversary-panel discussion on Hubble deployment and servicing missions. Tuesday, Dec. 11, 10 a.m.: Coverage of Russian spacewalk. Spacewalk at the International Space Station is scheduled to begin at 11:03 a.m. EST and will last around 6 hours. Tuesday, Dec. 11, 8 p.m.: Live from Washington National Cathedral: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Presents “The Spirit of Apollo”—A Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 8 Mission to the Moon. Wednesday, Dec. 12, 3 p.m.: International Space Station Expedition 59-60 news conference. Tuesday, Dec. 18, 4:25 p.m.: International Space Station Expedition 57-58 change of command ceremony. Wednesday, Dec. 19, 4:45 p.m.: Expedition 57 crew farewell at International Space Station and Soyuz spacecraft hatch closure. Hatch closure is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. EST. Wednesday, Dec. 19, 7:45 p.m.: Undocking of the Soyuz spacecraft with the International Space Station Expedition 57 crew. Undocking is scheduled at 8:42 p.m. EST. Wednesday, Dec. 19, 10:45 p.m.: Coverage of Soyuz deorbit burn and landing with the Expedition 57 crew. Deorbit burn scheduled at 11:09 p.m. EST with landing scheduled at 12:03 a.m. EST, Dec. 20. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluewolf Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 1 hour ago, nudge said: Do it do it do it! I will, I will, I will.... Been busy, just finished the last episode of the first season of The Expanse... Cram, Cram, Cram... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 7, 2018 Author Subscriber Share Posted December 7, 2018 1 hour ago, nudge said: Successfully launched! Chang'e-4: China mission launches to the far side of Moon By Paul Rincon Science editor, BBC News website 53 minutes ago The Chang'e-4 mission will see a static lander and rover touch down in Von Kármán crater, located on the side of the Moon which never faces Earth. The payload blasted off atop a Long March 3B rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The mission will pave the way for the country to deliver samples of Moon rock and soil to Earth. The landing will not occur until early January, when the probe will descend on thrusters and touch down on the rugged terrain of the lunar far side. Von Kármán crater is of interest to scientists because it is located within the oldest and largest impact feature on the Moon - the South Pole-Aitken Basin. This was probably formed by a giant asteroid impact billions of years ago. The landers will characterise the region's geology and the composition of rock and soil. China launch will prep for Moon landing Why China is fixated on the Moon China's scientific revolution Because of a phenomenon called "tidal locking", we see only one "face" of the Moon from Earth. This is because the Moon takes just as long to rotate on its own axis as it takes to complete one orbit of Earth. Though often referred to as the "dark side", this face of the Moon is also illuminated by the Sun and has the same phases as the near side; "dark" in this context simply means "unseen" The far side looks rather different from the more familiar near side. It has a thicker, older crust that is packed with more craters. There are also few of the "mare" - dark basaltic "seas" created by lava flows - that are evident on the near side. The powerful impact that created the South Pole Aitken Basin may have punched through the crust down to the Moon's mantle layer. Chang'e-4's instruments could examine whether this was the case, shedding light on the early history of our only natural satellite. Seed experiment The mission will also characterise the "radio environment" on the far side, a test designed to lay the groundwork for the creation of future radio astronomy telescopes on the far side, which is shielded from the radio noise of Earth. The static lander will carry a 3kg (6.6lb) container with potato and arabidopsis plant seeds to perform a biological experiment. The "lunar mini biosphere" experiment was designed by 28 Chinese universities. "We want to study the respiration of the seeds and the photosynthesis on the Moon," Liu Hanlong, chief director of the experiment and vice president of Chongqing University, told the state-run Xinhua news agency earlier this year. Xie Gengxin, the chief designer of the experiment, told Xinhua: "We have to keep the temperature in the 'mini biosphere' within a range from 1 degree to 30 degrees, and properly control the humidity and nutrition. We will use a tube to direct the natural light on the surface of Moon into the tin to make the plants grow." Because the landers on the far side have no line of sight with our planet, they must send data back via a relay satellite named Queqiao, launched by China in May this year. The probe's design is based on that of its predecessor, Chang'e-3, which deployed landing craft to the Moon's Mare Imbrium region in 2013. However, it has some important modifications. China's lunar ambitions The lander is carrying two cameras; a German-built radiation experiment called LND; and a spectrometer that will perform the low-frequency radio astronomy observations. The rover will carry a panoramic camera; a radar to probe beneath the lunar surface; an imaging spectrometer to identify minerals; and an experiment to examine the interaction of the solar wind (a stream of energised particles from the Sun) with the lunar surface. The mission is part of a larger Chinese programme of lunar exploration. The first and second Chang'e missions were designed to gather data from orbit, while the third and fourth were built for surface operations. Chang'e-5 and 6 are sample return missions, delivering lunar rock and soil to laboratories on Earth. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46471668 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 8, 2018 Author Subscriber Share Posted December 8, 2018 (edited) Thursday, Dec. 6, 2 p.m.: Hubble servicing mission 25th-anniversary discussion of the history of Hubble servicing missions and the future of satellite servicing. Friday, Dec. 7, 1:30 p.m.: Hubble servicing mission 25th-anniversary-panel discussion on Hubble deployment and servicing missions. Tuesday, Dec. 11, 10 a.m.: Coverage of Russian spacewalk. Spacewalk at the International Space Station is scheduled to begin at 11:03 a.m. EST and will last around 6 hours. Tuesday, Dec. 11, 8 p.m.: Live from Washington National Cathedral: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Presents “The Spirit of Apollo”—A Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 8 Mission to the Moon. Wednesday, Dec. 12, 3 p.m.: International Space Station Expedition 59-60 news conference. Tuesday, Dec. 18, 4:25 p.m.: International Space Station Expedition 57-58 change of command ceremony. Wednesday, Dec. 19, 4:45 p.m.: Expedition 57 crew farewell at International Space Station and Soyuz spacecraft hatch closure. Hatch closure is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. EST. Wednesday, Dec. 19, 7:45 p.m.: Undocking of the Soyuz spacecraft with the International Space Station Expedition 57 crew. Undocking is scheduled at 8:42 p.m. EST. Wednesday, Dec. 19, 10:45 p.m.: Coverage of Soyuz deorbit burn and landing with the Expedition 57 crew. Deorbit burn scheduled at 11:09 p.m. EST with landing scheduled at 12:03 a.m. EST, Dec. 20. Edited December 11, 2018 by CaaC - John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ Posted December 9, 2018 Subscriber Share Posted December 9, 2018 Very cool animation of China's Chang'e-4 mission: First trajectory correction was cancelled due to the course being satisfactory; the second one was carried out today. Third one expected tomorrow, and then orbital insertion planned for Wednesday. No official date has been released for the landing attempt, but CASC announced shortly after the launch that the landing will take place in the first days of January 2019. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 9, 2018 Author Subscriber Share Posted December 9, 2018 1 hour ago, nudge said: Very cool animation of China's Chang'e-4 mission: First trajectory correction was cancelled due to the course being satisfactory; the second one was carried out today. Third one expected tomorrow, and then orbital insertion planned for Wednesday. No official date has been released for the landing attempt, but CASC announced shortly after the launch that the landing will take place in the first days of January 2019. You would think the Japanese would be involved in something like this as they have some very intelligent scientists and have the technology nowadays but It looks like the Chinese are way ahead of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ Posted December 10, 2018 Subscriber Share Posted December 10, 2018 10 hours ago, CaaC - John said: You would think the Japanese would be involved in something like this as they have some very intelligent scientists and have the technology nowadays but It looks like the Chinese are way ahead of them. The Japanese are working on their own space missions, but they've been facing lack of funding for a while now I think... Still, despite that they have quite a few interesting things going on. They recently landed two rovers on an asteroid as part of a Hayabusa2 asteroid sample return mission. They have also numerous missions to Mars (rover) and its moons (sample return) planned; and also a whole Japanese Lunar Exploration Program which includes numerous missions to the Moon including a proposed future manned mission with a goal of creating a scientific outpost there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ Posted December 10, 2018 Subscriber Share Posted December 10, 2018 Quote Nasa's Voyager 2 probe 'leaves the Solar System' The Voyager 2 probe, which left Earth in 1977, has become the second human-made object to leave our Solar System. It was launched 16 days before its twin craft, Voyager 1, but that probe's faster trajectory meant that it was in "the space between the stars" six years before Voyager 2. The news was revealed at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in Washington. And chief scientist on the mission, Prof Edward Stone, confirmed it. He said both probes had now "made it into interstellar space" and that Voyager 2's date of departure from the Solar System was 5 November 2018. On that date, the steady stream of particles emitted from the Sun that were being detected by the probe suddenly dipped. This indicated that it had crossed the "heliopause" - the term for the outer edge of the Sun's protective bubble of particles and magnetic field. And while its twin craft beat it to this boundary, the US space agency says that Voyager 2 has a working instrument aboard that will provide "first-of-its-kind observations of the nature of this gateway into interstellar space". The probe's present location is some 18 billion km (11 billion miles) from Earth. It is moving at roughly 54,000km/h (34,000mph). Voyager 1 is further and faster still, at 22 billion km and 61,000km/h. Did the the team plan to explore beyond the Solar System? The Voyagers were sent initially to study the outer planets, but then just kept on going. Prof Stone said that at the start of the mission the team had no idea how long it would take them to reach the edge of the Sun's protective bubble, or heliosphere. "We didn't even know how long a spacecraft could operate for," he added. "Now we're studying the very local interstellar medium." Scientists define the Solar System in different ways, so Prof Stone has always been very careful not to use the exact phrase "leave the Solar System" in relation to his spacecraft. He is mindful that the Nasa probes still have to pass through the Oort cloud where there are comets gravitationally bound to the Sun, albeit very loosely. But both Voyagers certainly are in a new, unexplored domain of space. How long has this journey taken? Decades and billions of kilometres. Voyager 1 departed Earth on 5 September 1977, a few days after its sister spacecraft, Voyager 2. The pair's primary objective was to survey the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune - a task they completed in 1989. They were then steered towards deep space. It is expected that their plutonium power sources will eventually stop supplying electricity, at which point their instruments and their 20W transmitters will die. Voyager 1 will not approach another star for nearly 40,000 years, even though it is moving at such great speed. But it will be in orbit around the centre of our galaxy with all its stars for billions of years. Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46502820 41 years in space... 11 billion miles from Earth, moving at 54,000km/h... Hard to grasp. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 10, 2018 Author Subscriber Share Posted December 10, 2018 3 hours ago, nudge said: Voyager 1 will not approach another star for nearly 40,000 years, even though it is moving at such great speed. But it will be in orbit around the centre of our galaxy with all its stars for billions of years. 1 Mind-blowing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ Posted December 10, 2018 Subscriber Share Posted December 10, 2018 1 minute ago, CaaC - John said: Mind-blowing Yes it's somehow almost unfathomable haha. One of my favourite things about the Voyager 2 is The Golden Record we've put on it. Imagine if some future form of intelligent life (even better if it's some form of evolved humans) actually comes across it within a billion of years; potentially long after we're (humans as we know it) gone... and they play it, and find all those unfamiliar images, music and sounds from a civilization from distant past that is long gone... Even if the Earth and the whole Solar System is gone. So cool. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 10, 2018 Author Subscriber Share Posted December 10, 2018 12 minutes ago, nudge said: Yes it's somehow almost unfathomable haha. One of my favourite things about the Voyager 2 is The Golden Record we've put on it. Imagine if some future form of intelligent life (even better if it's some form of evolved humans) actually comes across it within a billion of years; potentially long after we're (humans as we know it) gone... and they play it, and find all those unfamiliar images, music and sounds from a civilization from distant past that is long gone... Even if the Earth and the whole Solar System is gone. So cool. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithcore Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 18 minutes ago, nudge said: Yes it's somehow almost unfathomable haha. One of my favourite things about the Voyager 2 is The Golden Record we've put on it. Imagine if some future form of intelligent life (even better if it's some form of evolved humans) actually comes across it within a billion of years; potentially long after we're (humans as we know it) gone... and they play it, and find all those unfamiliar images, music and sounds from a civilization from distant past that is long gone... Even if the Earth and the whole Solar System is gone. So cool. I'll still be around by then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ Posted December 10, 2018 Subscriber Share Posted December 10, 2018 1 minute ago, Faithcore said: I'll still be around by then. Yeah, still around and still announcing the numbers on your hierarchy list no doubt! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faithcore Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 (edited) 1 minute ago, nudge said: Yeah, still around and still announcing the numbers on your hierarchy list no doubt! Good and important things simply need their time. -Faithcore Edited December 10, 2018 by Faithcore 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ Posted December 11, 2018 Subscriber Share Posted December 11, 2018 Quote Dec. 10, 2018 RELEASE 18-114 NASA’s Newly Arrived OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Already Discovers Water on Asteroid Recently analyzed data from NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission has revealed water locked inside the clays that make up its scientific target, the asteroid Bennu. During the mission’s approach phase, between mid-August and early December, the spacecraft traveled 1.4 million miles (2.2 million km) on its journey from Earth to arrive at a location 12 miles (19 km) from Bennu on Dec. 3. During this time, the science team on Earth aimed three of the spacecraft’s instruments towards Bennu and began making the mission’s first scientific observations of the asteroid. OSIRIS-REx is NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission. Data obtained from the spacecraft’s two spectrometers, the OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer (OVIRS) and the OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES), reveal the presence of molecules that contain oxygen and hydrogen atoms bonded together, known as “hydroxyls.” The team suspects that these hydroxyl groups exist globally across the asteroid in water-bearing clay minerals, meaning that at some point, Bennu’s rocky material interacted with water. While Bennu itself is too small to have ever hosted liquid water, the finding does indicate that liquid water was present at some time on Bennu’s parent body, a much larger asteroid. “The presence of hydrated minerals across the asteroid confirms that Bennu, a remnant from early in the formation of the solar system, is an excellent specimen for the OSIRIS-REx mission to study the composition of primitive volatiles and organics,” said Amy Simon, OVIRS deputy instrument scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “When samples of this material are returned by the mission to Earth in 2023, scientists will receive a treasure trove of new information about the history and evolution of our solar system.” Additionally, data obtained from the OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite (OCAMS) corroborate ground-based telescopic observations of Bennu and confirm the original model developed in 2013 by OSIRIS-REx Science Team Chief Michael Nolan and collaborators. That model closely predicted the asteroid’s actual shape, with Bennu’s diameter, rotation rate, inclination, and overall shape presented almost exactly as projected. One outlier from the predicted shape model is the size of the large boulder near Bennu’s south pole. The ground-based shape model calculated this boulder to be at least 33 feet (10 meters) in height. Preliminary calculations from OCAMS observations show that the boulder is closer to 164 feet (50 meters) in height, with a width of approximately 180 feet (55 meters). Bennu’s surface material is a mix of very rocky, boulder-filled regions and a few relatively smooth regions that lack boulders. However, the quantity of boulders on the surface is higher than expected. The team will make further observations at closer ranges to more accurately assess where a sample can be taken on Bennu to later be returned to Earth. “Our initial data show that the team picked the right asteroid as the target of the OSIRIS-REx mission. We have not discovered any insurmountable issues at Bennu so far,” said Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona, Tucson. “The spacecraft is healthy and the science instruments are working better than required. It is time now for our adventure to begin.” The mission currently is performing a preliminary survey of the asteroid, flying the spacecraft in passes over Bennu’s north pole, equator, and south pole at ranges as close as 4.4 miles (7 km) to better determine the asteroid’s mass. The mission’s scientists and engineers must know the mass of the asteroid in order to design the spacecraft’s insertion into orbit because mass affects the asteroid’s gravitational pull on the spacecraft. Knowing Bennu’s mass will also help the science team understand the asteroid’s structure and composition. This survey also provides the first opportunity for the OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter (OLA), an instrument contributed by the Canadian Space Agency, to make observations, now that the spacecraft is in proximity to Bennu. The spacecraft’s first orbital insertion is scheduled for Dec. 31, and OSIRIS-REx will remain in orbit until mid-February 2019, when it exits to initiate another series of flybys for the next survey phase. During the first orbital phase, the spacecraft will orbit the asteroid at a range of 0.9 miles (1.4 km) to 1.24 miles (2.0 km) from the center of Bennu — setting new records for the smallest body ever orbited by a spacecraft and the closest orbit of a planetary body by any spacecraft. Goddard provides overall mission management, systems engineering and the safety and mission assurance for OSIRIS-REx. Dante Lauretta of the University of Arizona, Tucson, is the principal investigator, and the University of Arizona also leads the science team and the mission’s science observation planning and data processing. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft and is providing flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace are responsible for navigating the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the agency’s New Frontiers Program for the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-newly-arrived-osiris-rex-spacecraft-already-discovers-water-on-asteroid 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 11, 2018 Author Subscriber Share Posted December 11, 2018 (edited) Astronomy Picture of the Day 2018 December 11 Arp 188 and the Tadpole's Tail Image Credit: Hubble Legacy Archive, ESA, NASA; Processing: Faus Márquez (AAE) Explanation: Why does this galaxy have such a long tail? In this stunning vista, based on image data from the Hubble Legacy Archive, distant galaxies form a dramatic backdrop for disrupted spiral galaxy Arp 188, the Tadpole Galaxy. The cosmic tadpole is a mere 420 million light-years distant toward the northern constellation of the Dragon (Draco). Its eye-catching tail is about 280 thousand light-years long and features massive, bright blue star clusters. One story goes that a more compact intruder galaxy crossed in front of Arp 188 - from right to left in this view - and was slung around behind the Tadpole by their gravitational attraction. During the close encounter, tidal forces drew out the spiral galaxy's stars, gas, and dust forming the spectacular tail. The intruder galaxy itself, estimated to lie about 300 thousand light-years behind the, can be seen through foreground spiral arms at the upper right. Following its terrestrial namesake, the Tadpole Galaxy will likely lose its tail as it grows older, the tail's star clusters forming smaller satellites of the large spiral galaxy. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html Edited December 11, 2018 by CaaC - John 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 11, 2018 Author Subscriber Share Posted December 11, 2018 (edited) 60-Second Astro News: Helium Exoplanets and a Supernova Surprise By: Christopher Crockett | December 10, 2018 Helium puffs up some exoplanet atmospheres Like a couple of day-old party balloons, two planets in our galaxy appear to be puffed up with helium and leaking it into space. Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen. Despite that, researchers have only recently started detecting it in the atmospheres of exoplanets. The hope is that helium, being the second lightest element, could be a sensitive probe of how sunlight erodes planetary skies. Astronomers suspect that bloated gas giants snuggled up to their stars might lose most of their atmospheres due to the relentless influx of high-energy ultraviolet and x-ray radiation. Now, two worlds are granting researchers their wish. Lisa Nortmann (University of La Laguna, Spain) and colleagues, using the 3.5-meter telescope at Calar Alto Observatory in Spain, detected a trail of helium dragging behind the Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP–69b (located about 160 light-years away) as it orbits its sun about once every 4 days. The comet-like helium tail extends roughly 170,000 kilometers (110,000 miles) away from the planet. In a companion paper relying on data from the same telescope, Romain Allart (University of Geneva, Switzerland) and colleagues found a puffed-up helium atmosphere — five times as wide as the planet itself — enveloping the roughly Neptune-mass world HAT–P–11b, which orbits a star about 120 light-years away. Spectra reveal that helium winds appear to blow from the dayside to the nightside at nearly 10,000 kilometers per hour (7,000 mph). These two finds, both published in the December 7th Science, are not the first time that researchers have detected helium around an exoplanet. That honor goes to the planet WASP–107b— astronomers reported the not the first time escaping that world in May. These more recent reports, however, are the first time that astronomers have been able to resolve details about the helium atmospheres. Supernova body-slams a companion The potential explanations for what makes a star go boom are many and varied, and astronomers debate the exact underlying causes.. Now, a detailed timeline of a supernova at the moment it burst on to the scene is providing new details to aid researchers in this quest. The late Kepler Space Telescope (may it rest in peace) is best known for its thousands of exoplanet discoveries. But in its waning years, it became a useful tool for providing snapshots every 30 minutes of rapidly evolving phenomena in the cosmos. In February, it caught the moments before, during, and after the detection of a supernova, dubbed 2018oh, that went off in a galaxy roughly 160 million light-years away. Right away, the build-up of light seemed odd. In the first five days following the explosion, the supernova seemed to emit an excess of light compared to other similar supernovae. After that, its evolution proceeded pretty much as expected. Reporting November 25th on the astronomy preprint site arXiv.org, Georgios Dimitriadis (University of California, Santa Cruz) and colleagues suspect that the excess light came from the supernova blast wave slamming into a companion star — a companion that may have triggered the detonation. Supernova 2018oh is classified as a Type 1a supernova, which means it likely arose from the destruction of a white dwarf, the naked core left behind after stars like our Sun run out of fuel. There are two leading ideas for what would cause a white dwarf to explode. One possibility is that two white dwarfs locked in a gravitational embrace slam together. Another scenario is that a run-of-the-mill companion star keeps dumping gas on to the white dwarf until it becomes too heavy to support its own weight, triggering a thermonuclear explosion. The double white dwarf story seems to explain most Type 1a supernovae, according to a 2014 review paper. But a handful, such as 2018oh, appear to be caused by a single white dwarf pilfering gas from a neighbor. Dimitriadis’ team notes that a few scenarios provide a good match to the observations — including the presence of a thin layer of helium enveloping the doomed star or the presence of an off-kilter nugget of nickel in its core — but a lone white dwarf appears slightly favorable. https://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/60-second-astro-news-helium-exoplanets-and-a-supernova-surprise/ Edited December 11, 2018 by CaaC - John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 11, 2018 Author Subscriber Share Posted December 11, 2018 ISS: Spacewalk cosmonauts investigate mystery hole 5 minutes ago Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are embarking on a spacewalk to investigate a mysterious hole that caused a loss of air pressure in August. The cause of the hole on the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, docked to the station, has not yet been established. However, Russian officials have said they believe it was caused by a drill and may have been deliberate. Oleg Kononeko and Sergei Prokopyev will spend about six hours on the spacewalk. All systems go as Russia's Soyuz aims to erase failures What's life like on the ISS? Spacecraft hole could be 'deliberate' The hole was discovered after crew members traced an air leak that was causing the minor loss of pressure on the ISS. The Soyuz capsule had been used to deliver a new crew to the laboratory 400km (250 miles) above the Earth in June. Crew members used tape to cover the hole and experts speculated that it could have been caused by the impact of a high-speed rocky fragment flying through space. However, that theory was later ruled out. Photos of the hole from inside the spacecraft circulated online. A space industry source told Russia's Tass state news agency that the spacecraft could have been damaged during testing at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The mistake might have then been covered up. "Someone messed up and then got scared and sealed up the hole," a source speculated, but then the sealant "dried up and fell off" when the Soyuz reached the ISS. Sources quoted in Izvestia newspaper said that if the sealant is found on the hull during the spacewalk then the hole was probably caused when the spacecraft was on the ground. In September, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia's civilian space agency Roscosmos, said that a production defect was possible but "deliberate interference" had not been ruled out. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46529422 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber nudge+ Posted December 11, 2018 Subscriber Share Posted December 11, 2018 The Spacewalk is live now; watching it makes me kinda anxious 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 11, 2018 Author Subscriber Share Posted December 11, 2018 12 minutes ago, nudge said: The Spacewalk is live now; watching it makes me kinda anxious It makes me bloody jealous, wish it was me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subscriber CaaC (John)+ Posted December 11, 2018 Author Subscriber Share Posted December 11, 2018 They are like bees buzzing around a honeypot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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