Space News and Discussions

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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.
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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
Last edited by caltrek on Fri Dec 03, 2021 4:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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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.”
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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'.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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