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☆ First close-up image of a star beyond our galaxy may reveal impending supernova
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-21 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The star, known as WOH G64, is 160,000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small neighboring galaxy that orbits the Milky Way. Van Loon has observed WOH G64 since the 1990s and studied it as a student at the European Southern Observatory. The Hubble Space Telescope soon revealed it had indeed been a red supergiant in the past, perhaps 20,000 years before the explosion. “If this is what we are seeing (WOH G64) doing, then a spectacle awaits us soon,” van Loon said. It’s nowhere near as bright or variable as WOH G64, van Loon said, and only experienced a brief hiccup compared with what WOH G64 is undergoing.

Persons: ”, Keiichi Ohnaka, Jacco van, UK’s Keele University . Van Loon, van Loon, Gerd Weigelt, Max Planck, It’s, Edward Guinan, Guinan, “, ” van Loon, Ohnaka Organizations: CNN —, Southern, Astrophysics, “, Andrés Bello National University, Keele Observatory, UK’s Keele University . Van, European Southern Observatory, Max, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Villanova University in, Hubble Locations: Atacama, Chile, Jacco van Loon, Bonn, Germany, Villanova University in Pennsylvania

☆ Moon landing attempt: Odysseus ran into last-minute navigation issues
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 lander, also called Odysseus or “Odie,” is on the lunar surface after experiencing unexpected issues hours prior to landing. “Intuitive Machines made the decision to reassign the primary navigation sensors from Odysseus … to use the sensors on NASA’s Navigation Doppler Lidar,” according to the webcast. With its landing legs and sensors pointed toward the lunar terrain, Odysseus relied on the Lidar payload to locate a safe landing spot. The IM-1 mission comes amid a renewed international dash for the lunar surface. Odysseus passes over the near side of the moon following lunar orbit insertion on February 21.

Persons: Odie, ”, Steve Altemus, Odysseus, Gary Jordan, …, landers, Farzin, Jeff Koons, We’re, ” Altemus, Altemus Organizations: CNN, NASA, Soviet, Columbia, Embry, Riddle Aeronautical University, Astrobotic Technology, Peregrine, Payload Services Locations: China, India, Japan, Malapert, Daytona Beach , Florida

☆ Scientists detect oxygen in noxious atmosphere of Venus
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Data from NASA's Magellan spacecraft and Pioneer Venus Orbiter is used in an undated composite image of the planet Venus. Its thick and noxious atmosphere is dominated by carbon dioxide - 96.5% - with lesser amounts of nitrogen and trace gases. In fact, with Venus getting far less scientific attention than other planets such as Mars, the direct detection of its oxygen has remained difficult. They noted that this atomic oxygen, which consists of a single oxygen atom, differs from molecular oxygen, which consists of two oxygen atoms and is breathable. "The Venus atmosphere is very dense.

Persons: Heinz, Wilhelm Hübers, Hübers, Helmut Wiesemeyer, Max Planck, Wiesemeyer, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: NASA, JPL, Caltech, Handout, REUTERS, Rights, Venus, Boeing, German Aerospace Center, Nature Communications, Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Thomson Locations: SOFIA, Hawaii, Germany

☆ Trinity Site, where first atomic blast was set off, opens for one day in October
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Kathleen Bangs | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Trinity Site is the national historic landmark that’s home to mankind’s first nuclear blast on July 16, 1945, where plutonium gamma rays lit up the night sky. A caution sign warns of radioactive materials at Trinity Site in New Mexico back in 2008. The open house event, hosted by the US Army, is free but limited to the first 5,000 guests, on a first-come, first-served basis. Trinity Site’s atmosphere during an open house is reminiscent of a small-town carnival from a bygone era. And on April 6, 2024, Trinity Site again opens for a single day.

Persons: CNN —, “ Oppenheimer, ”, Matt McClain, Jonathan Larsen, J, Robert Oppenheimer, McDonald, Sam Wasson, you’ll, Jim Lo Scalzo, Oppenheimer, “, John Dempsey, brightens, Jim Eckles, Trinity, we’ve, Bettymaya, Patricia Henning, Henning, Karl G, Jon G, Fuller Organizations: CNN, Jornada, Trinity, Washington Post, US Army, White, Manhattan Project, Sipa, AP, Albuquerque, Army, Venture, Jumbo, Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico Gov, National Security Research, Alamogordo Air Base, Radio Astronomy, Getty, “ SETI, Extraterrestrial Intelligence Locations: New Mexico, New York City, Nagasaki, Japan, Trinity, Hiroshima, Socorro, San Antonio . New Mexico, San Agustin, Mexico

☆ ‘Lunar Codex’ aims to bring human art to the moon
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Jacopo Prisco | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Nicknamed “Moon Museum,” it was attached to a leg of the spacecraft and then left on the moon with it. Called the Lunar Codex, it will be split across three launches planned over the next 18 months. The artworks that make up the Lunar Codex will be miniaturized in nickel NanoFiche. Peralta originally intended the Lunar Codex to include only his own works, such as "Sonnets from the Labrador," but reconceived the project as a global endeavor during the pandemic. Jack Burns, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Colorado Boulder, thinks the Lunar Codex is a cool concept.

Persons: —, Andy Warhol, Samuel Peralta —, ” Peralta, Peralta, I’ve, ”, “, Isaac Asimov's, Samuel Peralta, Mazzy, Olesya Dzhurayeva, Connie Karleta, Samuel Peralta “, Daniela De Paulis, ” Paulis, Jack Burns, “ I’m, Carl Sagan, Timothy Ferris, Bach, Beethoven …, Chuck Berry, Ferris, ” Ferris, ‘ Kilroy Organizations: CNN, NASA, “, SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, Virgin, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Colorado Locations: Canadian, North America, Ukrainian, Kyiv, Russia, American, Netherlands, Labrador, University of Colorado Boulder

☆ Unusual type of stellar object discovered beaming out radio waves
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

In those moments, it became the brightest source of radio waves viewable from Earth through radio telescopes, acting like a celestial lighthouse. The object, dubbed GPM J1839−10, released radio waves every 22 minutes. “The object we’ve discovered is spinning way too slowly to produce radio waves — it’s below the death line,” Hurley-Walker said. “Assuming it’s a magnetar, it shouldn’t be possible for this object to produce radio waves. The intense, millisecond-long bursts of radio waves have unknown origins, but magnetars have been pinpointed as a potential cause.

Persons: Tyrone O’Doherty, ”, Natasha Hurley, Walker, Hurley, ” Hurley, it’s Organizations: CNN —, Curtin University, Curtin, International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, Giant Locations: Australia, Western Australia, South Africa, India, USA

☆ What do we have to lose if Starlink satellites and others like them take over the night sky? Studying dark matter, observing distant galaxies, and finding signs of extraterrestrial intelligence.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Experts who spoke to Insider say radio astronomy helps us study dark matter and look for alien life. The Starlink satellites — chosen for their abundance in the sky compared to other low-orbit satellites — were observed using the Low-Frequency Array telescope in the Netherlands. Using the telescope, scientists detected frequencies from the Starlink satellites at 110 to 188 megahertz — a unit of measure used for electromagnetic waves. "We are not saying that right now that radio astronomy is doomed, and that we will not be able to do astronomy anymore. There is also the financial loss: Millions of dollars go into planning and building these massive radio telescopes over decades.

Persons: Elon, Vahe, Peroomian, Federico Di Vruno, Di Vruno, Jean, Luc Margot, we're, Margot, Musk Organizations: Elon Musk's, Service, Netherlands Institute of Radio Astronomy, Astrophysics, SpaceX, University of Southern, Federal Communications Commission, Iridium, Elon Musk Locations: Wall, Silicon, Netherlands, Europe, University of Southern California, Los Angeles

☆ Astronomers ‘hear’ the celestial choir of gravitational waves for the first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Astronomers have been able to “hear” the celestial hum of powerful gravitational waves, created by collisions between black holes, echoing across the universe for the first time. Gravitational waves, initially predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916, are ripples in space-time that were first detected in 2015. Einstein theorized that gravitational waves would stretch and compress space as they moved across the universe, affecting how radio waves travel. More than 190 scientists set out to discover the frequencies of gravitational waves as part of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves collaboration, also known as NANOGrav. Searching for a celestial choirThe newly detected gravitational waves are the most powerful ever measured.

Persons: Albert Einstein, Einstein, ”, Chiara Mingarelli, We’ve, Simonnet, Scott Ransom, “, ” Ransom, Luke Kelley, ” Kelley, it’s, ” Mingarelli, “ It’s, Stephen Taylor Organizations: CNN —, American Nanohertz, Green Bank, Yale University, National Radio Astronomy, University of California, Vanderbilt University Locations: Arecibo, Puerto Rico, West Virginia, New Mexico, Berkeley, Europe, India, China, Australia

☆ Structures newly discovered in the Milky Way
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Kristen Rogers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —An international team of astrophysicists has discovered hundreds of mysterious structures in the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Sagittarius A* “is the closest supermassive black hole to us, but it’s relatively quiet and therefore somewhat difficult to really study,” Hamden added. The vertical filaments surround the nucleus of the Milky Way, but the horizontal ones appear to spread out to one side toward the black hole. The vertical filaments, on the other hand, are magnetic and hold cosmic ray electrons moving nearly as fast as the speed of light. “One way to confirm that the (filament) structure is created by something like a jet is to find both sides of it.”This would add “to the complex, active picture of our own Milky Way,” she said.

Persons: astrophysicists, Farhad Yusef, Yusef, Zadeh, “, ”, who’s, Erika Hamden, ” Yusef, Hamden Organizations: CNN, Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration, Research, Astrophysics, University of Arizona, South African Locations: Hamden

☆ Black hole image captures jet of material launching into space
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But a black hole can also send powerful jets of material blasting across space and beyond its home galaxy. Previous observations have shown the jet and black hole separately, including the first direct image of a black hole, released in 2019. Astronomers believe that more material is falling toward the black hole in the new image, which is why the ring looks bigger. Studying black holesRecently, astronomers also used machine learning to release a cleaner, sharper version of the original M87 black hole image from 2019. The central region is darker and larger, surrounded by a bright ring as hot gas falls into the black hole.

☆ New image reveals violent events near a supermassive black hole
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] This image shows the jet and shadow of the black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy together for the first time. The supermassive black hole pictured resides at the center of a relatively nearby galaxy called Messier 87, or M87, about 54 million light-years from Earth. This black hole, with a mass 6.5 billion times that of our sun, was the subject of the first image of such an object ever obtained, released in 2019, with another black hole pictured last year. Seeing the entire scene in the vicinity of a supermassive black hole can be insightful. The EHT project has yielded the images of the two supermassive black holes.

☆ Repeating radio signal leads astronomers to an Earth-size exoplanet
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Astronomers have detected a repeating radio signal from an exoplanet and the star that it orbits, both located 12 light-years away from Earth. The signal suggests that the Earth-size planet may have a magnetic field and perhaps even an atmosphere. The researchers believe the radio signal was created by interactions between the planet’s magnetic field and the star. How strong radio waves occurIn order for the radio waves to be detectable on Earth, they must be very strong, the researchers said. “This research shows not only that this particular rocky exoplanet likely has a magnetic field but provides a promising method to find more.”

☆ Fact Check-False claims about the sun and clouds at night shared online
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Contrary to online claims, the earth is 93 million miles from the sun, is not flat and there is plenty of night-time footage of the planet taken from space, experts told Reuters. It also says the earth is flat and questions why clouds can’t be seen in nighttime images of the earth taken from space. Orsola de Marco, an astrophysicist at Macquarie University in Sydney, told Reuters that visibility of clouds at night could also depend on camera angle and the light source. Rather than a spacecraft looking directly through a cloud, shooting from an angle makes clouds more visible because more light can be reflected off the clouds, she said. Photos shared by the European Space Station at night showing clouds can be seen (here), (here), and (here).

☆ A communications satellite the size of an apartment is so bright it can outshine stars, and astronomers are worried it could interfere with their research
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AST SpaceMobile deployed a 693-square-foot communications satellite into orbit called BlueWalker 3. Astronomers say it's as bright as some of the brightest stars, and warn it could impact their work. AST SpaceMobile bills it as the "largest-ever commercial communications array deployed in low Earth orbit." Astronomers are also concerned about how satellite constellations contribute to the loss to "humanity's ability to experience the natural night sky," according to the IAU statement. When we look up at night sky, many of the bright lights might not be stars — but satellites.

Work is finally underway on the world’s largest radio astronomy observatory. Known as the Square Kilometre Array, the mega telescope consists of huge clusters of dishes and antennas spread across remote parts of South Africa and Western Australia. The Square Kilometre Array has been called one of the biggest scientific projects of the 21st century. A journey to deliver the world’s largest scientific instrument,” she said in a statement. The South African component will consist of nearly 200 dishes, expanded from the 64-dish MeerKAT telescope that already exists on the site.

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