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☆ At least 7 stars in our galaxy have the potential to harbor advanced alien technology, researchers find
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-27 | by ( Ellyn Lapointe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Read previewIn the search for intelligent alien life, finding a Dyson sphere would be like hitting the jackpot. Dyson spheres are a hypothetical, super-advanced form of alien technology that may surround seven stars in our galaxy. Love Employee/Getty ImagesDespite what the name suggests, a Dyson sphere isn't necessarily one solid sphere that encases a star, although the most advanced ones could be. AdvertisementFor their study, Majumdar and colleagues analyzed more than 5 million stars throughout the Milky Way that exhibit IEEs. Next, the researchers will look closer at these seven strong Dyson sphere candidates using spectroscopic analysis, Majumdar said.

Persons: —, Freeman Dyson, Suman Majumdar, Majumdar, Dyson, Jason Wright, Boyajian, Gaia, Wright Organizations: Service, Business, Royal Astronomical Society, Indian Institute of Technology, Penn State University, Dyson, ESA, Gaia, Space Agency, Louisiana State University

☆ Discord at the Symphony: Losing a Star, San Francisco Weighs Its Future
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-24 | by ( Robin Pogrebin | Javier C. Hernández | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For a night at the symphony, there was a lot of tension in the air. The evening’s program was just the sort of thing he had promised when he was hired with a mandate to rethink the concert experience: Ravel’s charming “Mother Goose” brought to life by dancers from Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, and then Schoenberg’s nightmarish “Erwartung” staged by the director Peter Sellars. His decision to leave once his contract is up next year has upset fans — “Who he is and what he brings can’t be replicated,” Mark Malaspina, an audience member, lamented as he entered the hall — and left some concerned about the future of the 113-year-old San Francisco Symphony. “An orchestra that was in very good shape is now in crisis,” said Peter Pastreich, a longtime arts administrator who managed the San Francisco Symphony from 1978 to 1999. “It is heartbreaking to watch.”

Persons: concertgoers, Pekka Salonen’s, Goose ”, Alonzo King’s, ”, Peter Sellars, —, ” Mark Malaspina, Peter Pastreich Organizations: Davies Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Ballet

☆ Ernest Shackleton’s Quest shipwreck has finally been found
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-15 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew of 27 men set off aboard the HMS Endurance in 1914. A search expedition found the HMS Endurance wreck in 2022, and now, another part of Shackleton’s legacy has been recovered. Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesAn international team of experts using sonar has located the exploration ship Quest, once captained by Shackleton, off the coast of Canada. — A botanist spotted a tiny plant species new to science growing in an unlikely place on the slopes of the Andes.

Persons: Sir Ernest Shackleton, Shackleton, Freeman Dyson, Dyson, George Wittemyer, ”, Mickey Pardo, ritualistically, Chichén Itzá, “, Adomas Valantinas, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, HMS, Quest, Central Press, Hulton, Cornell University, Olympus, ESA, Brown University, NASA, CNN Space, Science Locations: Antarctica, South Georgia, Canada, Kenya, Chichén, Yucatán, Everest, England, Australia

☆ Dyson spheres: Could alien megastructures exist in the Milky Way? Scientists found 7 places to look
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Jacopo Prisco | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Now, a new study that looked at 5 million stars in the Milky Way galaxy suggests that seven candidates could potentially be hosting Dyson spheres — a finding that’s attracting scrutiny and alternate theories. If Dyson spheres really exist, what could they be used for? “Freeman Dyson said that we should dismantle Jupiter — the whole planet (for the raw materials).”That supercolossal scale probably means that Dyson spheres, if they exist at all, are very rare. “However, contamination by circumstellar debris disks, which mimic Dyson Sphere infrared signatures, remains a concern,” he added in an email. However, he added, the radiation fingerprint of the seven Dyson sphere candidates might be explained by natural phenomena as well.

Persons: Freeman Dyson, ”, Dyson, Olaf Stapledon’s, George Dyson, ’, Freeman J, couldn’t, Matías Suazo, Suazo, “, Webb, that’s, Gabriella Contardo, NASA’s James Webb, ” Suazo, “ Freeman Dyson, Jason Wright, James Webb, —, Leslie Surginer, ” George Dyson, Tomotsugu Goto, Zaza Osmanov, ” Osmanov, George Organizations: CNN, Institute of, “, ‘, AP, Dyson, SETI Institute, Fermi, Accelerator Laboratory, Fermilab, Royal Astronomical Society, Uppsala University, NASA, Survey, JPL, ESA, European Space Agency, Micron, Sky Survey, University of Massachusetts, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, International School, Studies, Telescope, Penn State University, James Webb Space Telescope, William Press, Computer Science, University of Texas, Tsing Hua, SETI, of Physics, Free University of Tbilisi Locations: British, Princeton , New Jersey, Sweden, Trieste, Italy, Austin, Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, Georgia

☆ Water frost detected on Mars volcanoes in ‘unexpected’ first
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-11 | by ( Jacopo Prisco | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“Based on rough estimates, it’s about 150,000 metric tons of water ice, the equivalent of 60 Olympic swimming pools,” he said. The volcanoes are near the Mars equator, the warmest area of the planet, which makes a water discovery particularly intriguing, Valantinas said. “Mars is a desert planet, but there’s water ice in the polar caps, and there’s water ice in the midlatitudes. Now we also have water frost in the equatorial regions, and equatorial regions are quite dry in general. “If the frost on these volcanoes is confirmed to be water (and not carbon dioxide), it would be surprising,” he said.

Persons: Adomas Valantinas, ”, Ceraunius, Valantinas, CaSSIS, ” Valantinas, “, Mars, John Bridges, ” Bridges, Taylor Perron, Cecil, Ida Green, Perron Organizations: CNN, Olympus, NASA, JPL, Brown University, University of Bern, Nature Geoscience, University of Bern’s, European Space Agency, Orbiter, ESA Mars Express, Stereo, Mars, ESA, University of Leicester, Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Locations: —, Mauna Loa, Hawaii, Switzerland, Ascraeus, Russian, CaSSIS, United Kingdom

☆ A mysterious Jupiter-sized planet that shouldn't exist is as puffy as a marshmallow and astronomers finally think they know why
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-06 | by ( Ellyn Lapointe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

WASP 107b: The exoplanet that shouldn't existAn artist's impression of WASP 107b passing in front of its host star. But models suggested that WASP 107b's core would be too small to have formed a gas giant. Scientific models didn't align with observationsHubble images of WASP 107b didn't solve the mystery of its large size and low density. Venom82Why it took astronomers years to understand WASP 107b's mysterious origins stems from what many astronomers face: a lack of information due to technological limits. But WASP 107b's surface temperature was cold enough that it should have had more methane than what JWST observed.

Persons: —, they've, it's, David Sing, NASA's, Luis Welbanks, Sagan, James Webb, Welbanks —, Sing, Welbanks, Ralf Crawford, we're, Scott Gaudi, Gaudi, Olmsted, Russo Organizations: Service, Business, ESA, Hubble, NASA, Kornmesser, Bloomberg, Johns Hopkins University, WASP, NASA's Goddard Space Flight, ESO, Arizona State University, Telescope, Sing, WASP 107b's, CSA, JHU, Ohio State University

☆ NASA's Webb Space Telescope discovered 3 rare galaxies that can help astronomers study the cosmic dark ages
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Lloyd Lee | Jessica Orwig | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewNASA's James Webb Space Telescope has detected three galaxies as they were likely forming during the universe's infancy, the space agency said Thursday. And it's all thanks to the tremendous observing power of the James Webb Telescope. AdvertisementThe James Webb Space Telescope helps astronomers study the very early universe. The Cosmic Dark AgesJames Webb Space Telescope has revealed 45,000 galaxies in this image, hundreds of which have never been seen until now. Astronomers study the Era of Reionization to understand the very early moments in our universe when galaxies and stars first formed and how.

Persons: —, James Webb, Webb, Kasper Heintz, NASA Heintz, Brant Robertson, Ben Johnson, Sandro Tacchella, Marcia Rieke, Daniel Eisenstein, Heintz Organizations: Service, NASA, Business, James Webb Telescope, University of Copenhagen, James Webb Space Telescope, ESA, CSA, UC, UC Santa Cruz, CfA, University of Arizona Locations: Denmark, UC Santa, Cambridge

☆ A 'cosmic glitch' in the universe is forcing astronomers to rethink Einstein's theory of relativity
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Ellyn Lapointe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Einstein's general theory of relativity states that the curvature of space-time causes gravity. But zoom out to enormous scales like clusters of galaxies spanning billions of light years across, and the laws of Einstein's gravity theory appear to change. A 1% adjustment may not sound like a big deal, but it's enough to suggest that Einstein's theory may need a rethink. Now, with this cosmic glitch, there's a new explanation on the table. NASA/CXC/Univ of Missouri/M.Brodwin et al; NASA/STScI; JPL/CalTechThe fact that this cosmic glitch could potentially help astronomers resolve the Hubble tension is a good sign that it may truly exist.

Persons: —, Albert Einstein's, Robin Wen, Wen, It's, shouldn't, Niayesh Afshordi, there's, Valerio Faraoni, Faraoni, Claire Lamman, DESI Organizations: Service, Business, Waterloo, University of Waterloo, University of British, ESA, Big Bang, NASA, of Missouri, JPL, CalTech, Bishop's University Locations: University of British Columbia

☆ Astronomers say we may live at the center of a cosmic void 2 billion light-years wide that defies the laws of cosmology
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Jessica Orwig | Ellyn Lapointe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

But the kicker is that this giant void shouldn't exist in the first place. For example, some people have correctly argued that such a void shouldn't exist in the standard model, which is true. Cosmologists have a value, called the Hubble constant, which they use to help describe how fast the universe's expansion is accelerating. The Hubble constant should be the same value wherever you look, whether it's close by or very far away. NASA/JPL-CaltechAstronomers can't agree on what's causing this discrepancy in the Hubble constant, and the contention has become known as the Hubble tension.

Persons: —, we're, Claire Lamman, Indranil, Andrews, Hubble, Brian Keating, Keating, Banik Organizations: Service, Business, Harvard, Smithsonian Center, Astrophysics, Indranil Banik, University of St, Banik, Royal Astronomical Society, KBC, Hubble, NASA, JPL, Caltech, ESA, Palomar, Sky, UC San Diego, Sky Survey

☆ Arizona is a cautionary tale for school vouchers as a wave of states are giving parents cash to send their kids to private school
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Read previewThe prominence of school vouchers continues to surge across the country — but they might not benefit the families who need them the most. Over the past few years, states like Ohio and Arkansas have expanded their school voucher programs to allow most or all parents to receive funding to send their kids to private schools. The modern school voucher movement started to grow in the 1990s under the idea that the government would give parents a certain amount of money to put toward private school tuition. A new report from the Brookings Institution delved further into the implications of Arizona's voucher program. AdvertisementHave you received a school voucher or decided not to participate in your state's program?

Persons: —, Josh Cowen, Cowen, they've, Katie Hobbs, Rebecca Noble, Doug Ducey, Ducey, Hobbs Organizations: Service, Business, Michigan State University, Brookings Institution, Brookings, ESA, Catholic, Republican, Democratic, Arizona Locations: Ohio, Arkansas, Arizona, Brookings, Phoenix, Queen, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama

☆ Opinion: The problem with space junk – and how to solve it
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Opinion Moriba Jah | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

This incident serves as an example of the urgent need for a profound shift toward sustainable space practices. Proponents of a circular space economy advocate for a transformative departure from this wasteful paradigm. Much like embracing reusable materials on Earth, transitioning to a circular space economy means designing space systems with reuse, refurbishment and recyclability in mind. The European Space Agency (ESA) has emerged as a trailblazer in the pursuit of a circular space economy. By leading the charge toward sustainable space practices, NASA can inspire other space agencies and private companies to follow suit.

Persons: Moriba Jah, Otero, Moriba Jah Mark Thiessen, wasn’t, I’m, Artemis Organizations: MacArthur Fellowship, University of Texas, CNN, Space, European Space Agency, ESA, NASA, Space Shuttle, Twitter, Facebook Locations: Austin, Naples , Florida, Naples

☆ Fossil found on a beach by tween reveals massive marine reptile
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. CNN —As Earth Day approaches and the Wonder Theory newsletter celebrates three years of arriving in your inboxes, I look to the future with hope. “And it’s up to you to choose what sort of impact you make.”Ocean secretsDr. Dean Lomax, (from left) Ruby Reynolds, Justin Reynolds and Paul de la Salle are shown with the fossil discovery in 2020. Dean LomaxIn May 2020, Ruby Reynolds, then 11, and her father, Justin, were searching for fossils on a Somerset beach along the English coast when she spotted something unusual. And when it came to sheer size, the marine reptile likely rivaled the blue whale, currently the largest living animal.

Persons: Jane Goodall, Goodall nurtures, Goodall, ” Goodall, Dean Lomax, Ruby Reynolds, Justin Reynolds, Paul de, Justin, ”, Gaia BH3, Nigel Raine, Dr, Matt Kasson, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, Paul de la Salle, Indian Institute of Technology, ESA, West Virginia University, Explorations, NASA, International, CNN Space, Science Locations: Somerset, India, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Guatemala, France, Australia, Naples , Florida, what’s, Canada

☆ Rainbow-like phenomenon may glow on hellish exoplanet WASP-76b
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Observations from the European Space Agency’s Cheops space telescope, or Characterising ExOplanet Satellite, detected a “glory effect” on WASP-76b, an ultra-hot exoplanet 637 light-years from Earth. Cheops captured data from WASP-76b as the planet passed in front of its star, making 23 observations over three years. But the glory effect is created as light moves through a narrow opening and bends, creating colorful, patterned rings. An artist's illustration shows the night-side view of the exoplanet WASP-76b, where iron rains down from the sky. Lueftinger said she believes that the James Webb Space Telescope or Ariel may be able to help prove the presence of the glory effect on WASP-76b.

Persons: Cheops, ”, Olivier Demangeon, Wilson, ” Demangeon, Matthew Standing, —, “, Theresa Lueftinger, Lueftinger, James Webb, Ariel Organizations: CNN —, WASP, Astrophysics, of Astrophysics, Space Sciences, ESA, Hubble, Spitzer, Telescope, European Space Agency, “, James Webb Space Locations: Portugal, Cheops

☆ Space garbage hits Florida home, NASA confirms
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Jackie Wattles | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —A piece of garbage jettisoned from the International Space Station unexpectedly survived a fiery reentry from orbit last month and pierced the roof of a home in Florida, according to NASA. Garbage disposal in spaceNASA routinely brings home batches of science experiments, cargo and garbage from the space station using capsules such as the Dragon spacecraft built by SpaceX. But after the installation of new batteries on the space station in 2021, authorities disposed of a pallet of aging nickel-hydrogen batteries in a different way. But the debris that struck Otero’s house was the result of miscalculations about how space garbage would behave. The space agency should be more conservative in its analysis if it attempts a similar trash disposal method in the future, he added.

Persons: ” Alejandro Otero, Otero, ” Otero, “ I’m, Otero’s, John Crassidis, ” Crassidis Organizations: CNN, International, NASA, WINK News, Kennedy Space Center, SpaceX, European Space Agency, ESA, China National Space Administration, University, Buffalo’s School of Engineering, Applied Locations: Florida, Naples , Florida, China

☆ US-Russia collaboration has long endured in space. The Ukraine war could ruin it.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Tom Porter | Mikhaila Friel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The International Space Station has long been a symbol of international cooperation. AdvertisementSince the end of the Cold War, the International Space Station (ISS) has been a symbol of international cooperation. By 1988, 15 nations had agreed to participate in the project, then known as Space Station Freedom. Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesThe Soviets had long-standing expertise in aerospace technology, having launched the world's first space station, "Salyut," in 1971. China has completed several unmanned Moon landings, has its own space station, and has developed a sophisticated commercial and military satellite program.

Persons: —, Peggy Whitson, Vladimir Putin, Jill Stuart, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Terry Virts, Anton Shkaplerov, Marco Tacca, Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, Sergey Korsakov, Virts, Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Alexander Grebenkin, Jeanette Epps, Stuart, Verts, Musk Organizations: Astronauts, Service, Space, Veteran, ISS, Imperial College London, Politics, NASA, European Space Agency, ESA, Inter, Soyuz, Keystone, Hulton, Roscosmos, Reuters, Anadolu, Getty, Imperial College, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Elon Musk's SpaceX, The Independent, CNBC Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Europe, China, Japan, loggerheads, Hollywood, Canada, Soviet Union, Milan, Italy, Luhansk, Luhansk People's Republic, Russian, Baikonur, Kazakhstan, The, Soviet Russia

☆ NASA is asking for help to retrieve Mars samples that could be the first evidence of alien life
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover is collecting samples that could be evidence of ancient alien life. But NASA's Mars Sample Return mission to bring them to Earth will now cost $11 billion and take two decades. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASUNASA's original proposal for the Mars Sample Return is "mind-bendingly complicated," David Parker, director of space exploration at the European Space Agency, said in 2021. AdvertisementAn illustration shows a concept of how NASA's Mars Sample Return mission would launch Perseverance's samples from the surface of Mars. At the current price tag, Mars Sample Return would "cannibalize" other NASA missions, Nelson said.

Persons: —, Nicola Fox, We're, David Parker, Bill Nelson, Nelson, Fox, Lockheed Martin, Northrop, We've, that's Organizations: NASA, Service, Mars Express, ESA, JPL, Caltech, ASU, European Space Agency, Lockheed, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, SpaceX Locations: Berlin, Mars

☆ South Africa crime wave: This cash van guard is just one of the victims
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( David Mckenzie | Sarah Dean | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Johannesburg, South Africa CNN —For South Africans, normality is a sliding scale. In October, a heavily armed gang blocked off one of the busiest highways near Johannesburg as it blew up a cash-in-transit vehicle – a security van carrying cash. Cash-in-transit, or CIT, heists are one of the most dramatic illustrations of a crime wave that has shocked even the most hardened South Africans. His argument is not entirely factual: crime affects South Africans from all walks of life, not just those earning a comfortable living. The South African police minister, Bheki Cele, recently highlighted what he called the successes of the Crime Intelligence division in tackling organized crime and rooting out corruption within the ranks of the force.

Persons: Nelson Mandela, ”, Byron Blunt, Ngwenya, —, “, Petrus Mthembu, SAPS, Athlenda Mathe, Bheki Cele, Joe van der Walt, Esa Alexander, Gareth Newham, What’s Organizations: South Africa CNN, heists, CIT heists, National Congress, ANC, CNN, “, CIT, Motor Transport Workers Union, South African Police Service, Reuters, Hawks, AK, South, Crime Intelligence, Focus Group, ” Police, Town, Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority, Institute for Security Studies Locations: Johannesburg, South Africa, Africa, R350,000, Makhado, Limpopo, Cape Town , South Africa

NASA awarded Blue Origin $172 million to develop a space station for both astronauts and tourists. The space station, called Orbital Reef, will need to be able to support human life. AdvertisementThe International Space Station won't be around forever, and NASA is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into its potential replacements. One promising candidate is Orbital Reef — a joint venture between Jeff Bezos's space company Blue Origin and Sierra Space. "Think spacious modules with large windows to view Earth, our blue origin, while experiencing the thrill of weightlessness in complete comfort," Blue Origin states on its website.

Persons: —, Jeff Bezos's, Angela Hart, Chris Hadfield, Matthias Maurer, Blue, Thomas Pesquet, Hart, Artemis, George Scott, NASA's, NASA It's, Biden, there's Organizations: NASA, Service, Origin, NASA's, ISS, Space Station, Space, International, ESA, Artemis, Soyuz, Shepard

☆ Astronomers discover a possible water world in the search for a habitable planet, report says
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-16 | by ( Cameron Manley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

But a Canadian research group said the planet is likely too hot for liquid water. Related storiesA liquid ocean is the preferred premise set out in a paper published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Tea Temim (Princeton University)The James Webb telescope has played a key role in advancing the search for habitable planets beyond Earth. AdvertisementOne key that scientists look for in a potentially habitable planet is the presence of liquid water. Planets in this zone are neither too hot nor too cold to support liquid water.

Persons: NASA's James Webb, —, Nikku, Madhusudhan, Björn Benneke, Temim, James Webb Organizations: Guardian, Service, University of Cambridge, NASA, Astrophysics, Cambridge, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, ESA, CSA, Princeton University Locations: TOI

☆ How NASA and Google Earth are helping save tigers
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Rebecca Cairns | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

That’s why conservationists have teamed up with NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and Google Earth Engine to create a new real-time monitoring system for tiger habitats. “(Tiger landscapes) are also producing clean water and helping sequester carbon,” he says. The original iteration, called the “tiger conservation unit analysis” was produced in the late 1990s, and the second, TCL 2.0, in 2006. A map of the six categories of Tiger Conservation Landscapes on 1 January 2020, from the study published in Frontiers. “I don’t think people were cognizant about the amount of habitat that’s in this restoration landscape category, or about how much habitat is actually available for tigers that’s unoccupied,” he says.

Persons: Eric Sanderson, Sanderson, “, ” Organizations: CNN, NASA, European Space Agency, ESA, Conservation Science, Tiger Conservation, Wildlife Conservation Society Locations: Russian, Sumatra, Java, Bali ., Assam, India, Tiger

☆ The burning acid behind ant stings was spotted around two stars
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have detected commonplace chemical ingredients found in vinegar, ant stings and even margaritas around two young stars, according to NASA. The complex organic molecules they observed using the space observatory’s Mid-Infrared Instrument included acetic acid, a component of vinegar, and ethanol — otherwise known as alcohol. The team also found simple molecules of formic acid, which causes the burning sensation associated with ant stings, as well as sulfur dioxide, methane and formaldehyde. Stars form from swirling clouds of gas and dust, and the leftover material from star formation gives rise to planets. Detecting complex organic molecules in space is helping astronomers to determine the molecules’ origins as well as those of other larger cosmic molecules.

Persons: James Webb, Carl Sagan, “, Webb, detections, ”, Will Rocha, Young, Ewine van Dishoeck, Harold Linnartz, Linnartz, “ Harold, ” van Dishoeck Organizations: CNN —, NASA, ESA, Hustak, Leiden University, Astrophysics, Leiden Laboratory Locations: astrochemistry, Netherlands, ices

☆ NASA may build giant telescopes on the moon in your lifetime. Check out the blueprints.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

One moonshot plan would build a giant radio dish spanning an entire crater on the far side of the moon. An illustration of a conceptual radio telescope within a crater on the moon. Silk argues that lunar telescopes would open the door to a new era of major space discoveries. A satellite trail streaks in front of galaxies in this image from the Hubble Space Telescope. Any radio telescope on the moon's back end would pick up the pure emissions of the universe.

Persons: —, Vladimir Vustyansky, James Webb, Dallan Porter, Roger Angel, Joseph Silk, Jack Burns, Burns, That's, Stefica Nicol, Artemis, Ronald Polidan, FarView, Jack Burns Karan Jani, LILA, Fermilab LILA, Jani, NASA's James Webb, Temim, Webb, Angel, Chris Gunn, Nick Woolf, Angel Roger, Phil, Martin Elvis, Elvis Organizations: Service, NASA, Business, Vanderbilt Lunar Labs, Telescope, University of Arizona, American Astronomical Society, Payload, University of Colorado Boulder, Hubble Space, Hubble, ESA, Radio Telescope, REUTERS, NASA JPL, Caltech, Radio Science Investigations, Houston, Lunar Resources, Resources, Inc, Vanderbilt University, Fermilab, Telescopes, CSA, Princeton University, Engineers, James Webb Space, Industry, AP Locations: New Orleans, Australia

☆ Smell the Music: Inviting a Perfumer Into the Concert Hall
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Joshua Barone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It was time to smell Scriabin’s “Prometheus: The Poem of Fire.”This music, from 1910, has an element of synesthesia in its score, which calls for a color organ — a keyboard instrument that projects lights of a dozen hues — along with a full orchestra, a piano soloist and a choir. But in October at Davies Symphony Hall, the home of the San Francisco Symphony, the piece was being prepared with an additional sense in mind. Onstage, the pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet practiced his solo part in “Prometheus,” which the San Francisco Symphony will perform March 1 through 3, while the conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen listened attentively to the wooden vortexes as they were being tested; the sound they made while emitting smoke, he noticed, was nearly a G.Mathilde Laurent, Cartier’s longtime perfumer, who had designed the scents, double-checked notes on her iPad. For this day’s test, without the orchestra, she wanted to be sure the diffusers were timed to match the music. So they were going to play a recording overhead.

Persons: Jean, Yves Thibaudet, Pekka Salonen, attentively, Mathilde Laurent, Cartier’s, perfumer Organizations: Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco

☆ Astronomers used JWST to finally solve a 37-year mystery over one of the brightest cosmic explosions ever seen in modern history
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Ellyn Lapointe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A neutron star is the collapsed core of a supergiant star that's gone supernova. Pulsar neutron stars, like the one astronomers believe SN 1987A left behind, emit pulses of X-rays. AdvertisementStudying SN 1987A has deepened astronomers' understanding of supernovae and the role they play in our ever-evolving universe. Before JWST, astronomers lacked a telescope powerful enough to observe the compact object that SN 1987A left behind. Advertisement"We interpreted this as being conclusive evidence that the emission lines we were seeing were the result of radiation from the neutron center," Kavanagh said.

Persons: What's, James Webb, David Malin AAT, Patrick Kavanagh, Everest, hadn't, Kavanagh, SN1987A, Chandra, ALMA, JWST, J, Larsson, Claes Fransson, P.J . Kavanagh, " Kavanagh Organizations: Business, Science, Maynooth University, American Association for, Advancement of Science, NASA, Wikimedia, SN, Hubble, ESA, Stockholm University

☆ ERS-2: A European Space Agency satellite will reenter Earth’s atmosphere this week
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A European Space Agency satellite is expected to reenter and largely burn up in Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday morning. The agency’s Space Debris Office, along with an international surveillance network, is monitoring and tracking the Earth-observing ERS-2 satellite, which is predicted to make its reentry at 6:14 a.m. The exact time of the satellite’s reentry remains unclear due to the unpredictability of solar activity, which can change the density of Earth’s atmosphere and how the atmosphere tugs on the satellite. The ERS-2 satellite has an estimated mass of 5,057 pounds (2,294 kilograms) after depleting its fuel, making it similar in size to other space debris that reenters Earth’s atmosphere every week or so, according to the agency. ERS-2’s backstoryThe Earth-observing ERS-2 satellite first launched on April 21, 1995, and it was the most sophisticated satellite of its kind at the time to be developed and launched by Europe.

Persons: Aeolus Organizations: CNN, European Space Agency, ESA, ERS Locations: Europe

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