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Astronomy (General/Chat)

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  • NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Just Got a Big Brain Upgrade

    08/13/2025 6:24:09 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 17 replies
    Scitech Daily ^ | August 12, 2025 | NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
    This view of tracks trailing NASA’s Curiosity was captured July 26, 2025, as the rover simultaneously relayed data to a Mars orbiter. Combining tasks like this more efficiently uses energy generated by Curiosity’s nuclear power source, seen here lined with rows of white fins at the back of the rover. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Thirteen years into its mission, Curiosity is smarter and more efficient than ever. New multitasking abilities, self-managed naps, and clever engineering fixes are keeping it powered and mobile as it investigates ancient Martian landscapes for signs of past habitability. Thirteen years after touching down on the Martian surface,...
  • The six-word plea scientists aim to send before mysterious interstellar object reaches Earth

    08/12/2025 3:12:31 PM PDT · by fruser1 · 115 replies
    UK Daily Mail ^ | 8/12/2025 | Stacy Liberatore
    Scientists are urging NASA to send a message to a mysterious interstellar object before it is too late. The object, known as 3I/ATLAS, is traveling on a rare retrograde path and will reach its closest point to the sun on October 29, 2025, which Harvard physicist Avi Loeb suggested could be an ideal window for a covert approach on Earth. While Loeb is not 100 percent sure 3I/ATLAS is of alien origin, he proposed communicating with it as a precaution and crafted a six-word message for the occasion. The physicist told the Daily Mail that he wants to beam, 'Hello,...
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Perseids from Perseus

    08/12/2025 11:17:08 AM PDT · by MtnClimber · 11 replies
    NASA ^ | 12 Aug, 2025 | Image Credit & Copyright: Marcin Rosadziński
    Explanation: Where are all of these meteors coming from? In terms of direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the constellation of Perseus. That is why the meteor shower that peaks tonight is known as the Perseids -- the meteors all appear to come from a radiant toward Perseus. In terms of parent body, though, the sand-sized debris that makes up the Perseids meteors come from Comet Swift-Tuttle. The comet follows a well-defined orbit around our Sun, and the part of the orbit that approaches Earth is superposed in front of Perseus. Therefore, when Earth crosses this orbit, the...
  • Apollo 13 Crew - Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert | Carson Tonight Show [24:22]

    08/11/2025 2:52:05 PM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 14 replies
    YouTube ^ | February 3, 2023 | Johnny Carson
    Original Airdate: 06/03/1970 Apollo 13 Crew - Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert | Carson Tonight Show | 24:22 Johnny Carson | 1.15M subscribers | 430,658 views | February 3, 2023
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Closest Ever Images Near the Sun

    08/11/2025 1:01:02 PM PDT · by MtnClimber · 16 replies
    NASA ^ | 11 Aug, 2025 | Video Credit: NASA, JHUAPL, Naval Research Lab, Parker Solar Probe
    Explanation: Everybody sees the Sun. Nobody's been there. Starting in 2018, though, NASA launched the robotic Parker Solar Probe (PSP) to investigate regions near to the Sun for the first time. The featured time-lapse video shows the view looking sideways from behind PSP's Sun shield in December during the closest approach of any human-made spacecraft to the Sun, looping down to only about five solar diameters above the Sun's hot surface. The PSP's Wide Field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) cameras took these images over seven hours, but they are digitally compressed here into about 5 seconds. The solar corona,...
  • Harvard physicist says massive interstellar object could be alien probe on 'reconnaissance mission' (Avi Loeb - Speculation on thin evidence: trajectory + odd glow)

    08/11/2025 2:42:20 AM PDT · by RoosterRedux · 77 replies
    Fox News ^ | Sophia Compton
    Astronomers recently discovered a rare interstellar object passing through our solar system, and a Harvard physicist is sounding the alarm that its strange characteristics might indicate it’s more than just a typical comet. "Maybe the trajectory was designed," Dr. Avi Loeb, science professor at Harvard University, told Fox News Digital. "If it had an objective to sort of to be on a reconnaissance mission, to either send mini probes to those planets or monitor them… It seems quite anomalous." The object — dubbed 3I/ATLAS — was first detected in early July by an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS,...
  • Meteorite That Crashed Into Georgia Home Is Older Than Earth, Scientists Reveal

    08/11/2025 6:18:10 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 37 replies
    Gateway Pundit ^ | August 10, 2025 | Ben Kew
    A meteorite that recently crashed through the roof of a U.S. home has been found to be older than Earth itself, according to scientists. NASA confirmed the object blazed across the Georgia sky in broad daylight on June 26 before exploding. A fragment from the meteorite struck a house in McDonough, where researchers from the University of Georgia later conducted an analysis. According to CBS, their examination revealed the meteorite likely formed around 4.56 billion years ago — approximately 20 million years before Earth came into existence. The dramatic event was witnessed by hundreds across Georgia and neighboring states, many...
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Zodiacal Road

    08/10/2025 12:30:12 PM PDT · by MtnClimber · 7 replies
    NASA ^ | 10 Aug, 2025 | Image Credit & Copyright: Ruslan Merzlyakov (astrorms)
    Explanation: What's that strange light down the road? Dust orbiting the Sun. At certain times of the year, a band of sun-reflecting dust from the inner Solar System appears prominently just after sunset -- or just before sunrise -- and is called zodiacal light. Although the origin of this dust is still being researched, a leading hypothesis holds that zodiacal dust originates mostly from faint Jupiter-family comets and slowly spirals into the Sun. Recent analysis of dust emitted by Comet 67P, visited by ESA's robotic Rosetta spacecraft, bolsters this hypothesis. Pictured when climbing a road up to Teide National Park...
  • Splashdown! SpaceX Crew-10 astronauts and cosmonaut back on Earth [12:06]

    08/10/2025 7:49:52 AM PDT · by SunkenCiv · 12 replies
    YouTube ^ | August 9, 2025 | VideoFromSpace
    A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers along with mission specialists JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Aug. 9, 2025. Credit: SpaceX Splashdown! SpaceX Crew-10 astronauts and cosmonaut back on Earth | 12:06 VideoFromSpace | 2.02M subscribers | 47,832 views | August 9, 2025
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Interstellar Interloper 3I/ATLAS from Hubble

    08/09/2025 2:24:18 PM PDT · by MtnClimber · 13 replies
    NASA ^ | 9 Aug, 2025 | Image Credit: NASA, ESA, David Jewitt (UCLA) et al. - Processing; Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
    Explanation: Discovered on July 1 with the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, 3I/ATLAS is so designated as the third known interstellar object to pass through our Solar System. It follows 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017 and the comet 2I/Borisov in 2019. Also known as C/2025 N1, 3I/ATLAS is a comet. A teardrop-shaped cloud of dust, ejected from its icy nucleus warmed by increasing sunlight, is seen in this sharp image from the Hubble Space Telescope captured on July 21. Background stars are streaked in the exposure as Hubble tracked the fastest comet ever recorded...
  • An Astrophysicist Wants To Send A Probe Straight Into A Black Hole

    08/08/2025 1:06:40 PM PDT · by Red Badger · 80 replies
    Daily Galaxy ^ | August 08, 2025 | Ashley Morgan
    What if we sent a probe to explore a black hole? One astrophysicist believes it. Black holes are among the most enigmatic and mysterious objects in the Universe, and our understanding of them is still limited by the extreme challenges of studying them. However, a new proposal, published in iScience, from astrophysicist Cosimo Bambi of Fudan University in China might open an unprecedented path to exploring these mysterious phenomena. Black Holes as Cosmic Laboratories The black hole’s gravitational field is the most intense in the universe, so much so that not even light can escape its grip. While scientists have...
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Dawn of the Crab

    08/08/2025 1:05:19 PM PDT · by MtnClimber · 6 replies
    NASA ^ | 8 Aug, 2025 | Image and Text Credit: Bradley E. Schaefer
    Explanation: One of the all-time historic skyscapes occured in July 1054, when the Crab Supernova blazed into the dawn sky. Chinese court astrologers first saw the Guest Star on the morning of 4 July 1054 next to the star Tianguan (now cataloged as Zeta Tauri). The supernova peaked in late July 1054 a bit brighter than Venus, and was visible in the daytime for 23 days. The Guest Star was so bright that every culture around the world inevitably discovered the supernova independently, although only nine reports survive, including those from China, Japan, and Constantinople. This iPhone picture is from...
  • New Monster Black Hole 36.3 Billion Times Our Sun May Be “Most Massive” Ever Found...It sits at the center of one of the most massive galaxies ever observed.

    08/07/2025 12:46:49 PM PDT · by Red Badger · 23 replies
    IFL Science ^ | August 07, 2025 | Dr. Alfredo Carpineti
    The Cosmic Horseshoe is a monster within a monster. Image Credit: NASA/ESA/STScI If size doesn’t matter, then explain this: The Cosmic Horseshoe is a gravitationally lensed system with the foreground galaxy being one of the heaviest in the known universe, hundreds of times our own galaxy. It is so heavy that it warps space-time to such a degree that the light of a background galaxy is distorted into a horseshoe. Inside that galaxy sits an equally impressive supermassive black hole. According to the latest study, this could be the biggest ever found. There have been several claims in the last...
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - The Double Cluster in Perseus

    08/07/2025 12:17:04 PM PDT · by MtnClimber · 7 replies
    NASA ^ | 7 Aug, 2025 | Image Credit & Copyright: Ron Brecher
    Explanation: This stunning starfield spans about three full moons (1.5 degrees) across the heroic northern constellation of Perseus. It holds the famous pair of open star clusters, h and Chi Persei. Also cataloged as NGC 869 (right) and NGC 884, both clusters are about 7,000 light-years away and contain stars much younger and hotter than the Sun. Separated by only a few hundred light-years, the clusters are both 13 million years young based on the ages of their individual stars, evidence that both clusters were likely a product of the same star-forming region. Always a rewarding sight in binoculars or...
  • Russia Just Built a Plasma Engine That Could Reach Mars in 30 Days—SpaceX’s Biggest Problem Yet?

    08/07/2025 11:00:04 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 108 replies
    Daily Galaxy ^ | August 07, 2025 | Arezki Amiri
    Russian scientists say they’ve built a new kind of engine that could cut the trip to Mars down to just one month. A working prototype already exists, and it’s unlike anything currently used in space. ============================================================= Russia’s New Plasma Engine. Credit: IZVESTIA/Sergey Lantyukhov | The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel ============================================================= A new propulsion system developed by Russian scientists is generating buzz in the spaceflight community. According to researchers from Rosatom’s Troitsk Institute, a laboratory-tested magnetoplasma engine could make it possible to travel from Earth to Mars in as little as one to two months—a significant leap from today’s six-...
  • 12,800-Year-Old Comet Explosion Discovered in Ocean Sediment, Rewriting Climate History

    08/07/2025 9:59:18 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 27 replies
    Daily Galaxy ^ | August 07, 2025 | Lydia Amazouz
    New research reveals compelling evidence of a comet explosion 12,800 years ago, found in ocean sediment cores, supporting the theory of a global climate shift during the Younger Dryas period. ================================================================== In a groundbreaking study, researchers have uncovered compelling evidence of a comet that exploded in Earth’s atmosphere 12,800 years ago. The discovery, detailed in the journal PLOS One, stems from an in-depth analysis of oceanic sediment cores extracted from Baffin Bay, located near Greenland. These cores, containing ancient sedimentary layers, revealed the presence of unique microscopic particles that could only have originated from a comet or meteor. The study,...
  • This CBS host's objection to "colonizing" the moon was so dumb that even Neil DeGrasse Tyson was flabbergasted

    08/07/2025 8:05:21 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 108 replies
    Not The Bee ^ | August 07, 2025 | Harris Rigby
    If the average person is just as stupid as Vladimir Duthiers, I'm beginning to understand why they think Neil DeGrasse Tyson is a genius. CBS host questions if it is a good idea to colonize the moon because “we know how the Age of Colonialism worked on this planet." pic.twitter.com/bof7kap98O— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) August 6, 2025Vladimir: Will [the moon] A., serve as a functional life source eventually for human beings? And B., we know how the age of colonialism worked on this planet. Should we be trying to colonize and saying there's a keep-out zone that no other countries can...
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - Meteor before Galaxy

    08/06/2025 12:46:15 PM PDT · by MtnClimber · 12 replies
    NASA ^ | 6 Aug, 2025 | Image Credit & Copyright: Fritz Helmut Hemmerich
    Explanation: What's that green streak in front of the Andromeda galaxy? A meteor. While photographing the Andromeda galaxy in 2016, near the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower, a small pebble from deep space crossed right in front of our Milky Way Galaxy's far-distant companion. The small meteor took only a fraction of a second to pass through this 10-degree field. The meteor flared several times while braking violently upon entering Earth's atmosphere. The green color was created, at least in part, by the meteor's gas glowing as it vaporized. Although the exposure was timed to catch a Perseid meteor,...
  • Astronomy Picture of the Day - NGC 6072: A Complex Planetary Nebula from Webb

    08/05/2025 12:15:19 PM PDT · by MtnClimber · 9 replies
    NASA ^ | 5 Aug, 2025 | Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, JWST
    Explanation: Why is this nebula so complex? The Webb Space Telescope has imaged a nebula in great detail that is thought to have emerged from a Sun-like star. NGC 6072 has been resolved into one of the more unusual and complex examples of planetary nebula. The featured image is in infrared light with the red color highlighting cool hydrogen gas. Study of previous images of NGC 6072 indicated several likely outflows and two disks inside the jumbled gas, while the new Webb image resolves new features likely including one disk's edge protruding on the central left. A leading origin hypothesis...
  • Harvard Scientist Says Interstellar Comet May Be Alien Spacecraft

    08/04/2025 2:34:18 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 93 replies
    Greek Reporter ^ | August 4, 2025 | Abdul Moeed
    A mysterious object moving through the solar system has caught the attention of Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, who believes it could be more than just a comet—and possibly an alien spacecraft. The interstellar body, designated 3I/ATLAS, was first spotted on July 1 and is now under close observation due to its unusual characteristics. Loeb, known for his provocative theories on extraterrestrial life, says the object’s path raises serious questions. It travels on a rare retrograde orbit, meaning it moves against the solar system’s flow, and aligns closely with the orbital plane of Earth and other inner planets. He estimates the...