The "Science and Space" Thread #2

[ekim68]

China successfully lands spacecraft on moon to retrieve lunar rocks

BEIJING (Reuters) - China successfully landed a spacecraft on the moon’s surface on Tuesday in a historic mission to retrieve lunar surface samples, Chinese state media reported.

China launched its Chang’e-5 probe on Nov. 24. The uncrewed mission, named after the mythical Chinese goddess of the moon, aims to collect lunar material to help scientists learn more about the moon’s origins.

 

[ekim68]

Astronauts Harvest First Radish Crop on International Space Station

On Nov. 30, 2020, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins harvested radish plants growing in the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) aboard the International Space Station. She meticulously collected and wrapped in foil each of the 20 radish plants, placing them in cold storage for the return trip to Earth in 2021 on SpaceX’s 22nd Commercial Resupply Services mission

The plant experiment, called Plant Habitat-02 (PH-02), is the first time NASA has grown radishes on the orbiting laboratory. NASA selected radishes because they are well understood by scientists and reach maturity in just 27 days.

 

[ekim68]

China's Chang'e 5 probe lifts off from moon carrying lunar samples

The small probe, which sat on top of the Chang'e 5 lander, lifted off from Oceanus Procellarum at 10:10 EST Thursday (15:10 GMT/23:10 Beijing time) carrying with it the first fresh lunar samples since 1976.

Six minutes later, the ascent spacecraft achieved lunar orbit, marking a huge milestone in the Chang'e 5 mission to return lunar samples to Earth. The ascent vehicle's job now is to meet up with the Chang'e 5 orbiter while still circling the moon, and then transfer its precious cargo to a return capsule for the journey home.

 

[ekim68]

Japan is bringing pieces of an asteroid to Earth this weekend. Here's how to watch online.

Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft is about to deliver a precious sample of asteroid dust to Earth this weekend and you can watch the event live.

The mission will swing by our planet to drop off a capsule full of regolith from asteroid Ryugu, before departing to visit another asteroid in 2031 on its newly extended mission.

 

[ekim68]

Jupiter and Saturn Head for Closest Visible Alignment in 800 Years

On Dec. 21, Jupiter and Saturn will appear to be no more than a dime’s width apart in the night sky. The last time that could be seen was in 1226.

 

[ekim68]

World's largest solar telescope captures its first dramatic sunspot image

Astronomers have released a stunningly detailed image revealing the structure of a massive sunspot as it temporarily darkened the Sun’s surface on January 28, 2020. The new image was taken during the final commissioning phase of the upcoming Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, which will be capable of revealing structures on our parent star as small as 20 km (12.4 miles) across.

 

[ekim68]

NASA to Provide Spanish-Language Coverage, Livestream of Solar Eclipse

NASA will provide live coverage Monday, Dec. 14, of a solar eclipse that will pass over South America, treating parts of Chile and Argentina to views of a total eclipse of the Sun. A Spanish-language program will air on NASA Television and the public channel on the agency’s website. A separate livestream of the eclipse without narration will air on the media channel.

 

[ekim68]

Fragments of energy – not waves or particles – may be the fundamental building blocks of the universe

Matter is what makes up the universe, but what makes up matter? This question has long been tricky for those who think about it – especially for the physicists. Reflecting recent trends in physics, my colleague Jeffrey Eischen and I have described an updated way to think about matter. We propose that matter is not made of particles or waves, as was long thought, but – more fundamentally – that matter is made of fragments of energy.

 

[ekim68]

Mission to "ambush" pristine comet enters new study phase

The European Space Agency has selected Thales Alenia Space in the UK to lead a study for the planned mission to "ambush" a passing comet. Called Comet Interceptor, this cosmic brigand represents a new strategy for exploring comets fresh from the Oort cloud by lying in wait, perhaps for years, before embarking on a rendezvous mission.

 

[ekim68]

Epic time-lapse shows what the Milky Way will look like 400,000 years from now

Have you ever seen 40,000 shooting stars blaze across the sky at the same time?

If you'd like to, the European Space Agency (ESA) is offering you two options: Either stare at the night sky for about half a million years as our solar system drifts steadily through the Milky Way (some patience required) — or, watch a new 60-second time-lapse simulation of the same thing, courtesy of the ESA's Gaia space observatory.

 

[ekim68]

China to open giant telescope to international scientists

Nestled among the mountains in southwest China, the world's largest radio telescope signals Beijing's ambitions as a global centre for scientific research.
The Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST)—the only significant instrument of its kind after the collapse of another telescope in Puerto Rico this month—is about to open its doors for foreign astronomers to use, hoping to attract the world's top scientific talent.

 

[ekim68]

Astronomers precisely trace distance to oldest and farthest known galaxy

Astronomers have more accurately measured the distance to the oldest and farthest galaxy ever detected. The light they’re seeing left the galaxy, known as GN-z11, around 13.4 billion years ago, when the universe was a cosmic toddler, and this galaxy marks the very edge of the observable universe.

To look into the cosmos is to look back in time. The speed of light is a constant, meaning when we look at an object 100 light-years away, for instance, we’re seeing it as it was 100 years ago. So by extension, if we study objects billions of light-years away, we can get a glimpse into how the universe looked in the early years of its existence.

 

[valis]

China to open giant telescope to international scientists



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with Arcibo decommed, this is a good thing.

 

[ekim68]

Capella Space's new satellite is eerily observant

A new satellite from Capella Space sounds... pretty creepy. Like other hunks of metal currently orbiting Earth, The Capella-2 satellite's onboard radar system makes it capable of producing ludicrously high-resolution visuals from its data. More unconventional is the service Capella has launched to match: the government or private customers can, at any time, request a view of anything on the planet that's visible from the sky.

 

[ekim68]

The 10 most bizarre space discoveries of 2020

It’s no secret that space is incredibly weird, but every year astronomers seem to outdo themselves in discovering bizarre new objects and events. From extreme exoplanets to stars with strange fates, clues to an old mystery and the beginnings of a brand new one, here are 10 of the weirdest astronomical discoveries that blew our minds (and those of scientists) this year.