This story also highlights the loss of historical data as old internet sites close down.
Category: space – Page 13
Two decades of blazar observations, and the mysteries keep piling up
Narrow jets of luminous matter may be emitted toward Earth from the nuclei of active galaxies billions of light-years away. The galaxy then appears as a point source and is called a blazar. A Polish-German team of scientists has, for the first time, analyzed the activity of one such blazar over an extended period and, instead of finding answers, encountered an ever-increasing number of intriguing questions.
Distant, active galaxies that emit jets of matter at small angles toward Earth, known as blazars, present astronomers with numerous observational and interpretative challenges. Their immense distance and specific orientation, combined with the high variability of the emitted radiation—which, moreover, is generated across a very wide energy range—are the main reasons why understanding the phenomena responsible for the properties of blazars is particularly difficult.
Are the current interpretations of the nature of these objects, based on short-term and rather sporadic observations, correct? A group of scientists from the University of Heidelberg and the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFJ PAN) in Krakow set out to answer this question. The research carried out on the Polish side focused on the blazar PKS 2155-304, located one and a half billion light-years away. It is situated in the southern celestial hemisphere, in the background of the constellation Piscis Austrinus. The paper is published in the Journal of High Energy Astrophysics.
Pluto’s Heart Glacier Shows Signs of Liquid Nitrogen
*New Horizons* data reveals evidence of liquid nitrogen recently flowing onto Pluto’s surface. [ https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30869/pluto-s-heart-…nitrogen-2](https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30869/pluto-s-heart-…nitrogen-2)
Is Pluto geologically active enough to have liquid nitrogen on its surface? This is what a recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated the possibility of Pluto’s geologic activity, specifically focusing on liquid nitrogen rising to the surface. This study holds the potential to help scientists better understand the intricate geological processes on Pluto and how they occur so far from the Sun.
For the study, the researchers used a combination of computer models and Earth-based imagery to discuss the potential upward movement of liquid nitrogen within Pluto’s Sputnik Planitia, which is the dwarf planet’s most prominent surface feature. The primary motivation for this study comes from Sputnik Planitia being primarily smooth with boundary lines and various regions of dark and light colors. The researchers note this indicates evidence of ongoing geologic activity, specifically liquid nitrogen cycling from Pluto’s interior to its surface. After careful analysis, specifically noting how similar features identified in Greenland exhibit the same dark and light features, the researchers concluded that liquid nitrogen could be cycling from Pluto’s interior to its surface.
“The surface of Sputnik Planitia is quite young, probably less than one million years based on modeling of the surface overturn, and thus these features that we are looking at must have formed since then,” said Dr. Kelsi Singer, who is a principal scientist at the Southwest Research Institute and a co-author on the study. “Pluto has many unique terrains seen nowhere else in the solar system, and this area of Sputnik Planitia is one of them. Its surface provides a different set of conditions compared to what we are used to on Earth, and exploring that allows us to better understand how materials behave in environments that are difficult to produce on Earth.”
Miniaturized laser technology paves the way for fundamental physics experiments in space
An international team of researchers has succeeded in producing atomic quantum gas mixtures with an unprecedented particle flux. In the journal Nature Communications, the scientists report on experiments conducted with the MAIUS-B apparatus, in which Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) consisting of two different atomic species—rubidium and potassium—were generated and studied under microgravity conditions in the Einstein Elevator at Leibniz University Hannover in Germany.
A key contribution to this achievement came from a technological development at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU): the highly sophisticated and compact optical system used to control the atoms.
Tiny vortices discovered on the sun’s surface
Researchers from the U.S. National Science Foundation National Solar Observatory (NSF NSO), the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, and the High Altitude Observatory (HAO) in the U.S. have made a discovery in solar physics. New images of the sun’s surface taken with the world’s largest solar telescope, the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, built and operated by the NSO in Hawaii, along with sophisticated computer simulations, reveal tiny plasma vortices that had never before been visible.
“To detect the vortices, we needed to resolve structures on the solar surface about 20 kilometers (12 miles) in size. That is at the limit of what even the world’s largest solar telescope and state-of-the-art simulations can achieve,” said MPS scientist and co-author of the new publication Michiel van Noort, who, among other things, contributed to the observations and conducted the data reduction and image restoration. The researchers used a broadband imaging camera provided by MPS.
The vortices occur at the edges of so-called granules, which densely cover the sun’s visible surface. They measure between 500 and 2,000 kilometers (310 to 1,240 miles) in diameter. Taken together, they form the sun’s granulation: a pattern reminiscent of bubbles in a boiling liquid.
Neuraspace raises $18 million to expand sovereign space awareness
TAMPA, Fla. — Neuraspace, the Portuguese space traffic management startup, announced 15.6 million euros ($18 million) in fresh funding Aug. 5 to expand European space domain awareness (SDA) and defense capabilities.
The financing comprises a six million euro Series B round from venture capitalists and 9.6 million euros from Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, an EU-backed national program created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Neuraspace spokesperson said the public funding will directly support NeuraspaceDEF, an AI-powered, SDA platform for civil and defense users.
Voyager seeks relaxed requirements in NASA commercial space station RFP
WASHINGTON — Voyager Technologies remains upbeat about the prospects for its Starlab commercial space station but is hoping for some tweaks to NASA’s plans to support the station’s development.
During an Aug. 4 earnings call about the company’s second-quarter financial results, Voyager executives emphasized the strong commercial demand for Starlab, with more than $500 million in agreements in place to use the station.
“This demonstrates that Starlab has progressed well beyond a development concept and is already attracting meaningful government and commercial commitment,” said Phil de Sousa, Voyager’s chief financial officer.
Giant Plasma Waves May Be Stripping Away Mars’ Atmosphere
Kelvin–Helmholtz waves may help the solar wind strip atmospheric particles from Mars.
Mars is continually exposed to a stream of charged particles racing outward from the Sun. Earth’s global magnetic field deflects much of this solar wind, but Mars lacks a comparable shield. The flow can therefore strike the planet’s upper atmosphere directly and gradually carry some of its particles into space.
Researchers led by Boston University have identified one way this atmospheric loss may occur. Their study, published in Science Advances, found that the solar wind can disturb the outer edge of the Martian atmosphere much as wind agitates the surface of water. The interaction produces large rolling structures called Kelvin–Helmholtz waves, which can help pull atmospheric material away from the planet.
Lunar Ice Found Using Seismic Waves from Moonquakes
By simulating how moonquake vibrations travel faster through frozen soil, scientists developed a method using seismic waves to locate and measure buried water ice for future lunar missions. [ https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30859/lunar-ice-foun…onquakes-2](https://www.labroots.com/trending/space/30859/lunar-ice-foun…onquakes-2)
What new methods can be developed to identify locations of water ice on the Moon? This is what a recent study published in Science Advances hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated a novel method for identifying water ice deposits on the Moon. This study has the potential to help scientists, engineers, mission planners, and future astronauts use new strategies for finding lunar water ice, which could substantially reduce the financial and logistical costs of sending it from Earth.
For the study, the researchers used seismic waves produced by moonquakes to ascertain if these could be used to identify lunar water ice deposits. The primary motivation behind the study was to improve methods for identifying lunar water ice deposits, which comes as NASA is planning on returning humans to the Moon in 2028, along with ambitious plans to build a Moon base near the south pole.
To accomplish this study, the researchers used a combination of X-ray analysis of frozen volcanic rocks, computer simulations, and map analysis of the lunar south pole craters. In the end, the researchers found that lunar water ice stood out among lunar seismic waves, indicating this method could prove beneficial for future missions. The primary reason is the researchers found that lunar seismic waves move through water ice differently than dry regolith (aka Moon dust).