As five new ESA astronaut candidates started their basic training at the European Astronaut Centre in the beginning of April, there is a new patch to represent their transforming journey from Earth to space explorers.
Category: space – Page 295
Scientists have analyzed the brightest gamma-ray burst (GRB) ever detected, named the BOAT (Brightest Of All Time) and GRB 221009A, which was observed by NASA
Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. Its vision is “To discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity.” Its core values are “safety, integrity, teamwork, excellence, and inclusion.” NASA conducts research, develops technology and launches missions to explore and study Earth, the solar system, and the universe beyond. It also works to advance the state of knowledge in a wide range of scientific fields, including Earth and space science, planetary science, astrophysics, and heliophysics, and it collaborates with private companies and international partners to achieve its goals.
NASA has issued a warning regarding a satellite expected to deorbit on April 19, posing a potential risk of harm on Earth. Here’s what we know.
Update: NASA’s retired RHESSI re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at 8:21 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 19. The large flash seen over Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 19 was not the deorbiting satellite.
A study using data from telescopes on Earth and in the sky resolves a problem plaguing astronomers working in the infrared, and could help make better observations of the composition of the universe with the James Webb Space Telescope and other instruments. The work is published April 20 in Nature Astronomy.
“We’re trying to measure the composition of gases inside galaxies,” said Yuguang Chen, a postdoctoral researcher working with Professor Tucker Jones in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Davis.
Most elements other than hydrogen, helium and lithium are produced inside stars, so the composition and distribution of heavier elements—especially the ratio of oxygen to hydrogen—can help astronomers understand how many and what kinds of stars are being formed in a distant object.
Earth’s magnetic field protects life on our blue planet — and astronomers just found evidence of a magnetic field on a rocky exoplanet 12 light-years away.
Behold a stellar nursery, where starlight scatters through interstellar dust — and sometimes can’t pierce the space soot.
This gorgeous Hubble image is a celebration of the telescope’s 33rd space birthday.
Humans rapidly extract diverse and complex information from ongoing social interactions, but the perceptual and neural organization of the different aspects of social perception remains unresolved. We showed short movie clips with rich social content to 97 healthy participants while their haemodynamic brain activity was measured with fMRI. The clips were annotated moment-to-moment for a large set of social features and 45 of the features were evaluated reliably between annotators. Cluster analysis of the social features revealed that 13 dimensions were sufficient for describing the social perceptual space. Three different analysis methods were used to map the social perceptual processes in the human brain. Regression analysis mapped regional neural response profiles for different social dimensions. Multivariate pattern analysis then established the spatial specificity of the responses and intersubject correlation analysis connected social perceptual processing with neural synchronization. The results revealed a gradient in the processing of social information in the brain. Posterior temporal and occipital regions were broadly tuned to most social dimensions and the classifier revealed that these responses showed spatial specificity for social dimensions; in contrast Heschl gyri and parietal areas were also broadly associated with different social signals, yet the spatial patterns of responses did not differentiate social dimensions. Frontal and subcortical regions responded only to a limited number of social dimensions and the spatial response patterns did not differentiate social dimension. Altogether these results highlight the distributed nature of social processing in the brain.
Aerospace giant Lockheed Martin has launched a new subsidiary called Crescent Space Services to provide a commercial lunar communications network.
Physicists have recreated the double-slit experiment in time rather than space, using materials that change their optical properties in femtoseconds. This research could lead to ultrafast optical switches and advancements in time crystals and metamaterials.
Metamaterials are engineered materials that have properties not usually found in nature.
New exoplanet seen via direct imaging
Posted in space
The discovery of HIP 99,770 b, a new exoplanet located 133 light years away, is reported in the journal Science. A team of astronomers used a new detection method that combines direct imaging with astrometry.
As of today, there are 5,363 confirmed exoplanets in 3,960 planetary systems. However, only a handful have been seen via direct imaging. Exoplanets are extremely faint compared with their parent stars, making it difficult to spot them in visible light.