Space – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Jun 16
2023

Astronomers observe white dwarf star transforming into massive celestial diamond

They believe the process could take roughly a quadrillion years.

A team of astronomers discovered a star that is gradually crystallizing into an enormous diamond. Scientists believe it is at the beginning of a process that takes roughly a quadrillion years, a report from Space.com reveals. As the universe is 13.6 billion years old, no star has ever fully crystallized.

The discovery sheds new light on the evolution of stars as they gradually transform over time.

MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty.

Scientists believe it is at the beginning of a process that takes roughly a quadrillion years, a report from Space.com reveals. As the universe is 13.6 billion years old, no star has ever fully crystallized.

Jun 15
2023

NASA’s Curiosity rover sends “postcard” showing Mars during different times of the day

Once in the hands of NASA scientists, the photos were turned into panoramic images. Color was also added to the photos, creating what NASA referred to as a “postcard,” and further emphasizing the difference between the two times the photos were taken.

The panoramic postcard shows a number of Mars landmarks, including “Marker Band Valley,” where Curiosity once found evidence that there may have been a lake on the site, and two hills named “Bolivar” and “Deepdale.” At the edge of the photo is the rim of the Gale Crater, which Curiosity is currently exploring. Because the photograph was taken on a clear day, Curiosity’s image even shows a mountain that is 54 miles from the edge of the crater.

Jun 15
2023

The subsurface ocean of Saturn’s moon- Enceladus, contains a key building block for life

Key building block for life found at Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

Jun 15
2023

New Webb Image Reveals 45,000 Sparkling Galaxies in Ancient Star Formation

Galaxies dating back to the Epoch of Reionization show abundant signs of young stars.

Jun 14
2023

Math You Can Wear: Fibonacci Spiral LED Badge

Fibonacci numbers are seen in the natural structures of various plants, such as the florets in sunflower heads, areoles on cacti stems, and scales in pine cones. [HackerBox] has developed a Fibonacci Spiral LED Badge to bring this natural phenomenon to your electronics.

To position each of the 64 addressable LEDs within the PCB layout, [HackerBox] computed the polar (r,θ) coordinates in a spreadsheet according to the Vogel model and then converted them to rectangular (x, y) coordinates. A little more math translates the points “off origin” into the center of the PCB space and scale them out to keep the first two 5 mm LEDs from overlapping. Finally, the LED coordinates were pasted into the KiCad PCB design file.

An RP2040 microcontroller controls the show, and a switch on the badge selects power between USB and three AA batteries and a DC/DC boost converter. The PCB also features two capacitive touch pads. [HackerBox] has published the KiCad files for the badge, and the CircuitPython firmware is shared with the project. If C/C++ is more your preference, the RP2040 MCU can also be programmed using the Arduino IDE.

Jun 14
2023

Astronomers discover 2nd-ever ‘Tatooine’ star system with multiple planets orbiting multiple suns

For only the second time, astronomers have discovered multiple “Tatooine worlds,” or circumbinary planets, in the same star system.

Jun 13
2023

The ‘world’s first space factory’ has successfully been deployed

Varda Space Industries aims to kickstart a new era of mass production of pharmaceuticals and other materials from Earth’s orbit.

A California-based startup co-founded by a SpaceX veteran, Varda Space Industries, announced it has successfully deployed its first satellite, W-Series 1, in orbit.

The company aims to kickstart the mass production of materials in space that either can’t be produced on Earth or are developed faster and with higher quality in microgravity conditions.

Jun 13
2023

Scientists accidentally discover a Tatooine-like exoplanet that orbits two stars

BEBOP-1c is the newly discovered planet, while the first one in this system is TOI-1338b.

The term ‘Tatooine’ is pretty popular in science fiction series such as Star Wars.

Now, in a huge breakthrough, scientists have discovered a new exoplanet in an already known Tatooine system or circumbinary system.

Jun 13
2023

Solar storm ALERT! CME to hit Earth today, says NOAA; NASA sees more trouble ahead

NOAA forecasters have shown that a coronal mass ejection (CME) cloud will hit the Earth in the late hours of today, June 13. This can spark a dangerous solar storm. Know the details.

Jun 13
2023

Unveiling Quantum Gravity: New Results From IceCube Neutrino Observatory and Fermi Space Telescope

Researchers have reached a significant milestone in the field of quantum gravity research, finding preliminary statistical support for quantum gravity.

In a study published in Nature Astronomy on June 12, a team of researchers from the University of Naples “Federico II,” the University of Wroclaw, and the University of Bergen examined a quantum-gravity model of particle propagation in which the speed of ultrarelativistic particles decreases with rising energy. This effect is expected to be extremely small, proportional to the ratio between particle energy and the Planck scale, but when observing very distant astrophysical sources, it can accumulate to observable levels. The investigation used gamma-ray bursts observed by the Fermi telescope and ultra-high-energy neutrinos detected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, testing the hypothesis that some neutrinos and some gamma-ray bursts might have a common origin but are observed at different times as a result of the energy-dependent reduction in speed.