Scientists at the University of Hawaii’s Mānoa Institute for Astronomy (IfA) have used AI to produce the world’s largest 3D catalog of stars, galaxies, and quasars.
The team developed the map using an optical survey of three-quarters of the sky produced by the Pan-STARRS observatory on Haleakalā, Maui.
They trained an algorithm to identify celestial objects in the survey by feeding it spectroscopic measurements that provide definitive object classifications and distances.
At around 60 million light-years from Earth, the Great Barred Spiral Galaxy, NGC 1365, is captured beautifully in this image by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Located in the constellation of Fornax (the Furnace), the blue and fiery orange swirls show us where stars have just formed and the dusty sites of future stellar nurseries.
At the outer edges of the image, enormous star-forming regions within NGC 1365 can be seen. The bright, light-blue regions indicate the presence of hundreds of baby stars that formed from coalescing gas and dust within the galaxy’s outer arms.
This Hubble image was captured as part of a joint survey with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile. The survey will help scientists understand how the diversity of galaxy environments observed in the nearby universe, including NGC 1365 and other galaxies such as NGC 2835 and NGC 2775, influence the formation of stars and star clusters. Expected to image over 100,000 gas clouds and star-forming regions beyond our Milky Way, the PHANGS survey is expected to uncover and clarify many of the links between cold gas clouds, star formation, and the overall shape and morphology of galaxies.
As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch. Global and Joint Air Power Competence Centre, we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. We are pleased to present “Space Situational Awareness Together We Stand, Divided We Fall”, originally published in the Joint Air Power Competence Centre Journal 30.
by Major General Juan P. Sánchez de Lara, SP AF, Commander in Chief Canary Islands Air Command
Space as an Operational Domain.
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Communications in space demand the most sensitive receivers possible for maximum reach, while also requiring high bit-rate operations. A novel concept for laser-beam based communications, using an almost noiseless optical preamplifier in the receiver, was recently demonstrated by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
In a new paper published in the scientific journal Nature: Light Science & Applications, a team of researchers describes a free-space optical transmission system relying on an optical amplifier that, in principle, does not add any excess noise — in contrast to all other preexisting optical amplifiers, referred to as phase-sensitive amplifiers (PSAs).
The researchers’ new concept demonstrates an unprecedented receiver sensitivity of just one photon-per-information bit at a data rate of 10 gigabits per second.
Did you know Perseverance has a twin on Earth, OPTIMISM, that helps engineers test hardware and software before commands get sent to the rover?
Join NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for an Instagram live on Oct. 7 in the 9am PT hour (~noon ET, ~1600 UTC): http://instagram.com/nasajpl
Learn more about OPTIMISM: mars.nasa.gov/news/8749/nasa-readies-perseverance-mars-rovers-earthly-twin/
#CountdownToMars
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission now knows much more about the material it will be collecting in just a few weeks.
Goddard’s Amy Simon found that carbon-bearing, organic material is widespread on the asteroid’s surface, including at the mission’s primary sample site, Nightingale, where OSIRIS-REx will make its first sample collection attempt on Oct.20.
These and other findings indicate that hydrated minerals and organic material will likely be present in the collected sample.
Photographer Steve Rice had fantasized about taking such pictures for years before a Cygnus cargo resupply mission created the perfect opportunity.
NASA will broadcast key events, including an Artemis program update, of the 71st International Astronautical Congress (IAC), which takes place virtually Monday, Oct. 12, through Wednesday, Oct. 14. Coverage will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
During the conference, NASA will discuss international cooperation for the agency’s lunar exploration plans throughout the Artemis program, which includes sending American astronauts to the surface of the Moon in 2024 and establishing a sustainable lunar presence by the end of the decade.
In addition to participation in events outlined below, NASA will have a virtual exhibit featuring information on Artemis, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and the International Space Station. Visitors also will have an opportunity to contribute to a digital mosaic of the space station on social media using #NASAVirtualExhibit.
I’m excited to welcome Catherine Johnson, a planetary geophysicist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona and an expert on the planet Mercury; the innermost planet in our solar system. Spacecraft have only visited Mercury twice, via flyby and orbit. But in 2025, a European mission is scheduled to orbit this puzzling planet with two separate spacecraft and should help further lift the scientific veil on this tiny world. Catherine and I will be talking all things Mercury! Stay tuned.
