TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
Feb 11, 2024
Rocket Plume Shadow Points to the Moon
Why would the shadow of a rocket's launch plume point toward the Moon? In early 2001 during a launch of the space shuttle Atlantis, the Sun, Earth, Moon, and rocket were all properly aligned for this photogenic coincidence. First, for the space shuttle's plume to cast a long shadow, the time of day must be either near sunrise or sunset. Only then will the shadow be its longest and extend all the way to the horizon. Finally, during a Full Moon, the Sun and Moon are on opposite sides of the sky. Just after sunset, for example, the Sun is slightly below the horizon, and, in the other direction, the Moon is slightly above the horizon. Therefore, as Atlantis blasted off, just after sunset, its shadow projected away from the Sun toward the opposite horizon, where the Full Moon happened to be.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?
NASA’s DC-8 lab sighted over QC
February 11, 2024 01:10 AM
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) DC-8 airborne science laboratory is seen flying over Quezon City on February 11, 2024. The NASA lab planes began their low-pass flights over cities to measure and forecast air pollution in several heavily populated metropolises in the country from February 11 to February 15.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/2/11/nasa-s-dc-8-lab-sighted-over-qc-1707
First U.S.-India joint space mission will deliver hyper-detailed view of Earth
Feb 11, 2024
An upcoming satellite mission will provide a first-of-its-kind, hyper-detailed view of Earth — and a glimpse of how shifting geopolitics on the ground may play out in space.
Why it matters: Earth-observing is now a key space capability for countries. The technology helps answer crucial questions about the impacts of climate change and guide officials in managing resources and disaster response.
The NASA-Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission is the largest and first truly joint collaboration in space between the U.S. and India.
It comes as the two countries deepen their scientific ties more broadly.
What's happening: NISAR, which is a decade in the making, will amass a trove of data that could help to tackle global challenges.
The satellite's two radar instruments give it the ability to observe tiny changes in Earth's surface from earthquakes and volcanoes, as well as shifts in forests, wetlands, crops, glaciers and sea ice.
Both radar systems — one built by NASA, the other by ISRO — operate at long wavelengths that can cut through clouds and collect measurements at night.
The radar from one of the instruments can penetrate tree canopies and give researchers better estimates of the density of trees, which can be used to track the capture and release of carbon from forests — key information for climate models.
NISAR can also detect deformations in Earth's surface with a precision on the order of millimeters for some measurements, says Paul Rosen, a project scientist for the mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Details: The instruments will collect measurements of 240-kilometer-wide swaths of the planet's surface as the satellite orbits Earth.
Data from the longer wavelength radar system will be used to create a map of much of Earth's land and ice every 12 days.
That data can be combined with measurements from the shorter wavelength system, which is more sensitive to smaller structures, and will focus on collecting data about India and surrounding countries, Antarctica and elsewhere.
The satellite, which is slated to launch from southern India later this spring but not before mid-April, will orbit about 750 kilometers above Earth.
"It's first-of-its-kind because it has a high resolution as well as a wide swath coverage," says Deepak Putrevu, who co-leads the mission's science team for ISRO.
The big picture: Historically, India "found itself trying to balance between the U.S. and the Soviet Union," says the Secure World Foundation's Victoria Samson.
But as India developed its human spaceflight program, it looked toward Russia. More recently, as Russia deepens its ties with China, India has grown closer to the U.S. when it comes to space.
"NISAR predates a lot of that — but India and the U.S. are finding more opportunities to cooperate," Samson says. The mission agreement was signed in 2014.
NASA is planning to train an Indian astronaut, and India last year signed on to the U.S.-led Artemis Accords that lays out governance for exploring the Moon.
The U.S. and India have also begun to work more closely on security in the Indo-Pacific, innovation and other issues but the relationship has its challenges, including most recently an alleged plot directed by an Indian government employee to assassinate a U.S. citizen in New York.
Between the lines: The NISAR mission will generate massive amounts of data — about 100 petabytes each year.
NASA has long required its data be free and open-source. ISRO has adopted a new policy that allows "free data download for any resolutions coarser than 5 [meters], for any mission … in tune with global user requirements," Putrevu says.
India's remote sensing program has historically focused on the country and surrounding regions, and the societal and economic benefit to India.
But national security, space exploration and commercialization of space are now driving India's space ambitions. The country's space policy released last year emphasizes pursuing international relations around space activities.
"India is bringing a lot to this partnership," Samson says.
https://www.axios.com/2024/02/11/us-india-space-satellite-nisar
Scientists Just Sent an Invitation for Alien Life to Visit Earth
February 10, 2024 09:24 pm EST
Back in the fall of 2023, a message shot to the heavens in Lexington, Kentucky that was aimed and heading toward a solar system that was 40 lightyears away. Far enough away that anybody living today would have some trouble reaching it. But the message being shot into space won't take too long.
It's a message translated into binary and it reads, "Hey, Aliens! Look at Lexington." It's a Jeff Foxworthy joke that seems to write itself. Yes, researchers in Kentucky took the time to shoot a message into space that will travel 40 years to TRAPPIST-1, the planetary system with the most habitable Earth-sized planets outside of our own galaxy, and at the end, it says, "hey look!"
Thankfully much more is included within, hoping to draw the visitors (or invaders, we don't know) to Lexington and the "horse capital of the world," though the title is self-proclaimed according to Forbes. But the end goal is the same as millions of others across the globe. The folks in Kentucky want to invite the interstellar neighbors over for a cookout and for those grand tourism bucks.
"With heightened interest in space exploration and celestial events, we wanted to be the first tourism brand to think way outside the box when it comes to marketing to a whole new type of potential visitor," VisitLEX President Mary Quinn Ramer explained. "We believe that Lexington is the best place on Earth, and that many of the attributes of our destination would give extraterrestrials a great first impression-like our bucolic horse pastures with wide open spaces, award-winning bourbon, and an eclectic blend of inspiring arts and sciences."
The message also includes "photos, music and symbols for the elements of life on Earth like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen," according to Forbes. They also made sure to include the recipe for water, something that people who watched Signs are screaming about right now.
If this is just a big tie-in for Netflix's The Three-Body Problem adaptation, people can't be sitting too comfortably. Then again, we could always hope for a Childhood's End scenario, though that one still ends poorly for Planet Earth.
https://popculture.com/trending/news/scientists-just-sent-an-invitation-for-alien-life-to-visit-earth/
Mysterious Rings Around Space Rock Might Be Carved by a Secret Moon
11 February 2024
The secret lives of minor planets may be even more complex and fascinating than we thought.
Scientists have discovered that a pair of gossamer rings circling an asteroid-like chunk of rock in the cold reaches of space out past Jupiter are likely being shepherded by a tiny, unseen moonlet.
The rock is named Chariklo, a type of minor planet known as a centaur – an asteroid-like body that orbits the Sun in the space between Jupiter and Neptune (rather than between Jupiter and Mars, where the asteroid belt spans).
Chariklo, just 250 kilometers (155 miles) in diameter, is the only known centaur or asteroid with rings – and it sports not one, but two.
How asteroids maintain rings is not known. But, led by astronomer Amanda Sickafoose of the Planetary Science Institute, a pair of scientists has conducted simulations and found that moonlets are a plausible explanation.
"Rings around minor planets have only been recently discovered, and only a small number of such systems are currently known," Sickafoose says.
"There has been significant research into the dazzling rings around the giant planets; however, the mechanisms of ring formation and evolution around small objects are not well understood. We've shown that one of the possibilities for thin rings to exist around small bodies is that they are being sculpted by a small satellite."
Rings in the Solar System aren't uncommon, actually. Half the planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) have known rings, and some dwarf planets do too. They usually consist of small dust and ice grains that circle a body's equator, bound in gravitational orbit, like a deconstructed moon.
We are finding an increasing number of asteroids that have moons, so minor planets with small rings aren't the weirdest things imaginable. But two very distinctly defined rings, as Chariklo has, are interesting.
Sickafoose and her colleague, computer scientist Mark Lewis of Trinity University, wanted to find out what keeps the rings so tidy.
They conducted a series of N-body simulations using modified code originally designed to understand Saturn's rings, and altered different parameters to try to replicate the Chariklo system.
The researchers found that a single tiny moon as small as 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) in diameter can maintain gossamer rings similar to those seen circling Chariklo, shaping them and keeping a gap between them in a similar fashion to Saturn's shepherd moons. In fact, such a moon might even be necessary.
"Planetary rings will naturally spread or disperse over time. Chariklo exhibits two thin rings, a few kilometers in width. In order for the rings to stay this thin, there needs to be a mechanism to confine the material and prevent it from dispersing," Sickafoose says.
"We actually show this in the paper by simulating a Chariklo-like ring system that does not have a satellite, and we find that the width of the rings increases linearly with time. This is unlike the situation when there is a satellite in resonance with the ring material, which acts to confine the rings into the kilometer-sized widths that are observed."
Interestingly, the two rings are very close to a distance from Chariklo known as the Roche limit. That's the critical distance at which the rings should start clumping together under gravity and forming moons themselves. However, a small moon can keep a ring perturbed enough that it remains a ring. So that's another factor that could be in favor of a moonlet.
Unfortunately, given how small and far away Chariklo is, and how much smaller any moon must be, we won't be able to get any pictures of such a moon without sending out a mission to get a bit closer. There may also be some indirect way of detecting whether or not there's a moon orbiting Chariklo and keeping its rings in check.
It's also not clear what the rings are made of. Ice probably accounts for quite a substantial proportion, but we don't know how big the particles are or how they interact. Finding out these details will help figure out what, exactly, is going on with this fascinating object.
https://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-rings-around-space-rock-might-be-carved-by-a-secret-moon
Martin Scorsese Unveils Super Bowl Short Film Featuring UFOs
Feb 10, 2024
Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese is set to make his debut in the world of Super Bowl commercials with his latest short film titled Hello Down There.
The commercial is scheduled to air during this year's upcoming Super Bowl. Hello Down There features a group of aliens making a long-awaited arrival on Earth in their iconic flying saucers. Contrary to the menacing depictions often portrayed in sci-fi classics, these aliens maintain a notably friendly demeanor. The aliens' excitement while visiting earth is dampened when they find humans being completely fixated on their cellular devices. The extended version of the TV spot can be viewed below.
The commercial's logline reads: “What does a highly advanced civilization have to do to get noticed around here? Watch the extended cut of Hello Down There, a tale of intergalactic outreach, directed by Martin Scorsese.”
In the commercial/short film, the aliens adapt to the digital age by utilizing the Internet to extend their greetings. They create a website on Squarespace to connect with humanity across galaxies, spreading a message of goodwill. By the end of the ad, Scorsese appears in the rear seat of a luxurious car traveling through Manhattan, expressing his frustration as he complains about the traffic jam caused by the interstellar arrival. "I told you to take Broadway. This always happens!,” he tells his driver."
This isn't Scorsese's first entry in the world of commercials. He previously collaborated with his daughter Francesca Scorsese on a "making of" spot for Squarespace, providing insight into the concept behind Hello Down There. Scorsese shared his thoughts on the project, stating, “At my age, it’s a stretch finding a directorial debut. When Squarespace first approached me to create a spot, I thought this was my shot. Let’s go big, let’s do something out of this world — space guys building a website. I’m a New Yorker. We’re busy, always on the move. Would we even notice extraterrestrials living among us? It’s going to launch on this show called Super Bowl? Supposed to be big!”
Scorsese is also directing an upcoming Chanel commercial starring Timothée Chalamet and Havana Liu Rose, while his daughter Francesca serves as creative director. The duo is additionally collaborating on a book set to be released by A24. In a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the Chanel ad, Scorsese described the process of directing commercials as "intense." He emphasized the challenge of condensing a narrative into a mere 60 seconds, regardless of one's film-making experience. Scorsese's next project is an 80-minute film titled A Life of Jesus.
https://www.cbr.com/martin-scorsese-super-bowl-short-film-ufos/