NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Aug 8, 2023

Moon Meets Jupiter

What's that below the Moon? Jupiter and its largest moons. Many skygazers across planet Earth enjoyed the close conjunction of Earth's Moon passing nearly in front of Jupiter in mid-June. The featured image is a single exposure of the event taken from Morón de la Frontera, Spain. The sunlit lunar crescent on the left is overexposed, while the Moon's night side, on the right, is only faintly illuminated by Earthshine. Lined up diagonally below the Moon, left to right, are Jupiter's bright Galilean satellites: Callisto, Ganymede, Io (hard to see as it is very near to Jupiter), and Europa. In fact, Callisto, Ganymede, and Io are larger than Earth's Moon, while Europa is only slightly smaller. NASA's robotic spacecraft Juno is currently orbiting Jupiter and made a close pass near Io only a week ago. If you look up in the night sky tonight, you will again see two of the brightest objects angularly close together because tonight is another Moon-Jupiter conjunction.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?

Aussie authorities confirm Russian Soyuz-2 rocket parts caused 'spectacular light show' for residents of Victoria and Tasmania

August 8, 2023 - 2:20PM

Parts of a Russian rocket were behind the mysterious bright object that streaked across the sky on Monday night.

Residents from Victoria and Tasmania were sent into a frenzy as they speculated whether a meteor, comet or space junk was behind the spectacular light show.

The Australian Space Agency has revealed the item was instead man-made in Russia, as it closely monitors the flying object.

"The flashes of light seen across Melbourne skies overnight were likely the remnants of a Russian Soyuz-2 rocket re-entering the Earth's atmosphere," the agency said in a statement.

"Launch of the Soyuz-2 rocket occurred from Plesetsk Cosmodrome earlier in the evening. According to Russian authorities the launch placed a new generation 'GLONASS-K2' global navigation satellite into orbit."

Russian authorities have since liaised with the Australian agency to ensure the safe re-entry of the rocket remnants into the ocean off the south-east coast of Tasmania.

“We will continue to monitor the outcomes of this re-entry with our Government partner,” they said.

Monash physics and astronomy professor Michael Brown explained the “vast forces” of re-entering earth would have created the beam of light observed by Australians.

“As the rocket was travelling at several kilometres every second as it entered the atmosphere, it experienced vast forces that heated and broke up the rocket, producing a spectacular light show,” Associate Professor Brown said.

“Space junk reentries are sometimes confused with meteors, which are also spectacular but are usually far shorter events as they slam into the atmosphere at a much faster speed.”

He confirmed it is possible that small pieces may have crashed into the earth but their size was unlikely to cause any damage to properties.

On Tuesday morning social media was filled with footage from the stunning scene as residents across both states tried to identify the object.

“Um excuse me, I just saw a meteor? I was literally just going to get a biscoff shake and saw the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” one person tweeted.

“What an amazing sight over Melbourne. Space junk or meteor, it was spectacular to see it.” another said.

Many also reported hearing a big boom around midnight, with experts saying the large noise was due to the object slowing.

https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/aussie-authorities-confirm-russian-soyuz2-rocket-parts-caused-spectacular-light-show-for-residents-of-victoria-and-tasmania/news-story/8517ce7fc2bad297b4c41923465b4b9a

https://twitter.com/XPMELB/status/1688567138024579072?

Major update on NASA mission as huge asteroid could make everyone on Earth a billionaire

Aug 4, 2023

NASA and SpaceX are edging closer to sending a solar-powered spacecraft on a 2.5 billion mile journey to a huge asteroid called 16 Psyche - and it could make everyone on Earth a billionaire.

Hurtling through space is an asteroid so large, it has led to speculation it is completely jam-packed with precious metals and may be worth £8,000 quintillion, which in numerical form is £8,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

If divided equally among everyone on this planet they would all become a billionaire, with the entire global economy estimated to be roughly $110 trillion.

Named after the Greek goddess of the soul, 16 Psyche is an asteroid spanning an impressive 173 miles in width and scientists believe it is primarily composed of gold, iron, and nickel. The craft will journey to the unique metal-rich asteroid orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter some 499,555,545km away from Earth.

In an update from NASA posted online, they said a team of 30 engineers and technicians are working around the clock to get the spacecraft, also called Psyche, ready. When Psyche is unfurled in flight it will be about the size of a singles tennis court and it is scheduled to arrive at the metal-rich asteroid in 2029.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab confirmed that it has recently completed a comprehensive test of the flight software, successfully installing it on the spacecraft and it has been cleared the way for the upcoming launch at 10:38 a.m. EDT (14:38 GMT) on Thursday, October 5, 2023. A SpaceX Falcon Heavy is targeted to launch Psyche from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Centre.

"The team and I are now counting down the days to launch", Henry Stone, Psyche’s project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California said. He continued: "The team is conducting numerous training activities to ensure that we are prepared and ready. It’s a very busy time, but everyone is very excited and looking forward to the launch."

While the prospect of mining asteroids for valuable resources seems enticing, NASA has said it is primarily focused on the scientific aspect of the mission. By investigating 16 Psyche, scientists hope to get crucial information about planetary cores and the processes involved in planet formation, which could significantly advance our understanding of the solar system's evolution.

Noemí Pinilla-Alonso, a planetary scientist with the University of Central Florida’s Florida Space Institute, told Forbes: "A more recent theory, based on detailed studies of the largest M-type asteroid, 16 Psyche, argues that these bodies formed much closer to the sun, were stripped of their thin crusts while still partially molten, and later dynamically moved to their current location."

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/major-update-nasa-mission-huge-30628211