TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
Nov 20, 2023
The Horsehead Nebula
Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud by chance has assumed this recognizable shape. Fittingly named the Horsehead Nebula, it is some 1,500 light-years distant, embedded in the vast Orion cloud complex. About five light-years "tall," the dark cloud is cataloged as Barnard 33 and is visible only because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against the glowing red emission nebula IC 434. Stars are forming within the dark cloud. Contrasting blue reflection nebula NGC 2023, surrounding a hot, young star, is at the lower left of the full image. The featured gorgeous color image combines both narrowband and broadband images recorded using several different telescopes.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?
All-women expedition to Antarctica: Pioneering global sustainability through STEMM leadership
Oct 26, 2023
With 188 women from 25 countries in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM), Homeward Bound's groundbreaking initiative is a powerful stride towards global sustainability, empowering women to shape the future of our planet.
In a voyage that transcends boundaries and challenges stereotypes, the largest all-women expedition is gearing up to set sail for Antarctica this November, in a mission spearheaded by Homeward Bound, a global leadership initiative.
This diverse cohort of professionals in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) is on a 19-day quest to foster global sustainability and empower women as leaders in shaping the future of our planet.
Pamela Sutton-Legaud, CEO of Homeward Bound, expressed the profound importance of this venture, stating, "Antarctica not only provides early warnings of climate change – it also represents the fragility of our natural world, and why we need to protect it. We are excited to see how each person takes on this life-changing journey, and translates their learnings into actions."
The expedition, departing from Argentina on two vessels — The Ushuaia and The Island Sky — boasts a cohort of remarkable women from South Africa, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. These pioneers, already making significant contributions in their respective fields, are leveraging their expertise to advance research and legislation, with a specific focus on sustainability and gender equality in the STEMM sector.
Representatives from South Africa include Gina Ziervogel, Director of the African Climate and Development Initiative (ACDI), and Nirvani Dhevcharran, Chief Technology Officer at the Foschini Group. Philista Malaki, a Research Scientist at the National Museums of Kenya, joins the expedition from Kenya, while Moreangels Muchaneta Mbizah, Founder and Executive Director of Wildlife Conservation Action, represents Zimbabwe.
Sutton-Legaud underscored the urgency of encouraging more women within the STEMM sector, particularly in the context of climate change.
"History and research also show that women and young girls in developing countries are the most negatively affected by climate change-related instances. The world needs to create a space for their ideas to be heard, as the drastic effects of climate change become more apparent globally."
Homeward Bound's mission extends beyond this singular expedition; the initiative aims to empower 10,000 women in STEMM to lead, influence, collaborate, and contribute to policy and decision-making for a more sustainable future by 2036.
Leading up to the Antarctica expedition, the women are participating in a 12-month virtual leadership programme, enhancing their strategic capabilities. On the voyage, they will engage in continuous learning through lectures, workshops, and networking sessions, harnessing their leadership skills in the pursuit of global change.
"As this group embarks on this epic journey, they remind us that women in STEMM are not just the key to understanding our planet's challenges; they are the architects of its solutions.
“Together, they inspire a global effort towards a more equal leadership landscape and a more sustainable future for our world," said Sutton-Legaud.
The two voyages, The Ushuaia and The Island Sky, embark on November 3 and 12, respectively. For more information about the cohort and the organisation, visit Homeward Bound. The expedition marks a significant stride towards gender equality in STEMM and underscores the pivotal role women play in addressing global challenges.
https://www.iol.co.za/news/environment/all-women-expedition-to-antarctica-pioneering-global-sustainability-through-stemm-leadership-188bf3aa-8db3-430c-a1fa-2a583513adbf
Fisher Space Pens to fly with Blue Origin crews as 'official ballpoint'
Nov 19, 2023
Fisher Space Pen has some new Blue ballpoints.
The maker of the pressurized-ink writing instruments used by astronauts to scrawl in space has partnered with Blue Origin to become the company's official pen provider. Fisher Space Pen will be the only brand ballpoint pen used on all of Blue Origin's upcoming crewed launches.
"We can see the future, and Blue Origin is helping fly us there," Matt Fisher, vice president of Fisher Pen Company, said in a statement. "My grandfather helped build this company with an innovative product that yesterday's space pioneers needed, with a pen that has stood the test of time. This partnership now has all of us anticipating the possibilities that lie ahead, and we couldn't be more excited to help further our involvement in upcoming space endeavors Blue Origin will lead."
Founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos with the goal of "building a road to space for the benefit of Earth," Blue Origin is developing and building reusable rocket engines, launch vehicles, in-space systems and lunar landers. The company has used its New Shepard launch vehicle to fly 31 people to date on suborbital spaceflights and has a contract with NASA to provide a human landing system for sustained access to the surface of the moon.
Blue Origin is also working with Sierra Space on Orbital Reef, a commercial space station to be deployed in low Earth orbit.
To commemorate this new partnership, Fisher is releasing three custom-designed space pens featuring Blue Origin's feather logo representing the perfection of flight hardware design — an ideal balance of strength and lightness.
Fisher's original astronaut space pen, the AG7 model that first lifted off to space on NASA's Apollo 7 mission in 1968, has been updated for this release with a black titanium nitride exterior that helps protect it from scratches and gives it a stealthy appearance. Blue Origin's feather and celestial icons are laser engraved around the pen.
The Blue Moon Bullet Space Pen features a blue translucent finish and a chrome feather symbol.
The third release is also a Bullet, but with a matte black finish and the Blue Origin feather emblazoned in gold wrapping around the pen.
The Blue Origin AG7 retails for $125, the Blue Moon Bullet is $45 and the matte black Bullet is $39. All three pens are available to order through the Fisher Space Pen website.
As part of the agreement, Fisher is also joining forces with Blue Origin's nonprofit Club for the Future to help further engage students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.
"Our partnership with Fisher Space Pen will inspire future generations to reach for the stars, write their STEM goals and leave an indelible mark in the space industry for the benefit of Earth," said Michael Edmonds, president of Club for the Future.
Blue Origin is the latest company to continue Fisher Space Pen's legacy as the choice writing instrument for space-bound travelers. After being adopted by NASA at the start of the Apollo program and by the Soviet space program in 1969, Fisher space pens went on to be used on every crewed mission for the past five decades. Today, the company also has agreements with Virgin Galactic to fly on SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicles and Axiom Space to launch on private SpaceX Dragon missions.
https://www.space.com/fisher-space-pen-fly-blue-origin
Chandra X-ray Observatory
Nov 15, 2023
Where Parallel Lines Converge is a sonic rendering of a composite image of the Galactic Center, or the center of our Milky Way galaxy, with data from NASA’s Chandra, Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes. The piece is a tryptic, highlighting three astronomical objects or moments in the image: the X-ray binary, the arched filaments, and the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. The piece was conceived using the same principles as the original NASA Chandra data sonifications, converting data to sound by matching different parameters of the image with musical parameters.
The piece, composed by Sophie Kastner, was recorded by Montreal based Ensemble Eclat conducted by Charles-Eric LaFontaine on July 19, 2023 at McGill University.
https://chandra.si.edu/sound/symphony.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZszE77Ofw_4
NASA’s Webb Reveals New Features in Heart of Milky Way
NOV 20, 2023
The latest image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows a portion of the dense center of our galaxy in unprecedented detail, including never-before-seen features astronomers have yet to explain. The star-forming region, named Sagittarius C (Sgr C), is about 300 light-years from the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*.
“There’s never been any infrared data on this region with the level of resolution and sensitivity we get with Webb, so we are seeing lots of features here for the first time,” said the observation team’s principal investigator Samuel Crowe, an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. “Webb reveals an incredible amount of detail, allowing us to study star formation in this sort of environment in a way that wasn’t possible previously.”
“The galactic center is the most extreme environment in our Milky Way galaxy, where current theories of star formation can be put to their most rigorous test,” added professor Jonathan Tan, one of Crowe’s advisors at the University of Virginia.
Amid the estimated 500,000 stars in the image is a cluster of protostars – stars that are still forming and gaining mass – producing outflows that glow like a bonfire in the midst of an infrared-dark cloud. At the heart of this young cluster is a previously known, massive protostar over 30 times the mass of our Sun. The cloud the protostars are emerging from is so dense that the light from stars behind it cannot reach Webb, making it appear less crowded when in fact it is one of the most densely packed areas of the image. Smaller infrared-dark clouds dot the image, looking like holes in the starfield. That’s where future stars are forming.
Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument also captured large-scale emission from ionized hydrogen surrounding the lower side of the dark cloud, shown cyan-colored in the image. Typically, Crowe says, this is the result of energetic photons being emitted by young massive stars, but the vast extent of the region shown by Webb is something of a surprise that bears further investigation. Another feature of the region that Crowe plans to examine further is the needle-like structures in the ionized hydrogen, which appear oriented chaotically in many directions.
“The galactic center is a crowded, tumultuous place. There are turbulent, magnetized gas clouds that are forming stars, which then impact the surrounding gas with their outflowing winds, jets, and radiation,” said Rubén Fedriani, a co-investigator of the project at the Instituto Astrofísica de Andalucía in Spain. “Webb has provided us with a ton of data on this extreme environment, and we are just starting to dig into it.”
Around 25,000 light-years from Earth, the galactic center is close enough to study individual stars with the Webb telescope, allowing astronomers to gather unprecedented information on how stars form, and how this process may depend on the cosmic environment, especially compared to other regions of the galaxy. For example, are more massive stars formed in the center of the Milky Way, as opposed to the edges of its spiral arms?
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-reveals-new-features-in-heart-of-milky-way/
Imphal airport on alert as unidentified flying object spotted, flights delayed
UPDATED: Nov 19, 2023 21:09 IST
Imphal's Bir Tikendrajit International Airport was ordered to shut flight operations after unidentified unmanned aerial vehicles/drones were detected in the airspace. The aerial vehicles have been detected in the zone since 2:30 pm on Sunday, sources told India Today. Services normalised after around over three hours.
While a few flights were cancelled to and from Imphal, other incoming flights turned back from Imphal airspace and diverted to alternative destinations, as per sources.
On the suspension of flight operations, Imphal International Airport Director Chipemmi Keishing issued a statement saying, "Due to the sighting of an unidentified flying object within Imphal controlled Airspace, two flights have been diverted and three departing flights have been delayed. Flight operations commence after receipt of clearance from a competent authority".
An official of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) said they received a message from the CISF at 2.30 pm, informing them that a UFO (unidentified flying object) was found near the airport.
"The UFO was visible with bare eyes moving westwards of the airfield till 4 pm," the official said.
The Indian Air Force Eastern Command at Shillong was informed of the development, the official said.
The arrival of an IndiGo flight from Kolkata to Imphal was instructed to hold overhead till clearance was taken from security agencies, CISF and SP Imphal West. Three aircraft were awaiting instructions and waited for over three hours while two inbound flights were diverted to Kolkatta after the air traffic controllers reported an unidentified flying object near the runway.
An IndiGo flight No. 6E5118 (from Delhi to Imphal) was diverted to Kolkata, and another IndiGo flight No. 6E275 (from Kolkata to Imphal) was diverted to Guwahati. Meanwhile, after being delayed for over three hours, Air India flight No. AI 890 was allowed to take off from Imphal for Guwahati.
According to the technical staff at the airport and air traffic control, members saw the drones around 2:30 pm, following which, the three flights were asked to halt take off. As a result of the drone sightings and subsequent cancellation and delay, some passengers said they've rescheduled their tickets.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Eastern Air Command of the Air Force said, "IAF activated its Air Defence response mechanism based on visual inputs from Imphal airport. The small object was not seen thereafter."
The development came shortly after the Manipur government extended the ban on internet services for another five days until November 23, considering the unfavourable law and order situation in the violence-hit state.
The northeastern state has been hit by violence since May after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts of Manipur to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Nearly 200 people have been killed since the ethnic clashes broke out between two tribal groups, the Kukis and Meiteis, on May 3.
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/manipur-imphal-airport-shut-after-unidentified-drone-detected-in-airspace-2464935-2023-11-19