Anonymous ID: 58f1b4 March 8, 2024, 6:49 a.m. No.20536221   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6248 >>6374 >>6469

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

Mar 8, 2024

 

The Tarantula Zone

 

The Tarantula Nebula, also known as 30 Doradus, is more than a thousand light-years in diameter, a giant star forming region within nearby satellite galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud. About 180 thousand light-years away, it's the largest, most violent star forming region known in the whole Local Group of galaxies. The cosmic arachnid sprawls across this magnificent view, an assembly of image data from large space- and ground-based telescopes. Within the Tarantula (NGC 2070), intense radiation, stellar winds, and supernova shocks from the central young cluster of massive stars cataloged as R136 energize the nebular glow and shape the spidery filaments. Around the Tarantula are other star forming regions with young star clusters, filaments, and blown-out bubble-shaped clouds. In fact, the frame includes the site of the closest supernova in modern times, SN 1987A, at lower right. The rich field of view spans about 2 degrees or 4 full moons in the southern constellation Dorado. But were the Tarantula Nebula closer, say 1,500 light-years distant like the Milky Way's own star forming Orion Nebula, it would take up half the sky.

 

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

Anonymous ID: 58f1b4 March 8, 2024, 6:59 a.m. No.20536254   🗄️.is 🔗kun

NASA engineer accused of sexual assault was arrested at Johnson Space Center, agency confirms

March 7, 2024 4:24PM

 

As investigators search for more possible victims, NASA revealed an aerospace engineer accused of sexually assaulting two women was arrested while at the workplace.

 

On Thursday, the agency confirmed to Eyewitness News that 37-year-old Eric Sim was placed in handcuffs at Houston's Johnson Space Center last Friday, Feb. 29.

 

Despite NASA not referencing the employee's name in a statement, court documents stated Sim was arrested that day.

 

"NASA's security team cooperated with local law enforcement agencies on Thursday, Feb. 29, when they arrested an employee at Johnson Space Center in Houston," a statement read. "However, it is inappropriate for NASA to comment on ongoing investigations. NASA will take any and all appropriate personnel action based on our own investigation as well as information made available to NASA from local authorities."

 

Sim's employment status wasn't clear in the statement.

 

On Tuesday, ABC13 aired a report on Sim, who was charged with two counts of sexual assault and later released on a $500,000 bond.

 

According to court records, the alleged assaults reportedly happened at his home in 2021, with Sim meeting both victims on a dating app.

 

One of the women told authorities she believed she was drugged before the assault and woke up with injuries she did not remember sustaining and evidence that sexual intercourse happened. Court records say the woman contracted an STD from the assault.

 

The other woman said she told Sim she could not participate in sexual activity but that he proceeded to forcefully assault her.

 

Immediately following Sim's arrest, authorities executed a search warrant on his home.

 

Sim's attorney, Neal Davis, claimed his client was caught off guard by the arrest, insisting he's not guilty.

 

The Harris County District Attorney's Office said there may be other victims, adding existing social media groups and posts were made by women claiming they were assaulted.

 

https://abc13.com/eric-sim-charged-with-sexual-assault-nasa-engineer-arrest-arrested-at-johnson-space-center-accused-of-sexually-assaulting-2-women/14501402/

Anonymous ID: 58f1b4 March 8, 2024, 7:04 a.m. No.20536279   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6374 >>6469

Discovery Alert: a Long Year for a ‘Cold Saturn’

MAR 07, 2024

 

The Discovery

Two giant planets comparable to our own system’s Saturn orbit a star not unlike our Sun some 700 light-years away. The outer planet has the longest year – 483 days – of any found so far by NASA’s TESS (the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite). It’s also among the coldest.

 

Key Facts

The two planets, TOI-4600 b and c, could prove important to astronomers who investigate how large, gaseous planets form and evolve. And they begin to fill a gap in knowledge between gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system, and “hot Jupiters” (as well as “warm Jupiters”) elsewhere in our galaxy.

 

Details

The decades-long hunt for exoplanets – planets around other stars – has so far yielded more than 5,500 that are confirmed to be scattered across the Milky Way, which likely contains hundreds of billions. But the prevailing detection method turns up relatively few “long period” planets, those with years lasting 50 days or more. This method, seeking “shadows,” much more easily reveals planets orbiting their stars closely, with far shorter years. The search for shadows, called the transit method, captures the tiny dip in starlight as an orbiting planet crosses the face of its star.

 

Spaceborne telescopes like TESS that rely on this method are responsible for the vast majority of exoplanet detections. But the longer a planet’s orbit, the harder it is for TESS to catch it transiting its star. Still, in a study published in September 2023, an international team of scientists using TESS data determined that TOI-4600 b and c have long-period orbits: 83 days for planet b, 483 for planet c (a year that’s a bit longer than Earth’s).

 

These orbits might not sound very impressive compared to the gas giants in our solar system. For Jupiter, one trip around the Sun takes 12 years; a “year” on Saturn equals more than 29 years on Earth. But because fewer long-period exoplanets transiting their stars have been detected, TOI-4600 b and c could prove to be a gold mine of data. While space telescopes have been able to measure some atmospheric components of hot and warm Jupiters, TOI-4600 b and c offer the rarer prospect of revealing atmospheric ingredients of “temperate” gas giants – those without scorching atmospheres.

 

Fun Facts

“Temperate” is, of course, a relative term. If you’re looking for vacation spots, it’s best to leave these two planets off the list. TOI-4600 b, a bit smaller than Saturn at nearly seven times the width of Earth, has an estimated atmospheric temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 Celsius). Planet c, about the size of Saturn at more than nine times the width of Earth, has an estimated temperature of minus 116 Fahrenheit (minus 82 Celsius). That’s among the coldest exoplanets TESS has discovered so far.

 

The Discoverers

An international team led by astronomer Ismael Mireles of the University of New Mexico published their paper on the two planets, “TOI-4600 b and c: Two Long-period Giant Planets Orbiting an Early K Dwarf,” in “The Astrophysical Journal Letters” in September 2023.

 

https://science.nasa.gov/universe/exoplanets/discovery-alert-a-long-year-for-a-cold-saturn/