NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

April 1, 2024

Swirling Magnetic Field around Our Galaxy's Central Black Hole

What's happening to the big black hole in the center of our galaxy? It is sucking in matter from a swirling disk – a disk that is magnetized, it has now been confirmed. Specifically, the black hole's accretion disk has recently been seen to emit polarized light, radiation frequently associated with a magnetized source. Pictured here is a close-up of Sgr A*, our Galaxy's central black hole, taken by radio telescopes around the world participating in the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration. Superposed are illustrative curved lines indicating polarized light likely emitted from swirling magnetized gas that will soon fall into the 4+ million mass central black hole. The central part of this image is likely dark because little light-emitting gas is visible between us and the dark event horizon of the black hole. Continued EHT monitoring of this and M87's central black hole may yield new clues about the gravity of black holes and how infalling matter creates disks and jets.

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

Pluto TV will rally to make Pluto a planet again on April 1 (it's no joke)

April 1, 2024

Pluto may have lost its status as a full-fledged planet in 2006, but that doesn't mean it's a joke of a world this April Fools' Day and the folks behind Pluto TV want to make that clear.

On April 1, the free Pluto TV streaming service will host a "sit-in" to revisit the Pluto planethood debate while also celebrating the 10th anniversary of the live TV streaming service. The event, dubbed "Pluto TV's Rally for Pluto! Make Pluto A Planet!," runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pacific Time at the University of California Los Angeles' Bruin Plaza. And if you can't make it in person, you can sign a Change.org petition for Pluto's planethood to make your voice heard.

"Join the citizens of Pluto for a rally to spark the conversation around Pluto's planetary status," Pluto TV said in a statement. "It's been 18 years since Pluto was demoted and we think it's time for Pluto to have a vote in its own destiny. "

Pluto TV has enlisted Pluto pioneer Alan Stern, principal investigator for NASA's New Horizons mission (which made the first Pluto flyby in 2015) to speak on Pluto's behalf. Space.com has confirmed with Stern that's it's no April Fools prank. He actually will speak at the event.

A video message from astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, who supported Pluto's demotion, is also expected to be played at the rally during the debate. Tyson recently launched his StarTalk TV streaming channel on Pluto TV.

Pluto is currently classified as a dwarf planet after losing its planethood status in 2006 during a vote by astronomers with the International Astronomical Union. The vote came amid a larger debate over what makes a planet, and if being round with moons (like Pluto is - it has five moons) is enough to qualify. Ultimately, scientists opted to demote Pluto to a dwarf planet rather than raise other dwarf planets in our solar system (like Ceres, the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt) up to planetary status.

Since then, Pluto supporters and naysayers have been vocal about the decision, but that hasn't stopped true Pluto planet lovers from continuing their fight for its status.

Pluto TV's Pluto rally aims to both celebrate the streaming service's 10th birthday while supporting what it calls a planetary underdog.

"The sit-in will feature high-profile guest speakers, fun chants, snacks and more all in the name of scientific fun!" Pluto TV event organizers wrote. "If you’re a believer in Pluto’s right to planet-hood, sign the petition online to show your support."

https://www.space.com/pluto-planet-status-rally-pluto-tv

Parsons to be system integrator for TraCSS space traffic coordination system

April 1, 2024

The Office of Space Commerce has selected Parsons Corporation to develop key elements of its civil space traffic coordination system.

The office, located within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said March 18 it awarded a $15.5 million contract to Parsons to provide system integration and cloud management services for its Traffic Coordination System for Space, or TraCSS. The one-year contract includes an option for another year that would increase its total value to $26.9 million.

Under the contract, Parsons will develop what the office calls the “software backbone” for TraCSS, incorporating both the OASIS repository for space situational awareness data and the SKYLINE application layer. The contract also covers cybersecurity, cloud management and system administration.

“We look forward to leveraging Parsons’ expertise across the national security sector and our operational experience in space domain awareness supporting flight safety of all active satellites on orbit to support the Office of Space Commerce as it takes over this crucial mission from the Department of Defense,” Carey Smith, president and chief executive of Parsons, said in a statement about the TraCSS award.

The award to Parsons is part of the office’s efforts to build up TraCSS, which will be developed in a phased approach with an initial operating capability ready by the end of the current fiscal year. TraCSS will eventually take over civil space traffic coordination services from the Defense Department, as directed by Space Policy Directive 3 in 2018.

“We’re very much in the process of building the next generation space traffic coordination system, and we’ll be relying heavily both on commercial partners in the U.S. and on our allies and friends around the world,” Richard DalBello, director of the Office of Space Commerce, said during a panel discussion at the Satellite 2024 conference March 19.

The award to Parsons comes after a series of contracts for its Consolidated Pathfinder effort to inform development of TraCSS. The office has awarded $11.5 million in contracts to five companies for that project, focused on low Earth orbit operations. The office awarded contracts to COMSPOC, LeoLabs and Slingshot Aerospace for data and services in January, and to Kayhan Space and SpaceNav in February for data quality monitoring services. Separately, the office selected Amazon Web Services to provide secure cloud computing services in 2023.

One element of TraCSS yet to be developed is the presentation layer, which will provide the user interface for the system. In the statement about the award to Parsons, NOAA said it was conducting market research for that element after issuing a request for information last October.

The goal, DalBello said, is “putting into place an exquisite space tracking system” that will improve upon what is currently available. “We’re pretty good at something that something that we need to be consistently excellent at. We’re at the very beginning of space traffic monitoring and we have a long way to go on that.”

Sustainability

The development of TraCSS fits into a broader view of space sustainability that DalBello has previously discussed that goes beyond space traffic coordination to other impacts from space activities, from the effects satellites have on optical and radio astronomy to environmental impacts on the upper atmosphere from launches and spacecraft reentries.

DalBello said considerations of space sustainability fall into three categories. One is “understanding the totality of our impact” that includes space debris as well as astronomical and environmental impacts from satellites. The second is understanding what is going on, which his office is addressing with TraCSS. The third is determining what can be done to address those impacts.

The Office is Space Commerce is not the only government agency thinking about space sustainability along those lines. Speaking at the National Academies’ Space Science Week March 19, Nicola Fox, associate administrator for science at NASA, said the agency is preparing to roll out a space sustainability policy.

“We have been working on a space sustainability strategy and we will be discussing it robustly at Space Symposium,” she said. “The agency is very, very engaged.” She declined to discuss details about the policy since it has not been formally announced.

NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy is scheduled to discuss “the agency’s unified approach to support the long-term sustainability of the space environment” in a speech at the Space Symposium April 9.

https://spacenews.com/parsons-to-be-system-integrator-for-tracss-space-traffic-coordination-system/

Barbara Rush Dies: Actress Known For ‘It Came From Outer Space,’ ‘Peyton Place,’ ‘All My Children’ Was 97

March 31, 2024 9:47pm

Barbra Rush, the prolific actress best known for roles in 1953’s It Came From Outer Space and long runs on Peyton Place and All My Children, has died. Her daughter confirmed Rush’s passing to Fox News on Sunday. She was 97.

Rush had a near 60-year career. In the ’50s and ’60s, she worked on the big screen with Paul Newman (three times), Kirk Douglas, Rock Hudson, Dean Martin, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra and Richard Burton. In addition to pulpier fare like Prince of Pirates and Taza, Son of Cochise, Rush did a trio of films with Douglas Sirk — The First Legion, Magnificent Obsession and Captain Lightfoot — and Bigger Than Life with Nicholas Ray.

By the late 1960s, Rush had segued mostly to TV, appearing in mainstays of the period such as Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, The Fugitive, Marcus Welby, M.D., McCloud, Maude, Ironside and Mannix.

Rush appeared in every episode of NBC’s nighttime sudser Flamingo Road over its 1980-1982 run. She worked on other staples of the period such as The Love Boat, Knight Rider, Matt Houston, Fantasy Island, Magnum P.I. and Murder, She Wrote.

7th Heaven fans will recognize Rush from her run on the show as Grandma Ruth Camden.

https://deadline.com/2024/03/barbara-rush-dead-actress-peyton-place-all-my-children-1235872780/

Space Invaders Creator Becomes Honorary Member Of Japan's Game Preservation Society On 80th Birthday

Mar 31, 2024

On Sunday, 31 March 2024, the legendary Tomohiro Nishikado celebrates his 80th birthday, and to honour this occasion, the Japanese Game Preservation Society is inducting him as an honorary member.

Every single person reading this page has been touched by the legacy of Nishikado-sensei. While his portfolio is diverse and prominent, which we'll cover in moment, he is obviously best known for creating Space Invaders (1978) - designing, drawing, programming, genuinely hand-crafting the game. Even if you've never played Space Invaders, you know someone who has. Or you've witnessed media directly influenced by it. It cannot be overstated how far-reaching Nishikado's influence on humanity has been. He stands alongside Shakespeare, Picasso, Walt Disney, The Beatles, Stan Lee, and numerous other sacred luminaries whose contributions to global culture will stand for centuries.

This is not hyperbole. Let us take a moment to reflect on how far-reaching this one man's vision was.

There's a series of photos of famed film director Steven Spielberg posing with his own private Space Invaders cabinet (there are several varying shots). The claimed dates vary, the photographer is never credited, but it's regularly reposted online. Here we have the world's most renowned filmmaker posing with Space Invaders to define how cool he is. Cool leather jacket, nice stone surroundings, with a casual stance and happy grin exuding creative self-confidence. A man who can partake of any earthly pleasure, and he chooses this arcade classic. Spielberg is telling the world that Tomohiro Nishikado embodies and defines excellence.

There's a cute story about Space Invaders causing a shortage of coins in Japan, but when you examine the facts this scenario gets debunked fast - official records show a decrease in coin production and arcade operators wanted to cash that money at the banks, thus keeping them in circulation. So let's look things we can verify. When Computer & Video Games launched, often touted as the first games magazine, it did so with Space Invaders on the cover. When Atari ran the eponymous Space Invaders Tournament in 1980, it was the conversion of Nishikado's original which featured. Think about all the films that came after, how many times did someone reference "those Invader games" as a way of sounding hip or modern? How many times have you seen items of clothing or even street graffiti where those iconic little aliens were instantly recognisable? Not to mention how seemingly every veteran game developer from Eugene Jarvis to Shigeru Miyamoto has referenced it in interviews. We've also covered the game previously ourselves.

Is it any wonder then that now, to celebrate his 80th birthday, the Japanese Game Preservation Society is making Nishikado an honorary member?

We asked GPS founder Joseph Redon for a statement:

The Game Preservation Society not only collects game software, hardware, magazines and books, but also keeps a circle with the leading creators of the time who made these things. Without people, culture cannot be born. Behind every masterpiece there is always a human story. Our 'Honorary Member' system was born out of the belief that recording people's testimonies is an important part of game preservation. So we are pleased to announce that Tomohiro Nishikado, who has been involved in the development of games since the dawn of the industry in the 1970s, and is still an advisor to Taito, will be an honorary member."

Previous honorary members include:

Toru HIDAKA (Enix; programming teacher)

Yoshio KIYA (Legacy of the Wizard)

Tokihiro NAITOU (Hydlide)

Youichi MIYAJI (Game Arts co-founder)

Yuzou KOSHIRO (musician)

Yuuichi TOYAMA (Raizing / Eighting)

Rika SUZUKI (Hotel Dusk)

Satoshi MITSUHARA (EarthBound)

cont.

https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/03/space-invaders-creator-becomes-honorary-member-of-japans-game-preservation-society-on-80th-birthday