Anonymous ID: 4a7175 May 10, 2024, 6:45 a.m. No.20846626   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6632 >>6652 >>6655 >>6670 >>6702 >>6719 >>6999 >>7013 >>7099

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

May 10, 2024

 

Two Black Holes Merge

 

Relax and watch two black holes merge. Inspired by the first direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015, this simulation plays in slow motion but would take about one third of a second if run in real time. Set on a cosmic stage, the black holes are posed in front of stars, gas, and dust. Their extreme gravity lenses the light from behind them into Einstein rings as they spiral closer and finally merge into one. The otherwise invisible gravitational waves generated as the massive objects rapidly coalesce cause the visible image to ripple and slosh both inside and outside the Einstein rings even after the black holes have merged. Dubbed GW150914, the gravitational waves detected by LIGO are consistent with the merger of 36 and 31 solar mass black holes at a distance of 1.3 billion light-years. The final, single black hole has 63 times the mass of the Sun, with the remaining 3 solar masses converted into energy radiated in gravitational waves.

 

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

Anonymous ID: 4a7175 May 10, 2024, 6:57 a.m. No.20846692   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6999 >>7013

NASA Glenn Looking to Lease Facilities

MAY 10, 2024

 

As NASA advances its aviation and spaceflight missions, its facilities and infrastructure need to evolve along with them. NASA centers, including Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, must find ways to reduce the cost of maintaining assets they aren’t currently using.

 

Toward this goal, NASA Glenn is offering opportunities to lease assets it no longer uses. These Enhanced Use Lease (EUL) agreements will allow space, aeronautics, and other related industry to use Glenn land and facilities in direct support of NASA’s mission. It’s an arrangement that could bring some of the best minds in aerospace closer together, spurring innovation.

 

“We want to strategically align Glenn’s unique aircraft and spacecraft testing assets with the aviation industry and emerging commercial market,” said Carlos Flores, NASA Glenn’s Strategic Planning Branch chief. “Our hope is to expand partnerships, accelerate innovation, and create regional economic opportunities.”

 

Flores said there are many advantages for commercial entities to lease NASA facilities. These partners will have more access to resources—such as other facilities and technical expertise— than those outside the gate.

 

“Once a company or university gets a foot in the door, it is very possible they will discover other assets and expertise they can leverage,” Flores said.

 

Glenn identified four facilities in Cleveland and one in Sandusky, Ohio, that will be considered under the EUL authority. They include:

Cryogenics Components Laboratory

Altitude Combustion Stand

Administration Building

2.2 Second Drop Tower

Flight Research Building

In March, Glenn released an Announcement for Proposal, or AFP, to the public soliciting offers for the use of the Cryogenics Components Laboratory at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky. An AFP is expected for the Altitude Combustion Stand in Cleveland within a couple of months.

 

Glenn and other NASA centers continually work to align their facilities and infrastructure with the Agency Master Plan, which serves as a roadmap for future development and redevelopment of agency property.

 

To align with the Agency Master Plan, Glenn must reduce its “maintenance gap,” which is the amount of property owned versus the amount of property the center can afford to maintain.

 

“The maintenance gap is one of the realities we face in an environment of current and future budget constraints,” Flores said.

 

While demolition is sometimes the easiest way to reduce square footage and maintenance costs, leasing can be a viable option for buildings that do not fit the demolition criteria.

 

“EULs will not only reduce the maintenance gap and the square footage we are responsible to maintain, but they will also enable us to create strategic partnerships and utilize revenue from the base rent for repairs to infrastructure,” Flores said.

 

https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-glenn-looking-to-lease-facilities/

Anonymous ID: 4a7175 May 10, 2024, 7:10 a.m. No.20846739   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6742 >>6770

Spitzer Space Telescope Captures Galactic Snack

MAY 09, 2024

 

This image, released on May 9, 2024, from NASA’s retired Spitzer Space Telescope shows streams of dust flowing toward the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Andromeda Galaxy. These dust streams can help explain how black holes billions of times the mass of our Sun can satiate their big appetites but remain “quiet” eaters.

 

Read on to learn how data from Spitzer helped shed light on how some black holes consume gas and dust.

 

https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/spitzer-space-telescope-captures-galactic-snack/

Anonymous ID: 4a7175 May 10, 2024, 7:22 a.m. No.20846786   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6796

NASA Invites Social Creators for Launch of NOAA Weather Satellite

MAY 09, 2024

 

Registration is open for digital content creators to attend the launch of NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) satellite, a mission to help improve weather observing and environmental monitoring capabilities on Earth, as well as improve space weather observations.

 

NASA and SpaceX are targeting a two-hour launch window opening at 5:16 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 25, for the GOES-U launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NOAA’s GOES-U satellite will carry a suite of instruments for advanced imagery, atmospheric measurements, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and detecting approaching space weather hazards, including a new compact coronagraph that will image the outer layer of the Sun’s atmosphere to detect and characterize coronal mass ejections.

 

If your passion is to communicate and engage the world online, then this is the event for you! Seize the opportunity to see and share the #ReadyToGOES mission launch.

 

A maximum of 50 social media users will be selected to attend this two-day event and will be given access similar to news media.

 

NASA Social participants will have the opportunity to:

 

View the launch of the GOES-U satellite on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

Tour NASA facilities at Kennedy Space Center.

Meet and interact with GOES-U subject matter experts.

Meet fellow space enthusiasts who are active on social media.

NASA Social registration for the GOES-U launch opens on Thursday, May 9, and the deadline to apply is 3 p.m. EDT Tuesday, May 14. All social applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

 

cont.

 

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/goes/goes-u/nasa-invites-social-creators-for-launch-of-noaa-weather-satellite/

Anonymous ID: 4a7175 May 10, 2024, 7:37 a.m. No.20846851   🗄️.is 🔗kun

NASA’s Chandra Notices the Galactic Center is Venting

MAY 09, 2024

 

These images show evidence for an exhaust vent attached to a chimney releasing hot gas from a region around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, as reported in our latest press release. In the main image of this graphic, X-rays from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue) have been combined with radio data from the MeerKAT telescope (red).

Previously, astronomers had identified a “chimney” of hot gas near the Galactic Center using X-ray data from Chandra and ESA’s XMM-Newton. Radio emission detected by MeerKAT shows the effect of magnetic fields enclosing the gas in the chimney.

 

The evidence for the exhaust vent is highlighted in the inset, which includes only Chandra data. Several X-ray ridges showing brighter X-rays appear in white, roughly perpendicular to the plane of the Galaxy. Researchers think these are the walls of a tunnel, shaped like a cylinder, which helps funnel hot gas as it moves upwards along the chimney and away from the Galactic Center.

A labeled version of the image gives the locations of the exhaust vent, the chimney, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy (called Sagittarius A, or Sgr A for short) and the plane of the galaxy.

 

This newly discovered vent is located near the top of the chimney about 700 light-years from the center of the Galaxy. To emphasize the chimney and exhaust vent features the image has been rotated by 180 degrees from the conventional orientation used by astronomers, so that the chimney is pointed upwards.

The authors of the new study think that the exhaust vent formed when hot gas rising through the chimney struck cooler gas lying in its path. The brightness of the exhaust vent walls in X-rays is caused by shock waves — similar to sonic booms from supersonic planes — generated by this collision. The left side of the exhaust vent is likely particularly bright in X-rays because the gas flowing upwards is striking the tunnel wall at a more direct angle and with more force than other regions.

The researchers determined that the hot gas is most likely coming from a sequence of events involving material falling towards Sgr A*. They think eruptions from the black hole then drove the gas upwards along the chimneys, and out through the exhaust vent.

 

It is unclear how often material is falling onto Sgr A*. Previous studies have indicated that dramatic X-ray flares take place every few hundred years at or near the location of the central black hole, so those could play important roles in driving the hot gas upwards through the exhaust vent. Astronomers also estimate that the Galactic black hole rips apart and swallows a star every 20,000 years or so. Such events would lead to powerful, explosive releases of energy, much of which would be destined to rise through the chimney vent.

The paper describing these results is published in The Astrophysical Journal and a preprint is available online. The authors of the paper are Scott Mackey (University of Chicago), Mark Morris (University of California, Los Angeles), Gabriele Ponti (Italian National Institute of Astrophysics in Merate ), Konstantina Anastasopoulou (Italian National Institute of Astrophysics in Palermo), and Samaresh Mondal (Italian National Institute of Astrophysics in Merate).

 

Visual Description:

This image shows a region near the center of our Milky Way galaxy in X-ray and radio light. At the bottom of the image, near the center, is a brilliant, tangled knot of material that resembles a paint splatter. This is the brightest region in the image, and it contains the supermassive black hole at center of our galaxy, known as Sagittarius A*.

The lower third of the image resembles an angry firestorm. Streaks of red and orange are scattered in every direction, as if a legion of embers from a fire crackled and popped into the air all at once. Flame-like structures lick toward the center from our right.

 

Much of the image is infused with wispy blue clouds showing X-rays detected by Chandra. At a few points, the wispy blue clouds seem to form into balls of teal colored light and are known as dust halos. They are caused by X-rays from bright X-ray sources reflecting off dust surrounding the sources. These dust halos resemble underwater lights glowing in a cloudy swimming pool at night.

Rising up from Sagittarius A* in the center of the image is a pillar of blue light referred to as a chimney. This chimney of hot gas is surrounded by red clouds that are filled with stars, presenting themselves as tiny red flecks. Near the top of the blue pillar is a streak of light blue, outlined by an illustrated, gray box. This streak is referred to as the chimney exhaust vent. Just to our left is another illustrated box that shows the close-up image of the chimney vent as observed by Chandra.

 

https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-chandra-notices-the-galactic-center-is-venting/

Anonymous ID: 4a7175 May 10, 2024, 8:02 a.m. No.20846954   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6958 >>6969 >>6999 >>7013

China launches its first medium Earth orbit broadband satellites

May 9, 2024

 

HELSINKI — China launched the first satellites for a medium Earth orbit broadband constellation late Wednesday.

 

A Long March 3B lifted off at 9:43 p.m. Eastern May 8 (0143 UTC May 9) from the inland Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) confirmed launch success, revealing the mission payloads for the first time to be the Smart Skynet-1 (01) satellites A and B.

 

The satellites were developed by CASC’s Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) for Shanghai Tsingshen Technology Development Co. Ltd. Tsingshen Tech was founded in 2018. It is collaborating with Tsinghua University and the Shanghai government to create a medium Earth orbit (MEO) broadband satellite constellation.

 

Smart Skynet-1 (01) satellite A is equipped with a multi-beam, high-speed microwave link, an inter-satellite two-way laser link and an onboard digital processing and forwarding platform, according to SAST. Satellite B is equipped with an inter-satellite laser link experiment payload. On-orbit activities will include technology validation of flexible inter-satellite links and satellite-to-ground transmission.

 

Tsingshen Tech plans initially to put eight satellites into 20,000-kilometer MEO orbits to form a global communications constellation. The nearest approximation to the constellation is O3B’s MEO constellation.

 

This can be expanded to 16 satellites, consisting of two groups, and four groups totaling 32 satellites. The company claims, after completion, the constellation will provide personalized network services with no blind spots globally.

 

SAST states that Smart SkyNet could be joined up with China’s low Earth orbit communications megaconstellations, as well as comms satellites in geostationary orbit. This would provide access to all types of users in all scenarios and all domains.

 

Smart SkyNet is being promoted under the “Shanghai Action Plan to Promote Commercial Aerospace Development and Create a Space Information Industry Highland (2023-2025).” The move is one of a number of municipal and provincial level initiatives in China to boost commercial space activities and foster growth and innovation. Various action plans cover satellites, launch vehicles and related applications and infrastructure.

 

The city is also backing a broadband megaconstellation project known as “G60 Starlink,” centered in Shanghai’s Songjiang District. The project plans to launch the first 108 satellites this year and have more than 12,000 in orbit when completed.

 

China now has a range of constellation plans in a range of orbits with heavy state backing.

 

The country has also mooted plans to form an integrated constellation for communications, navigation and remote sensing.

 

Wednesday’s launch was China’s 21st of 2024. It follows the launch of the Chang’e-6 sample return spacecraft, which has since entered lunar orbit, and the debut of the Long March 6C earlier this week. China aims to launch around 100 times this year.

 

https://spacenews.com/china-launches-its-first-medium-earth-orbit-broadband-satellites/