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NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
August 31, 2024
IFN and the NGC 7771 Group
Galaxies of the NGC 7771 Group are featured in this intriguing skyscape. Some 200 million light-years distant toward the constellation Pegasus, NGC 7771 is the large, edge-on spiral near center, about 75,000 light-years across, with two smaller galaxies below it. Large spiral NGC 7769 is seen face-on to the right. Galaxies of the NGC 7771 group are interacting, making repeated close passages that will ultimately result in galaxy-galaxy mergers on a cosmic timescale. The interactions can be traced by distortions in the shape of the galaxies themselves and faint streams of stars created by their mutual gravitational tides. But a clear view of this galaxy group is difficult to come by as the deep image also reveals extensive clouds of foreground dust sweeping across the field of view. The dim, dusty galactic cirrus clouds are known as Integrated Flux Nebulae. The faint IFN reflect starlight from our own Milky Way Galaxy and lie only a few hundred light-years above the galactic plane.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/nasa-esa-missions-help-scientists-uncover-how-solar-wind-gets-energy/
NASA, ESA Missions Help Scientists Uncover How Solar Wind Gets Energy
Aug 30, 2024
Since the 1960s, astronomers have wondered how the Sun’s supersonic “solar wind,” a stream of energetic particles that flows out into the solar system, continues to receive energy once it leaves the Sun.
Now, thanks to a lucky lineup of a NASA and an ESA (European Space Agency)/NASA spacecraft both currently studying the Sun, they may have discovered the answer — knowledge that is a crucial piece of the puzzle to help scientists better forecast solar activity between the Sun and Earth.
A paper published in the Aug. 30, 2024, issue of the journal Science provides persuasive evidence that the fastest solar winds are powered by magnetic “switchbacks,” or large kinks in the magnetic field, near the Sun.
“Our study addresses a huge open question about how the solar wind is energized and helps us understand how the Sun affects its environment and, ultimately, the Earth,” said Yeimy Rivera, co-leader of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, part of Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.
“If this process happens in our local star, it’s highly likely that this powers winds from other stars across the Milky Way galaxy and beyond and could have implications for the habitability of exoplanets.”
Previously, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe found that these switchbacks were common throughout the solar wind.
Parker, which became the first craft to enter the Sun's magnetic atmosphere in 2021, allowed scientists to determine that switchbacks become more distinct and more powerful close to the Sun.
Up to now, however, scientists lacked experimental evidence that this interesting phenomenon actually deposits enough energy to be important in the solar wind.
“About three years ago, I was giving a talk about how fascinating these waves are,” said co-author Mike Stevens, astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics.
“At the end, an astronomy professor stood up and said, ‘that's neat, but do they actually matter?’”
To answer this, the team of scientists had to use two different spacecraft.
Parker is built to fly through the Sun’s atmosphere, or “corona.” ESA's and NASA’s Solar Orbiter mission is also on an orbit that takes it relatively close to the Sun, and it measures solar wind at larger distances.
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The discovery was made possible because of a coincidental alignment in February 2022 that allowed both Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter to measure the same solar wind stream within two days of each other.
Solar Orbiter was almost halfway to the Sun while Parker was skirting the edge of the Sun's magnetic atmosphere. “We didn't initially realize that Parker and Solar Orbiter were measuring the same thing at all.
Parker saw this slower plasma near the Sun that was full of switchback waves, and then Solar Orbiter recorded a fast stream which had received heat and with very little wave activity,” said Samuel Badman, astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics and the other co-lead of the study.
“When we connected the two, that was a real eureka moment.”
Scientists have long known that energy is moved throughout the Sun‘s corona and the solar wind, at least in part, through what are known as "Alfvén waves.”
These waves transport energy through a plasma, the superheated state of matter that makes up the solar wind.
However, how much the Alfvén waves evolve and interact with the solar wind between the Sun and Earth couldn't be measured — until these two missions were sent closer to the Sun than ever before, at the same time.
Now, scientists can directly determine how much energy is stored in the magnetic and velocity fluctuations of these waves near the corona, and how much less energy is carried by the waves farther from the Sun.
The new research shows that the Alfvén waves in the form of switchbacks provide enough energy to account for the heating and acceleration documented in the faster stream of the solar wind as it flows away from the Sun.
“It took over half a century to confirm that Alfvenic wave acceleration and heating are important processes, and they happen in approximately the way we think they do,” said John Belcher, emeritus professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who co-discovered Alfvén waves in the solar wind but was not involved in this study.
In addition to helping scientists better forecast solar activity and space weather, such information helps us understand mysteries of the universe elsewhere and how Sun-like stars and stellar winds operate everywhere.
“This discovery is one of the key puzzle pieces to answer the 50-year-old question of how the solar wind is accelerated and heated in the innermost portions of the heliosphere, bringing us closer to closure to one of the main science objectives of the Parker Solar Probe mission,” said Adam Szabo, Parker Solar Probe mission science lead at NASA.
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Hubble Zooms into the Rosy Tendrils of Andromeda
Aug 30, 2024
Clusters of stars set the interstellar medium ablaze in the Andromeda Galaxy about 2.5 million light-years away. Also known as M31, Andromeda is the Milky Way’s closest major galaxy.
It measures approximately 152,000 light-years across and, with almost the same mass as our home galaxy, is headed for a collision with the Milky Way in 2-4 billion years.
In the meantime, Andromeda remains an object of study for many astronomers.
As a spiral galaxy, Andromeda’s winding arms are one of its most remarkable features.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope zoomed in to get a close look at one of its tendrils in the northeast, revealing swathes of ionized gas.
These regions — which are common in spiral and irregular galaxies — often indicate the presence of recent star formation.
The combination of stellar nurseries and supernovae create a dynamic environment that excites the surrounding hydrogen gas, flourishing it into a garden of star-studded roses.
Scientists probed Andromeda’s spiral arms using Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) to analyze the collection of stars buried in its cosmic bouquets.
With ACS and WFC3’s wide spectral coverage, Hubble could peer through the hedges of gas and observe a valuable sample of these stars.
The extent of the study spanned a vast range of stars, providing not just a clear view of Andromeda’s stellar history and diversity, but also more insight on stellar formation and evolution overall.
By examining these stars in our local cosmic neighborhood, scientists can better understand those within galaxies in the distant universe.
https://science.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/goddard/hubble-zooms-into-the-rosy-tendrils-of-andromeda/
Pieces of meteorite may have fallen in Spruce Pine area, NASA seeks information
Updated on August 30, 2024 12:28 pm
Officials with NASA are seeking information regarding the meteorite spotted across the High County during the overnight.
Lauri Miller, with the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at App State, tells WataugaOnline that NASA has reached out to their department and their information indicates that pieces of the meteorite last night may have fallen in and around the Spruce Pine area.
The Department has a meteorite specialist who can easily identify any rocks folks may find that they believe to be from the meteor.
If you are in the Spruce Pine area and believe there may be pieces on your property you can contact Anthony Love at loveab@appstate.edu or 828-262-6952
https://wataugaonline.com/pieces-of-meteorite-may-have-fallen-in-spruce-pine-area-nasa-seeks-information/
Videos: Reports of meteor and loud boom overnight (videos)
August 30, 2024
A bright line shooting across the night sky and the sound of an explosion is what many are describing after a suspected meteor shot across the night sky early Friday morning.
Home security cameras recorded the fireball shooting across the Tennessee and North Carolina night sky around 1:15 a.m. on Friday morning.
Witness accounts show the fireball was first visible over eastern Tennesse before crossing into the skies over western North Carolina.
Appearing first as a dot streaking across the night sky, the light grows in intensity as the meteor appears to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.
The bright light was followed a few moments later by an explosion-like sound.
Videos, like the one shared by Tim Ballisty on X, were one of many showing the meteor streaking across the night sky.
The flash of light from the meteor was so bright, it was detected by a weather satellite that normally scans the sky for lightning.
Without storms in the area, the satellite imagery is another piece of data supporting the light's source as a meteor.
This particular meteor appears to be unique, according to WCNC Weather Impact Chief Meteorologist Brad Panovich.
"How long it was visible, how slow it was, and the sonic boom… This usually means a larger size meteor," Panovich explained.
"Most meteors that are fast and faint are the size of a grain of sand. This was likely much, much larger."
This shallow approach angle means the meteor traveled lower and into more of Earth's atmosphere than a typical meteor, according to Panovich.
"It was visible longer due to the size and not completely burning up, which, along with the sonic boom, means fragments could have made it to the surface of the Earth," he said.
If that's the case, tiny pieces of the meteor may have reached Earth's surface, Panovich believes.
If so, they would be the size of small pebbles and detectable with a metal detector.
Any piece of a meteor that survives the atmosphere and reaches the Earth's surface would be called a meteorite.
https://wataugaonline.com/video-reports-of-meteor-and-loud-boom-overnight/
https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/local/meteor-fireball-explosion-north-carolina-tennessee-mountains/275-641e82be-fed3-44c5-807e-e24cb352a13f
Florida man sentenced for trying to defraud NASA’s space launch system
Updated: Aug 30, 2024 / 11:12 AM EDT
A Port Charlotte man was sentenced to federal prison for wire fraud related to NASA’s space launch system at the Kennedy Space Center, according to the Department of Justice.
Steven Lukens, 54, was the Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Altnantc International Supply, LLC, who entered a sub-contract with Company-1 to obtain materials for the space launch system.
The DOJ said these products were for supporting platforms for the Artemis mission and Orion, a spacecraft designed to take astronauts to the moon, and eventually Mars.
Lukens was assigned to provide parts intended to be used in hyperbolic systems, which are hazardous liquids that are extremely reactive, causing fires, explosions, and toxic human exposure.
However, he submitted forged quality control documents, providing NASA products that didn’t meet their rigorous standards and specifications under the contract.
Lukens submitted at least 190 fraudulent documents, including Certificates of Compliance, Pressure Testing certificates, and test reports.
“Ensuring the integrity of NASA’s component procurements and quality control is a top priority for the NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG),” Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Robert Steinau of NASA-OIG said.
“This case highlights the OIG’s dedication to collaborating with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate and prosecute companies that defraud NASA.”
The DOJ sentenced Lukens to 21 months in federal prison after he entered a guilty plea on Feb. 20.
He was ordered to forfeit $271,024.35 for the fraudulent parts submitted to Company-1 and to pay $689,280.03 in restitution.
https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/florida-man-sentenced-for-trying-to-defraud-nasas-space-launch-system/
NASA Images Show Egypt's New Capital Under Construction
Aug 30, 2024 at 8:55 AM EDT
Egypt's historic capital, Cairo, is witnessing the end of an era.
After serving as the nation's political center since the 10th-century C.E., the city is set to hand over the reins to a newly constructed settlement in the desert, about 28 miles to its east.
The Egyptian government announced this strategic move in 2015, driven by the need to address Cairo's swelling population, traffic congestion and pollution.
New satellite images from NASA's Landsat missions have captured the rapid development of the yet-to-be-officially-named "New Administrative Capital," a megaproject that promises to reshape Egypt's future.
The new city will one day cover an area the size of Singapore and host more than 6 million residents.
The images, taken by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 in August 2017 and the OLI-2 on Landsat 9 in August 2024, show the city's transformation from a nascent construction site to a soon-to-be sprawling urban center.
In the earlier image, taken in 2017, traces of the new city are barely visible. However, by 2024, the expansion of the New Administrative Capital is unmistakable, with several significant landmarks clearly discernible.
Among these is the Green River Park, a 10-kilometer [6.4-mile] stretch of green space weaving through the arid landscape, featuring walking and cycling paths amid native Egyptian vegetation.
To the east of the park, a dense cluster of government ministry offices has taken shape, while the Ministry of Defense now occupies a massive facility known as The Octagon.
Southward lies a sprawling sports complex, home to Africa's second-largest stadium and numerous other facilities, as Egypt eyes a bid to host the Olympics in 2036.
As of March 2024, over 1,500 families had already relocated to the New Administrative Capital, with projections indicating that number could reach 10,000 by the end of the year.
Government ministries have begun operations in their new premises; the Parliament has convened in its state-of-the-art building, and several banks and businesses are set to move their headquarters to this modern hub.
The decision to build this new capital comes as Cairo's population continues to surge. Estimates in 2024 placed the city's population at over 22 million, with a density of more than 50,000 people per square mile—the 37th highest in the world.
This rapid growth, which has nearly tripled Cairo's population since 1984, has significantly altered the city's footprint, pushing development outward along the Nile River and into the desert plains.
Cairo's transformation has been closely monitored from space since 1965, with NASA's Gemini 5 mission documenting the city's early urban sprawl.
The more-recent Landsat images not only showcase the emergence of the New Administrative Capital but also highlight the extensive urban expansion in greater Cairo over the past four decades.
The growth is placing immense pressure on Egypt's resources, particularly the Nile River, which supports about 95 percent of the country's population.
With increasing demands from both domestic and agricultural sectors, studies have shown that Egypt may soon face a significant water deficit, potentially requiring the country to import more water than is supplied by the Nile by the end of the decade.
The images, taken by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 in August 2017 and the OLI-2 on Landsat 9 in August 2024, show the city's transformation from a nascent construction site to a soon-to-be sprawling urban center.
In the earlier image, taken in 2017, traces of the new city are barely visible.
However, by 2024, the expansion of the New Administrative Capital is unmistakable, with several significant landmarks clearly discernible.
Among these is the Green River Park, a 10-kilometer [6.4-mile] stretch of green space weaving through the arid landscape, featuring walking and cycling paths amid native Egyptian vegetation.
https://www.newsweek.com/egypt-new-capital-cairo-nasa-satellite-images-1946656
NASA G-IV plane will carry next-generation science instrument
August 30, 2024
In June 2024, a new tail number swept the sky above NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.
Pilots conducted flights of a Gulfstream IV (G-IV) to evaluate its handling characteristics and to familiarize pilots with it before it begins structural modifications.
The research plane is joining the center's fleet serving NASA's Airborne Science program.
The G-IV will carry the Next Generation Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR-NG), which sends and receives microwave signals to collect information about Earth's topographic features and how they change over time.
The goal for the team at NASA Armstrong is to modify the G-IV to accommodate three radars simultaneously.
"The AIRSAR-NG will be composed of three different Synthetic Aperture Radar antennas in one instrument to provide new insight into Earth's surface more efficiently," said Yunling Lou, principal investigator for the instrument at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
"The capabilities of this new instrument will facilitate new techniques, such as three-dimensional imaging, that will be useful for future space-borne missions."
With those and other modifications being made, the G-IV will also be able to accommodate an increased load of science instruments, which could enable NASA to support more dynamic airborne science missions.
"This aircraft will aid Armstrong in continuing our long history of supporting airborne science for the agency and maintain the expertise in conducting successful science missions for years to come," said Franzeska Becker, the G-IV project manager at NASA Armstrong.
Transferred in February from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the G-IV will undergo additional modifications overseen by NASA Armstrong's team.
Their goal is to enrich the agency's airborne science program by outfitting the aircraft to function as a more capable and versatile research platform.
The knowledge and expertise of professionals at NASA centers like Armstrong (G-IV, ER-2, C-20) and Langley (777, G-III) will help enable the agency to produce a well-defined and airworthy platform for science instruments and airborne science missions.
https://phys.org/news/2024-08-nasa-iv-plane-generation-science.html
NASA’s Solar Sail Mission Is Finally Flying After Deployment Glitch
August 30, 2024
Despite a failed first attempt, NASA deployed its pioneering solar sail system, which will harness energy from the Sun to propel itself forward through space.
The Advanced Composite Solar Sail System is now fully deployed after NASA succeeded in extending the mission’s experimental booms on Thursday at 1:33 p.m. ET, the space agency announced.
NASA teams will begin testing the new form of space travel, initiating different maneuvers to see how well the sail fares in orbit.
NASA’s solar sail mission launched in April to test new materials and deployable structures for a propulsion system that runs on photons from the Sun.
A few months after its launch, the mission’s sail became stuck when an onboard power monitor detected higher-than-expected motor currents, pausing the unfurling process.
The mission teams were successful on their second attempt to deploy the solar sail, fully unfurling it to stretch across 860 square feet (80 square meters), or about as large as half a tennis court.
The sail needs to be large enough to generate sufficient thrust, while also being at a high enough orbit to gain altitude and overcome atmospheric drag using the subtle force of sunlight on the sail.
NASA’s solar sail orbits Earth at approximately twice the altitude of the International Space Station.
With the solar sail fully deployed, it may be visible to observers from Earth.
Using four cameras on board the spacecraft, NASA captured panoramic views of the unfurling process, which will be available on September 4.
Over the next few weeks, NASA engineers will test the maneuvering capabilities of the spacecraft, raising and lowering its orbit using only the pressure of sunlight acting on the sail.
The mission’s initial flight phase is designed to last for two months.
“Raising and lowering the orbit of the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System spacecraft will provide valuable information that may help guide future concepts of operations and designs for solar sail-equipped science and exploration missions,” NASA wrote in its update.
NASA’s solar sail mission is meant to test new materials and deployable structures for the experimental propulsion systems, including new composite booms that are used to unfurl the sail.
The composite booms are made from a polymer material; they’re lightweight while still being stiff and resistant to bending and warping when exposed to different temperatures.
They work the same way as a sailboat’s boom, except they are designed to catch the propulsive power of sunlight rather than wind.
NASA is hoping this new form of low-cost space travel can grant it more access to different destinations across the solar system, although solar sails are limited by the durability of the materials and spacecraft electronic systems.
Solar sails harness energy produced by light from the Sun, using it to propel spacecraft forward.
As the photons hit the spacecraft’s sails, it causes small bursts of momentum that propel it farther away from the star.
We’ll be watching closely as this tiny cubesat, and this interesting new concept, takes its important first baby steps in space.
https://gizmodo.com/nasas-solar-sail-mission-is-finally-flying-after-deployment-glitch-2000493203
'Catastrophic' SpaceX Starship explosion tore a hole in the atmosphere last year in 1st-of-its-kind event, Russian scientists reveal
August 30, 2024
The high-altitude explosion of one of SpaceX's supersized Starship rockets last year temporarily ripped a hole in the upper atmosphere, a new study from Russian scientists shows.
It is the first time this type of atmospheric disturbance has been created by a human-caused explosion, the researchers say.
On Nov. 18, 2023, SpaceX launched its superheavy Starship rocket — the largest and most powerful rocket ever built — for the second time ever from SpaceX's Starbase test and manufacturing facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
Around 4 minutes after liftoff, the rocket's first stage — the large, lower part that contains the main engines — detached from the upper part of the rocket as planned but unexpectedly exploded shortly afterward, before it could land back on Earth.
Then, another 4 minutes later, the rest of the rocket blew up in a larger "rapid unscheduled disassembly" around 93 miles (150 kilometers) above the ground, when a fire started as the rocket vented liquid oxygen.
The company's founder and CEO Elon Musk later said that the rocket would have made it to orbit if it had been carrying a proper payload.
In the new study, published Aug. 26 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, researchers revealed that the second explosion temporarily created a large hole in the ionosphere — the part of the atmosphere between 50 and 400 miles (80 and 650 kilometers) above Earth's surface where gases have been ionized, or stripped of electrons, and turned into plasma.
"Usually, such holes are formed as a result of chemical processes in the ionosphere due to interaction with engine fuel," study lead author Yury Yasyukevich, an ionosphere physicist at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP), said in a translated article from the Russian state media site TASS.
This is the first known time that an ionospheric hole has been created by a "catastrophic phenomena" such as a human-made explosion, he added.
Multiple satellites and international ground-based stations observed the disturbance, which lasted for 30 to 40 minutes before the affected part of the ionosphere fully recovered, the researchers wrote.
The peak size of the hole remains unclear. Human-caused ionospheric holes are nothing new.
Scientists have long known that chemicals in rocket fuel, such as carbon dioxide and water vapor, can react with ionized oxygen atoms, causing them to temporarily recombine — or turn back into regular oxygen atoms — leaving a gap, or hole, in the plasma sea within the ionosphere.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets are particularly prone to creating ionospheric holes, either during the separation of the rockets' first and second stages shortly after launch or when the rockets dump their fuel during reentry.
When the atoms within these holes reionize and turn back into plasma, they release red aurora-like light, creating bright, blood-red light shows in the night sky that astronomers have dubbed SpaceX auroras.
But in this case, the ionospheric hole was created "due to the shock wave generated by the Starship explosion," which temporarily scattered the free electrons within the ionosphere, essentially stripping the plasma of its normal properties, the researchers wrote.
Any of the rocket's fuel not immediately burned up in the explosion "might have reinforced the depletion and extended its duration," they added — but it was not the primary cause of the hole.
As a result, there was no aurora-like light show once the plasma returned.
The researchers said that the effects of ionospheric holes are poorly understood and require further research but added that novel ionospheric phenomena like this provide a rare chance to learn more about the plasma-filled region of our upper atmosphere.
"Analyzing the data and understanding their nature, we understand more deeply the structure of the ionosphere, [and] the nature of the phenomena that occur in it," Yasyukevich told TASS.
This was the second time one of SpaceX's 400-foot-tall (120 meters) rockets exploded in as many flight tests.
In the first test, on April 20 last year, the first starship was given a self-destruct code around 4 minutes after lifting off when it entered into an uncontrolled spin around 18 miles (29 km) above the ground.
On this occasion, chunks of debris from the destroyed rocket rained down on Earth, triggering a federal investigation and leading to a lawsuit from environmental groups.
https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/catastrophic-spacex-starship-explosion-tore-a-hole-in-the-atmosphere-last-year-in-1st-of-its-kind-event-russian-scientists-reveal