TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
December 11, 2024
The Shells and Jets of Galaxy Centaurus A
What's the closest active galaxy to planet Earth? That would be Centaurus A, cataloged as NGC 5128, which is only 12 million light-years distant. Forged in a collision of two otherwise normal galaxies, Centaurus A shows several distinctive features including a dark dust lane across its center, outer shells of stars and gas, and jets of particles shooting out from a supermassive black hole at its center. The featured image captures all of these in a composite series of visible light images totaling over 310 hours captured over the past 10 years with a homebuilt telescope operating in Auckland, New Zealand. The brightness of Cen A's center from low-energy radio waves to high-energy gamma rays underlies its designation as an active galaxy.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Black Hole Jet Stumbles Into Something in the Dark
Dec 10, 2024
Even matter ejected by black holes can run into objects in the dark. Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have found an unusual mark from a giant black hole’s powerful jet striking an unidentified object in its path.
The discovery was made in a galaxy called Centaurus A (Cen A), located about 12 million light-years from Earth.
Astronomers have long studied Cen A because it has a supermassive black hole in its center sending out spectacular jets that stretch out across the entire galaxy.
The black hole launches this jet of high-energy particles not from inside the black hole, but from intense gravitational and magnetic fields around it.
The image shows low-energy X-rays seen by Chandra represented in pink, medium-energy X-rays in purple, and the highest-energy X-rays in blue.
In this latest study, researchers determined that the jet is — at least in certain spots — moving at close to the speed of light.
Using the deepest X-ray image ever made of Cen A, they also found a patch of V-shaped emission connected to a bright source of X-rays, something that had not been seen before in this galaxy.
Called C4, this source is located close to the path of the jet from the supermassive black hole and is highlighted in the inset.
The arms of the “V” are at least about 700 light-years long. For context, the nearest star to Earth is about 4 light-years away.
While the researchers have ideas about what is happening, the identity of the object being blasted is a mystery because it is too distant for its details to be seen, even in images from the current most powerful telescopes.
The incognito object being rammed may be a massive star, either by itself or with a companion star. The X-rays from C4 could be caused by the collision between the particles in the jet and the gas in a wind blowing away from the star.
This collision can generate turbulence, causing a rise in the density of the gas in the jet. This, in turn, ignites the X-ray emission seen with Chandra.
The shape of the “V,” however, is not completely understood.
The stream of X-rays trailing behind the source in the bottom arm of the “V” is roughly parallel to the jet, matching the picture of turbulence causing enhanced X-ray emission behind an obstacle in the path of the jet.
The other arm of the “V” is harder to explain because it has a large angle to the jet, and astronomers are unsure what could explain that.
This is not the first time astronomers have seen a black hole jet running into other objects in Cen A. There are several other examples where a jet appears to be striking objects — possibly massive stars or gas clouds.
However, C4 stands out from these by having the V-shape in X-rays, while other obstacles in the jet’s path produce elliptical blobs in the X-ray image. Chandra is the only X-ray observatory capable of seeing this feature.
Astronomers are trying to determine why C4 has this different post-contact appearance, but it could be related to the type of object that the jet is striking or how directly the jet is striking it.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/black-hole-jet-stumbles-into-something-in-the-dark/
https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.14078
NASA Scientific Balloon Flights to Lift Off From Antarctica
Dec 10, 2024
NASA’s Scientific Balloon Program has returned to Antarctica’s icy expanse to kick off the annual Antarctic Long-Duration Balloon Campaign, where two balloon flights will carry a total of nine missions to near space.
Launch operations will begin mid-December from the agency’s Long Duration Balloon camp located near the U.S. National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station on the Ross Ice Shelf.
“Antarctica is our cornerstone location for long-duration balloon missions, and we always look forward to heading back to ‘the ice,’” said Andrew Hamilton, acting chief of NASA’s Balloon Program Office at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
“It’s a tremendous effort to stage a campaign like this in such a remote location, and we are grateful for the support provided to us by the U.S. National Science Foundation, New Zealand, and the U.S. Air Force.”
This year’s Antarctic campaign includes investigations in astrophysics, space biology, heliospheric research, and upper atmospheric research, along with technology demonstrations. The campaign’s two primary missions include:
GAPS (General Anti-Particle Spectrometer), led by Columbia University in New York, is an experiment to detect anti-matter particles produced by dark matter interactions.
The anti-particles stemming from these interactions in our galaxy can only be observed from a suborbital platform or in space, since Earth’s atmosphere shields us from the cosmic radiation.
GAPS aims to provide an unprecedented level of sensitivity to certain classes of anti-particles, allowing the exploration of a currently unexplored energy regime of the elusive dark matter.
Salter Test Flight Universal, led by NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, will test and validate long-duration balloon and subsystems, while supporting several piggyback missions on the flight.
Piggyback missions, or smaller payloads, riding along with the Salter Test Flight Universal mission include:
MARSBOx (Microbes in Atmosphere for Radiation, Survival, and Biological Outcomes Experiments), led by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, will expose melanized fungus, called Aspergillus niger, to the stratosphere’s extreme radiation and temperature fluctuations, low atmospheric pressure, and absence of water — conditions much like the surface of Mars. Knowledge of how this fungus adapts to protect itself in this harsh environment could lead to the development of treatments to protect astronauts from high radiation exposure.
EMIDSS-6 (Experimental Module for Iterative Design of Satellite Subsystems 6), led by National Polytechnical Institute − Mexico, is a technological platform with experimental design and operational validation of instrumentation that will collect and store data from the stratospheric environment to contribute to the study of climate change.
SPARROW-6 (Sensor Package for Attitude, Rotation, and Relative Observable Winds – 6), led by NASA’s Balloon Program Office at NASA Wallops, will demonstrate relative wind measurements using an ultrasonic anemometer designed for the balloon float environment.
WALRUSS (Wallops Atmospheric Light Radiation and Ultraviolet Spectrum Sensor), led by the Balloon Program Office at NASA Wallops, is a technology demonstration of a sensor package capable of measuring the total ultraviolet wavelength spectrum and ozone concentration.
INDIGO (INterim Dynamics Instrumentation for Gondolas), led by the Balloon Program Office at NASA Wallops, is a data recorder meant to measure the shock, rotation, and attitude of the gondola during the launch, float, and landing phases of flight. Data will be used to improve understanding of the dynamics of flight and to inform the design of future components and hardware.
The remaining two piggyback missions are led by finalists of NASA’s FLOATing DRAGON (Formulate, Lift, Observe, And Testing; Data Recovery And Guided On-board Node) Balloon Challenge, sponsored by the Balloon Program Office at NASA Wallops and managed by the National Institute of Aerospace.
The challenge was created for student teams to design, build, and fly an autonomous aerial vehicle, deployed from a gondola during a high-altitude balloon flight.
The teams’ student-built data vaults will be safely dropped from around 120,000 feet with the capability to target a specific landing point on the ground to manage risk.
The missions participating in the Antarctic campaign are Purdue University’s Purdue DRAGONfly, and University of Notre Dame’s IRIS v3.
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/scientific-balloons/nasa-scientific-balloon-flights-to-lift-off-from-antarctica/
NASA Moves Drone Package Delivery Industry Closer to Reality
Dec 10, 2024
Package delivery drones are coming to our doorsteps in the future, and NASA wants to make sure that when medication or pizza deliveries take to the skies, they will be safe.
In July, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the first time authorized multiple U.S. companies to fly commercial drones in the same airspace without their operators being able to see them the entire flight.
Getting to this important step on the way to expanding U.S. commercial drone usage required considerable research into the concept known as flight that is Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) – and NASA helped lead the way.
For BVLOS flights to become routine, trusted automation technology needs to be built into drone and airspace systems, since pilots or air traffic controllers won’t be able to see all the drones operating at once.
To address these challenges, NASA developed several key technologies, most notably Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM), which allows for digital sharing of each drone user’s planned flight details.
“NASA’s pioneering work on UTM, in collaboration with the FAA and industry, set the stage for safe and scalable small drone flights below 400 feet,” said Parimal Kopardekar, NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission integration manager. “This technology is now adopted globally as the key to enabling Beyond Visual Line of Sight drone operations.”
With UTM, each drone user can have the same situational awareness of the airspace where drones are flying.
This foundation of technology development, led by NASA’s UTM project, allows drones to fly BVLOS today with special FAA approval.
Drones can fly BVLOS today at the FAA test site and at some other selected areas with pre-approval from the FAA based on the risks.
However, the FAA is working on new regulation to allow BVLOS operations to occur without exemptions and waivers in the future.
The NASA UTM team invented a new way to handle the airspace — a style of air traffic management where multiple parties, from government to commercial industry, work together to provide services.
These include flight planning, strategic deconfliction before flights take off, communication, surveillance and other focus areas needed for a safe flight.
This technology is now being used by the FAA in approved parts of the Dallas area, allowing commercial drone companies to deliver packages using the NASA- originated UTM research.
UTM allows for strategic coordination among operators so each company can monitor their own drone flight to ensure that each drone is where it should be along the planned flight path.
Test sites like Dallas help the FAA identify requirements needed to safely enable small drone operations nationwide.
NASA is also working to ensure that public safety drones have priority when operating in the same airspace with commercial drones.
In another BVLOS effort, NASA is using drones to test technology that could be used on air taxis.
Each of these efforts brings us one step closer to seeing supplies or packages routinely delivered by drone around the U.S.
https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics/drones/nasa-moves-drone-package-delivery-industry-closer-to-reality/
Discovery Alert: A Planet with a ‘Tail’
Dec 10, 2024
The Planet
WASP-69 b
The Discovery
The exoplanet WASP-69 b has a "tail," leaving a trail of gas in its wake.
Key Takeaway
WASP-69 b is slowly losing its atmosphere as light hydrogen and helium particles in the planet's outer atmosphere escape the planet over time.
But those gas particles don't escape evenly around the planet, instead they are swept into a tail of gas by the stellar wind coming from the planet's star.
Details
Hot Jupiters like WASP-69 b are super-hot gas giants orbiting their host stars closely. When radiation coming from a star heats up a planet's outer atmosphere, the planet can experience photoevaporation, a process in which lightweight gases like hydrogen and helium are heated by this radiation and launched outward into space.
Essentially, WASP-69 b's star strips gas from the planet's outer atmosphere over time. What's more, something called the stellar wind can shape this escaping gas into an exoplanetary tail.
The stellar wind is a continuous stream of charged particles that flow outwards into space from a star's outer atmosphere, or corona.
On Earth, the Sun's stellar wind interacts with our planet's magnetic field which can create beautiful auroras like the Northern Lights.
On WASP-69 b, the stellar wind coming from its host star actually shapes the gas escaping from the planet's outer atmosphere.
So, instead of gas just escaping evenly around the planet, "strong stellar winds can sculpt that outflow in tails that trail behind the planet," said lead author Dakotah Tyler, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Los Angeles, likening this gaseous tail to a comet's tail.
Because this tail is created by the stellar wind, however, that means it's subject to change.
"If the stellar wind were to taper down, then you could imagine that the planet is still losing some of its atmosphere, but it just isn't getting shaped into the tail," Tyler said, adding that, without the stellar wind, that gas escaping on all sides of the planet would be spherical and symmetrical.
"But if you crank up the stellar wind, that atmosphere then gets sculpted into a tail."
Tyler likened the process to a windsock blowing in the breeze, with the sock forming a more structured shape when the wind picks up and it fills with air.
The tail that Tyler and his research team observed on WASP-69 b extended more than 7.5 times the radius of the planet, or over 350,000 miles.
But it's possible that the tail is even longer. The team had to end observations with the telescope before the tail's signal disappeared, so this measurement is a lower limit on the tail's true length at the time.
However, keep in mind that because the tail is influenced by the stellar wind, changes in the stellar wind could change the tail's size and shape over time.
Additionally changes in the stellar wind influence the tail's size and shape, but since the tail is visible when illuminated by starlight, changes in stellar activity can also affect tail observations.
Exoplanet tails are still a bit mysterious, especially because they are subject to change. The study of exoplanet tails could help scientists to better understand how these tails form as well as the ever-changing relationship between the stellar and planetary atmospheres.
Additionally, because these exoplanetary tails are shaped by stellar activity, they could serve as indicators of stellar behavior over time.
This could be helpful for scientists as they seek to learn more about the stellar winds of stars other than the star we know the most about, our very own Sun.
Fun Facts
WASP-69 b is losing a lot of gas — about 200,000 tons per second. But it's losing this gaseous atmosphere very slowly — so slowly in fact that there is no danger of the planet being totally stripped or disappearing. In general, every billion years, the planet is losing an amount of material that equals the mass of planet Earth.
The solar system that WASP-69 b inhabits is about 7 billion years old, so even though the rate of atmosphere loss will vary over time, you might estimate that this planet has lost the equivalent of seven Earths (in mass) of gas over that period.
https://science.nasa.gov/universe/exoplanets/discovery-alert-a-planet-with-a-tail/
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/scientists-share-early-results-from-nasas-solar-eclipse-experiments/
Scientists Share Early Results from NASA’s Solar Eclipse Experiments
Dec 10, 2024
On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse swept across North America, from the western shores of Mexico, through the United States, and into northeastern Canada.
For the eclipse, NASA helped fund numerous research projects and called upon citizen scientists in support of NASA's goal to understand how our home planet is affected by the Sun – including, for example, how our star interacts with Earth's atmosphere and affects radio communications.
At a press briefing on Tuesday, Dec. 10, scientists attending the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington, D.C., reported some early results from a few of these eclipse experiments.
“Scientists and tens of thousands of volunteer observers were stationed throughout the Moon’s shadow,” said Kelly Korreck, eclipse program manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
“Their efforts were a crucial part of the Heliophysics Big Year – helping us to learn more about the Sun and how it affects Earth’s atmosphere when our star’s light temporarily disappears from view.”
Changes in the Corona
On April 8, the Citizen CATE 2024 (Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse) project stationed 35 observing teams from local communities from Texas to Maine to capture images of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, during totality.
Their goal is to see how the corona changed as totality swept across the continent.
On Dec. 10, Sarah Kovac, the CATE project manager at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, reported that, while a few teams were stymied by clouds, most observed totality successfully — collecting over 47,000 images in all.
These images were taken in polarized light, or light oriented in different directions, to help scientists better understand the processes that shape the corona.
Kovac shared the first cut of a movie created from these images. The project is still stitching together all the images into the final, hour-long movie, for release at a later time.
“The beauty of CATE 2024 is that we blend cutting-edge professional science with community participants from all walks of life,” Kovac said. “The dedication of every participant made this project possible.”
Meanwhile, 50,000 feet above the ground, two NASA WB-57 aircraft chased the eclipse shadow as it raced across the continent, observing above the clouds and extending their time in totality to approximately 6 minutes and 20 seconds.
On board were cameras and spectrometers (instruments that analyze different wavelengths of light) built by multiple research teams to study the corona.
On Dec. 10, Shadia Habbal of the University of Hawaii, who led one of the teams, reported that their instruments collected valuable data, despite one challenge.
Cameras they had mounted on the aircraft’s wings experienced unexpected vibrations, which caused some of the images to be slightly blurred.
However, all the cameras captured detailed images of the corona, and the spectrometers, which were located in the nose of the aircraft, were not affected.
The results were so successful, scientists are already planning to fly similar experiments on the aircraft again.
“The WB-57 is a remarkable platform for eclipse observations that we will try to capitalize on for future eclipses,” Habbal said.
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Affecting the Atmosphere
On April 8, amateur or “ham” radio operators sent and received signals to one another before, during, and after the eclipse as part of the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science.
More than 6,350 amateur radio operators generated over 52 million data points to observe how the sudden loss of sunlight during totality affects their radio signals and the ionosphere, an electrified region of Earth’s upper atmosphere.
Radio communications inside and outside the path of totality improved at some frequencies (from 1-7 MHz), showing there was a reduction in ionospheric absorption. At higher frequencies (10 MHz and above), communications worsened.
Results using another technique, which bounced high-frequency radio waves (3-30 MHz) off the ionosphere, suggests that the ionosphere ascended in altitude during the eclipse and then descended to its normal height afterward.
“The project brings ham radio operators into the science community,” said Nathaniel Frissell, a professor at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania and lead of HamSCI. “Their dedication to their craft made this research possible.”
Also looking at the atmosphere, the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project organized student groups across the U.S. to launch balloons into the shadow of the Moon as it crossed the country in April 2024 and during a solar eclipse in October 2023.
Teams flew weather sensors and other instruments to study the atmospheric response to the cold, dark shadow.
This research, conducted by over 800 students, confirmed that eclipses can generate ripples in Earth’s atmosphere called atmospheric gravity waves.
Just as waves form in a lake when water is disturbed, these waves also form in the atmosphere when air is disturbed. This project, led by Angela Des Jardins of Montana State University in Bozeman, also confirmed the presence of these waves during previous solar eclipses.
Scientists think the trigger for these waves is a “hiccup” in the tropopause, a layer in Earth’s atmosphere, similar to an atmospheric effect that is observed during sunset.
“Half of the teams had little to no experience ballooning before the project,” said Jie Gong, a team science expert and atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“But their hard work and research was vital in this finding.”
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USPS worker shot dead by co-worker at Missouri City processing center
Tuesday 10 December 2024 16:36 GMT
A USPS worker was shot dead by a co-worker at a processing center in Texas, according to authorities.
At around 10 p.m. Monday, police responded to calls of an active shooter at the South Houston Local Processing Center in Missouri City, Houston, Dana Carter, an inspector with the Houston Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service told ABC13.
Police told KPRC2 that an employee had opened fire inside the facility, striking and killing another worker.
Employees were quickly evacuated from the facility and the suspect was taken into custody.
“I can confirm that there was one individual involved. That individual is in custody and the community is safe. At this time, there is one victim,” Carter said.
“That person is deceased, and again, this is an active investigation. We are going to continue to work through that process as we get ready to notify next of kin.”
The identities of the victim and suspect have not been released and the motive for the attack remains unclear.
The Independent has contacted the United States Postal Inspection Service and Missouri City Police Department for more information.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/usps-worker-shot-dead-missouri-city-b2662019.html
Chinese citizen charged with flying drone over key US military, NASA rocket launch base, taking photos
December 10, 2024 9:31pm EST
A Chinese citizen living in Los Angeles allegedly flew a drone and took aerial images of Vandenberg Space Force Base last month, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Yinpiao Zhou, 39, was arrested this week at the San Francisco International Airport prior to boarding a China-bound flight, the Justice Department said.
He is charged with failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation and violation of national defense airspace.
On Nov. 30, drone detections systems at the military installation in Santa Barbara County detected a drone flying over the base, prosecutors said.
he drone originated from Ocean Park, a public area next to the base, and flew for nearly an hour. During its flight, the aircraft traveled to an altitude of almost one mile above ground level, authorities said.
Security personnel from the base went to a park and spoke with Zhou and someone with him.
Zhou had a drone that flew over the base concealed in his jacket, prosecutors said.
The drone was later searched and investigators found several photographs of the base were taken from above, authorities said.
A search of Zhou’s cellphone showed that he conducted a Google search one month earlier for the phrase "Vandenberg Space Force Base Drone Rules" and messaged with another person about hacking his drone to allow it to fly higher than it could otherwise.
Zhou is a permanent resident, most recently returning from China in February. The person with him at Ocean Park had entered the United States from China on Nov. 26.
Zhou faces up to four years in prison.
Vandenberg's host unit, Space Launch Delta 30, supports West Coast launch activities for the Air Force, Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the military base.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/chinese-citizen-charged-flying-drone-over-us-military-nasa-rocket-launch-base-taking-photos
Yeah, been a hot minute
Aftershocks continue after 5.8 quake hits near Yerington, expert weighs in on event
Tue, December 10th 2024 at 4:31 PM
UNR says the quake struck on an unnamed fault between Yerington and Silver Springs, and was felt as far away as San Francisco, causing strong local shaking in the Campbell Valley and Desert Range.
The Nevada Seismological Lab says it recorded 32 aftershocks in the five hours following the quake. They say more aftershocks are expected, perhaps lasting for weeks.
The quake occurred at a depth of 7 miles in a fault zone known as the Wabuska Lineament, one of a cluster of northeast-striking faults in the mountains east of Reno.
People who may have felt the shaking are asked to fill out this form, indicating the intensity of shaking at their location.
“A magnitude 5.8 earthquake has the potential to send objects flying or damage masonry buildings,” Professor Christie Rowe, director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory, said.
“We are grateful to Nevada schools for participating in the Great ShakeOut so our kids know how to ‘drop, cover and hold on’ during earthquakes.
Damaging earthquakes can happen anywhere in Nevada, and we feel fortunate that no injuries have been reported from today’s (Monday’s) event.
We encourage Nevadans to prepare by storing emergency supplies and making a plan for homes, schools and workplaces.”
https://www.kolotv.com/2024/12/10/unr-asks-those-who-felt-yerington-quake-give-feedback-shaking/
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nn00888580/tellus
Got my articles mixed up.
Scratch this one and add this one instead with the proper headline, please and thank you
UNR asks those who felt Yerington quake to give feedback on shaking
Dec. 10, 2024 at 8:48 AM PST
The University of Nevada is asking those who may have felt Monday’s magnitude 5.8 earthquake to give feedback on the intensity of shaking they may have felt.
UNR says the quake struck on an unnamed fault between Yerington and Silver Springs, and was felt as far away as San Francisco, causing strong local shaking in the Campbell Valley and Desert Range.
The Nevada Seismological Lab says it recorded 32 aftershocks in the five hours following the quake. They say more aftershocks are expected, perhaps lasting for weeks.
The quake occurred at a depth of 7 miles in a fault zone known as the Wabuska Lineament, one of a cluster of northeast-striking faults in the mountains east of Reno.
People who may have felt the shaking are asked to fill out this form, indicating the intensity of shaking at their location.
“A magnitude 5.8 earthquake has the potential to send objects flying or damage masonry buildings,” Professor Christie Rowe, director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory, said.
“We are grateful to Nevada schools for participating in the Great ShakeOut so our kids know how to ‘drop, cover and hold on’ during earthquakes.
Damaging earthquakes can happen anywhere in Nevada, and we feel fortunate that no injuries have been reported from today’s (Monday’s) event.
We encourage Nevadans to prepare by storing emergency supplies and making a plan for homes, schools and workplaces.”
https://www.kolotv.com/2024/12/10/unr-asks-those-who-felt-yerington-quake-give-feedback-shaking/
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nn00888580/tellus
AI-powered satellite data reveals clouds in 3D
11/12/2024
Launched in May 2024, ESA’s EarthCARE satellite is nearing the end of its commissioning phase with the release of its first data on clouds and aerosols expected early next year.
In the meantime, an international team of scientists has found an innovative way of applying artificial intelligence to other satellite data to yield 3D profiles of clouds.
This is particularly news for those eagerly awaiting data from EarthCARE in their quest to advance climate science.
Clouds play a critical role in Earth's climate system by reflecting sunlight back into space, known as the albedo effect, and by trapping heat radiating from Earth's surface, part of the greenhouse effect.
For example, high, thin clouds tend to warm the atmosphere because a high proportion of energy from the Sun can pass through and they are also efficient at trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.
Low, thick clouds on the other hand, tend to have a cooling effect as they reflect a high proportion of the incoming sunlight back out to space.
While scientists know that clouds play an extremely an important role in both cooling and warming our atmosphere, there remains uncertainty when it comes to accounting for the exact influence they have on Earth’s energy balance.
Moreover, given the ongoing climate crisis, there is an urgent need to understand if changes to clouds will exert an overall cooling or warming effect in the future.
Global, realtime 3D cloud data would help reduce these uncertainties, improving climate predictions and helping decision-making.
Over the last decades NASA’s CloudSat mission has provided valuable vertical cloud profiles but was limited by infrequent revisits.
Geostationary missions, such as Europe’s Meteosat Second Generation (MSG), on the other hand, take images over Europe every 15 mins, but only obtain a ‘top-down’ view, without directly probing cloud profiles.
Using advanced machine learning techniques, an international team of scientists, coordinated by ESA Φ-lab and FDL Europe, has leveraged advanced machine learning techniques to develop a method for generating ‘3D cloud profiles everywhere, all at once’.
In their proof-of-concept study, they analysed a year’s worth of archived CloudSat and MSG data from 2010.
The resulting paper, which was presented this week at the Neural Information Processing Systems conference in Canada, demonstrates how artificial intelligence can extract new insights from existing satellite observations.
Anna Jungbluth from ESA’s Climate and Long-Term Action Division, explained, “We carefully aligned the measured CloudSat profiles with images from MSG.
This helped us understand how the ‘view from top’ and the corresponding cloud profiles were related.
“We then trained machine learning models to understand this mapping and derive cloud profiles from the 2D imagery. This allowed us to extend the CloudSat profiles in both space and time.”
The integration of cutting-edge AI techniques and Earth observation expertise exemplifies how innovative approaches can enhance the value of existing and future satellite missions.
The first animation in the body of this article shows how AI was used on an MSG image (infrared channel) with a co-aligned CloudSat track.
The model learns from the limited overlap of the MSG image and CloudSat track, and is able to extend the vertical cloud profile in space.
The second animation (also featured in the top banner) shows how after the model is trained, predictions can be made for MSG images without corresponding CloudSat tracks, and 3D cloud maps can be created across space and time.
Michael Eisinger, from the EarthCARE project team and also from ESA’s Climate and Long-Term Action Division, added, “EarthCARE has already given us some very promising preliminary data and we are expecting great science from this new satellite mission.
Our work generating these 3D cloud profiles lays the foundation for exploiting EarthCARE from a different angle.
“These new AI methods promise to maximise EarthCARE’s scientific potential and integrate its data into comprehensive global models that will push the boundaries of climate science.”
Michael Eisinger, from the EarthCARE project team and also from ESA’s Climate and Long-Term Action Division, added, “EarthCARE has already given us some very promising preliminary data and we are expecting great science from this new satellite mission.
Our work generating these 3D cloud profiles lays the foundation for exploiting EarthCARE from a different angle.
https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Space_for_our_climate/AI-powered_satellite_data_reveals_clouds_in_3D
Space Meets Sound: NASA Lands in 2024 Spotify Wrapped
Dec 10, 2024
NASA’s audio storytelling reached new frontiers in 2024, with Spotify Wrapped revealing the agency’s podcasts as a favorite among listeners worldwide.
In celebration of the milestone, NASA astronaut Nick Hague spoke with Spotify about what space sounded like this year.
“Music is one of those things that connects us to the planet,” said Hague, in the video released on Spotify and NASA social accounts. “Music is a vital part of life up here.
The soundtrack up here, it’s just going all the time. Everybody’s got their own flavor of music. Every Friday night the crew gets together, we turn on music and we stream things that we like.
Whether they’re into pop or hard rock, it’s an international mix. When I think of space walks, I think of classical music, slow, methodical tunes, because that is the way that we conduct spacewalks.
Slowly and methodically. Classical music captures the essence of, just floating in space.”
With listeners in more than 100 countries, NASA podcasts reached new audiences and inspired people around the world on Spotify this year. Other 2024 highlights included:
Ranked as a top choice for thousands of listeners seeking to learn about science and space. Spent a combined 37 weeks in Spotify’s top charts for science podcasts.
The top streamed podcast was “NASA’s Curious Universe”, and the top streamed episode was “A Year in Mars Dune Alpha.”
“We’re thrilled to have our space-centric content featured in Spotify Wrapped 2024,” said Brittany Brown, director of digital communications, NASA Headquarters in Washington.
“Our collaboration with Spotify is a testament to NASA’s commitment to producing innovative and engaging content.
We’re excited to see how audiences continue to respond to this unique listening experience only NASA can provide.”
The agency’s podcasts cover a wide range of topics, including in-depth conversations with NASA astronauts, stories that take audiences on a tour of the galaxy, and Spanish-language content.
“Music, just like space, connects us all,” said Katie Konans, audio program lead, eMITS contract with NASA. “Our partnership with Spotify has allowed NASA to share the wonder and excitement of space with music and podcast lovers globally.
This year, we’re thrilled to take this connection to new heights by bringing the Spotify Wrapped 2024 conversation beyond planet Earth.”
NASA released its collection of original podcasts on Spotify in 2023, furthering the agency’s mission to engage the Artemis Generation in the science, space exploration, and discovery.
In addition to Spotify, users may find NASA podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Soundcloud.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/space-meets-sound-nasa-lands-in-2024-spotify-wrapped/
https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts/
SpaceX rocket launch tops the Christmas tree at Vandenberg Space Force Base
December 10, 2024
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket shined above a twinkling Christmas tree like a festive tree topper during last week's holiday lighting ceremony at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
SpaceX launched 20 new Starlink internet satellites from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Wednesday (Dec. 4) at 10:05 p.m. EST (7:05 p.m. local California time; 0305 GMT on Dec. 5).
The launch coincided with the annual tree lighting ceremony held at the base to ring in the holiday season.
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink satellites appears as the perfect tree topper in a new photo from the lighting ceremony, which captures the gleaming spacecraft just above an illuminated Christmas tree decked with multi-colored lights.
The annual holiday tree lighting hosted an array of activities including ice skating, food trucks, a Christmas market and a special food and drink menu at the base's Pacific Coast Center, according to a statement from the Vandenberg Space Force Base.
To kick off the event, U.S. Space Force Col. Mark Shoemaker, Space Launch Delta 30 commander, delivered a speech to the assembled personnel and family members.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-rocket-launch-tops-the-christmas-tree-at-vandenberg-space-force-base-photo
Large Hadron Collider finds 1st evidence of the heaviest antimatter particle yet
December 10, 2024
The world's most massive science experiment has done it again, detecting hints of the heaviest antimatter particle ever found.
This means the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful particle accelerator ever built, has given scientists a glimpse into conditions that existed when the universe was less than a second old.
The antimatter particle is the partner of a massive matter particle called hyperhelium-4, and its discovery could help scientists tackle the mystery of why regular matter came to dominate the universe, despite the fact that matter and antimatter were created in equal amounts at the dawn of time.
This imbalance is known as "matter-antimatter asymmetry." Matter particles and antimatter particles annihilate on contact, releasing their energy back into the cosmos.
That implies that if an imbalance between the two hadn't arisen early in the universe, then the cosmos may have been a much emptier and less interesting place indeed.
The LHC is no stranger to paradigm-shifting discoveries about the early universe. Running in a 17-mile (27-kilometer) long loop beneath the Alps near Geneva, Switzerland, the LHC is most famous for its discovery of the Higgs Boson particle, the "messenger" of the Higgs Field responsible for giving other particles their mass at the dawn of time. The collisions that occur at the LHC generate a state of matter called "quark-gluon plasma."
This dense sea of plasma is the same as the "primordial soup" of matter that filled the universe around one-millionth of a second after the Big Bang.
Exotic "hypernuclei" and their antimatter counterparts emerge from this quark-gluon plasma, allowing scientists a glimpse at the conditions of the early universe.
ALICE through the looking glass
Hypernuclei contain protons and neutrons like ordinary atomic nuclei and also unstable particles called "hyperons." Like protons and neutrons, hyperons are composed of fundamental particles called "quarks."
Whereas protons and neutrons contain two types of quarks known as up and down quarks, hyperons contain one or more so-called "strange quarks."
Hypernuclei were first discovered in cosmic rays, showers of charged particles that rain down on Earth from deep space around seven decades ago.
However, they are rarely found in nature and are difficult to create and study in the lab. This has made them somewhat mysterious.
The discovery of the first evidence of the hypernuclei that is an antimatter counterpart of hyperhelium-4 was made at the LHC detector ALICE.
While most of the nine experiments at the LHC, each with its own detector, generate their results by slamming together protons at near the speed of light, the ALICE collaboration creates quark-gluon plasma by slamming together much heavier particles, usually lead nuclei, or "ions."
The collision of iron ions (try saying that ten times fast) is ideal for generating significant amounts of hypernuclei.
Yet until recently, scientists conducting heavy-ion collisions had only succeeded in observing the lightest hypernucleus, hypertriton, and its antimatter partner, antihypertriton.
That was until earlier in 2024 when scientists used the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) in New York to detect antihyperhydrogen-4, which is composed of an antiproton, two antineutrons, and a quark-containing particle called an "antilambda."
Now, ALICE has followed this with the detection of a heavier anti-hypernuclei particle, antihyperhelium-4, composed of two antiprotons, an antineutron, and an antilambda.
The lead-lead collision and the ALICE data that yielded the detection of the heaviest antimatter hypernucleus yet at the LHC actually date back to 2018.
The signature of antihyperhelium-4 was revealed by its decay into other particles and the detection of these particles.
ALICE scientists teased the signature of antihyperhelium-4 out of the data using a machine-learning technique that can outperform the collaboration's usual search techniques.
In addition to spotting evidence of antihyperhelium-4 and antihyperhydrogen-4, the ALICE team was also able to determine their masses, which were in good agreement with current particle physics theories.
The scientists were also able to determine the amounts of these particles produced in lead-lead collisions.
They found these numbers consistent with the ALICE data, which indicates that antimatter and matter are produced in equal amounts from quark-gluon plasma produced at the energy levels the LHC is capable of reaching.
The reason for the universe's matter/antimatter imbalance remains unknown, but antihyperhelium-4 and antihyperhydrogen-4 could provide important clues in this mystery.
https://www.space.com/lhc-alice-antimatter-first-hyperhelium4
Release the bobcat!