Space

It's easy to think about the creation of the Universe like exploding fireworks: Start with a big bang, and then all the galaxies in the Universe fly out in all directions from some central point.

Thanks to its newly tilted orbit around the Sun, the European Space Agency-led Solar Orbiter spacecraft is the first to image the Sun’s poles from outside the ecliptic plane. Solar Orbiter’s unique viewing angle will change our understanding of the Sun’s magnetic field, the solar cycle and the workings of space weather. Read More From ESA.

A black hole has blasted out a surprisingly powerful jet in the distant universe, according to a new study from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and discussed in our latest press release. This jet exists early enough in the cosmos that it is being illuminated by the leftover glow from the big bang itself.

Honestly a little disappointed

This week Ayers has a time-lapse sequence she captured from the Cupola as the International Space Station soared near Central and South America.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/30686153

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronomers have discovered a strange new object in our Milky Way galaxy.

In the world of black holes, there are generally three size categories: stellar-mass black holes (about five to 50 times the mass of the sun), supermassive black holes (millions to billions of times the mass of the sun), and intermediate-mass black holes with masses somewhere in between.

The James Webb Space Telescope's deepest view of a single target yet depicts spinning arcs of light that are galaxies from the universe's distant past, the European Space Agency said Tuesday.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/30532739

There are currently two major approaches to calculating how fast our universe is expanding.

According to data from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes, the origins of the free-flying photons in the early cosmic dawn were small dwarf galaxies that flared to life, clearing the fog of murky hydrogen that filled intergalactic space..."They produce ionizing photons that transform neutral hydrogen into ionized plasma during cosmic reionization. It highlights the importance of understanding low-mass galaxies in shaping the Universe's history."...Scientists thought that the sources responsible for most of the clearing must have been powerful – huge black holes whose accretion produces blazing light, for example, and large galaxies in the throes of star formation (baby stars produce a lot of UV light)...Surprisingly, [JWST]'s observations now suggest that dwarf galaxies are the key player in reionization...""Despite their tiny size, these low-mass galaxies are prolific producers of energetic radiation, and their abundance during this period is so substantial that their collective influence can transform the entire state of the Universe.""

Paywall Bypass Link: https://archive.is/Qgex2

A Kiwi-built amateur rocket is believed to have set a record as not just the country's first but one of the fastest launched into space — all with home brewed beer and gin onboard.

Is frozen water scattered in systems around other stars? Astronomers have long expected it is, partially based on previous detections of its gaseous form, water vapor, and its presence in our own solar system.

Spacecraft are expensive and intricately engineered machines designed to perform complex missions in harsh space environments. They're costly and require a long time to design and build. Due to their uniqueness and high value, and the need to keep them sterilized, they're assembled in clean rooms that limit the amount of dust and microbes. New research shows that microbes are adapting to these clean rooms and learning how to thrive in them.

Saturn’s moon Titan is an intriguing world cloaked in a yellowish, smoggy haze. Similar to Earth, the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and has weather, including clouds and rain. Unlike Earth, whose weather is driven by evaporating and condensing water, frigid Titan has a methane cycle.

Analyzing gravity data collected by spacecraft orbiting other worlds reveals groundbreaking insights about planetary structures without having to land on the surface.

Using archival data from the mission, launched in 1989, researchers have uncovered new evidence that tectonic activity may be deforming the planet’s surface.