Every week, the readers of our space newsletter, The Airlock , send in their questions for space reporter Neel V. Patel to answer. This week: the long-term effects of the expansion of the universe.
I was wondering, if the universe keeps expanding, is there a relatively predictable time frame when planets won't be able to revolve around a star because there is not enough gravitational pull? Also, does the expansion mean that eventually stargazing will be a thing of the past? — Sahil
Check out this next:
Record-Holding Moon Mission Marks a Decade in Orbit | Space
Among the dozens of spacecraft that have visited the moon, none can come close to the tenure of NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter , which recently marked a decade studying our sibling world.
The spacecraft, nicknamed LRO, began its work in lunar orbit in September 2009. Since then, the spacecraft has circled the moon again and again. Its work is repetitive but far from dull. On each circuit, the scientists watching its data from home can identify differences on the lunar surface as meteorites, and occasionally spacecraft, slam into the moon. The ability to see changes over time is what makes LRO's longevity so valuable to scientists.
That Tiny Dot? It's the 2019 Transit of Mercury - The New York Times
Mercury is the fastest planet, and if it orbited on the same plane as Earth we would see it pass in front of the sun every 166 days.
But Mercury's orbit is tipped, so we only see it cross the sun in the rare November or May when Mercury rises or falls directly between the Earth and sun.
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Mercury will appear as a tiny black dot at 7:35 a.m. Eastern time. Its full transit across the sun will take five and a half hours.
Engineering spin-orbit synthetic Hamiltonians in liquid-crystal optical cavities | Science
The coupling of the spin-orbit interactions in solid-state systems can give rise to a wide range of exotic electronic transport effects. But solid-state systems tend to be somewhat limited in their flexibility because the spin-orbit coupling is fixed. By contrast, optical systems have recently been shown to mimic complex solid-state systems, with flexibility in design providing the ability to control and manipulate the system properties.
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By Katarzyna Rechcińska , Mateusz Król , Rafał Mazur , Przemysław Morawiak , Rafał Mirek , Karolina Łempicka , Witold Bardyszewski , Michał Matuszewski , Przemysław Kula , Wiktor Piecek , Pavlos G. Lagoudakis , Barbara Piętka , Jacek Szczytko
Quite a lot has been going on:
Why Low-Earth Orbit Satellites Are the New Space Race - The Washington Post
In a world divided between digital haves and have-nots, billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson are trying to close the gap. The three entrepreneurs separately aim to launch thousands of small satellites to zip around the globe in what's known as low-Earth orbit, or LEO. Their plan is to prosper by offering high-end data services to stock traders and others willing to pay richly to shave a few milliseconds off their transmission times.
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LEO satellites operate from 500 kilometers (310 miles) to 2,000 kilometers above the Earth's surface. Traditional communication satellites are stationed far higher, at roughly 36,000 kilometers: They travel in so-called geosynchronous orbits, moving at the speed of the Earth's rotation and appearing to float motionless above a fixed point.
Telesat LEO manufacturing decision bumped to 2020 - SpaceNews.com
WASHINGTON — Telesat Canada will likely choose the winner of a now three-way race to build its low Earth orbit broadband constellation in the first few months of 2020 instead of this year, CEO Dan Goldberg said Nov. 5.
Goldberg, in an earnings call, said Telesat still anticipates having 200 satellites orbiting in 2022 and 300 satellites in 2023 despite taking longer than expected to choose a manufacturer.
Telesat had anticipated choosing between Airbus Defence and Space and a team formed by Maxar Technologies and Thales Alenia Space by the end of this year. But that was before Maxar Technologies and Thales Alenia Space split , opting to compete separately for a contract worth an estimated $3 billion.
NASA Astronaut Prepares for Space Station Mission Marked by Changes | Space
The International Space Station will reach an interesting point in its history around the 20th anniversary of continuous human occupation due to the commercial crew program.
In October 2020 (just before the anniversary on Nov. 2), NASA's two-time space veteran Chris Cassidy will leave the orbiting complex in a Russian Soyuz with rookie Russian cosmonauts Nikolai Tikhonov and Andrei Babkin. The trio, who make up the Expedition 62/63 crew, is expected to fly up in April and remain about five months, although dates are always subject to complex scheduling. Their journey will be one of the last in the current pattern of space station operations.
Happening on Twitter
Don't discount yourself. There is a blessing on your life put there by the Creator of the Universe. It's not natura… https://t.co/IleLWnkZJo JoelOsteen Thu Nov 07 13:17:00 +0000 2019
Shepard. Alliance. Normandy. Spectre. Ryder. Initiative. Tempest. Pathfinder. Here's to the heroes of the unive… https://t.co/7d69idOsIv bioware (from Edmonton, Austin) Thu Nov 07 21:30:08 +0000 2019
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