Saturday, December 19, 2020

On the Hunt for a Missing Giant Black Hole | NASA

Publisher: NASA
Date: 2020-12-17T10:21-05:00
Twitter: @NASA
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In case you are keeping track:

Black hole in galaxy CQ 4479 is a rare cold quasar

There is nothing black holes love more than star stuff, but one galaxy is spawning stars faster than the supermassive black hole lurking at its core can eat them.

When black holes are feasting on stars, they turn into quasars that glow brighter than anything in the universe. Dust and gas from stars are pulled into a black hole's accretion disc by its monstrous gravity and begin the slow spiral towards its event horizon. Past that point of no return, anything devoured by the black hole supposedly vanishes forever.

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Publisher: SYFY WIRE
Date: 2020-12-18T22:15:00-05:00
Author: Elizabeth Rayne
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What Would Happen If You Fell Into A Black Hole?

Imagine you're an astronaut, floating through the vastness of space—just endless solitude and quiet on all sides. It's peaceful, and a little intimidating.

A new book, Black Hole Survival Guide , explores different theories, most of them grizzly. As the reader traverses one of the great mysteries of the universe, they meet different fates. Author Janna Levin, a physics and astronomy professor at Barnard College at Columbia University in New York, makes a convincing argument that black holes are unfairly maligned—and are actually perfect in their creation.

Publisher: Science Friday
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Black hole goes 'missing' from the centre of distant galaxy Abell 2261 | Science | News

A supermassive black hole with the mass of around 100 billion times that of our Sun is nowhere to be found, NASA has said. At the heart of most galaxies lies a supermassive black hole which keeps galaxies in check with their extraordinary gravitational pulling power.

The black hole found at the heart of a galaxy usually has a mass which correlates with the size of a galactic system.

So when NASA began studying the galaxy cluster Abell 2261, which is located about 2.7 billion light-years from Earth and is around 20 times the diameter of the Milky Way, the space agency expected to find a monster black hole at its core.

Publisher: Express.co.uk
Date: 2020-12-19T11:40:29 00:00
Author: Sean Martin
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And here's another article:

Experiment Changes Understanding Of Black Holes | Black Hole News

Scientists have found that while most black holes follow a particular theorem about what falls inside, a black hole spinning fast enough can extend “hairs” all the way back into regular space.

Think of a black hole like, well, a black box. This idea from engineering and programming posits that a closed system could have almost anything inside, and our only way to scrutinize it is by studying the input and output. In the case of a black hole, what we put in is literally anything , and what we get out is a mere measure of mass only.

Publisher: Popular Mechanics
Date: 2020-12-14 05:06:00
Twitter: @PopMech
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'Missing' supermassive black hole in distant galaxy leaves scientists perplexed

The disappearance of a supermassive black hole — estimated to weigh between 3 billion and 100 billion times the mass of the Sun — has left scientists perplexed.

Despite searching with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have no evidence of the black hole, which should have been present in an enormous galaxy located about 2.7 billion light years from Earth.

Nearly every large galaxy in the universe contains a supermassive black hole at its centre, with a mass that is millions or billions of times that of the Sun.

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Publisher: ThePrint
Date: 2020-12-20T04:49:49 00:00
Twitter: @ThePrintIndia
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Eventide Blackhole review | Guitar World

We have long recognised Eventide's Blackhole algorithm as being more than capable of such inter-dimensional ambience and experimental textures, and to have it in an intuitive standalone pedal format is a real gift from the universe.

First appearing in rackmount processors, Eventide's Blackhole reverb algorithm has been around for some time. While it's recently been available as a plug-in, it was also found in the Space pedal and is a popular fixture in the newer H9 unit.

Publisher: Guitarist Magazine
Date: 2020-12-18T10:39:48 00:00
Author: https www facebook com GuitaristMagazine
Twitter: @Guitarist_Mag
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black hole scientist: Gujarat black hole scientist elected TWAS fellow | Vadodara News - Times
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Publisher: The Times of India
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China is bringing the Moon back to Earth

Eisenhower embarked on what he called his "Atoms for Peace" program, with commercial nuclear energy powering cities around the world as its big idea. The Duquesne Light Company out of Pittsburgh suggested an intriguing idea: What if they took a large-scale light water reactor for a proposed military aircraft carrier and used it for peaceful purposes? Eisenhower loved the idea, appearing at the groundbreaking ceremony of what would become the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in 1954.

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Publisher: Inverse
Twitter: @inversedotcom
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Many things are taking place:

Chinese space probe returns to Earth with samples from the moon

A Chinese space probe successfully returned to Earth on Wednesday with samples from the moon, making China only the third country in history to accomplish such a mission.

China's Chang'e 5 spacecraft landed in the Inner Mongolia region after a 23-day mission to collect lunar rocks from the near side of the moon. It's the first time moon samples have been returned to Earth in nearly 50 years. China now joins the ranks of the U.S. and the former Soviet Union in pulling off the feat.

Publisher: NBC News
Date: Wed Dec 16 2020 19:58:00 GMT 0000 UTC
Twitter: @NBCNews
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Nuclear power push could mean quicker trips to moon, Mars | Tom Roeder | Military | gazette.com

Tom Roeder is the Gazette's senior military editor. In Colorado Springs since 2003, Tom covers seven military installations in Colorado, including five in the Pikes Peak region. His main job, though, is being dad to two great kids.

A Gazette investigation shows an increasing number of soldiers, including wounded combat veterans, are being kicked out of the service for misconduct, often with no benefits, as the Army downsizes after a decade of war.

Publisher: Colorado Springs Gazette
Author: Tom Roeder tom roeder gazette com
Twitter: @csgazette
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Jupiter and Saturn swing by the moon this week ahead of a 'Great Conjunction' | Space

This week Jupiter and Saturn are low in the southwest during the chilly December dusk. When this month began, they were separated by 2.1 degrees.

But in the days that followed, they have been slowly approaching each other; getting closer by about 0.1 degrees each day on their way toward the long-awaited " great conjunction " next Monday evening (Dec. 21). Their inching closer to each other will be further enlivened by the passage on Wednesday and Thursday evenings (Dec. 16-17) of a foreground waxing crescent moon.

Publisher: Space.com
Date: 2020-12-16T12:37:19 00:00
Author: https www facebook com spacecom
Twitter: @SPACEdotcom
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Quite a lot has been going on:

Could the first lunar habitat be 3D-printed with moon dust? - CNN Style
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Publisher: CNN
Date: 2020-12-18T01:45:28Z
Author: By Rebecca Cairns
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NASA SLS megarocket for the moon resumes testing after equipment hiccup | Space

Days after NASA signed two international memoranda of agreement related to missions for the Artemis moon program, there's good news on offer for its delayed Space Launch System rocket testing.

"Green run" tests on the new Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket, which is scheduled for its debut launch in November 2021, are moving forward again after problems with ground equipment earlier this month pushed the testing behind, NASA announced Thursday (Dec. 17).

Publisher: Space.com
Date: 2020-12-19T12:11:02 00:00
Author: https www facebook com spacecom
Twitter: @SPACEdotcom
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White House Launches Plan for a Nuclear Power System on the Moon - Nextgov

In journeys into space environments too harsh for more common power sources—or so deep that it's too dark for solar power or too far to bring much fuel—space nuclear systems can offer a useful means to power spacecraft. They include radioisotope power systems and nuclear reactors for power generation and propulsion.

"Nuclear power in a variety of ways is going to be important for the moon. As we look towards having a more robust science and more permanent human presence there on the lunar surface, then the fission reactor sizes that we are talking about are needed," an official said. "So, I think we start with putting a power reactor on the moon. That will in turn support a surface architecture."

Publisher: Nextgov.com
Date: 2020-12-17T16:46:51 00:00
Author: Brandi Vincent
Twitter: @nextgov
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The real color of the moon -- and why it's probably not what you think

Look up at the moon and you’ll probably see a yellowish or white disk, pockmarked by darker structures. But despite this first-glance appearance, the moon isn’t exactly yellow nor bright white. It’s more of a dark grey, mixed in with some white, black, and even a bit of orange — and all this is caused by its geology.

* * *

The moon appears to shine because it reflects light from the Sun — it doesn’t actually produce any light of its own. It doesn’t even reflect that much light to begin with — just 3 to 12% of the sunlight that hits it gets reflected.

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Publisher: ZME Science
Date: 2020-12-17T19:10:08 00:00
Author: https www facebook com profile php id 100000131447897
Twitter: @zmescience
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So 'asteroid' 2020 SO was actually 1960s space junk. It may be the first of many to come. | Space

The detective story of 2020 SO, an erstwhile asteroid now formally identified as a 54-year-old piece of space junk, sounds like a wild yarn today but may become the first installment in a long series of such puzzles.

The object dubbed 2020 SO was spotted in September by an asteroid survey, but there was always something a little fishy about the space rock. One NASA expert theorized simply from its orbit that it was likely an upper-stage rocket body from the 1966 launch of a lunar mission called Surveyor 2. By the end of November, additional observations of the object had cemented its status as decades-old space junk wandering back for a surprise visit of its planet of origin.

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Publisher: Space.com
Date: 2020-12-16T12:14:39 00:00
Author: https www facebook com spacecom
Twitter: @SPACEdotcom
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In case you are keeping track:

Asteroid Dust Recovered from Japan's Daring Hayabusa2 Mission - Scientific American

Japan’s mission to bring asteroid dust back to Earth has succeeded. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed on 14 December that a capsule from spacecraft Hayabusa2, which landed in an Australian desert last week, contained black grains from asteroid Ryugu.

“The confirmation of sample is a very important milestone for us and for JAXA,” says Yuichi Tsuda, project manager for the mission at JAXA, in Sagamihara.

The samples from Ryugu could give researchers important insights into the early evolution of planets, and help to explain the origins of water on Earth.

Publisher: Scientific American
Author: Smriti Mallapaty Nature magazine
Twitter: @sciam
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For the Second Time Ever, an Asteroid Sample Returns to Earth | WIRED

"We're hoping to learn a lot about how a giant cloud of gas and dust turned into planets 4.5 billion years ago in our solar system," says Larry Nittler, a cosmochemist at the Carnegie Institution for Science and one of nine American scientists selected by NASA to participate in the Japanese mission. "Ryugu and other asteroids like it are basically the leftover building blocks that didn't grow into planets and have been floating around ever since."

Carbonaceous asteroids like Ryugu are abundant in our solar system, but they mostly hang out around the outer planets. Every now and then, they bump into each other, break apart, and the pieces are sent on a trajectory toward the sun's inner sanctum. If those pieces happen to collide with Earth, we call them meteorites. Almost everything we know about them is from the bits and pieces that make it to the surface.

Publisher: Wired
Author: Daniel Oberhaus
Twitter: @wired
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NASA: Mystery object is 54-year-old rocket, not asteroid

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A mysterious object temporarily orbiting Earth is a 54-year-old rocket, not an asteroid after all, astronomers confirmed Wednesday.

Observations by a telescope in Hawaii clinched its identity, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

The object was classified as an asteroid after its discovery in September. But NASA's top asteroid expert, Paul Chodas, quickly suspected it was the Centaur upper rocket stage from Surveyor 2, a failed 1966 moon-landing mission. Size estimates had put it in the range of the old Centaur, which was about 32 feet (10 meters) long and 10 feet (3 meters) in diameter.

Publisher: AP NEWS
Date: 2020-12-02T22:06:55Z
Twitter: @ap
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Were you following this:

Hayabusa2 returned with 5 grams of asteroid soil, far more than target | The Japan Times

The capsule brought back by the Hayabusa2 space probe contained more than 5.4 grams of soil samples from a distant asteroid, exceeding the original target of 0.1 gram, Japan’s space agency has said.

The soil samples from the Ryugu asteroid were in three chambers of a storage container within the capsule that was returned to Earth earlier this month, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Friday, adding that more material was found outside the chambers.

Publisher: The Japan Times
Date: 2020-12-19T09:07:56 09:00
Twitter: @japantimes
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Bloomberg - Are you a robot?
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Two Pune students discover 6 preliminary asteroid : The Tribune India

Two students from a school in Lohegaon in Pune have discovered six preliminary asteroids in the Kalam Centre Asteroid Search Campaign organized by Kalam Centre and the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC).

In a release issued on Saturday, the Vikhe Patil School said Arya Pulate and Shreya Waghmare discovered the asteroids, adding that all 22 participants in the campaign were selected after a rigorous screening process through a worldwide event organised between November 9 and December 3.

Publisher: Tribuneindia News Service
Author: Tribune News Service
Twitter: @&via=thetribunechd
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Through the eyes of a robot, scientists see an asteroid in unprecedented detail

On February 21, 2019 , Japanese astronomers performed a theft that made history. A Japanese spacecraft touched down on asteroid Ryugu , quickly snatched a piece of the space rock and fled the scene.

The act was caught on camera, and in May of this year, scientists from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency released the footage, giving us our first up-close-and-personal encounter with the surface of an asteroid. As the year comes to a close, researchers around the world are starting to look forward to getting even closer — by analyzing the sample itself.

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Publisher: Inverse
Twitter: @inversedotcom
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Happening on Twitter

Space Force official: Russian missile tests expose vulnerability of low-orbiting satellites  -

WASHINGTON — Russia on Dec. 15 conducted a ballistic missile test that U.S. Space Command condemned as a threat to satellites in orbit.

"The nation must do something about this," said Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno, director of staff of the Office of the Chief of Space Operations of the U.S. Space Force.

Speaking Dec. 16 at a Washington Space Business Roundtable virtual event, Armagno said the recent Russian missile test shows how vulnerable satellites are, and validates the decision to establish a military space service focused on defending U.S. space systems.

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Publisher: SpaceNews
Date: 2020-12-16T21:43:23 00:00
Author:
Twitter: @SpaceNews_Inc
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Check out this next:

Politics of Orbits: Will We Meet Halfway? - Journal #114 December 2020 - e-flux

An artist's rendition of "The Behemoth," an enormous comet-like cloud of hydrogen bleeding off of a warm, Neptune-sized planet. Also depicted is the parent star, which is a faint red dwarf named GJ 436. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI).

Transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, isolated from a patient. Image captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Credit: NIAID /  CC BY 2.0 .

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NASA Launched a Rocket 54 Years Ago. Has It Finally Come Home? - The New York Times

Dec. 2: This article has been updated with information about additional observations completed by astronomers after it was published.

It was after midnight on Sept. 19 and Paul Chodas, the manager of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., was working late, studying an object called 2020 SO that other astronomers had spotted in the night skies just the day before. Something about its orbit was peculiar.

Date: 2020-12-01T15:11:09.000Z
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Jupiter and Saturn Conjunction: How to See It on Monday | KQED

On the evening of Dec. 21, the planets Jupiter and Saturn will appear closer together than in almost 800 years, only a tenth of a degree apart, or one-fifth the width of the full moon. They won’t be this close again until March 2080.

This juxtaposition of giants will shine like few things you’ve seen in the sky, and offers a rare sight through the eyepiece of even a small telescope.

* * *

Since before the pandemic began, Jupiter and Saturn have crept closer and closer together, first appearing back in February, rising with the dawn.

Publisher: KQED
Twitter: @kqed
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Check out this next:

A pair of lonely planet-like objects born like stars -- ScienceDaily

Star-forming processes sometimes create mysterious astronomical objects called brown dwarfs, which are smaller and colder than stars, and can have masses and temperatures down to those of exoplanets in the most extreme cases. Just like stars, brown dwarfs often wander alone through space, but can also be seen in binary systems, where two brown dwarfs orbit one another and travel together in the galaxy.

Researchers led by Clémence Fontanive from the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) and the NCCR PlanetS discovered a curious starless binary system of brown dwarfs. The system CFHTWIR-Oph 98 (or Oph 98 for short) consists of the two very low-mass objects Oph 98 A and Oph 98 B. It is located 450 light years away from Earth in the stellar association Ophiuchus.

Publisher: ScienceDaily
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Low-orbit satellites key to new Ohio broadband pilot

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Low-orbiting satellites floating less than 600 miles (965 kilometers) above Earth are key to a new broadband technology that Ohio will test early next year in hopes of eventually offering it more widely.

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted announced the pilot program Wednesday. The Republican said that if the new concept is successful it can help the state get service to remote regions, particularly in Appalachia, where a lack of high-speed internet has stymied economic development, education and health care for decades.

Publisher: dayton-daily-news
Twitter: @dayton-daily-news
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China roadmaps ambitious space projects, starting with 11 launches in next two years - Global

China's Chang'e-5 successfully landed at its designated landing area in Siwangzi Banner, N China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region around 2 am Thursday, carrying around 2 kgs of lunar samples. Photos show workers checking craft's status. Photo: Our Space/ Wang Jiangbo

Technical personnel work at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing on December 1. China's Chang'e-5 spacecraft successfully landed on the near side of the moon late Tuesday and sent back images. Photo: CNSA

Author: Global Times
Twitter: @globaltimesnews
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Planet 9, a Black Hole Mystery, and Planets Beyond – Now. Powered by Northrop Grumman

Is the mysterious, much-searched-for Planet 9 (also known as Planet X) really a black hole no larger than a grapefruit? Reports to that effect have caused a stir online, especially when they appear in highly regarded sources such as Science magazine.

The scientific search for a ninth planet — or, possibly, a black hole counterpart — remains inconclusive and uncertain. Even the boundary between speculation and discovery can be faint and hard to define, and the choices of what possibilities to explore can be as challenging as the exploration itself.

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Publisher: Now. Powered by Northrop Grumman
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Happening on Twitter

Friday, December 18, 2020

Detailing the Formation of Distant Solar Systems with Webb Telescope | NASA

Detailing the Formation of Distant Solar Systems with Webb Telescope | NASA
Publisher: NASA
Date: 2020-12-15T13:22-05:00
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In case you are keeping track:

Researchers discover a new superhighway system in the Solar System

Researchers have discovered a new superhighway network to travel through the Solar System much faster than was previously possible. Such routes can drive comets and asteroids near Jupiter to Neptune’s distance  in under a decade and to 100 astronomical units in less than a century.

In their paper, published in the Nov. 25 issue of Science Advances, the researchers observed the dynamical structure of these routes, forming a connected series of arches inside what’s known as space manifolds that extend from the asteroid belt to Uranus and beyond.

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Scientists discover superhighway network which can be used to travel through the Solar System-

Scientists have now discovered a superhigh network to travel through the Solar System much faster than was earlier thought possible. As per study authors, such routes can drive comets and asteroids near Jupiter to Neptune in under a decade and to 100 astronomical units in less than a century. Study authors say that they could be used to send spacecraft to the extreme ends of the planetary system relatively fast and also monitor near-Earth objects.

This image is the combination of near-ultraviolet data, shown in yellow, and far-ultraviolet data, shown in blue. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Publisher: Tech2
Date: 2020-12-16 12:32:07 05:30
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Scientists Detect First Potential Radio Signal From Exoplanet in Different Solar System

Washington: An international team of scientists has collected the first possible radio signal from a planet beyond our solar system, emanating from an exoplanet system about 51 light-years away. Also Read - Aliens Exist & They Are Secretly in Touch With Israel & America, Claims Ex-Israeli Space Chief; Says Donald Trump Knows About It

Using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), a radio telescope in the Netherlands, the researchers uncovered emission bursts from the Tau Bootes star-system hosting a so-called hot Jupiter, a gaseous giant planet that is very close to its own sun. Also Read - Elon Musk Claims That Pyramids Were 'Obviously' Built by Aliens, Gets Invite From Egypt to Visit Them

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Publisher: India News, Breaking News, Entertainment News | India.com
Date: 2020-12-18T14:36:10 05:30
Author: https www india com author pti feeds
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Quite a lot has been going on:

'Great Conjunction' 2020: NASA tips to see Jupiter and Saturn shine as a 'Christmas Star' | Space

Jupiter and Saturn will align in the night sky on Dec. 21 in an event astronomers call the " great conjunction " — also referred to as the "Christmas Star" — marking the planets' closest encounter in nearly 400 years.

When Saturn and Jupiter converge on Dec. 21, the two planets may appear as a bright point of light that will be easily visible in the night sky. The two planets have slowly been moving closer to each other over the past few weeks.

Publisher: Space.com
Date: 2020-12-18T17:32:49 00:00
Author: https www facebook com spacecom
Twitter: @SPACEdotcom
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Billionaires Want to Be the Gatekeepers of the Solar System - In These Times

Space is our birthright. ​ " Amer­i­cans should have the right to engage in com­mer­cial explo­ration, recov­ery and use of resources in out­er space," Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump wrote April 6 , 2020 , issu­ing the ​ " Exec­u­tive Order on Encour­ag­ing Inter­na­tion­al Sup­port for the Recov­ery and Use of Space Resources." In the stroke of a pen, Trump plant­ed the U.S. flag on ​ " the Moon, Mars and oth­er celes­tial bodies." 

As Trump declared these space lands and resources open for busi­ness, you could hear the cheers — most­ly from ​ " moon­shot" cor­po­ra­tions that have clam­ored to sweep away the patchy, unreg­u­lar­ized Cold War-era space law in favor of new, unreg­u­lat­ed cor­po­rate plun­der of the solar system. 

Publisher: In These Times
Twitter: @InTheseTimesMag
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Jupiter, Saturn merging in night sky, closest in centuries

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Jupiter and Saturn will merge in the night sky Monday, appearing closer to one another than they have since Galileo's time in the 17th century.

Astronomers say so-called conjunctions between the two largest planets in our solar system aren't particularly rare. Jupiter passes its neighbor Saturn in their respective laps around the sun every 20 years.

But the one coming up is especially close: Jupiter and Saturn will be just one-tenth of a degree apart from our perspective or about one-fifth the width of a full moon. They should be easily visible around the world a little after sunset, weather permitting.

Publisher: https://www.whsv.com
Twitter: @WHSVnews
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Our solar system might be a lot hairer than previously thought - Tech Explorist

A new illustration released by NASA shows that our home planet Earth is surrounded by theoretical filaments of dark matter called “hairs.”

The data on hairy dark matter is based on a study by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Gary Prézeau, that appeared in a 2015 article in the Astrophysical Journal.

Neither dark matter nor dark energy has ever been directly detected, although many experiments try to unlock the mysteries of dark matter, whether from deep underground or in space.

Publisher: Tech Explorist
Date: 2020-12-16T08:05:03 00:00
Author: https www facebook com malewar amit
Twitter: @TechExplorist
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Happening on Twitter

’Christmas star’ conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter to land on winter solstice - The Washington Post

Dec. 21 marks the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and the start of astronomical winter. This year's winter solstice will be a bit special, though, with the darkness punctuated by a rare planetary conjunction.

Jupiter and Saturn will rendezvous in the night sky on Monday and may appear joined as one "double planet." It's been nearly eight centuries since the pair of planets appeared this close together in the night sky. In 1623, a similar conjunction of the planets occurred, but on the same side of the sky as the sun; that meant the conjunction wasn't visible from Earth.

Publisher: Washington Post
Date: 2020-12-17T21:03:56.759Z
Twitter: @WashingtonPost
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And here's another article:

Mysterious Planet Nine discovery may be forthcoming after bizarre exoplanet found in deep space |

Although scientists have yet to find the elusive Planet 9, a recently discovered exoplanet in deep space may provide further evidence the mysterious celestial object indeed exists.

The exoplanet HD 106906 b is 336 light years from Earth and has a bizarre orbit around its pair of host stars, going around once every 15,000 years, according to a study published in  The Astronomical Journal .

First discovered in 2013, the exoplanet is massive, at 11 times the size of Jupiter . Yet, it was only recently, thanks to measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope, that scientists were able to see its elongated -- 730 times the distance between the Earth and the sun -- and inclined orbit, unlike any of the known planets in the Solar System.

Publisher: Fox News
Date: 2020-12-16
Twitter: @foxnews
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Mars lander spies the planet's deep boundaries | Science

For 2 years, NASA's InSight spacecraft has been on the surface of Mars, spending much of that time listening with sensitive seismometers for marsquakes to glean the planet's internal structure, and the processes that in turn formed it. That hunt has been harder than hoped, because of howling winds, defiant martian soil, and a mysterious absence of large marsquakes that could easily be located by the spacecraft.

Publisher: Science
Date: 2020-12-18
Author: Copyright 2020 The Authors some rights reserved exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science No claim to original U S Government Works
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Scientist believe they've detected mysterious radio signal from alien planet

According to Meghan Bartels with Space.com, astronomers' research led them to uncovering a particularly interesting radio signal coming from a star system named Tau Boötes that has at least one exoplanet.

* * *

Scientists think they've detected radio emissions from an alien world https://t.co/JqXXI35qZG pic.twitter.com/JHTPNNcIvQ

"We present one of the first hints of detecting an exoplanet in the radio realm," Jake Turner, an astronomer at Cornell University told the Cornell Chronicle's Blaine Friedlander .

Publisher: Chron
Date: 2020-12-18 17:43:31
Author: Sonia Ramirez
Twitter: @houstonchron
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Quite a lot has been going on:

Discovery of exoplanet's bizarre orbit may help us track down Planet Nine - BBC Science Focus

Since 2014, scientists have debated whether the elusive Planet Nine really exists, as its proposed orbit is so different from the eight planets we know. It is thought that Planet Nine travels round the Sun with a highly elliptical motion. Now, a team of astronomers have provided evidence that the theorised orbit of Planet Nine exists for an exoplanet elsewhere in the Universe.

Analysing 14 years of data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope , researchers led by Meiji Nguyen of the University of California, Berkeley, showed that such an elliptical orbit exists in an exoplanet , a planet outside of our Solar System , called HD 106906 b. Granted, it's not the catchiest of names but this exoplanet's observations could change our understanding of our Solar System and the beginning of the Universe.

Publisher: BBC Science Focus Magazine
Twitter: @sciencefocus
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Rare 'Christmas Star' will appear next week as planets align

BATON ROUGE – A bright sight that hasn't been seen since the middle ages will be happening again Monday, right in time for the Christmas holiday. Saturn and Jupiter’s orbits will be aligning putting them the closest planets have been in 800 years.

“It will look like a very bright object in the sky. It won’t look like a star in the sense of twinkling, because they are planets. But, they will have to be separated by a binocular. That’s how close they’ll be,” said Chris Kersey, the manager at the Highland Park Road Observatory.

Publisher: WBRZ
Date: 2020-12-18
Twitter: @wbrz
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Planet-nine analog exoplanet orbits a double star system | Popular Science
Publisher: Popular Science
Twitter: @popsci
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Astronomers Have Found Planet 9... in Another Solar System - Universe Today

Even with all we’ve learned about our own Solar System, especially in the last couple of decades, researchers still face many unanswered questions. One of those questions regards the so-called Planet Nine . The Planet Nine hypothesis states that there’s a massive planet in our Solar System orbiting at a great distance from the Sun.

Nobody’s ever observed the hypothesized planet; the evidence for it lies in a cluster of bodies that orbit the Sun 250 times further out than Earth does. These objects are called e-TNOs, for extreme Trans-Neptunian Objects . According to the hypothesis, Planet Nine’s gravity is responsible for the unusual clustered orbits of these e-TNOs.

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Publisher: Universe Today
Date: 2020-12-17T15:24:51-05:00
Author: https www facebook com evan gough 3
Reference: (Read more) Visit Source



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