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Earthsky
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Image Credit: Earthsky
See the best northern lights photos of 2024
- The year 2024 has been an incredible year for seeing auroras, particularly on May 10 and October 10. Capture the Atlas announced its 2024 Northern Lights Photographer of the Year contest. The annual edition showcases 25 of the best aurora photos taken from all over the world.
- The submissions here encompass both the northern and southern lights. Herry Himanshu captured an image in Banff National Park, Canada, featuring vivid hues of reds, pinks and purples dancing across the sky. Sergey Korolev captured an image in Russia emphasizing the northern lights serving as a complement to the landscape.
- Henry Frakes captured an image at Mount Aspiring National Park, New Zealand being passionate about both the night sky and climbing. Max Trafford captured an image from Dartmoor National Park, United Kingdom after a steady stream of aurora alerts on the phone.
- Janis Palulis captured an image from Bauska, Latvia highlighting a pink glow in the corner of the sky. Uroš Fink captured an image from Istria, Croatia having the closest conjunction of Jupiter and Mars right along the path of the zodiacal light.
- Edén Sánchez captured an image from Asturias, Spain as seeing the northern lights with such intensity in Asturias is a dream come true. Josh Beames captured an image from Iceland during his annual Iceland workshop.
- Tom Rae captured an image at Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park in New Zealand in May 2024 featuring a rare stable auroral red (SAR) arc, an atmospheric phenomenon that added to the spectacle, alongside the glow of billions of stars in the Milky Way.
- If anyone has a great image of the aurora to share, they can be submitted to EarthSky Community Photos. To see some of the best northern lights photos in the world, you can check Capture the Atlas's website.
- EarthSky’s 2025 Lunar Calendar is available now, which is a unique and beautiful poster-sized calendar making a great gift.
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Earthsky
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Image Credit: Earthsky
Are primordial black holes hiding in plain sight?
- Scientists have theorized about primordial black holes for decades, but none have been found yet.
- A new theoretical study suggests that traces of primordial black holes could be found in objects like hollow planetoids in space, rocks, metal or glass on Earth.
- Primordial black holes are smaller black holes than those formed by collapsing stars and could have been formed soon after the Big Bang from denser regions of space.
- The black holes could absorb a planetoid's liquid core or leave behind tunnels in much smaller object.
- Finding these signatures is rare, but searching for them wouldn't require much resources and would have a high payoff - the first evidence of primordial black holes.
- The researchers estimated the probability of finding black hole tunnels in old material to be 0.000001.
- These experiments would cost very little and could lead to a new theoretical framework for seemingly implausible physics concepts.
- The chances of primordial black holes passing through humans are unlikely, but even if they did, they would be unnoticeable. Human tissue has some tension that would contain the kinetic energy.
- The researchers wonder how big hollow planetoids could be. As it turned out, no larger than about 1/10 the diameter of Earth.
- The new study offers a new way to detect and search for primordial black holes that astronomers have theorized about for decades but haven't been able to find.
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Knowridge
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Image Credit: Knowridge
The Moon’s oldest crater reveals new secrets about its past
- The South Pole-Aitken basin is the moon’s largest and oldest visible crater, formed around 4 billion years ago.
- A new study challenges the previous belief that the crater was oval-shaped, suggesting it is more circular due to a more direct impact.
- The discovery has implications for future lunar missions as the debris from the impact would have been spread more evenly, giving astronauts an opportunity to study materials from deep inside the moon.
- The study also supports recent findings of minerals near the South Pole that seem to have come from the moon’s mantle, confirming the idea of a more vertical impact.
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Livescience
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Image Credit: Livescience
Space photo of the week: Astronaut spots 2 nearby galaxies from SpaceX capsule
- Astronaut Don Pettit captures an image of the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud from SpaceX capsule docked to the International Space Station.
- The two dwarf satellite galaxies are part of the Milky Way's neighborhood called the Local Group, which includes more than 50 other galaxies.
- The Magellanic Clouds can only be seen from the Southern Hemisphere or from space.
- The image taken by Pettit showcases the irregular shapes of the Magellanic Clouds, which contain billions of stars.
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Earthsky
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Image Credit: Earthsky
Messier objects are fuzzy patches in the night sky
- The complete list of 110 Messier objects is called the Messier Catalog and they are classified in three broad categories, as either nebulae, star clusters or galaxies.
- A small telescope can easily observe Messier objects and a few are visible using only binoculars or even just the eye alone.
- In addition, every year in March, all 110 Messier objects are visible during a single night and this is called Messier marathon.
- Out of the 110 Messier objects, 41 are Messier’s observations and he only could observe the entire northern celestial hemisphere and about half of the southern sky.
- Messier objects all appear as fuzzy, nebulous patches in the sky and are perfect for beginning stargazers.
- Ironically, Charles Messier never intended to compile a list of deep-sky objects and is remembered more for his Messier catalog than for his comet discoveries.
- Messier objects have common names in addition to their numbers, such as the Pleiades, aka the 7 Sisters.
- Finding Messier objects is an ideal project for the beginning stargazer.
- Messier 45, the Pleiades, is one of the objects that can be observed using only binoculars or even just the eye alone.
- Useful references for Messier objects include the book Deep-Sky Companions: The Messier objects and NASA's photographic gallery of some Messier objects from the Hubble Space Telescope.
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Universe Today
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Image Credit: Universe Today
Using Jupiter as a Dark Matter Detector
- Researchers propose using Jupiter as a dark matter detector.
- Jupiter's gravity can capture dark matter particles, which may emit detectable neutrinos.
- A water Cherenkov detector can be used to observe excess neutrinos from Jupiter.
- Jupiter's low core temperature and strong gravitational field make it an ideal location for detecting dark matter.
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Livescience
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Image Credit: Livescience
Solar system quiz: How well do you know our cosmic neighborhood?
- The solar system is comprised of the sun and eight planets, categorized into rocky inner planets, gas giants, and ice giants.
- Previously, there were nine planets until Pluto was removed from the planetary club.
- Take the solar system quiz to test your knowledge of our cosmic neighborhood.
- Explore more quizzes related to space and astronomy.
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Universe Today
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Image Credit: Universe Today
NASA has Plans for More Cargo Deliveries to the Moon
- NASA plans to award Blue Origin and SpaceX additional work under their existing contracts to develop landers for cargo deliveries to the lunar surface.
- The decision builds on NASA's request for the two companies to develop cargo versions of their Human Landing Systems concepts for future Artemis missions.
- Two heavy payload missions are planned, with SpaceX delivering a pressurized rover in 2032 and Blue Origin delivering a lunar habitat in 2033.
- NASA aims to optimize technical expertise, resources, and funding as it prepares for the future of deep space exploration.
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Knowridge
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Image Credit: Knowridge
How a rare Venus transit helps scientists study distant planets
- A study from the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences shows how scientists could study exoplanets using Venus as a model.
- By treating Venus as a distant exoplanet, researchers tested techniques to analyze the atmospheres of smaller planets like Earth and Venus.
- Data from the 2012 Venus transit, combined with current methods, proved effective in studying smaller planets.
- Future telescopes like the ELT and space missions like Ariel will enhance research in studying exoplanets and expanding understanding.
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Universe Today
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Image Credit: Universe Today
Space Telescopes Could See a Second Life With a Servicing Mission
- Telescopes in space have a huge advantage over those on the ground: they can see the universe more clearly.
- Next-generation telescopes are being planned with robotic servicing missions in mind, including repairs and upgrades in deep space.
- The University of Illinois team has designed a feasible service mission for telescopes at the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L2.
- The team is working on optimizing fuel efficiency, cost, and trajectory to safely rendezvous with and repair telescopes.
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Spaceflightnow
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Live coverage: SpaceX to launch 23 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
- SpaceX is launching 23 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral.
- The launch is scheduled for 12:10 a.m. EST (0510 UTC).
- There are no weather constraints, with a greater than 95 percent chance of good weather.
- The booster will attempt to land on the SpaceX droneship, 'A Shortfall of Gravitas.'
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Earthsky
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Image Credit: Earthsky
Retrograde motion for Mars starts today
- Mars will begin its retrograde motion on December 7, 2024, a trick of perspective that creates an illusion of backward motion in front of the stars, lasting for some months.
- As Earth moves between the sun and Mars, the planets seem to reverse course in our sky.
- Retrograde motion for Mars will continue through mid-February 2025.
- The red planet will first reach a stationary point at 21 UTC on December 7, 2024, pausing briefly in front of the stars before moving westward.
- Early astronomers used to believe that planets, including Mars, orbited the Earth and spun around it in an epicycle, justifying their retrograde movement.
- Planets and moons can have true backward motion amongst themselves, with Venus and Triton, Neptune's largest moon, rotating in retrograde directions.
- The one word "retrograde" is used to signify either an illusion of backward motion or the actual backward rotation or orbit of a planet or moon.
- Modern astronomers believe that a true retrograde orbit for an orbiting moon might stem from a capture after colliding with a body or encountering another planet or star too closely.
- Astronomers discovered exoplanets that have retrograde orbits, puzzling scientists because planets usually form out of orbiting disks that share the star’s rotation.
- Close encounters can disrupt the orbits of planets and set them on a backward path.
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Livescience
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Image Credit: Livescience
Destroyed observatory helped SETI unlock the secrets of 'cosmic lighthouses' powered by dead stars
- Using data from the now-destroyed Arecibo radio telescope, scientists from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute have unlocked the secrets of signals from "cosmic lighthouses" powered by dead stars.
- The team studied how the signals from pulsars are distorted as they travel through space and found patterns in the signals, showing how they are impacted by the interstellar medium.
- The research revealed that the bandwidths of pulsar signals were wider than current models of the universe suggest, indicating the need to revise models of the interstellar medium.
- Understanding pulsar signals is crucial for detecting gravitational waves, and the findings can enhance projects like NANOGrav's detection of the gravitational wave background.
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Knowridge
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Image Credit: Knowridge
Scientists use Hubble to get closest look yet at a quasar’s heart
- Astronomers have used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to take the closest-ever look at the heart of a quasar—a dazzling galactic center powered by a supermassive black hole.
- The observations revealed strange structures around the quasar, including a mysterious L-shaped filament and several blob-like objects of varying sizes within 16,000 light-years of the black hole.
- Some of the blobs could be small satellite galaxies orbiting the black hole, fueling its brilliant glow.
- The study of quasars like this provides insights into the universe's history, galaxy formation, and the power of black holes.
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Digitaltrends
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Image Credit: Digitaltrends
Jupiter will be at its biggest and brightest this weekend. Here’s how to see it
- Jupiter will be at its biggest and brightest this weekend, providing a great opportunity for sky watchers.
- Jupiter will be in opposition on Saturday, December 7th, making it directly opposite from the sun as seen from Earth.
- Jupiter will be at its closest to Earth on Friday, December 6th, resulting in its relative closeness and increased size in the sky.
- It is possible to view Jupiter with the naked eye, but using binoculars or a telescope allows for a better view, and even a chance to see some of Jupiter's larger moons.
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