The Night Sky

[HEADING=2]Study of meteorite found in Antarctica shows no evidence of life on Mars[/HEADING]
[pressherald.com/2022/01/14/study-of-meteorite-found-in-antarctica-shows-no-evidence-of-life-on-mars/]('https://www.pressherald.com/2022/01/14/study-of-meteorite-found-in-antarctica-shows-no-evidence-of-life-on-mars/')

By MARCIA DUNN January 14, 2022
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A 4 billion-year-old meteorite from Mars that caused a splash here on Earth decades ago contains no evidence of ancient, primitive Martian life after all, scientists reported Thursday.

In 1996, a NASA-led team announced that organic compounds in the rock appeared to have been left by living creatures. Other scientists were skeptical and researchers chipped away at that premise over the decades, most recently by a team led by the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Andrew Steele.

[[IMG alt="Mars Meteorite"]https://multifiles.pressherald.com/uploads/sites/10/2022/01/Mars_Meteorite_24283-1-251x300.jpg[/IMG]]('')
The meteorite ALH84001 at a Johnson Space Center lab photographed in 1996. Associated Press/David J. Phillip

Tiny samples from the meteorite show the carbon-rich compounds are actually the result of water — most likely salty, or briny, water — flowing over the rock for a prolonged period, Steele said. The findings appear in the journal Science.

During Mars’ wet and early past, at least two impacts occurred near the rock, heating the planet’s surrounding surface, before a third impact bounced it off the red planet and into space millions of years ago. The 4-pound (2-kilogram) rock was found in Antarctica in 1984.

Groundwater moving through the cracks in the rock, while it was still on Mars, formed the tiny globs of carbon that are present, according to the researchers. The same thing can happen on Earth and could help explain the presence of methane in Mars’ atmosphere, they said.

[]('')
Image of terrain of Mars taken by NASA’s Mars Pathfinder mission rover Sojourner in July 1997. NASA/JPL

But two scientists who took part in the original study took issue with these latest findings, calling them “disappointing.” In a shared email, they said they stand by their 1996 observations.

“While the data presented incrementally adds to our knowledge of (the meteorite), the interpretation is hardly novel, nor is it supported by the research,” wrote Kathie Thomas-Keprta and Simon Clemett, astromaterial researchers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“Unsupported speculation does nothing to resolve the conundrum surrounding the origin of organic matter” in the meteorite, they added.

According to Steele, advances in technology made his team’s new findings possible.

He commended the measurements by the original researchers and noted that their life-claiming hypothesis “was a reasonable interpretation” at the time. He said he and his team — which includes NASA, German and British scientists — took care to present their results “for what they are, which is a very exciting discovery about Mars and not a study to disprove” the original premise.

This finding “is huge for our understanding of how life started on this planet and helps refine the techniques we need to find life elsewhere on Mars, or Enceladus and Europa,” Steele said in an email, referring to Saturn and Jupiter’s moons with subsurface oceans.

The only way to prove whether Mars ever had or still has microbial life, according to Steele, is to bring samples to Earth for analysis. NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover already has collected six samples for return to Earth in a decade or so; three dozen samples are desired.

Millions of years after drifting through space, the meteorite landed on an icefield in Antarctica thousands of years ago. The small gray-green fragment got its name — Allan Hills 84001 — from the hills where it was found.

Just this week, a piece of this meteorite was used in a first-of-its-kind experiment aboard the International Space Station. A mini scanning electron microscope examined the sample; Thomas-Keprta operated it remotely from Houston. Researchers hope to use the microscope to analyze geologic samples in space — on the moon one day, for example — and debris that could ruin station equipment or endanger astronauts.

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/news/potentially-hazardous-asteroid-bigger-building-121454056.html[/URL]

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/news/potentially-hazardous-asteroid-bigger-building-121454056.html[/URL
[/URL][URL unfurl="true"]

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[HEADING=2]NASA’s new space telescope reaches its final stop – a million miles out[/HEADING]
[pressherald.com/2022/01/24/nasas-new-space-telescope-reaches-its-final-stop-a-million-miles-out/]('https://www.pressherald.com/2022/01/24/nasas-new-space-telescope-reaches-its-final-stop-a-million-miles-out/')

By MARCIA DUNN January 24, 2022
[IMG alt="This 2015 artist's rendering provided by Northrop Grumman via NASA shows the James Webb Space Telescope. On Monday, the world’s biggest and most powerful space telescope reached its final destination 1 million miles away, one month after launching on a quest to behold the dawn of the universe. "]https://multifiles.pressherald.com/uploads/sites/4/2022/01/NASA_Space_Telescope_27889-1643053591.jpg[/IMG]
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The world’s biggest, most powerful space telescope reached its final destination 1 million miles from Earth on Monday, a month after it lifted off on a quest to behold the dawn of the universe.

The James Webb Space Telescope fired its rocket thrusters for nearly five minutes to go into orbit around the sun at its designated spot, and NASA confirmed the operation went as planned.

The mirrors on the $10 billion observatory still must be meticulously aligned and the infrared detectors sufficiently chilled before science observations can begin in June. But flight controllers in Baltimore were euphoric after chalking up another success.

“We’re one step closer to uncovering the mysteries of the universe. And I can’t wait to see Webb’s first new views of the universe this summer!” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.

The telescope will enable astronomers to peer back further in time than ever before, all the way back to when the first stars and galaxies were forming 13.7 billion years ago. That’s a mere 100 million years from the Big Bang, when the universe was created.

Besides making stellar observations, Webb will scan the atmospheres of alien worlds for possible signs of life.

A sunshield as big as a tennis court stretched open on the telescope in early January, 1½ weeks after the Christmas Day launch from French Guiana. The observatory’s gold-coated mirror – 21 feet across – unfolded a few days later.

Monday’s engine firing put Webb into orbit around the sun at the so-called second Lagrange point, where the gravitational forces of the sun and Earth balance. The 7-ton spacecraft always faces Earth’s night side to keep its infrared detectors as frigid as possible.

At 1 million miles away, Webb is more than four times as distant as the moon.

Considered the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, which orbits 330 miles up, Webb is too far away for emergency repairs. That makes the milestones over the past month – and the ones ahead – all the more critical.

Spacewalking astronauts performed surgery five times on Hubble. The first operation, in 1993, corrected the telescope’s blurry vision, a flaw introduced during the mirror’s construction on the ground.

Pretty wild

[URL unfurl="true"]https://finance.yahoo.com/news/strange-milky-way-transient-object-radio-burst-155654094.html[/URL]

[HEADING=2]When the International Space Station retires, it will plunge into the ocean to die, NASA says[/HEADING]

The International Space Station, seen from the space shuttle Atlantis in 2010. (NASA/AP)

The International Space Station cannot stay in orbit 250 miles above us forever — which is why NASA has shared [updated plans]('https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/2022_iss_transition_report-final_tagged.pdf') outlining when, where and how the huge structure will fall to Earth.

In January 2031, the station — which launched in 2000 and is 356 feet (109 meters) from end to end — will plunge into the waters of Point Nemo, an uninhabited part of the southern Pacific Ocean, where spacecraft and satellites go to die. Or, as it’s put in NASA’s newly published transition report, to “de-orbit.”

Some analysts call the remote location the[ “spacecraft cemetery,”]('https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/spacecraft-cemetery') and others refer to it as the[ “loneliest place on Earth”]('https://www.ceros.com/inspire/originals/point-nemo/') because the nearest mainland is 1,670 miles away. As the National Ocean Service [puts it]('https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/nemo.html'): “You can’t get farther away from land than ‘Point Nemo.’”

Stijn Lemmens, a space debris expert, [said in 2018]('https://phys.org/news/2018-03-nemo-earth-watery-graveyard-spacecraft.html') that 250 to 300 spacecraft are believed to be buried in Nemo’s waters.

The space lab, which also serves as an observatory, has been continuously occupied by astronauts for more than 20 years and will operate until 2030, under [a commitment]('https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2021/12/31/biden-harris-administration-extends-space-station-operations-through-2030/') from the Biden administration.
“While the ISS will not last forever, NASA expects to be able to operate it safely through 2030,” the report published Monday reads.

In a 24-hour period, the station orbits Earth 16 times, traveling through 16 sunrises and sunsets, [according to]('https://www.nasa.gov/feature/facts-and-figures') NASA.

It has for over two decades been at the forefront of research and discoveries, with Robyn Gatens, director of the International Space Station at NASA headquarters, [calling it]('https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-provides-updated-international-space-station-transition-plan') “a groundbreaking scientific platform in microgravity” that seeks to benefit humanity and shape the future of space exploration and travel.

But the ISS is aging and must eventually retire.

The future of space science remains an intense focus for NASA and in many other countries, with organizations poised to execute a number of missions that include exploring the moon and Mars.

Richard Branson’s [Virgin Galactic]('https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/10/14/richard-branson-virgin-galactic-safety/?itid=lk_inline_manual_20') and [Blue Origin]('https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/12/22/justin-sun-blue-origin/?itid=lk_inline_manual_20'), which was founded by Jeff Bezos (who owns The Washington Post), continue to experiment in [space tourism]('https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2021/12/08/space-tourism-luxury-training/?itid=lk_inline_manual_20'), with both companies hoping to offer groups fleeting rocket trips to space this year.

Even Alexa may be venturing into space in the near future, with Amazon confirming that astronauts may one day be able to “ask for near real-time data about the spacecraft and the mission” while inside the capsule.

According to the “de-orbit plan,” detailed in NASA’s newly published transition report, operators will undertake a range of maneuvers to “ensure safe atmospheric entry.”

Operated by five space agencies representing 15 countries, the station includes several sleeping quarters, a gym and a 360-degree viewing window. But while the floating structure is vast, those on board have reported leaks and remain alert for [flying space junk]('https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/05/12/a-bit-of-debris-chipped-the-international-space-station-thats-just-one-piece-of-a-much-bigger-problem/?itid=lk_inline_manual_27').

In 2016, one of the lab’s windows was hit, and the European Space Agency said the resulting chip in the glass was probably caused by something as unassuming as a flake of paint. Last year, a piece of space junk punctured the station’s robotic arm, leaving a small hole but a big reminder that it is vulnerable.

The situation worsen last year after Russia destroyed a dead satellite with a missile. That created a cloud of hundreds of pieces of debris and forced the astronauts on the station to seek shelter inside their spacecraft, waiting to see whether they’d have to abandon the station for home. They didn’t, but NASA has said the added debris will cause more close passes.

Last summer, NASA was relieved that the ISS’ solar arrays didn’t snap off when errant thruster firings from a newly installed Russian module spun the station upside down before crews could get it back to its normal orientation.

NASA is now looking to the growing commercial space sector to build the next space station. Axiom Space, a Houston-based company, already has an agreement that will allow it to attach a privately built module to the ISS as soon as 2024. And it is planning to build a station of its own, one that would be more modern — and luxurious — than the government-built station.

NASA also recently awarded contracts, worth a combined $415.6 million, to a team led by Blue Origin and Sierra Space, a team including Nanoracks, Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin, as well as Northrop Grumman, to develop their own private space stations. While NASA would not own or operate them, it would use them as a customer, and continue to have a place to send its astronauts well after the ISS is decommissioned.

The NASA report was welcomed by some sectors of the space industry. “This announcement is a gigantic punctuation mark that the era of the ISS is coming to an end,” said Jeffrey Manber, the president of international space stations for Voyager Space. He added that it is a signal to investors and potential customers that they can now work with the commercial space sector “knowing that the government is committed to a new era of smaller, more efficient commercial space stations.”

wonderif it has hazardous material on board that might survive reentry & cause issues when what's left breaks up allowng it to spread into the Pacific?

Cool picture from Norway that is a single once in a lifetime exposure. You all know that the left is the Aurora Borealis, but may not know that those light pillars on the right are the result of large, fluttering snowflakes reflecting light from the ground. Yup, that's the lucky photographer in the center asking you which side do you like better?

Sounds expensive - the northern lights have a costly side

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musks-spacex-says-geomagnetic-110639310.html[/URL]

[HEADING=2]NASA’s new space telescope sees 1st starlight, takes selfie[/HEADING]
[pressherald.com/2022/02/11/nasas-new-space-telescope-sees-1st-starlight-takes-selfie/]('https://www.pressherald.com/2022/02/11/nasas-new-space-telescope-sees-1st-starlight-takes-selfie/')

By MARCIA DUNN February 11, 2022
[IMG alt="This photo provided by NASA shows a “selfie” created using a specialized pupil imaging lens inside of the NIRCam instrument that was designed to take images of the primary mirror segments instead of images of space. "]https://multifiles.pressherald.com/uploads/sites/4/2022/02/NASA-Space_Telescope_55717-1644608046.jpg[/IMG]
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s new space telescope has captured its first starlight and even taken a selfie of its giant, gold mirror.

All 18 segments of the primary mirror on the James Webb Space Telescope seem to be working properly 1 1/2 months into the mission, officials said Friday.

The telescope’s first target was a bright star 258 light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major.

“That was just a real wow moment,” said Marshall Perrin of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

Over the next few months, the hexagonal mirror segments — each the size of a coffee table — will be aligned and focused as one, allowing science observations to begin by the end of June.

The $10 billion infrared observatory — considered the successor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope — will seek light from the first stars and galaxies that formed in the universe nearly 14 billion years ago. It will also examine the atmospheres of alien worlds for any possible signs of life.

NASA did not detect the crippling flaw in Hubble’s mirror until after its 1990 launch; more than three years passed before spacewalking astronauts were able to correct the telescope’s blurry vision.

While everything is looking good so far with Webb, engineers should be able to rule out any major mirror flaws by next month, Feinberg said.

Webb’s 21-foot (6.5-meter), gold-plated mirror is the largest ever launched into space. An infrared camera on the telescope snapped a picture of the mirror as one segment gazed upon the targeted star.

“Pretty much the reaction was ‘Holy Cow!’,” Feinberg said.

NASA released the selfie, along with a mosaic of starlight from each of the mirror segments. The 18 points of starlight resemble bright fireflies flitting against a black night sky.

After 20 years with the project, “it is just unbelievably satisfying” to see everything working so well so far, said the University of Arizona’s Marcia Rieke, principal scientist for the infrared camera.

Webb blasted off from South America in December and reached its designated perch 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away last month.

Saw this in my LinkedIn feed:

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-telescope-spots-highest-energy-light-ever-detected-from-jupiter[/URL]

Certainly not myopic like Hubble 1st was...

[HEADING=2]Space telescope’s image of star gets photobombed by galaxies[/HEADING]
[pressherald.com/2022/03/16/space-telescopes-image-of-star-gets-photobombed-by-galaxies/]('https://www.pressherald.com/2022/03/16/space-telescopes-image-of-star-gets-photobombed-by-galaxies/')

By SETH BORENSTEIN March 16, 2022

This image made available by NASA on Wednesday, March 16, 2022 shows star 2MASS J17554042+6551277 used to align the mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope, with galaxies and stars surrounding it. The hexagonal shape of Webb’s mirrors and its filters made the shimmering star look more red and spiky. NASA/STScI via AP

NASA’s new space telescope has gazed into the distant universe and shown perfect vision: a spiky image of a faraway star photobombed by thousands of ancient galaxies.

The image released Wednesday from the James Webb Space Telescope is a test shot — not an official science observation — to see how its 18 hexagonal mirrors worked together for a single coordinated image taken 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away from Earth. Officials said it worked better than expected.

Last month, NASA looked at a much closer star with 18 separate images from its mirror segments.

Scientists said they were giddy as they watched the latest test photos arrive. NASA’s test image was aimed at a star 100 times fainter than the human eye can see — 2,000 light-years away. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles (9.7 trillion kilometers).

The shape of Webb’s mirrors and its filters made the shimmering star look more red and spiky but the background really stole the show.

“You can’t help but see those thousands of galaxies behind it, really gorgeous,” said Jane Rigby, Webb operations project scientist.

Those galaxies are several billions of years old. Eventually, scientists hope Webb will see so faraway and back in time that it will only be “a couple hundred million years after the Big Bang,” she said.

The first science images won’t come until late June or early July.

The $10 billion Webb — successor to the nearly 32-year-old Hubble Space Telescope — blasted off from South America in December and reached its designated perch in January.

Cool photo showing 24/7 daylight during a year in the Netherlands, so much further North than any of us, ergo the very short night on June 21...

These almost always turn out anti-climactic, hoping this one isn't.

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.space.com/hubble-space-telescope-observations-announcement-coming[/URL]

Seems too easy...

[URL unfurl="true"]https://spacenews.com/far-side-the-moons-use-as-a-new-astronomical-site/[/URL]

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.yahoo.com/news/chances-finding-alien-life-jupiter-165105231.html[/URL]