A Neptune-sized Exoplanet is Denser Than Steel. The Result of a Catastrophic Collision? - Universe Today

There’s an odd exoplanet out there posing a challenge to planetary scientists. It’s a hot Neptune denser than steel. The big question is: how did it form?

The planet is TOI-1538b and it orbits its parent dwarf star every 1.24 days. It’s classified by planetary scientists as a world in the “Hot Neptune Desert”. That means there aren’t as many of these close-in hot Neptunes as scientists expect. There are a few others like it, although not as dense.

The stats on this world are impressive. It has the equivalent of ~75 Earth masses and is about 3.5 Earth radii. At a density of ~9.7 gm/cm³, that implies the interior contains a lot more rocky stuff than expected. (For reference, steel can be as much as 8.0 gm/cm³.) And, that makes this place a puzzling find because its evolution doesn’t seem to fit conventional planetary formation theories.

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Could Massive Collisions Be the Answer?

A team of scientists led by Luca Naponiello of Rome Tor Vergata suspected that multiple catastrophic planetary collisions shaped TOI-1538b. Those impacts removed lighter atmospheric gases and water, leaving behind a rocky core. It’s not a surprising conclusion, since planetary formation involves lots of smaller worlds smacking together to make bigger ones. So, why not big ones slamming into each other?

Senior Research Associate and study co-author Dr Phil Carter from the University of Bristol’s School of Physics explained the idea. “We have strong evidence for highly energetic collisions between planetary bodies in our solar system, such as the existence of Earth’s Moon, and good evidence from a small number of exoplanets,” he said. “We know that there is a huge diversity of planets in exoplanetary systems; many have no analog in our solar system but often have masses and compositions between that of the rocky planets and Neptune/Uranus (the ice giants).”

Collisions in Exoplanet Formation

Our own solar system provides a good model for the formation of exoplanet systems. Some 4.5 billion years ago, the proto-Sun began coalescing in a cloud of gas and dust. That nebula was rich with heavier elements useful for planetary formation. Smaller particles—planetesimals—slammed together in the resulting protoplanetary disk to make larger and larger bodies. The result was four small rocky bodies plus four gas- and ice-rich giant worlds. In addition, the solar system has dwarf planets, comets, asteroids, and moons.

Artist’s conception of a solar system in formation. It’s likely that exoplanet formation around other stars proceeded similarly. Credit: NASA/FUSE/Lynette Cook

Bombardment of these infant worlds continued, scarring some with craters (like Mercury), and flipping at least one (Uranus) on its side. Planetary scientists look to that formation history to understand how similar processes played out around other stars. Spacecraft such as the Kepler and TESS missions discovered more than 5,000 candidate worlds. Astronomers suspect the galaxy teems with millions of planets. Most systems appear to have similar collections of exoplanets to ours, although not always in the sizes and masses that match our own.

Collisions remain an important part of how this exoplanet and other worlds formed. “Our contribution to the study [of TOI-1853b] was to model extreme giant impacts that could potentially remove the lighter atmosphere and water/ice from the original larger planet in order to produce the extreme density measured,” said Carter. If those happen frequently, that opens up new avenues of study for planetary formation specialists.

Modeling a Steely Exoworld

To understand its formation history, a science team led by essentially modeled extreme giant impacts that could strip away atmospheric elements. They found that the proto-Neptune would have once been a very wet exoplanet. In order to lose all that material, an impactor had to slam into it at a speed of more than 75 meters per second. Given those conditions, they could model a planet very similar to TOI-1853b. According to team member Zoë Leinhardt, the type of planetary impact that created this exoplanet wasn’t something they’d thought about. “We had not previously investigated such extreme giant impacts as they are not something we had expected. There is much work to be done to improve the material models that underlie our simulations, and to extend the range of extreme giant impacts modeled,” she said.

A simulation of an impact that might have created TOI-1538b. Courtesy: Jingyao Dou.

The next step is to do follow-up observations of the planet. It’s important to find out what’s left of its atmosphere and the composition of its gases. With a “real-world” example of what the planetary scientists modeled, it seems likely others could exist. TOI-1853b provides new evidence for the prevalence of giant impacts in the formation of planets throughout the galaxy. This discovery helps to connect theories for planet formation based on the solar system to the formation of exoplanets.

For More Information

New Giant Planet Evidence of Possible Planetary Collisions
A Super-massive Neptune-sized Planet

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NASA's exoplanet hunter TESS spots warm Jupiter with longest known year - Space.com

In a cosmos rich with planets beyond our solar system, a majority tread astonishingly close to their stars. But NASA's exoplanet-hunting satellite has now spotted a world with one of the longest known periods, meaning it strays quite far from its star, adding to just a handful of such long-distance planets.

The newly found gas giant called TOI-4600c is about the size of Saturn, resides in a star system about 815 light-years from Earth and orbits its star every 482.82 days or 16 months. Among the 2,000 or so worlds detected by NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), TOI-4600c is special for two reasons. Not only does it have the longest year, but at a frigid -110 degrees Fahrenheit (-78 degrees Celsius), the newly found world is also one of the coldest among those spotted by TESS.

Astronomers are particularly excited about this discovery because "based on what we know about the exoplanets we found, so far, nothing really looks like the solar system," Ismael Mireles, a graduate student at the University of New Mexico and the lead author of the new study, said in a statement. "So we want to find out how these different types of systems formed and migrated."

Related: Bizarre super-puffy exoplanet hosts rare 'thermometer molecule'

With current observation methods, worlds with such long orbital periods have been notoriously hard to detect and harder still to confirm.

One of the very few confirmed exoplanets with an orbital period longer than TOI-4600c is Kepler 412b, which is about 1,000 light-years from Earth and circles its star once every two years. The most extreme oddball that astronomers have found so far is an exoplanet that takes a whopping 80,000 Earth-years to circle its star.

In the same TOI-4600 system, TESS also found a second "warm" Jupiter called TOI-4600b. This world is bigger than Neptune, but smaller than Saturn, and orbits its star every 82.69 days. Its temperature averages around 170 degrees Fahrenheit (76.6 degrees Celsius), so it is significantly warmer than its planetary neighbor TOI-4600c, even though both belong to the same solar system.

"It's relatively rare that we see two giant planets in a system," Katharine Hesse, a technical staff member at MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and one of the authors of the new study, said in a separate statement. "We're used to seeing hot Jupiters that are close in to their stars, and we usually don't find companions to them, let alone giant companions. This system is a more unique configuration."

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To sniff out exoplanets transiting in front of their star, TESS looks for dips in starlight of stars in just one region of the sky for 30 days, which also means worlds that have orbital periods longer than 40 days are not usually detected by the satellite. Indeed, the majority of exoplanets detected by TESS circle their stars in less than 40 days.

In the new study, however, authors stacked up multiple observations "to be able to get enough data to find planets with orbits longer than a month," Hesse said in the statement.

The newly discovered planets belong to a solar system called TOI-4600, at the center of which lies an orange dwarf star, which is smaller and cooler than our sun. Stars of this type are thought to be stable and host planets that could be relatively friendly places for life to thrive.

This paper was published Thursday (Aug. 31) in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

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Rare super blue moon on Wednesday night - CBS Evening News

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James Webb Space Telescope snaps stunning view of supernova's expanding remains (photos) - Space.com

The remains of a star that exploded 36 years ago have fallen under the gaze of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) — and this observatory's Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) captured the expanding stellar debris in unprecedented resolution, revealing brand new details about this burgeoning supernova remnant.

The closest observed supernova since Kepler’s Supernova lit up the Milky Way in 1604, this star explosion was first identified in 1987 and is aptly known as Supernova 1987A. 

It sits about 168,000 light-years away from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud and represents the destruction of a blue supergiant star called Sanduleak–69 202. Before it exploded, that star was thought to hold a mass about 20 times that of the sun. 

So bright was this supernova, in fact, that it was visible to the naked eye in the southern hemisphere — and astronomers have been tracking its expanding debris ever since. Now, the JWST has been brought to bear on the supernova’s remnant in a study led by Mikako Matsuura of Cardiff University, in the UK, resulting in this spectacular image of a dead star's aftermath.

Matsuura’s project used the JWST to measure the expanding supernova's shockwave as that wave interacts with surrounding material. When massive stars, such as blue supergiants, near the end of their lives, they become unstable and begin throwing off large amounts of matter. The Hubble Space Telescope has previously watched as Supernova 1987A's expanding shock wave, initially traveling at about 7,000 kilometers per second (4,350 miles per second), caught up to and collided with a ring of circumstellar debris ejected by the doomed star during the 20,000 years or so before it went supernova. As the wave clashed with this ring, it slowed to about 2,300 kilometers per second (1,430 miles per second).

Related: James Webb Space Telescope gazes into the Whirlpool galaxy's hypnotic spiral arms (photos)

Clumps within this ring gradually brightened, appearing as a bracelet of pearls. Two other rings, which appear to be in a different plane to the main ring as well as thinner and more faint, are more mysterious; astronomers have speculated these rings could be where the star’s stellar wind, emitted before the supernova, interacts with material the star previously ejected. 

Alternatively, they could be getting illuminated by jets from an unseen neutron star which experts believe must have formed alongside the supernova explosion. The JWST has revealed new details on this front, showing that the shockwave has expanded beyond the main ring and reaccelerated to about 3,600 kilometers per second (2,236 miles per second) while producing new hot spots that may, with time, become as bright as those previously identified. 

More diffuse emission in the form of a general glow is also seen as the blast wave from the supernova excites gas around the site of the explosion. Additionally, The JWST spotted something new: Inside the main ring, where gas and dust forms a keyhole-shaped ejecta cloud, there are two puzzling arcs, or crescents. These features, the team suggests, could represent the outer layers of gas blasted out by the supernova — we are seeing this bit at an angle.

A labeled version of the JWST image, showing the rings, ejecta and crescents.  (Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/Mikako Matsuura (Cardiff University)/Richard Arendt (NASA-GSFC, UMBC)/Claes Fransson (Stockholm University)/Josefin Larsson (KTH).)

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The JWST will continue to monitor the expanding supernova remnant as it evolves, as well as search for the neutron star at the center of the explosion, which so far has not been seen. 

There is, however, indirect evidence for the neutron star in the form of X-ray emission detected by NASA’s Chandra and NuSTAR X-ray observatories, as well as observations by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) that indicate the neutron star could be hidden within one of the clumps of dust at the heart of the remnant.

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Humanity's Ancestors Nearly Died Out, Genetic Study Suggests - The New York Times

The population crashed following climate change about 930,000 years ago, scientists concluded. Other experts aren’t convinced by the analysis.

No place on the planet has escaped the influence of Homo sapiens, from the rainforests cleared for farms to microplastic-laced deep oceans to climate-altered jet streams. Last November, the world population reached 8 billion.

But as omnipresent as humans may be today, a team of scientists now claims that our species came very close to never appearing at all.

Researchers in China have found evidence suggesting that 930,000 years ago, the ancestors of modern humans suffered a massive population crash. They point to a drastic change to the climate that occurred around that time as the cause.

Our ancestors remained at low numbers — fewer than 1,280 breeding individuals — during a period known as a bottleneck. It lasted for over 100,000 years before the population rebounded.

“About 98.7 percent of human ancestors were lost at the beginning of the bottleneck, thus threatening our ancestors with extinction,” the scientists wrote. Their study was published on Thursday in the journal Science.

If the research holds up, it will have provocative implications. It raises the possibility that a climate-driven bottleneck helped split early humans into two evolutionary lineages — one that eventually gave rise to Neanderthals, the other to modern humans.

But outside experts said they were skeptical of the novel statistical methods that the researchers used for the study. “It is a bit like inferring the size of a stone that falls into the middle of the large lake from only the ripples that arrive at the shore some minutes later,” said Stephan Schiffels, a population geneticist at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

For decades now, scientists have reconstructed the history of our species by analyzing the genes of living people. The studies all take advantage of the same basic facts of our biology: every baby is born with dozens of new genetic mutations, and some of those mutations can be handed down over thousands or even millions of years.

By comparing genetic variations in DNA, scientists can trace people’s ancestry to ancient populations that lived in different parts of the world, moved around and interbred. They can even infer the size of those populations at different times in history.

These studies have gotten more sophisticated as DNA sequencing technology has grown more powerful. Today, scientists can compare the entire genomes of people from different populations.

Every human genome contains over 3 billion genetic letters of DNA, each of which has been passed down for thousands or millions of years — creating a vast record of our history. To read that history, researchers now use increasingly powerful computers that can carry out the vast numbers of calculations required for more realistic models of human evolution.

Haipeng Li, an evolutionary genomics researcher at Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, and his colleagues spent over a decade creating their own method for reconstructing evolution.

The researchers named the method FitCoal (short for Fast Infinitesimal Time Coalescent). FitCoal lets scientists cut up history into fine slices of time, allowing them to create a model of a million years of evolution divided into periods of months.

“It is a tool we created to figure out the history of different groups of living things, from humans to plants,” Dr. Li said.

At first he and his colleagues focused on animals like fruit flies. But once enough genetic data from our own species had been sequenced, they turned to the history of humans, comparing the genomes of 3,154 people from 50 populations around the world.

The researchers explored various models in order to find one that best explains today’s genetic diversity among humans. They ended up with a scenario that included a near-extinction event among our ancestors 930,000 years ago.

“We realized we had discovered something big about human history,” said Wangjie Hu, a computational biologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and an author of the study.

Before the bottleneck, the scientists concluded, the population of our ancestors included about 98,000 breeding individuals. It then shrank to fewer than 1,280 and stayed that small for 117,000 years. Then the population rebounded.

Dr. Hu and his colleagues argue in their paper that this bottleneck is consistent with the fossil record of our human ancestors.

Our branch of the evolutionary tree split from that of other apes about seven million years ago in Africa. Our ancestors had evolved to be tall and big-brained in Africa by about a million years ago. Afterward, some of those early humans spread out to Europe and Asia, evolving into Neanderthals and their cousins, the Denisovans.

Our own lineage continued to evolve into modern humans in Africa.

After decades of fossil hunting, the record of ancient human relatives remains relatively scarce in Africa in the period between 950,000 and 650,000 years ago. The new study offers a potential explanation: there just weren’t enough people to leave behind many remains, Dr. Hu said.

Brenna Henn, a geneticist at the University of California, Davis, who was not involved in the new study, said that a bottleneck was “one plausible interpretation.” But today’s genetic diversity might have been produced by a different evolutionary history, she added.

For example, humans might have diverged into separate populations then come together again. “It would be more powerful to test alternative models,” Dr. Henn said.

Dr. Hu and his colleagues propose that a global climate shift produced the population crash 930,000 years ago. They point to geological evidence that the planet became colder and drier right around the time of their proposed bottleneck. Those conditions may have made it harder for our human ancestors to find food.

But Nick Ashton, an archaeologist at the British Museum, noted that a number of remains of ancient human relatives dating to the time of the bottleneck have been found outside Africa.

If a worldwide disaster caused the human population in Africa to collapse, he said, then it should have made human relatives rarer elsewhere in the world.

“The number of sites in Africa and Eurasia that date to this period suggests that it only affected a limited population, who may have been ancestors of modern humans,” he said.

Dr. Li and his colleagues also drew attention to the fact that modern humans appear to have split from Neanderthals and Denisovans after their proposed population crash. They speculate that the two events are related.

The researchers noted that most apes have 24 pairs of chromosomes. Humans have only 23, thanks to the fusion of two sets. After the crash, the scientists suggest, a fused set of chromosomes may have arisen and spread through the tiny population.

“All humans with 24 pairs of chromosomes became extinct, while only the small isolated population with 23 pairs of chromosomes fortunately survived and passed down from generation to generation,” said Ziqian Hao, a bioinformatics researcher at Shandong First Medical University and an author of the study.

But Dr. Schiffels isn’t buying the story of the bottleneck quite yet: “The finding is very surprising indeed, and I think the more surprising the claim, the better the evidence should be.”

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Rare Blue Supermoon to Rise In Wednesday Night Sky - The Wall Street Journal

---

The moon seen behind a tower in Toronto early Wednesday morning.Photo: Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press/Associated Press

A

rare blue supermoon will rise in the sky Wednesday night.

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NASA Completes Last OSIRIS-REx Test Before Asteroid Sample Delivery - NASA

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1. NASA Completes Last OSIRIS-REx Test Before Asteroid Sample Delivery  NASA
2. NASA discussing September arrival of OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample: Watch live today  Space.com
3. NASA prepares for OSIRIS-REx recovery mission  News 4 Tucson KVOA-TV
4. WATCH LIVE: NASA reviews plan to recover Bennu asteroid sample via OSIRIS-REx  PBS NewsHour
5. To Bennu and Back: Journey’s End  NASA Goddard
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return Mission Overview (Official NASA Briefing) - NASA

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India's moon rover confirms sulfur and detects several other elements near the lunar south pole - ABC News

NEW DELHI -- India’s moon rover confirmed the presence of sulfur and detected several other elements near the lunar south pole as it searches for signs of frozen water nearly a week after its historic moon landing, India’s space agency said Tuesday.

The rover's laser-induced spectroscope instrument also detected aluminum, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen and silicon on the lunar surface, the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, said in a post on its website.

The lunar rover had come down a ramp from the lander of India’s spacecraft after last Wednesday’s touchdown near the moon’s south pole. The Chandrayan-3 Rover is expected to conduct experiments over 14 days, the ISRO has said.

The rover "unambiguously confirms the presence of sulfur,” ISRO said. It also is searching for signs of frozen water that could help future astronaut missions, as a potential source of drinking water or to make rocket fuel.

The rover also will study the moon's atmosphere and seismic activity, ISRO Chairman S. Somnath said.

On Monday, the rover's route was reprogrammed when it came close to a 4-meter-wide (13-foot-wide) crater. "It’s now safely heading on a new path," the ISRO said.

The craft moves at a slow speed of around 10 centimeters (4 inches) per second to minimize shock and damage to the vehicle from the moon's rough terrain.

After a failed attempt to land on the moon in 2019, India last week joined the United States, the Soviet Union and China as only the fourth country to achieve this milestone.

The successful mission showcases India’s rising standing as a technology and space powerhouse and dovetails with the image that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to project: an ascendant country asserting its place among the global elite.

The mission began more than a month ago at an estimated cost of $75 million.

India’s success came just days after Russia’s Luna-25, which was aiming for the same lunar region, spun into an uncontrolled orbit and crashed. It would have been the first successful Russian lunar landing after a gap of 47 years. Russia’s head of the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos attributed the failure to the lack of expertise due to the long break in lunar research that followed the last Soviet mission to the moon in 1976.

Active since the 1960s, India has launched satellites for itself and other countries, and successfully put one in orbit around Mars in 2014. India is planning its first mission to the International Space Station next year, in collaboration with the United States.

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India's moon rover confirms sulfur and detects several other elements near the lunar south pole - ABC News

NEW DELHI -- India’s moon rover confirmed the presence of sulfur and detected several other elements near the lunar south pole as it searches for signs of frozen water nearly a week after its historic moon landing, India’s space agency said Tuesday.

The rover's laser-induced spectroscope instrument also detected aluminum, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen and silicon on the lunar surface, the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, said in a post on its website.

The lunar rover had come down a ramp from the lander of India’s spacecraft after last Wednesday’s touch-down near the moon’s south pole. The Chandrayan-3 Rover is expected to conduct experiments over 14 days, the ISRO has said.

The rover "unambiguously confirms the presence of sulfur,” ISRO said. It also is searching for signs of frozen water that could help future astronaut missions, as a potential source of drinking water or to make rocket fuel.

The rover also will study the moon's atmosphere and seismic activity, ISRO Chairman S. Somnath said.

On Monday, the rover's route was reprogrammed when it came close to a 4-meter-wide (13-foot-wide) crater. "It’s now safely heading on a new path," the ISRO said.

The craft moves at a slow speed of around 10 centimeters (4 inches) per second to minimize shock and damage to the vehicle from the moon's rough terrain.

After a failed attempt to land on the moon in 2019, India last week joined the United States, the Soviet Union and China as only the fourth country to achieve this milestone.

The successful mission showcases India’s rising standing as a technology and space powerhouse and dovetails with the image that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to project: an ascendant country asserting its place among the global elite.

The mission began more than a month ago at an estimated cost of $75 million.

India’s success came just days after Russia’s Luna-25, which was aiming for the same lunar region, spun into an uncontrolled orbit and crashed. It would have been the first successful Russian lunar landing after a gap of 47 years. Russia’s head of the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos attributed the failure to the lack of expertise due to the long break in lunar research that followed the last Soviet mission to the moon in 1976.

Active since the 1960s, India has launched satellites for itself and other countries, and successfully put one in orbit around Mars in 2014. India is planning its first mission to the International Space Station next year, in collaboration with the United States.

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How Data from a NASA Lunar Orbiter is Preparing Artemis Astronauts - NASA

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How Data from a NASA Lunar Orbiter is Preparing Artemis Astronauts  NASAView Full Coverage on Google News Article From & Read More ( How Data from a NASA Lunar Orbiter is Preparing Artemis Astronauts - NASA )
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Pragyan Rover 'Uncovers Moon's Secrets' On South Pole | ISRO Reveals What Chandrayaan-3 Has Found - Hindustan Times

Kolačiće i podatke koristimo za sljedeće:

• pružanje i održavanje Googleovih usluga
• praćenje prekida rada i zaštitu od neželjenog sadržaja, prijevara i zloupotrebe
• mjerenje angažmana publike i prikupljanje statističkih podataka o web-lokacijama da bismo razumjeli kako se upotrebljavaju naše usluge i da bismo poboljšali kvalitetu tih usluga.

Ako odaberete Prihvati sve, kolačiće i podatke koristit ćemo i za sljedeće:

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• isporuku oglasa i mjerenje njihove učinkovitosti
• prikazivanje prilagođenog sadržaja, ovisno o vašim postavkama
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India sets September launch date for mission to study the sun - Reuters India

BENGALURU, Aug 28 (Reuters) - India's first space-based observatory to study the sun will be launched on Sept. 2, the country's space agency said on Monday.

The announcement, in a post on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, comes days after India became the first country to land a spacecraft on the unexplored south pole of the moon.

The Aditya-L1, India's first space-based solar probe, aims to study solar winds, which can cause disturbance on earth and are commonly seen as "auroras".

The craft, named after the Hindi word for the sun, will be launched from the country's main spaceport in Sriharikota using India's heavy-duty launch vehicle, the PSLV, which will travel about 1.5 million km (932,000 miles), the agency said.

"The total travel time from launch to L-1 (Langrange point) would take about four months for Aditya-L1," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a post on X.

The government sanctioned the equivalent of about $46 million for the mission in 2019.

ISRO has not given an official update on costs and did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

India has achieved a reputation for successful space launches at cut-throat costs. It's latest moon mission had a budget of about $75 million- less than that of Hollywood space thriller "Gravity".

Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bengaluru; Writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Louise Heavens and Mike Harrison

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Japan's X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) Launch Scrubbed - SciTechDaily

X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) in space conceptual Illustration. Credit: JAXA

The scheduled launch of the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) and the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) onboard the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 47 (H-IIA F47) on August 28, 2023, has been scrubbed due to the fact that the upper winds did not meet the launch conditions.

When a space agency such as NASA or JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) “scrubs” a launch, it means they have decided to cancel or postpone a scheduled rocket launch.

The H-IIA Launch Vehicle has been in operation since 2001 as a highly reliable large-sized mainstay rocket and is continuously used in missions to launch satellites and space probes. Credit: JAXA

This decision can arise from various factors. Adverse weather conditions, such as high winds or lightning, can endanger the mission. Technical malfunctions in the rocket, spacecraft, or ground equipment might be detected, necessitating a delay. Range safety concerns arise if the launch or landing areas aren’t clear of obstructions or personnel. Issues with the payload, atmospheric conditions, or operational setbacks can also lead to scrubs. While scrubs can be disappointing, they are essential to prioritize safety and mission success over strict scheduling.

In this case, the launch was postponed due to a weather condition related to upper winds. The new launch date and time will be announced once confirmed.

XRISM, shown in this artist’s concept, is an X-ray mission that will study some of the most energetic objects in the universe. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab

The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), which was formerly known as XARM, is a JAXA/NASA collaborative mission, with ESA (European Space Agency) participation. The objective of the mission is to investigate celestial X-ray objects in the Universe with high-throughput imaging and high-resolution spectroscopy.

The XRISM payload consists of two principal instruments:

• Resolve, a soft X-ray spectrometer, which combines a lightweight X-ray Mirror Assembly (XMA) paired with an X-ray calorimeter spectrometer, and provides non-dispersive 5-7 eV energy resolution in the 0.3-12 keV bandpass with a field of view of about 3 arcmin.
• Xtend, a soft X-ray imager, is an array of four CCD detectors that extend the field of the observatory to 38 arcmin on a side over the energy range 0.4-13 keV, using an identical lightweight X-ray Mirror Assembly.

XRISM is a testament to international collaboration, with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center playing a pivotal role in software development, data processing, and the Guest Observer Facility. The mission instruments, Resolve and Xtend, both employ X-ray Mirror Assemblies developed at Goddard, promising a holistic understanding of the X-ray universe.

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Physicists Visualize Quantum Yin-Yang in Entangled Light Experiment - ScienceAlert

Never let it be said that scientists don't have an eye for the sublime.

Encoding and deciphering a Chinese symbol for duality and harmony into the quantum states of two entangled photons, physicists recently demonstrated the superior efficiency of a new analytical technique.

Researchers from the Sapienza University of Rome and the University of Ottawa in Canada used a method similar to a popular holographic technique to quickly and reliably measure information of a particle's position.

By improving on existing methods for capturing critical details on various states in entangled particles, the team hopes to provide engineers with new computing and imaging tools that form the basis of quantum technologies.

Individual photons, like any particle, are best described as a slowly evolving range of possibilities before a measurement bestows hard, factual numbers on them. Polarization, spin, momentum, even their position, are as unsettled as a coin tumbling through the air until a metaphorical hand slaps it into a single state.

If two photons share a history of some kind – like two coins plucked from the same purse – slapping one is as good as stopping the other mid-flight. Entangled as they are, knowing something about one will give you a measure of the other as if it too were slapped into place.

The fundamentals of this game-of-chance form the very basis of quantum computers. Numerous entangled particles called qubits can have one of their states read in ways that will rapidly answer specially formulated mathematical questions.

Yet why use just one state when particles have so many undecided characteristics to choose from, turning simple 2D qubits into 'multi-dimensional' qudits?

To build a more complex picture of a particle, physicists can take a series of measures, just as multiple X-rays are used to build a 3D picture of a body in computerized tomography.

One major problem with adapting quantum tomography to capture numerous dimensions of a particle is the work required. As the number of states being read grows, measurements skyrocket, costing time and dramatically increasing the risk of errors.

Biphoton digital holography could change that. Just as conventional holograms allow us to retrieve 3D information from a 2D surface, it's possible to use the way waves interfere with one another to quickly and precisely infer additional dimensions from just a few details carried between a pair of photons.

Physicists already use the interference of entangled particles to map hidden objects in what's known as ghost imaging. Knowing just enough about the positioning of one photon sent down a single pathway, it's possible to learn the secrets of its partner's journey down a second passage by overlapping their waves.

Applying tricks of holography, the researchers were able to read positional information in the interference of two separated light waves, recovering enough information to recreate a yin-and-yang symbol programmed into the photon-generating apparatus.

As simple as the yin-and-yang looks, this single static image represents a significant leap in measuring numerous quantum states in a short time.

"This method is exponentially faster than previous techniques, requiring only minutes or seconds instead of days," says University of Ottawa physicist Alessio D'Errico.

"Importantly, the detection time is not influenced by the system's complexity – a solution to the long-standing scalability challenge in projective tomography."

This research was published in Nature Photonics.

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SpaceX Dragon Docks to ISS – Expedition 69 Welcomes NASA Crew-7 Members Aboard Station - SciTechDaily

The SpaceX Dragon Endurance crew ship is pictured from a window aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour crew ship. Endurance is docked to the Harmony module’s forward-facing port while Endeavour is docked to Harmony’s space-facing port on the International Space Station. (Photo taken on April 12, 2022.) Credit: NASA

NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov arrived at the International Space Station as the SpaceX Dragon, named Endurance, docked to the complex at 9:16 a.m. EDT on Sunday while the station was 261 statute miles over Queensland, Australia.

The SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft approaches the space station as it soars over Ontario on August 27, 2023. Credit: NASA TV

Following Dragon’s link up to the Harmony module, the astronauts aboard the Dragon and the space station began conducting standard leak checks and pressurization between the spacecraft in preparation for hatch opening.

At 10:58 a.m. EDT, the Dragon spacecraft hatch was opened. This was shortly after the station crew opened the hatch between the space station and the pressurized mating adapter.

The official Crew-7 portrait. From left, Konstantin Borisov of Roscosmos, Andreas Mogensen of ESA, Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA, and Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA. Credit: Bill Stafford and Robert Markowitz, NASA

Crew-7 joins the Expedition 69 crew of NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, Woody Hoburg, and Frank Rubio, as well as UAE astronaut (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin, and Andrey Fedyaev.

This increases the number of crew aboard the space station to 11 people. This will only last for a short time until Crew-6 members Bowen, Hoburg, Alneyadi, and Fedyaev return to Earth in a few days.

NASA TV will continue live coverage through the welcoming ceremony at approximately 11:30 a.m.

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Don't Miss: Super Blue Moon - SciTechDaily

The Moon of August 30-31, 2023, is a full moon, a supermoon, and finally a blue moon. Therefore, you’ll hear it referred to as a super blue moon as a result. Note that a “Blue Moon” has nothing to do with its color. Photographers often use filters and other techniques to capture beautiful images of the full moon in blue or other colors.

The Next Full Moon is a Supermoon, a Blue Moon, and Rakhi Purnima.

The next full Moon will be Wednesday night, August 30, 2023, appearing opposite the Sun (in Earth-based longitude) at 9:36 p.m. EDT. The planet Saturn, just a few days from its closest and brightest for the year, will appear near the Moon. As evening twilight ends (at 8:42 p.m.) Saturn will be 5 degrees to the upper right of the Moon, and will appear to swing clockwise around the Moon as the evening progresses. The Moon will appear full for 3 days around the peak of the full Moon, from Tuesday night to Friday morning.

This will be a supermoon. Publications use different thresholds for deciding which Moons qualify as “super,” but all agree that in 2023 the two full Moons in August qualify.

Have questions? See the Super Blue Moon FAQ.

This full Moon will be the second full Moon in August, making it a Blue Moon by the newer definition introduced by Sky & Telescope magazine in 1946. The older definition of Blue Moon, dating back to at least the 1500s, is the name for the third full Moon in a season that has four Moons. By this definition, the full Moon in August 2024 will be the Blue Moon and this full Moon, as the last full Moon of summer, shares some of the seasonal names from my posting for the August 1 full Moon. Neither of these definitions has anything to do with the color of the Moon, so the Blue Moon will not actually look blue. See this article to learn about a time when the Moon actually turned blue!

A full moon rises over an active caldera in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Credit: National Park Service/Janice Wei

This full Moon corresponds with the Hindu festival Raksha Bandhan, also called Rakhi or Rakhi Purnima, celebrating the bond between brothers and sisters. One of the traditions is for sisters of all ages to tie a rakhi (a cotton bracelet) around their brother’s wrist, receiving a gift from the brother in return, as a sign of the continuing bond between them. The term “Raksha Bandhan” translates as “the bond of protection, obligation, or care.”

In many traditional lunisolar and lunar calendars the full Moons fall near the middle of the lunar months. This full Moon is in the middle of the seventh month of the Chinese calendar, Safar in the Islamic calendar, and Elul in the Hebrew calendar. Elul is a time of preparation for the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Customs include granting and asking others for forgiveness as well as beginning or ending all letters with the wish that the recipient will have a good year.

As usual, the wearing of suitably celebratory celestial attire is encouraged in honor of the full Moon. Take care of your siblings, let go of grudges, and here’s wishing you a good year!

As for other celestial events between now and the full Moon after next (with specific times and angles based on the location of NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC):

As summer ends and fall begins, the daily periods of sunlight continue to shorten, changing at their fastest around the autumnal equinox.

On Wednesday, August 30, 2023 (the day of the full Moon), morning twilight will begin at 5:35 a.m. EDT, sunrise will be at 6:35 a.m., solar noon will be at 1:09 p.m. when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 60.0 degrees, sunset will be at 7:42 p.m., and evening twilight will end at 8:42 p.m.. The autumn equinox will be on Saturday, September 23, with sunrise at 6:57 a.m. and sunset at 7:04 p.m.. By Friday, September 29 (the day of the full Moon after next), morning twilight will begin at 6:04 a.m., sunrise will be at 7:02 a.m., solar noon will be at 12:58 p.m. when the Sun will reach its maximum altitude of 48.6 degrees, sunset will be at 6:54 p.m., and evening twilight will end at 7:52 p.m..

No major meteor showers are predicted to peak during this lunar cycle. Three minor showers will peak at 6 or fewer visible meteors per hour under ideal conditions (effectively not visible from our brightly lit urban environments).

Evening Sky Highlights:

On the evening of Wednesday, August 30, 2023 (the night of the full Moon), as evening twilight ends (at 8:42 p.m. EDT), the rising Moon will be 8 degrees above the east-southeastern horizon with the planet Saturn 5 degrees to the upper right. The planet Mars will be setting on the western horizon. The bright star appearing closest to overhead will be Vega at 85 degrees above the eastern horizon. Vega, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra the lyre, is one of the three bright stars in the Summer Triangle (along with Deneb and Altair). Vega is the 5th brightest star in our night sky, about 25 light-years from Earth, has twice the mass of our Sun, and shines 40 times brighter than our Sun.

As this lunar cycle progresses, the background of stars and the planet Saturn will appear to shift westward each evening (as the Earth moves around the Sun), while the planet Mars will shift more slowly on the western horizon. After September 1 Mars will be below the horizon as evening twilight ends. The waxing Moon will pass by Spica on September 17 (hard to see as they will set shortly after evening twilight ends), Antares on September 20, and Saturn on September 26.

By the evening of Thursday, September 28 (the start of the night of the full Moon after next), as evening twilight ends (at 7:53 p.m. EDT), the rising Moon will be 12 degrees above the east-southeastern horizon. The planet Saturn will be 23 degrees above the southeastern horizon. The bright star appearing closest to overhead still will be Vega at 83 degrees above the western horizon.

Morning Sky Highlights:

On the morning of Thursday, August 31, 2023 (the morning of the night of the full Moon), as morning twilight begins (at 5:36 a.m. EDT), the setting Moon will be 14 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon. The planet Saturn will be to the lower right of the Moon at 7 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon. The other two visible planets will be bright Jupiter at 66 degrees above the southern horizon and even brighter Venus at 9 degrees above the eastern horizon. At 66 degrees Jupiter will be the bright object closest to overhead (with the bright star Capella a close second at 65 degrees above the east-northeastern horizon).

As this lunar cycle progresses, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and the background of stars will appear to shift westward each evening. September 8 will be the last morning Saturn will be in the sky as morning twilight begins. Beginning September 14, Mercury will rise before morning twilight begins, joining Venus and Saturn. Initially, Mercury will be difficult to see but will brighten quickly each morning. Venus will reach its greatest brilliancy on September 19 (when Venus is near its brightest it can be seen in the daytime). Mercury will reach its greatest angular separation from the Sun on September 22 and will appear at its highest above the horizon as morning twilight begins the next morning, September 23. The waning Moon will pass near Jupiter on September 4, Pollux on September 10, Venus on September 11 and 12, and Regulus on September 13.

On the morning of Friday, September 29, (the morning of the full Moon after next), as morning twilight begins (at 6:04 a.m. EDT), the setting full Moon will be 11 degrees above the western horizon. The three visible planets will be Venus (the brightest) at 29 degrees above the eastern horizon, Jupiter at 48 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon, and Mercury (the faintest) at 4 degrees above the eastern horizon. The bright star appearing closest to overhead will be Capella at 83 degrees above the north-northwestern horizon). Capella is the brightest star in the constellation Auriga the charioteer. Although we see Capella as a single star (the 6th brightest in our night sky), it is actually four stars (two pairs of stars orbiting each other). Capella is about 43 lightyears from us.

Detailed Daily Guide:

Here for your reference is a day-by-day listing of celestial events between now and the full Moon after next. The times and angles are based on the location of NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC, and some of these details may differ for your location (I use parentheses to indicate times specific to the DC area).

On Thursday night, August 24, 2023, the bright star Antares will appear near the half-full Moon, so close that for much of Canada, the US, and northern Mexico the Moon will pass in front of Antares. For the Washington, DC area, as evening twilight ends (at 8:52 p.m. EDT), Antares will be a degree to the left of the Moon. Antares will disappear behind the dark side of the Moon about an hour later (at 10:53 p.m.). Antares will reappear from the bottom of the Moon about 45 minutes after that (around 11:41 p.m.) but the bright limb of the Moon will at first mask this reappearance. Antares will set first on the west-southwestern horizon about 14 minutes later (at 11:55 p.m.). See this data for details on this occultation for your area.

Saturday morning, August 27, 2023, the planet Saturn will be at its closest and brightest for the year, called “opposition” because it will be opposite the Earth from the Sun, effectively a “full” Saturn. Saturn will be 10 degrees above the east-southeastern horizon as evening twilight ends Friday, August 26 (at 8:48 p.m. EDT), will reach its highest in the sky early Saturday morning (at 1:13 a.m.), and will be 11 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon as morning twilight begins (at 5:32 a.m.). Only planets that orbit farther from the Sun than the Earth can be seen at opposition from the Earth.

Wednesday morning, August 30, 2023, at 11:55 a.m. EDT, the Moon will be at perigee, its closest to the Earth for this orbit.

Wednesday night into Thursday morning, August 30 to 31, 2023, the planet Saturn, just a few days from its closest and brightest for the year, will appear near the full supermoon. As evening twilight ends (at 8:42 p.m. EDT), the Moon will be 8 degrees above the east-southeastern horizon with Saturn 5 degrees to the upper right. Saturn will appear to shift clockwise around the Moon as the night progresses. The Moon will reach its highest in the sky 4.5 hours later (Thursday morning at 1:23 a.m.) with Saturn 7 degrees to the right. By the time morning twilight begins (at 5:36 a.m.) the Moon will be 14 degrees above the west-southwestern horizon with Saturn 8 degrees to the lower right.

As mentioned above, the next full Moon will be Wednesday night, August 30, 2023, appearing opposite the Sun (in Earth-based longitude) at 9:36 p.m. EDT. The Moon will appear full for 3 days around the time of the full Moon, from Tuesday night to Friday morning. This full Moon will be the second full Moon in August, making it a Blue Moon by the newer definition introduced by Sky & Telescope magazine in 1946. Since this full Moon occurs near when the Moon is closest to the Earth (perigee), this will be a supermoon.

Friday evening, September 1, 2023, will be the last evening that the planet Mars will be above the western horizon as evening twilight ends (at 8:38 p.m. EDT), setting a minute later.

Sunday night into Monday morning, September 3 to 4, 2023, the planet Jupiter will appear near the waning gibbous Moon. As Jupiter rises above the east-northeastern horizon (at 10:16 p.m. EDT) it will be 8 degrees to the lower left of the Moon. The Moon will reach its highest in the sky for the night 6.5 hours later (at 4:45 a.m.) with Jupiter 6 degrees to the left of the Moon. Morning twilight will begin about an hour later (at 5:40 a.m.).

By Monday evening, September 4, 2023, the waning gibbous Moon will have shifted to the other side of Jupiter. As the Moon rises on the east-northeastern horizon (at 10:14 p.m. EDT) Jupiter will be 6 degrees to the right. The pair will separate as the night progresses.

Wednesday morning, September 6, 2023, the planet Mercury will be passing between the Earth and the Sun as seen from the Earth, called inferior conjunction. Planets that orbit inside of the orbit of Earth can have two types of conjunctions with the Sun, inferior (when passing between the Earth and the Sun) and superior (when passing on the far side of the Sun). Mercury will be shifting from the evening sky to the morning sky and will begin emerging from the glow of dawn on the eastern horizon in mid-September (depending upon viewing conditions).

Wednesday evening, September 6, 2023, the waning Moon will appear half-full as it reaches its last quarter at 6:21 p.m. EDT.

Friday morning, September 8, 2023, will be the last morning that the planet Saturn will be above the horizon as morning twilight begins.

Sunday morning, September 10, 2023, the bright star Pollux will appear above the waning crescent Moon. As the Moon rises on the northeastern horizon (at 2:10 a.m. EDT) Pollux will be 3 degrees above the Moon. Bright Venus will rise on the east-northeastern horizon 2 hours later (at 4:07 a.m.), appearing about 20 degrees below the Moon, with Pollux 4 degrees above the Moon. By the time morning twilight begins 1.5 hours after that (at 5:46 a.m.), Pollux will have shifted to 5 degrees above the Moon with Venus 19 degrees below the Moon. The bright star Regulus will be 18 degrees to the lower left of Venus.

Monday morning, September 11, 2023, the thin, waning crescent Moon will have shifted to 12 degrees to the upper left of Venus.

Tuesday morning, September 12, 2023, the thin, waning crescent Moon will have shifted to 13 degrees to the lower left of Venus, with the bright star Regulus 10 degrees below the Moon.

Tuesday mid-day, September 12, 2023, at 11:43 a.m. EDT, the Moon will be at apogee, its farthest from the Earth for this orbit.

Wednesday morning, September 13, 2023, the bright star Regulus will be 5 degrees to the right of the very thin, waning crescent Moon. The planet Mercury will be 8 degrees to the lower right of the Moon, but will be difficult to see, as it will rise a few minutes after morning twilight begins and will not be very bright (a crescent that is only 11% illuminated).

Thursday morning, September 14, 2023, will be the first morning the planet Mercury will be above the horizon as morning twilight begins. It will be difficult to see at first, only 14% illuminated, but will brighten each morning as the Sun illuminates more of its Earth-facing surface.

Thursday night, September 14, 2023, at 9:40 p.m. EDT, will be the new Moon, when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from the Earth. The day of or the day after the New Moon marks the start of the new month for many lunisolar calendars. The eighth month of the Chinese calendar will start on September 15.

Sundown on Friday, September 15, 2023, will be the start of Rosh Hashanah (the Head of the Year), the two-day Jewish New Year celebration that will end at sundown on Sunday, September 17. Rosh Hashanah is the first of a series of holidays in Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. The tenth day of Tishrei is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The 10 days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, called the Days of Awe, are a time to reflect on the mistakes and lessons of the past, and to make resolutions for the new year. The fifteenth day of Tishrei (close to the full Moon after next) is the start of the 7-day Sukkot holiday.

In the Islamic calendar, the months traditionally start with the first sighting of the waxing crescent Moon. Many Muslim communities now follow the Umm al-Qura Calendar of Saudi Arabia, which uses astronomical calculations to start months in a more predictable way. Using this calendar, sundown on Friday evening, September 15, 2023, will probably mark the beginning of Rabi’ al-Awwal, the third month of the Islamic calendar. During this month some Muslims celebrate Mawlid, the birthday of Muhammad.

Sunday evening, September 17, 2023, if you have a very clear view of the west-southwestern horizon, you might be able to see the bright star Spica 3 degrees to the lower right of the thin, waxing crescent Moon. They may be difficult to see. You would need to look before evening twilight ends, as when twilight ends (at 8:11 p.m. EDT) Spica will be close to setting and the Moon will be only 2 degrees above the horizon. The Moon will set 17 minutes later (at 8:28 p.m.).

Solar noon to solar noon from Monday, September 18, to Tuesday, September 19, 2023, will be the shortest solar day of the year. At 23 hours, 59 minutes, 38.6 seconds long, it will be 21.4 seconds shorter than the 24 hour average our modern clocks use.

On Tuesday, September 19, 2023, the planet Venus will be at its greatest brilliancy for the year, a good estimate of when Venus will be at its brightest. Greatest brilliancy is calculated based on the distances and angles between the Sun, Venus, and the Earth, making a simplifying assumption on how Venus scatters sunlight. When bright, Venus can be seen during the day (if the skies are clear enough and you know where to look). Greatest brilliancy occurs about 36 days before and after inferior conjunction.

On Wednesday evening, September 20, 2023, the bright star Antares will appear to the upper left of the waxing crescent Moon. Antares will be 5 degrees from the Moon as evening twilight ends (at 8:06 p.m. EDT). By the time the Moon sets on the west-northwestern horizon less than 2 hours later (at 9:57 p.m.) Antares will be 4 degrees from the Moon. For parts of East Asia the Moon will actually pass in front of Antares, blocking it from view (see https://ift.tt/fbSzyUe for more information).

By Thursday evening, September 21, 2023, as evening twilight ends, the Moon will have shifted to 8 degrees on the other side of Antares. The pair will separate as the evening progresses.

Friday morning, September 22, 2023, will be when the planet Mercury reaches its greatest angular separation from the Sun as seen from the Earth for this apparition (called greatest elongation). Because the angle of the line between the Sun and Mercury and the horizon changes with the seasons, the date when Mercury and the Sun appear farthest apart as seen from the Earth is not always the same as when Mercury appears highest above the eastern horizon as morning twilight begins, which occurs the next morning, Saturday, September 23.

On Friday afternoon, September 22, 2023, the Moon will appear half-full as it reaches its first quarter at 3:32 p.m. EDT.

Early Saturday morning, September 23, 2023, at 2:50 a.m. EDT, will be the autumnal equinox, the astronomical end of summer and start of fall. The Sun will be shifting from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere, this year passing across the Earth’s equator over the Indian Ocean.

On Sunday, September 24, 2023, a mission I worked on before retiring from NASA, OSIRIS-REx, will deliver to Earth a sample from the surface of the asteroid Bennu. NASA’s Live coverage of the capsule landing is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. EDT.

Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning, September 26 to 27, 2023, the planet Saturn will appear near the waxing gibbous Moon. Saturn will be 4 degrees to the upper left of the Moon as evening twilight ends (at 7:56 p.m. EDT). By the time the Moon reaches its highest in the sky for the night a little over 3 hours later (at 11:07 p.m.) Saturn will be 3 degrees to the upper right. As Saturn sets below the west-southwestern horizon a little over 5 hours after that (at 4:24 a.m.) it will be 4 degrees to the lower right of the Moon.

Wednesday evening, September 27, 2023, at 9:06 p.m. EDT, the Moon will be at perigee, its closest to the Earth for this orbit.

The full Moon after next will be Friday morning, September 29, 2023, appearing opposite the Sun (in Earth-based longitude) at 5:58 a.m. EDT. This will be late Thursday night from the time zone of Hawaii and the Cook Islands westward to the International Date Line. The Moon will appear full for 3 days around this time, from Wednesday evening to Saturday morning.

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