Author: Justin

James Webb Telescope Reveals Bursts of Star Formation

9Jun

By Justin2 Comments

James Webb Telescope Reveals Bursts of Star Formation

The quest to understand the origins of the first stars and galaxies has always been at the forefront of astronomical inquiries. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has recently made significant strides in shedding light on this profound question. One of the telescope's most extensive research initiatives during its inaugural year of scientific operations is the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, affectionately known as JADES. This program is dedicated to studying and characterizing faint, distant galaxies and will allocate around 32 days of precious telescope time to achieve its objectives. Although the data is still being collected, JADES has already made noteworthy discoveries, unearthing hundreds of galaxies that existed when the universe was younger than 600 million years. Furtherm...

Virgin Orbit Disassembled as Company Ceases Operations

8Jun

By JustinNo Comments

General Space

Virgin Orbit Disassembled as Company Ceases Operations

Virgin Orbit, once a thriving company, has undergone a significant transformation as it recently faced bankruptcy. In an auction that followed, the company was sold off in parts. Rocket Lab USA, a modest satellite launch provider and aerospace manufacturer, made a noteworthy acquisition by purchasing Virgin Orbit's expansive Long Beach headquarters spanning 144,000 square feet, along with a range of machinery and equipment.Rocket Lab USA, located conveniently in Long Beach, is currently engrossed in the development of Neutron, a larger launch vehicle. Peter Beck, CEO and founder of Rocket Lab, expressed his satisfaction with the purchase, highlighting the added value of Virgin Orbit's lease. According to Beck, this acquisition allows for a collaborative environment with shared engineer...

NASA’s Public UFO Meeting Tells Us More About The Encounters

31May

By JustinNo Comments

General Space

NASA’s Public UFO Meeting Tells Us More About The Encounters

With all the UFO incidents over the years, it looks like NASA has investigated over 800 different reports. This information was recently released to the public, thanks to NASA's team which investigates these sightings.Out of all these 800 different reports, it looks like only a small number of them are truly explained, which means there is something out there we can't yet understand.In a meeting, Sean Kirkopatrick, director of NASA's Anomaly Resolution Office, said "We have 50 to 100-ish new UFO reports each month". The number of these sightings which are unexplained are between 2 and 5%, which is astonishing to think about.The agency also wanted to people that privacy is a big issue, which is why some anomalies are not researched. Since some of the encounters can be on privat...

Hubble Finds Messier 4 Black Hole 6,000 Light Years Away

25May

By JustinNo Comments

Black Holes, NASA

Hubble Finds Messier 4 Black Hole 6,000 Light Years Away

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have found solid evidence of rare class "intermediate-sized" black hole about 6,000 light years away from us.The black hole is located in a globular star cluster in Messier 4 (M4). Although the object cannot be seen, it's mass is possibly around 800 solar masses. This mass was calculated by studying the motion of stars caught near the black hole. Also, it's important to note that astronomers looked at 12 years worth of Messier 4 data from Hubble.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzF3eFN-WdEEduardo Virtal, of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Balimore, Maryland, had this to say: "We have good confidence that we have a very tiny region with a lot of concentrated mass. It's about three times smaller than the densest dark mass t...

Astronomers Found New Earth Sized Planet Called LP 791-18 D

21May

By Justin2 Comments

Discoveries, Planets

Astronomers Found New Earth Sized Planet Called LP 791-18 D

Another earth-sized exoplanet has been found beyond our solar system, and astronomers are calling in LP 791-18 D.The planet is most likely covered with volcanoes, but also has the possibility to support life. What a strange combination. It also seems to be a bit like Jupiter's Moon IO - it could have volcanic outbursts just like it.The planet was found with ground-based observations made by the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard & Smithsonian. They used a combination of space and ground-based observations, and used data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, as well as the Spitzer pace Telescope. To find the mass of the planet, the team measured tiny differences in the time it takes the planet to orbit it's host star from one orbit to the next one.LP 791-18 D ...

SpaceX Is Launching 4 People On a 10-day AX-2 Mission

21May

By Justin1 Comment

SpaceX

SpaceX Is Launching 4 People On a 10-day AX-2 Mission

Later today, SpaceX will launch a private mission to the International Space System, which will be a 10-day Ax-2 mission.The craft is set to liftoff at 5:37 PM, from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and a Dragon Capsule. This launch will take place from Pad 39 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.Not only will this be the 2nd ever private mission to the station, but it will also put the first woman from Saudi Arabia in Space, Rayyanah Barnawi. Including her, there are a total of 4 Ax-2 crew members. Once onboard, these people will spend 10 days conducting more than 20 groundbreaking scientific experiments.One of these experiments will test how micro gravity affects stem cell growth. In addition to this, the crew will also engage in public outreach to "promote scienc...

NASA Finishes The FPS for The Nancy Grace Space Telescope

20May

By Justin1 Comment

NASA

NASA Finishes The FPS for The Nancy Grace Space Telescope

In 2027, NASA is expected to launch the next great telescope. It's being called the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and it will be a infrared space telescope for studying dark energy and matter.It looks like development of the Roman Space Telescope is going well - the heart of the telescope was recently delivered to Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado. The heart of the telescope is basically the Focal Plane System (FPS), which will serve as the core of the Roman camera.Now that it has been delivered, they will integrate the FPS into the Wide Field Instrument. After that, technicians will continue the build by integrating the instruments radiators.“For optimal performance, the detectors must be operated at minus 288 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 178 degrees Celsius,” said G...

Blue Origin Will Build NASA’s Next Lunar Lander

19May

By Justin2 Comments

SpaceX, Blue Origin

Blue Origin Will Build NASA’s Next Lunar Lander

During an event at NASA Headquarters today, Administrator Bill Nelson announced the company will work with Blue Origin to build the next lunar lander. Other companies will also take part, which include Boeing, Draper, SpaceX, and Lockheed Martin.The lunar lander will be apart of the Artemis mission program, which starts at the end of the decade. The lander will be called " Blue Moon ", and will transport astronauts to the moon's surface.The contract between all these companies is priced at around $3.4 billion. According to John Couluris, who works at Blue Origin, they plan to invest "well north" of that money into Blue Moon.When the project is finished, Blue Moon will stand 16 meters tall, and a mass of 16 metric tons. The craft is expected to have a demonstration landing on Ar...

AT2021lwx Is The Largest Cosmic Explosion Ever Noticed

14May

By JustinNo Comments

General Space

AT2021lwx Is The Largest Cosmic Explosion Ever Noticed

It seems like every time we discover something "big" in space, we find something even bigger. Astronomers have recently discovered the largest explosion ever witnessed in space, and it's being called AT2021lwx.The explosion has lasted for about three years at nearly 8 billion light-years away from Earth. What's even crazier about this is it's still being detected by telescopes, and the light from the explosion is three times brighter than tidal disruption events. If you didn't know, tidal disruption events include tings such as when stars fall into black holesAstronomers are saying AT2021lwx took place when a supermassive black hole disrupted a gas or dust cloud, which was thousands of times larger than our sun. The cloud was most likely drawn off it's course and went into a black ...

Best Space Books To Get To Learn More About The Universe

14May

By JustinNo Comments

General Space, Recommendations

Best Space Books To Get To Learn More About The Universe

Space is a pretty big place. We got planets much bigger than our own, and some that are made of just gas. However, that's just a small fraction of everything we know about space. When you want to learn more, check out these space books! All of them we have read ourselves.Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, by Niel Degrasse TysonThis is one of the first Niel Tyson books I got my hands on, and It was good. While some sections I felt like where a bit too "mathematical" for me, there is still loads of interesting information about space.The Uni-verse , by John BrockmanThis book does a lot of exploring of our universe, in all sorts of topics. John talks about the origin of the universe, in addition to topics such as particle physics, and the shape of the universe.The Pluto F...