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By NASA
2 min read
ESA/NASA’s SOHO Spies Bright Comet Making Debut in Evening Sky
The tail of comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS spanned the view of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) on Oct. 10, 2024. ESA/NASA The ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has captured images of the second-brightest comet to ever pass through its field of view during the spacecraft’s nearly 29-year career.
The bright comet is C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, which has been garnering a lot of attention from skywatchers recently, displaying a long, dusty tail in pre-dawn skies throughout late September and early October. (Comet McNaught, viewed in 2007, holds the record as the brightest comet SOHO has seen.)
Between Oct. 7 and 11, the comet blazed through the view of SOHO’s LASCO (Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment) instrument, which uses a disk to block out the bright light of the Sun so it’s easier to see details and objects near the Sun. This image, taken by SOHO on Oct. 10, 2024, shows the comet and its bright tail streaming from the upper left to the right. Mercury appears as a bright dot on the left.
After crossing through SOHO’s field of view, the comet will begin putting on an evening show for skywatchers around the world just after sunset starting Saturday, Oct. 12. Each day throughout October, the comet will gradually rise higher and higher in the western sky as it moves farther away from the Sun. But as it does, it will become fainter and fainter. Eagle-eyed skywatchers may be able to spot it with the naked eye for a few days, but after that, observers will likely need binoculars or a telescope to see it as it grows fainter.
Even if you are unable to spot this comet yourself, you can help SOHO search for others. Scientists and members of the general public have discovered more than 5,000 comets in SOHO imagery, and you can help find even more by visiting the Sungrazer Project.
By Vanessa Thomas
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated Oct 11, 2024 Related Terms
Comets Goddard Space Flight Center Heliophysics Heliophysics Division Skywatching SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) The Sun The Sun & Solar Physics Explore More
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By NASA
3 Min Read October’s Night Sky Notes: Catch Andromeda Rising!
Hot stars burn brightly in this new image from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer, showing the ultraviolet side of a familiar face. At approximately 2.5 million light-years away, the Andromeda galaxy, or M31, is our Milky Way’s largest galactic neighbor. Credits:
NASA If you’re thinking of a galaxy, the image in your head is probably the Andromeda Galaxy! Studies of this massive neighboring galaxy, also called M31, have played an incredibly important role in shaping modern astronomy. As a bonus for stargazers, the Andromeda Galaxy is also a beautiful sight.
Spot the Andromeda Galaxy! M31’s more common name comes from its parent constellation, which becomes prominent as autumn arrives in the Northern Hemisphere. Surprising amounts of detail can be observed with unaided eyes when seen from dark sky sites. Hints of it can even be made out from light polluted areas. Use the Great Square of Pegasus or the Cassiopeia constellation as guides to find it. Credit: Stellarium Web Have you heard that all the stars you see at night are part of our Milky Way galaxy? While that is mostly true, one star-like object located near the border between the constellations of Andromeda and Cassiopeia appears fuzzy to unaided eyes. That’s because it’s not a star, but the Andromeda Galaxy, its trillion stars appearing to our eyes as a 3.4 magnitude patch of haze. Why so dim? Distance! It’s outside our galaxy, around 2.5 million light years distant – so far away that the light you see left M31’s stars when our earliest ancestors figured out stone tools. Binoculars show more detail: M31’s bright core stands out, along with a bit of its wispy, saucer-shaped disc. Telescopes bring out greater detail but often can’t view the entire galaxy at once. Depending on the quality of your skies and your magnification, you may be able to make out individual globular clusters, structure, and at least two of its orbiting dwarf galaxies: M110 and M32. Light pollution and thin clouds, smoke, or haze will severely hamper observing fainter detail, as they will for any “faint fuzzy.” Surprisingly, persistent stargazers can still spot M31’s core from areas of moderate light pollution as long as skies are otherwise clear.
Generated version of the Andromeda Galaxy and its companion galaxies M32 and M110. Stellarium Web Modern astronomy was greatly shaped by studies of the Andromeda Galaxy. A hundred years ago, the idea that there were other galaxies beside our own was not widely accepted, and so M31 was called the “Andromeda Nebula.” Increasingly detailed observations of M31 caused astronomers to question its place in our universe – was M31 its own “island universe,” and not part of our Milky Way? Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis engaged in the “Great Debate” of 1920 over its nature. Curtis argued forcefully from his observations of dimmer than expected nova, dust lanes, and other oddities that the “nebula” was in fact an entirely different galaxy from our own. A few years later, Edwin Hubble, building on Henrietta Leavitt’s work on Cepheid variable stars as a “standard candle” for distance measurement, concluded that M31 was indeed another galaxy after he observed Cepheids in photos of Andromeda, and estimated M31’s distance as far outside our galaxy’s boundaries. And so, the Andromeda Nebula became known as the Andromeda Galaxy.
This illustration shows the location of the 43 quasars scientists used to probe Andromeda’s gaseous halo. These quasars—the very distant, brilliant cores of active galaxies powered by black holes—are scattered far behind the halo, allowing scientists to probe multiple regions. Looking through the immense halo at the quasars’ light, the team observed how this light is absorbed by the halo and how that absorption changes in different regions. By tracing the absorption of light coming from the background quasars, scientists are able to probe the halo’s material. NASA, ESA, and E. Wheatley (STScI) These discoveries inspire astronomers to this day, who continue to observe M31 and many other galaxies for hints about the nature of our universe. One of the Hubble Space Telescope’s longest-running observing campaigns was a study of M31: the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT). Dig into NASA’s latest discoveries about the Andromeda Galaxy, on their Messier 31 page.
Originally posted by Dave Prosper: September 2021
Last Updated by Kat Troche: September 2024
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By NASA
9 min read
Launch Your Creativity with These Space Crafts!
In honor of the completion of our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s spacecraft — the vehicle that will maneuver the observatory to its place in space and enable it to function once there — we’re bringing you some space crafts you can complete at home!
Join us for a journey across the cosmos, starting right in your own pantry.
Stardust Slime
Did you know that most of your household ingredients are made of stardust? And so are you! Nearly every naturally occurring element was forged by living or dying stars.
Take the baking soda in this slime recipe, for example. It’s made up of sodium, hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen. The hydrogen was made during the big bang, right at the start of the universe. But the other three elements were created by dying stars. So when you show your friends your space-y slime, you can tell them it’s literally made of stardust!
Instructions:
1 5 oz. bottle clear glue ½ tablespoon baking soda food coloring 1 tablespoon contact lens solution 1 tablespoon glitter Directions:
Pour the glue into a bowl
Mix in the baking soda
Add food coloring (we recommend blue, purple, black, or a combination).
Add contact lens solution and use your hands to work it through the slime. It will initially be very sticky! You can add a little extra contact lens solution to make it firmer and less goopy.
Add glitter a teaspoon at a time, using as much or as little as you like!
Space Suckers
Now let’s travel a little farther, past Earth’s atmosphere and into the realm of space. That’s where Roman is headed once the whole observatory is complete and passes all of its testing!
Roman will scan the skies from space to make it extra sensitive to faint infrared light. It’s harder to see from the ground because our atmosphere scatters and absorbs infrared radiation, which obscures observations.
Some astronauts have reported that space smells metallic or like gunpowder, but don’t worry — you can choose a more pleasant flavor for your space suckers!
Ingredients
2 cups sugar 2/3 cup light corn syrup 2/3 cup water gel food coloring flavor oil edible glitter dust sucker sticks sucker mold Directions
Prep the molds by adding sucker sticks.
Mix sugar, light corn syrup, and water together in a pot on the stove over medium heat.
Turn it up to medium-high heat and let it boil without stirring for about 6 minutes.
Quickly stir in the flavor oil of your choice, gel food coloring, plus as much edible glitter as you like (reserve some for dusting).
Carefully but quickly spoon the mixture into the molds. Spin the sticks so they’re evenly coated. Add a sprinkle of reserved edible glitter and allow to harden.” An image on the left side of the card shows the result: a deep purple sucker with silver glitter embedded.
Fizzy Planets
As we move toward our outer solar system, we’ll pass the orbits of the gas giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. While they don’t actually fizz like the mini planets you can make at home, they do have some pretty exotic chemistry that stems from their extreme pressures, temperatures, and compositions. For example, the hydrogen in their cores behaves like liquid metal instead of a gas. It even conducts electricity!
Roman will use multiple planet-spotting techniques –– microlensing, transits, and direct imaging –– to help us study a variety of worlds, including both gas giants and rocky worlds similar to our own.
Ingredients
3 cups baking soda ¾ cup water food coloring ¼ cup vinegar Directions
Mix a few drops of food coloring into ¼ cup of water and pour into a bowl with 1 cup of baking soda.
Repeat step one two more times using different colors.
Scoop together bits from each mixture to form small balls. Add an extra splash of water to any mixture that’s too crumbly.
Douse the balls with vinegar using an eye dropper or teaspoon and watch them fizz!
Marshmallow Constellations
As we venture farther out into space, we’ll reach some familiar stars! Constellations are groups of stars that appear close together in the sky as seen from Earth. But if you actually journeyed out to them, you might be surprised to discover that they’re often super far apart from each other!
Though constellations aren’t made of stars that are actually bound together in any way, they can still be useful for referencing a cosmic object’s location in the sky. For example, you can use a pair of binoculars or a telescope to take a look at the nebula found beneath Orion’s Belt, marked by the glitter patch in the recipe card above! You can find the constellation printables here.
Supplies
toothpicks or mini pretzel sticks mini marshmallows constellation printables scissors Directions
Attach marshmallows to toothpicks or pretzel sticks using the constellation cards as a guide. Carefully trim toothpicks or pretzel sticks as needed using scissors.
Black Hole Bath Bombs
Black holes –– objects with such strong gravity that not even light can escape their clutches –– lurk unseen throughout our galaxy. Stray too close to one and you’re in for a wild ride! But they aren’t cosmic vacuum cleaners, despite what you may have grown to believe. Just keep your distance and they’ll affect you the same way as any other object of the same mass.
Astronomers have found dozens of black holes in our galaxy by seeing how their gravity affects nearby objects. But there may be 100 million more that lack a visible companion to signal their presence. Roman will find some of these solitary black holes by seeing how their gravity focuses the light from farther stars.
Ingredients
1 cup baking soda ½ cup citric acid ½ cup cornstarch 2 tablespoons coconut oil black food coloring optional: 2 teaspoons essential oil for scent optional: ½ cup Epsom salt Directions
Mix the baking soda, citric acid, cornstarch, and Epsom salt (optional) together in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix the coconut oil, food coloring, and essential oil (optional).
Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture slowly while whisking it all together. Add a couple tiny splashes of water and whisk it in quickly.
Tightly press the mixture into round molds. Leave them for a few hours and then they’ll be ready to use!
Galaxy in a Jar
Now let’s go so far we can see our Milky Way galaxy from the outside — something many astronomers probably wish they could do at times!
Sort of like how Earth’s atmosphere can affect our view of space, dust in our galaxy can get in the way, too. That makes it easier to study other galaxies than our own in some ways! Roman’s combination of a large field of view, crisp resolution, and the ability to peer through dust make it the ideal instrument to study the Milky Way. The mission will build on previous observations to generate the most detailed map of our galaxy to date.
Ingredients
hot water glitter glue glitter super glue (optional) Directions
Mostly fill a 16 oz. glass jar with very hot water, leaving a couple inches of space at the top.
Add at least ¼ cup of glitter glue in colors of your choosing.
Add loose glitter a couple of teaspoons at a time, using as much or as little as you like! You can use a combination of fine and chunky glitter for an extended swirling effect.
Optional: Super glue the lid to the jar.
Once the water has sufficiently cooled, give the jar a gentle shake to see your galaxy swirl!
NOTE: Closely monitor children to ensure the jar doesn’t break.
Pinwheel Galaxy Pinwheels
As we continue our cosmic excursion, you’ll see other galaxies sprinkled throughout space. Many are spiral galaxies, like our Milky Way and the Pinwheel Galaxy from the craft described above. (You can find more detailed instructions and the printout you’ll need here.)
But galaxies come in other varieties, too. Through Roman’s wide, deep surveys, astronomers are sure to see every type. Scientists will study the shapes and distances of billions of galaxies to help us understand dark energy — a mysterious pressure that’s speeding up the universe’s expansion.
Supplies
Pinwheel Galaxy printout pipe cleaner or chopsticks scissors popsicle stick single hole puncher Directions
Cut out the hexagonal shape for your galaxy pinwheel.
Make cuts down the white lines.
Punch holes in the white dots: six around the edges and one in the center.
Turn the paper so it’s face-down.
Thread a pipe cleaner through the center hole.
Going around the circle, fold each flap so the pipe cleaner goes through the hole.
Tie a knot in the pipe cleaner to secure the front of the pinwheel. Wrap the other side of the pipe cleaner around a popsicle stick.
Universe Dough
We’re nearing the end of our voyage, having traveled so far through space and time that we can take in the whole universe! We’ve learned a lot about it, but there are still plenty of open questions. Some of its biggest components, dark energy and dark matter (invisible matter seen only via its gravitational influence), are huge mysteries Roman will explore. And since the observatory will reveal such large, deep swaths of space, who knows what new puzzles we’ll soon uncover!
Ingredients 1 cup flour ½ cup salt 1 tablespoon vegetable oil ½ cup hot water food coloring glitter Directions
Mix flour and salt in a bowl.
Add several drops of food coloring to hot water, and stir into dry mixture along with the oil.
Add as much glitter as you like and knead it into the dough for several minutes.
Add water or flour as needed to adjust the consistency.
Still feeling crafty? Try your hand at these 3D and paper spacecraft models. If you’re eager for a more advanced space craft, check out these embroidery creations for inspiration! Or if you’re ready for a break, take a virtual tour of an interactive version of the Roman Space Telescope here.
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Last Updated Sep 27, 2024 Related Terms
For Kids and Students Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope NASA STEM Projects View the full article
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By NASA
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 2 min read
Sols 4307-4308: Bright Rocks Catch Our Eyes
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured this image while exploring a rock-strewn channel of Gediz Vallis on the Red Planet. Mission scientists were particularly intrigued to investigate several bright-toned rocks (at the middle-right, bottom-right and bottom-center of the image), similar to rocks that Curiosity had encountered previously that were unexpectedly rich in sulfur. This image was taken by Left Navigation Camera aboard Curiosity on Sol 4306 — Martian day 4,306 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission — on Sept. 16, 2024 at 12:47:18 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Monday, Sept. 16, 2024
We made good progress through Gediz Vallis in the weekend drive, landing in a segment of the channel containing a mix of loose rubble and other channel-filling debris. Amongst the jumbled scene, though, particular objects of interest caught our eye: bright rocks. In past workspaces in Gediz Vallis, similar bright rocks have been associated with very high to almost pure sulfur contents. As all good geologists know, however, color is not diagnostic, so we cannot assume these are the same as sulfur-rich rocks we have encountered previously. The only way to know is to collect data, and that was a significant focus of today’s plan.
We planned multiple mosaics across the examples of bright rocks visible in the image above. Mastcam and ChemCam RMI will cover “Bright Dot Lake” and “Sheep Creek” both in the right midfield of the image. Mastcam imaged the example in the bottom right corner of the image at “Marble Falls,” and ChemCam LIBS targeted one of the small bright fragments along the bottom of the image at “Blanc Lake.” There was also a small bit of bright material in the workspace, but unfortunately, it was not reachable by APXS. APXS analyzed a spot near the bright material, at target “Frog Lake,” and MAHLI was able to tack on a few extra images around that target that should capture the bright material. MAHLI also imaged a vuggy target in the workspace at “Grasshopper Flat.” The wider context of the channel was also of interest for imaging, so we captured the full expanse of the channel with one Mastcam mosaic, and focused another on mounds distributed through the channel at target “Copper Creek.”
Even with all this rock imaging, we did not miss a beat with our environmental monitoring. We planned regular RAD, REMS, and DAN measurements, mid and late day atmospheric dust observations, a cloud movie, and dust devil imaging.
Our drive is planned to take us up onto one of the ridges in the channel. Will we find more bright rocks there? Or something new and unexpected that was delivered down Gediz Vallis by some past Martian flood or debris flow? Only the channel knows!
Written by Michelle Minitti, Planetary Geologist at Framework
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Last Updated Sep 17, 2024 Related Terms
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By USH
In the remote wilderness of the Shoria Mountains in southern Siberia, a long-hidden secret has remained untouched for millennia. Far from the reach of modern civilization, a discovery was made that would challenge our understanding of ancient human history.
In 2013, a team of 19 researchers, led by Georgy Sidorov, embarked on an expedition to explore this mysterious region. Their destination was Gora Shoria, a mountain towering 3,600 feet above sea level in a remote part of Russia. Intrigued by reports of strange megalithic structures, the team ventured into this secluded terrain.
What they found was extraordinary: an immense super-megalith dating back roughly 100,000 years that defied conventional history. These massive stone blocks, later known as the Gornaya Shoria Megaliths, appeared to be made of granite, featuring flat surfaces and precise right angles. The most astounding detail was the weight of the stones, exceeding 3,000 tons—making them the largest megaliths ever discovered.
The arrangement of these granite blocks suggested a deliberate design, far beyond what could be explained by natural formations. The blocks were carefully stacked, reaching a height of approximately 140 feet. This raised profound questions: how were such massive stones carved, transported, and assembled in this remote and rugged landscape?
Some researchers have speculated about the existence of a pre-flood civilization, a sophisticated society wiped out by a cataclysmic event.
Also a deep, narrow vertical shaft was uncovered. The shaft, lined with parallel stone slabs, appeared to be human-made.
The walls of the shaft were straight and polished, descending 40 meters (around 130 feet) before opening into a vast underground hall, 36 meters (around 118 feet) high. These walls were constructed from large megalithic blocks, perfectly fitted with minimal gaps. Some of the stones resembled columns, reinforcing the idea of deliberate design. The full explored length of the shaft spanned over 100 meters (approximately 350 feet).
The precision and scale of this structure left no doubt that it was an artificial creation of immense proportions. The polished walls and massive blocks bore a striking resemblance to the shafts within the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt, suggesting a level of architectural sophistication that defies conventional explanations.
Speculation abounds regarding the shaft’s original purpose. Some believe it served an advanced technological function or was part of a larger, undiscovered structure. The exploration team took over an hour to reach the bottom of the shaft, which required significant climbing expertise and endurance. It is believed that additional chambers and channels, still unexplored, may lie even deeper underground.
How could these gigantic 200-ton stone blocks have been assembled with such accuracy, deep underground? What kind of technology was used to construct the shaft and underground chamber?
Some researchers have speculated that it may have been part of an ancient factory, a seismological research device, or even an energy generator. Others believe it was the underground portion of a long-lost pyramid that once stood on the surface of the mountain.
Despite differing theories, we may wonder what ancient forces or lost civilizations left their mark on this remote corner of the world?
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