This artist’s impression shows the orbits of the objects in the HR 6819 triple system. This system is made up of an inner binary with one star (orbit in blue) and a newly discovered black hole (orbit in red), as well as a third star in a wider orbit (also in blue). The team originally believed there were only two objects, the two stars, in the system. However, as they analysed their observations, they were stunned when they revealed a third, previously undiscovered body in HR 6819: a black hole, the closest ever found to Earth. The black hole is invisible, but it makes its presence known by its gravitational pull, which forces the luminous inner star into an orbit. The objects in this inner pair have roughly the same mass and circular orbits. The observations, with the FEROS spectrograph on the 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla, showed that the inner visible star orbits the black hole every 40 days, while the second star is at a large distance from this inner pair.
A team of astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and other institutes has discovered a black hole lying just 1000 light-years from Earth. The black hole is closer to our Solar System than any other found to date and forms part of a triple system that can be seen with the naked eye. The team found evidence for the invisible object by tracking its two companion stars using the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. They say this system could just be the tip of the iceberg, as many more similar black holes could be found in the future.
“We were totally surprised when we realised that this is the first stellar system with a black hole that can be seen with the unaided eye,”
says Petr Hadrava, Emeritus Scientist at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague and co-author of the research. Located in the constellation of Telescopium, the system is so close to us that its stars can be viewed from the southern hemisphere on a dark, clear night without binoculars or a telescope.
“This system contains the nearest black hole to Earth that we know of,”
says ESO scientist Thomas Rivinius, who led the study published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
The team originally observed the system, called HR 6819, as part of a study of double-star systems. However, as they analysed their observations, they were stunned when they revealed a third, previously undiscovered body in HR 6819: a black hole. The observations with the FEROS spectrograph on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla showed that one of the two visible stars orbits an unseen object every 40 days, while the second star is at a large distance from this inner pair.
Dietrich Baade, Emeritus Astronomer at ESO in Garching and co-author of the study, says:
“The observations needed to determine the period of 40 days had to be spread over several months. This was only possible thanks to ESO’s pioneering service-observing scheme under which observations are made by ESO staff on behalf of the scientists needing them.”
This animation shows the orbits and movements of the objects in the HR 6819 triple system. This system includes an inner binary with one star (orbit indicated in blue) and a newly discovered black hole (orbit indicated in red). As we move away from this inner pair, we see the outer object in the system, another star in a much wider orbit (in blue).
The team originally believed there were only two objects, the two stars, in the system. However, as they analysed their observations, they were stunned when they revealed a third, previously undiscovered body in HR 6819: a black hole, the closest ever found to Earth. The black hole is invisible, but it makes its presence known by its gravitational pull, which forces the luminous inner star into an orbit. The objects in this inner pair have roughly the same mass and circular orbits.
The observations, with the FEROS spectrograph on the 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla, showed that the inner visible star orbits the black hole every 40 days, while the second star is at a large distance from this inner pair.
The hidden black hole in HR 6819 is one of the very first stellar-mass black holes found that do not interact violently with their environment and, therefore, appear truly black. But the team could spot its presence and calculate its mass by studying the orbit of the star in the inner pair.
“An invisible object with a mass at least 4 times that of the Sun can only be a black hole,”
concludes Rivinius, who is based in Chile.
Astronomers have spotted only a couple of dozen black holes in our galaxy to date, nearly all of which strongly interact with their environment and make their presence known by releasing powerful X-rays in this interaction. But scientists estimate that, over the Milky Way’s lifetime, many more stars collapsed into black holes as they ended their lives. The discovery of a silent, invisible black hole in HR 6819 provides clues about where the many hidden black holes in the Milky Way might be.
“There must be hundreds of millions of black holes out there, but we know about only very few. Knowing what to look for should put us in a better position to find them,” says Rivinius. Baade adds that finding a black hole in a triple system so close by indicates that we are seeing just “the tip of an exciting iceberg.”
Already, astronomers believe their discovery could shine some light on a second system.
“We realised that another system, called LB-1, may also be such a triple, though we’d need more observations to say for sure,” says Marianne Heida, a postdoctoral fellow at ESO and co-author of the paper. “LB-1 is a bit further away from Earth but still pretty close in astronomical terms, so that means that probably many more of these systems exist. By finding and studying them we can learn a lot about the formation and evolution of those rare stars that begin their lives with more than about 8 times the mass of the Sun and end them in a supernova explosion that leaves behind a black hole.”
The discoveries of these triple systems with an inner pair and a distant star could also provide clues about the violent cosmic mergers that release gravitational waves powerful enough to be detected on Earth. Some astronomers believe that the mergers can happen in systems with a similar configuration to HR 6819 or LB-1, but where the inner pair is made up of two black holes or of a black hole and a neutron star. The distant outer object can gravitationally impact the inner pair in such a way that it triggers a merger and the release of gravitational waves. Although HR 6819 and LB-1 have only one black hole and no neutron stars, these systems could help scientists understand how stellar collisions can happen in triple star systems.
This wide-field view shows the region of the sky, in the constellation of Telescopium, where HR 6819 can be found, a triple system consisting of two stars and the closest black hole to Earth ever found. This view was created from images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. While the black hole is invisible, the two stars in HR 6819 can be viewed from the southern hemisphere on a dark, clear night without binoculars or a telescope.
1. Monday, May 4, 2020; 7 pm PDT (9 pm CDT, 10 pm EDT: No special programming.
2. Tuesday, May 5, 2020; 7 pm PDT (9 pm CDT, 10 pm EDT): We welcome back Dr. Haym Benaroya for lunar return options and news, EMP threats & mitigation, lunar resource mining and utilization and more.
3. Wednesday, May 6, 2020: Hotel Mars/John Batchelor Show – Interview with Eric Berger, space journalist at Arstechnica.
4. Thursday, May 7, 2020; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): No special programming.
6. Sunday, May 10, 2020; 12-1:30 pm PDT (3-4:30 pm EDT, 2-3:30 pm CDT): : No show today due to Mother’s Day in the U.S. Happy Mother’s Day to all the great Mom’s out there.
** Fri, 05/01/2020 – Dr. Pekka Janhunem talked about “his space settlement concepts, including his free space Dumbbell like L5 project”.
** Tue, 04/28/2020 – Dr. Bruce Cordell examined “Covid-19 as a Sputnik moment (shock to the world. Bruce compares, contrasts and extrapolates to estimate the virus impact on space now and going forward, plus more just as the Sputnik moment was more”.
A sampling of links to recent space policy, politics, and government (US and international) related space news and resource items that I found of interest (find previous space policy roundups here):
** The Space Show – Tue, 04/28/2020 – Dr. Bruce Cordell examined “Covid-19 as a Sputnik moment (shock to the world. Bruce compares, contrasts and extrapolates to estimate the virus impact on space now and going forward, plus more just as the Sputnik moment was more”.
** Dennis Wingo – On The Way To Moonrush: Advancements In Space Technology – CSP S02E33
Dennis Wingo, Founder & CEO of Skycorp Inc., has a lot of wisdom to share about the space industry. He’s the author of “Moonrush: Improving Life on Earth with the Moon’s Resources”, and calls himself a Technoarcheologist. With Cold Star Project host Jason Kanigan, Dennis discusses:
– what the term “advanced mission planning” means for him, and what it looks like in action
– the concept of orbital assembly, and how it can be achieved
– the DARPA/Skycorp Time Domain Relative Navigation System (TDRNS) project
– the space logistics system he created and licensed to Orbital ATK for extending the life of satellites
– his thoughts on the April 6, 2020 US Presidential Executive Order regarding the use of space resources
– economic reasons for returning to the Moon.
The FCC has been an active player in space policy in recent weeks. Its approval of Ligado’s 5G system came despite warnings by the Defense Department and others that the system will interfere with GPS signals. The FCC also considered stringent new orbital debris regulations that prompted criticism from industry and some members of Congress. Those efforts raise broader questions about how the FCC, an independent agency, fits into space policy efforts by the administration and Congress.
SpaceNews staff writers Jeff Foust and Caleb Henry lead the discussion with a panel of experts.
NASA has selected three U.S. companies to design and develop human landing systems (HLS) for the agency’s Artemis program, one of which will land the first woman and next man on the surface of the Moon by 2024. NASA is on track for sustainable human exploration of the Moon for the first time in history.
The human landing system awards under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP-2) Appendix H Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) are firm-fixed price, milestone-based contracts. The total combined value for all awarded contracts is $967 million for the 10-month base period.
The general plan is for an HLS system to operate initially with the Orion spacecraft launched by a SLS. with astronauts on board. Later, the lander will dock to the Gateway station in high lunar orbit.
For these three HLS (Human Landing Systems) program contracts,
NASA’s commercial partners will refine their lander concepts through the contract base period ending in February 2021. During that time, the agency will evaluate which of the contractors will perform initial demonstration missions. NASA will later select firms for development and maturation of sustainable lander systems followed by sustainable demonstration missions. NASA intends to procure transportation to the lunar surface as commercial space transportation services after these demonstrations are complete. During each phase of development, NASA and its partners will use critical lessons from earlier phases to hone the final concepts that will be used for future lunar commercial services.
Here is an audio recording of the teleconference on April 30th in which the announcement was made:
Blue Origin National Team (incl Blue, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper)
Artist concept of the Blue Origin National Team crewed lander on the surface of the Moon. Credits: Blue Origin
$579M for further design work on the “Integrated Lunar Vehicle” (ILV), a 3 stage system that includes a transfer stage to power the system from the Gateway station or Orion in high lunar orbit to low lunar orbit, a lander stage, and an ascent stage. Each of the ILV stages will launch on either a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket or a ULA Vulcan and then be assembled in orbit.
$253M for design of a 2-stage modular system for descent and ascent. The modules will launch separately on ULA Vulcan rockets.
There would be two propellant modules ( Modular Propellant Vehicles or MPVs) and one crew module (called the Descent/Ascent Element or DAE). The propellant modules, or “drop tanks” would be discarded during the descent to the lunar surface after the propellants were consumed.
The Dynetics Human Landing System concept includes a single element providing the ascent and descent capabilities, with multiple modular propellant vehicles prepositioned to fuel the engines at different points in the mission. The crew cabin sits low to the surface, enabling a short climb for astronauts entering, exiting, or transporting tools and samples. The DHLS systems supports both docking with Orion and with Gateway, and will get a fuel top-off before descending to the surface. After the surface expedition, the entire vehicle will return for crew transfer back to Orion.
Artist concept of the Dynetics Human Landing System on the surface of the Moon. Credits: Dynetics
$135M for design of a Starship customized for transport between lunar orbit and the surface. Other Starships will support the lunar vehicle’s mission. Reusable Super Heavy boosters will send Starships into earth orbit.
The Lunar Starship has no thermal protection or reentry control surfaces as it will be used only for going back and forth between lunar orbit and the lunar surface.
The Lunar Starship will initially rendezvous in earth orbit with another Starship that will provide propellants to power the trip to the Moon. Other Starships will supply propellants to this depot Starship.
After refilling its tanks, the lunar Starship will go to lunar orbit. When NASA’s Gateway station is orbiting the Moon, the SpaceX Starship will dock with it.
A problem with the standard Starship design for lunar missions is that the powerful Raptor engines would make deep craters in the surface while landing and taking off. Some of the dust and small rocks from the blast could even be accelerated into orbit due to the Moon’s low gravity and become hazardous debris for spacecraft there. The images of the Lunar Starship show thruster ports just above the mid-line of the vehicle. Presumably, these propulsion units provide sufficient thrust for landing while generating plumes that mostly disperse by the time they reach the ground and avoid the cratering and debris problems.
Starship is a fully reusable launch and landing system designed for travel to the Moon, Mars, and other destinations. The system leans on the company’s tested Raptor engines and flight heritage of the Falcon and Dragon vehicles. Starship includes a spacious cabin and two airlocks for astronaut moonwalks.
Artist concept of the SpaceX Starship on the surface of the Moon. Credits: SpaceX
** Virgin Galactic does drop-glide test of SpaceShipTwo Unity from Spaceport America in New Mexico.
SpaceShipTwo Unity is attached to our mothership, VMS Eve and the vehicles are preparing to conduct a glide flight from our Gateway to Space facility at Spaceport America, New Mexico. We will be issuing a blog and updates upon landing. pic.twitter.com/50gmKmURhb
SpaceShipTwo Unity takes to the skies attached to the mothership, VMS Eve for our first glide flight from Spaceport America. Unity is piloted by Dave Mackay and CJ Sturckow while in the cockpit of VMS Eve is Mike Masucci and Kelly Latimer. pic.twitter.com/MmkW4Uehsa
Today’s glide flight is being conducted under a set of stringent operational protocols to ensure safety against COVID-19. These protocols include changes to the work areas and procedures to enforce social distancing as advised by state guidelines as well as universal mask useage pic.twitter.com/a0wVUSx2Bj
SpaceShipTwo Unity completes a runway landing at Spaceport America, New Mexico finishing its first free flight in New Mexico airspace. pic.twitter.com/iJ1sD1cAmW
Today SpaceShipTwo Unity completed its first glide flight from Spaceport America. This is the first time our spaceship has flown freely in New Mexico and completes a vital milestone in its flight test program. https://t.co/0MSv7H90GYpic.twitter.com/UMuVf9FcsE
This glide flight marks the inaugural solo flight of VSS Unity in New Mexico and as such is an important flight test milestone in preparation for commercial service.
The primary goal of the test flight is testing the Long March 5B for launching to low Earth orbit (LEO). If successful, launch of the ‘Tianhe’ core module for China’s space station could take place as soon as early 2021.
The payload for the test launch—a prototype new-generation crewed spacecraft—will be loaded with nearly 10 tons of propellant. This will both make the spacecraft analogous to a 20-ton-plus space station module and allow the prototype to reach higher orbits and test a high-speed reentry.
Rocket Lab, a space technology company and the global leader in dedicated small satellite launch, has rolled an Electron launch vehicle out to the Launch Complex 2 pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops, Virginia for the first time. The milestone is one of the final steps ahead of Rocket Lab’s first launch from Launch Complex 2 – a dedicated mission in partnership with the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program and the Space and Missile Systems Center’s Small Launch and Targets Division.
Rocket Lab engineers and technicians carried out a range of successful integrated systems tests to verify launch systems on Electron and on the ground systems at Launch Complex 2. The critical checks included raising Electron vertical on the Launch Complex 2 pad for the first time, activating and tuning pad fluid systems, power and communication checkouts as well as RF testing with the range. The test campaign concluded with a hot ignition test of the nine Rutherford engines on Electron’s first stage.
The STP-27RM mission will launch a single micro-sat from the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Monolith program, which is designed to determine the ability of small satellites to support large aperture payloads to monitor space weather. The mission is being coordinated by the U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center and is scheduled to launch no earlier than the third quarter of 2020.
Rocket Labs Electron rocket goes vertical on the pad at the Wallops Island spaceport for the first time. Credits: Rocket Lab
**** On Friday, NASA and SpaceX hosted three online panel presentations about the upcoming crew demonstration mission. The Falcon 9 is set to launch on May 27th with the first two astronauts to ride on a Crew Dragon to orbit.
****** NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Commercial Crew and International Space Station Overview News Conference
With the first mission to return human spaceflight launches to American soil now targeted to lift off May 27, NASA highlighted the historic flight with a series of news conferences Friday, May 1. The first gave overviews of NASA’s Commercial Crew and International Space Station programs and included NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, NASA Commercial Crew program manager Kathy Lueders, NASA International Space Station program manager Kirk Shireman and SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell.
****** NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Mission Overview
With the first mission to return human spaceflight launches to American soil now targeted to lift off May 27, NASA highlighted the historic flight with a series of news conferences Friday, May 1. The second gave a detailed overview of the mission and its milestones and included NASA Commercial Crew program deputy manager Steve Stich, NASA Demo-2 Flight Director Zeb Scoville and SpaceX director of crew mission management Benji Reed.
****** NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 Crew News Conference
With the first mission to return human spaceflight launches to American soil now targeted to lift off May 27, NASA highlighted the historic flight with a series of news conferences Friday, May 1. The third included Demo-2 crew members Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley offering their thoughts on the upcoming mission and taking questions from reporters called in from around the world.
** SpaceX releases new video of in-flight abort test:
On Sunday, January 19, SpaceX successfully completed an in-flight test of Crew Dragon’s launch escape capabilities from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This test, which did not have NASA astronauts onboard the spacecraft, demonstrated Crew Dragon’s ability to reliably carry crew to safety in the unlikely event of an emergency on ascent.
Falcon 9 and Dragon lifted off at 10:30 a.m. EST, or 15:30 UTC, with the abort sequence initiating approximately one and a half minutes into flight. Crew Dragon’s eight SuperDraco engines powered the spacecraft away from Falcon 9 at speeds of over 400 mph. Following separation, Dragon’s trunk was released and the spacecraft’s parachutes were deployed, first the two drogue parachutes followed by the four upgraded Mark III parachutes. Dragon safely splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean and teams successfully recovered the spacecraft onto SpaceX’s recovery vessel.
** Preparations underway for first operational Dragon crew mission (Crew-1) set for the fall:
Once Demo-2 is complete, and the SpaceX and NASA teams have reviewed all the data for certification, SpaceX will launch Crew Dragon’s first six-month operational mission (Crew-1) later this year. The Crew-1 spacecraft is in production and astronaut training is well underway pic.twitter.com/SVMQMkK6AB
The U.S. Space Force expects to complete design validation on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket by July, ahead of the launch of the military’s first high-priority national security mission on the heavy-lifter late this year.
The launch of multiple military payloads to an orbit more than 20,000 miles above Earth will mark the fourth flight of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the most powerful launcher currently flying anywhere in the world.
The mission is designated USSF-44, renamed from AFSPC-44 after the establishment of the U.S. Space Force in December.
SpaceX won a military contract in February 2019 to launch the USSF-44 mission from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In documents published by the military during the procurement process, the Space and Missile Systems Center, or SMC — then part of the Air Force — suggested the USSF-44 launch will loft two payloads into a circular geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 miles above the equator.
**** Starship
****** The SN4 prototype is sitting on the launch pedestal and has had a single Raptor engine installed. A static firing test is expected sometime in the next few days. A brief hop to 150 meters or so should then follow within a few days after that.
Meanwhile, the sections of the SN5 prototype appear nearly complete and ready for stacking. This vehicle will probably also have two wing-like control surfaces attached. The first test flight is expected to go to around 20 km.
**** Daily video reports on activities at Boca Chica:
****** Last night and early this morning, the SN4 site was busy as they the crew attempted a wet dress rehearsal, which involved filling the tanks with actual propellants – liquid methane and liquid oxygen – for the first time. Methane vapor was burnt off in a flare near the pad, giving the scene a primeval look. Starship SN4 Wet Dress Testing at SpaceX Boca Chica – SPadre – YouTube
****** Apr.28.2020: SpaceX Boca Chica – SN4 preps for static fire as new Starship builds make progress – NASASpaceflight – YouTube
Starship SN4 is set to perform a single-engine static fire later this week ahead of a planned hop to 150 meters. Meanwhile, back at the production site, SpaceX is working on additional prototypes including a nosecone pathfinder. Video and photos via Mary (@BocaChicaGal). Edited by Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer).
****** Apr.29.2020: SpaceX Boca Chica – Dual Starship Flows for SN4 and SN5 – NASASpaceflight – YouTube
SpaceX is working on at least two Starships at Boca Chica, with SN4 preparing for a Static Fire test at the launch site and SN5 build-up at the production site. Highlights include the SN5 Dome Skirt Bulkhead mate. Video and Photos via Mary (@BocaChicaGal).
****** May.1.2020 – SpaceX Boca Chica – Starship SN4 spotted with a Raptor, nosecone prototypes make progress – NASASpaceflight – YouTube A beehive of activity at SpaceX’s Texas Starship factory today. SN4 being readied for static fire and hop with a single Raptor engine, work on the build site progresses, and SN5 takes shape. Photos and Video by Mary (@BocaChicaGal) for NASASpaceflight.com. Edited by Jack Bayer (@thejackbeyer).
****** May.1.2020 – SpaceX Boca Chica Starship SN4 and SN5 Update Friday May 1 – SPadre – YouTube
****** May.2.2020 – SpaceX Boca Chica – Starship SN4 enters test day – SN5 pre-stack ops – NASASpaceflight – YouTube
** Webcast reports:
**** NSF Live: Starship SN4 update from the launch site, NASA awards contracts for crewed lunar landers – NASASpaceflight – YouTube
** NASA Artemis Lunar Lander Selection Surprises Many (In a good way) – Scott Manley
** Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut, compares NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) to the SpaceX Starship:
SLS VS Starship: Why do both rockets exist?!
NASA just announced the lunar landers for the Artemis program and to everyone’s surprise, SpaceX’s MASSIVE Starship is actually one of the landers NASA chose alongside Blue Origin and Dynetics. And this is bringing up a lot of questions, some of which we’ll answer in my next video, “Should NASA just cancel SLS and use Starship and / or other commercial launchers for Artemis?”. But today I think we need to settle a lot of debates here first about these two rockets and now more than ever, it’s time we truly pit them head to head.
LINKS:
05:50 – What Makes a Vehicle a Super Heavy Lift Launcher
What astronomy highlights can you see in the sky in May 2020? Venus, Sirius and the Milky Way. With so many of us staying home these days, here’s a look into the sky at dusk and dawn with an eye toward the vast stretches of wide open space right above our heads. Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What’s Up, along with still images from the video, and the video transcript, are available at https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/whats-up… Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
In May, we are looking away from the crowded, dusty plane of our own galaxy toward a region where the sky is brimming with distant galaxies. Locate Virgo to find a concentration of roughly 2,000 galaxies and search for Coma Berenices to identify many more. Keep watching for space-based views of galaxies like the Sombrero Galaxy, M87, and M64.
