{"id":19854,"date":"2019-10-04T11:32:55","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T15:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=19854"},"modified":"2019-10-04T11:32:55","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T15:32:55","slug":"space-sciences-roundup-oct-4-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=19854","title":{"rendered":"Space sciences roundup &#8211; Oct.4.2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images from space-related science news items (find <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?s=Space+sciences+roundup\">previous roundups here<\/a>):<\/p>\n<p><strong>Astronomy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>** <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/news\/eso1915\/?lang\"><strong>Enigmatic radio burst illuminates a galaxy\u2019s tranquil \u200bhalo<\/strong> | ESO<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Astronomers using ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope have for the first time observed that a fast radio burst passed through a galactic halo. Lasting less than a millisecond, this enigmatic blast of cosmic radio waves came through almost undisturbed, suggesting that the halo has surprisingly low density and weak magnetic field. This new technique could be used to explore the elusive halos of other galaxies.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/emXJt6khFO0?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>** <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spacetelescope.org\/news\/heic1917\/?lang\"><strong>Hubble Reveals Latest Portrait of Saturn<\/strong> | ESA\/Hubble<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>The NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope\u2019s Wide Field Camera 3 observed Saturn on 20 June 2019 as the planet made its closest approach to Earth this year, at approximately 1.36 billion kilometres away.<\/em><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Since the Hubble Space Telescope was launched, its goal has been to study not only distant astronomical objects, but also the planets within our <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Solar_System\">Solar System<\/a>. Hubble\u2019s high-resolution images of our planetary neighbours can only be surpassed by pictures taken from spacecraft that actually visit these bodies. However, Hubble has one advantage over space probes; it can look at these objects periodically and observe them over much longer periods than any passing probe could.<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_19855\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19855\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.spacetelescope.org\/news\/heic1917\/?lang\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"19855\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=19855\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/heic1917a1.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"700,445\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Saturn as seen by Hubble Space Telescope\u2019s Wide Field Camera\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt; Saturn as seen by Hubble Space Telescope\u2019s Wide Field Camera.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/heic1917a1.jpg\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-19855\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/heic1917a1-500x318.jpg\" alt=\" Saturn as seen by Hubble Space Telescope\u2019s Wide Field Camera\" width=\"500\" height=\"318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/heic1917a1-500x318.jpg 500w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/heic1917a1.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-19855\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saturn as seen by Hubble Space Telescope\u2019s Wide Field Camera.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>** <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/news\/eso1916\/?lang\">A Cosmic Pretzel | ESO<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Astronomers using ALMA have obtained an extremely high-resolution image showing two disks in which young stars are growing, fed by a complex pretzel-shaped network of filaments of gas and dust. Observing this remarkable phenomenon sheds new light on the earliest phases of the lives of stars and helps astronomers determine the conditions in which binary stars are born.<\/em><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>The two baby stars were found in the [BHB2007] 11 system \u2013 the youngest member of a small stellar cluster in the Barnard 59 dark nebula, which is part of the clouds of interstellar dust called the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/news\/eso1233\/\">Pipe nebula<\/a>. Previous observations of this binary system showed the outer structure. Now, thanks to the high resolution of the <a href=\"https:\/\/eso.org\/public\/teles-instr\/alma\/\">Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array<\/a> (ALMA) and an international team of astronomers led by scientists from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mpe.mpg.de\/index\">Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics<\/a> (MPE) in Germany, we can see the inner structure of this object.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_19861\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19861\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eso.org\/public\/images\/eso1916a\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"19861\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=19861\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/eso1916a1.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"700,510\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;ALMA (ESO\/NAOJ\/NRAO), Alves et a&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;The Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA) captured this unprecedented image of two circumstellar disks, in which baby stars are growing, feeding with material from their surrounding birth disk. The complex network of dust structures distributed in spiral shapes remind of the loops of a pretzel. These observations shed new light on the earliest phases of the lives of stars and help astronomers determine the conditions in which binary stars are born.&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1570183200&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;A Cosmic Pretzel&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"A Cosmic Pretzel\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;The Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA) captured this unprecedented image of two circumstellar disks, in which baby stars are growing, feeding with material from their surrounding birth disk. The complex network of dust structures distributed in spiral shapes remind of the loops of a pretzel. These observations shed new light on the earliest phases of the lives of stars and help astronomers determine the conditions in which binary stars are born.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/eso1916a1.jpg\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-19861\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/eso1916a1-500x364.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/eso1916a1-500x364.jpg 500w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/eso1916a1.jpg 700w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-19861\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA) captured this unprecedented image of two circumstellar disks, in which baby stars are growing, feeding with material from their surrounding birth disk. The complex network of dust structures distributed in spiral shapes remind of the loops of a pretzel. These observations shed new light on the earliest phases of the lives of stars and help astronomers determine the conditions in which binary stars are born.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Cosmology<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>** \u00a0<strong>If the universe is only 14 billion years old, how can it be 92 billion light years wide?<\/strong> &#8211; The light of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_the_most_distant_astronomical_objects\">most distant stars and galaxies<\/a> comes from a time not long after the Big Bang. So why didn&#8217;t that light pass us back then when we were all &#8220;close&#8221; together? Here is the explanation:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>The size and age of the universe seem to not agree with one another. Astronomers have determined that the universe is nearly 14 billion years old and yet its diameter is 92 billion light years across. How can both of those numbers possibly be true? In this video, Fermilab\u2019s Dr. Don Lincoln tells you how.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vIJTwYOZrGU?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Exoplanets<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>** <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spacetelescope.org\/news\/heic1916\/?lang\">Hubble Finds Water Vapor on Habitable-Zone Exoplanet for the First Time | ESA\/Hubble<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>With data from the NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, water vapour has been detected in the atmosphere of a super-Earth within the habitable zone by University College London (UCL) researchers in a world first. K2-18b, which is eight times the mass of Earth, is now the only planet orbiting a star outside the Solar System, or exoplanet, known to have both water and temperatures that could support life.<\/em><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>The discovery, published today in Nature Astronomy, is the first successful atmospheric detection of an exoplanet orbiting in its star\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Circumstellar_habitable_zone\">habitable zone<\/a>, at a distance where water can exist in liquid form.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EJU-Rj53BQk?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Asteroids &amp; Comets<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>** <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/Our_Activities\/Space_Safety\/Hera\/Europe_and_US_teaming_up_for_asteroid_deflection\" target=\"_d\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Europe and US teaming up for asteroid deflectio<\/strong>n &#8211; ESA<\/a> &#8211; NASA\u00a0 will launch the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/planetarydefense\/dart\">DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test)<\/a>\u00a0 spacecraft in late 2021 to the near-Earth binary asteroid Didymos where it will smack into the smaller of the two objects in Sept. 2022. The goal is to test whether an asteroid on track to impact earth could be diverted from its path. DART will be accompanied by the Italian CubeSat <a href=\"http:\/\/www.argotec.it\/online\/liciacube-nasa-choose-italian-excellence-to-monitor-a-space-impact-between-a-satellite-and-an-asteroid\/\">LICIACube<\/a> (Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids), which will record the impact event .<\/p>\n<p>Another European contribution is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/Our_Activities\/Space_Safety\/Hera\/Hera\">Hera<\/a> spacecraft, which will launch in 2024. The Hera spacecraft<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>will perform a close-up survey of the post-impact asteroid, acquiring measurements such as the asteroid\u2019s mass and detailed crater shape. Hera will also deploy a pair of CubeSats for close-up asteroid surveys and the very first radar probe of an asteroid.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>The results returned by Hera would allow researchers to better model the efficiency of the collision, to turn this grand-scale experiment into a technique which could be repeated as needed in the event of a real threat.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The combined DART and HERA projects fall under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/Our_Activities\/Space_Safety\/Hera\/Asteroid_Impact_Deflection_Assessment_AIDA_mission\">Asteroid Impact &amp; Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Astrophysicist and Queen guitarist Brian May describes the HERA mission.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8PIwxKma1tw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>** <strong>Visitor from Interstellar Space<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.seti.org\">SETI Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Planetary Astronomer Michael Busch and Senior Astronomer Seth Shostak discuss a recent visit from Comet Borisov, C\/2019 Q4.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/C1IVdfFSPww?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Mars<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>**<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpl.nasa.gov\/news\/news.php?feature=7508\">NASA&#8217;s InSight &#8216;Hears&#8217; Peculiar Sounds on Mars<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>NASA&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/mars.nasa.gov\/insight\/\">InSight lander<\/a> placed a seismometer on the Martian surface to study marsquakes. While it&#8217;s found many, it has also detected other kinds of seismic signals, including some produced by the spacecraft itself. That includes wind gusts, InSight&#8217;s robotic arm moving around and &#8220;dinks and donks,&#8221; friction caused by parts inside the seismometer moving against each other as the temperature changes. Put on your headphones and you can hear sonifications of this seismic &#8220;noise&#8221; recorded on March 6, 2019, the 98th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Around 2 p.m. local Mars time, the spacecraft&#8217;s arm was moving and snapping pictures with its cameras, surveying InSight\u2019s \u201cworkspace.\u201d This audio would be too faint for the human ear to heart it on Mars. It&#8217;s been sped up by 10 times and processed so you can hear the kinds of signals InSight sends back for its scientists to study.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m9cCuW9nIQg?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>** <strong>NASA InSight&#8217;s Robotic Arm Helps Out its Mole on Mars<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>NASA\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/mars.nasa.gov\/insight\/\">InSight lander<\/a> on Mars is trying to use its robotic arm to get the mission\u2019s heat flow probe, or mole, digging again. InSight team engineer Ashitey Trebbi-Ollennu, based at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, explains what has been attempted and the game plan for the coming weeks. The next tactic they&#8217;ll try will be &#8220;pinning&#8221; the mole against the hole it&#8217;s in. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) built the mole. It is designed to dig under the Martian surface to measure heat flowing out of the planet. Scientists want this data to learn how Mars and other rocky planets form.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uuJoyZ0IuLk?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>** <strong>A recent Curiosity update<\/strong> from Leonard David: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.leonarddavid.com\/curiosity-mars-rover-dumping-dirt-on-its-back\/\">Curiosity Mars Rover: \u201cDumping Dirt on its Back\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>NASA\u2019s Curiosity Mars rover has just initiated Sol 2543 duties.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Reports Roger Wiens, Geochemist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico: \u201cCuriosity has been at this same location for all of August and September, which included a number of days of waiting for Mars to pass behind the Sun (\u2018conjunction\u2019), drilling two holes, and processing the samples.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_19857\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19857\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.leonarddavid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Curiosity-Chemistry-Camera-RMI-Sol-2541-September-29-2019.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"19857\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=19857\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Curiosity-Chemistry-Camera-RMI-Sol-2541-September-29-20191.png\" data-orig-size=\"1024,1024\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Curiosity Chemistry Camera &amp;#8211; Sol 2541 &amp;#8211; Sept. 29, 2019\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Curiosity-Chemistry-Camera-RMI-Sol-2541-September-29-20191.png\" class=\"wp-image-19857 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Curiosity-Chemistry-Camera-RMI-Sol-2541-September-29-20191-500x500.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Curiosity-Chemistry-Camera-RMI-Sol-2541-September-29-20191-500x500.png 500w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Curiosity-Chemistry-Camera-RMI-Sol-2541-September-29-20191-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Curiosity-Chemistry-Camera-RMI-Sol-2541-September-29-20191-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Curiosity-Chemistry-Camera-RMI-Sol-2541-September-29-20191.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-19857\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Curiosity Chemistry and Camera RMI (Remote Micro-Imaging) photo taken on Sol 2541, September 29, 2019. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/LANL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>** <strong>A selection of <a href=\"https:\/\/behindtheblack.com\/\">Bob Zimmerman<\/a>&#8216;s analyses<\/strong> of interesting features on the surface of Mars:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_19862\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19862\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/behindtheblack.com\/behind-the-black\/points-of-information\/the-slowly-changing-dunes-of-mars\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"19862\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=19862\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ESP_060065_1315_RED.abrowserotatedcroppedmatched1.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"724,684\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Sand dune changes\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Change in the sand dunes in the Martian Hellas region. Credits: MRO\/HiRISE NASA JPL\/Univ. Arizona. Annotated by Bob Zimmerman&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ESP_060065_1315_RED.abrowserotatedcroppedmatched1.jpg\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-19862\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ESP_060065_1315_RED.abrowserotatedcroppedmatched1-500x472.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ESP_060065_1315_RED.abrowserotatedcroppedmatched1-500x472.jpg 500w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ESP_060065_1315_RED.abrowserotatedcroppedmatched1.jpg 724w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-19862\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Changes in the sand dunes in the Hellas Basin region on Mars in 8 years. Images credit: MRO\/HiRISE, NASA JPL\/Univ. Arizona. <a href=\"https:\/\/behindtheblack.com\/behind-the-black\/points-of-information\/the-slowly-changing-dunes-of-mars\/\">Cropped and annotated by Bob Zimmerman<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/behindtheblack.com\/behind-the-black\/points-of-information\/the-slowly-changing-dunes-of-mars\/\">The slowly changing dunes of Mars<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/behindtheblack.com\/behind-the-black\/points-of-information\/martian-impact-into-lava-crust\/\">Martian impact into lava crust?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/behindtheblack.com\/behind-the-black\/points-of-information\/curiosity-to-use-first-of-nine-wet-chemistry-cups\/\">Curiosity to use first of nine \u201cwet chemistry cups\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/behindtheblack.com\/behind-the-black\/points-of-information\/tongue-shaped-glaciers-on-mars\/\">Tongue-shaped glaciers on Mars<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/behindtheblack.com\/behind-the-black\/essays-and-commentaries\/cave-pits-in-the-martian-northern-lowlands\/\">Cave pits in the Martian northern lowlands<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/behindtheblack.com\/behind-the-black\/points-of-information\/taking-a-look-back-at-a-martian-pit\/\">Taking a look back at a Martian pit<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Webcasts:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>** <strong>How Do Astronomers Define Latitude &amp; Longitude on Other Planets<\/strong> &#8211; Scott Manley:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>t took centuries for the people on Earth to decide on a common meridian to measure longitude from, but other planets also need everyone to agree about the origins of their mapping systems. In the case of the terrestrial planets a single bright spot was chosen in the early stages of exploration, and as maps improved the exact location is defined with increasing accuracy. For tidally locked moons the meridian is defined based on orientation relative to the parent body, but even then there&#8217;s a lot of room for improvement as data improves. Finally some bodies are just not suited to spherical coordinated, because they&#8217;re not particularly spherical.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/j9oMxRo5uVM?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>** <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QsXjMzhM0Fg\" target=\"_d\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Weekly Space Hangout: September 25, 2019 &#8211; Seth Lockman &amp; Aaron Lockman: The Astronomy Brothers &#8211; YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QsXjMzhM0Fg?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>** <strong>All your astronomy questions answered | Space Interview<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/TMRO.tv\">TMRO.tv<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Jared and Tony Darnell from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCQkLvACGWo8IlY1-WKfPp6g\">Deep Astronomy<\/a> lost track of time answering a bunch of community questions ranging from why James Webb Space Telescope is being intentionally launched out of focus, what&#8217;s the *next* telescope after JWST gets launched (FINALLY) to why Uranus and Neptune deserve their own dedicated space missions.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Gq6Fngrppi8?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">====<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1501187740\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1501187740&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=hobbyspace&amp;linkId=7d6f061f588b3ff2d61d5de146120cd0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fire in the Sky:<br \/>\nCosmic Collisions, Killer Asteroids, and<br \/>\nthe Race to Defend Earth<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=hobbyspace&amp;l=am2&amp;o=1&amp;a=1501187740\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ac&amp;ref=tf_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=hobbyspace&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=1501187740&amp;asins=1501187740&amp;linkId=761512aa814951d1800f443cbc7bed63&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true&amp;price_color=333333&amp;title_color=0066c0&amp;bg_color=ffffff\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images from space-related science news items (find previous roundups here): Astronomy ** Enigmatic radio burst illuminates a galaxy\u2019s tranquil \u200bhalo | ESO Astronomers using ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope have for the first time observed that a fast radio burst passed through a galactic halo. Lasting less than a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=19854\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Space sciences roundup &#8211; Oct.4.2019<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,78,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy","category-mars","category-space-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-5ae","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7082,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=7082","url_meta":{"origin":19854,"position":0},"title":"&#8220;Heaven&#8217;s Carousel&#8221; artwork unveiled at Hubble telescope conference","author":"TopSpacer","date":"March 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A press release from\u00a0ESA\/Hubble: New artwork unveiled at the Science with the Hubble Space Telescope IV conference\u00a0 Last week researchers from around the world gathered at the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome for the Science with the Hubble Space Telescope IV conference. The event celebrated the history of Hubble\u2019s extraordinary\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10116,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10116","url_meta":{"origin":19854,"position":1},"title":"Hubble study suggests large underground ocean on Jupiter&#8217;s moon Ganymede","author":"TopSpacer","date":"March 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The moons in the solar system continue to get more and more interesting. For example, Hubble telescope observations of\u00a0Jupiter's largest moon Ganymede\u00a0indicate that it could have a huge saltwater ocean beneath a deep layer of ice: NASA\u2019s Hubble Observations Suggest Underground Ocean on Jupiter's Largest Moon NASA\u2019s Hubble Space Telescope\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Europa, Titan, &amp; other deep space sites&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Europa, Titan, &amp; other deep space sites","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=98"},"img":{"alt_text":"15-033i1[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/15-033i11.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10457,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10457","url_meta":{"origin":19854,"position":2},"title":"Hubble telescope celebrates 25 years in space","author":"TopSpacer","date":"April 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Telescope, a beautiful image of the Westerlund 2 star cluster taken by the orbital observatory has been released:\u00a0Hubble Space Telescope Celebrates 25 Years of Unveiling the Universe - HubbleSite. Westerlund 2 star cluster.\u00a0Zoomable version. A 3-D\u00a0visualization\u00a0of the cluster:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"0105-4x5color.ai","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/hs-2015-12-a-web_print1-1024x819.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15112,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15112","url_meta":{"origin":19854,"position":3},"title":"Hubble: &#8220;Wobbling galaxies&#8221; inconsistent with standard model of dark matter","author":"TopSpacer","date":"October 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A new report from the Hubble Space Telescope collaboration: Hubble discovers \u201cwobbling galaxies\u201d\u00a0 Observations may hint at nature of dark matter Using the NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered that the brightest galaxies within galaxy clusters \u201cwobble\u201d relative to the cluster\u2019s centre of mass. This unexpected result is inconsistent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/heic1615a1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15246,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15246","url_meta":{"origin":19854,"position":4},"title":"ESO: The Very Large Telescope looks deeper into the Hubble Ultra Deep Field","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest ESO (European Southern Observatory) report: MUSE Probes Uncharted Depths of Hubble Ultra Deep Field Deepest ever spectroscopic survey completed Astronomers using the MUSE instrument on ESO\u2019s Very Large Telescope in Chile have conducted the deepest spectroscopic survey ever. They focused on the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, measuring distances\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/eso1738a1-1012x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12921,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12921","url_meta":{"origin":19854,"position":5},"title":"Hubble studies galactic cluster whose gravitation magnifies other more distant galaxies","author":"TopSpacer","date":"July 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A new report from the\u00a0Hubble space observatory: Space... the final frontier Fifty years ago Captain Kirk and the crew of the starship Enterprise began their journey into space \u2014 the final frontier. Now, as the newest Star Trek film hits cinemas, the NASA\/ESA Hubble space telescope is also exploring new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"Abell S1063, a galaxy cluster, was observed by the NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope as part of the Frontier Fields programme. The huge mass of the cluster acts as a cosmic magnifying glass and enlarges even more distant galaxies, so they become bright enough for Hubble to see.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/heic1615a1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19854"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19863,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19854\/revisions\/19863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}