Notices by Corey S Powell (coreyspowell@mastodon.social)

Astronomers have just discovered the first known "Einstein zigzag."

Due to a rare, lucky cosmic alignment, the combined gravity of two galaxies bent light like spaghetti & split a distant quasar into six different images.

This six-part image could allow a very accurate measure of the expansion of the universe.

https://www.science.org/content/article/first-known-double-gravitational-lens-could-shed-light-universe-s-expansion #science #space #astronomy #physics

I spent a month immersed in the world of neutrino research & emerged with a profound respect for these weird little particles.

Physicists' theory of neutrinos began almost as a joke. It ended with the realization that neutrinos might explain why the universe exists.

Come down the rabbit hole with me:

https://aeon.co/essays/going-deep-underground-to-reveal-the-mysteries-of-the-neutrino #science #physics #nature #life

Taking a break from awful things:

Scientists taught rats to drive cars. The rats quickly learned to rev the engine and take longer routes just for fun.

Bonus: Watch the researcher do a little happy leap when the rat gets into the car.

https://theconversation.com/im-a-neuroscientist-who-taught-rats-to-drive-their-joy-suggests-how-anticipating-fun-can-enrich-human-life-239029 #science #tech

To keep my American brain from exploding today, here are some remarkable new deep-space images from JWST.

First, a celestial smash-up. JWST's infrared eyes reveal cold dust that forms the "skeleton" of these colliding galaxies, known as IC 2163 and NGC 2207.

https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2024/news-2024-136 #space #science #nature #astronomy

Eclipse of the Sun. By the moon Phobos. From the surface of Mars. Captured by NASA's Perseverance rover on September 30.

I will never stop being amazed that we can see such things.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-perseverance-captures-googly-eye-during-solar-eclipse/ #space #science #astronomy #nasa

A fireball streaked by while Yasutaka Saika was taking a photograph of Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS, producing this beautiful, accidental celestial alignment.

Captured on Oct 24 from Tereske, Hungary.

https://www.facebook.com/yasutaka.saika/ #space #science #astronomy #photography

The Nobel Prize in Physics goes to John Hopfield & Geoffrey Hinton for work in machine learning and neural networks.

Here's why that research qualifies as physics (it's also a fascinating read):

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2024/popular-information/ #science #physics #nobel #tech

Hurricane Milton right now, via the GOES-East weather satellite.

What a terrifying monster of a storm.

https://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/GOES/floater.php?stormid=AL142024#tab2 #HurricaneHelene #weather #nature #space

Did the Covid pandemic cause nights to get colder on the Moon?

Sounds hard to believe! But a serious new study claims lockdowns--> less pollution--> less thermal radiation from Earth--> lower nighttime temperatures on the Moon.

https://academic.oup.com/mnrasl/article/535/1/L18/7760380?login=false #space #science #environment #climate

One of my favorite deep-space images: a panorama of the center of our galaxy seen in radio waves.

Supernova explosions blew out the bubbles. A massive black hole powers the central glow. And those long, vertical filaments? Nobody really understands them.

https://www.sarao.ac.za/media-releases/new-meerkat-radio-image-reveals-complex-heart-of-the-milky-way/ #science #space #astronomy #nature

OMG.
A triangle of glowing plasma.
Bigger than the Earth.
Hovering over the surface of the Sun last week.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html #space #science #astronomy #sky

Happening now over your head: NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System has spread its wings.

The satellite, launched in April, just unfurled an 80-square-meter sail that will use sunlight to adjust its orbit. For now we just have an illustration; onboard photos are coming on Sept 4.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/smallsatellites/tag/advanced-composite-solar-sail-system-acs3/
#space #science #nasa #tech

All across our galaxy, the European Space Agency's Gaia space telescope is finding stars like the Sun orbiting neutron stars, the remains of supernova explosions.

How did those suns survive the devastation? Did entire worlds get sterilized in the process?

https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/sun-like-stars-found-orbiting-hidden-companions #science #space #astronomy #life #ESA

An Indonesian cave drawing, showing three people interacting with a pig, is now the oldest known example of narrative art. It's been dated to at least 51,000 years ago.

I'd love to know how people thought and spoke back then.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07541-7 #science #history #art #anthropology

Working in tandem, NASA's Parker Solar Probe and ESA's Solar Orbiter are making big discoveries about how the Sun works.
One particularly intriguing observation: a strange plasma "snake" slithering all the way across the solar surface.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03301-1 #astronomy #astrodon #science

NASA's Parker Solar Probe has set a new record as the fastest object ever built, hitting a velocity of 394,736 mph (635,266 kph) relative to the Sun.

That's about 300 times as fast as a speeding bullet. Damn!
https://parkersolarprobe.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/Show-Article.php?articleID=193 #NASA #space #science

For a dose of perspective: Even at the peak speed of the Parker Solar Probe (~180 km/sec), it would take more than 7,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system.

Interstellar distances are HUGE.
#space #science #travel

The Voyager space probes, now about 1 light day from Earth, will carry Ed Stone's legacy for a long time.

One study estimated that the Golden Record on Voyager 2 could still be readable in 5 billion years.

https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/ #nasa #space #science #tech #eternity

Another memorable Ed Stone moment: I asked him to explain what happened as the Voyager probes passed into interstellar space.

He ran to a sink and turned on the water. "Notice how a ring forms here?" he said. "That's just like the termination shock when you hit the interstellar stream."

Ed Stone was 80 when I interviewed him, still working actively at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.

At one point I asked him about his hobbies. He smiled at me indulgently for asking such a ridiculous question and said, "Hobbies? Why would I need hobbies?

https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/voyager-the-man-behind-the-mission #nasa #space #exploration #astronomy #astrodon