Notices by Corey S Powell (coreyspowell@mastodon.social), page 4

Astronomers sure do conjure up a lot of spooky images when they look out into deep space. A short Halloween thread:

Let's start with the Cosmic Bat Nebula (LDN 43).

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241027.html #space #science #art #halloween

More space beauty for your day: This new JWST image of Uranus shows exquisite detail in the rings, clouds, and huge polar cap. Imagine what it took to knock this planet on its side.

Processing by Andrea Luck.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/192271236@N03/54879990600/ #space #science #nature #art

Astronomers have discovered rings forming around a Centaur. For real: Chiron (a comet-asteroid hybrid orbiting beyond Saturn) has set of rings that seem to be changing by the year.

Regardless of what's happening on Earth, space continues to be amazing.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ae0b6d #space #science #astronomy #nature

Chiron is a 200 km oddity orbiting between Saturn & Uranus. Its rings may have formed from an impact, a broken satellite, or eruptions from Chiron itself.

Here's a more accessible story about the young, fast-changing rings around Chiron:

https://www.thebrighterside.news/post/astronomers-discover-an-evolving-ring-system-forming-around-chiron/ #astronomy #astrodon #science

Earth's magnetic field is changing, with its weak spot (the South Atlantic Anomaly) growing significantly over the past decade.

No, it's not doomsday...but it does affect the radiation doses hitting satellite that pass through that region.

https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/Swarm/Swarm_reveals_growing_weak_spot_in_Earth_s_magnetic_field #space #science #nature #tech

Something big is happening 3,000 kilometers underground, where Earth's inner ocean of molten, magnetic iron generates the global magnetic field.

The strong parts of the field near the poles are changing, too, getting weaker over Canada and stronger over Siberia.

https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/Swarm/Swarm_reveals_growing_weak_spot_in_Earth_s_magnetic_field #science #nature

Wild! A meteorite may have struck the windshield of a 737 flying over Colorado, according to early reports.

Whatever the object was, it cut a pilot's arm but did not seriously damage the plane.

https://avbrief.com/united-max-hit-by-falling-object-at-36000-feet/ #science #tech #technology #space

China's Tianwen-2 is on its way to Kamoʻoalewa, an asteroid that currently doubles as a "quasi-moon" of Earth. The spacecraft will collect samples & bring them back home.

On its outward trajectory, Tianwen-2 looked back and got this lovely view of our planet.

https://english.news.cn/20251001/ef35fcb0ed1649c787045fd51547149b/c.html #space #science #nature

Astronomers have detected a dark blob of...something, billions of light years away. It's as massive as a million Suns & it emits no detectable radiation.

It might be a clump of dark matter, revealing new details about the structure of the invisible universe.

https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/astronomers-find-mystery-dark-object-distant-universe #space #science #nature

If you need a blast of beauty (and who doesn't?) I highly recommend browsing the new Astronomy Photographer of the Year winners. They're spectacular -- and neither of these shots even made it to #1.

https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/astronomy-photographer-year/galleries/overall-winners-2025 #space #science #nature #art #photography

The largest optical telescope in the world is taking shape on Cerro Armazones in Chile.

Photographer Boris Häußler set up carefully timed shots to capture the Extremely Large Telescope (yes, that is its real name!) silhouetted in front of the Sun & Moon at various milestones.

https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2537a/ #space #science #technology #tech

In another part of the world, meanwhile, people doggedly pursue beauty, knowledge & a deeper connection to the universe: A short thread.

A new study of the Butterfly Nebula shows it blowing out mineral crystals & carbon molecules--the raw material for future Earthlike planets.

https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/research-highlights/cosmic-butterfly-reveals-clues-earths-creation #space #science #nature

Transcript of the Herschel letter:

Last week I came across a remarkable archival document by astronomer William Herschel. He describes his telescopes as time machines, capable of "penetrating into time" as much as 1,910,000 years into the past.

His specific numbers were off, but his insight was spot on. In the year 1800!

#space #science #history #nature

I'm looking away from our world for a moment.

I'm looking at the little dot in this image.

It's a newborn planet, 5 times the mass of Jupiter, carving a path through the disk of dust around its star. This is the first time we've seen the process clearly.

We are watching a new planet come into the cosmos.

https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2534a/ #space #science #nature

Fifteen years of radio observations yielded this amazing view down the throat of a black hole.

We're looking into a jet of plasma shooting out from a supermassive black hole, called PKS 1424+240. The lines depict intense magnetic fields threaded through the jet.

https://www.mpg.de/25171297/eye-of-sauron-in-deep-space?c=2249 #space #science #nature

NASA's new PUNCH mission is a constellation of 4 small satellites that collectively provide an unprecedented view of giant eruptions breaking free from the Sun.

This first-release video compresses about 6 days of observations.

https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/punch/2025/06/10/nasas-punch-releases-its-first-images-of-huge-eruptions-from-sun/ #space #science #nature #nasa

In the spirit of poet Wallace Stevens, here are 6 ways of looking at the Andromeda Galaxy.

This composite combines data from multiple ground & space observatories to skip across the electromagnetic spectrum & reveal our neighbor galaxy in all its glory.

https://chandra.cfa.harvard.edu/photo/2025/m31/ #space #science #nature #poetry

We have now seen three interstellar objects passing through the solar system--and each of them is distinctly different.

Comet 3I/ATLAS is by far the biggest, fastest & oldest. It's probably older than our solar system, making it the most ancient object we've ever seen up close.

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/third-interstellar-object-3i-atlas/ #space #science #astronomy #nature

The game show "Let's Make a Deal" offers useful lessons in how to evaluate claims about alien life.

It also shows how cutting basic research undermines our ability to make extraordinary new discoveries.

My latest Invisible Universe column:

https://invisibleuniverse.substack.com/p/monty-hall-and-the-meaning-of-life #science #nature #math #aliens #space