French mathematician and astronomer Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre died #OTD in 1822.
He was director of the Paris Observatory & was involved in the precise measurement of the length of the earth's meridian, the basis of the original definition of the metre. He also wrote extensively on the history of astronomy. His six-volume Histoire de l'Astronomie is a detailed chronicle of the development of the field from ancient times through to the modern era.
Hypothetical visualizations of 900 known rocky and icy exoplanets by Halcyon Maps:
Link: https://www.halcyonmaps.com/terrestrial-exoplanets/
#space #astronomy #science #Mastodon #news #art
In the frigid outer solar system, beyond Pluto, dwarf planets appear to be surprisingly dynamic worlds.
The JWST observatory sees chemical signs of geologic activity on distant dwarf planets Eris and Makemake.
https://www.swri.org/press-release/swri-scientists-find-evidence-of-geothermal-activity-within-icy-dwarf-planets #science #space #astronomy
[note: image is an illustration]
Using a 13-inch (33-cm) telescope at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, Clyde W. Tombaugh, a 24-year-old American with no formal training in astronomy, discovered the dwarf planet Pluto #OTD in 1930.
The music of the spheres : A nature lover's astronomy by Grondal discusses Pluto as well as many other planets:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/70382
More about Pluto at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Pluto&submit_search=Go%21
Mathematician and astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born #OTD in 1473.
The publication of Copernicus's model in his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, just before his death in 1543, was a major event in the history of science, triggering the Copernican Revolution and making a pioneering contribution to the Scientific Revolution. via @wikipedia
Books by Nicolaus Copernicus at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/6426
Your periodic reminder that Stellarium is an amazing planetarium tool. Free, #OpenSource and very easy to use. There are desktop apps, mobile apps and a web version.
We've just started installing the aluminium cladding that will protect ESO's Extremely Large #Telescope from the harsh conditions of the Atacama Desert in #Chile.
It's amazing to see this project take shape. And it's hard to convey just how big this is –– the dome is 80 m tall!
Stars are born in elaborate dances of gas and dust. Every dance is different -- creating different types of stars, different types of planets, unique environments.
These breathtaking new images capture the diversity of nature's art. They were taken using ESO's Very Large Telescope in Chile.
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2405/ #science # nature #astronomy #space
Halley's Comet won't reappear until 2061, but Pons-Brooks is a similar big, long-period comet putting -- and it's putting on a show *right now*.
You'll need good binoculars, but oh is it pretty. Photo taken on Monday by Michael Jäger.
https://theskylive.com/12p-info
#astronomy #space #science #comet #photography
To your eye, Betelgeuse is the bright "shoulder" star in Orion. A new simulation shows what it would look like if you could get up close: an enormous, boiling cauldron of gas.
If Betelgeuse were placed where the Sun is, Earth's orbit (blue circle) would be deep inside. That's how big it is!
https://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/1094283/hl202403 #science #space #astronomy #nature
#OTD in 1781. The planet Uranus was discovered.
English astronomer William Herschel observed the seventh planet from the Sun, Uranus—first described by him as “a curious either nebulous star or perhaps a comet” and named for the father of the god Saturn. With a homemade 6.2-inch reflecting telescope, Herschel "engaged in a series of observations on the parallax of the fixed stars."
Books about Herschel at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=William+Herschel&submit_search=Go%21
Don’t fuck with moon dust. No seriously, do not fuck with moon dust.
Absent any moisture or atmosphere, millennia of asteroid impacts have turned lunar regolith (soil) into a fine powder of razor sharp, glass-like particles. What’s more, the solar wind imparts an electric charge on the dust, causing it to cling to any and every surface it touches through static electricity. On earth, sand tends to get smoother over time as wind and water tumble the grains about, eroding their sharpness. Not so on the moon – lunar dust is sharp and deadly. This is Not A Good Time if you’re an explorer looking to visit our celestial neighbor.
During Apollo, the astronauts faced a plethora of unexpected issues caused by dust. It clung to spacesuits and darkened them enough that exposure to sunlight overheated the life support systems. Dust got in suit joints and on suit visors, damaging them. It ate away layers of boot lining. It covered cameras. Upon returning to the cabin, astronauts attempting to brush it off damaged their suit fabric and sent the dust airborne, where it remained suspended in the air due to low gravity.
Inhaling moon dust causes mucus membranes to swell; every Apollo astronaut who stepped foot on the moon reported symptoms of “Lunar Hay Fever.” Sneezing, congestion, and a “smell of burnt gunpowder” took days to subside. Later Apollo missions even sent a special dust brush with the team to help clean each other and equipment. We don’t know exactly how dangerous the stuff is, but lunar regolith simulants suggest it might destroy lung and brain cells with long-term exposure. 1
In fact the dust is so nasty that it destroyed the vacuum seals of sample return containers. We no longer have any accurate samples of lunar dust, “Every sample brought back from the moon has been contaminated by Earth’s air and humidity […] The chemical and electrostatic properties of the soil no longer match what future astronauts will encounter on the moon.” 2
Whats worse, the solar-charged dust gets thrown up off the moon’s surface via electrostatic forces. The moon doesn’t technically have an atmosphere, but it does have a thin cloud of sharp dust itching to cling to anything it can find.
And it probably isn’t just the moon. “A 2005 NASA study listed 20 risks that required further study before humans should commit to a human Mars expedition, and ranked "dust" as the number one challenge.” 3
The coolest solution I’ve heard about in next-gen spacesuit design is a mesh of woven wires layered into the suit. When activated, the wire mesh would form an anti-static electric field that repels dust. Quite literally a force field. 4
#astronomy #apollo #moon #lunardust
Finally we had clearing last night to capture the Earthshine Crescent moon in waxing phase with Jupiter plus four of its moons (out of 90+). The moon was about 20% illuminated.
From downtown Bellevue , Washington (bortle ~ 6-7)
#Moon #Jupiter #Astronomy #Science #Universe #Planets #Washington #PNW #Nighttime #Photography
This is the surface of a comet! Dust is swirling around the surface of Comet 67/P -- captured in 2016 by ESA's Rosetta spacecraft, processing by Jacint Roger Perez.
Still one of the most remarkable scenes in space exploration.
Did you know we have a remote observatory on Mars?
When NASA's Perseverance rover isn't busy studying the Martian landscape, it turns its gaze upward to do a little skygazing. This is its view of Mars's inner moon, Phobos.
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/status/410/things-that-go-bump-in-the-night-on-mars/ #science #astronomy #astrodon #NASA
James Webb telescope confirms there is something seriously wrong with our understanding of the universe
Depending on where we look, the universe is expanding at different rates. Now, scientists using the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes have confirmed that the observation is not down to a measurement error.
German astronomer Caroline Herschel was born #OTD in 1750.
In 1786, she became the first woman to discover a comet when she spotted Comet C/1786 P1 (Herschel). Over the course of her career, she discovered a total of eight comets and became one of the most accomplished comet hunters of her time. She also made important contributions to cataloging and recording astronomical observations.
Books about Caroline Herschel at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=caroline+herschel&submit_search=Go%21
Here's a beautiful oddity: This nebula was created by a very rare type of supernova that HALF-exploded 800 years ago.
Two white dwarf stars collided & detonated, lighting up Earth's skies. Somehow one of the white dwarfs survived, leaving behind the hottest star in our galaxy.
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/03/Marvel_at_stunning_echo_of_800-year-old_explosion?rand=771654 #space #science #astronomy #nature
New!! Observations of our Event Horizon Telescope (#EHT) collaboration have uncovered strong & organized magnetic fields spiraling around the edge of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). Images in polarized light of the #blackhole in the Milky Way center reveal structures similar to those in M87*, suggesting that strong magnetic fields may be common to all black holes. This also hints toward a hidden jet in Sgr A*!
#astronomy #astrodon #scicomm #physics
The Event Horizon Telescope has unveiled how Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy, looks like in polarised light, which tells us a lot about the magnetic field around this monster.
The lines overlaid on the image below mark the orientation of the polarisation, from which astronomers can work out the structure of the magnetic field around the black hole.
More details: https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2406/
📷 EHT Collaboration
Eclipse news from 3,246 years ago:
The earliest well-established observation a solar eclipse was recorded on March 5, 1222 BCE. It was inscribed in a clay tablet from Ugarit, a city in modern-day Syria.
https://theconversation.com/archeoastronomy-uses-the-rare-times-and-places-of-previous-total-solar-eclipses-to-help-us-measure-history-222709 #space #science #astronomy #eclipse
The astronauts aboard the ISS were amazed by the April 8 solar eclipse, just like the rest of us, and went crazy snapping photos from orbit.
They got some amazing views of the Moon's shadow sweeping across southern Canada & Maine, seen from 420 km (261 miles) above: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/with/53645140833 #space #eclipse #space #astronomy
Today's dose of cosmic beauty: Comet Pons-Brooks, photographed from southern Spain by Fritz Helmut Hemmerich.
The eerie green glow is from diatomic carbon. The ripples show the flow of the solar wind.
https://www.facebook.com/fritzhelmut.hemmerich/ #space #science #astronomy #nature
American astronomer Annie Jump Cannon died #OTD in 1941.
Cannon developed a system of stellar classification based on spectral characteristics, which became known as the Harvard Classification Scheme (she was one of the "Harvard Computers"). She classified hundreds of thousands of stars, organizing them by temperature and spectral characteristics. Her work laid the foundation for our understanding of stellar evolution and the composition of stars.
American astronomer William Wallace Campbell was born #OTD in 1862.
Campbell conducted extensive studies of stellar radial velocities, which provided valuable insights into the dynamics of stars and their movements within galaxies. He also made important contributions to the understanding of the structure and dynamics of the Milky Way galaxy. His research in spectroscopy helped improve our understanding of the chemical composition, motion, and temperature of stars.
![Annie Jump Cannon at her desk at the Harvard College Observatory.
Description: First hired by Harvard College Observatory to carry out astronomical calculations, Annie Jump Cannon (1863-1941) eventually became one of the foremost American astronomers, known especially for her work on variable stars. This photograph shows her at her desk at the observatory. Creator/Photographer: Unidentified photographer Medium: Black and white photographic print Persistent URL: [1] Repository: Smithsonian Institution Archives Accession number: SIA2008-0647](/proxy/post_attachment/160685/47d947fcef.jpg "Annie Jump Cannon at her desk at the Harvard College Observatory.
Description: First hired by Harvard College Observatory to carry out astronomical calculations, Annie Jump Cannon (1863-1941) eventually became one of the foremost American astronomers, known especially for her work on variable stars. This photograph shows her at her desk at the observatory. Creator/Photographer: Unidentified photographer Medium: Black and white photographic print Persistent URL: [1] Repository: Smithsonian Institution Archives Accession number: SIA2008-0647")
