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A Year for K2-315b (apod.nasa.gov)
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submitted 1 day ago by NomNom@feddit.uk to c/astronomy@mander.xyz
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/65259722

Now you don't need expensive equipment to debunk flat earthers!

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submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz to c/astronomy@mander.xyz

Construction has begun on a new telescope designed to map one of the universe’s most elusive structures, the cosmic web.

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To celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope this month, episode 54 of the Hubblecast gives a slideshow of some of the best images from over two decades in orbit, set to specially commissioned music. Please note that although this episode does not have narration, the images are described in subtitles which can be displayed by clicking on the “CC” (closed captioning) button.

List of images and descriptions:

1990: Saturn Among the first images to be sent back from Hubble after its launch in April 1990, this image of Saturn is good by the standards of ground-based telescopes, but slightly blurry. This is because of the well-publicised problem with Hubble’s mirror, which did not allow images to be focused properly.

1991: Orion Nebula Although not perfectly sharp, this early image of the Orion Nebula nevertheless shows the rich colours and structures of this bright star-forming region.

1992: Herbig-Haro 2 Throughout the region of the Orion Nebula are numerous streamers of gas that come from newborn stars, known to astronomers as Herbig-Haro Objects.

1993: Messier 100 In late 1993, Hubble’s teething problems were resolved in the first servicing mission. Before-and-after images of the core of spiral galaxy Messier 100 show how this dramatically improved the telescope’s image quality.

1994: Shoemaker-Levy 9 hits Jupiter Soon after the astronauts repaired Hubble during the first servicing mission, comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter. A similar impact on Earth 65 million years ago is thought to have killed off the dinosaurs.

1995: Eagle Nebula Hubble’s image of the ‘pillars of creation’ in the Eagle Nebula is one of its most famous. These huge, dusty structures enshroud pockets of ongoing star formation.

1996: NGC 6826 This image from 1996 shows a planetary nebula, which represents the other extremity of a star’s life from the Eagle Nebula. Planetary nebulae form when Sun-like stars puff out their outer layers as they run low on fuel. They are so named because of their roughly spherical shape and green colour, not because of the presence of any planets.

1997: Mars NASA’s Mars Pathfinder probe was en route to Mars in 1997 while Hubble took this image. Although Hubble cannot compete with the resolution of images taken from probes which actually fly past or land on planets, it does offer the advantage of being able to make long-term observations, useful for studying planets’ climates and weather.

1998: Ring Nebula Another planetary nebula, the Ring Nebula is one of the most famous.

1999: Keyhole Nebula The Keyhole Nebula, part of the larger Carina Nebula is another bright star-forming region.

2000: NGC 1999 Not all nebulae glow brightly. NGC 1999 contains a dark patch silhouetted against a brighter background which reflects starlight.

2001: ESO 510-G13 Hubble’s image of this galaxy shows the dramatic deformations that can occur after collisions between galaxies. Although the immense distance between stars makes it vanishingly unlikely for stars to actually collide with each other, the tidal forces can warp and tear galaxies out of shape.

2002: Cone Nebula Further upgrades in 2002, including the installation of the Advanced Camera for Surveys increased resolution and picture quality again. Hubble’s ultra-sharp image of the Cone Nebula demonstrates the new instrument’s capabilities.

2003: Hubble Ultra Deep Field Usually astronomers know what they’re going to look at when they plan their observations. For the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, observed over 11 days between September 2003 and January 2004, they did not. Pointing the telescope at an extremely dark patch of sky devoid of nearby stars, this extremely long exposure was designed to see the most distant and faintest galaxies in the Universe.

2004: Antennae Galaxies The dramatic collision of two spiral galaxies is visible in this image of the Antennae Galaxies. The bright pink patches visible across much of the vista are pockets of star formation triggered by the gravitational interaction of the galaxies.

2005: The Orion Nebula This image of the Orion Nebula is one of the largest and most detailed ever made.

2006: Messier 9 Globular clusters, roughly spherical collections of stars, contain some of the oldest stars in our Milky Way. Hubble’s high resolution observations allow astronomers to discern individual stars right into the centre of these clusters.

2007: NGC 4874 This image of NGC 4874, a galaxy in the Coma Cluster, was taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys just two days before it suffered an electronic failure in January 2007. For the next two years, astronomers would have to make do with lower resolution images from Hubble’s other cameras.

2008: NGC 2818 This image of planetary nebula NGC 2818 dates from this period. It is worth noting that even with its capabilities constrained, Hubble was still able to produce images that compete with any telescope on the ground.

2009: Bug Nebula In 2009, astronauts travelled to Hubble for another servicing mission, which installed new and upgraded cameras. The Bug Nebula was one of the first images sent back: Hubble was back in business.

2010: Centaurus A Using its new instrumentation, Hubble peered into the heart of Centaurus A, a dramatically dusty galaxy.

2011: Tarantula Nebula Just published in April 2012, this image of the Tarantula Nebula combines a mosaic of Hubble observations, which capture the detail and structure of the nebula, with observations of glowing hydrogen and oxygen from the European Southern Observatory’s MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope in Chile, which provide colour. The image is one of the most detailed ever made of a star-forming region, weighing in at an astonishing 330 megapixels.

Credit: ESA/Hubble

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Article textJeff Foust

~4 minutes

WASHINGTON — Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL), a British company best known for developing small satellites, will help build a large, privately funded space telescope.

SSTL announced March 9 it had been selected by Schmidt Sciences to provide the spacecraft platform for Lazuli, a space telescope with a primary mirror larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope. The platform will be responsible for attitude control, propulsion and communications for the telescope.

Schmidt Sciences, founded by former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and his wife, Wendy Schmidt, announced in January plans to build Lazuli as part of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System, which also includes three ground-based observatories. Lazuli, scheduled to launch as soon as mid-2028, will feature a primary mirror three meters across.

At the time Schmidt Sciences announced Lazuli, during a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Phoenix, officials with the organization said they had identified vendors for key spacecraft components but declined to identify any of the companies involved.

The 40-year-old SSTL is best known as one of the early manufacturers of small satellites in an era when most companies focused on larger spacecraft. The company has built more than 70 spacecraft over the years for Earth observation, navigation, communications and other applications.

The company argues that the approach it has used to develop innovative small satellites can also be applied to a large space telescope.

“While SSTL is known for small satellites, ‘small’ has always described our approach, not the size of the satellite,” said Andrew Cawthorne, managing director of SSTL, in a statement.

“Lazuli demonstrates that the small-satellite approach — rapid development, pragmatic engineering and intelligent reuse of commercial parts and proven technologies — can be applied to much larger and more ambitious missions, including deep-space observatories,” the company said.

Schmidt Sciences said when it announced Lazuli that it planned to streamline development by performing final assembly of the spacecraft near its Florida launch site and relying on off-the-shelf components with previous spaceflight heritage.

The organization has not revealed other companies working on the mission, but a chart displayed at the briefing announcing Lazuli indicated the mission would launch from a Cape Canaveral pad currently used by Relativity Space, the launch company whose chief executive is Eric Schmidt.

SSTL did not disclose the value of the Lazuli contract. Schmidt Sciences said at the January announcement that the overall cost of the mission is expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, about one-tenth the cost of a typical NASA flagship astrophysics mission.

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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope reveals new infrared images of the brain-shaped "Exposed Cranium" nebula, the final stages of a dying star.

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submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/astronomy@mander.xyz

As of writing this article, there are about 14,000 satellites orbiting our planet — nearly 10,000 of which belong to SpaceX — and the number is going to increase aggressively as commercial interests in this realm continue to grow.

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A new proposed satellite constellation could turn the night sky into permanent twilight -- or even daylight -- should a "visionary" startup's plans come to fruition. Never mind that the Soviets tried it in the 90s before deciding it was a terrible idea, as should be obvious to most people without having to give it too much thought. Still, if it allowed the US to put an end to daylight savings time changes, I might be onboard with it.

Just kidding, here's the petition against it that you should sign

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