Innehållsförteckning för No. 143 från All About Space

Some 13.8 billion years ago, our universe sprang into existence… again. According to some very recent research – and a study that dovetails with Nobel Prize winner Sir Roger Penrose – it’s thought that there were multiple Big Bangs, and there could be many more in the very distant future. I’ll leave you to read all about it in our cover feature this issue, and as you leaf through the pages to get there, take a moment to absorb the latest news from around the universe this month. Also this month, we caught up with the author of Hidden Figures, Margot Shetterly, about the challenges in uncovering the story behind the women whose work propelled America into space and why human computers are suddenly looming large in the public consciousness.…

KEEP IN TOUCH /AllAboutSpaceMagazine @spaceanswers space@spaceanswers.com Delays to the first of three missions making the long awaited return to the scorching D planet Venus might affect the two other missions set to explore our planetary neighbour. Late last year, NASA pushed the VERITAS (or Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography and Spectroscopy) mission, originally scheduled to fly in 2027 to inaugurate the ‘Decade of Venus’, to no earlier than 2031. However, the White House’s 2024 budget proposal for NASA, announced in March 2023, holds the mission funding for VERITAS at a mere $1.5 million per year for the near future, placing the mission in a ‘deep freeze’. Its indefinite delay has disbanded the mission’s engineering wing, and scientists are now worrying about its impact on two other related missions to…

Two of Uranus’ moons may have active oceans that are pumping material into space, a new study finds. The realisation came via the discovery of strange features in radiation data collected by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft as it passed the planet almost four decades ago. The new findings, concerning the moons Ariel and Miranda, also support the idea that Uranus’ five largest satellites could have subsurface oceans, a notion suggested by Voyager 2 flyby observations. The observations of Voyager 2 showed that one or two of the ice giant’s 27 known moons are adding plasma particles into the Uranus system. This detection came in the form of ‘trapped’ energetic particles the spacecraft spotted as it departed the ice giant. The mechanism by which Miranda and/or Ariel may be doing this…

New research investigates how relativistic jets from a supermassive black hole have been shaping the Teacup Galaxy, giving it its iconic handle. Active galactic nuclei (AGN) are some of the most intense places in the universe, where supermassive black holes are gobbling up matter and spewing out jets that move at almost the speed of light. Astrophysicists know that these relativistic jets shape the galaxies they’re in, stirring up and pushing out material as they shoot out from the central black hole. But not all jets are created equal – some are stronger and drastically change their surroundings by heating up the gas in their galaxies, stunting the galaxies’ growth. Others are weaker, referred to as radio-quiet, but computer simulations suggest that they still have shockingly large effects and an…

After a lull of over 50 years, the number of projects to take humans back to the Moon is escalating at a fast rate. This time, instead A of one-off landing missions, these will be the first steps in building long-term Moon bases. An essential part of any Moon base will be a continuous and reliable source of power to run essential life-support systems, communications, lunar vehicles, workshops and scientific laboratories. A small nuclear reactor could meet many of these demands, and in 2022 the UK Space Agency funded a £249,000 ($310,510) study into the feasibility of designing and building one by Rolls-Royce. The agency has now provided a further £2.9 million ($3.6 million) of funding to deliver an initial demonstration of a UK lunar modular nuclear reactor. ”Space exploration…

The Cassini spacecraft observed Saturn’s equinox in 2009, but it won’t be around for the next one in 2025 From a casual perspective, Saturn’s iconic rings look almost perfect. Made up of billions of particles of ice and rock, which F are thought to have come from comets, asteroids or shattered icy moons, they appear to seamlessly encircle the gas giant like a huge vinyl record. Since they were discovered by Galileo in 1610, the rings have become an immense source of fascination for astronomers, with so many discoveries having been made about them since. A lot of our knowledge of the rings came from the Voyager mission in the early 1980s, which gave us the first close-up images of the planet’s complex system. As Voyager 1 got within 50…

In this issue... What’s in the sky? 64 The night sky might be bright, but it’s still full of latespring delights 66 Planetarium Where you can find the planets this month and the phases of the Moon 68 Month’s planets Venus once again takes pride of place in the evening skies this summer 70 Moon tour Find a crater named in honour of a planetary observer 71 Naked eye and binocular targets If it’s clear you can see shells of gas billowing from dying suns and a glittering cloud of stars 72 Deep sky challenge Messier 13 isn’t the only stellar gathering to see in the early summer sky 74 The Northern Hemisphere This month, astronomers have a selection of targets at their fingertips 76 Review We put the Nikon…

1Deneb(Alpha Cygni) The brightest star in Cygnus but only the 19th brightest in the sky, Deneb is a blue supergiant star so huge it would swallow Earth if put in the Sun’s place. Some 2,600 light years away, it’s roughly 20,000 times more luminous than our Sun. 2 Cygnus X Look down the right side of the ‘Northern Cross’ and you’ll see a long, fuzzy area. This is the Cygnus star cloud, and binoculars reveal it’s made of countless millions of faint stars. When looking at it we are staring down a neighbouring spiral arm in our galaxy, the Milky Way. 3 Dumbbell Nebula (Messier 27) Also known as Messier 27, the Dumbbell can be seen with binoculars as a very small smudgy spot. It’s 1,360 light years away and…

Planetary scientists have captured an image of near-perfectly circular sand dunes on the surface of Mars. While sand dunes across the Red Planet come in a wealth of shapes and sizes, such well-defined circles are unusual. The slight asymmetry in the sand dunes shows their steep sides are orientated towards the south. The University of Arizona, which operates the High-Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera used to take the image, pointed out in recent research that this indicates that sands are blown southwards, though the Martian winds may be variable. The image was taken at a latitude of 42.505 degrees and a longitude of 67.076 degrees. It comes as part of a series of pictures taken by the HiRISE camera that orbits Mars on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft.…

Scientists in Australia have unearthed 3.48 billion-year-old rock fragments that may be the earliest evidence of a meteorite crashing into Earth. The fragments, known as spherules, may have formed when the meteoroid slammed into the ground, spraying melted rock into the air. This melted rock then cooled and hardened into pinhead-size beads that became buried over the aeons. The scientists concluded that the spherules, which they drilled up from a group of volcanic and sedimentary rocks called the Dresser Formation of the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia, are “the oldest evidence of a potential bolide impact in the geologic record of Earth.” A bolide is a large meteoroid that explodes in the atmosphere while falling to Earth. Until now, the oldest evidence of meteoroid impacts were 3.47 billion-year-old spherules, also…

If you’re looking for a rich, highresolution experience when watching the night sky – or even for daytime terrestrial observing – then there’s no better resource to have in your arsenal than a good binocular. The Celestron SkyMaster 20x80 is of a superior quality, fitted with high-quality BAK-4 prisms and multi-coated optics for exquisite views. Designed to bring the sight of distant objects into incredibly clear and sharp focus – whether you’re watching the local wildlife or uncovering the members of the beautiful Pleiades star cluster – this binocular is ideal for seasoned astronomers and those just getting started in observing, while the lightweight design provides an excellent opportunity to establish a ‘grab-and-go’ approach to astronomy. To be in with a chance of winning, answer this question: What does the…

1 Hydroponics Plants will be unable to grow in lunar or Martian soil, so an artificial hydroponics system will be needed to provide water and nutrients to enable the plants to flourish. 2 Ready meals Some plans envision plantbearing habitats being launched to the Moon ahead of astronauts. They would be tended to by robots until astronauts arrive. 3 Sunlight Plants in space will grow like they do on Earth, using sunlight and carbon dioxide. If the habitat is exposed like this, the plants will easily be able to gather sunlight. 4 Life support As well as providing food, plants consume carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. Therefore, they could be a substitute for mechanical life support systems. 5 Protection To protect plants from radiation on the Moon it may…

FABRICATED RESEARCH Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa first flew into space as part of Expedition 28/29 in 2011, where he spent five months living in microgravity aboard the International Space Station (ISS). But his second visit to space was jeopardised due to controversy surrounding a research study overseen by the surgeon-turned-astronaut. Between 2016 and 2017, Furukawa was the supervisor of an experiment that simulated life on the ISS. Study subjects were confined in a closed environment for two weeks while researchers monitored their mental wellbeing and stress levels – an Earth analogue for conditions on the station. Two of the researchers involved in interviewing the participants edited and fabricated data that compromised the experiment and its results, revealed in 2019 after the study was investigated by an…

Another month when Venus is the Planet of the Month! Why? Not just because it is the brightest planet in the sky at the moment – although it will be strikingly bright to the naked eye all through the month ahead – and not just because it is so well-placed in the sky after sunset, either. It’s because there will be a lot happening around it in the sky, such as conjunctions with other planets, and the Moon too, and because the announcement of an exciting new scientific discovery about this strangely familiar but totally alien world has put it in the news. During the month ahead Venus will be a very beautiful evening star indeed. In mid-May it will be positioned in Gemini, beneath the constellation’s bright twin stars,…

A sspring slides into summer, the brightness of the night sky makes observing deep-sky objects quite a challenge. The misty nebulae and smoky galaxies that fill our eyepieces on the long, frosty nights of darker seasons become washed out by the lingering twilight. Fortunately, there are plenty of other deepsky objects to track down and observe. Globular clusters are enormous, spherical groups of tens or even hundreds of thousands of stars, but because they are so far away they only appear as small, round smudges in our telescopes. The most famous globular in the northern sky is Messier 13, the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules. It’s surrounded by many others that are well worth an observer’s attention on a clear night at this time of year, but suffer from being…

BINOCULAR ADVICE Magnification: 8x Objective lens diameter: 25mm Angular field of view: 6.2 degrees Eye relief: 15.5mm Weight: 355 grams ADDITIONAL KIT • Carrying case • Neck strap • Double eyepiece cover The Nikon Travelite EX 8x25 binocular is an ostensibly multipurpose daytime binocular, T so if you’re out and about on a nature walk, at a sporting event or just doing some sightseeing, these are perfect. However, when the Sun sets and the night comes, how do they perform? Normally 10x50 binoculars are recommended for skywatching, and the 25mm aperture of the Nikon Travelite binocular is just half the diameter. We weren’t expecting a great performance from this binocular when we pointed it at the stars, but we were pleasantly surprised. The binocular features winding eyecups with a reasonably…

A distant cluster sparkles with ancient stars in a gorgeous new image from the Hubble Space Telescope. The dazzling photo shows just a pocket of Messier 55, a globular cluster in Sagittarius that harbours about 100,000 stars. Astronomers say that some of these stars – especially those in Messier 55’s centre – twinkle with changing brightness. The combined gravity of Messier 55’s stars pulls the cluster into a spherical shape, a common trait shared by more than 150 such objects that occupy the Milky Way. Astronomers know little about the elusive Messier 55 itself, which is about 17,000 light years from Earth. The cluster is 100 light years in diameter and spans about two-thirds the width of a full Moon as seen from Earth. Messier 55 is relatively bright, but…

Virgin Orbit filed for bankruptcy on 3 April, a move that comes shortly after the satellite launch company failed to secure two financing deals and furloughed most of its staff. The California-based company has started the process for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which is commonly known as ‘reorganisation bankruptcy’ and allows the company to continue basic operations while it looks for a buyer. Virgin Investments Limited, which is also part of billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and owns 75 per cent of Virgin Orbit, will provide $31.6 million in support to keep the company afloat until its sale. Virgin Orbit’s ‘Start Me Up’ mission suffered a rocket launch failure in January 2023 due to a technical error, resulting in the loss of nine customer satellites. By mid-March, the company had…

Comets are known for their tails, and the name comes from the ancient Greek for ‘long-haired’. The largest ones are a bright presence in the night sky for a month or so as they make their closest approach to the Sun. They are icy bodies – dirty snowballs of water ice mixed with rock, dust and frozen gases like carbon dioxide. The tail appears when the comet approaches the Sun and the surface layers turn to gas. This is then pushed away by the solar wind; it’s mostly water and dust, though these can separate into two tails as the gas portion is more easily pushed outwards from the Sun than the dust. Comets fall into three major categories: short period, long period and hyperbolic. While the vast majority do…

S ummer can be a blessing for stargazers, and it tends to bring out casual night-sky watchers, too. There are certainly many spectacles to glimpse, from planets and stars to globular clusters and distant nebulae. It’s the globular clusters that can hold particular majesty this time of year. Huge conglomerations of ancient stars, they often contain hundreds of thousands of members, all packed into a relatively small part of space. If you were to find yourself on a planet orbiting one of those stars, you would see tens of thousands of stars in your night sky. The output of the starlight from this host would easily be enough for you to read a book in the pitch black of the middle of the night. A sky like this would put…

Lyra, Aquila, Hercules, Sagittarius, Scorpius and Ophiuchus are within easy reach this month, packed with objects. Head over to the Scorpion to take in views of the Blue L Horsehead Nebula (IC 4592) and the Cat’s Paw Nebula (NGC 6334). Fans of tight-knit globular star clusters should turn their attention to Ophiuchus and Hercules, where they will be rewarded with sights of the extremely stellar-rich Messier 10, Messier 12, Messier 13, Messier 14 and Messier 92. Astrophotographers will get great enjoyment from the binary star system Rho Ophiuchi, which is surrounded with a red emission nebula and very impressive dust lanes. Cygnus is another gold mine, with the Veil Nebula, Fireworks Galaxy and the Crescent Nebula all excellent choices. This chart is for use at 22:00 mid-month and is set…

Best overall tracker Benro Polaris Cost: £1,090 / approx. $1,358 From: Clifton Cameras 1 While most star trackers are a compromise between their own weight and their payload, the Benro Polaris is an exception – it is both super lightweight at 1.5 kilograms and super-supportive, taking a mighty seven kilograms of gear, the highest carrying capacity of any star tracker mount so far. It is the first star tracker to offer built-in DSLR control which allows you to adjust the composition of your photo remotely, and a built-in micro SD card slot. Remarkably, the Benro Polaris can even be controlled via the cellphone network. Its huge 2500 mAh battery can be recharged via USB-C while alignment is via any subject from a choice presented on a smartphone app. However advanced…

Victor J. Glover is a NASA astronaut and Naval Aviator. In his first spaceflight mission, he served as the pilot on the Crew-1 flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, which launched on 15 November 2020. Crew-1 was the first operational commercial crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and the second such flight overall after SpaceX's Demo-2 test mission, which launched in May 2020. On Crew-1, Glover became the 15th black astronaut in space and the first black astronaut to stay for an extended period on the ISS, where he spent nearly six months as Flight Engineer in orbit as part of Expedition 64. Glover was born in Pomona, California. In 1994, he graduated from Ontario High School in Ontario, California, continuing his education by pursuing an engineering degree…