The Stellar Survey for August 17 - 30
The Stellar Survey for August 17 - 30
I HAVE MY COMPUTER BACK! There has been non-stop rejoicing in this household for the last few days ever since it came home…rejoicing, and some furious work to get back up-to-date on everything that Needs Doing. (The admin in freelance life…goodness. It’s never not a thing.)
Luckily, the stars and the swirling vortex of space do not care one jot about me and my computer woes. Look at everything that’s been going on in the wider universe of space while I’ve been swirling in tech-less anxiety…
First, check out this stunning composite photo of the Perseids falling over Stonehenge. | Makes you believe in magic, doesn’t it?
2030 could see the first astronaut with disabilities in space! | Meet John McFall, who also happens to be a 2008 Paralympic champion!
The past and the future: they’re all intertwined. Like I keep saying: Buddhists know what’s up. | How satellites could protect archaeology sites.
A new study suggests that there could be water hidden 10-20 kilometres under the surface of Mars. | Let’s be careful with drilling, though. For All Mankind showed us all how that could go.
Scientists have clocked a colossal solar flare erupting from a “rule-breaking” sunspot. | The sun: clearly in its midlife crisis phase.
How do you measure wind on mars? It’s a question that keeps me up at night. | But never fear! Science has an answer, or three.
NASA may use lasers to livestream from the moon one day. | Better be no lag from that broadcast, is all I have to say.
A bit of encouraging news—maybe?—from AI scientists: a paper has been published that notes how LLMs (language learning models) cannot actually learn independently. | For more on this, check out this archived interview with Ted Chiang, only one of the greatest science fiction writers this world will ever have.
Moon lovers had their cameras at the ready for the August blue moon! | Check out these amazing photos.
On that note—check out this photo of the August blue moon AND a moonbow! | AKA a night rainbow, illuminated by the moon.
Still more moon things! | Europe’s JUICE Jupiter probe swings by the moon.
Satellites spy Hurricane Ernesto racing across the Atlantic. | I wonder if all destruction looks this beautiful and also this terrifying from far enough away.
Josh Dury has done it again with some stellar astrophotography shots, this time with a photo showing the occultation of Saturn behind the moon. | Isn’t that just mind-boggling, to realize we can see it in such detail even though it’s so very, very far away?
The company Astroforge is going to launch an historic asteroid-landing mission. | Something about this feels very For All Mankind-ish, again. I’ll be interested to see how it pans out!
What happens if you throw a star at a black hole? | Surprise hint: a lot less goes in than you’d think, at least at the beginning.
Brave Curiosity! One day far in the future, humans will write songs to you, perhaps even after the real you has long been forgotten. | How Curiosity changed Mars landings forever.
A new study has revamped the Drake Equation to suggest that intelligent life may be exceedingly rare in our universe. | I refuse to give up the ghost on this, despite lots of evidence to the contrary. (I mean? Do people forget how absolutely…big…the universe is?)
Citizen scientists have spotted a mysterious object, 30,000 times the size of Earth, that appears to be zooming on its way out of the galaxy. | Any guesses as to what it might be?
How teacups and demons help demystify physics. | The magical world of the metaphor. Shaka, when the walls fell!
JWST science update! Galaxies that appeared to be larger than what was thought possible in the early universe aren’t so massive after all. | Talk about a trick of the light, but fr now.
Semi-regular earthly-news-that-relates-to-cosmic-news: how walking in the woods changes your brain. | Let’s not forget: trees are the universe too.
Notes on The Other Rover! | What has Perseverance collected over the years of its journey on Mars?
Moon Time is a thing now! Will moonlag be next? | Here’s why this matters.
Astronomers have discovered an odd “radio circle” near the centre of our galaxy. | I absolutely love it anytime the words odd or strange show up in articles about space. Don’t you?