The Stellar Survey for September 14 - September 20
The Stellar Survey for September 14 - September 20
Elon Musk says humans can be on Mars in 4 years. | My usual question: will he volunteer to be the first?
Polaris Dawn astronauts landed safely back home earlier this week. The first commercial spacewalk was a success! | We’re entering into a new era of space travel, for sure.
Our solar system might be much larger than thought! There might even be a second Kuiper Belt! | The scale of our universe and our microscopic size within in never ceases to astonish me.
On how we might be able to turn our sun into a giant telescope. | Behold, the magical (entirely scientific) world of gravitational lensing!
A sprinkling of cosmic dust may have kick-started life on Earth. | My favourite part of this is where they talk about how Antarctic ice sheets provide a particularly good environment for cosmic dust to mingle with other Earth elements and potentially seed the building blocks of life. Makes you wonder: what other building blocks might they be seeding right now? What other kinds of cosmic life might, in time, replace us?
Watch the skies, friends—the moon will meet up with the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades this weekend! | Did you know that in the myth, the Pleiades are seven daughters of Atlas? And because Atlas is forced to hold up the sky, he is unable to protect his daughters from being raped by the hunter Orion? And so, to save them, the god Zeus TURNED THE SISTERS INTO STARS instead of, you know, going to Orion and dismantling rape culture? Even the gods take the easy way out.
SURPRISE: Radio pollution from the Starlink satellite system threatens astronomy. | But who cares about our relationship with the dark night sky when we can have a relationship with pictures of it on TV instead?
The women who worked for NASA as human computers during the space race have been awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. | Hidden figures no more, exactly as it should be.
Astronomers have spotted the largest twin jets ever, erupting from a supermassive black hole that lies 7.5 billion years away. | Remember: we’re seeing the light as it existed 7.5 billion years ago. WILD.
AI is on the case! AI is now searching for dark matter in the universe. | I feel like I say this all the time, but isn’t this where the sci-fi horror movie usually starts? I wonder what it will find…
A new book by Canadian former astronaut Roberta Bondar examines the relationship between birds, Earth and spaceflight. | Get your copy of SPACE FOR BIRDS today!
Earth will briefly have a second “mini-moon” this autumn. | Say hello to our tiny asteroid friend from September 29 through to November 25!
Check out some of these images from this past Tuesday’s supermoon/partial lunar eclipse combo! | Space: it’s never not amazing.
And finally: check out this amazing live helmet cam footage of our own favourite planet as Jared Isaacman was the first out of the hatch on the Polaris Dawn spacewalk earlier this month. | Earth: also never not amazing, especially when viewed from space!