Outer space thread

[Vrede too]

Newfound dead star spins record-breaking 716 times a second, explodes with thermonuclear blasts

... The exploding speed demon neutron star in question is part of the binary system 4U 1820-30, which sits in the globular cluster NGC 6624, which is located toward the heart of the Milky Way around 26 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Sagittarius....

When it comes to its rotation rate, the only body that comes close to the neutron star in 4U 1820-30 is another neutron star, PSR J1748–2446, which also spins 716 times a second, or 42,960 times per minute....

The other occupant of the 4U 1820-30 binary is another stellar corpse, a white dwarf, the kind of remnant that stars with masses comparable to the sun leave behind when they die. This white dwarf is also a speedster, whipping around its neutron star partner once every 11 minutes! That means this is the binary star system with the shortest orbital period ever seen....

With this incredible density comes an incredibly strong gravitational influence. That means when matter heads toward a neutron star, it is accelerated to speeds of millions of miles per hour. Thus, when it hits the surface of a neutron star, this matter releases an incredible amount of energy.

To put that into context, if a marshmallow were dropped to the surface of a neutron star, it would hit with the energy of a thousand hydrogen bombs exploding simultaneously.


Blue glowing sphere next to an irregularly shaped pink cube

Additionally, when this stolen stellar matter piles up on the surface of a neutron star, it can reach critical mass and detonate in a violent thermonuclear explosion.

"During these bursts, the neutron star becomes up to 100,000 times brighter than the sun, releasing an immense amount of energy," team member and DTU Space scientist Jerome Chenevez said in the statement. "So we are dealing with very extreme events, and by studying them in detail, we get new insights into the exiting life cycles of binary star systems and the formation of elements in the universe."

What an incredible universe! It would be exciting to be making these discoveries.

[GoCubsGo]

I think Star Trek may have missed this one.

[Vrede too]

I think Star Trek may have missed this one.

Not even counting any hostile species the universe is way more violent than Star Trek imagined.

[Vrede too]

The ISS will birth a puppy before dying in 5 years!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/autos/privat ... 43182.html


Otoh:

Earth's orbit is so crowded that space traffic controllers issue more than 1,000 collision warnings per day

... Daniel Baker, who directs the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at UC Boulder, urged the US Congress to pass the ORBITS Act. The legislation would require federal agencies like NASA and the FCC to support technologies that can remove junk from orbit.

"I believe that we are watching the tragedy of the commons play out in low-Earth orbit right before our eyes," Baker said in the briefing.

"We have to get serious about this and recognize that unless we do something, we are in imminent danger of making a whole part of our Earth environment unusable," he added.

Humanity craps everywhere.

What's the biggest black hole in the universe?

... This monster, appropriately named TON 618, weighs roughly 40 billion solar masses. TON 618 has a radius of over 1,000 astronomical units (AU), which means that if the black hole was placed in the center of the solar system, by the time you reached Pluto, you would be less than 5% of the way from the center of the black hole to its edge....

TON 618 powers a quasar, one of the brightest objects in the entire universe with the illuminating power of 140 trillion suns. Quasars draw light from the gravitational energy of the central black hole. Material around the black hole falls in, and as it does so it compresses and heats up, releasing enormous amounts of radiation. While individual events like the most powerful supernovas can briefly outshine quasars, they only last a few weeks. In contrast, quasars can shine for millions of years....

x 140 trillion

[GoCubsGo]

GoElonGo!

[Vrede too]

GoElonGo!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkbuN8grJmY

Barely "Outer space". Various articles:

"Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn...." SpaceX stated on X after the loss.

Opps.

SpaceX added that any surviving pieces of debris would have fallen within a pre-launch designated hazard area.

How do the Turks and Caicos islands feel about that?

... "Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!" Musk wrote.

Until your pet llama is crushed by falling debris.

The fuel booster catch by the launch tower was cool.

NASA Administrator, lawyer and pol:

"Congrats" Dems and their participation trophies.

Billionaire who performed the first private spacewalk is Trump’s pick to lead NASA

A tech billionaire who bought a series of spaceflights from Elon Musk’s SpaceX and conducted the first private spacewalk was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday to lead NASA.

Jared Isaacman, 41, CEO and founder of a credit card-processing company, has been a close collaborator with Musk ever since buying his first chartered flight with SpaceX. He took along contest winners on that 2021 trip and followed it in September with a flight where he briefly popped out the hatch to test SpaceX’s new spacewalking suits.

TRE45QN's oligarchy - The Earth and beyond.

NASA’s 2 stuck astronauts face more time in space with return delayed until at least late March


This image made from a NASA live stream shows NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore during a press conference from the International Space Station on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024.

10 months - Thanks, Boeing!

... For a three hour tour, a three hour tour....

[Vrede too]

Panorama of Andromeda galaxy unveils hundreds of millions of stars

Cool pics and video, and interesting article. A couple of facts jumped out at me:

In the years following the launch of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have tallied over 1 trillion galaxies in the universe.

... Andromeda's total population is estimated to be 1 trillion stars, with many less massive stars falling below Hubble's sensitivity limit....

Andromeda may be larger than average, but still . . .

1 trillion x 1 trillion = 1 quadrillion, 1 x 10^15 stars.

[Vrede too]

Canadian man's home security camera captures the sight and sound of a meteorite strike

... "We were startled to find the walkway littered with debris. Stones everywhere. They were scattered everywhere. And at first, we had no idea what caused it," Velaidum tells NPR....

The meteorite strike is believed to be the first time the complete sound of a meteorite hitting Earth has been recorded on video, one expert says.

(video)

"I've heard that other times sound has been recorded, but not like this: Where you see the rock hit the surface, shatter and then you hear the sound at the same time," Chris Herd, professor and curator of the meteorite collection at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, tells NPR.

Velaidum says he was lucky: Just minutes earlier, he had been standing where the meteorite smashed against a brick walkway.


Dust from a meteorite that hit a home on Prince Edward Island, Canada, in July 2024.

"Had I stayed in that very spot for just a minute or two longer, I'd certainly have been struck and probably killed by this meteorite," he says, adding that it hit the ground with "tremendous force" and left a small dent in the walkway.

Phew!

Meteors enter the atmosphere at speeds ranging from 25,000 mph to 160,000 mph, according to the American Meteor Society.

Velaidum reported the incident to the University of Alberta's Meteorite Reporting System, and Herd retrieved debris samples for testing, which confirmed it was a meteorite strike.

A 'rough ride' through the heavens

The meteorite — which Herd estimated to have been between the size of a golf ball and a baseball — is what's known as an ordinary chondrite, one of the most common types of meteorites that strike the Earth. They're made up of chondrules, or small, spherical grains of silicate minerals such as olivine and pyroxene. Herd believes the meteorite that struck Velaidum's property came from an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter....

At least 48 tons of meteorite-like material fall to the Earth every day, according to NASA. The chances of any of that material hitting a human are slim, but there have been other close encounters in the past.

Double phew! There's something about Canada.

... Velaidum says the incident initially made him cautious, and he looked up whenever he stepped outside....

That'll keep him safe.

[Vrede too]

This one is a little bigger than "between the size of a golf ball and a baseball":

Agencies plan for near-Earth asteroid’s close encounter in 2032
But it’s not time to build a bunker.

... But additional calculations soon raised red flags—its estimated 130-328 feet diameter and potential orbital path meant that, for the first time ever, an asteroid met the requirements to trigger the two UN-endorsed global planetary defense groups, the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG).

No one wants to get hit, but those "Maytag repairpersons" are probably thrilled to have something to do.

... Based on the available calculations, the asteroid will again near the planet on December 22nd, 2032. And when it does, there’s an approximately 1.3 percent chance it will hit us.

Merry Xmas!

... While 2024 YR4 appears unlikely to hit Earth, such events do happen every few thousand years. When they do, the damage is impressive. The Tunguska event, for example, is believed to have occurred after a roughly 130-feet-wide asteroid exploded over Siberia in 1908. Over 800-square-miles of forest was flattened by the resulting force, or over twice the area of New York City. If 2024 YR4 ends up topping out at astronomers’ maxiumum 328-feet-wide estimate, the fallout could be even worse....

That will ruin someone's day.

[Vrede too]

Deadbeat Elon, of course:

Latest Starship Explosion Trashes Poor Caribbean Island, Leaving The Locals To Clean It Up

[Vrede too]

This one is a little bigger than "between the size of a golf ball and a baseball":

Agencies plan for near-Earth asteroid’s close encounter in 2032
But it’s not time to build a bunker.

... Based on the available calculations, the asteroid will again near the planet on December 22nd, 2032. And when it does, there’s an approximately 1.3 percent chance it will hit us....

Merry Xmas!


That will ruin someone's day.

What a difference 3 weeks makes.

Do look up: How Earth can defend itself against asteroid

There is a very small chance that an asteroid capable of taking out an entire city could strike Earth in less than eight years. But even if this asteroid is hurtling our way, humanity is now able to defend itself against such a threat, experts say.

The odds that the recently discovered asteroid will hit Earth on December 22, 2032 have now risen to 3.1 percent, NASA said on Tuesday, the highest probability for an impact by such a large space rock in modern forecasting.

"Don't panic," Richard Moissl, head of the European Space Agency's planetary defence office, told AFP.

In every sci-fi movie that signals the exact moment when we should panic.

As astronomers gather more data, the odds of a direct hit are widely expected to edge upwards before rapidly dropping down to zero.

However, even in the unlikely event that the probability does keep rising up to 100 percent, "we are not defenceless", Moissl emphasised.

Here are some of the ways that humanity could deflect or destroy the asteroid known as 2024 YR4....

Is it supposed to be comforting that they're working on multiple strategies?

... If the spacecraft partially destroyed the asteroid, it could send "bits flying off" that still head towards Earth, he said.

If this kind of mishap changed the eventual impact site on Earth -- for example, "from Paris to Moscow" -- that would likely cause major problems back home, Betts added.

I'd be okay with that.

... Scientists have also considered spray painting one side of the asteroid white, increasing its reflectiveness so it slowly changes trajectory.

The ultimate in tagging.

... "Seven and a half years is a long time to prepare," Moissl said, re-emphasising that there is a roughly 97 percent chance the asteroid will miss Earth.

Maybe I should spend all my money on fun, timing depletion for December 22, 2032.

[Vrede too]

GoElonGo!

Elon, are you ok?

SpaceX's latest Starship test flight ends with another explosion

... "Unfortunately this happened last time too, so we have some practice at this now," SpaceX flight commentator Dan Huot said from the launch site.

SpaceX later confirmed that the spacecraft experienced "a rapid unscheduled disassembly" during the ascent engine firing....

Are they trying to be funny?


"Huge ball of fire": SpaceX Starship explodes again, sending debris across skies

Mixed feelings. I want a healthy space program, but I'm not too enamored with Musk, Boeing or Bezos. Are you still in the game, Richard Branson?

Intuitive Machines is also struggling:
Intuitive Machines sends another probe to the moon, but can't stick the landing

Firefly Aerospace has had some recent success:
Private company's Blue Ghost spacecraft makes historic lunar landing

SpaceX wants to go to Mars. To get there, environmentalists say it’s trashing Texas

Of course, it's Elon.

[neoplacebo]

With any luck, his next rocket will explode in magnificent fashion on the 4th of July during a parade honoring something about trump. Fox News will say that it's a great step forward in what not to do with a rocket.

[GoCubsGo]

[Vrede too]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail ... 2m4cq@jpeg

Germany’s largest rocket since V-2 crashes and explodes seconds after launch
Uncrewed Spectrum rocket was described as first attempt at an orbital flight to originate from Europe (spectacular video)

Opps. German engineering has lost a step or two in 80 years.

[1 CAT FAN]

With any luck, his next rocket will explode in magnificent fashion on the 4th of July during a parade honoring something about trump. Fox News will say that it's a great step forward in what not to do with a rocket.

Def Leppard!
Just gushing in awe.

[GoCubsGo]

Opps. German engineering has lost a step or two in 80 years.

Ouch, maybe it was made in North Korea.

[neoplacebo]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail ... 2m4cq@jpeg

Germany’s largest rocket since V-2 crashes and explodes seconds after launch
Uncrewed Spectrum rocket was described as first attempt at an orbital flight to originate from Europe (spectacular video)

Opps. German engineering has lost a step or two in 80 years.

Hell, America got a lot of their best science guys after the war. The Soviet Union got some as well. I have to say that West Germany kicked East Germany's ass all the way to the end. Hitler rode in a Mercedes; they are still in business. Hitler spawned the Volkswagen, also still in business. Even Japan got spared....Mitsubishi made those Japanese zero planes. I guess it just goes to show that losing a war against the US is the key to success. Except Vietnam did it anyway.

[O Really]

Big loud sonic boom this morning, and a space x capsule dropped into the ocean just off the Oceanside coast.

[Vrede too]

Big loud sonic boom this morning, and a space x capsule dropped into the ocean just off the Oceanside coast.

SpaceX Fram2 crew splashes down off California coast to close out historic trip around Earth's poles (video)