Table of contents for No. 106 in All About Space

Welcome © Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre We've got plenty to keep you entertained this month – from exploding stars to the search for white holes and the latest space news to our full guide to kick-start your summer of observing: there's something for everyone, whether you're an armchair or observational astronomer – or even a bit of both! What's piqued our interest this time around though – and takes centre stage on our cover – is the existence of antigravity: rather than pulling everything that has mass down, this ‘force’ may actually throw everything upwards. If you imagined it to be something from science fiction, you'd be right – it's featured in H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon, among other works – but the concept doesn't…

LAUNCH PAD Newborn star’s X-rays shine light on Solar System’s early days ©ALMA In a new study, astronomers report the first detection of X-rays from a Sun-like star in the earliest phase of its evolution. This discovery may help scientists explore the earliest days of our Solar System and rewrite cosmic history. In 2017 the Chandra X-ray Observatory detected an X-ray flare coming from the very young star HOPS 383, which is the same type of star as our Sun. The star, known as a ‘protostar’ because it’s in the earliest phase of star evolution, lies about 1,400 light years away from Earth and will grow to have about half the mass of our Sun. In the new research, scientists studying the X-ray flare, which lasted for three hours and…

The Milky Way could be harbouring many intelligent alien civilisations Words by Chelsea Gohd © NASA According to a new study, there could be more than 30 civilisations capable of long-distance communication here in the Milky Way. Led by researchers at the University of Nottingham, they assumed that intelligent life not only exists off-Earth, but develops on other planets similarly to how it does on Earth. To estimate the number of intelligent civilisations in our galaxy, the team took into account two major ‘Astrobiological Copernican limits’ – conditions that such an ‘intelligent’ civilisation would depend on. For one of these limiting factors, the researchers used Earth, where life began approximately 4.54 billion years ago, as an example. They assume that intelligent life most likely forms in less than 5 billion…

In search of antigravity WHEN SPACE IS THROWN UPWARDS ANTIGRAVITY It’s the force that throws objects up, and if found it could be the holy grail for space travel among the stars © Getty; NASA; JPL-Caltech; ESA; ESO Straddling the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva lies the European Organization for Nuclear Research, more popularly known as CERN. This laboratory houses the accelerators, detectors and equipment comprising a number of different particle physics experiments, including the famed Large Hadron Collider (LHC) responsible for discovering a particle suspected to be the Higgs boson, the so-called ‘God particle’, in 2012. CERN’s particle accelerators are designed to study the tiniest constituents of matter: the fundamental particles that form everything from stars and planets to your afternoon cup of tea. This type of matter is known…

Dr Olivier Witasse EUROPE PLANS FOR AN ICY ENCOUNTER The European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing for its first-ever mission to Jupiter’s moons. All About Space speaks to the mission’s project scientist, Olivier Witasse, to find out why the Galilean satellites are so appealing Interviewed by Lee Cavendish How have the moons that JUICE will be visiting – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa – sustained a subsurface ocean despite being so far away from the Sun? Why haven’t they frozen over? They are called ‘icy moons’ because they are made of frozen ice. But there is a mechanism inside the moons which generates heat, and then the ice can melt and become liquid. The question is, how is the heat generated inside? Here we have two possible reasons. One answer is…

DESTINATION MARS Using HoloLens, NASA is able to walk on the surface of the Red Planet and make plans to conquer it © NASA 1. Real Mars data Looking through the HoloLens, users are able to ‘stand’ on Mars and look at a real surface from data gathered by Mars orbiters and the Curiosity rover. Using VR, you’ll be able to stand next to the Martian spacecraft. 2. Taking a friend If you decide to experience the surface of the Red Planet with a friend or two, you’ll be able to see them on the surface next to you as an avatar no matter where they are in the world. 3. Useful for science Teams of scientists are able to collaborate on the surface of Mars, which makes planning the…

Head-to-head Hope Probe vs Mars Express In terms of dimensions the Hope probe is roughly a metre (3.2 feet) larger in both height and width, and is heavier by about 227 kilograms (500 pounds). Although their solar panels are presented differently, they both have an aluminium honeycomb structure. The UAE made a major effort in designing a spacecraft unlike any other, and decided Hope would be a Mars weather-orientated mission. Mars Express does share similar ambitions though, as its main objective is also to map the planet’s atmosphere and climate, as well as to study the planet’s structure; its mineralogy and geology and to search for traces of water.…

A GIANT’S EXPLOSION FROM EARTH 1 From Earth, Betelgeuse forms the right shoulder of Orion, the Hunter. Although it’s young, it has progressed rapidly through its stellar evolution and is close to going supernova. 2 The sheer magnitude of the death of Betelgeuse – one of the largest known stars – will make itself apparent in Earth’s skies. It should remain visible for several months. 3 When the light from its demise reaches us after travelling for 642 light years, Betelgeuse will greatly outshine the Moon in our night sky. x3 illustrations © Ed Crooks…

How white holes are made © Nicholas Forder 1 Collapse of the core When a gigantic star – with a typical mass much more than 20 times the mass of the Sun – dies, sometimes a black hole is formed. When we refer to a star dying it means that it no longer has any nuclear fuel to burn, and this means that gravity is able to override the outward force. The core has no choice but to collapse in on itself, and the catastrophic explosion of a supernova results. 2 A cosmic plughole Shrinking smaller and smaller, the core continues to pale in significance compared to its former stellar glory, collapsing further into an even smaller size. However, while it has shrunk to a speck, all of…

TARGET #1 The Sun While it’s our nearest star, the Sun can be a challenging target without the right equipment “THE GOOD NEWS FOR ANYONE WANTING TO OBSERVE THE SUN IS THAT IT IS CLOSER THAN ALMOST EVERY OTHER ASTRONOMICAL OBJECT” The most obvious thing to look for and study in the daytime sky is the Sun. One of the very first things that someone ‘getting into’ astronomy learns – and is amazed by – is that the bright white ball they have seen shining brightly in the sky above them all their lives is in fact a star – the closest star to Earth. The night sky is full of distant suns, each tiny, twinkling dot a star like our own. Well, not exactly like it; some stars are…

STARGAZER Moon tour The Perseid last quarter Moon Our natural satellite will interfere with this month’s meteor shower, but it’s worth looking at in its own right © NASA Every year amateur astronomers and sky-watchers look forward to the Perseid meteor shower, which reaches its peak mid-August. For the past few years the sky has been lovely and dark for the shower, but this year a very bright Moon will be shining close to the part of the sky the meteors come from, which will greatly reduce the number we will see. However, the Moon itself will be a fascinating sight, so this month our Moon Tour doesn’t just have a single destination. Instead we’re going on a sightseeing cruise around the most striking features visible on the Moon after it…

STARGAZER The Northern Hemisphere Bright nebulae grace the August skies, offering an impressive night-sky selection Source: Wikipedai Commons © Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona Source: Wikipedai Commons © Judy Schmidt Source: Wikipedai Commons © Miodrag Sekulic Heading into the warm month of August, there’s an impressive array of targets suitable for observers armed with binoculars, telescopes or those who are just content with gazing upon the night sky with the unaided eye. Galaxies and star clusters are abundant. However, it’s the nebulae within constellations such as Cygnus and Lyra that are the objects to look to this month. The Ring Nebula (M57), the Pelican Nebula (IC 5070 and IC 5067), young and dense planetary nebula NGC 7027, reflection nebula NGC 6914 and the ‘blinking planetary’ NGC 6826 are particularly…

Teach the Curiosity rover how to drive on Mars Words by Elizabeth Howell A new online tool called AI4Mars, hosted on Zooniverse, allows anyone to label parts of the terrain in the landscape surrounding Curiosity, which has been roving on Mars since 2012. The tool is a form of ‘machine learning’ that allows rover planners assisting with Curiosity’s movements to train the rover’s intelligence for safe route planning. Picking an appropriate pathway is a pressing problem for Martian rovers. Curiosity’s wheels wore down in the early years of its mission from driving over sharp rocks, while another Mars rover called Spirit got permanently stuck in a sand trap in 2010. The first stage of training the algorithm, called SPOC – short for Soil Property and Object Classification – will allow…

Mysterious ‘fast radio bursts’ found firing rhythmically through cosmos Mysterious pulses of radio waves from deep space can fire in regular patterns, a discovery that might help shed light on the cause of these puzzling outbursts, a new research finds. Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are intense pulses of radio waves that can emit more energy in a few thousandths of a second than the Sun does in nearly a century. © Danielle Futselaar/artsource.nl The mystery of FRBs increased when scientists discovered the first repeating FRB in 2016. When astronomers see repeating patterns in celestial events, they often think rotation might play a role – for instance, a fast-spinning neutron star known as a pulsar, which blasts radio waves from its magnetic poles, flashing like a lighthouse from the perspective…

Gravity vs antigravity If it exists, how does the supposed counterpart to space’s familiar force behave? Gravity Gravity is the universe’s weakest known force Compared to the other three fundamental forces of nature – strong, electromagnetic and weak – gravity is known as the weakest, and as a consequence has a negligible influence on the behaviour of subatomic particles. It gives weight on Earth On our third rock from the Sun, gravity appears to act downwards and gives everyday objects their weight. It also causes the ocean tides with help from the orbital behaviour of the Sun and Moon. It’s responsible for planets, stars and galaxies Everything you can see in the universe is held together by gravity. It causes planetary motion around stars and is responsible for the evolution…

FOLLOW THE PATH OF A ROVER It’s now possible to track the journey of NASA’s Curiosity rover as it trundles across the surface of the Red Planet by simply donning a headset wired up to an internet connection. In collaboration with Google, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has released Access Mars, a free immersive experience that allows everyone to virtually explore the Martian landscape through all desktop and mobile devices as well as virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) headsets. The mind-blowing experience was adapted from JPL’s OnSight software, which helps mission scientists to plan rover drives and even hold meetings on Mars’ surface. NASA’s Curiosity rover – which touched down on the Red Planet in 2012 – provides views of the terrain and allows users to wander through the dunes and…

How Hope will make its way to Mars © Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre 1 Start of the journey After being launched from Japan at a speed of 39,600 kilometres (24,600 miles) per hour, the Hope probe will cruise through space for about 200 days. 2 Charging the batteries Ahead of arrival the spacecraft will unfold its solar panels and get some juice in the batteries. It will proceed to navigate to Mars using its star trackers. 3 Putting the brakes on Hope cannot enter an orbit around Mars if it’s going too fast. To avoid crashing straight into the surface the spacecraft will reduce its speed from 126,000 kilometres (78,000 miles) per hour to 14,000 kilometres (8,700 miles) per hour. 4 Entering an elliptical orbit…

HOW TO… Build a human settlement on Mars by 2117 1 Starting with Hope Hope is not just about sending a satellite to the Red Planet to study its atmosphere and climate. The UAE intends for this mission to be the fuel that propels the nation to a new frontier. This mission is just the beginning. © Government of Dubai Media Office 2 Continuous collaboration Space exploration is rarely an individual endeavour. There is help from around the globe, and these are the kinds of relationships the UAE is looking to build. It’s already started by creating Hope with the help of US-based institutions. © Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre 3 Establishing a roster of astronauts On 25 September 2019 the UAE saw Hazzaa Ali Almansoori visit…

Future tech Project RAMA PROJECT RAMA A Californian company wants to turn asteroids into autonomous spacecraft in order to mine their surfaces before relocating them in space © Adrian Mann 1 Asteroid mining Robotic mining equipment would need to be part of the RAMA system in order to extract raw materials from an asteroid. 2 Space settlement Using space-based materials would transform space exploration, opening up the Solar System to us and enabling the construction of space settlements. 3 Propulsion RAMA could deliver an asteroid, ready for processing, by using material from the asteroid for propulsion. This could be by expelling rocks or splitting water ice into hydrogen and oxygen. 4 Special delivery Rather than converting the asteroid where it was found, RAMA would be able…

Have we already discovered one? Detected in 2006, NASA’s Swift gamma-ray mission could have uncovered a candidate for an ‘inverse’ black hole © Adrian Mann A possible white hole? Back in June 2006 the Swift satellite captured a burst of gamma rays that lasted for around 102 seconds in a galaxy some 1.6 billion light years away. Since no supernova was seen following the event, astronomers realised that they had come across a possible new object. In 2011 it was hypothesised that the burst was a white hole. Mission profile: Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Launched: 20 November 2004 Operator: NASA Launch vehicle: Delta II 7320-10C Orbit: Low-Earth Super Swift telescope After being signalled by the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) instrument on board, the Swift spacecraft slewed immediately to the burst.…

ASK Space Our experts answer your questions ASTROPHYSICS © James Josephides, Swinburne Astronomy Productions How can a galaxy appear to have a massive hole in the middle? The massive hole in the middle is caused by a collision with another galaxy. However, not all galactic collisions result in gigantic holes. Only a head-on collision, similar to a ‘bullseye shot’, can produce a hole surrounded by a ring, or sometimes multiple rings. The hole is formed as the galactic ‘heart’ gets knocked off, and stars at the inner parts of the galaxy oscillate outwards in response to the gravitational disturbance. The rings are density waves that spread out from a single point. In addition to a bullseye collision, two additional conditions must be met. Firstly it needs a thin galactic disc…

TARGET #2 The planets © ESO It is sometimes possible to see planets in the daytime sky, but only if you have very good eyesight, you know exactly where to look and at what time of day, if they are well away from the Sun and the sky is very clear with no clouds. The planet most easily seen in the day is Venus, as it’s the brightest. When it’s at its farthest point from the Sun, keen-eyed people can sometimes pick it out from the blue sky as a spark of silvery light. Others need binoculars to find it. Be careful, though, as you should never look for any planet without hiding the Sun behind a building or hill so you don’t accidentally look at it while planet hunting.…

STARGAZER Omegon MightyMak 90 Highly portable, simple to use and ideal for beginners on a budget, this small telescope is an excellent introduction into astronomy “THE MIGHTYMAK 90 IS VERSATILE AND SUITS A WIDE RANGE OF EYEPIECES AND FILTERS” If you’re looking for a telescope that’s easy to carry and set up ready for your very first venture into observing, or perhaps you have children that have been hassling you for a ‘scope, but you don’t want to spend a fortune on a hobby that could end up being a fad, then the Omegon MightyMak 90 is a worthwhile option to consider. Omegon’s affordable product provides two types of mount – a tabletop tripod and a Dobsonian – ideal for quick wildlife watching and night-sky viewing – as well as…

LAUNCH PAD YOUR FIRST CONTACT WITH THE UNIVERSE A galaxy on a knife’s edge © NASA/ESA & Hubble Another Hubble Space Telescope gem was captured recently when it photographed a galaxy called NGC 5907, also known as the Knife Edge Galaxy. This picture shows the structure – located roughly 500 million light years away – stretched across Hubble’s keen field of view. NGC 5907 is a spiral galaxy that clearly exhibits individual spiral arms, comprised of dust tracks that dampen the starlight to create black streaks. Because of NGC 5907’s orientation in relation to Earth, Hubble is not able to get a bird’s-eye view of the galaxy’s core, but can still provide a unique look at the spiral arms from an alternative perspective. The Butterfly Nebula’s chaos © NASA/ESA This…

Neptune’s weird moon Triton to get visit from NASA spacecraft A possible new mission called Trident aims to explore Neptune’s strange moon Triton. As Neptune’s largest moon, Triton boasts an uncommon icy mixture on its surface, as well as other unique characteristics that could help scientists learn more about how bodies in the Solar System evolved. Trident is one of four mission concepts competing in the current round of NASA’s Discovery program, which develops relatively low-cost robotic-exploration efforts. The proposed Trident mission – named for its three-pronged approach to solving Triton’s mysteries and inspired by the three-pronged spear carried by the ancient Roman sea god Neptune – plans to visit Triton and study the moon’s entire surface in greater detail. ©NASA “Triton has always been one of the most exciting…

IN COOPERATION WITH SPACE.COM Titan’s odd patches are dry lake beds Words by Mike Wall Strange bright patches observed in the southern tropical regions of Saturn moon Titan over a decade ago are likely the beds of dried-up hydrocarbon lakes and seas. The observations could shed light on Titan’s climate history and inform the hunt for potentially habitable environments. The patches were viewed as likely evidence of lakes or seas on Titan, which was widely expected to harbour such bodies, said Jason Hofgartner of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. That early expectation was borne out after NASA’s Cassini spacecraft arrived in orbit around Saturn in 2004. But the lakes spotted by Cassini sit primarily near Titan’s poles, especially the moon’s far-northern reaches. The probe didn’t see bodies of…

What can antigravity be used for? If proven to exist, this ‘repulsive force’ could assist in our quest to travel among the stars Opening up a wormhole In theory antigravity could be used to open up a wormhole in order to allow spacecraft to dive straight in and travel straight through. By using a sufficient torrent of antigravity – which acts as negative energy – to force the throat of space-time apart, a path could be opened wide enough to enable an astronaut and their spacecraft to slip right though. Gravity shields Gravitational shielding involves shielding an object from the influence of a gravitational field. Currently bound to the pages of science fiction, gravity shields have the effect of reducing the weight of an object, assisting greatly with space travel.…

HOW WE’RE USING VR FOR SPACE © NASA Training astronauts Before they go into space, astronauts need to be trained up for the conditions they will face. VR enables astronauts to train in a space environment, such as wearing a headset while on a weightlessness-simulating plane and in NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO). Planning routes on Mars Using VR, scientists are able to create a reconstruction of the Martian surface which can be worked on collaboratively – for example, to set the course and targets for NASA’s Curiosity or Perseverance rover on the surface of the Red Planet. Modelling spacecraft and machinery Engineers are able to explore detailed models of spacecraft as they are being designed, allowing their design to be transformed and visualised in a way that’s true…

User Manual Hope Mars Mission USER MANUAL Hope Mars Mission The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is preparing a milestone venture to the Red Planet, propelling the country forward in exploration © Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre © Government of Dubai Media Office THE SPECS Launch: 14 July 2020 (UTC) Arrival: February 2021 Target: Mars Launch rocket: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-IIA rocket Operators: Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre Planned mission duration: One Martian year (approximately two Earth years) Height: 2.9 metres (9.5 feet) Diameter: 2.4 metres (7.9 feet) The United Arab Emirates Space Agency (UAESA) was established in 2014 and has evolved exponentially over the last six years. Fast forward to July 2020 and the agency is now preparing to launch its fourth satellite and its first spacecraft to another planet.…

TOP TECH Emirates eXploration Imager (EXI) © MBRSC This will generate the most visually spectacular results, which are likely to be shared across the internet for all to see. A lot of successful missions share popular high-resolution images, such as NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera and the Juno spacecraft’s JunoCam. The Hope probe’s EXI can operate in two bands, visible and ultraviolet, and can image the surface of Mars at a resolution of 2.2 kilometres (1.4 miles) per pixel at its closest point and 4.9 kilometres (three miles) per pixel at farthest.…

White holes THE HUNT FOR WHITE HOLES The search for these eruptions in space-time has begun. Will they leave the pages of science fiction and enter reality? Reported by Nicky Jenner © Tobias Roetsch The cosmos is full of odd and extreme phenomena. Take everyone’s favourite behemoth, the black hole, for example. These dark, mysterious objects hungrily devour anything and everything within their reach. However, there is a light side to accompany the dark – and the dark black hole has its light equivalent in the intriguing white hole. In simple terms, white holes are time-reversed black holes. If you were somehow able to film a black hole in action and play the tape in reverse, you would see a white hole. Rather than furiously dragging in and trapping…

View sunspots the easy way You can observe sunspots – magnetic storms on the surface of the Sun – safely by projecting an image of the Sun onto a paper or card screen using just a pair of binoculars. If you have a clear view of the Sun for several days in a row you can watch how the sunspots change their shape and size as they are carried across the Sun’s face by its rotation. 1 Select a piece of white paper or card to use as a screen – make sure it is very clean, without any patterns or blemishes. 2 Cover up one of the lenses of the binoculars so only one image will be projected. 3 Position your screen behind the binoculars. 4 Align your binoculars…

TARGET #4 Solar and lunar Space Station transits Source: Wikipedia Commons © Public Domain Spotting the International Space Station (ISS) is now a very popular part of amateur astronomy – and many of you reading this would be thrilled at the sight of the ISS sailing silently across the sky, shining like a bright star. On very rare occasions the ISS’ path across the sky takes it between us and the Moon or the Sun, and for a couple of seconds it can be seen silhouetted against it. To catch one of these transits you have to be in exactly the right place at exactly the right time, as predicted by phone apps or websites.…

Planet of the month This month’s planets Venus blazes in the dawn sky from July through to August, while Mercury, Mars, Uranus and Neptune also take the morning watch Between mid-July and mid-August many summer sky-watchers will be able to see all seven of Earth’s sister worlds strewn across the sky. However, one planet will dominate the pre-sunrise sky, the world that many people know as the ‘morning star’ or ‘evening star’ and is often – very misleadingly – called ‘Earth’s Twin’. That planet is Venus, the closest planet to Earth. Venus is the second planet out from the Sun, and earned its stellar nicknames from the way that it sometimes blazes in the west after sunset and at other times blazes in the east before sunrise. As for that…

Deep sky challenge Treasures of the Great Square of Pegasus Forget the stunning Andromeda Galaxy and enjoy some of the many other fascinating objects lurking nearby © ESA/Hubble & NASA Easily visible to the naked eye late on Moon-free summer nights as a smudge of light larger than the Moon, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is one of the most beloved and most frequently observed and photographed deep-sky objects. Even a small telescope transforms that smudge into a beautiful misty oval, and larger instruments can show not just tantalising hints of its spiral structure, but its pair of fainter satellite galaxies and its bright, curdled core. It’s easy to spend a whole night just looking at Andromeda, but close to it you can find many other deep-sky objects worthy of your…