Table of contents for No. 125 in All About Space

WELCOME © Alamy With the New Year upon us, many will be making their New Year’s resolutions. Some will be promising themselves to get started in astrophotography – if that’s you, don’t forget to check out last issue for tips and tricks – while others will be looking to spend more time improving their knowledge about the universe, whether that’s through a course or just by reading all about it. Space agencies like NASA and the European Space Agency made plans for 2022 years ago, scheduling mission launches, planetary flybys and, of course, coming up with brand-new roadmaps for the next set of spacecraft to conquer the cosmos. Turn to page 28 to discover what’s in store. If you’ve spent a lot of time outdoors in the Northern Hemisphere lately,…

DID ASTRONOMERS SEE THE LIGHT FROM TWO BLACK HOLES COLLIDING FOR THE FIRST TIME? Words by Chelsea Gohd © Caltech So far the only way astronomers have been able to ‘observe’ black holes colliding is by detecting the resulting gravitational waves. Since the first detection in 2015, scientists have observed gravitational waves, working to understand their origins. Because black holes have a gravitational pull so strong that not even light can escape, they’re difficult to observe, and astronomers have yet to visually identify a collision between two black holes… that is, until now. While black holes are dark, there are theories that suggest collisions or mergers between black holes could produce a light signal through the material that surrounds them by causing matter to radiate. A team of astronomers using…

ROCKET LAB AIMS TO CATCH A FALLING ELECTRON BOOSTER WITH A HELICOPTER Words by Mike Wall Rocket Lab plans to pluck the falling first stage of one of its Electron launchers out of the sky with a helicopter on its next recovery mission. The timeline is not yet set, but this dramatic aerospace feat is likely to happen soon. “We certainly hope to have that flight within the first half of next year,” Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck said. “Or as soon as practically possible, really.” California-based Rocket Lab is working to make the first stage of the Electron reusable, an advance that would boost launch rates and reduce costs. The ultimate recovery strategy involves bringing boosters down slowly under a parachute and catching them in mid-air with…

Focus on Great Red Spot JUPITER’S GREAT RED SPOT IS DEEPER THAN SCIENTISTS THOUGHT The storm system isn’t just wide… it also has incredible Reported by Rahul Rao x2 Images © Getty It’s hard to imagine the sheer scale of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot from Earth; the storm is so big that it could swallow our planet. But it turns out that the Great Red Spot isn’t just wide – it’s deep too, quite a bit deeper than anybody expected. Data from NASA’s Juno has shown that the behemoth storm extends as much as 500 kilometres (310 miles) beneath Jupiter’s cloud tops. And the Jovian maelstrom is linked to jets that go far deeper, hinting that the giant planet’s upper and lower atmospheres are tied together. The findings come from…

Makemake DWARF PLANET PROFILE MAKEMAKE Makemake is partly responsible for Pluto’s controversial change in planetary status Reported by Daisy Dobrijevic Makemake is a dwarf planet in the outer Solar System. It was the fourth body to be identified as a dwarf planet. Makemake is large and bright enough to be studied by a high-end amateur telescope. Makemake was first observed in March 2005 by a team of astronomers at the Palomar Observatory in California. Provisionally known as 2005 FY9, the tiny planetoid was nicknamed Easterbunny by the group. The team was also responsible for the discovery of dwarf planet Eris and involved in the controversial discovery of the dwarf planet Haumea. Makemake is named for the god of fertility in Rapa Nui mythology. The Rapa Nui live on Easter Island…

Infrared universe SPITZER’S INFRARED UNIVERSE IN JANUARY 2020, NASA’S SPITZER SPACE TELESCOPE CAME TO THE END OF ITS MISSION AFTER 16 YEARS OF INCREDIBLE IMAGES – HERE’S JUST A FEW OF OUR FAVOURITES Written by Hanneke Weitering NORTH AMERICA NEBULA Spitzer captured this infrared view in 2011. Since infrared light can penetrate dust, the shape of the nebula – which usually resembles the continent of North America – changes completely. The dusty, dark clouds in visible-light images vanish in Spitzer’s view. In addition, Spitzer’s infrared detectors display the glow of dusty cocoons enveloping baby stars. THE SWAN NEBULA Spitzer captured this infrared view of the choppy star-making cloud Messier 17, also known as the Omega Nebula or the Swan Nebula, in 2008. The region lies around 5,500 light years away…

STARGAZER MOON TOUR MENELAUS CRATER How to find the impact at the end of one of the longest rays on the Moon Many well-known craters are famous for being at the centre of complicated systems of rays. When they were formed, Copernicus, Tycho and Aristarchus all splashed bright rays of debris huge distances across the lunar surface. Elsewhere on the Moon, smaller, lesser known craters have systems of rays too, and one of them, Menelaus, is the source of possibly one of the longest and brightest rays on the Moon. Menelaus is small, just 27 kilometres (17 miles) across and barely three kilometres (1.9 miles) deep, but when the Moon’s phase is just right, it’s easily visible in binoculars and small telescopes. Slightly oval in shape, it lies on the edge…

LAUNCH PAD YOUR FIRST CONTACT WITH THE UNIVERSE News from around the universe 18 NOVEMBER 2021 Hubble’s planets This year’s view of Jupiter’s ever-changing atmosphere shows several new storms and colour differences near the equator. Taken on 4 September 2021, the image captured a darker, more reddish equator than expected and several bright-red elongated storms. Hubble’s latest view of Saturn, taken on 12 September 2021, captures the planet’s northern hemisphere entering early autumn. This seasonal change triggers rapid and extreme colour changes of the yellow and gold bands in the atmosphere, which are caused by superfast winds. It’s spring in the northern hemisphere on Uranus, meaning the north pole is pointed towards the Sun. Because of the dramatic tilt of the planet’s axis – nearly 90 degrees – that’s a…

TRAPPIST-1 ALIEN SYSTEM WAS NOT BOMBARDED BY SPACE ROCKS LIKE EARLY EARTH Words by Tereza Pultarova © NASA/JPL-Caltech TRAPPIST-1 would be an unremarkable star if not for the scientific interest generated by its seven planets. Located some 40 light years away from the Sun in the constellation of Aquarius, TRAPPIST-1 is a cool, dim star called a red dwarf, the type that is most common in our galaxy, the Milky Way. Around the star, seven exoplanets about the size of Earth – referred to by simple letters from TRAPPIST-1 b to h based on their distance from the star – orbit in a way that astronomers call ‘resonant.’ Resonance means that although each planet takes a different amount of time to complete one orbit, pairs regularly meet again at the…

LIGHTSAIL 2 SOLAR SAIL IS STILL SOARING ABOVE EARTH MORE THAN TWO YEARS AFTER LAUNCH Words by Tereza Pultarova IN COOPERATION WITH SPACE.COM An experimental spacecraft testing solar sails as a means of cost-effective space propulsion that could power future missions to distant places is still riding the sunbeams in Earth’s orbit more than two-and-a-half years after its launch. The spacecraft is a cubesat about the size of a loaf of bread, fitted with a solar sail the size of a boxing ring, or about 32 square metres (433 square feet). This sail captures incoming photons from the Sun, just as a wind sail catches the moving air, to propel the spacecraft. LightSail 2 is a private project of the Planetary Society, a US-headquartered space education and outreach nonprofit organisation.…

Future tech SPACE ELEVATOR Launching into space is a hazardous process. Wouldn’t it be simpler if we could take a lift? A space elevator is the idea of building a lift connecting the ground to Earth orbit. The first person to consider it was Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who was also the first to set out the equations that govern orbital rocket launches. In 1895 he was inspired by the new Eiffel Tower, pointing out that if such a tower could be built 35,800 kilometres (22,245 miles) tall, you could go to space just by taking the lift up the tower. To appreciate why – and why this distance – we must consider how orbits work. When spacecraft launch into space, they don’t just pass out of the atmosphere and start floating.…

Alien life Instant expert WHY ARE WE STILL SEARCHING FOR INTELLIGENT ALIEN LIFE? Should we widen our search criteria when looking for extraterrestrials? © Getty Humans have long scanned the heavens for signs of other advanced civilisations in the universe. And we’ve found nothing. Absolutely nothing. So maybe we shouldn’t be so focused on intelligent life, but on any sort of life whatsoever. Sure, a tiny microbe may not be as exciting as swapping stories with distant aliens, but signs of non-intelligent life may be much more common – and much easier to find – in our galaxy. Life, including intelligent life, evolved here on Earth. Yet there shouldn’t be anything particularly remarkable about our planet; it’s just another random world in the galaxy. So if intelligent life happened here,…

Plate tectonics Focus on WHAT HAPPENS TO EARTH’S DISAPPEARING CRUST? Scientists may have finally figured out the mystery of subduction zones Reported by Yasemin Saplakoglu © Getty Like a giant broken-up cookie whose pieces float atop a sea of scalding milk, Earth’s outer shell is made of rocky rafts that constantly bump into and dive beneath each other in a process called plate tectonics. So what happens to those hunks of disappearing crust as they dive into Earth’s interior? It turns out that they get weak and bendy, like a slinky toy, but new modelling shows that they don’t disintegrate completely. The models also suggest that plate tectonics, at least in their modern form, likely only got going in the past billion years. Plate tectonics drive earthquakes and volcanoes, create…

NEARBY OBSERVING TARGETS Orion is home to many interesting stargazing targets alongside the Orion Nebula © ESA/Hubble & NASA HORSEHEAD NEBULA (BARNARD 33) Magnitude: +6.8 Approximate distance from Earth: 1,500 light years Right ascension: 05h 40m 59s Declination: -02° 27’ 30” The Horsehead Nebula is a tricky target to track down, but it’s not impossible to find with a good telescope. The nebula can be found just south of the easternmost star in Orion’s Belt. The shape of the nebula is forged by radiation from the surrounding stars. The nebula is only visible because the dust is silhouetted against a brighter nebula. © ESA/Hubble & NASA DE MAIRAN’S NEBULA (MESSIER 43) Magnitude: +9.0 Approximate distance from Earth: 1,300 light years Right ascension: 5h 35m 31.8s Declination: -5° 17’ 57” Only…

Focus on Milky Way’s centre THERE’S A BARRIER AROUND THE MILKY WAY’S CENTRE Astronomers discover an enormous, bizarre feature separating the centre of the Milky Way from the cosmic ray sea Reported by Brandon Specktor © NASA The centre of the Milky Way may be even more bizarre than astronomer thought. A team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Nanjing investigated a map of radioactive gamma rays – the highest energy form of light in the universe, which can arise when extremely high-speed particles called cosmic rays crash into ordinary matter – blasting in and around the centre of our galaxy. The map revealed that something near the centre of the galaxy appears to be accelerating particles to mind-blowing speeds – very near the speed of light…

THE THEORIES Astronomers have considered a few explanations for Kamo‘oalewa’s origin A CAPTURED ASTEROID The study’s authors examined the possibility that Kamo‘oalewa was captured in its Earth-like orbit from the general population of near-Earth objects. But the paper says that simulations of such a scenario don’t match the low eccentricity and inclination displayed by Kamo‘oalewa. © Getty FRAGMENT OF AN ASTEROID There are two known asteroids that orbit the Sun at the Earth-Sun Lagrangian points L4 and L5. They have similar orbits to Earth’s, and it could be that Kamo‘oalewa is a split-off piece of one of them, drawn from a quasi-stable population that has yet to be found. © Alamy A PIECE OF THE MOON The recent study of Kamo‘oalewa strongly suggests that the asteroid is an ejected fragment…

STARGAZER WHAT’S IN THE SKY? © ESO; © ESA “DURING GREATEST ELONGATION, THE INNER PLANETS CAN BE OBSERVED AS BRIGHT EVENING STARS” JARGON BUSTER Conjunction This is an alignment of objects at the same celestial longitude. The conjunction of the Moon and the planets is determined with reference to the Sun. A planet is in conjunction with the Sun when it and Earth are aligned on opposite sides of the Sun. Right Ascension (RA) Right Ascension is to the sky what longitude is to the surface of the Earth, corresponding to east and west directions. It is measured in hours, minutes and seconds since, as the Earth rotates on its axis, we see different parts of the sky throughout the night. Greatest elongation This is when the inner planets, Mercury…

LAUNCH PAD ELUSIVE NEUTRINO CANDIDATES DETECTED IN BREAKTHROUGH PHYSICS EXPERIMENT Words by Chelsea Gohd YOUR FIRST CONTACT WITH THE UNIVERSE IN COOPERATION WITH SPACE.COM © CERN For the first time ever, researchers have detected neutrino candidates produced by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN facility near Geneva, Switzerland. In a major milestone in particle physics, researchers report observing six neutrino interactions during an experiment at the LHC. Neutrinos are subatomic particles that have a very small mass, like an electron, but have no electrical charge – a characteristic that has made them extremely challenging to detect. These neutrinos were created during the inaugural run of an emulsion detector that was combined with CERN’s Forward Search Experiment (FASER) collaboration in 2018. “Prior to this project, no sign of neutrinos…

LAUNCH PAD YOUR FIRST CONTACT WITH THE UNIVERSE AI DISCOVERS OVER 300 UNKNOWN EXOPLANETS IN KEPLER DATA Words by Tereza Pultarova © NASA/JPL-Caltech Kepler, NASA’s first dedicated exoplanet hunter, has observed hundreds of thousands of stars in the search for worlds outside our Solar System. The catalogue of potential planets it compiled continues generating new discoveries even after the telescope’s demise. Human experts analyse the data for signs of exoplanets. But a new algorithm called ExoMiner can now mimic that procedure and scour the catalogue faster and more efficiently. The telescope, which stopped working in 2018, looked for temporary decreases in the brightness of stars that might be caused by a planet crossing in front of the star’s disc as seen from Kepler’s perspective. But not all such dimming events…

FROZEN UNIVERSE IT’S TIME TO WRAP UP WARM AND EXPLORE THE BOOMERANG NEBULA – A PECULIAR PLACE WITH THE COLDEST KNOWN NATURAL TEMPERATURE Reported by David Crookes © Tobias Roetsch In the Northern Hemisphere, we’re currently feeling temperatures drop. But while it certainly feels pretty cold, we’d hazard a guess that the temperature hasn’t dropped as low as the-93.2 degrees Celsius (-199.8 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded across Dome Fuji, Antarctica, in 2010. A visit there would require the thickest of coats and a vacuum flask topped up with a steaming-hot beverage. Yet imagine venturing somewhere even colder than that – a journey to the coldest place in the universe, in fact. You’ll need to crack the secret of a very long life and some clever scientist will have to work out…

ECLIPSES IN 2022 © NASA PARTIAL SOLAR ECLIPSE 30 April and 25 October The next partial solar eclipse will occur on 30 April 2022 when the Moon passes in front of the Sun, resulting in a partial eclipse that will be visible from South America and Antarctica. A partial solar eclipse happens when the Moon comes between the Sun and Earth, but only partially covers the disc of the Sun. This is because the Moon, Sun and Earth aren’t perfectly aligned, so only the outer part of the Moon’s shadow falls on Earth. This has the effect of making the Sun look like a glowing orange cookie with a bite gouged out of it. Partial solar eclipses happen between two and five times a year, meaning that in 2022 sky…

Focus on Anti-satellite missile ANTI-SATELLITE MISSILE TEST DRAWS CONDEMNATION Across the globe, nations and space companies alike are speaking out against Russia’s anti-satellite test, which forced astronauts in space to take cover Reported by Chelsea Gohd © Getty In 15 November 2021, the seven astronauts and cosmonauts living on board the International Space Station were forced to take shelter in the spacecraft they flew to the station. The orbiting lab was passing through a cloud of space debris that threatened the station and its inhabitants. Later that day, the US State Department revealed, with confirmation from the Pentagon, that the space debris – which will be trapped in orbit for years to come – was the result of a Russian anti-satellite (ASAT) test. The test, which saw a missile destroy Kosmos…

Orion Nebula ALL ABOUT THE ORION NEBULA EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS CRADLE OF BABY STARS THAT’S VISIBLE FROM EARTH Written by Daisy Dobrijevic The Orion Nebula (Messier 42) is the nearest star-forming region to Earth, located around 1,345 light years away, and is about 2 million years old. The billowing clouds of gas and dust are located in the constellation of Orion, just below Orion’s Belt. The majestic nebula can be seen with the naked eye, as it has an apparent magnitude of +4.0. It’s no surprise that the Orion Nebula has captivated civilisations around the world for centuries – for example, the Maya of Mesoamerica interpreted the nebula as the cosmic fire of creation. The Orion Nebula is part of a larger stellar network called the…

Focus on Weird stellar remnant POTENTIAL EARLY UNIVERSE FOSSIL UNCOVERED The weird stellar remnant may be from one of the first stars in the cosmos Reported by Harry Baker © Getty “IT ENABLES US TO PROBE THE NATURE OF THE FIRST STARS”MIKE IRWIN Astronomers have detected an extremely unusual star that they believe is a stellar fossil, or remnant, of one of the universe’s very first stars. The star, AS0039, is located in the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy around 290,000 light years from the Solar System. This stellar remnant has the lowest concentration of metal, particularly iron, of any star measured outside the Milky Way. The researchers think it’s evidence that the remnant is a direct descendent of one of the universe’s earliest stars, which contained very little metal. Researchers found…

Earth’s second moon MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE DOES EARTH HAVE A SECOND MOON? THERE’S AN ASTEROID TRACKING OUR PLANET’S ORBIT AROUND THE SUN, AND ASTRONOMERS HAVE BEEN SURPRISED BY ITS COMPOSITION Reported by David Crookes We all know that Earth only has one moon, and if you want proof of that, you just need to peer at the night sky. Can you see another? Astronomers are sticking to their guns by saying the Moon is Earth’s only natural satellite. Case closed… or so you’d think. In 2016, however, astronomers using the asteroid-hunting Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii discovered a rock orbiting the Sun while also repeatedly looping around Earth. Celestial objects such as these are called quasi-satellites, and while four others have been identified since 2004, this one was the closest…

STARGAZER Planets THIS MONTH’S PLANETS The far-flung ice giants make for easy pickings as we ring in the New Year PLANET OF THE MONTH Mercury is our planet of the month this issue, not just because it will be bright and easy to see after sunset, but because there will be so much going on around it in the sky. Mercury is often described as being elusive and hard to see, and it’s true that a surprising number of amateur astronomers have never seen it, but in reality it’s not really that hard to see. Although it never shines as brightly as Venus, little Mercury is easy to see with the naked eye when it is at its best, and once you’ve found it you’ll find your eye can pick…

STARGAZER Astroshots ASTROSHOTS OF THE MONTH Get featured in All About Space by sending your astrophotography images to space@spaceanswers.com Shaun Reynolds Location: Norfolk, UK Telescope: Williams Optics FLT 98 APO “I became interested in astronomy about five years ago. A friend got a scope and mount as he wanted to get into astroimaging, and he asked me if I was interested as I like photography. My initial response towards astrophotography was a mild interest until we put my Canon 1000D DSLR on his scope. Within a couple of 60-second images, I was totally hooked!” “WITHIN A COUPLE OF 60-SECOND IMAGES, I WAS TOTALLY HOOKED” Steve Bassett Location: West Sussex, UK Telescope: Sky-Watcher 150P “I first had a mild interest in astronomy when I was a child and got my first…