Tag Archives: moon

Science

Full moon in January 2021: When to see the Wolf Moon

Leave a comment

Yes, that’s right: It rises during the day and can be seen all night around the world, barring clouds or bad weather.

Each moon has its own name associated with the full moon. In January, it’s often called the “wolf moon,” supposedly inspired by hungry wolves that howled outside of villages long ago, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

The closest is the Sioux name for the January full moon, which is “wolves run together.” This is similar to the Cheyenne name for the December full moon, “when the wolves run together.”

The list was compiled by Phil Konstantin, a former NASA employee and member of the Cherokee Nation.

Although others have attributed the wolf moon moniker to the Algonquin tribe, they refer to the January full moon as “squochee kesos” or “sun has not strength to thaw.”

Some other names for the January full moon include the bear hunting moon for the Haida tribe in Alaska, “moon of life at its height” for the Hopi tribe in Arizona and even “atalka,” which means “stay inside” for the Kalapuya tribe in the Pacific Northwest.

Typical of a normal year, 2021 will also have 12 full moons. (Last year had 13 full moons, two of which were in October).

Here are all of the full moons occurring this year and their names, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac:
  • February 27 — Snow moon
  • March 28 — Worm moon
  • April 26 — Pink moon
  • May 26 — Flower moon
  • June 24 — Strawberry moon
  • July 23 — Buck moon
  • August 22 — Sturgeon moon
  • September 20 — Harvest moon
  • October 20 — Hunter’s moon
  • November 19 — Beaver moon
  • December 18 — Cold moon
Be sure to check for the other names of these moons as well, attributed to the different Native American tribes.

Here is what else you can look forward to in 2021.

Meteor showers

There is a bit of a wait until the next meteor shower, the popular Lyrids in April. The Lyrids will peak on April 22 and will be best seen in the Northern Hemisphere — but the moon will be 68% full, according to the American Meteor Society.

The Eta Aquariids follow soon after, peaking on May 5 when the moon is 38% full. This shower is best seen in the southern tropics, but will still produce a medium shower for those north of the equator.

The Delta Aquariids are also best seen from the southern tropics and will peak between July 28 and 29 when the moon is 74% full.

Interestingly, another meteor shower peaks on the same night — the Alpha Capricornids. Although this is a much weaker shower, it has been known to produce some bright fireballs during the peak. And it will be visible for those on either side of the equator.

The Perseid meteor shower, the most popular of the year, will peak between August 11 and 12 in the Northern Hemisphere when the moon is only 13% full.

Here is the meteor shower schedule for the rest of the year, according to EarthSky’s meteor shower outlook.
  • October 8: Draconids
  • October 21: Orionids
  • November 4 to 5: South Taurids
  • November 11 to 12: North Taurids
  • November 17: Leonids
  • December 13 to 14: Geminids
  • December 22: Ursids

Solar and lunar eclipses

This year, there will be two eclipses of the sun and two eclipses of the moon — and three of these will be visible for some in North America, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

A total eclipse of the moon will occur on May 26, best visible to those in western North America and Hawaii from 4:46 a.m. ET to 9:51 a.m. ET.

An annular eclipse of the sun will happen on June 10, visible in northern and northeastern North America from 4:12 a.m. ET to 9:11 a.m. ET. The sun won’t be fully blocked by the moon, so be sure to wear eclipse glasses to safely view this event.

November 19 will see a partial eclipse of the moon, and skywatchers in North America and Hawaii will see it between 1 a.m. ET and 7:06 a.m. ET.

And the year ends with a total eclipse of the sun on December 4. It won’t be seen in North America, but those in the Falkland Islands, the southern tip of Africa, Antarctica and southeastern Australia will be able to spot it.

Visible planets

Skywatchers will have multiple opportunities to spot the planets in our sky during certain mornings and evenings throughout 2021, according to the Farmer’s Almanac planetary guide.

It’s possible to see most of these with the naked eye, with the exception of distant Neptune, but binoculars or a telescope will provide the best view.

Mercury will look like a bright star in the morning sky from February 28 to March 20, June 27 to July 16, and October 18 to November 1. It will shine in the night sky from January 15 to January 31, May 3 to May 24, August 31 to September 21 and November 29 to December 31.

Venus, our closest neighbor in the solar system, will appear in the eastern sky on the mornings of January 1 to 23 and in the western sky at dusk on the evenings of May 24 to December 31. It’s the second brightest object in our sky after the moon.

Mars makes its reddish appearance in the morning sky between November 24 and December 31 and will be visible in the evening sky between January 1 and August 22.

Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is the third brightest object in our sky. It will be on display in the morning sky between February 17 and August 19. Look for it in the evenings of January 1 to 9 and August 20 to December 31 — but it will be at its brightest from August 8 to September 2.

Saturn’s rings are only visible through a telescope, but the planet itself can still be seen with the naked eye on the mornings of February 10 to August 1 and the evenings of January 1 to 6 and August 2 to December 31. It will be at its brightest between August 1 to 4.

Binoculars or a telescope will help you spot the greenish glow of Uranus on the mornings of May 16 to November 3 and the evenings of January 1 to April 12 and November 4 to December 31 — but at its brightest between August 28 to December 31.

And our most distant neighbor in the solar system, Neptune will be visible through a telescope on the mornings of March 27 to September 13 and the evenings of January 1 to February 23 and September 14 to December 31. It will be at its brightest between July 19 and November 8.

Read original article here

Science

The Full Moon Changes How People Sleep Without Us Ever Realising, Says Study

Leave a comment

In modern times, a great deal of research has focused on the way that artificial light sources mess up our sleep and health, due to the unnatural effects of illumination after the Sun goes down.

 

But just how unnatural is night-time light anyway? After all, humans have always been exposed to variable levels of light at night, due to reflections of sunlight from the waxing and waning Moon – and this shifting radiance stimulates us in ways we aren’t fully aware of, new research suggests.

“Moonlight is so bright to the human eye that it is entirely reasonable to imagine that, in the absence of other sources of light, this source of nocturnal light could have had a role in modulating human nocturnal activity and sleep,” a team of researchers, led by senior author and neurobiologist Horacio de la Iglesia from the University of Washington, explain in a new study.

“However, whether the Moon cycle can modulate human nocturnal activity and sleep remains a matter of controversy.”

To investigate the mystery, the researchers fitted over 500 participants with wrist-based activity monitors, to track their sleep patterns, and conducted the experiment in vastly different locales.

Firstly, they involved 98 participants from the Toba-Qom people, an indigenous community living in the Formosa province of Argentina. Some of these rural participants in the experiment had no access to electricity, others had limited access in their homes, while a final contingent lived in an urban setting with full access to electricity.

 

In a separate experiment, the researchers tracked the sleep of 464 college students living in the Seattle area – a major, modernised city with all the electrified trappings of post-industrial society.

Tracking the participants’ sleep activity over the lunar month cycle, the researchers found the same kind of pattern could be seen in their sleep and waking, regardless of where the volunteers lived.

“We see a clear lunar modulation of sleep, with sleep decreasing and a later onset of sleep in the days preceding a full Moon,” de la Iglesia says.

“Although the effect is more robust in communities without access to electricity, the effect is present in communities with electricity, including undergraduates at the University of Washington.”

While there was some variance between the results, in general, the data showed that sleep tends to start later and overall lasts a shorter amount of time on the nights leading up to a full Moon, when moonlight provided by the waxing Moon is brighter in the hours following dusk.

While the sample size studied here is not especially large – and there’s certainly more research that could be done here to expand upon these results – that the same pattern was observed in two distinct populations living in separate countries, and with such varying levels of access to electricity between all the volunteers, does tell us some important things, the team says.

 

“Together, these results strongly suggest that human sleep is synchronised with lunar phases regardless of ethnic and sociocultural background, and of the level of urbanisation,” the researchers write in their paper.

As for what gives rise to these effects, the researchers contend that extended nocturnal activity stimulated by moonlight could be an evolutionary adaptation carried over from the time of pre-industrial human societies – with the ability to stay up and do more under a brilliant full Moon benefitting all kinds of traditional customs still enjoyed by peoples without electricity today.

“At certain times of the month, the Moon is a significant source of light in the evenings, and that would have been clearly evident to our ancestors thousands of years ago,” says first author and sleep biologist Leandro Casiraghi.

According to interviews with Toba/Qom individuals, moonlit nights are still known for high hunting and fishing activity, increased social events, and heightened sexual relations between men and women.

“Although the true adaptive value of human activity during moonlit nights remains to be determined, our data seem to show that humans – in a variety of environments – are more active and sleep less when moonlight is available during the early hours of the night,” the researchers explain.

“This finding, in turn, suggests that the effect of electric light on modern humans may have tapped into an ancestral regulatory role of moonlight on sleep.”

The findings are reported in Science Advances.

 

Read original article here

Science

The phases of the moon could affect your sleeping patterns, a study says

Leave a comment

As we head toward the first full moon of the year on Thursday night, take note: In the days leading up to a full moon, people go to bed later and sleep less, according to a study published in Science Advances on Wednesday.

On average, participants went to bed 30 minutes later and slept 50 minutes less on nights before a full moon, said study coauthor Horacio de la Iglesia, professor at the department of biology at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Researchers outfitted each participant with a sleep monitor on their wrist to track sleep schedules over the course of one to two lunar cycles. A lunar cycle takes 29.5 days to complete.

Ninety-eight people from three different Toba Indigenous communities, also known as the Qom people, in Argentina participated in the study.

The light from the moon after sunset is bright on the days leading up to a full moon, said study coauthor Leandro Casiraghi, postdoctoral scholar at the department of biology at the University of Washington.

“We believe this modulation aims to take advantage of such moonlit nights which may be good for safe outdoor activities such as hunting or fishing, or for engaging in social interactions with other groups,” Casiraghi said via email.

One community had no access to electricity, one had some access to electricity, and one had full access to electricity. Regardless of their electricity access, there was a strong pattern that showed they all went to bed later and slept less in the days leading up to a full moon.

In the urban community, participants went to bed even later and slept less than the participants in rural communities. Casiraghi said he was surprised that the urban community was affected because he hypothesized only people in the rural communities would be affected by the lunar phases.

“The fact that this modulation was present even in communities with full access to electric light suggests that these effects are mediated by something other than moonlight itself,” Casiraghi said.

After collecting sleep data from Toba/Qom communities, researchers compared their results with sleep data that was collected from 464 Seattle students for another study and found the same sleeping pattern.

People’s biology and a community’s social patterns might also play a role in the sleep cycle found in this study, said Dr. Vsevolod “Seva” Polotsky, director of Sleep Basic Research and a professor at Johns Hopkins Medical School, who was not involved in the study.

People’s sleep is controlled by our circadian rhythm, an internal clock that regulates sleep for about a 24-hour period, but some people could have longer internal clocks, Polotsky said.

A prime example of the human body regulating itself over a longer period of time is a woman’s menstrual cycle, he said, which is roughly a month long. Other mammals have seasonal sleep schedules and hibernate for months at a time, Polotsky noted.

Social calendars might also affect someone’s sleep schedules, he said, such as going to bed later or sleeping longer on weekends.

For people who have trouble going to sleep, de la Iglesia recommended avoiding bright lights and screens during the evening hours and being especially proactive before a full moon when “most people are predisposed (to) have a delayed sleep start and a shorter sleep.”

Read original article here

Science

What to know about the Moon rock in Biden’s Oval Office

Leave a comment

President Joe Biden hasn’t revealed much about his space policy priorities yet, but space fans can take heart that space is on his mind, thanks to an Apollo Moon rock that now decorates the Oval Office.

Why it matters: The Moon rock — loaned to the White House by NASA — is on display “in symbolic recognition of earlier generations’ ambitions and accomplishments, and support for America’s current Moon to Mars exploration approach,” according to a statement from NASA.

Background: The Moon rock was collected in 1972 by Apollo 17’s Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan, who “chipped this sample from a large boulder” while they were about 2 miles away from their Lunar Module, according to NASA.

  • The rock — which is about 3.9 billion years old — weighs in at a little less than 1 pound.
  • “The irregular sample surfaces contain tiny craters created as micrometeorite impacts have sand-blasted the rock over millions of years,” NASA said in the statement. “The flat, sawn sides were created in NASA’s Lunar Curation Laboratory when slices were cut for scientific research.”

The big picture: This rock is the second sample from the Moon loaned to the White House from NASA for long-term display, according to Robert Pearlman, space historian and editor of Collectspace.com.

  • In 1999, NASA loaned the White House a Moon rock from Apollo 11 in honor of the 30th anniversary of the landing when Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin visited then-President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office.
  • “The rock, at Clinton’s request, remained on display in the room until he left office in January 2001,” Pearlman wrote.

Read original article here

Science

A Methane Sea on Saturn’s Moon Titan Could Be Over 1,000 Feet Deep

Leave a comment

A false-color mosaic Titan’s polar regions. Kraken Mare is the dim splotch to the right of center.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/University of Idaho

Data gathered by NASA’s Cassini probe has allowed scientists to estimate the depth of Kraken Mare—the biggest methane sea on Saturn’s moon Titan.

New research published in the Journal of Geophysical Research is expanding our knowledge of Titan’s hydrocarbon seas, specifically Kraken Mare. This sea, approximately 600 miles (1,000 km) long, is larger than all five of North America’s Great Lakes combined and holds around 80% of the moon’s surface liquids. The seas on Titan contain lots of methane and ethane and are comparable to liquified natural gas on Earth.

Titan is the only moon in the solar system known to host an atmosphere. The thick, nitrogen-rich blanket that covers the moon hides a complex hydraulic system on the surface, but instead of liquid water, the rivers, lakes, and seas on Titan consist of oily black methane. Titan features other curiosities as well, such as gigantic dust storms, ice volcanoes, and enormous sand dunes.

As the new research shows, the deepest parts of Kraken Mare could be more than 1,000 feet (300 meters) deep. The team, led by Valerio Poggiali, a research associate at the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, can’t actually be sure of that figure, because the radar pings used to determine sea depth never actually reached the seafloor.

False-color image of Kraken Mare.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Agenzia Spaziale Italiana/USGS

G/O Media may get a commission

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017, and scientists have already studied some of the smaller seas on Titan using Cassini’s onboard altimeter. On August 21, 2014, Cassini flew to within 600 miles (970 km) of Titan’s surface and was able to send radar pings into Kraken Mare. Interestingly, this was the same flyby that resulted in the discovery of Ligeia Mare—a “magic” vanishing island on Titan.

Researchers at Cornell and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory devised a neat technique for determining the depth of Titan’s seas, which involves measuring differences between the time it takes radar to bounce back from the surface of the sea as opposed to the sea bottom. This technique helps to estimate sea depth, but the researchers have to make certain assumptions about the density of fluids on Titan and how quickly radio waves pass through them.

Using this technique, the team measured the depth of Moray Sinus, a northern estuary on Kraken Mare, which they found to be 280 feet (85 meters) deep. The absorption rate of the radar waves suggests the liquid in this part of the sea consists of 70% methane, 16% nitrogen, and 14% ethane. The scientists were expecting more methane than this due to the size and location of the sea, but this discovery suggests a more uniform distribution of chemicals across the moon’s various bodies of water.

Altimeter scans done across the main portion of Kraken Mare were less conclusive. As the authors write in the study, the NASA probe found “no evidence for signal returns from the sea floor, suggesting the liquid is either too deep or too absorptive for Cassini’s radio waves to penetrate.” That said, if the liquid in this part of the sea is similar in composition to the liquid found at Moray Sinus, then it must be deeper than 330 feet (100 meters) and possibly as deep as 1,000 feet (300 meters), according to the study.

Poggiali is hopeful that a robotic submarine might be sent to Titan one day to explore Kraken Mare or some other body of water. And in fact, he sees the new research as a step in that direction.

“Thanks to our measurements, scientists can now infer the density of the liquid with higher precision, and consequently better calibrate the sonar aboard the [future robotic submarine] and understand the sea’s directional flows,” explained Poggiali in a Cornell University statement.

A conceptual plan from 2015 showed how such a mission might look, but nothing has actually been approved in this regard. That said, NASA will be sending an aerial drone, called Dragonfly, to Titan, which should arrive at the moon at some point in the mid-2030s.

Read original article here

Science

MrBeast will literally send your message to the moon: How to enter

Leave a comment

After streamer AverageHarry was permanently banned because his account was created when he was under 13, Twitch viewers have pointed out that other streamers in a similar position have not faced the same consequences.

Twitch regularly faces scrutiny over their moderation decisions and bans for streamers, which often spark confusion over what exactly the rules allow.

The DMCA drama from October left many big streamers stripping their channels of content in fear of a takedown, and Twitch’s TOS policy change that restricted the use of words like ‘simp’ left streamers in fear of breaking the rules unintentionally.

15-year-old streamer AverageHarry was denied Twitch partnership earlier in January due to the fact that he made his account before the age of 13, after waiting 72 days for a response to his application.

While that was already a pretty tough blow, things were made worse when, on January 23, he was perma-banned. He clarified on Twitter that: “I am allowed to make another account, but I have just lost nearly 90k followers.”

But now Twitch users are noticing some inconsistencies in Twitch’s decision to ban Harry, as popular streamers, with millions of followers, also made their account when under 13 – but have not faced bans.

One user pointed out that hugely popular 16-year-old streamer TommyInnit had his account when he was only 11, but has not faced the same issues in terms of partner status and bans. The user called it “gross hypocrisy” from Twitch.

Tommyinnit’s Twitch account was made when he was 11 years old. Gross hypocrisy from Twitch or what? from r/LivestreamFail

Another commenter pointed out that several Fortnite streamers are all in a similar position, with some of them having likely started their accounts when they were under the age of 13. Streamer ONSCREEN highlighted a list of streamers with millions of followers, all of whom made accounts when younger than 13 – some as young as 10.

If Twitch followed through on bans for all of the streamers who made their account when they were below 13, even if they have since surpassed that age, it would certainly spell bad news for a lot of large communities on the site.

However, it is also possible that there are conditions within the Twitch TOS that are accounting for these discrepancies, meaning some streamers are still permitted to keep their account according to the rules, even if they made their account before the age of 13.

The reason for the 13-year-old age limit is linked to COPPA laws, which aim to protect young people online. In 2019, Google and YouTube had to pay a record $170 million to settle allegations of COPPA laws.

Harry revealed that he only signed up for Twitch two months before he turned 13, saying: “I spent 2 years and nearly 2000 hours streamed just for it to be taken away because I signed up 2 months early.”

Fans of Harry are now looking to Twitch for answers regarding the confusing situation.

AverageHarry makes new Twitch account

As he was allowed to do, AverageHarry has now made a new Twitch account, and asked for his fans to follow him there.

Within 24 hours of opening the account, he has already accrued 3,700 followers, and will be gunning to hit five figures soon. But, getting back to his original 90,000 will prove a challenge.



Read original article here

Science

Largest sea on Saturn’s mysterious moon Titan could be more than 1,000 feet deep

Leave a comment

NASA’s epic Cassini mission at Saturn is still generating valuable scientific data more than three years after its demise.

Data from one of the spacecraft’s last flybys of Titan, a large moon with the precursors of life’s chemistry, reveals that a huge lake on the surface called Kraken Mare is more than 1,000 feet ( 300 meters) deep — that’s roughly the equivalent of the height of New York City’s Chrysler Building. In fact, the lake is so deep that Cassini’s radar couldn’t probe all the way to the bottom.

Back in 2014, preliminary data from this flyby suggested that Kraken Mare was at least 115 feet (35 meters) deep but extend farther; the newly released results show the lake is nearly 10 times deeper than that early estimate.

Related: Dazzling views show Saturn moon Titan’s surface like never before

Understanding the depth and composition of Kraken Mare will gradually reveal more about Titan’s mysterious chemistry, dominated by ethane and methane that collects in pools, lakes and rivers on the surface, researchers said. The importance of the lake stems from Kraken Mare’s immense size; if placed on Earth, it would cover all five of the Great Lakes of North America.

“Kraken Mare … not only has a great name, but also contains about 80% of the moon’s surface liquids,” study lead author Valerio Poggiali, a research associate at the Cornell University Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, said in a university statement. 

While Titan’s chemistry is alien compared to Earth’s, the moon’s geography is reminiscent of swampy or lake-rich regions on our planet. Titan is also the only known moon in our solar system to boast a thick atmosphere — a gaseous nitrogen shroud, compared to Earth’s mostly nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere.

That sets Titan apart from the numerous moons in our solar system with tenuous exospheres or no atmosphere (like Earth’s moon) and from the potentially life-friendly “icy moons” where water ice covers an internal ocean — such as on Jupiter’s Europa or Saturn’s Enceladus, which both spout water through the ice into space.

Data on Kraken Mare was collected during Cassini’s 104th flyby of Titan on Aug. 21, 2014, about three years before engineers deliberately threw the aging spacecraft into Saturn to avoid the small chance of accidentally contaminating the moon’s surface. 

Kraken Mare was just one of the lakes on the mission’s survey list for that flyby. Researchers also wanted to look at Ligeia Mare — the site of a mysterious “magic island” that regularly appears and disappears — and a smaller estuary called Moray Sinus, which the researchers estimated to be 280 feet (85 m) deep, about the equivalent of the Statue of Liberty’s height. Cassini probed the moon’s surface with its radar altimeter from about 600 miles (965 kilometers) away. 

Scientists calculated sea depth by figuring out how long it took the radar signal to bounce back from the liquid surface and from the sea bottom, comparing the difference between these depths and taking into account the composition of the lakes’ liquid, which absorbs some of the radar signal’s energy. 

The composition of Kraken Mare surprised scientists, along with its depth. It contains a mix of methane and ethane, which differed from previous models suggesting ethane would prevail due to the lake’s size and geographical position farther from the moon’s poles. The unexpected chemistry in the lake could help scientists better understand the precipitation cycle on Titan, according to the researchers.

Scientists also hope to figure out from where the liquid methane on Titan originates. Titan receives about 100 times less energy from the sun than Earth, given it is roughly 10 times farther away.

With the feeble sunlight available, Titan converts methane in its atmosphere to ethane, but current models suggest that the moon should cycle through all of the methane on its surface in only 10 million years, a small fraction of the 4.5-billion-year lifetime of our solar system.

Engineers are working on a submarine concept that, if funded and approved by NASA, could launch in the 2030s to plumb Titan’s lakes. Poggiali said the newly analyzed data from Cassini could help engineers “better calibrate the sonar aboard the vessel and understand the sea’s directional flows.”

A study based on the research was published in December, in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. 

Read original article here

Science

Building Earth’s largest telescope on the far side of the moon

Leave a comment

NASA engineers are studying the feasibility of building a massive, kilometre-wide radio telescope on the moon that would dwarf anything we could build on Earth.

The telescope, which would be constructed by robots, would take the form of a huge, wire-mesh antenna in a dish shape that would hang suspended in a three-kilometre-wide crater on the far side of the moon. 

The Lunar Crater Radio Telescope would provide a unique perspective on the early universe, though it likely won’t be built for decades, according to NASA robotics engineer Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay, who is leading the project.

“We all want to know what happened. How did the universe evolve? What happened after the Big Bang?” Bandyopadhyay told Quirks & Quarks host Bob McDonald.

In the 14 billion years since that event, the light waves from that era have been stretched out from tiny fractions of a millimetre to more than 10 metres as the universe expanded. They’re now extremely long radio waves, and those can’t be seen on Earth “because the ionosphere absorbs it,” said Bandyopadhyay.

“So we want to go somewhere away from [Earth] so that we can get a picture of the Big Bang and evolution of the universe.”  

Telescope size presents challenges

The problem, however, is that in order to capture those wavelengths, not only does this telescope need to be on the moon, it needs to be very large, which makes it hard to build.

There are giant radio telescopes on Earth, which observe shorter radio wavelengths that do penetrate the atmosphere. The 300-metre-wide Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico — recently demolished in a catastrophic accident — or the 500-metre-wide FAST telescope in China represent significant engineering challenges.

Deployment of the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope would be done by robotic rovers, that would unfold the massive aluminum-mesh antenna. (Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay)

Standalone, self-supporting, dish-shaped radio telescopes can only get to a certain size, based on the strength of the materials they’re made from and the need to resist wind loads. To avoid these issues, the largest radio telescopes are built into natural features in the terrain. Arecibo and FAST, for example, were built in natural, dish-shaped sinkholes. 

Building such a telescope on the moon is, in one sense, easier. The lower gravity on the moon means a larger structure can be built with lighter materials. No atmosphere means no windstorms or other earthly environmental risks, though there are challenges from the moon’s harsh temperatures.  

According to Bandyopadhyay, the moon also has no shortage of appropriately shaped terrain structures in the form of ubiquitous impact craters. 

“These craters seem like natural places to put this dish-shaped telescope because the crater also looks like a bowl.”  

To find a crater candidate, Bandyopadhyay and his team combed over detailed pictures taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and discovered more than 80,000 suitable craters on the far side of the moon.

Origami-inspired transport and construction 

While the location would provide advantages, there are unique and significant challenges to building on the moon, in particular the harsh working conditions and the difficulty of transporting materials.  

The team studied a range of scenarios for how a telescope might be constructed and transported to the moon. The one they have arrived at is inspired by Japanese paper folding, said Bandyopadhyay.

“Origami is the art of folding paper into smaller and more interesting designs. But in space, origami is extensively used to take these large structures, like a large dish of one kilometre, and we can literally fold it multiple times and make it into a pretty small structure.”

The Lunar Crater Radio Telescope would be sensitive to frequencies that are blocked by Earth’s ionosphere, and would also be shielded from radio noise from Earth broadcasts. (Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay)

The antenna would be built on Earth in the form of a large, but extremely lightweight net-like structure made of conductive aluminum wire. It would be carefully folded into a package that would fit inside the nose cone of a large rocket, possibly the Space Launch System that NASA is currently developing.

Once launched, the antenna would be carried to the moon and land on the floor of the crater into which it would be installed. Then it would need to be deployed.  

“We will have these robots that will go down … to the lander and then pull lift wires that will connect to the lander sitting at the crater floor,” Bandyopadhyay said.

These lift wires would be anchored on the crater rim and as they are winched up, the antenna would unfold and deploy. Ultimately the net-like antenna would be suspended over the crater floor, looking a little like a dish-shaped spider web.  

The tension in the wires would be adjusted to result in the appropriate dish shape to receive radio signals from space and reflect them to a receiver.

All of this technology (the launch rocket possibly excepted) is available today, said Bandyopadhyay.  

The robots, for example, are currently being tested at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  

“These robots are called DuAxel, and they are actively being built at JPL for over a decade now. And these robots have the speciality that they can go down almost steep terrain like just cliff faces.”

For now, this is an early stage engineering feasibility study, rather than a fully developed mission proposal, but Bandyopadhyay suggests it would certainly be expensive and would be a very high-profile endeavour for NASA.  

“Cost is a big uncertainty right now. Right now, all I can say is we think this will be a flagship-class mission.”

Given that, it’s likely decades away, at least. 

“Space is hard,” said Bandyopadhyay. “I would be surprised if I could see this launched and deployed before I retired, and I’m a young scientist.”

Written and produced by Jim Lebans

Read original article here

Science

September new moon 2021: See Mercury and Venus in the moonless sky

Leave a comment

The new moon arrives on Monday (Sept. 6), and over the next two days makes a close pass to Mercury and then Venus. 

The moon is officially new at 8:52 p.m. EDT (0052 Sept. 7 GMT), according to NASA’s SkyCal. A new moon means the moon is directly between the sun and Earth, sharing the same celestial longitude — this is technically called a conjunction. (The term also applies to other celestial bodies, such as planets). 

The timing of the lunar phases depends on where the moon is relative to the Earth, so it occurs at the same time all over the world — the only differences being due to what time zone you are in. In Melbourne, Australia, for example, the new moon occurs at 10:52 a.m. on Sept. 7, and in London it is at 1:52 a.m. Sept. 7. 

Related: Best night sky events of September 2021 (stargazing maps)   

Orion GoScope II 70 Telescope Moon Kit: $89.99 at Amazon

If you know a youngster who can’t get enough of the moon, then they’ll be delighted with views through the Orion GoScope II. Revealing craters and seas up close, this little telescope comes with a carry case and moon map.View Deal

 A new moon is invisible from Earth unless there is a solar eclipse, when the moon passes in front of the sun. The moon’s orbit is tilted by about 5 degrees relative to the plane of the Earth’s orbit, which is why eclipses don’t happen every month. Most of the time the moon is offset from the sun (from the point of view of Earthbound observers). The next solar eclipse isn’t until Dec. 4, 2021.  

 Young moon meets Mercury  

Mercury and Venus will appear low in the western sky just after sunset on Sept. 5, 2021 ahead of September’s new moon. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

On Sept. 8 the moon is in conjunction with the planet Mercury, but the pairing will only be readily visible from southern latitudes. The moon will only be a day old and barely visible as a thin crescent after sunset. If you live in New York City, the sun sets at 7:15 p.m. on that day, according to Time and Date. At that time, Mercury will only be about 9 degrees above the horizon, according to the skywatching site Heavens Above. 

The conjunction of the moon and Mercury occurs at 4:18 p.m. local time in New York City, according to In-The-Sky.org — meaning that it is basically not visible due to the sun’s bright glare. However, if one lives at the latitude of Mexico City or San Juan, Puerto Rico, the situation improves. From Mexico City the conjunction happens at 3:18 p.m. local time, so it is still during the day, but as the sun sets at 7:44 p.m. Mercury will be 17 degrees above the western horizon, so as the sky gets darker, by about 8 p.m. Mexico City time, the pair will become visible. 

From the Southern Hemisphere the situation is even better: from Melbourne, Australia the conjunction occurs at 6:18 a.m local time on Sept. 9, which is well before either the moon or Mercury rises, but by sunset (which is at 6:05 p.m.) Mercury will be about 25 degrees in altitude just north of west. So some 15 minutes later the sky will be dark enough to see them both, setting at about 8:15 p.m. AEST. 

Spotting the moon so soon after the new phase is difficult, but doing so is still important for lunar calendars such as those used by observant Jews and Muslims. Be aware that pointing binoculars or a telescope to an object near the sun is very dangerous; the sun’s light is concentrated and can burn one’s retinas, even at sunset. Such damage is permanent. 

 Related: How to safely observe the sun (infographic) 

 The moon passes Venus 

Venus will shine near the bright star Spica on Sept. 5, 2021. Look for it in the western night sky. (Image credit: Starry Night)

The next conjunction will happen on Friday (Sept. 10), as the moon passes Venus. This one is much better placed for people in mid-northern latitudes. The actual conjunction happens at 1:17 a.m. EDT (0517 GMT), when both the moon and Venus are below the horizon, according to In-The-Sky.org, but they will still be quite close together in the sky that evening. Both will be in the constellation Virgo. Sunset that day is at 7:12 p.m. local time in New York City, and Venus will be about 16 degrees high in the Southwest. By about 7:30 p.m. the planet should be easy enough to see (Venus is one of the brightest objects in the sky) with the moon placed to its left and slightly above it. about 4 degrees away. 

As with the Mercury conjunction those farther south will have an easier time observing the event in the evening sky. Miami skywatchers will see the sun set at 7:30 p.m. Eastern and Venus will be 24 degrees above the horizon. In Cape Town, the conjunction occurs in the morning, at 7:17 a.m. local time, but at sunset, which is at 6:34 p.m, Venus is at 40 degrees above the west-northwestern horizon. By 6:49 p.m. when the sky is dark enough to begin seeing stars, Mercury, Spica (the brightest star in Virgo), Venus and the moon will form a rough line from the horizon going upwards and slightly to the right (north). 

The actual moment of the Venus conjunction will be visible from time zones east of Australia (or west of California); for example in Honolulu, Hawaii, the sun sets at 6:39 p.m. local time on Sept. 9, and the conjunction is 7:17 p.m. local time. At that point the moon and Venus will be about 19 degrees above the horizon. Both will set at about 8:47 p.m. local time. 

 Other planets 

On the night of Sept. 8 in mid-northern latitudes, Mars will only be a few degrees above the horizon at sunset; in New York City, for example, it will only be about 4 degrees high in the west when the sun sets at 7:19 p.m. local time, according to Heavens Above. The red planet will be more visible further south; in Buenos Aires it will be about 9 degrees in altitude at sunset (6.38 p.m. local time) — still challenging to spot. 

Jupiter and Saturn, by contrast, will be visible much of the night. For New Yorkers Saturn rises at 5:41 p.m. and Jupiter at 6:32 p.m. Eastern, so as the sky gets fully dark one will see them low in the southeast by about 9 p.m. with Saturn at about 27 degrees and Jupiter at 24 degrees. Jupiter and Saturn will be in the constellation Capricornus, with Saturn to the west (right) of Jupiter. In the Southern Hemisphere the two planets will be much higher in the sky; from Buenos Aires at 9 p.m. on Sept. 6 (local time) Saturn will be at about 67 degrees and Jupiter at 51 degrees above the horizon in the northeast.  

 Constellations 

 

September is when the autumn stars are rising as the nights get slightly longer in the Northern Hemisphere. Before midnight (about 9 p.m.), one can see the Summer Triangle (which consists of the stars Deneb, Altair and Vega) high in the east, with Sagittarius due south and just to the right of it, Scorpius — classic summer skies. 

By midnight the Summer Triangle has moved to the western half of the sky and looking due south is Capricornus, Aquarius and Pisces as one moves east (left). All three are fainter constellations, and difficult to see in brightly lit cities. The star Fomalhaut in Piscis Austrinus (the Southern Fish) is brighter; if one has a clear southern horizon it will be visible and you can use Jupiter to find it as it will be almost directly “below” the planet. 

Meanwhile, turning north, midnight means one can see the “Great Square” of Pegasus, the legendary winged horse, north of Pisces. The constellation Pegasus is brighter and usually just visible even from city locations. Only three of the four stars in the square are in Pegasus, though — the fourth is the head of Andromeda, who was saved by Perseus as he rode in on Pegasus. The star, called Alpheratz, will mark the left corner of the square at around midnight. Continuing north (left), one encounters Perseus, and then Auriga, the charioteer, rising in the eastern sky. 

In the Southern Hemisphere, by 9 p.m. on Sept. 6 the Southern Cross and Centaurus are high in the southwest. Continuing south, almost to the zenith at the latitude of Santiago, Chile, one will see Scorpius, “upside down” from the perspective of antipodeans. The Southern Fish is high in the east, and to its south (on the right) is Grus, the crane. The Crane is a “modern” constellation to Europeans, delineated based on 16th- and 17th-century observations of the southern sky by explorers, but the stars in it were familiar to Arab astronomers and the name for the brightest star, Alnair, is from Arabic. Surrounding Grus (clockwise from the bottom) are Sculptor (which is also next to the Southern Fish), Phoenix and Tucana, the toucan. 

Sculptor is faint but notable for containing the South Galactic Pole — looking in that direction means you are seeing out the “bottom” of the Milky Way galaxy. 

Phoenix is another faint constellation. Its brightest star, Ankaa, is magnitude 2.4 — roughly a tenth as bright as the star Vega — was part of a figure Arab astronomers called a dhow (a kind of boat). Tucana contains most of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. 

Editor’s Note: If you snap an amazing night sky picture and would like to share it with Space.com’s readers, send your photos, comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

You can follow Space.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. 
 



Read original article here