Latest news with #AmericanAstronomicalSociety
Washington Post
24-06-2025
- Science
- Washington Post
Astronomer Vera Rubin was captivated by the stars as a child in D.C.
The young mother stood before an imposing panel of scientists, nervous about leaving her newborn for the first time but determined to present her thesis about the astronomical center of creation. 'Then one by one many angry sounding men got up to tell me why I could not do 'that',' Vera C. Rubin wrote about the way she was treated by the American Astronomical Society at its December 1950 meeting.
Forbes
24-06-2025
- Science
- Forbes
Asteroid May Hit Satellites And Cause Spectacular Shooting Stars — What To Know
A potential asteroid strike on the moon calculated by NASA could also pose a significant risk to satellites orbiting Earth, according to new research. Scheduled for a possible collision on December 22, 2032, asteroid 2024 YR4's diameter is equivalent to a 10-story building and would cause a new crater on the moon, ejecting material into space that could threaten the entire satellite fleet orbiting Earth. It could also cause a brief but spectacular meteor shower visible from Earth. Asteroid 2024 YR4 is 174-220 feet (53-67 meters) in diameter and could impact the moon on December ... More 22, 2032. (This artist's impression not related to YR4) getty Dubbed a 'city killer' when it was initially thought to be heading towards Earth, asteroid 2024 YR4 is 174-220 feet (53-67 meters) in diameter and could impact the moon on December 22, 2032. In that scenario, it would release energy equivalent to 6.5 megatons of TNT, forming a crater roughly one kilometer in diameter, according to a new paper published on June 12 on the preprint platform and submitted to the journals of the American Astronomical Society. According to the authors at The University of Western Ontario and Athabasca University in Canada, up to 100 million kilograms of lunar material could be blasted into space, with debris potentially escaping the moon's gravity and heading toward Earth. Satellites in low Earth orbit — which accounts for about 90% of the global fleet — will be particularly at risk, with hundreds or even thousands of minor impacts across fleets like SpaceX's Starlink broadband internet constellation. That would happen within a few days of YR4 striking the moon. Tiny meteoroids are constantly striking satellites, and with ejecta from YR4's impact measuring only 0.1-10 mm in size, satellites wouldn't suffer catastrophic damage. However, the huge increase in tiny meteoroids could be equivalent to a decade's worth, rapidly aging the entire satellite fleet. Debris could linger in Earth's orbit for months to years, creating ongoing threats to long-duration missions, such as the James Webb Space Telescope. However, its current position at L2 — a million miles from Earth — minimizes that danger. While ejecta from a lunar asteroid strike could be damaging to satellites, it would burn up in Earth's atmosphere, so it won't directly threaten Earth. However, it may create a brief but spectacular meteor shower. There is currently a 4.3% chance of YR4 striking the moon, according to calculations based on observations by the James Webb Space Telescope in May, according to a post from NASA. That's an increase from 3.8% from data gathered in March. It's predicted to strike the Southern Hemisphere of the moon's near-side. That means it will be visible from Earth in telescopes. However, exactly where it will strike remains uncertain until the asteroid becomes visible again in 2028 when its orbit next brings it relatively close to Earth. The authors recommend a planetary defense mission to change the orbit of YR4. Danger On The Moon Although satellites would be threatened, the biggest dangers lie on the moon and in its orbit. An asteroid strike would cause ejecta to impact a wide area of the lunar surface, potentially threatening astronauts or a potential lunar base. Spacecraft operating on the moon would also be in danger. They currently include NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, while NASA's planned Lunar Gateway could be in orbit by 2032. On Wednesday, Firefly Aerospace announced plans to launch a new lunar imaging service called Ocula using its Elytra spacecraft, ostensibly to help commercial companies identify mineral deposits on the moon's surface and map future landing sites. Yr4's 'spectacular' Meteor Shower About 10% of the ejecta produced by the asteroid striking the moon would be propelled into space, potentially causing a meteor shower that "could last a few days and be spectacular, though the number of visible meteors somewhat muted by the low entry speed of ejecta," reads the paper. Any YR4 meteor shower would come just eight days after the peak of the Geminids, one of the very few annual displays caused by debris from an asteroid rather than a comet. Peaking on December 13-14 each year when up to 12 "shooting stars" can be seen, the Geminids are the result of asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which orbits the sun every 1.4 Earth years. Forbes NASA's Webb Telescope To Study Asteroid 2024 YR4 As Impact Risk Rises By Jamie Carter Forbes 'City Killer' Asteroid Suddenly Declared Safe — What To Know By Jamie Carter Forbes What Happens If Asteroid 2024 YR4 Strikes Earth — And Why We Can't 'Nuke' It By Jamie Carter
New York Times
22-06-2025
- Science
- New York Times
Vera Rubin's Legacy Lives On in a Troubled Scientific Landscape
In January, the American Astronomical Society hosted a panel to discuss how the Vera C. Rubin Observatory would transform scientific studies of dark matter, dark energy and the faintest corners of the cosmos. All six panelists, each holding a leadership role related to the observatory, were women. The message, intentional or not, was clear: The legacy of the astronomer Vera C. Rubin, for whom the observatory was named, was not just the way her work revolutionized scientists' understanding of the universe. It was also the way Dr. Rubin charted a path for women and other historically underrepresented groups in science to do the same. 'The universe is universal,' Sandrine Thomas, the deputy director of construction at the observatory, said at the panel. The telescope is now poised to begin the widest, deepest scan of the southern sky in an altered political climate, one in which American science is facing sharp cuts to funding, research project cancellations and rollbacks of programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion, or D.E.I. Astronomers worry about what that means for the future of the observatory, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation and was renamed in 2019 near the end of the first Trump administration for Dr. Rubin. 'She was the ultimate role model for women in astronomy in the generation after her,' said Jacqueline Mitton, an astronomer based in England and an author of a biography of Dr. Rubin. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA raises chance for asteroid to hit the moon
June 19 (UPI) -- NASA has announced that an asteroid about 200 feet in diameter is now slightly more likely to crash into the moon. According to the newest data collected, NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has refined the expected course for Asteroid 2024 YR4 and has given it an increased 4.3% probability of striking the moon on Dec. 22, 2032. The original likelihood was at 3.8% probability. The space rock is too far off in space to be detected with ground telescopes, but the James Webb Space Telescope, which orbits the sun, was able to take a new look at the space rock earlier this month before it was obscured from view. It was that opportunity that provided the data that led to the changed forecast. Due to YR4's solar orbit, NASA won't be able to view it again until it comes back around the sun in 2028. According to a research paper submitted to the American Astronomical Society journals and published Monday, should the asteroid hit the moon, it could cause a crater as large as around 3,200 feet and release 6.5 megatons of energy. As much as 220 million pounds of lunar material could be released by such an impact, and then as much as 10% of that ejecta could fall to Earth a few days later, so "meteorites are unlikely, though not impossible" according to the paper, but it would create an "eye-catching" meteor shower. However, any moon bits that do come toward the Earth also could increase the meteoroid impact exposure faced by satellites in near-Earth orbit for as long as a decade.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Tiny galaxies may have helped our universe out of its dark ages, JWST finds
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Evidence continues to assemble that dwarf galaxies played a larger role in shaping the early universe than previously thought. Astronomers analyzing data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have uncovered a population of tiny, energetic galaxies that may have been key players in clearing the cosmic fog that shrouded the universe after the Big Bang. "You don't necessarily need to look for more exotic features," Isak Wold, an assistant research scientist at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., told reporters during the 246th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Alaska. "These tiny but numerous galaxies could produce all the light needed for reionization." About 380,000 years after the Big Bang, the universe cooled enough for charged particles to combine into neutral hydrogen atoms, creating a thick, light-absorbing fog, an era known as the cosmic dark ages. It wasn't until several hundred million years later, with the birth of the first stars and galaxies, that intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation began reionizing this primordial hydrogen. That process gradually cleared the dense fog, allowing starlight to travel freely through space and illuminating the cosmos for the first time. For decades, astronomers have debated what triggered this dramatic transformation. The leading candidates included massive galaxies, quasars powered by black holes, and small, low-mass galaxies. New data from the JWST now points strongly to the smallest contenders, suggesting these tiny galaxies acted like cosmic flashlights lighting up the early universe. To identify these early galaxies, Wold and his colleagues focused on a massive galaxy cluster called Abell 2744, or Pandora's Cluster, located about 4 billion light-years away in the constellation Sculptor. The immense gravity of this cluster acts as a natural magnifying glass, bending and amplifying light coming from much more distant, ancient galaxies behind it. Tapping into this quirk of nature, combined with the JWST's powerful instruments, the researchers peered nearly 13 billion years back in time. Using the JWST's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), the team searched for a specific green emission line from doubly ionized oxygen, a hallmark of intense star formation. This light was originally emitted in the visible range but was stretched into the infrared as it traveled through the expanding universe, according to a NASA statement. The search yielded 83 tiny, starburst galaxies, all vigorously forming stars when the universe was just 800 million years old, around 6% of its current age. "Our analysis [...] shows they existed in sufficient numbers and packed enough ultraviolet power to drive this cosmic renovation," Wold said in the statement. Today, similar primitive galaxies, such as so-called "green pea" galaxies, are rare but known to release roughly 25% of their ionizing UV radiation into surrounding space. If early galaxies functioned in the same way, Wold said, they would have generated enough light to reionize the hydrogen fog and make the universe transparent. "When it comes to producing ultraviolet light, these small galaxies punch well above their weight," he said in the statement.
