M Thomas Apple Author Page

Science fiction, actual science, history, and personal ranting about life, the universe, and everything

New (possibly) interstellar comet on a one-way trip…

August 24, 2023
MThomas

Comet Nishimura’s orbit means that this is likely its first and final trip through the inner solar system. It is possible that the comet originated outside our star system, which would make it the third known interstellar object ever detected, following ‘Oumuamua — which some astronomers speculatively suggested was an alien spacecraft — and Comet 2I/Borisov. 

https://www.livescience.com/space/comets/new-potentially-interstellar-comet-will-be-visible-to-the-naked-eye-next-month-before-leaving-our-solar-system-forever

Discovered just two weeks ago by an amateur Japanese astronomer (after whom the comet is now named), the comet Nishimura will approach Earth at its closest on September 13th. But it will be at its brightest about five days later as it approaches the Sun.

Its fate?

Astronomers don’t know when the possible interstellar interloper will depart the solar system. However, it is also possible that the intense force of the comet’s solar slingshot will rip its solid nucleus apart, according to NASA. 

Also, its nucleus gives off a “green glow,” which is the result of sunlight breaking apart dicarbon, or diatomic carbon. So getcher geek on, chemical lab rats!

Chandrayaan-3 successfully lands on the Moon!

August 24, 2023
MThomas

Taken just prior to landing…the “image” shown of it actually landing was not real but a simulation.

India and Russia had been locked in a race to the lunar south pole. The Luna-25 spacecraft that crashed was the first moon-landing spacecraft launched by Russia’s space agency in almost five decades. Roscosmos officials said Sunday they lost contact with the lander after it fired its engines in preparation for a descent to the surface.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/india-chandrayaan-3-landing-moon-south-pole-rcna101296

It wasn’t much of a “race,” tbh. India had been planning this for years, while Russia randomly launched a craft that had virtually no chance of succeeding.

Congratulations, ISRO! You should have some company over the next couple of years. Here’s hoping that international cooperation and not competition will lead humanity to permanent settlements on the Moon. Mars, and beyond…

Supermassive black hole found spitting a giant, high-energy jet toward Earth

August 14, 2023
MThomas

A NASA mission has observed a supermassive black hole pointing its highly energetic jet straight toward Earth. Don’t panic just yet, though. As fearsome as this cosmic event  is, it’s located at a very safe distance of about 400 million light-years away.

https://www.livescience.com/space/black-holes/supermassive-black-hole-found-spitting-a-giant-high-energy-jet-toward-earth

Gee. So reassuring.

FWIW I had never heard the term “blazar” before reading the linked article.

Sounded like a cross between Happy Days and late 1970s Japanese anime.

And it just so happens there’s a new Ultraman Blazar “live action” on Japanese TV from this past July…

Seriously. It’s called Ultraman Blazar. Honestly, I can’t make this stuff up… (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27560594/)

“Cosmic unicorn”! Two planets in the same orbit?

August 13, 2023
MThomas

The two planets are in circles that kind of look like, er….let’s just call the whole thing a cosmic donut (the outer “halo” is the protoplanetary disc of gas and dust from which planets eventually coalesce).

We already know that more than one object can share the same orbit; Jupiter has a collection of 120,000 asteroids following its same path around the Sun, for example. Earth has one, too. But although it’s theoretically possible, astronomers have never discovered two whole planets sharing the same orbit around a star before.

https://www.inverse.com/science/astronomers-discover-cosmic-unicorn-two-planets-on-the-same-orbit

Hmm…the language here is a bit misleading. The two objects are technically not both “planets.”

The article comments later on that the object in the dotted line circle is “a cloud of debris about twice the mass of our Moon trailing a bit behind the innermost gas giant” in one of its LaGrange points (where “Trojan” asteroids follow gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn). So it’s way too early to say that “two” planets formed in the same orbit.

Still, this is the first time that astronomers have spotted two such objects this close to one another in the same orbit. Who knows if both will remain viable (the debris cloud could become partly or mostly absorbed by the gas giant with the rest either being expelled or thrust into separate orbits).

So why is this called a “cosmic unicorn”?

Apparently because although such Trojans “are allowed to exist by theory, but no one has ever detected them.”

Um. OK.

So, like, totally NOT at all like this? Kind of a bummer, really…

Why Mars Shivers: The Explanation Behind Marsquakes

May 31, 2023
MThomas

The post Why Mars Shivers: The Explanation Behind Marsquakes first appeared May 30, 2023 on Science Recent – Your Daily Science Source.The human …

Why Mars Shivers: The Explanation Behind Marsquakes

Something else for future potential Mars settlements to consider….

Another day, another JAXA failure

April 12, 2023
MThomas

The bankruptcy filing by Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc (VORB.O) has dealt a blow to Japan’s hopes of building a domestic space industry, with plans for a Kyushu-based spaceport designed to attract tourism on hold for lack of funding.

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/virgin-orbit-bankruptcy-casts-shadow-over-japans-space-dreams-2023-04-07/

Granted, this news is from four or five days ago.

Still, it’s jarring to see TV news about JAXA and NASA doing “joint” explorations of Mars, and then see a constant failure of JAXA to do anything based in Japan.

Something is seriously wrong with this space agency. And I suspect it has nothing to do with the scientists or astronauts.

Another day, another rocket failure…

March 10, 2023
MThomas

With just over a minute to go before liftoff, a California aerospace startup opted to stand down from launching the world’s first 3D-printed rocket on its inaugural test flight.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/worlds-first-3d-printed-rocket-set-make-inaugural-flight-rcna73868

At least unlike the spectacular self-destruction of JAXA’s H3 this past Tuesday (Monday, Japan time), the team testing the California rocket wisely decided that it’s not a bright idea to stick a billion dollar satellite on an untested rocket. Repeatedly.

I’m beginning to feel that using 3D printed parts may not be the way to go with rocket engines…

Just another week on the ISS…

February 26, 2023
MThomas

Until the new Soyuz pulls up, emergency plans call for Rubio to switch to a SpaceX crew capsule that’s docked at the space station. Prokopyev and Petelin remain assigned to their damaged Soyuz in the unlikely need for a fast getaway. Having one less person on board would keep the temperature down to a hopefully manageable level, Russian engineers concluded.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/russia-launches-rescue-ship-space-station-leaks-rcna72161

Russian space agency Roscosmos concluded that the leak in the docked Soyuz capsule was from a micrometeorite impact.

They also reversed the previous decision last year to abandon the ISS. Now Russia will still send cosmonauts through 2028.

A positive step in a brutal political climate. International space projects should include more, not fewer, countries. Space is for everyone.

JAXA failure. Here we (don’t) go again.

February 18, 2023
MThomas

At liftoff time, smoke was seen rising from the bottom of the rocket, indicating the ignition of the main engine. However, the rocket did not rise from the launchpad. 

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Aerospace-Defense-Industries/Japan-s-H3-rocket-launch-aborted-after-booster-fails-to-ignite

Not a great start to the year, JAXA. This, on top of the Episilon failure (zero, zero…DESTRUCT…zero…)

Rich people don’t even see money. All they know is…

February 9, 2023
MThomas

Lots and lots and lots of new rockets in development now.

And the most well-known of the newbies is…

(Click here for a closer look at a rich man’s dream rocket.)

Also, see this one (pay wall, Washington Post) about NASA and DARPA working on one to reach Mars much faster to reduce astronauts’ exposure to radiation.

I still think “durp” every time I see that acronym 😝

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