Voyager | M Thomas Apple Author Page

New study of moons of Uranus suggests life

November 14, 2024
MThomas

Note: this is artwork and not an actual image

The planet Uranus and its five biggest moons may not be the dead sterile worlds that scientists have long thought.

Instead, they may have oceans, and the moons may even be capable of supporting life, scientists say.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgk1333k0ypo

Cue the jokes in five…four…three…

“So, you mean there really is life in…ah…”

Note that this is not from new data. It’s a re-analysis of what Voyager 2 sent back decades ago. Basically, it just had a bad day, with magnetic storms screwing up the scan.

Still…

There could be moons there that could have the conditions that are necessary for life, they might have oceans that below the surface that could be teeming with fish!

I think this is a bit of an exaggeration…

Well, hello, Voyager 1! The venerable spacecraft is once again making sense

April 23, 2024
MThomas

NASA says it is once again able to get meaningful information back from the Voyager 1 probe, after months of troubleshooting a glitch that had this venerable spacecraft sending home messages that made no sense.
https://www.npr.org/2024/04/23/1246392066/nasa-voyager-1-spacecraft-talks-back

Hmm. Just a short while ago, Voyager’s days were numbered.

I guess these things were built to last… (also built when NASA got a lot more funding…)

Bringer of Light: Locations video

March 15, 2024
MThomas

This time I figured out how to import the slides directly into mmHmm, and I managed to update my MacOS to Sonoma, which allowed me to use my USB mic (yay). But I also called Ceres a “moon” at some point (it’s not a Moon but a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt near Mars). Oops. Not enough time to edit that bit out or record it again, so just word to the wise! Always fact-check videos, folks. Enjoy!

Micro-Voyager goes where none have gone before…

November 8, 2020
MThomas

“By studying synthetic microswimmers, we would like to understand biological microswimmers,” Samia Ouhajji, one of the study’s authors, told CNN. “This understanding could aid in developing new drug delivery vehicles; for example, microrobots that swim autonomously and deliver drugs at the desired location in the human body.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/08/us/star-trek-3d-microscopic-spaceship-scn-trnd/index.html

Another once-science fiction concept turned reality…

…until the next fantastic voyage(r)?

“Weird space” beyond the heliosphere

October 3, 2020
MThomas

“When you look at different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, that area of space is very different from the blackness we perceive with our eyes,” says Michele Bannister, an astronomer at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, who studies the outer reaches of the Solar System. “Magnetic fields are fighting and pushing and tied up with each other. The image you should have is like the plunge pool under Niagara Falls.”

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200908-the-weird-space-that-lies-outside-our-solar-system?ocid=ww.social.link.email

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