Space

It has shone down upon the dinosaurs, inspired the greatest poets, and been explored by intrepid astronauts. But despite its enduring presence, quite when the moon came into being has remained a matter of debate. Now researchers say they have the answer, revealing the Earth’s satellite is 40m years older than previously thought.

Scientists made their discovery by studying crystals within lunar dust that was brought back in 1972 as part of the Apollo 17 mission – the last time astronauts set foot on the moon.

Engineers for NASA’s Voyager mission are taking steps to help make sure both spacecraft, launched in 1977, continue to explore interstellar space for years to come.

One effort addresses fuel residue that seems to be accumulating inside narrow tubes in some of the thrusters on the spacecraft. The thrusters are used to keep each spacecraft’s antenna pointed at Earth. This type of buildup has been observed in a handful of other spacecraft.

The team is also uploading a software patch to prevent the recurrence of a glitch that arose on Voyager 1 last year. Engineers resolved the glitch, and the patch is intended to prevent the issue from occurring again in Voyager 1 or arising in its twin, Voyager 2.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/6550992

[email protected] is looking for moderators!

As the number of launches ramps up and this sublemmy grows, we are looking to add a couple more people to the mod team.

Mandatory qualifications:

• Enthusiasm for spaceflight!
• Ideas for utilizing and growing this sublemmy!

Non-mandatory qualifications:

• Previous experience with moderating discussion forums or similar
• Knowledge of Lemmy markdown
• Time zones: If you live in or are active during an unusual time zone, you could be a valuable asset to the moderation team
• Coding and automation skills

Major duties:

• Creating launch and event discussion threads from a templates
• Posting small updates during launches and other notable events

Minor duties:

• Removing spam
• Dealing with trolls (not a huge issue so far)

Please apply in the comments below or by private message (@[email protected]) if you prefer.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/7595230

Splashdown of Gaganyaan TV-D1!

Launch thread here: https://sh.itjust.works/post/7587373

T-45 minutes until the launch of the Gaganyaan TV-D1 In-flight Abort Test!

Launch thread for the mission has been posted over on c/spaceflight: https://sh.itjust.works/post/7587373

I will be posting updates there. Come and join us in that thread!

SpaceBorn United wants to conduct an IVF experiment in Earth’s orbit to pave the way for long-term space missions.

Astronomers have discovered the most ancient "heartbeat" radio signal, and they want to use it to find the missing half of the universe's matter.

The mysterious signal — a fast radio burst called FRB 20220610A — was found 8 billion years into the universe's past, its light rhythmically pulsing from the heart of three merging galaxies.

As the fast radio burst (FRB) is 1.5 times more ancient and distant than the previous record holder, its light could be used to find an approximate weight to the universe — and perhaps to figure out where half of its matter went, astronomers say. The researchers published their findings Oct. 19 in the journal Nature.

Modern astronomy holds that all major galaxies (with the Milky Way as no exception) are the accumulation of numerous small mergers. Thus, it should be expected that some of the globular clusters that are now part of our galaxy are likely inherited from other galaxies which have been cannibalized by the Milky Way, or even stolen from intact companion galaxies such as the Magellanic Clouds.

Associations between these clusters and the various progenitors began in the 1990s, but recent research is beginning to paint a more comprehensive picture on exactly what percentage of our globular clusters were stolen, and precisely which ones.

The James Webb Space Telescope and other galactic surveys have confirmed there's a stellar "fountain of youth" birthing new stars near the Milky Way's central black hole, where they shouldn't be able to exist.

Near the galaxy's supermassive black hole, strong radiation and gravitational forces create extremely inhospitable conditions for new star formation.

However, for decades now, astronomers have seen young stars near the galactic center, defying all their predictions. A particular cluster of young stars, known as IRS13, was discovered over 20 years ago. By combining data from many different telescopes, astronomers confirmed the stars in IRS13 are only about 100,000 years old, cosmic newborns compared to Earth's sun (4.6 billion years old), let alone the Milky Way itself (13.6 billion years old).

The elusive Planet Nine, which is theorized to be lurking somewhere in the outer reaches of the solar system, may not be a planet after all, a new study suggests. Instead, what we assumed to be a massive object could be evidence that gravity doesn't work like we thought it does. But the new theory doesn't sit well with everyone.

The Planet Nine hypothesis, first proposed in 2016, argues that the unusual orbits of objects in the Kuiper Belt beyond Neptune, which seem to be being pulled away from the sun, can be explained by the presence of an undiscovered ninth planet up to 10 times more massive than Earth. Astronomers have been looking for Planet Nine ever since. However, despite searching almost half of the night sky, they have so far come up empty-handed.

In the new study, published Sept. 22 in The Astronomical Journal, researchers proposed another explanation for the gravitational anomalies observed in the outer solar system — that there aren't any anomalies. Instead, the team shows that the inconsistencies disappear completely when applying an alternative concept of gravity known as modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND).

It's this Saturday. It's going to cut through the US, part of Central America, and South America.

T-100 minutes until the launch of the Psyche mission! Weather is currently looking good.

Launch thread for the Psyche mission has been posted over on c/SpaceX: https://sh.itjust.works/post/7094389

I will be posting updates there. Come and join us in that thread!