Falling through the Solar System at an astonishing 635,266 kilometers (394,736 miles) per hour, NASA's Parker Solar Probe has just smashed the record for fastest object ever to be created by human hands.

Mars Guy is Arizona State University associate research professor Dr. Steve Ruff, a Mars geologist with decades of experience exploring the red planet. This channel follows the exploration of Jezero crater by the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter, presenting science, engineering, and the search for life on Mars using a novel in-person experience.

This project was initiated in part with collaboration from the NASA Infiniscope project.

https://search.asu.edu/profile/224420

Steve Ruff is a planetary geologist with a focus on the mineralogy of Mars determined via infrared spectroscopy, part of an effort to understand its geologic history and potential for past habitability. Through field work in Mars analog settings and laboratory work using field samples, he seeks to better interpret observations from Mars.

See Mars from the rovers point of view.

The annular solar eclipse will be visible across North, Central, and South America on October 14. It’s the last one for the U.S. until 2039.

Archive

https://archive.is/P1i4e

Jupiter-sized "planets" free-floating in space, unconnected to any star, have been spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Dozens of planet-sized objects have been discovered in the Orion Nebula via observations that could herald the existence of a new astronomical category.

The free-floating entities, which have been named Jupiter-mass binary objects, or Jumbos, appear in spectacular images taken by the James Webb space telescope. The objects are too small to be stars, but also defy the conventional definition of a planet because they are not in orbit around a parent star.

The discovery also appears to confound existing theories of star and planetary formation, which suggest it should not be possible to form Jupiter-sized objects through the process that gives rise to stars inside the clouds of dust and gas found in a nebula.

Archive

https://archive.ph/damSx

Instead, the NSF announced this week they have chosen four institutions to transition the site from its historic hub of astronomical research to a STEM educational outreach center, with a seeming focus on biology. A biomedical laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York along with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) and the University of the Sacred Heart, both in San Juan will oversee the new education center.

Planetary astronomer and native Puerto Rican and Edgard Rivera-Valentín told us last year that he was heart-broken by the decision.

“Arecibo’s role in inspiring generations of Puerto Ricans centered on the fact that we had a world-class facility doing cutting-edge science in our home,” said Rivera-Valentín. “When I had the privilege of working at the observatory, as the first Arecibeño scientist to do so, I saw how it continued to serve that important role. But it did so because we were doing great science with the telescope. It did so because scientists at the observatory could be mentors and role models to students. Without the telescope, without the scientists, I don’t personally see how going to the visitor center won’t be like going to a memorial.”

NSF says the STEM education research and skill building will include school field trips and summer camps, professional development in education and data science, interactive exhibits, and public science programs and areas for conferences, workshops, and meetings. The center’s new director, astronomer Wanda Díaz-Merced, has said there will be an exhibit about the historical importance of Arecibo’s astronomy research.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/5990279

Welcome to the Soyuz MS-23 Return Thread!

Welcome everyone!

| Undocking scheduled for (UTC) | 2023-09-27 07:55 | |

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| Landing scheduled for (UTC) | 2023-09-27 11:17 | | Vehicle | Soyuz MS-23 | | Landing site | Kazakh Steppe, Kazakhstan | | Commander | Sergey Prokopyev 🇷🇺| | Flight Engineer 1 | Dmitry Petelin 🇷🇺| | Flight Engineer 2 | Francisco Rubio 🇺🇸| | Mission success criteria | Safe return of crew and cargo to Earth |

The crew of MS-23 actually launched on MS-22, but did not return on the vehicle as it was deemed unsafe following the cooling loop incident, so MS-23 was launched uncrewed as a replacement. The delay in return has resulted in Francisco Rubio becoming the first American to spend a full year or more in space, breaking Mark T. Vande Hei's record for the longest spaceflight by an American astronaut.

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

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| NASA TV | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21X5lGlDOfg | | NASA Landing | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAv2sKblPRc | | Roscosmos Hatch Closing | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpVIYTAl2RI | | Roscosmos Undocking | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q55TZRjpOyQ | | Roscosmos Landing | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGuSG76-n8U |

Mission Details 🚀

NASA blog posts and press releases:

• Record-Setting NASA Astronaut Soon Returns to Earth
• Change of Station Command as Three Crew Members Prepare to Depart Early Wednesday
• NASA TV Live With Crew Farewell and Hatch Closure

Please feel free to post updates and questions in the comments!

https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_956.html

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasawebbtelescope/53151475103/in/album-72177720305127361/

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/5770334

Welcome everyone!

About OSIRIS-REx

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, the first U.S. mission to collect a sample from an asteroid, will return to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023, with material from asteroid Bennu. When it arrives, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will release the sample capsule for a safe landing in the Utah desert. The pristine material from Bennu – rocks and dust collected from the asteroid’s surface in 2020 – will offer generations of scientists a window into the time when the Sun and planets were forming about 4.5 billion years ago. NASA’s live coverage of the OSIRIS-REx sample capsule landing starts at 10 a.m. EDT (8 a.m. MDT).

Webcasts:

• Official 4k NASA broadcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdwyqctp908
• The Launch Pad (countdown clock): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sos8lTVmtNo

Other resources:

• NASA FAQ
• Ars Technica article
• SpaceNews article
• CBC article

Please feel free to post updates and questions in the comments!

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed homemade carbon dioxide on Jupiter's icy moon Europa, raising the possibility that the frigid waterworld could host life.

The new detection by JWST is intriguing because the carbon dioxide does not seem to have been carried by a meteorite or asteroid, and it appears in a geologically young region of the moon called Tara Regio, suggesting the gas may have formed within the moon itself.