First look: Rubin Observatory's images reveal universe like never before
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory released its first images, showcasing millions of galaxies. The images are also expected to reveal thousands of previously unknown space objects.
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Earth's satellites at risk if asteroid smashes into Moon: study
If a huge asteroid smashes into the Moon in 2032, the gigantic explosion would send debris streaming towards Earth that would threaten satellites and create a spectacular meteor shower, according to researchers. Earlier this year there were briefly fears that the 60-metre-wide (200-foot-wide) asteroid called 2024 YR4, which is big enough to level a city, would strike Earth on December 22, 2032. It was given the highest chance -- 3.1 percent -- of hitting our home planet that scientists have ever measured for such a giant space rock. Subsequent observations from telescopes definitively ruled out a direct hit on Earth. However, the odds that it will crash into the Moon have risen to 4.3 percent, according to data from the James Webb space telescope in May. A new preprint study, which has not been peer-reviewed, is the first to estimate how such a collision could affect Earth. It would be the largest asteroid to hit the Moon in around 5,000 years, lead study author Paul Wiegert of Canada's University of Western Ontario told AFP. The impact would be "comparable to a large nuclear explosion in terms of the amount of energy released", he added. Up to 100 million kilograms (220 million pounds) of material would shoot out from the Moon's surface, according to a series of simulations run by the researchers. If the asteroid hit the side of the Moon facing Earth -- which is roughly a 50-percent chance -- up to 10 percent of this debris could be pulled in by Earth's gravity over the following days, they said. - 'Like a bullet' - Earth's atmosphere would protect the surface from the millimetre- to centimetre-sized lunar rocks, Weigert said. 0.04-2.54 But these meteors could be capable of destroying some satellites -- and there are expected to be a lot more of those orbiting the planet by 2032. "A centimetre-sized rock travelling at tens of thousands of metres per second is a lot like a bullet," Wiegert said. In the days after the impact, there could be more than 1,000 times the normal number of meteors threatening Earth's satellites, he added. Meanwhile, those of us on the ground would be treated to a "spectacular" meteor shower lighting up the night sky, the study said. But the current odds of a direct hit on the near side of the Moon remain at just two percent, Wiegert emphasised. The asteroid is not expected to be visible again until 2028, so the world will have to wait to find out more. If a direct hit is eventually found to be likely, humanity probably has enough time to plan a mission to spare the Moon. "I'm sure it will be considered," Wiegert said. The asteroid is half as wide and has 10 percent of the mass of Dimorphos, which NASA's DART mission smashed into in 2022, successfully changing its trajectory. If 2024 YR4 is on a collision course with the Moon, it would be "a good target" for another test of our planetary defences, Wiegert said. But if not, trying to deflect something zooming so close to Earth could be a little "dangerous", he added. The preprint study, which published on the arXiv database last week, has been submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters. dl/gil
Yahoo
2 hours ago
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The largest digital camera ever built has released its first glamour shots of the universe
NEW YORK (AP) — The largest digital camera ever built released its first glamour shots of the universe Monday — including colorful nebulas, stars and galaxies. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located on a mountaintop in Chile, was built to take a deeper look at the night sky, covering hidden corners. Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy, it will survey the southern sky for the next 10 years. The observatory's first look features the vibrant Trifid and Lagoon nebulas located thousands of light-years from Earth. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles. A gaggle of galaxies known as the Virgo Cluster were also captured, including two bright blue spirals. The observatory hopes to image 20 billion galaxies and discover new asteroids and other celestial objects. The effort is named after astronomer Vera Rubin, who offered the first tantalizing evidence that a mysterious force called dark matter might be lurking in the universe. Researchers hope the observatory's discerning camera may yield clues about this elusive entity along with another called dark energy. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
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First celestial images from 10-year project photographing the universe released
WASHINGTON – Like the first brush strokes on a massive canvas, the first images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile are a glimpse at the larger picture of our universe to come. The $571-million National Science Foundation and Department of Energy facility on top of the summit of Cerro Pachon will create the largest astronomical movie yet of the Southern Hemisphere over 10 years, known as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). On Monday, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory revealed its first images of the universe, taken over a period of hours, showcasing the incredible detailed imagery and scale the new facility is capable of. More images and video from these first-look images will be revealed at 11:30 a.m. ET during a live event in Washington. A high-definition stream will be shared live on YouTube here. Aaron Roodman, of Stanford University SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, leader of the LSST camera team, said they chose areas of sky that would be "interesting" for these first images, but it almost didn't matter where they looked. "We're going to see changing objects," Roodman said. "We're going to see moving objects. We're gonna get a view of thousands and thousands of galaxies and stars in any field we look at. So, in some sense, we could have looked anywhere and gotten fantastic images." Who Was Vera Rubin? Dark Matter Astronomer's Legacy Continues Through New Observatory The observatory took two decades to complete and was named after the astronomer credited with the first evidence of dark matter. Many in the scientific community still believe Rubin was overlooked for the Nobel Prize. The brightly colored cosmic landscape below of the Trifid and Lagoon nebulae was taken over seven hours and a combined 678 images. According to the NSF, the clouds of gas and dust are visible due to this image's layering process. Rubin's powerful digital camera was used to capture the Virgo cluster within our home galaxy, the Milky Way. The image below shows two spiral galaxies sparkling in blue, and the ghostly hue of merging galaxies in the upper right. The Rubin Observatory took more than 1,100 images, showcasing about 10 million galaxies. The galaxy map is just .05% of the 20 billion galaxies that will be captured during the course of the 10-year LSST. The speed and power of this new science tool collects petabytes of data – there are more than 1,000 terabytes per petabyte – requiring machine-learning algorithms and data management to process it all. Deputy Director for Data Management Yusra AlSayyad said the telescope will take an image of the night sky every 30 seconds. "That's way too fast for a human to be in the loop and decide where we're going to observe tonight," AlSayyad said. You can think of it as a robotic telescope where we are going to use an automated scheduler. To choose the best parts of the sky to observe tonight, in order to achieve the survey goals that we want." As the LSST camera collects more data, AlSayyad said it will see rare celestial events, only discovered if AI is always article source: First celestial images from 10-year project photographing the universe released
