StargazingGoat

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Astronomy Facts of the DayFollow if you like daily bite-sized astronomy and space exploration facts.
MigrationI'm committed to 1 fact/day in the long term, for a while I'll be working on posting a few facts per day to bring over the facts I'd already posted on the bird site.
Who called it Ursa Minor instead of Bear Minimum?

#Constellation #satellites aren't just a problem for ground-based #astronomers anymore. Even #Hubble has been suffering from these #SpaceX pests. Unlike modern #astrophotography, where image stacking is used to combine 1000s of frames, Hubble still uses long exposures, typically 10+ minutes, making this issue even harder to cope with.

#astrodon #space #Astronomy #universe #telescope #NASA #ESA #science

Source: https://www.universetoday.com/160405/hubbles-orbit-has-dropped-so-far-that-starlink-satellites-are-photobombing-its-images/

Hubble's Orbit Has Dropped So Far that Starlink Satellites are Photobombing its Images

The more satellites we launch, the harder it is for astronomers to do their thing. Now the Hubble is even affected.

Universe Today

In 2019, the #NewHorizons #spacecraft flew by Arrokoth (2014 MU69). This unusual #Kuiper Belt object looks like 2/3 of a snowman. It was formed during the early stages of our #SolarSystem, and thanks to its remote #orbit is relatively untouched by other debris.
The odd shape suggests that accretion was not always violent. Sometimes, matter combines with more of a *bonk* than a BANG!

#astrodon #space #spaceexploration #asteroid

Photo credit: #NASA New Horizons
Source: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/new-horizons-reveals-full-picture-of-arrokoth-and-how-planets-form/

New Horizons Reveals Full Picture of Arrokoth...and How Planets Form

New Horizon’s flyby of Arrokoth, a planetesimal in the Kuiper Belt, reveals a pristine object untouched since the solar system’s origin.

Sky & Telescope

Next week, Relativity Space plans to launch its #Terran1 #rocket. The current model is (by mass) 85% 3D printed, with plans for future models to be as much as 95% printed!
While the upcoming #launch is merely a functional #test, the company states that Terran1 is capable of putting 1250kg (2756 lbs) into low-Earth #orbit.

#astrodon #space #spaceexploration #3Dprinting #STEM

Source: https://www.space.com/relativity-space-terran-1-3d-rocket-launch-march-8

Relativity Space sets launch of world's 1st 3D-printed rocket for March 8

The 3D-printed Terran 1 rocket from Relativity Space will fly from Florida's space coast, and will also mark the first natural liquid natural gas booster in space if all goes to plan.

Space

So the Venus and Jupiter #conjunction last #night was cool (though tonight is still good too!)...
But just wait until September 8, 2040, when #Mercury, #Venus, #Mars, #Jupiter, #Saturn and a slim crescent #Moon will all be clustered within 3-4° of each other, and visible after #sunset.

#astrodon #astronomy #stargazing #planets #solarsystem #universeodon #space #science

Image credit: screenshot from SkySafari planetarium app

The first #flower grown in #space was a #Zinnia. Despite typically being a relatively easy to grow #plant, the ones on the #ISS struggled with too much moisture, too little moisture, and even mold growth! Determined to save the little #plants, Earth-based botanists gave over care of the #flowers to #astronaut Scott Kelly.

Image credit: #NASA/ Scott Kelly

#plantsinspace #astrodon #spaceexploration #gardening #spring

Source: https://www.space.com/31658-zinnia-flowers-bloom-in-space-photo.html

A Garden Grows in Space: First Zinnias Bloom, to Astronaut's Delight

The first zinnia has bloomed in NASA's Veggie program aboard the International Space Station.

Space

30-50% of the water in our #SolarSytem arrived in the form of #Interstellar ice, formed even before the accreting gases ignited to become the #sun. By comparing rates of hydrogen to deuterium (H with an extra neutron), #astronomers have concluded that there is simply too much deuterium for it have all been created in our neck of the woods.

#astrodon #astronomy #space #cosmology #universeodon #science #astro

https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/earths-water-is-older-than-the-sun

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1258055

Earth's Water Is Older Than the Sun

A new model of the chemistry of the early solar system finds that up to half the water now on Earth was inherited from an abundant supply of interstellar ice as our sun formed.

Discover Magazine

Baseline: a #galaxy the size of the #MilkyWay averages 2-3 #supernovae per century. The much larger and very active Fireworks Galaxy has had 10 since 1920. #Universe -wide, about 70 supernovae explode every second.

#astronomy #stargazing #supernova #astrodon #space #explosion #stars

Source: "Supernova," Or Graur, The MIT Press, 2022.

The Supermassive #BlackHole pair designated PKS 2131-021 #orbit each other closer than it was previously believed possible. Each SMBH is several 100million #solar masses, but are only 200-2000AU (0.003- 0.03 light-years) apart. For scale, they are closer to each other than the #OortCloud (part of our own #solarsystem) is to the #sun. Despite their incomprehensible size, a single orbit only takes 2 years.

#astrodon #universe #space #astronomy #science

Source: https://www.universetoday.com/155117/astronomers-discover-two-supermassive-black-holes-orbiting-each-other-doomed-to-collide-in-the-future/

Astronomers Discover two Supermassive Black Holes Orbiting Each Other, Doomed to Collide in the Future.

Until recently, one of the closest orbiting each other pairs of supermassive blackholes was found in NGC 7727. That pair is about 89 million light-years away from Earth. Those black holes are only 1,600 light-years apart from each other. Another pair in OJ 287, about 3.5 billion light-years from Earth, are only separated by about … Continue reading "Astronomers Discover two Supermassive Black Holes Orbiting Each Other, Doomed to Collide in the Future."

Universe Today

#Astronomer Halton Arp believed that the best way to understand the #physics of spiral #galaxies was to study deformed galaxies. He assembled 338 irregular, interacting, or otherwise interesting galaxies in his "Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies" in 1966. The original text may be found here: https://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Arp/Arp_contents.html

A newer, photographic version may be found here: https://shopatsky.com/products/arp-atlas-of-peculiar-galaxies

#astrodon #universe #astronomy #space #Astrophysics #astrophotography #science #galaxymerger #galaxy

ARP Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies