Our Galaxy

From the US newspaper The Christian Science Monitor, here is a composite photo of the black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of the Milky Way galaxy:

https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2022/0513/Galactic-picture-day-See-first-photo...

The article explains how this composite photo was built. The asterisk mark following the name Sagittarius A indicates that this object is a star.

The latest US reminder that the Hubble mission is not done yet:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/two-exoplanets-may-be-mostly-water-nasas-hubble-an...

A green comet will pass Earth for the first time in 50,000 years:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/watch-a-comet-make-its-closest-approac...

>3 MaureenRoy: I read an article that I believe said the comet will come its closest to Earth maybe a month or so after it nearest point to the sun - maybe a second chance to view with naked eye.

The James Webb telescope has been studying our solar system's asteroid belt ... they found a new asteroid, and there's more to come:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/06/world/webb-telescope-asteroid-discovery-scn/index...

>5 MaureenRoy: Fantastic!

Thanks to the ESA, we have new info on black holes:

https://phys.org/news/2023-04-gaia-family-black-holes.html

The first NASA mission to investigate asteroid mining approaches:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-psyche-mission-enters-home-stretch-before-la...

>8 MaureenRoy: Pretty neat! After the Psyche probes results start coming in I wonder if Musk’s Mars mission might be postponed while he loads up a bunch of picks, people & baskets on a Starship and points them toward the platinum asteroid.

Link to Psyche events page:
https://www.nasa.gov/psyche



Artist's concept photo from nasa site

Voyager 2: Nasa loses contact with probe after sending wrong command

Looks like one of the two human devices to actually visit our galaxy is having some (hopefully temporary) problems.

Voyager 2 is back in touch with earth, "thanks to an 'interstellar shout' - a powerful instruction - its antenna is now back facing Earth."

Scientists have questions about a new James Webb Space Telescope image. I think the answer is obvious - an intergalactic Douglas Adams fan. Link to article

NASA begins a new type of space communication:

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-deep-space-optical-comm-demo-sends-receives-...

>13 MaureenRoy:
Interesting. Thank you for sharing.

pgmcc, UR welcome. Today I find two recent books and one future book on lasers for communication or propulsion in Earth orbit, in its atmosphere, or in outer space:

("Balloons," did he say??) Laser communication with constellation satellites, UAVs, HAPs and balloons: fundamentals and systems analytics for global connectivity, by Arun K. Majumdar. $77.96, 1st ed., Springer; June 24, 2022; 479p., pb:

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-03972-0

Near-Earth laser communications, edited by Hamid Hemmati; 2nd. ed.; CRC Press; $59.95; pb; 466.p.

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.1201/9780429186721/near-earth-laser-...

Forthcoming on June 15, 2024:

Laser propulsion in space: fundamentals, technology, and future missions, by Claude Phipps; $185.00

Happy Thanksgiving, all: Today's never-before-seen view of Sagittarius, which forms the center of the Milky Way galaxy, is from the one and only Webb camera:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/12/world/gallery/james-webb-telescope-first-images-s...

>16 MaureenRoy:
Mindblowingly extraordinary pictures!
Makes me feel rather tiny!!

>16 MaureenRoy: Great photos! Nice to have them in one place & not have to jump around.

Telescope Array detects second-highest-energy cosmic ray ever
Article at Phys.org describing another “Oh My God particle” packing a difficult to comprehend amount of energy. I first heard about this over public radio which said “less than an ounce of such particles could destroy earth” or some such - hopefully they only come in smaller amounts.

https://phys.org/news/2023-11-telescope-array-second-highest-energy-cosmic-ray.h...

New finding reported on phys.org website, but this is actually external to our galaxy by a long ways:

https://phys.org/news/2024-02-team-astronomers-galaxy-shouldnt.html

The website phys.org has a report on measuring the prevalence of metals within a galaxy:

https://phys.org/news/2024-02-predictor-galaxy-metallic-content.html

Zeroing in on the formation of neutron stars:

https://mashable.com/article/james-webb-space-telescope-neutron-star-discovery

Space telescope interferometer upgrade:

https://phys.org/news/2024-02-black-hole-discovery-rethink-galaxies.html

The hard work of preparing for long space missions goes on:

https://phys.org/news/2024-03-tank-enable-duration-space-exploration.html

Hardest known substance is no longer diamond:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a60248031/diamond-bc8-harde...

The plans so far to explore beyond the heliosphere of the Milky Way galaxy:

https://phys.org/news/2024-03-route-spacecraft-sun-sphere.html

Just beyond our solar system's heliosphere, good news on the Voyager mission:

https://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-has-finally-identified-the-reason-behind-voyag...