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    Category Astronomy/Space

    NASA’s first Weather report from Jezero Crater on Mars

    April 8, 2021, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    One of the wind sensors aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover can be seen deploying from the mast in this image taken on Mar. 1, 2021, the 10th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. The sensor is part of a suite of weather sensors called MEDA. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    The weather often plays a role in our daily plans. You might put on a light jacket when the forecast calls for a cool breeze or delay your travel plans because of an impending storm. NASA engineers use weather data to inform their plans, too, which is why they’re analyzing the conditions millions of miles away on Mars.

    The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) system aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover first powered on for 30 minutes Feb. 19, approximately one day after the rover touched down on the Red Planet...

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    Hubble Spots Double Quasars in Merging Galaxies

    April 7, 2021, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This artist’s conception shows the brilliant light of two quasars residing in the cores of two galaxies that are in the chaotic process of merging. The gravitational tug-of-war between the two galaxies stretches them, forming long tidal tails and igniting a firestorm of starbirth. Quasars are brilliant beacons of intense light from the centers of distant galaxies. They are powered by supermassive black holes voraciously feeding on infalling matter. This feeding frenzy unleashes a torrent of radiation that can outshine the collective light of billions of stars in the host galaxy. In a few tens of millions of years, the black holes and their galaxies will merge, and so will the quasar pair, forming an even more massive black hole...
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    New study ties Solar Variability to the onset of decadal La Nina events

    April 6, 2021, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    solar cycles
    Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

    A new study shows a correlation between the end of solar cycles and a switch from El Nino to La Nina conditions in the Pacific Ocean, suggesting that solar variability can drive seasonal weather variability on Earth.

    If the connection outlined in the journal Earth and Space Science holds up, it could significantly improve the predictability of the largest El Nino and La Nina events, which have a number of seasonal climate effects over land. For example, the southern United States tends to be warmer and drier during a La Nina, while the northern U.S. tends to be colder and wetter.

    “Energy from the Sun is the major driver of our entire Earth system and makes life on Earth possible,” said Scott McIntosh, a scientist at the National Center for Atmosp...

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    NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter dropped on Mars’ Surface ahead of Flight

    April 5, 2021, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Ingenuity helicopter: first powered flight on Mars
    Graphic on Ingenuity, the helicopter hitching a ride on the Perseverance rover, which is scheduled to make its first flight in early April.

    NASA’s Ingenuity mini-helicopter has been dropped on the surface of Mars in preparation for its first flight, the US space agency said. The ultra-light aircraft had been fixed to the belly of the Perseverance rover, which touched down on the Red Planet on February 18.

    “MarsHelicopter touchdown confirmed!” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory tweeted Saturday.

    “Its 293 million mile (471 million kilometer) journey aboard @NASAPersevere ended with the final drop of 4 inches (10 centimeter) from the rover’s belly to the surface of Mars today. Next milestone? Survive the night.”

    A photograph accompanying the tweet showed Perseverance had driven cle...

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