Space

A detailed discussion of the Shuttle program as well as some ethics in airspace.

https://esawebb.org/images/weic2413a/

[Image description: This image features the ZS7 galaxy system, showing a large field of hundreds of galaxies on the black background of space.]

https://esawebb.org/images/potm2404b/

[Image Description: A spherical collection of stars which fills the whole view. The cluster is dominated by a concentrated group of bright white stars at the centre, with several large yellow stars scattered throughout the image. Many of the stars have visible diffraction spikes. The background is black.]

https://esawebb.org/images/weic2411a/

[Image description: At the bottom of the image a small portion of the Horsehead Nebula is seen close-in, as a curved wall of thick, smoky gas and dust. Above the nebula various distant stars and galaxies can be seen up to the top of the image. One star is very bright and large, with six long diffraction spikes that cross the image. The background fades from a dark red colour above the nebula to black.]

MIRI image with more details in the nebula.

Seems similar to the one released in 2022. I've searched for 15 minutes to try to find a new download or purchase link, without any luck! All the news stories just have low-res previews.

The mission includes a quadcopter to explore different locations on the surface.

Shot with a Kodak PIXPRO AZ401 with a 24mm wide angle lens, 40x optical with 1/125 shutter speed, 80 ISO and -2.0 exposure value. Getting back into photography and I'm pretty stoked about this shot.

Edited title for less cringe. Still a good video, regardless.

Original youtube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKmPJmaeP8A

*WHAT THE HELL IS THAT HUGE BODY OF TEXT

Astronomers have used the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes to confirm one of the most troubling conundrums in all of physics — that the universe appears to be expanding at bafflingly different speeds depending on where we look.

This problem, known as the Hubble Tension, has the potential to alter or even upend cosmology altogether. In 2019, measurements by the Hubble Space Telescope confirmed the puzzle was real; in 2023, even more precise measurements from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) cemented the discrepancy.

Now, a triple-check by both telescopes working together appears to have put the possibility of any measurement error to bed for good. The study, published February 6 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, suggests that there may be something seriously wrong with our understanding of the universe.

More info from Britannica

Ignition! is part memoir and part history book from the 70's, written by John D. Clark who was an American rocket fuel chemist.

It doesn't go too deep into the chemistry side of things, so even if you're like me and don't understand that side at all you might enjoy reading it if you're into space history nerdery. Clark had a pretty hilarious writing style, so it's a surprisingly entertaining book considering the subject matter. As an example, here's what he had to say about chlorine trifluoride:

All this sounds fairly academic and innocuous, but when it is translated into the problem of handling the stuff, the results are horrendous. It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that's the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water — with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals — steel, copper, aluminum, etc. — because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminum keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.

"Engineers are optimistic they can find a way for the FDS to operate normally."

https://archive.is/SRZ5P

https://esawebb.org/images/potm2403b/

[Image Description: Many small galaxies are scattered on a black background: mainly, white, oval-shaped and red, spiral galaxies. The image is dominated by a dwarf irregular galaxy, which hosts a bright region of white and blue stars at its core that appear as two distinct lobes. This region is surrounded by brown dusty filaments. At the bottom centre of the image, a companion galaxy is visible that appears as a collection of blue stars.]

Cropped version

https://www.flickr.com/photos/197464132@N05/53610345625/

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/27670808

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