Saturday Space Reads
Because we all need a little space on Saturday.
Compelling new findings recently published in Nature revive an old story from last year, in which an amateur astronomer happened to observe an active 20-million-year-old supernova explosion. We must say, the way his team called upon the world’s most powerful telescopes – including the Hubble – to capture the rare sight is very Avengers.
For more astronomy news, read about the two ancient star streams – named after Hindu deities who, according to mythology, are responsible for the cosmos’ creation – that illuminate how galaxies like the Milky Way form in our universe.
Just like Amazon’s hidden workforce behind the
dystopian hellscape“Just Walk Out” stores, the JWST employs a hoard of unspoken human heroes too. Read about the scientists (and artists) who color JWST images by interpreting its data.Maybe our brains are just wired to always bring things back to space, but we couldn’t help but compare this study of figure skaters’ neurology to that of future space-dwellers. A state-of-the-art spacesuit can only do so much; our noggins must adapt to microgravity in order to find our footing on the Moon.
If you’re deep in eclipse-prep, check out these strategies to dodge clouds on Monday, including a hack on how to find local forecasters’ discussion threads.
In yet another example of adjusting our Earthly conventions in order to understand otherworldly ones, we found this to be an interesting read about the sublimation of CO2 ice and its plausible effect on the Martian landscape – an effect that would be attributed to water flows on Earth.
As future technologies – from less invasive surgical equipment to debris-collecting satellites – hinge more and more on the power of magnets, China continues to dominate the market as well as access to the rare earth materials that make them. However, international developers are working on cleaner and more accessible manufacturing opportunities, in an acceleration towards smaller but more resilient magnets.
Everything for the space enthusiast ! I've been attempting to keep up with the JWST, & I've heard / read a TON of stories about the JWST, but tried to separate some of the more " supermarket tabloid - y " stories from the more believable ones.