BUTLER, PA — As an additional measure of security for his return to Butler, former President Trump will give his rally speech while wearing a helmet of Mandalorian armor.

NASA has turned off one of Voyager 2's science instruments as power conservation becomes crucial for the interstellar exploring spacecraft located 12.8 billion miles from home.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed magnificent things about the Universe. Using its sophisticated infrared optics, it has peered deeper into space (and farther back in time) than any observatory to date, gathering data on the first galaxies to form in our Universe. It has also obtained spectra from exoplanets, revealing things about the chemical composition of their atmospheres. In addition, Webb has provided some stunning views of objects within our Solar System, like Jupiter and its auroras, Saturn’s rings and moons, and Neptune and its satellites. Recently, a team led by researchers from Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) used Webb Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) to closely examine the Pluto-Charon system. Their observations detected frozen carbon dioxide and hydrogen peroxide on the surface of Pluto’s largest moon for the first time. These discoveries add to what scientists learned about Charon’s chemical inventory from ground-based telescopes and the New Horizons mission. It also reveals more about the chemical composition of the many objects that make up the Kuiper Belt. The team was led by Silvia Protopapa, a Principal Scientist with the SwRI Department of Space Studies and a co-investigator of the New Horizons mission. She was joined by members from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the Florida Space Institute, the Lowell Observatory, the SETI Institute, the Pinhead Institute, the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The paper that details their findings recently appeared in Nature Communications. The observations were part of Webb’s Guaranteed Time Observation (GTO) program 1191, which relied on Webb’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) to study Kuiper Belt Objects (KBO). Dr. John Stanberry, the program’s Principal Investigator, is an instrument scientist for Webb’s NIRCam at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). The team used Webb’s NIRSpec to conduct four observations of the Pluto-Charon system between 2022 and 2023, which provided full coverage of Charon’s northern hemisphere. Webb spectroscopic measurements revealed signatures of carbon dioxide, which the team compared with laboratory measurements and detailed spectral models of the surface. They concluded that carbon dioxide is present primarily as a surface veneer on a subsurface rich in water ice. As Dr. Protopapa explained in a recent SwRI press release: “Charon is the only midsized Kuiper Belt object, in the range of 300 to 1,000 miles in diameter, that has been geologically mapped, thanks to the SwRI-led New Horizons mission, which flew by the Pluto system in 2015. Unlike many of the larger objects in the Kuiper Belt, the surface of Charon is not obscured by highly volatile ices such as methane and therefore provides valuable insights into how processes like sunlight exposure and cratering affect these distant bodies. “Our preferred interpretation is that the upper layer of carbon dioxide originates from the interior and has been exposed to the surface through cratering events. Carbon dioxide is known to be present in regions of the protoplanetary disk from which the Pluto system formed.” Pluto and Charon. Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI Hydrogen peroxide forms when water ice is broken down at the atomic level through exposure to ultraviolet light, charged particles from the Sun (solar wind), and galactic cosmic rays. Its presence on the surface of Charon indicates that the water ice-rich surface is subject to photolysis. This is similar to how exposure to solar radiation causes methane to create tholins, which explains why bodies in the outer Solar System are ruddy in appearance. Said SwRI’s Dr. Ujjwal Raut, leader of the Cornell Laboratory for Accelerator-based ScienceS and Education (CLASSE) and second author of the paper: “Laboratory experiments conducted at SwRI’s CLASSE (Center for Laboratory Astrophysics and Space Science Experiments) facility were instrumental in demonstrating that hydrogen peroxide can form even in mixtures of carbon dioxide and water ice under conditions analogous to those at Charon.” The team’s findings demonstrate Webb’s ability to uncover complex surface signatures, which can tell astronomers more about the chemical composition, formation, and evolution of bodies in our Solar System and beyond. These same capabilities allow astronomers to characterize exoplanets’ atmospheres to see if they have the necessary ingredients to support life (as we know it). “The new insights were made possible by the synergy between Webb observations, spectral modeling, and laboratory experiments and are possibly applicable to other similar midsized objects beyond Neptune,” said Protopapa. Further Reading: SWRI, Nature Communications The post Webb Detects Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen Perodixe on Pluto’s moon Charon appeared first on Universe Today.

If you want to pinpoint your place in the Universe, start with your cosmic address. You live on Earth->Solar System->Milky Way Galaxy->Local Cluster->Virgo Cluster->Virgo Supercluster->Laniakea. Thanks to new deep sky surveys, astronomers now think all those places are part of an even bigger cosmic structure in the “neighborhood” called The Shapley Concentration. Astronomers refer to the Shapley Concentration as a “basin of attraction”. That’s a region loaded with mass that acts as an “attractor”. It’s a region containing many clusters and groups of galaxies and comprises the greatest concentration of matter in the local Universe. All those galaxies, plus dark matter, lend their gravitational influence to the Concentration. There are many of these basins in the Universe, including Laniakea. Astronomers are working to survey them more precisely, which should help provide a more precise map of the largest structures in the Universe. A slice of the Laniakea Supercluster, a local basin of attraction. This structure contains many galaxies and clusters, including our own Milky Way Galaxy. Credit: SDvision interactive visualization software by DP at CEA/Saclay, France. One group, led by astronomer R. Brent Tully of the University of Hawai’i measured the motions of some 56,000 galaxies to understand these basins and their distribution in space. “Our universe is like a giant web, with galaxies lying along filaments and clustering at nodes where gravitational forces pull them together,” said Tully. “Just as water flows within watersheds, galaxies flow within cosmic basins of attraction. The discovery of these larger basins could fundamentally change our understanding of cosmic structure.” Cosmic Flows and Mapping Structures Tully’s team is called CosmicFlows and they study the motions through space of those distant galaxies. The team’s “redshift” surveys revealed a possible shift in the size and scale of our local galactic basin of attraction. We already know that we “live” in Laniakea, which is about 500 million light-years across. However, the motions of other clusters indicate there’s a larger “attractor” directing the cluster flow. The CosmicFlows data suggest that we could be part of the Shapley Concentration, which could be 10 times the volume of Laniakea. It’s about half the volume of the largest structure in space, known as “the Great Wall”, which is a string of galaxies stretching across 1.4 billion light-years. Several superclusters were revealed by the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey. This contains the structure known as the “Sloan Great Wall”. Courtesy 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey. The Shapley Concentration was first observed by astronomer Harlow Shapley in the 1930s as a “cloud” in the constellation Centaurus. This supercluster appears along the direction of motion of the Local Group of galaxies (where we live). Because of that, scientists speculated that it could be influencing our galaxy’s peculiar motion. Interestingly, the Virgo Supercluster (and the Local Group and Milky Way Galaxy) appears to be moving toward the Shapley Concentration. The surveys that Tully and others are doing should confirm that motion toward whatever is attracting them. Exploring Ever-larger Structures in the Universe Where do these basins of attraction come from? In one sense, they’re as old as the Universe and its cosmic web of matter that Tully references. The seeds for the web and those basins of attraction were planted some 13.8 billion years ago. After the Big Bang, the infant Universe was in a hot dense state. As it expanded and cooled, the density of matter started to fluctuate. There were tiny differences in those density fluctuations. Think of them as the earliest “seeds” of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and even vaster structures that we see in today’s Universe. This detailed map of the cosmic microwave background is created from seven years worth of data. It shows the “seed” structures of galaxies in the infant Universe. Image Credit: NASA As astronomers survey the sky, they find evidence for all those different structures. Now, they have to explain them. The idea that the Shapley Concentration is the large basin that our Laniakea belongs to means that current cosmological models don’t quite explain its existence. “This discovery presents a challenge: our cosmic surveys may not yet be large enough to map the full extent of these immense basins,” said UH astronomer Ehsan Kourkchi. “We are still gazing through giant eyes, but even these eyes may not be big enough to capture the full picture of our universe.” Measuring the Attractors The main actor in all these galaxies, clusters, and superclusters, is gravity. The more mass, the more gravity influences motions and matter distribution. For these basins of attraction, Tully’s research team examined their impact on galaxy motions in the region. The basins exert a sort of “tug of war” on galaxies that lie between them. That influences their motions. In particular, redshift surveys like Tully’s team is doing will map the radial motion (along the line of sight), velocities (how fast they’re moving), and other related motions. By mapping the velocities of galaxies throughout our local Universe, the team can define the region of space where each supercluster dominates. Of course, these motions are tricky to define. That’s why the team does different types of measurements. They aren’t mapping just the luminous material in galaxies. They also have to take into account the inferred existence of dark matter. There are other complications as well. For example, not all galaxies are the same—that is, they differ in their shapes (morphology) and matter density. Astronomers can get around this by measuring something called “galaxy peculiar velocity”. That’s the difference between its actual velocity and the expected “Hubble flow” velocity (which reflects gravitational interactions between galaxies). The results of the Tully team surveys should provide ever more precise 3D maps of these regions of space. That includes their structures as well as their motions and velocities. Those maps, in turn, should give greater insight into the distribution of all matter (including cold dark matter) throughout the Universe. For More Information Identification of Basins of Attraction in the Local Universe (journal)Identification of Basins of Attraction in the Local Universe (arXiv pdf)The Shapley Supercluster: the Largest Matter Concentration in the Local Universe (PDF) The post The Milky Way Might be Part of an Even Larger Structure than Laniakea appeared first on Universe Today.

Lost for millennia.

In Butler, Trump Rally Becomes Memorial for Fallen Firefighting Hero [WATCH]

The following article, When Teleprompter Freezes, Kamala Falls Apart (Again), was first published on Conservative Firing Line. Can you tell from this video when Kamala’s teleprompter goes out? It’s obvious, but we thought we should ask anyway. Kamala, when the prompter failed. https://t.co/zMo52TbbxW — AmishDude (@TheAmishDude) October 4, 2024 Underdog? That’s laughable. She has all the media plus almost everyone in Congress and the swamp and a gazillion illegals here to cheat. … Continue reading When Teleprompter Freezes, Kamala Falls Apart (Again) ...