Hi all,
1. First JWST images due on 12 July, at 14.30 GMT (15.30 B/IST)
What we've been waiting for! NASA unveils list of 1st targets for James Webb Space Telescope (msn.com) and
2. NLCs. The season for seeing Noctilucent Clouds (NLCs) runs from now until late July. Look low in the North for about two and a half hours on either side of local midnight (allowing for longitude and summer time, i.e. local midnight in Ireland is approximately 01.20 to 01.40 clock time). They appear as silvery/white streaks and wisps shining brighter against the twilit background sky. The further South you are, the less chance you have of seeing them, as they will appear much closer to the horizon.
3. OM Events at Davagh Dark Sky Park: There will be some daytime moon and sun viewing sessions and a little 'AstronOMy' Club, plus other things related to the forest and so on. The page to check is: What's On | Guided tours at OM Dark Sky Park and Observatory
4. Mira at maximum, 13 July
See the 'Wonderful Star' Mira at its peak brightness this week (msn.com)
5. ISS: The current series of morning passes will soon transition into a mixture of morning and evening passes, and then evening passes only, continuing to 28 July. Details as usual on www.heavens-above.com
6. Space and Astronomy Webinar returns, 2 August. The next one will be at 7.30 on Tuesday 2 August. More details and links in next bulletin
7. Davagh Dark Sky Park and Observatory is open, with pre-booking, and some restrictions.
See https://www.midulstercouncil.org/visitor/things-to-do/star-gazing/davagh-dark-sky-observatory , and https://www.facebook.com/omdarksky/ I'll post any updates here. Or phone 03000 132 132 for changing Covid-19 advice.
8. EASY TEASER – answered at last:
Q. What comes up sideways, but goes down vertically? Congrats to Alan Montgomery, who answered both this, and the difficult one (see below). The answer is Gemini – the two twins rise 'lying on their backs', i.e. horizontally; but when they are setting in the West, they set 'feet first'. Well done.
9. DIFFICULT TEASER also answered:
What's the connection between: a London Borough, a piece of rock, and another solar system body?
First with the correct answer was Peter Millar (once again – well done!), followed shortly afterwards by Peter Denman (again!), and Collin Parkes; and then also by Alan Montgomery (see above). Congrats to all.
The answer was Tooting for the London Borough, which is the name of the crater on Mars identified as the source of a Martian meteorite.
10. New Easy Teaser
Time is fundamental to many aspects of astronomy. In that context: What comes before and after this sequence. Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten? And it's obviously NOT just Six, and Eleven!
11. New Difficult Teaser
What's next in this sequence? – 15, 2, 1, 6, 7?
Please send all Teaser answers to me at my aol address terrymosel@aol.com
12. INTERESTING WEBLINKS (Disclaimer - Use of material herein from various sources does not imply approval or otherwise of the opinions, political or otherwise, of those sources). NB: If the title in the weblink does not indicate the subject matter, I give a brief simple intro before the link. I may also comment about the link afterwards.
ASTROPHYSICS:
Astronomers know how the first quasars formed | Live Science
SuperWASP: Black Hole Hunters | Zooniverse - People-powered research
Supermassive Black Holes Formed Directly out of Enormous Streams of Cold gas - Universe Today
One Star Flies Past the Milky Way's Black Hole at 3% the Speed of Light - Universe Today
Citizen scientist leads discovery of 34 ultracool dwarf binaries -- ScienceDaily
Mysterious fast radio bursts could reveal hidden galactic matter | Space
See the 'Wonderful Star' Mira at its peak brightness this week (msn.com)
Red supergiant stars 'dance' because they have too much gas | Live Science
Gemini North spies ultra-faint fossil galaxy discovered on outskirts of Andromeda -- ScienceDaily
Capturing the onset of galaxy rotation in the early universe -- ScienceDaily
Rare 'Obi-Wan Kenobi' star survives supernova explosion | Live Science
Scientists watch as galaxy's largest star dies (msn.com)
Hubble Space Telescope catches dead star in the act of cosmic cannibalism (msn.com)
CITIZEN SCIENCE:
Find your own Black hole! SuperWASP: Black Hole Hunters | Zooniverse - People-powered research
COSMOLOGY:
Supermassive Black Holes Formed Directly out of Enormous Streams of Cold gas - Universe Today
LHC Scientists Find Three Exotic Particles --- and Start Hunting for More (universetoday.com)
Dark matter hunt heats up with first result from world's biggest detector | Science | AAAS
Higgs boson behaves just as expected, studies confirm | Space
The Large Hadron Collider returns in the hunt for new physics | Space
Higgs boson: The 'god particle' explained | Space
EARTH & MOON
Scientists think they've solved the Earth's oldest mystery (msn.com)
Earth's magnetic field: Explained | Space
Newfound viruses named for Norse gods could have fueled the rise of complex life | Live Science
Never-before-seen crystals found in perfectly preserved meteorite dust | Live Science
World's oldest trees reveal the largest solar storm in history - Big Think
Fossils in the 'Cradle of Humankind' may be more than a million years older than previously thought -- ScienceDaily We're older than we thought!
Climate damage caused by growing space tourism needs urgent mitigation -- ScienceDaily
NASA's tiny CAPSTONE cubesat launches on pioneering moon mission | Space
Mystery rocket that smashed into the moon left 2 craters, NASA says | Live Science
EXOLIFE
https://scitechdaily.com/key-building-blocks-for-life-discovered-in-cloud-near-center-of-our-galaxy/
EXOPLANETS
Long-term liquid water also on non-Earth-like planets? -- ScienceDaily
NASA sounding rockets blasting off to assess Alpha Centauri | Space
IMAGES
SOLAR SYSTEM
Small Changes To Neptune's Orbit By A Passing Star Could Wreck The Entire Solar System | IFLScience A star passing that close would affect the orbits of all the planets, particularly those from Jupiter outwards. It would also disturb the orbits of tens of thousands of objects in the Oort Cloud, and the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt! Passing star shifting Neptune's orbit could be solar system's doom | NewsBytes (newsbytesapp.com) But -
Mars Rovers Will Need to Dig Deeper If They Want to Find Evidence of Life - Universe Today
We've Seen a Helicopter on Mars. Next, Sailplanes? - Universe Today
Scientists think they've solved the Earth's oldest mystery (msn.com)
Nasa says it was 'completely wrong' in its predictions about asteroid Bennu (msn.com)
Mars sample return: How NASA will launch from the Red Planet | Space
Rare, elliptical craters reveal new clues about strange Saturn moons | Space
Never-before-seen crystals found in perfectly preserved meteorite dust | Live Science
Arecibo observatory scientists help unravel surprise asteroid mystery -- ScienceDaily Why are asteroids and comets all described as 'barreling' towards Earth? Usually we have no idea about their rotation axis!
Bepi-Columbo's close flyby of Mercury https://www.facebook.com/100059420804643/posts/424021252921898/?sfnsn=mo
Amazing Flaky Martian Rocks Were Formed in a Stream or a Small Pond - Universe Today
NASA's Europa Clipper may crash into Ganymede at mission's end | Space
Rock samples from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover contain key ingredient for life | Space
Bizarre 'polygons' are cracking through the surface of Mars (msn.com)
NASA reveals plan to squeeze last drop of science from failing rover (newatlas.com)
Shedding light on comet Chury's unexpected chemical complexity -- ScienceDaily
SPACE
Virgin Galactic to up launch rate with two more WhiteKnightTwo motherships (newatlas.com)
Many Astronauts Never Recover all of their Bone Density after Returning to Earth - Universe Today
The United States announces a stop to testing Anti-Satellite Weapons - Universe Today A small step in the right direction.
'CubeSats are not toys.' Tiny satellites' scientific output can pack a big punch | Science | AAAS
China deploys 'drag sail' to aid fight against space junk | Space
Space entrepreneurs to oversee British satellite launches from the sofa (msn.com)
Trash bag jettisoned from space station in waste-management first (msn.com)
Mars sailplane prototype soars during early-stage tethered flight test in Arizona | Space
Mars sample return: How NASA will launch from the Red Planet | Space
Astronauts suffer decades of bone loss from months in space, study reveals (msn.com)
Floating in space might be fun, but study shows it's hard on earthly bodies -- ScienceDaily
Cygnus cargo ship allows US to control ISS orbit without Russian help (newatlas.com)
Virgin Orbit carries out its first night mission for the US Space Force (newatlas.com)
NASA eyes August launch after concluding tests of SLS Moon rocket (newatlas.com)
Climate damage caused by growing space tourism needs urgent mitigation -- ScienceDaily
Axiom Space preserves full-scale mockup of International Space Station | Space
Private Cygnus cargo ship departs space station for a fiery death | Space
SpaceX's Starship Super Heavy rocket at launch pad for tests | Space
Unidentified spacecraft has crashed into the moon - and nobody is owning up (msn.com) and Mystery rocket crashes into the Moon – and no one (on Earth) is owning up (msn.com)
Venus Aerospace unveils its dart-like Mach 9 plane design | Space Please explain how a 7,000 mph plane can circle the Earth (25,000 miles) in 1 hour?
SUN
World's oldest trees reveal the largest solar storm in history - Big Think
TELESCOPES, INSTRUMENTS, TECHNIQUES.
Jupiter and its moons to put James Webb Space Telescope to test | Space
JWST first image to be released on July 12.
James Webb Space Telescope will watch smashing worlds | Space
Stratospheric balloon to lift telescope with giant mirror over Antarctica (newatlas.com)
Webb 1st photos will include 'deepest image of our universe' | Space
Arecibo observatory scientists help unravel surprise asteroid mystery -- ScienceDaily
Biofinder advances detection of extraterrestrial life -- ScienceDaily
James Webb Space Telescope will study Milky Way's monster black hole | Space
13. JOINING the IRISH ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION. This link gives options to join the IAA.
https://irishastro.org/join-the-iaa/ If you are a UK taxpayer, please select the 'gift-aid' box, as that enables us to reclaim the standard rate of tax on your subscription, at no cost to you. You can also make a donation via Paypal if you wish: just click on the 'Donate' button. See also https://irishastro.org/
The Irish Astronomical Association is registered with The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland NIC 105858
DISCLAIMER: Any views expressed herein are mine, and do not necessarily represent those of the IAA.
Clear skies,
Terry Moseley
