Deep Space and Interplanetary Exploration - Houston, we are go for launch!

[rebs]

Of course... Black holes by definition will have similar "appearances"... ;)

Exactly, invisible men sporting hula-hoops all tend to look alike   

[Prospernia]

Black-holes only have three properties: mass, spin and charge.

And they're not sentient, yet.

[ANS Kamas P81]

And that charge must create an enormous magnetic field.

https://eventhorizontelescope.org/blog/astronomers-unveil-strong-magnetic-fields-spiraling-edge-milky-way%E2%80%99s-central-black-hole

[Prospernia]

This is Mars, 3.8 BYA: note, the lack of rust-color and water.  It may have been completely glaciated back then.  However, I agree with that Olympus Mons had yet to form; but, I think 30° North as all water as the volcanism that formed the massive-volcanoes also cause the crust to rise.

[Wrangler]

NASA released a imagery captured of Parker Solar Probe.  The encounter happened in November 2021, where the probe had a "close" encounter of coronal mass ejection.   



Thing so bloody big, the imagery looks like was up close!

[Daryk]

CMEs are NO joke!

[rebs]

Parker Solar Probe is such a great mission.  I just love the findings and visuals.

[rebs]

Article regarding the need for a nuclear reactor to generate power on the moon.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/04/space-experts-foresee-an-operational-need-for-nuclear-power-on-the-moon/

[Daryk]

That article makes a very good argument! :)

[rebs]

It will happen sooner or later.  But there’s something to be said for sooner.

This is one of those cases where the builders need to take precautions.  A newly-built reactor on the moon would be a perfect plumb of a target for capture by opportunistic rivals or enemies.

[idea weenie]

CMEs are NO joke!

Especially if they are a Carrington Event.

[rebs]

Lunar Standard Time is likely to become a thing soon.

https://www.space.com/white-house-nasa-time-zone-moon

[Daryk]

Never underestimate the ability of bureaucracy to slow things down... ;D

[Sabelkatten]

In this case, won't they actually be speeding things up...?

Given that time actually goes faster on the moon. Isn't relativity fun?

[Daryk]

Excellent joke, but reality still bites... :D

[rebs]

It's all fun and games until every nation has their own idea about what Lunar Standard Time actually is.

Just kidding!  It was never fun and games. 

[I am Belch II]

And what does that solve when there is a time zone for the moon??

[Prospernia]

There's only two times on the Moon.  Day/night: bright/dark: hot/cold.

[Natasha Kerensky]

And what does that solve when there is a time zone for the moon??

It’s not the “time zone” that’s important but the agreed-to precise time and its relationship to Earth time.  Without that, everything from financial transactions to flight control — both lunar and with Earth — is much harder, requiring interfaces between multiple standards and systems (or simply lacking precise timekeeping in the first place).

[Daryk]

The Economist has a decent overview of the matter, but an expert I exchanged notes with said it's MUCH more complicated than even that.

[Kit deSummersville]

Oh man, is this time zone going to have Daylight Savings Time?

[Daryk]

LOL!  Probably not... ;D

[rebs]

Interesting little article detailing the massive impacts that formed the lunar surface that we are so familiar with today.

https://www.space.com/moon-inside-out-billions-years-ago

[ANS Kamas P81]

https://esahubble.org/news/heic1806/

A galaxy without dark matter at all?  That ought to throw a wrench into the popular theories.

[Maingunnery]

https://esahubble.org/news/heic1806/

A galaxy without dark matter at all?  That ought to throw a wrench into the popular theories.

True, but it also could provide essential clues of what dark matter actually is.

[Sabelkatten]

AFAIK the Bullet Cluster already showed that a galaxy without dark matter should in principle be possible. I guess the real surprise is that a substantial galaxy hasn't picked up any "new" dark matter if it got stripped during a collision.

[Daryk]

Dark matter is literally what we haven't seen yet... ::)

[rebs]

A firm called Astrobotic is planning to send a mini rover to the Moon in the same mission that will also launch NASA's ice hunting VIPER probe.

The Astrobotic rover will be a somewhat all-purpose unit that will actually be up for rent to various concerns that wish to make use of it for their own research of business purposes.

https://www.space.com/astrobotic-griffin-1-moon-mission-viper-cuberover

[rebs]

The Brightest of All-Time explosion, observed back in 2022 as a gamma ray burst, was recently traced by our friendly robotic observatory the JWST to a supernova that occurred approximately 2.4 billion light years away.  It's being called the brightest explosion since the Big Bang itself.

Here's a fairly good article about the finding. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/james-webb-telescope-finds-origins-of-the-biggest-explosion-since-the-big-bang-revealing-a-new-cosmological-mystery/ar-BB1lvCxM?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=721930a592a14b8aab39b0f631a12549&ei=55

[Prospernia]

Sad that BOATs don't produce heavy-elements like theorized.