Flag of the Earth

Before the astronauts landed on the moon, there was an opinion that the first people on the satellite should leave there not an American flag, but a flag representing all of humanity. And although these few voices were not heard, in 1970 they pushed James Cadle, who lived on a farm in Illinois, to create the flag of the Earth.

According to Cadle, the flag should be used to represent humanity as a whole, without dividing into countries, organizations or individuals. James Cadle devoted his life to the popularization of the flag and sent it to everyone (in exchange for compensation for the costs of manufacturing and delivery of the flag). Before his death, he transferred the flag of the Earth to the public domain, so that now it can be freely used and, for example, hung outside the window on public holidays.

YouTube uses mini-images of this flag next to the user’s name when the site cannot determine its location.

The Leo Triplet Galaxy Group

The Leo Triplet Galaxy Group is three galaxies in one field of view. This group includes huge spiral galaxies: NGC 3628 (left), M66 (bottom right) and M65 (top).

Their galactic disks are tilted at different angles to the beam of our vision. NGC 3628 is visible from the edge, and light-absorbing dust bands intersect the plane of the galaxy. The disks M66 and M65 are tilted so that their spiral structure is visible.

Gravitational interactions between the group’s galaxies have also left noticeable traces, including the curved and expanded disk of NGC 3628 and the elongated spiral arms of M66.

This group of galaxies is located at a distance of about 35 million light-years from Earth.

NASA astronomers have discovered a “hellish” planet that continuously burns and emits lava flows

NASA has discovered the planet 55 Cancri e 50 light-years from Earth. It is too close to its star, which is why it constantly burns and emits lava flows. The conditions on the planet were compared to hell.

The temperature of the planet is several times higher than the melting point of metals, so huge red-hot rivers flow down it. The day side of the planet is covered with oceans of lava.

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NASA has commissioned Collins Aerospace and Axiom Space to develop a new generation of spacesuits

The new generation spacesuits are planned to be used on the ISS, as well as in the Artemis lunar program. The new spacesuits will allow astronauts to go into outer space in low Earth orbit from the ISS, as well as explore the lunar surface. Upon completion of the development, the spacesuits will remain the property of the companies, and NASA will act as their user.

NASA will certify the spacesuits during their development. The US Space Agency will also provide Collins Aerospace and Axiom Space with information obtained during the development of spacesuits by NASA specialists under the xEMU program (mobile system for extravehicular research).

It is assumed that the design of the new spacesuits will ensure their unhindered use by women. The contract provides for $ 3.5 billion to be allocated until 2034 for the development of spacesuits, but representatives of the department did not specify how much each of the companies will receive.

NASA conducted exercises on planetary defense

Coordinated by the International Asteroid Warning Network and the NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office, the exercises confirmed that the detection of an asteroid and the establishment of its characteristics by the international community takes place promptly. This makes it possible to identify and assess the danger that these objects pose when approaching the Earth.

Last year, NASA and ESA astronomers teamed up for a similar exercise, during which an asteroid collision scenario with Earth was simulated. They found that with modern technology, humanity would be defenseless in the face of an asteroid collision with Earth if an asteroid is detected six months before the collision.

Nevertheless, planetary defense technology is developing rapidly, and missions such as DART, which aims to change the trajectory of an asteroid, as well as demonstrate technology for a hypothetical deviation of a celestial body from a collision with our planet, will be very much in demand in the future.

Astronomers announced the discovery of the oldest known quasar, it received the designation J0313-1806

Its redshift is z=7.642. This means that we see J0313-1806 as it was at the time when the universe was 670 million years old.

Quasars can emit a thousand times more energy than galaxies like the Milky Way. The source of all activity is accretion disks and jets of supermassive black holes that are in the process of active absorption of matter. J0313-1806 is no exception. In its core there is a black hole with a mass of 1.6 billion solar. Every year it absorbs matter whose mass is equivalent to 25 stars like our Sun.

Such a significant mass of the black hole at the center of O0313-1806, with its such a small age, suggests that it could hardly have been formed as a result of a supernova outbreak. She simply wouldn’t have had enough time to grow to such a huge size. Apparently, another mechanism was involved here in the form of a direct collapse of a huge cloud of cold hydrogen gas.

Can the universe be infinite?

The universe can be infinite. But it may not be. We don’t know the final answer yet. To date , the following is known:

— When it comes to the size of the universe, they mean the observable universe. It is not identical to the universe at all. We can observe the universe only from a certain point in its life, because before that the universe was opaque to radiation, therefore, no observable consequences of that era have reached us. In any case, direct consequences.

— The size of the observable universe in any direction is estimated at 46 billion. light years. The figure is theoretically obtained by substituting the Hubble constant into the equations of the Friedman model of the Universe and verified practically using several independent methods. In principle, the probability of error still remains, but it is small. Everything that lies beyond this distance is fundamentally inaccessible to our observations.

— Singularity is a mathematical concept, not a physical one. It is not quite correct to talk about the size of the singularity. This is about how to estimate the size of ln(-2) in meters. It is correct to estimate the size of the Universe at the first moment of its existence after the singularity.

— In addition to the expansion characterized by the Hubble constant (which is not exactly constant, but we will omit these details for now), the universe at the very beginning, immediately after the Big Bang, went through a period of inflationary expansion, the speed of which is significantly higher. In fact, inflation is a rapid exponential expansion. The inflation hypothesis is still a de facto hypothesis, but there is a lot of weighty evidence in its favor.

— Well, actually, what was the size of the universe before inflation, we do not know. Within the framework of the available mathematical models, it turns out to be finite (and close to zero) at time t= 0. But the trouble is that the available mathematical models cannot model this situation correctly. Actually, from where those mysterious singularities originate – read: singular points in solutions of equations of the theory of relativity.

There are no explicit experimental or observational confirmations of the infinity of the universe, but there are implicit ones. For example, the average measured density of the Universe is extremely close to the critical density. This, in turn, means that the spatial geometry of the Universe is close to flat, which means that the Universe cannot be closed to itself like a globe. It stretches endlessly. Well, or in any case much further than we are able to register with the available devices.

The mystery of an unknown space object has been revealed

An international team of scientists has revealed the mysterious nature of the object PSR J2039−5617. It turned out that in the center of an unknown cosmic source of X-ray and gamma radiation is a pulsar that rotates around an evaporating star. In the system, the pulsar heats up one side of the satellite star, which appears brighter and bluish. The gravitational pull of the pulsar also stretches the star, allowing astronomers to track changes in its apparent size as it rotates. The orbital period of the binary system was 5.5 hours.

Pulsar J2039−5617 rotates around its axis at a speed of 377 times per second. Its radiation vaporizes the companion, which causes clouds of charged particles to form, absorbing radio waves. It is because of this that the pulsating radio emission characteristic of the pulsar was not detected earlier, which made it difficult to determine the nature of the source.

Astronomers have known about the existence of PSR J2039−5617 since 2014, and all the data indicated that it includes a neutron star, but so far this has not been proven.

Mitsubishi Electric has developed a technology that will allow printing satellite dishes in space

Antennas for spacecraft communication systems are one of the few things in the industry for which “size matters”. After all, it is the size of the antenna that primarily determines its gain, radiation pattern and other parameters that ultimately affect the very possibility of communication or observation. The bigger the antenna, the better it is. But we cannot indefinitely increase the antennas — strict restrictions on their size are imposed by the diameter and length of the head fairing of the launch vehicle.

A number of technical techniques, such as unfolded antennas that are placed into orbit in folded form, allow you to partially circumvent this limitation, but impose new ones. Everyone remembers how impatiently we waited not so long ago for the opening of the mirror of the James Webb telescope, the slightest malfunction in one of the hundreds of joints of which could jeopardize the success of the entire mission. In addition, the overloads experienced by the spacecraft at the launch stage force engineers to make antennas an order of magnitude more durable and, as a result, heavier than is required for their subsequent operation, which, in turn, “steals” an invaluable mass reserve of the output device.

However, engineers of the Japanese company Mitsubishi Electric Corporation made a breakthrough discovery without exaggeration. They have developed a special resin that allows using 3D printing to produce antenna reflectors directly in orbit. The photopolymerizing resin developed by Mitsubishi hardens under the influence of ultraviolet radiation from the Sun and, thus, does not require additional energy costs for its curing. Finished parts can withstand temperatures up to 400 ° C, which fully meets the requirements.

At the moment, the material and the technology of its use are in the process of testing. But the first tests carried out in a vacuum chamber turned out to be encouraging: a 16-centimeter antenna made using a new technology was not inferior in its parameters to antennas made by traditional methods.

According to Mitsubishi specialists, their technology is not limited to the manufacture of antennas and can be used for the production of any large-sized parts in orbit, the removal of which in finished form is difficult or impossible.

Why has man never flown to the dark side of the moon?

The answer, in fact, is simple: there is no radio communication with Earth on the other side.

This problem can be solved by grouping satellites that will forward the signal, but it is expensive and difficult. And without constant communication, putting people on the moon is an excessive risk.

Of course, now I’m talking about manned missions. Automatic stations, of course, have been working from the “back” side of the moon for a long time. For example, the Soviet automatic station Luna-3 was the first to receive her pictures.

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