Astronomy
Webb First to Show 4 Dust Shells ‘Spiraling’ Apep, Limits Long Orbit
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has delivered a crisp mid-infrared image of a system of four serpentine spirals of dust, one expanding beyond the next in precisely the same pattern. These shells were emitted over the last 700 years by two aging Wolf-Rayet stars in a system known as Apep, named after the Egyptian god of chaos.
Red Giant “Star Songs” Reveal Their Chaotic Pasts
Astronomers have studied two red giants, BH2 and BH3, each orbiting dormant black holes in binary systems Gaia BH2 and Gaia BH3. BH2 shows signs of having consumed its companion star, indicated by its age and rotation, while BH3 is an ancient star defying cosmological expectations by lacking predicted brightness oscillations. These systems are among the closest black hole binaries to Earth, located 3,800 and 1,900 light-years away respectively in the constellations Centaurus and Aquila.
Asteroid Loaded with Amino Acids Offers New Clues About the Origin of Life on Earth
The theory that life on Earth began with molecules delivered from space gains support from recent findings on asteroid Bennu. Samples from Bennu, a primitive asteroid largely unchanged since the solar system’s formation 4.6 billion years ago, contain 14 amino acids and five nucleobases, essential building blocks of proteins and genetic material. Notably, traces of tryptophan, an amino acid never definitively found in extraterrestrial material before, were also tentatively detected. These discoveries confirm that both protein components and genetic blueprints coexist in the same extraterrestrial source, reinforcing the idea that life’s origins may be linked to cosmic deliveries.
The Moon’s Two Faces Don’t Match, And We Think We Know Why
The far side of the Moon is incredibly different from the Earth-facing side. 66 years later, we know why the Moon’s faces are not alike.
Telescope Farms
Light pollution is washing out the night sky. A remote telescope farm helps stargazers bring the cosmos to their screens.
Cosmic Conversations
Cosmic Conversations will be held on Tuesday November 18 from 7 7o 8:30 PM at the observatory and via Zoom. The Topic will be “Hot Stuff – Our Sun.”
Join Erin at GeekGirlCon in Seattle!
Don’t have plans for the weekend of November 8th? Head on over to GeekGirlCon in Seattle to celebrate and honor the legacies of under-represented groups in science, technology, comics, arts, literature, game play, and game design!
The Winter BI Parks and Rec Catalog Is Coming Soon— And We’re In It!
We’re teaming up with Parks and Rec once again for out-of-this-world classes! Introduction to Astronomy 101 (ages 16+) is back with another fantastic lineup of classes to get you off to a great start in astronomy.
Keep an eye out on the BI Parks website for when they drop the winter catalog!