The Falcon 9 Nebula - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 October 12

The Falcon 9 Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: Brian Haidet

Explanation: Not the Hubble Space Telescope's latest view of a distant planetary nebula, this illuminated cloud of gas and dust dazzled even casual U.S. west coast skygazers on October 7. Taken about three miles north of Vandenberg Air Force Base, the image follows plumes and exhaust from the first and second stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rising through southern California's early evening skies. In the fading twilight, the reddish smoke drifting in the foreground at the right is from the initial ascent of the rocket. The expanding blue and orange filamentary plumes are from first and second stage separation and the first stage boostback burn, still in sunlight at extreme altitudes. But the bright spot below center is the second stage itself headed almost directly away from the camera, accelerating to orbital velocity and far downrange. Pulsed thrusters form the upside down V-shape at the top as they guide the reusable Falcon 9 first stage back to the landing site.

Maioria do plástico que contamina os oceanos vem da COCA-COLA, PEPSI e NESTLÉ - Ecologia

As multinacionais Coca-Cola, Pepsi e Nestlé são as que mais contribuem para a contaminação dos oceanos com plástico, segundo um estudo de um movimento ambientalista, que usou mais de dez mil voluntários para examinar lixo de 42 países.

Numa semana de setembro passado, fizeram mais de 200 ações de limpeza de plástico nas costas de países como as Filipinas, Tailândia, Vietname, Austrália, Chile, Estados Unidos ou Espanha.

De entre mais de 187 mil pedaços de plástico recolhidos, 65% eram embalagens de produtos de grandes corporações mundiais, sendo que a maioria era destas empresas. Outras marcas responsáveis pelo plástico que contamina os mares são a Danone e a Colgate-Palmolive, todas do setor da alimentação, higiene e produtos domésticos.

Em declarações à agência Efe, o coordenador do "Break Free from Plastic", Von Hernandez, afirmou que as marcas "têm de escolher se são parte do problema ou da solução", com as suas "embalagens de plástico desnecessárias", e decidir se vão continuar a fabricá-las.

Mais de metade das peças encontradas são feitas de materiais muito difíceis ou impossíveis de reciclar, como o plástico usado em garrafas e em embalagens descartáveis.Todos os anos são produzidas 320 milhões de toneladas de plástico e na próxima década a quantidade deverá aumentar 40%, o que fará aumentar exponencialmente a libertação de gases responsáveis pelo efeito de estufa.

"Devemos exigir às empresas por trás destas marcas de consumo de massas que larguem o mau hábito de sobre-embalar os seus produtos e inverter a procura pelo plástico", defendeu Von Hernandez. No seu estudo, o movimento refere que a produção de plástico também expõe a substâncias nocivas as comunidades que vivem perto das fábricas e que a contaminação se estende aos produtos embalados.

Lusopt

Portugal : un bateau du XVIe siècle et ses épices retrouvés dans le Tage - Archéologie

“Un bateau du XVIe siècle découvert dans le Tage”, annonçait samedi 22 septembre le journal portugais Expresso. Et il contient toujours des épices, précise l’hebdomadaire. “Cette trouvaille[à l’embouchure du fleuve le 3 septembre] est la plus importante de la dernière décennie, précise l’archéologue Jorge Freire, parmi les bateaux de la même époque échoués sur la côte portugaise”. Pour rappel, on estime le nombre de ces naufrages à 10 000.

Il s’agit cette fois-ci d’un vaisseau de la Carreira da India, la flotte qui assurait la liaison annuelle entre Lisbonne et Goa, en Inde, de 1497 à 1810. Le vaisseau se serait échoué entre 1575 et 1625. À douze mètres de profondeur, les archéologues ont retrouvé à bord du navire des grains de poivre, neuf canons en bronze, des fragments de porcelaine chinoise de l’époque Wanli (1573-1619), mais aussi des cauris, coquillages utilisés comme monnaie pour le trafic d’esclaves.

Expresso - Portugal

West Coast Launch and Landing - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 October 11

West Coast Launch and Landing Image Credit & Copyright: John Kraus

Explanation: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch dazzled viewers along the U.S. west coast after sunset on October 7. Rising from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, planet Earth, the Falcon 9's first stage then returned to a landing zone some 400 meters from the launch site less than 8 minutes after liftoff. Both launch and first stage landing (left) are captured in the frame of this two image stack, recorded by a stationary, sound-activated camera set up on a nearby hill. This Falcon 9 rocket delivered its payload, an Earth-observing satellite developed by Argentina's national space agency, to low Earth orbit. Of course, the Falcon 9 first stage had flown before. Following a launch from Vandenberg on July 25 it was recovered after landing on the autonomous drone ship Just Read the Instructions.

Astronautas em perigo aterraram de emergência - Video - Espaço

O astronauta Nick Hague da NASA e o cosmonauta Alexey Ovchinin da Roscosmos regressaram à Terra depois de o foguetão russo Soyuz que os levaria até à Estação Espacial Internacional ter acusado erros de funcionamento minutos depois da descolagem em direção ao espaço. A agência espacial norte-americana diz que os astronautas detetaram problemas no motor da aeronave, que fez um regresso de emergência à Terra em modo balístico. Os astronautas voltaram em segurança e já saíram da cápsula russa.

No momento em que o erro foi detetado é possível ouvir um sinal de alerta e a mensagem: “Inaudível. Há uma emergência. Há uma falha no impulsionador. Estamos em ausência de peso”. Às 10h20, os astronautas aterraram em segurança no Cazaquistão e estão agora a ser acudidos pelas equipas de busca e salvamento. A agência espacial norte-americana diz que os dois astronautas estão “em boas condições”.

Observador - Portugal

Sun Dance - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 October 10

Sun Dance 
Video Credit: NASA, SDO; Processing: Alan Watson via Helioviewer Explanation: Sometimes, the surface of our Sun seems to dance. In the middle of 2012, for example, NASA's Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamic Observatory spacecraft imaged an impressive prominence that seemed to perform a running dive roll like an acrobatic dancer. The dramatic explosion was captured in ultraviolet light in the featured time-lapse video covering about three hours. A looping magnetic field directed the flow of hot plasma on the Sun. The scale of thedancing prominence is huge -- the entire Earth would easily fit under the flowing arch of hot gas. A quiescent prominence typically lasts about a month, and may erupt in a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) expelling hot gas into the Solar System. The energy mechanism that creates a solar prominence is still a topic of research. Unlike 2012, this year the Sun's surface is significantly more serene, featuring fewer spinning prominences, as it is near the minimum in its 11-year magnetic cycle.

Era - "Ameno" - Video - Musica

"Ameno"

The Last Days of Venus as the Evening Star - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 October 5

The Last Days of Venus as the Evening Star Image Credit & Copyright: Radu-Mihai Anghel

Explanation: That's not a young crescent Moon poised above the hills along the western horizon at sunset. It's Venus in a crescent phase. About 54 million kilometers away and less than 20 percent illuminated, it was captured by telescope and camera on September 30 near Bacau, Romania. The bright celestial beacon is now languishing in the evening twilight, its days as the Evening Star in 2018 coming to a close. But it also grows larger in apparent size and becomes an ever thinner crescent in telescopic views. Heading toward an inferior conjunction (non-judgmental), the inner planet will be positioned between Earth and Sun on October 26 and lost from view in the solar glare. At month's end a crescent Venus will reappear in the east though, rising just before the Sun as the brilliant Morning Star.

Opportunity After the Storm - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 October 4

Opportunity After the Storm  Image Credit: HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA

Explanation: On Mars dust storms can't actually blow spacecraft over, but they can blot out the Sun. Over three months ago a planet-wide dust storm caused a severe lack of sunlight for the Mars rover Opportunity at its location near the west rim of Endeavour crater. The lack of sunlight sent the solar-powered Opportunity into hibernation and for over 115 sols controllers have not received any communication from the rover. The dust is clearing as the storm subsides though. On September 20th, when this image was taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera, about 25 percent of the sunlight was reaching the surface again. The white box marks a 47-meter-wide (154-foot-wide) area centered on a blip identified as the silent-for-now Opportunity rover.

NGC 1898: Globular Cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 October 3

NGC 1898: Globular Cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Explanation: Jewels don't shine this bright -- only stars do. And almost every spot in this glittering jewel-box of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope is a star. Now some stars are more red than our Sun, and some more blue -- but all of them are much farther away. Although it takes light about 8 minutes to reach Earth from the Sun, NGC 1898 is so far away that it takes light about 160,000 years to get here. This huge ball of stars, NGC 1898, is called aglobular cluster and resides in the central bar of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) -- a satellite galaxy of our large Milky Way Galaxy. The featured multi-colored image includes light from the infrared to the ultraviolet and was taken to help determine if the stars of NGC 1898 all formed at the same time, or at different times. There are increasing indications that most globular clusters formed stars in stages, and that, in particular, stars from NGC 1898 formed shortly after ancient encounters with the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and our Milky Way Galaxy.