Flying Saucer Crash Lands in Utah Desert - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 November 8

Flying Saucer Crash Lands in Utah Desert  Image Credit: USAF 388th Range Sqd., Genesis Mission, NASA

Explanation: A flying saucer from outer space crash-landed in the Utah desert after being tracked by radar and chased by helicopters. The year was 2004, and no space aliens were involved. The saucer, pictured here, was theGenesis sample return capsule, part of a human-made robot Genesis spaceship launched in 2001 by NASA itself to study the Sun. The unexpectedly hard landing at over 300 kilometers per hour occurred because the parachutes did not open as planned. The Genesis mission had been orbiting the Sun collecting solar wind particles that are usually deflected away by Earth's magnetic field. Despite the crash landing, many return samples remained in good enough condition to analyze. So far, Genesis-related discoveries include new details about the composition of the Sun and how the abundance of some types of elements differ across the Solar System. These results have provided intriguing clues into details of how the Sun and planets formed billions of years ago.

NGC 6188: The Dragons of Ara - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 November 7

NGC 6188: The Dragons of Ara Image Credit & Copyright: Tian Lee

Explanation: Dark shapes with bright edges winging their way through dusty NGC 6188 are tens of light-years long. The emission nebula is found near the edge of an otherwise dark large molecular cloud in the southern constellation Ara, about 4,000 light-years away. Born in that region only a few million years ago, the massive young stars of the embedded Ara OB1 association sculpt the fantastic shapes and power the nebular glow with stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation. The recent star formation itself was likely triggered by winds and supernova explosions, from previous generations of massive stars, that swept up and compressed the molecular gas. With image data from theChilescope Observatory, a false-color Hubble palette was used to create this gorgeous wide-field image and shows emission from sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms in red, green, and blue hues. The field of view spans about four full Moons, corresponding to about 150 light years at the estimated distance of NGC 6188.

Cygnus Shell Supernova Remnant W63 - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 November 2

Cygnus Shell Supernova Remnant W63 
Image Credit & Copyright: J-P Metsavainio (Astro Anarchy)

Explanation: The ghost of a long-dead star, the W63 supernova remnant shines like a faint cosmic smoke-ring along the plane of the Milky Way galaxy toward the northern constellation Cygnus the swan. Its wraithlike appearance is traced against the region's rich complex of interstellar clouds and dust by an eerie blue glow. Spanning over four full moons on the sky, the beautiful image is a telescopic mosaic in twelve panels that combines 100 hours of exposure time using narrow band filters. It shows characteristic light from ionized atoms of sulfur, hydrogen and oxygen in red, green, and blue hues. Likely over 5,000 light-years away, the visible part of the still expanding shell supernova remnant is around 150 light-years in diameter. So far no source has been identified as with the remains of W63's original star. Light from the star's supernova explosion would have reached Earth over 15,000 years ago.

Hyperion: Largest Known Galaxy Proto-Supercluster - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 October 23

Hyperion: Largest Known Galaxy Proto-Supercluster 
Visualization Credit: ESO, L. Calçada & Olga Cucciati et al.

Explanation: How did galaxies form in the early universe? To help find out, astronomers surveyed a patch of dark night sky with the Very Large Telescope array in Chile to find and count galaxies that formed when our universe was very young. Analysis of the distribution of some distant galaxies (redshifts near 2.5) found an enormous conglomeration of galaxies that spanned 300 million light years and contained about 5,000 times the mass of our Milky Way Galaxy. Dubbed Hyperion, it is currently the largest and most massive proto-supercluster yet discovered in the early universe. A proto-supercluster is a group of young galaxies that is gravitationally collapsing to create a supercluster, which itself a group of several galaxy clusters, which itself is a group of hundreds of galaxies, which itself is a group of billions of stars. In the featured visualization, massive galaxies are depicted in white, while regions containing a large amount of smaller galaxies are shaded blue. Identifying and understanding such large groups of early galaxies contributes to humanity's understanding of the composition and evolution of the universe as a whole.

Halo of the Cat's Eye - Astronomy picture of the day - 2018 October 21

Halo of the Cat's Eye 
Image Credit & Copyright: Data: Michael Joner (West Mountain Observatory, BYU),
Romano Corradi (IAC), Hubble Legacy Archive - Processing: Robert Gendler

Explanation: Not a Falcon 9 rocket launch after sunset, the Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is one of the best known planetary nebulae in the sky. Its haunting symmetries are seen in the very central region of this composited picture, processed to reveal an enormous but extremely faint halo of gaseous material, over three light-years across. Made with data from ground- and space-based telescopes it shows the extended emission which surrounds the brighter, familiar planetary nebula. Planetary nebulae have long been appreciated as a final phase in the life of a sun-like star. But only more recently have some planetaries been found to have halos like this one, likely formed of material shrugged off during earlier active episodes in the star's evolution. While the planetary nebula phase is thought to last for around 10,000 years, astronomers estimate the outer filamentary portions of this halo to be 50,000 to 90,000 years old.

The end never end - Pause

Pause : the end never end

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.