Lifeboat Foundation

The Sun exhibits a well-observed modulation in the number of spots on its disk over a period of about 11 years. From the dawn of modern observational astronomy, sunspots have presented a challenge to understanding—their quasi-periodic variation in number, first noted 175 years ago, has stimulated community-wide interest to this day. A large number of techniques are able to explain the temporal landmarks, (geometric) shape, and amplitude of sunspot “cycles,” however, forecasting these features accurately in advance remains elusive. Recent observationally-motivated studies have illustrated a relationship between the Sun’s 22-year (Hale) magnetic cycle and the production of the sunspot cycle landmarks and patterns, but not the amplitude of the sunspot cycle. Using (discrete) Hilbert transforms on more than 270 years of (monthly) sunspot numbers we robustly identify the so-called “termination” events that mark the end of the previous 11-yr sunspot cycle, the enhancement/acceleration of the present cycle, and the end of 22-yr magnetic activity cycles. Using these we extract a relationship between the temporal spacing of terminators and the magnitude of sunspot cycles. Given this relationship and our prediction of a terminator event in 2020, we deduce that sunspot Solar Cycle 25 could have a magnitude that rivals the top few since records began. This outcome would be in stark contrast to the community consensus estimate of sunspot Solar Cycle 25 magnitude.

So young and already so evolved: Thanks to observations obtained at the Large Binocular Telescope, an international team of researchers coordinated by Paolo Saracco of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF, Italy) was able to reconstruct the wild evolutionary history of an extremely massive galaxy that existed 12 billion years ago, when the universe was only 1.8 billion years old, less than 13% of its present age. This galaxy, dubbed C1-23152, formed in only 500 million years, an incredibly short time to give rise to a mass of about 200 billion suns. To do so, it produced as many as 450 stars per year, more than one per day, a star formation rate almost 300 times higher than the current rate in the Milky Way. The information obtained from this study will be fundamental for galaxy formation models for objects it for which it is currently difficult to account.

The most massive galaxies in the universe reach masses several hundred billion times that of the sun, and although they are numerically just one-third of all galaxies, they contain more than 70% of the stars in the universe. For this reason, the speed at which these galaxies formed and the dynamics involved are among the most debated questions of modern astrophysics. The current model of galaxy formation—the so-called hierarchical model—predicts that smaller galaxies formed earlier, while more massive systems formed later, through subsequent mergers of the pre-existing smaller galaxies.

On the other hand, some of the properties of the most massive galaxies observed in the local universe, such as the age of their stellar populations, suggest instead that they formed at early epochs. Unfortunately, the variety of evolutionary phenomena that galaxies can undergo during their lives does not allow astronomers to define the way in which they formed, leaving large margins of uncertainty. However, an answer to these questions can come from the study of the properties of massive galaxies in the early universe, as close as possible to the time when they formed most of their mass.

San Francisco-area startup Astra became the latest U.S. rocket builder to reach space on Tuesday, with the successful launch of its Rocket 3.2 vehicle from Kodiak, Alaska.

The rocket came just shy of reaching orbit, with Astra CEO Chris Kemp telling reporters after the launch that the vehicle reached the target altitude of 390 kilometers but was “just a half a kilometer per second short” of the target orbital velocity.

“This far exceeded our team’s expectations,” Kemp said.

“When we actually opened it, I was speechless,” JAXA scientist Hirotaka Sawada said, as quoted by The Guardian. “It was more than we expected and there was so much that I was truly impressed.”

The quality of the sample was outstanding.

“It wasn’t fine particles like powder, but there were plenty of samples that measured several millimeters across,” Sawada added, according to The Guardian.

But Einstein’s failed dream could ultimately become his ultimate triumph, as a small group of theoretical physicists rework his old ideas. It won’t necessarily bring all the forces of the universe together, but it could explain some of the most pressing issues facing modern science.

“While astronauts in space need to get creative with their water supply, that’s not to suggest that people ought to start drinking pee to access clean water. Rather, Aquaporin, the company behind the new system, suggests that the same kind of technology could be used to clean up other types of wastewater or filter existing drinking water supplies to the point that they could be used.”

As Above

Roughly 2 billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water, according to CNN, and a system like Aquaporin could help remove pollution and plastics from the supply.

Continue reading “Scientists Say Pee-Drinking Machine Could Save Lives” »

Although a single cataclysmic event gained most attention this year — the COVID pandemic — there were many other newsworthy developments in science and research, from daring space missions to room-temperature superconductors.

Mars missions, record‑breaking wildfires and a room‑temperature superconductor are among this year’s top non‑COVID stories.

Astronomers have found more than a thousand stars that once belonged to an ancient satellite galaxy inside our own.

Virgin Galactic will fly again when VSS Unity is ready.

A bad computer connection foiled Virgin Galactic’s attempt to reach space over the weekend, company officials said.

VSS Unity, Virgin Galactic’s newest SpaceShipTwo vehicle, lifted off Saturday morning (Dec. 12) from New Mexico’s Spaceport America beneath the wings of its carrier airplane, VMS Eve.