Autonomous glider withstands two hurricanes while transmitting continuous ocean data

SEPTEMBER 28, 2021, by Leslie Lee, Texas A&M University

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-09-autonomous-glider-hurricanes-transmitting-ocean.html

The Texas A&M Liquid Robotics WaveGlider SV3 was deployed Aug. 13, 2021. 

Credit: Steve DiMarco

Today, 100 miles off the coast of Texas, a 10-foot-long yellow autonomous glider is riding waves as it patrols the perimeter above the NOAA Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

It is collecting water quality data related to ocean acidification, which is essential to monitoring the long-term survival of the sanctuary's unique coral reef ecosystem, and transmitting it to a research team that includes Texas A&M University System scientists.

The Texas A&M Liquid Robotics WaveGlider SV3's 90-day deployment—the first of its kind in the U.S.—is part of a multi-institutional collaborative project funded by NOAA's Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Office Ocean Acidification Program (OAP). Project partners include the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M University's Geochemical and Environmental Research Group (GERG), the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS), Liquid Robotics, and the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

But the WaveGlider's mission has been bumpier than expected. It has survived two named hurricanes—Ida and Nicholas—since Texas A&M GERG scientists deployed it Aug. 13 into the Gulf of Mexico.

"The WaveGlider was riding 16-foot swells after Hurricane Nicholas," said Steve DiMarco, professor of oceanography at Texas A&M and team leader for ocean observing at Texas A&M GERG. "Those are not seas where we want to put a research vessel loaded with scientists and students. So, that's one reason why this autonomous glider is perfect for this mission. It's the first long-term operational monitoring of a coral reef in U.S. waters using an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV)."

This feat shows the important role that autonomous systems can play in collecting invaluable ocean data—even in the face of extreme weather events, the research team said.

The principal investigator leading the project is Xinping Hu, chair for ecosystem science and modeling at the Harte Research Institute and associate professor in the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

"Our lab has been working with the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary since 2013 collecting seawater carbonate data," Hu said. "But sample collections have been mostly on a seasonal basis and rely on the sanctuary's research vessel, the R/V Manta. The WaveGlider offers an excellent opportunity for us to continuously monitor this area for an extended period of time with unprecedented temporal resolution. We can't wait to see what the on-board sensors will reveal for the entire deployment."

Researchers work together to protect marine sanctuary

The groundbreaking work is being made possible through collaborations with several partners. DiMarco is co-leading the research, while Kerri Whilden, GERG assistant research scientist and GCOOS oceanographer, is leading at-sea logistics, sensor integration, deployment and recovery operations. Liquid Robotics technicians are remotely piloting the ASV.

https://youtu.be/w3pfMW0wNh0

Credit: Texas A&M University

The Wave Glider mission support is provided by the GCOOS glider-piloting dashboard and data portal known as GANDALF. In addition to providing real-time vehicle positioning information, GANDALF can show data layers that can be individually displayed on the base map, including visible and infrared satellite images, sea surface temperature and chlorophyll images, sea surface heights and navigational charts.

"The Flower Garden Banks is a stunningly beautiful coral reef, and it's just off the Texas coast," said Anthony Knap, director of GERG. "Not many people know about it, but it is very well known in the diving community. We're interested in it scientifically because it's vulnerable to the harmful effects of ocean acidification, which can cause bleaching and death to corals, and if the building blocks of a reef, corals, start to die, then all the rest of that ecosystem—the fish, the turtles, the whale sharks, all the life that depends upon that coral reef—could also be in danger."

DiMarco said there has been recent history of mortality events at this location.

"In 2016 there was a really bad die-off of the coral, and it was attributed to low oxygen water that bathed that coral reef and caused bleaching of the coral heads," DiMarco said."This type of monitoring provides resource managers timely information so they can respond to future threats."

Autonomous glider gives continual data, reduces costs and risks

The WaveGlider's 90-day solo voyage is an important test run for ocean science.

If it can successfully patrol above the marine sanctuary, regularly measuring and transmitting water quality data, then a whole new set of possibilities will open up for oceanographers: remote, continual data collection that is not dependent on a stable sea-state, as research vessel voyages are.

"Our job here is to create an autonomous vehicle that we could send out on patrol instead of relying on an expensive, weather-dependent ship-based team to monitor this important reef," DiMarco said. "And since Aug. 13, our ASV team has demonstrated the operational capability to put a data-collecting system like this out there and have it patrol around."

The Wave Glider deployment from the R/V Pelican included a diverse team of scientists, technicians and students. On board from Texas A&M were chief scientist DiMarco, chemist Piers Chapman, ASV operations leader Whilden, and students Ellen Laaker, Samantha Longridge, Reshmi Joseph, Sakib Mahmud and Xiao Ge. The Texas A&M Corpus Christi team included Hu, postdoctoral researcher Hang Yin, technician Cory Staryk, and students Molly Brzezinski, Nicole Kumbula and Kenzie Merrill.

The deployment was a one-of-a-kind experience for those students and graduate students, and the importance of their work is clear, the scientists said: if the Flower Garden Banks sanctuary is not protected from ocean acidification, its corals and entire ecosystem are in danger.

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Defense News: Czech Republic buys Israeli Spyder air-defense weapon for $627 million

 

Czech Republic buys Israeli Spyder air-defense weapon for $627 million

By Jaroslaw Adamowski, Defense News, Sept.28, 2021

https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2021/09/28/czech-republic-buys-israeli-spyder-air-defense-weapon-for-627-million/

The Czech Republic has signed a contract to buy the Rafael-made Spyder air-defense weapon. (Rafael Advanced Defense Systems photo)

WARSAW, Poland — The Czech Ministry of Defence has signed a deal to acquire the Spyder surface-to-air missile systems made by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. The contract is worth 13.69 billion koruna (US$627 million), the ministry said in a statement.

Czech Defence Minister Lubomír Metnar said the purchase would enable Prague to replace its outdated, Soviet-designed 2K12 Kub surface-to-air systems with modern military technology.

“I appreciate the willingness of the Israeli government to share with us a state-of-the-art defense system that will move our military towards 21st century capabilities,” Metnar said, as quoted in the statement.

 “Finally, we will get rid of our dependence on the Soviet Kub [systems] from the 1970s which do not meet the current requirements for airspace protection.”

Under the contract, the Czech defense industry will take part in the program, supplying products and services worth more than 30 percent of its value.

The Czech Armed Forces are expected to operate the supplied systems for at least 20 years. Combined with the costs of maintenance and repairs, the acquisition will cost the country’s budget about 23 billion koruna, or $1 billion, according to the statement.

Deliveries of the four launchers are scheduled to be completed by 2026, the ministry said.

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Unbreakable glass inspired by seashells

Date:                              September 28, 2021
Source:                          McGill University

Summary:
Scientists develop stronger and tougher glass, inspired by the inner layer of mollusk shells. Instead of shattering upon impact, the new material has the resiliency of plastic and could be used to improve cell phone screens in the future, among other applications.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210928121327.htm

added by CiC from google search ( berkeley edu)

While techniques like tempering and laminating can help reinforce glass, they are costly and no longer work once the surface is damaged. "Until now there were trade-offs between high strength, toughness, and transparency. Our new material is not only three times stronger than the normal glass, but also more than five times more fracture resistant," says Allen Ehrlicher, an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at McGill University.

Nature as master of design

Drawing inspiration from nature, the scientist created a new glass and acrylic composite material that mimics nacre or mother of pearl. (Nacre is secreted by oysters and various pearl mollusks as a defense mechanism against foreign irritants. added by CiC) "Nature is a master of design. Studying the structure of biological materials and understanding how they work offers inspiration, and sometimes blueprints, for new materials," says Ehrlicher.

"Amazingly, nacre has the rigidity of a stiff material and durability of a soft material, giving it the best of both worlds," he explains. "It's made of stiff pieces of chalk-like matter that are layered with soft proteins that are highly elastic. This structure produces exceptional strength, making it 3000 times tougher than the materials that compose it."

The scientists took the architecture of nacre and replicated it with layers of glass flakes and acrylic, yielding an exceptionally strong yet opaque material that can be produced easily and inexpensively. They then went a step further to make the composite optically transparent. "By tuning the refractive index of the acrylic, we made it seamlessly blend with the glass to make a truly transparent composite," says lead author Ali Amini, a Postdoctoral Researcher at McGill. As next steps, they plan to improve it by incorporating smart technology allowing the glass to change its properties, such as colour, mechanics, and conductivity.

Lost invention of flexible glass

Flexible glass is supposedly a lost invention from the time of the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar. According to popular historical accounts by Roman authors Gaius Plinius Secundus and Petronius, the inventor brought a drinking bowl made of the material before the Emperor. When the bowl was put to the test to break it, it only dented instead of shattering.

After the inventor swore he was the only person who knew how to produce the material, Tiberius had the man executed, fearing that the glass would devalue gold and silver because it might be more valuable.

"When I think about the story of Tiberius, I'm glad that our material innovation leads to publication rather than execution," says Ehrlicher.

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White dwarfs become magnetic as they get older

SEPTEMBER 24, 2021, by Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes

https://phys.org/news/2021-09-white-dwarfs-magnetic-older.html

One out of four WDs will end its life permeated by a strong magnetic field. 

Credit: ESO/L. Calcada

At least one out of four white dwarfs (WDs) will end its life as a magnetic star, and therefore magnetic fields are an essential component of WD physics. New insights into the magnetism of degenerate stars from a recent analysis of a volume-limited sample of WDs have provided the best evidence obtained so far of how the frequency of magnetism in WDs correlates with age. This could help to explain the origin and evolution of magnetic fields in WDs.

More than 90% of the stars of our Galaxy end their lives as WDs. Although many have a magnetic field, it's still unknown when it appears on the surface, whether it evolves during the cooling phase of the WD and, above all, what are the mechanisms that generate it.

Astronomical observations are frequently subject to strong biases. Because WDs are dying stars, they become cooler, and hence fainter and fainter with time. As a consequence, observations tend to favor the study of the brightest WDs, which are hot and young. There is also a more subtle and counterintuitive effect. Because of their degenerate status, more massive WDs are smaller than less massive ones (imagine a series of spheres where the smaller ones are the heavier). Because smaller WDs are also fainter, observations tend to also favor the less massive stars.

In summary, observations of targets selected according to their brightness (for instance, observing all WDs brighter than a certain magnitude) tend to concentrate on young and less massive stars, totally neglecting older WDs.

Another issue is that most of the observations of WDs are made with spectroscopic techniques which are sensitive only to the strongest magnetic fields, thus failing to identify a substantial fraction of magnetic WDs. The sensitivity of spectropolarimetry to magnetic fields may be more than two orders of mangitude better than spectroscopy. Spectropolarimetry has demonstrated that weak fields, which escape detection via spectroscopic techniques, are actually quite common in WDs.

In order to carry out a complete spectropolarimetric survey, astronomers from Armagh Observatory and the University of Western Ontario selected all the WDs from the Gaia catalog in a volume within 20 parsecs of the Sun. About two thirds of this sample, or approximately 100 WDs, had not been observed before and hence there were no data available in the literature. Consequently, the team observed them using the ISIS spectrograph and polarimeter on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT), together with similiar instruments on other telescopes.

They found that magnetic fields are rare at the beginning of the life of a WD, when the star no longer produces energy in its interior, and starts its cooling phase. Therefore a magnetic field does not appear to be a characteristic of a WD since its "birth." Most frequently, it is either generated, or brought to the stellar surface during the WD's cooling phase.

They also found that the magnetic fields of WDs do not show obvious signs of Ohmic decay, again an indication that these fields are generated during the cooling phase, or at least continue to emerge at the stellar surface as the WD ages.

This picture is totally different from what is observed for instance in magnetic Ap and Bp stars of the upper main sequence, where it is found that not only are magnetic fields present as soon as the star reaches the zero-age main sequence, but also that the field strength quickly decreases with time. Magnetism in WDs therefore seems to be a totally different phenomenon than magnetism of Ap and Bp stars.

Not only does magnetic field frequency increase with WD age, but it is known that the frequency is correlated with stellar mass, and that fields appear more frequently after the star's carbon-oxygen core has started to crystallize. A dynamo mechanism can explain the weakest fields among those observed in WDs, and recent work suggests that the same mechanism could be capable of producing fields stronger than originally predicted.

For comparison, the strength of the Earth's magnetic field, produced by a dynamo mechanism, is about one Gauss. A dynamo mechanism can explain fields up to 0.1 million Gauss strength, but in WDs fields up to several hundred million Gauss have been observed. Furthermore, a dynamo mechanism needs fast rotation, but this is not generally observed in WDs. Further theoretical and observational investigation is needed to distangle this situation.

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Defense News: IDF receives additional 'Adir' fighters

 

IDF receives additional 'Adir' fighters 

The Air Force now has about 30 of the F-35 stealth fighters in three squadrons at the Nevatim Air Base

By Dan Arkin, Israel Defense,  09/27/2021

https://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/node/51982

The 3 newly arrived F35A at Nevatim Air Base. Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

Three new F-35 'Adir' fighter planes landed on Sunday at the Nevatim Air Base in southern Israel, and the Air Force now has 30 stealth fighters made by Lockheed Martin, including a test plane at the Flight Testing Center of Tel Nof Air Base.   

An IAF operational F35A #928  prepares to take off. Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

The Air Force currently operates three 'Adir' squadrons at Nevatim: the 140th ("Golden Eagle") squadron, the IAF's first squadron of F-35s; the 116th ("Lions of the South") squadron; and the 117th squadron.    

An IAF operational F35A  #928  prepares to take off. Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

F-35 planes worldwide have so far accumulated over 430,000 flight hours. The price for each plane is currently $77.9 million. The stealth fighters operate from 29 air bases in nine countries as well as from aircraft carriers. Over 1,460 pilots and 11,025 maintainers have been trained.

  

Everything You Need to Know About the F-35i Fighter Jet

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Defense News: Boeing delivers first Block III Super Hornets to the US Navy

 

Boeing delivers first Block III Super Hornets to the US Navy

By Megan Eckstein, Defense News, Sept.27 2021

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2021/09/27/boeing-delivers-first-block-iii-super-hornets-to-the-us-navy/

Boeing will build 78 total new F/A-18 aircraft in the Block III configuration. (Eric Shindelbower/Boeing)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy this month accepted the first two Block III F/A-18 Super Hornet jets from Boeing, the company announced Sept. 27, kicking off a process that will create a better networked and more lethal fighter fleet.

Boeing will build 78 total new aircraft in the Block III configuration, which includes an Advanced Cockpit System built around a touchscreen display; the Tactical Targeting Network Technology, or TTNT; and Distributed Targeting Processor-Networked, or DTP-N.

The network will help link all the sensors from aircraft and ships in the battlespace to create a better operational picture for smarter targeting decisions, and the new processor has 17 times the computing power of the precious mission computer, Jen Tebo, Boeing’s vice president of F/A-18 and EA-18G projects, told reporters Sept. 23. Tebo added that the new, open-design processor can take on yet-to-come upgrades and capabilities.

The Block III jets are also built for 10,000 flight hours compared to 6,000 hours for earlier jets, and they’ve been made stealthier and more survivable with additional treatments that reduce their radar cross section, Tebo explained.

“If you think about where the capabilities are going in the future, it’s certainly around the airframe, certainly around the survivability piece, stealth technology piece. But the meat and potatoes in the future are really going to be around the networking and the mission systems, and this sets up the Super Hornet to be the risk-reducer and the bridge to get to Next Gen Air Dominance,” she said, referring to the Navy’s next fighter program that’s in the early planning stages.

Boeing is to deliver the new aircraft at a pace of about two per month.

At the same time, the Navy is putting its Block II Super Hornets through a life-extension program, and all aircraft going through those upgrades — meant to fix wear and tear on the airframe and extend the jets from 6,000 to 10,000 hours of flight time — will receive upgrades to the Block III configuration. Tebo said that if the Navy puts all its Block II aircraft through the modification program, the service would have more than 500 total Block III aircraft — new and upgraded — that would continue trickling into the fleet well into the 2030s.

Next steps

Boeing delivered two test aircraft to the Navy last year, and the service tested the new systems and conducted carrier suitability tests with the new cockpit, said Kevin McLaughlin, Boeing’s director of Navy tactical aircraft programs. With the delivery of these first two operational Block III jets, the Navy can send them to China Lake, California, to undergo developing tactics, techniques and procedures for the new capabilities, which will allow the pilots to receive more information than before and work in coordination with more troops in the area.

Additionally, he said, pilots from the first operational squadron to receive Block III jets will travel to St. Louis, Missouri, this fall to begin learning the new systems in simulators at Boeing’s facility there.

McLaughlin, a career Navy F-18 pilot himself, said the touchscreen cockpit system will be a particularly important improvement. Older jets have three small screens that only display certain information each; the new cockpit has one large touchscreen display that could be configured like the previous display, if pilots are more comfortable in the beginning looking at a familiar display, but they can also be reconfigured to highlight information that’s most important to a particular mission.

Tebo said the display will incorporate future capabilities such as artificial intelligence and decision aides. Earlier Super Hornets received upgrades about every other year, but the open-mission system on Block III will allow the Navy, Boeing or a third party to develop improvements or new capabilities.

By the end of the year, Tebo said, the Navy will have begun sending the jets coming off the production line to operational squadrons.

Boeing delivered its first two F/A-18 Block III jets to the U.S. Navy in September 2021. (Eric Shindelbower/Boeing)

The Block III jets will be ready to accept the Infrared search and track sensor system that will come online around the same time the aircraft are ready for their first operational employment. The jets will also be ready to accept a conformal fuel tank — which Boeing originally pitched as part of the Block III design — if the Navy decides to finish designing the tanks and buy that capability, Tebo said.

Boeing’s approach to modernizing the Navy’s fleet stairsteps up the capability of the jets while buying down risk on the next step of modernization, Tebo added.

The EA-18G Growler electronic attack jet is undergoing a modernization effort that adds in TTNT, DTP-N and satellite communication, she said. Boeing will take those same upgrade kits and use them for the Super Hornet service life modification as well as the Block III upgrade effort, adding in the advanced cockpit and the materials needed to extend the airframe by 4,000 hours. Once that effort is proven, the Growlers will receive upgrades to a Block II configuration with the advanced cockpit, which Tebo said Boeing will know how to efficiently install thanks to the Super Hornet work.

“There’s a lot of learning that goes on between the two platforms,” she said, with all of the learning ultimately informing the company’s work on the Next Generation Air Dominance future fighter.

International efforts

During the same event, Tebo also addressed foreign sales opportunities Boeing is pursuing. Switzerland chose the F-35 over the F-18 earlier this year, she said, but the company remains hopeful Canada or Finland will select the Super Hornet.

Canada, which would buy 88 jets, is an F-35 partner nation but already fields Super Hornets and is involved in the F-18 industrial base.

With Finland, the Growler is also part of Boeing’s offer, and Tebo said the EA-18G could be the differentiating factor that helps the company win a contract.

Additionally, Germany plans to buy Super Hornets and Growlers to replace its aging Tornado fighter-bombers as well as upgrade its multirole Eurofighters, but Tebo said the timing remains unclear. Boeing is continuing discussions with Germany until the country’s leadership is ready to sign a deal.

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More Than Meets the Eye: Hubble Misses Vast Amounts of Energy

By EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY SEPTEMBER 26, 2021

https://scitechdaily.com/more-than-meets-the-eye-hubble-misses-vast-amounts-of-energy/

Credit: ESA/Hubble, A. Riess et al., J. Greene

Meet NGC 5728, a spiral galaxy around 130 million light-years from Earth. This image was captured using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), which is extremely sensitive to visible and infrared light. Therefore, this image beautifully captures the regions of NGC 5728 that are emitting visible and infrared light. However, there are many other types of light that galaxies such as NGC 5728 can emit, which WFC3 cannot see.

In this image, NCG 5728 appears to be an elegant, luminous, barred spiral galaxy. What this image does not show, however, is that NGC 5728 is also a monumentally energetic type of galaxy, known as a Seyfert galaxy.

This extremely energetic class of galaxies are powered by their active cores, which are known as active galactic nuclei (AGNs). There are many different types of AGNs, and only some of them power Seyfert galaxies.

NGC 5728, like all Seyfert galaxies, is distinguished from other galaxies with AGNs because the galaxy itself can be seen clearly. Other types of AGNs, such as quasars, emit so much radiation that it is almost impossible to observe the galaxy that houses them.

As this image shows, NGC 5728 is clearly observable, and at optical and infrared wavelengths it looks quite normal. It is fascinating to know that the galaxy’s center is emitting vast amounts of light in parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that WFC3 just isn’t sensitive to!

Just to complicate things, the AGN at NGC 5728’s core might actually be emitting some visible and infrared light — but it may be blocked by the dust surrounding the galaxy’s core.

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Rolls Royce wins US Air Force contract worth up to $2.6 bn

SEPTEMBER 25, 2021

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-09-royce-air-worth-bn.html

A US bomber B-52 bomber (R) accompanied by an Indonesian F-16 fighter jet (L) during a joint exercise over Sulawesi waters in Indonesia.

The US arm of Britain's Rolls Royce won a contract worth up to $2.6 billion Friday to supply engines for the US Air Force's B-52H bomber fleet, the Air Force announced.

The company's Indianapolis, Indiana manufacturing unit was awarded a $500.9 million "indefinite-delivery/indefinite quantity" contract over six years for replacement engines for the B-52s, the long-range Stratofortress bombers that have been a mark of US strategic power since the 1950s.

The contract has a potential total value of $2.6 billion "if all options are exercised," the Air Force said.

The Air Force chose Rolls Royce for the contract ahead of GE Aviation and Pratt & Whitney.

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Space News: 'Star Trek' star William Shatner to fly to space with Jeff Bezos, be oldest man in space - report

 

'Star Trek' star William Shatner to fly to space with Jeff Bezos, be oldest man in space - report

The 90-year-old famous for playing Captain James T. Kirk might boldly go where no old man has gone before, becoming the oldest man to ever fly to space.

By AARON REICH   Jerusalem Post, SEPTEMBER 26, 2021

https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/star-trek-star-william-shatner-to-fly-to-space-with-jeff-bezos-be-oldest-man-in-space-report-680321

Publicity photo of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner as Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk from the television program Star Trek. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Jewish-Canadian actor William Shatner, 90, is about to set a new record in his career. The Star Trek actor is heading off to space alongside Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in October, TMZ reported Saturday. 

While Shatner's most iconic character, Stark Trek's James T. Kirk, may have made fictional Starfleet history by becoming its youngest ever captain, the real-life actor will be doing the opposite by boldly going where no man of his age has gone before.

Shatner no longer stars as Kirk in Star Trek media but has remained the face of the franchise. He has also recently released a music album, titled Bill, available on Amazon.

It is unclear why Shatner would be boarding the 15-minute-long flight. According to TMZ, there is potential for a documentary in this saga.

Yet Shatner has expressed a desire to head into space before. Back in 2020, after the successful return of a team astronauts following a flight by Elon Musk's SpaceX, Shatner tweeted a picture of himself in a spacesuit and the caption LAUNCH AMERICA, writing "BTW @NASA - just in case, the suit does fit!"

It also follows the first successful all-civilian flight into space, showing just how accessible space travel is becoming to non-astronauts.

If he accompanies Bezos, Shatner would be the oldest person to ever leave the atmosphere. As of now, the current record-holder is Wally Funk, an 82-year-old test pilot who accompanied Bezos on his July flight.

However, if he does go to space with Bezos, one question remains: Who is footing the bill? 

Space travel is becoming more accessible but is still incredibly expensive, and Bezos is known to keep this price tag high. In the July Blue Origin flight, the last civilian seat was auctioned off for an astronomical $20 million. Will Shatner pay the out-of-this-world price tag out of pocket to fly out of this world?

Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos addresses the media about the New Shepard rocket booster and Crew Capsule mockup at the 33rd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States April 5, 2017. (credit: REUTERS/ISAIAH J. DOWNING/FILE PHOTO)

The Jerusalem Post has reached out to Shatner for comment.

"Risk is Our Business" - speech explaining what Star Trek is about

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Space News: NASA examines the mysteries of distant 'Einstein Ring' galaxy seen by Hubble

 

NASA examines the mysteries of distant 'Einstein Ring' galaxy seen by Hubble

Newly uncovered physical properties of the deep-space phenomenon mean it effectively made Hubble's observing capacity equivalent to that of a 48-metre-aperture (157ft) telescope, compared to the 2.4m (7.8 feet) aperture it actually has.

Sky News, Friday 24 September 2021

https://news.sky.com/story/nasa-examines-the-mysteries-of-distant-einstein-ring-galaxy-seen-by-hubble-12416375

What does this 'Einstein Ring' reveal? Pic: Saurabh Jha, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey

Scientists have examined the mysteries of a distant galaxy made visible not just by the Hubble Space Telescope but also a deep-space optical phenomenon known as an "Einstein Ring".

Hubble is one of the largest astronomy tools ever put into space. It has been orbiting the Earth since 1990 at an altitude of around 540km, capturing some of the most captivating images of deep space humanity has ever seen.

Last December it captured an image of one of the most complete "Einstein Rings" ever seen, a phenomenon theorised by the great scientist in his general theory of relativity - and now scientists have published their research into what it was that they were looking at.

Einstein Ring Spotted by Hubble, Sep 23, 2021

The unusual appearance of the object is due to gravitational lensing, something that happens when light from a distant galaxy is warped by a massive object between the source and the observer.

First theorised in 1912 before Einstein formally published his theory in 1916, the phenomenon seen by Hubble shows the light of a distant galaxy being magnified by a factor of 20.

It effectively made Hubble's observing capacity equivalent to that of a 48-metre-aperture (157ft) telescope, compared to the 2.4m (7.8 feet) aperture it actually has.

These physical properties have only just been discovered after astronomers precisely modelled the effects of the lensing on the image of the distant galaxy.

Hubble previously captured this image, known as the Pillars of Creation, showing stars being born. Pic: NASA

"Such a model could only be obtained with the Hubble imaging," explained lead investigator Anastasio Díaz-Sánchez of the Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena in Spain.

"In particular, Hubble helped us to identify the four duplicated images and the stellar clumps of the lensed galaxy," added Díaz-Sánchez.

The gravity of a cluster of stars aligned perfectly between Hubble and the galaxy in the distance makes the light lens. Pic: Saurabh Jha

The initial Hubble observation was first conducted by Professor Saurabh Jha of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

His team aimed to use the sharp image from Hubble to reveal detailed complex structure in the arcs of the ring itself.

Professor Jha nicknamed the image the "Molten Ring" alluding to its appearance and its host constellation of Fornax (the Furnace) visible from the southern hemisphere.

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