Monthly Archives: March 2024

Professor Paul Cassak; Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University

One of the most important processes across subdisciplines of physics is the conversion of energy. The first law of thermodynamics has been in place for over 170 years and often is the go to solution to explore energy conversion. Applying the first law is much easier to do when the system is in local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE), but many modern physics systems are not in LTE. Examples abound, including from astronomy and cosmology, nuclear physics, and quantum entanglement. An especially prominent example is in plasma and space sciences, where high temperatures, low densities, and large constituent mass differences often reduce the effect of collisions that normally would drive them towards LTE. Plasmas accessibility to direct measurement in space and the laboratory makes them excellent settings for studying non-LTE processes. Often, the evolution of systems out of LTE is described using only a few fluid variables called moments, namely the density, momentum, and energy. However, for a system not in LTE, an infinite number of moments can be important, and the evolution of the other moments is typically not considered. In this talk, we discuss a recent result that combines all the other moments in a single variable (Cassak et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 130, 085201, 2023), namely the so-called relative entropy (Grad, J. Soc. Indust. Appl. Math., 13, 259, 1965). We derive an equation for its time evolution and argue its form complements or extends the first law of thermodynamics for systems not in LTE. We introduce a new quantity we call the higher order non-equilibrium terms (HORNET) which quantifies the rate system approaches or moves away from LTE (Barbhuiya et al., Phys. Rev. E, 109, 015205, 2024) with dimensions of power density, which is useful because it can be directly compared to standard power densities. We demonstrate the results in numerical simulations of various plasma processes. The results could have important applications in a wide array of systems that are out of LTE, both within and outside of physics.

Bio:Dr. Cassak received a Ph.D. in theoretical and computational plasma physics from the University of Maryland in 2006. He was a postdoc at the University of Delaware in 2007 and 2008. His research focuses on magnetic reconnection and its applications using analytical techniques, large scale numerical simulations, and observational data as appropriate.

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Physics and Astronomy Colloquium - Professor Paul Cassak; Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia ... - The University of Iowa

Disclaimer: Beyond astro-ph articles are not necessarily intended to be representative of the views of the entire Astrobites collaboration, nor do they represent the views of the AAS or all astronomers. While AAS supports Astrobites, Astrobites is editorially independent and content that appears on Astrobites is not reviewed or approved by the AAS.

Astronomy on the Global Stage

How do you get 102 countries to agree on anything? And how do you enforce such an agreement? These are the types of questions at the heart of international law. Astronomy is a field that is inherently collaborative and often requires the combined efforts of astronomers from over the world, meaning regulating the issues affecting astronomy and space requires the cooperation of policy makers on an international scale. One of the most influential forums for international space law is the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

COPUOS was established to provide a forum of discussion and diplomacy between member states on how to govern the exploration and use of space. Earlier this year, one of the two subsidiary bodies of COPUOS, the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee (STSC), met for its 61st session. COPUOS operates on the principle of consensus, meaning all 102 member states in the committee must agree for a motion to be adopted. Therefore the process of adopting a motion can take a long time, even years, as diplomats from different member states work on coming to a common understanding. This is why the recent addition of the item Dark and Quiet Skies, astronomy and large constellations: addressing emerging issues and challenges to the COPUOS agenda has been hailed as an important moment in the protection and preservation of the night sky. It shows that many countries agree that this is an important topic of discussion, and represents a step forward in establishing international policy to protect the night sky.

Dark and Quiet Skies

Dark and quiet skies refers to the prevention and reduction of light pollution and radio interference, an issue that has become increasingly important due to the exponential growth in the number of satellites in Low Earth Orbit since 2019. These constellations create streaking trails of light in images and can cause unintended signals that contaminate radio channels. The conference paper where this agenda item was proposed posits that while the increase of satellite constellations may provide some benefits, their large number, their sun-reflected luminosity and their radio-frequency emissions can have a serious impact on astronomical observations as well as on the pristine appearance of the night sky. The issues of Dark and Quiet Skies have been discussed at the STSC since its 57th session in 2020, with the delegations of Chile and Spain leading the effort in partnership with international organizations like the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the International Astronomers Union (IAU), and the Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKAO).

The IAU has been an observer of COPUOS since 1995 and started a subsidiary body in 2022 to address the issue of dark and quiet skies, the Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS). The mission of the CPS is to coordinate efforts on the issue of satellite constellation interference and connect astronomers, satellite companies, and policy makers. The IAU also has a Working Group on Astronomy on the Moon, started in 2023. This working group presented a conference paper to the same session of the STSC, detailing potential future problems related to astronomy on the Moon. The paper explains that cheaper launch to the Moon and the development of lunar infrastructure enable these opportunities, but many planned and potential activities are, in some instances, incompatible with the critical need for these scientific facilities to be free from noise and interference.

Astronomy on the Moon

Why such a focus on the Moon, a seemingly barren chunk of rock, far away from all our existing telescopes? Importantly, the Moon is tidally locked with the Earth, with one side constantly facing away from the Earth. This makes the far side of the Moon one of the most pristine locations in the Solar System for radio astronomy, since all the radio signals from Earth are blocked by the body of the Moon, reducing signal contamination. (Read this Astrobite to learn more about the terrestrial issues facing radio astronomers). The Moon also has no ionosphere, which normally blocks low frequency radio waves from getting through, as is the case with Earths ionosphere. The ultra-low frequency signals can be used to observe the earliest periods of the Universe, including the Cosmic Dark Age, a time before stars and galaxies formed. NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Chinese Academy of Science all have low frequency radio telescopes planned for the Moon.

The Moon also offers opportunities for continuous observations, again due to the tidal locking, allowing unprecedented monitoring of the atmospheres of exoplanets to search for biosignatures. The Moon could even be used to host gravitational wave experiments, since the Moon has much less seismic activity than the Earth, allowing for observations of the mergers of intermediate mass black holes or white dwarfs. Such an observatory would require limiting or regulating the amount of nearby activity on the Moon, including landings and mining. Private companies are already preparing and have sent mining and lander missions, some coordinated with public space agencies, to the Moon, so coordinating these efforts with scientific missions is crucial to preventing disruption of what could be amazing scientific opportunities.

This work on an international stage between member states, intergovernmental organizations, and astronomers indicates a strong step forward for regulating the mega-constellation of satellites and ensuring that space can be preserved for future use by both amateur and professional astronomers. Now eyes are on COPUOS and its 67th session, set to take place in June, 2024.

Astrobite edited by Graham Doskoch

Featured image credit: UNIS Vienna/Johanna Kleinert

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United Nations prioritizes discussion of Dark and Quiet Skies - Astrobites

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have detected commonplace chemical ingredients found in vinegar, ant stings and even margaritas around two young stars, according to NASA.The complex organic molecules they observed using the space observatory's Mid-Infrared Instrument included acetic acid, a component of vinegar, and ethanol otherwise known as alcohol.The team also found simple molecules of formic acid, which causes the burning sensation associated with ant stings, as well as sulfur dioxide, methane and formaldehyde. Scientists think sulfurous compounds such as sulfur dioxide might have played a key role on early Earth that eventually paved the way for life to form.The newly detected molecules were spotted as icy compounds surrounding IRAS 2A and IRAS 23385, which are two protostars, or stars so young they have not yet formed planets. Stars form from swirling clouds of gas and dust, and the leftover material from star formation gives rise to planets.The protostar IRAS 23385 is estimated to be 15,981 light-years from Earth in the Milky Way, according to previous research.The new observation intrigues astronomers because the molecules detected around the stars could be crucial ingredients for potentially habitable worlds, and those ingredients could be incorporated into the planets that will likely eventually form around the stars.Space is full of heavy metals and chemical elements and compounds that have been created and released by star explosions over time. In turn, the chemical elements become incorporated in clouds that form the next generation of stars and planets. On Earth, the right combination of elements allowed life to form, and as famed astronomer Carl Sagan once said, "We are made of star-stuff." But astronomers have long questioned just how common the elements necessary for life are across the cosmos.The search for complex molecules in spacePreviously, scientists using Webb discovered types of ice made of different elements in a cold, dark molecular cloud, an interstellar clump of gas and dust where hydrogen and carbon monoxide molecules can form. Dense clumps within these clouds can collapse to form protostars.Detecting complex organic molecules in space is helping astronomers to determine the molecules' origins as well as those of other larger cosmic molecules.Scientists believe that complex organic molecules are created by the sublimation of ices in space, or the process when a solid changes to a gas without first becoming a liquid, and the new Webb detection lends evidence to that theory."This finding contributes to one of the long-standing questions in astrochemistry," said Will Rocha, team leader of the James Webb Observations of Young ProtoStars program and a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University in the Netherlands, in a statement. "What is the origin of complex organic molecules, or COMs, in space? Are they made in the gas phase or in ices? The detection of COMs in ices suggests that solid-phase chemical reactions on the surfaces of cold dust grains can build complex kinds of molecules."A study detailing the new protostar findings has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.A peek at the early solar systemUnderstanding the form that complex organic molecules take can help astronomers better understand the ways that the molecules become incorporated in planets. Complex organic molecules trapped in cold ices can eventually become part of comets or asteroids, which collide with planets and essentially deliver ingredients that could support life.The chemicals found around the protostars may mirror the early history of our solar system, allowing astronomers a way to look back at what was present when the sun and the planets that orbit it, including Earth, were forming."All of these molecules can become part of comets and asteroids and eventually new planetary systems when the icy material is transported inward to the planet-forming disk as the protostellar system evolves," said study coauthor Ewine van Dishoeck, professor of molecular astrophysics at Leiden University, in a statement. "We look forward to following this astrochemical trail step-by-step with more Webb data in the coming years."The team has dedicated the results of their research to study coauthor Harold Linnartz, who died unexpectedly in December shortly after the paper's acceptance for publication.Linnartz, who led the Leiden Laboratory for Astrophysics and coordinated measurements used in the study, was a "world leader in laboratory studies of gaseous and icy molecules in interstellar space," according to a release from Leiden University.He was reportedly thrilled by the data Webb was able to capture, and what the findings might mean for astrochemistry research."Harold was particularly happy that in the COM assignments lab work could play an important role as it has been a long time getting here," van Dishoeck said.

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have detected commonplace chemical ingredients found in vinegar, ant stings and even margaritas around two young stars, according to NASA.

The complex organic molecules they observed using the space observatory's Mid-Infrared Instrument included acetic acid, a component of vinegar, and ethanol otherwise known as alcohol.

The team also found simple molecules of formic acid, which causes the burning sensation associated with ant stings, as well as sulfur dioxide, methane and formaldehyde. Scientists think sulfurous compounds such as sulfur dioxide might have played a key role on early Earth that eventually paved the way for life to form.

The newly detected molecules were spotted as icy compounds surrounding IRAS 2A and IRAS 23385, which are two protostars, or stars so young they have not yet formed planets. Stars form from swirling clouds of gas and dust, and the leftover material from star formation gives rise to planets.

The protostar IRAS 23385 is estimated to be 15,981 light-years from Earth in the Milky Way, according to previous research.

The new observation intrigues astronomers because the molecules detected around the stars could be crucial ingredients for potentially habitable worlds, and those ingredients could be incorporated into the planets that will likely eventually form around the stars.

Space is full of heavy metals and chemical elements and compounds that have been created and released by star explosions over time. In turn, the chemical elements become incorporated in clouds that form the next generation of stars and planets.

On Earth, the right combination of elements allowed life to form, and as famed astronomer Carl Sagan once said, "We are made of star-stuff." But astronomers have long questioned just how common the elements necessary for life are across the cosmos.

Previously, scientists using Webb discovered types of ice made of different elements in a cold, dark molecular cloud, an interstellar clump of gas and dust where hydrogen and carbon monoxide molecules can form. Dense clumps within these clouds can collapse to form protostars.

Detecting complex organic molecules in space is helping astronomers to determine the molecules' origins as well as those of other larger cosmic molecules.

NASA/ESA/CSA/L. Hustak via CNN Newsource

Scientists believe that complex organic molecules are created by the sublimation of ices in space, or the process when a solid changes to a gas without first becoming a liquid, and the new Webb detection lends evidence to that theory.

"This finding contributes to one of the long-standing questions in astrochemistry," said Will Rocha, team leader of the James Webb Observations of Young ProtoStars program and a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University in the Netherlands, in a statement. "What is the origin of complex organic molecules, or COMs, in space? Are they made in the gas phase or in ices? The detection of COMs in ices suggests that solid-phase chemical reactions on the surfaces of cold dust grains can build complex kinds of molecules."

A study detailing the new protostar findings has been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Understanding the form that complex organic molecules take can help astronomers better understand the ways that the molecules become incorporated in planets. Complex organic molecules trapped in cold ices can eventually become part of comets or asteroids, which collide with planets and essentially deliver ingredients that could support life.

The chemicals found around the protostars may mirror the early history of our solar system, allowing astronomers a way to look back at what was present when the sun and the planets that orbit it, including Earth, were forming.

"All of these molecules can become part of comets and asteroids and eventually new planetary systems when the icy material is transported inward to the planet-forming disk as the protostellar system evolves," said study coauthor Ewine van Dishoeck, professor of molecular astrophysics at Leiden University, in a statement. "We look forward to following this astrochemical trail step-by-step with more Webb data in the coming years."

The team has dedicated the results of their research to study coauthor Harold Linnartz, who died unexpectedly in December shortly after the paper's acceptance for publication.

Linnartz, who led the Leiden Laboratory for Astrophysics and coordinated measurements used in the study, was a "world leader in laboratory studies of gaseous and icy molecules in interstellar space," according to a release from Leiden University.

He was reportedly thrilled by the data Webb was able to capture, and what the findings might mean for astrochemistry research.

"Harold was particularly happy that in the COM assignments lab work could play an important role as it has been a long time getting here," van Dishoeck said.

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The burning acid behind ant stings was spotted around two stars - WAPT Jackson

Objects that look like asteroids can still become active for numerous reasons. These objects are known as Centaurs and can have spots of activity and generate tails. Credit: Pamela L Gay/PSI.

In 1977, astronomer Charles Kowal discovered a strange, asteroid-like rocky object in the outer solar system. It was traveling slowly, as if orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune. This raised some eyebrows, as no asteroid had been discovered beyond Jupiter. Perhaps it was a comet that had lost its ices and was corralled into a more circular orbit by Saturns gravity. But no such objects had been discovered that far out, either, and this one was much larger than any known comet.

Kowal eventually named his discovery Chiron, after the wise centaur of Greek mythology, and suggested that the names of other centaurs be used for future similar objects.

What makes centaurs half-human, half-horse fitting namesakes is that these objects seem to straddle the line between asteroids and comets. Of the over 300 Centaurs known today, 39 have shown cometlike outbursts, sprouting a nebulous coma and sometimes a tail (including Chiron in the late 1980s and early 90s).

Scientists now know that these objects trickled inward from the frigid Kuiper Belt, the source of many of the solar systems comets. But what causes only some Centaurs to display cometlike behavior is still unknown.

Now, a team of researchers led by Eva Lilly, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, have shown that all Centaurs observed with comae and tails have something in common: Each experienced recent changes to their orbits that Lilly and her colleagues call jumps.

The researchers discovered this while simulating the orbits of all known Centaurs over the past 5,000 years. In the model, the jumps happened when the objects had a close encounter with Saturn or Jupiter, which pulled them into more circular orbits, closer to the Sun. The work was published earlier this year in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The novelty of the new study is that the researchers calculated the orbits in more detail, with shorter time intervals between each step than in previous simulations. This allowed them to identify the orbital jumps, which in many cases would otherwise not have been noticeable.

I thought something was going on with the dynamics, says Lilly, but I wasnt expecting how very fast they would happen.

The results show that the most recent jumps occurred less than 250 years ago and took between several months and several years to materialize. In most cases, the objects ended up orbiting closer to the Sun by tens of millions of miles an inward jump of around half the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

All of a sudden, they were placed in the warmest environments they have ever experienced in their lifetimes, says Lilly.

To test whether the extra warmth from the Sun could penetrate Centaurs to reach ice beneath their surfaces, the team used a thermal model.

One Centaur, called P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS), warmed up by 36 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) down to a depth of about 33 feet (10 meters) during a jump of about an Earth-Sun distance in early 2017. The results show that this would be enough to cause buried water ice to turn to vapor.

The heating of LD2 could also have heated amorphous water ice, a type of water ice unlike anything found on Earth that forms in the deep freezer of space. If this latter of ice is exposed to high enough temperatures, it will crystallize and suddenly release gases that could break off debris, quickly forming a cometlike atmosphere.

Interestingly, LD2 had a cometary outburst in 2017 that was detected by telescopes. But astronomers dont know whether the activity had already begun prior to the jump.

The uncertainty around LD2 highlights an ongoing issue that researchers have had in figuring out what sparks the activity of Centaurs: Despite sharing a common origin, each Centaur has unique properties, orbital changes and activity.

It can be difficult to ignore the trees and see the forest, says Teddy Kareta, a planetary astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, who was not involved with the study.

Kareta says that what is really interesting about the new study is that by treating every Centaur the same way in their dynamical models, the team is able to focus on the population as a whole and pinpoint a possible trigger for activity.

The team also identified three Centaurs (SW223, 31824 Elatus, and 32532 Thereus) as targets for future surveys to check for cometary activity. These objects will reach their closest approaches to the Sun in about 15 years and the researchers simulations showed that they had recent jumps.

We know a lot about how objects start and end, says Kareta, but we are really only starting to scratch the surface in understanding the middle where cometary activity first begins.

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The oddities known as Centaurs may sprout their tales after jumping to new orbits - Astronomy Magazine

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NASA will livestream the eclipse across multiple platforms. Credit: NASA

The best place to watch, of course, is within the totality band. But for those who dont live in or cant get to one of the places the eclipse crosses, heres how to watch the solar eclipse online April 8.

Thats when the greatest 4 minutes and 28 seconds in astronomy begins. Thats the maximum duration of totality anywhere along the path of the total solar eclipse (see the map of totality below).

NASA will live stream the 2024 eclipse on its site and across multiple platforms. Heres the livestream from YouTube:

NASA has a comprehensive list here of NASA hosted, and affiliated events connected to the April 8 eclipse.

You can also watch the livestream from Time and Date on YouTube:

Want to know more? Astronomys Michael Bakich is an expert who has written extensively about eclipses. He has the gift of explaining complex things simply and you can read his articles here:

Here is a guide to totality in the United States. Its used with permission from timeanddate.com. You canclick or tap here to open it in another tab.

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How to watch the solar eclipse online - Astronomy Magazine

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There are three types of black holes, all born in different ways. But even the largest black holes cant dominate the rotation of a galaxy.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

If a black hole begins as a star somewhere in a galaxy, how does it end up in the galaxys center? Is the gravitational pull so strong that all the stars in the galaxy start revolving around it?

Paul Simon Raleigh, North Carolina

The black hole created by a single stars death is called a stellar-mass black hole. These black holes have masses about two to 100 times that of the Sun. When a star explodes to create a stellar-mass black hole, it might give itself a little kick and start flying through space, but this kick is random and could send it inward, outward, or in any direction in 3D. So, these black holes dont tend to end up in a galaxys center unless the star that created them happened to be there.

The type of black hole thats sitting in the center of a galaxy is different. This is a supermassive black hole, or SMBH, and as its name implies its much heftier. SMBHs have masses of at least a million solar masses, up to several billion solar masses. The one in the center of the Milky Way is about 4.3 million solar masses, while the one in the center of the elliptical galaxy M87 is more like 6.5 billion solar masses.

SMBHs are not born the same way as stellar-mass black holes, nor do they seem to be typically made up of many smaller black holes all smooshed together. In fact, we dont entirely know how SMBHs are born, but we do believe they arise roughly around the same time a galaxy is assembling itself, and we know that the two evolve together over time. But while they can influence each other, the gravitational interactions between an SMBH and its host galaxy are very minor.

Just because the SMBH is sitting in the center of a galaxy doesnt mean all the stars are revolving around it. Even with its super-hefty mass, an SMBH may only account for some one-millionth the mass of the galaxy as a whole. Thats such a tiny fraction that the stars in the galaxy barely even know the SMBH is there, gravitationally speaking. Plus, the strength of gravity falls off incredibly quickly the farther you get from the black hole. So, only stars that are close to the black hole orbit it; the vast majority of stars in a galaxy orbit the center of mass of the galaxy as a whole, which is also in the center but is not actually the SMBH.

Alison Klesman Senior Editor

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How does a black hole get to the center of a galaxy, and does the galaxy revolve around it? - Astronomy Magazine

In early 2023, Professor Alice Oh and her colleagues at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) realized they needed to address the quickly growing interest in OpenAI ChatGPT among KAISTs students.

ChatGPT a tool developed by OpenAI that runs on large language models and generates conversational responses based on peoples prompts could lead to students taking shortcuts in their work but might also offer educational benefits, they reasoned. The group wanted to develop a research project that would engage students in using the technology, so they began thinking about how to develop their own chat application.

We were in a hurry, says Oh, a professor in the KAIST School of Computing. Our semester started in March, and we wanted to have students start using this right away when the semester started.

A solution soon emerged. In April 2023, Microsoft Research launched an initiative that aims to accelerate the development and use of foundation models large-scale AI models trained on vast amounts of data that can be used for a wide range of tasks.

Advancing Foundation Models Research (AFMR) provides academic researchers with access to state-of-the-art foundation models through Azure AI Services, with the goal of fostering a global AI research community and offering robust, trustworthy models that help further research in disciplines ranging from scientific discovery and education to healthcare, multicultural empowerment, legal work and design.

The initiatives grant program includes 200 projects at universities in 15 countries, spanning a broad range of focus areas. Researchers at Bostons Northeastern University are working on an AI-powered assistant designed to appear empathetic toward workers well-being. At Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology in Vietnam, researchers plan to create a fine-tuned large language model (LLM) specifically for Vietnamese. In Canada, researchers at the Universit de Montral are exploring how LLMs could help with molecular design and the discovery of new drugs.

Accessing foundation models can be challenging for academic researchers, who must often wait to use shared resources that can lack the computing power needed to run large models. Microsoft Research created the initiative to give researchers access to a range of powerful foundation models available through Azure and ensure that the development of AI is driven not just by industry, but also by the academic research community.

We realized that to develop AI today, there is really a need for industry to open up capacity for academia, says Evelyne Viegas, senior director of Research Catalyst at Microsoft Research. Those different viewpoints could shape what were doing.

With access to Azure OpenAI Service, which combines cutting-edge models from OpenAI with security, privacy and responsible AI protections offered in Azure, Oh and the KAIST team developed a platform that uses the models underlying ChatGPT for a chatbot to help college students write essays for English as a Foreign Language (EFL) courses. Students often write at night, when guidance from professors or teaching assistants isnt available, Oh says, and EFL students frequently use tools to help navigate the challenges of writing in English.

Ohs team designed the chatbot to answer students questions but not write their essays for them. Over a semester, 213 EFL students used the tool to refine their essays; the platform collected the students questions and essay revisions they made based on the chatbots responses, then Ohs team analyzed the data and published a paper about the experiment.

The researchers found that some students used the platform extensively and incorporated the feedback it provided. Many treated the chatbot like an intelligent peer, Oh says, suggesting that the technology can be a helpful complement to classroom instruction. And since the platform uses GPT-4, a large multimodal model developed by OpenAI that can communicate in multiple languages, students sometimes switched between English and their native language when using the platform, enabling more natural interactions.

The KAIST team plans to expand the platform to creative writing and conversational English classes. Oh sees tremendous potential for generative AI in education, particularly if models can be trained to show students how to reason through problems rather than simply providing answers.

Universities should take full advantage of this and really start to think about how we can use these tools for scientific research and education, she says.

Researchers at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, who received a grant under the Microsoft program, are developing an AI-based traffic monitoring system capable of identifying road congestion and safety hazards. The project is aimed at automating much of the manual work required by traditional traffic monitoring systems.

The researchers used GPT-4 alongside other AI models that rely on traffic data collected by the federal government to analyze traffic patterns and congestion. Users interact with the system through a chatbot and can ask questions about current traffic conditions like how busy traffic is at a particular location or the speed at which vehicles are traveling.

It will make traffic management easier and more efficient, says Tewodros Gebre, a Ph.D. student working on the project.

The system uses GPT-4 to interpret traffic data collected from sensors, drones and GPS, allowing transportation agencies, city planners and citizens who arent necessarily data scientists to quickly get information about traffic conditions through the chat application.

We talk about data equity, and this combination with the chatbot makes the system available to people without them needing to go to this complex model and see whats going on, says Leila Hashemi-Beni, an associate professor in geospatial and remote sensing at the university. People with different skill sets can still get the information they need from this system.

The system, which is still in development, could also help identify the best evacuation routes after a natural disaster, she says.

Its not just transportation. This project has much bigger, broader impact. It gives us the opportunity for cutting-edge research that is very helpful to us as researchers and educators.

A collaboration between astronomers at Harvard University and The Australian National University is leveraging GPT-4 in a different way. Seeking to use LLMs to accelerate astronomy research, the group, called UniverseTBD, developed an astronomy-based chat application that draws from more than 300,000 astronomy papers.

Alyssa Goodman, the Robert Wheeler Wilson Professor of Applied Astronomy at Harvard, says the application could eventually help young astronomers extract key information from academic papers and analyze data to develop their own research and theories.

If you have a really good idea, its very hard to just search the literature and try to find everything, Goodman says. This is sort of like having a super adviser, a brilliant astronomer with an encyclopedic memory who can say, Well, that could be a very good idea and heres why, or Thats likely a bad idea and heres why.

The researchers hope to develop smaller language models for astronomy that will be accessible to astronomers of all levels, says Ioana Ciuc, the Jubilee Joint Fellow at The Australian National University leading UniverseTBD with Sandor Kruk, a data scientist at the European Space Agency, and Kartheik Iyer, a NASA Hubble Fellow at Columbia University.

Our mission is to democratize science for everyone, she says. GPT-4 is a very large language model and it runs on a lot of resources. In our pursuit of democratizing access, we want to build smaller models that learn from GPT-4 and can also learn to speak the language of astronomy better than GPT-4. Thats what were envisioning.

Many of the AFMR research projects focus on using LLMs for a range of societal benefits, from leveraging generative AI to assess pandemic risk to using vision and language models to help people who are blind or have low vision navigate outdoors.

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AI 'for all': How access to new models is advancing academic research, from astronomy to education - Source - Microsoft

Sunset photo. Image courtesy University of Kansas News Service

ByRANJIT ARAB University of Kansas News Service

A prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation will help a University of Kansas Department of Physics & Astronomy professor continue her groundbreaking research on supermassive black holes.

Elisabeth Mills, assistant professor of physics & astronomy, received the five-year, $821,724 grant from the NSF for her research on how supermassive black holes grow.

Every galaxy, including our own Milky Way galaxy, has a supermassive black hole at its center, yet very little is known about how black holes gather gas from their surroundings to grow bigger. Mills will use some of the worlds most powerful telescopes the Very Large Array in New Mexico and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile to observe supermassive black holes in neighboring galaxies.

She said the goal is to study the gas and dust in the centers of these galaxies to better understand when they might become the next meal for the black holes.

This work helps us understand how our own Milky Way galaxy has been formed and how the growth of its black hole might change our galaxy in the future, Mills said.

The NSFs CAREER Award is the most prestigious awards given to faculty members beginning their independent careers, providing support to advance outstanding research through commitment to teaching, learning and disseminating knowledge. Along with helping to develop her research, Mills said the award will also support department outreach efforts, like the popular KU AstroNights telescope viewing events, as well as provide important opportunities for KU students.

It gives students in my group the opportunity to make connections with internationally renowned astronomers from all over the world and makes KU visible on an international stage, she said.

Arash Mafi, executive dean of KUs College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, said the award is a reflection of the high caliber of research taking place within the College.

We are thrilled that the NSF has recognized Professor Mills innovative work, Mafi said. It is further proof of the world-class research being conducted across the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

READ MORE:Suspect steals credit card machine and breaks window at The Mattress Hub

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KU Department of Physics & Astronomy professor receives prestigious NSF award for black hole research - Salina Post

The Imbrium Basin is the largest impact basin on the Moons near side, with a diameter of around 1,160 kilometres. The South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side is twice as large. The massive impact event that formed Imbrium, one of the most violent in the history of the Solar System that occurred 3.85 billion years ago, left a giant crater which was subsequently infilled by basaltic lava.

Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains), the huge lava plain that we see today in the Moons north-western quadrant, is the most obvious legacy of that ancient, cataclysmic event. Second only in size to neighbouring Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms), Mare Imbrium is obvious to the naked eye on a 10 day-old gibbous Moon; indeed, Imbrium forms the left eye of the famous Man in the Moon feature. Raise a pair of binoculars or train a small telescope on Imbrium and it shouldnt take long to realise that Mare Imbrium is bordered by a number of very impressive mountain ranges.

The most striking range is Montes Apenninus (the lunar Apennines), which majestically guard the south-eastern shore of Mare Imbrium. They sweep in a 600-kilometres arc from Promontorium Fresnel in the north to the peaks east of crater Eratosthenes. Montes Apenninus highest peaks include the impressive Mons Huygens (5,500 metres), the highest peak on the Moon, and Mons Hadley (4,600 metres), lying close to its eastern extremities. A 150200m (six- to eight-inch) telescope, operating at a power of around 150 to 200, zooms in nicely on Mons Huygens and just to its west Mons Ampre (3,000 metres).

Montes Caucasus, to the east of Mare Imbrium, form a continuation of Montes Apenninus to the north-east (as far as crater Eudoxus). A third major range is Montes Carpatus (Carpathian Mountains), found just north of the mighty Copernicus impact crater, that mark the southern border of Imbrium. Together, Apenninus, Caucasus and Carpatus form the outermost of Imbriums three concentric rings of mountains, part of what is left of the rim of the basin following the lava flooding.

Montes Alpes (the Alpes Mountains), in the northeastern portion of the Imbrium Basin, is another famous feature thats easily located as a rugged 250-kilometre-long south-east arc sweeping from the dark-floored crater Plato to crater Cassini. Look out for the striking Vallis Alpes, a rift valley that cuts right through the Alpine range

Through binoculars its easy to see that at its southern extremities Montes Alpes lies just inside the western flanks of Montes Caucasus. This is because Montes Alpes was part of middle ring of the Imbrium basin.

Youre no doubt familiar with the Straight Wall (Rupes Recta), the 110-kilometre-long linear fault in the south-eastern part of Mare Nubian. How about Montes Recti, the Straight Range? It is an east-west orientated rectangular formation of peaks, around 90 kilometres in length and just 20 kilometres wide.

Individual peaks and groups of peaks, including Montes Recti, are common close to the north shore of Mare Imbrium. Lying just to the east of Montes Recti is the better known range Montes Teneriffe and to the south of Plato is the isolated peak Mons Pico, which towers 2,400 metres or so above the plain. Close by to the south-east is Mons Piton (2,300 metres), another stand-alone massif. However, they only seem to be individual peaks as they are easily-observable traces of an inner ring some 790 kilometres in diameter, parts of the inner terracing of the basin that were high enough not to be drowned by lava that formed the mare surface.

Further inspection southwards reveal more evidence of the inner-ring; Montes Spitzbergen (Spitzbergen Mountains) is located about 80 kilometres north of impact crater Archimedes.

The west to north-western section of the Imbrium Basin lack anything like as substantial a mountain range, but the vast semicircular scarp of Montes Jura, bordering Sinus Iridum (Bay of Rainbows) indented in the north-western edge of Mare Imbrium, is a magnificent sight.

There are a handful of outstanding craters seen in the encircling mountains and standing in splendid isolation on the Imbrium plain.

The flooded crater Archimedes (81km) is the best and most prominent impact crater seen on the floor of the Mare Imbrium, at its eastern edge. Together with close companions Aristillus (55km) and Autolycus (39km), lying east and north-east, respectively, the trio provide a great sight. Looking through a small telescope, Archimedes has a smooth, Plato-like dark floor, which contrasts nicely with the marvellous central peaks of Aristillus.

Cassini is a curious crater lying to the north-east of Aristillus. Like Archimedes its a flooded crater, but its floor contains the interior craters Cassini A and Cassini B, the former having an unusual floor. Archimedes and companions and Cassini are all on show on the morning of 17 October.

Crater Eratosthenes (60km)lies in the foothills of south-western Montes Apenninus (Apennines). It hasasharprimwithwideinternallyterracedwallsandahillyfloor,abovewhichrisesagroupof mountains. Many observers liken it to a mini-Copernicus. Before you finish observing Imbrium, be sure to take a look at dark-floored Plato, lying at the western end of Montes Alpes.

Crater Lambert (30km) lies in glorious isolation on the Imbrium plane, around 350 kilometres west of Archimedes. Lambert is an easy target for any telescope but can you spot larger Lambert R (Ruin; 56km) lying just to the south? It is one of the Moons many ghost craters. Astronomers believe it is an impact crater that was subsequently flooded by massive lava flows, left behind its rim as evidence of its former existence.

Now head to Imbriums far south-eastern quadrant, around 100 kilometres north-east of crater Eratosthenes, to track down a little ghost crater called Wallace (26km). Both craters are much easier to spot when they are illuminated by a low Sun.

Who can forget when in 1994 over 20 fragments of Comet ShoemakerLevy 9 dubbed string of pearls slammed into Jupiters cloud-tops, producing a series of dark scars on the planets southern hemisphere, the largest of which persisted for months. The comet was torn apart by Jupiters overwhelming tidal forces Astronomers believe similar impacts have occurred on the Moon and, unlike Jupiters long-dispersed scaring, we can observe the results. Perhaps the most famous of such features on the Moon is Cantena Davy, lying between crater Davy and majestic Ptolemaeus. However, there are a couple of them worthy of attention in the Imbrium Basin.

The small impact crater Beer (10km) lies around 115 kilometres south-west of the large crater Archimedes (80km). Astronomers think multiple impacts from a single, disrupted body, a comet or an asteroid, formed the chain of tiny craters (Cantena Beer; the largest crater is about 1.5 kilometres in diameter) seen arcing eastwards from Beer, eventually turning into a straight rille. Youll need a telescope on the 250mm (10-inch) class to spot them, though Beer itself is an easy capture.

Crater Timocharis (34km) lies about 90 kilometres south-east of Beer. Lying just south-west of Timocharis are two much smaller craters, Heinrich (6km), the larger of the pair, with Timoocharis-C due east. Running north-north-eastwards from Timocharis-C is Cantena Timocharis, a 20-kilometre-long string of diminutive craters. This feature is probably best left to high-resolution imagers, though a large Dobsonian on a steady night could be successful. Try for Cantenae Beer and Timocharis on the morning

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Inspect impressive Mare Imbrium Astronomy Now - Astronomy Now Online

On March 21, spotting Saturn before sunrise will be a challenge but you can use bright Venus nearby as a guide. Credit: Astronomy: Roen Kelly

Friday, March 15 The waxing Moon sits in Taurus the Bull this evening, slowly sinking in the west after sunset. Luna hangs over the Pleiades (M45), a sparkling cluster of young stars that many observers can easily pick out with the naked eye. To the Moons lower left is magnitude 0.9 Aldebaran, a red giant star that marks Taurus eye.

Also in Taurus this month is asteroid 4 Vesta, heading slowly toward the feet of Gemini. Glowing around 8th magnitude, Vesta should be an easy catch with binoculars or a small scope, even under suburban skies. Find it tonight about 3.2 north-northeast of Zeta () Tauri. This 3rd-magnitude star marks the tip of the Bulls southeastern horn. Slightly northwest of it is brighter, 2nd-magnitude Elnath (Beta [] Tau, but also historically cataloged as Gamma [] Aurigae), which marks the tip of Taurus other horn.

Vesta is just under 3 northeast of M1 tonight, also known as the Crab Nebula. Observers with larger scopes and good skies can try spying this fuzzy, 8th-magnitude supernova remnant once twilight fades, though the nearby Moon may make the elusive target a little harder than usual to spot.

Sunrise: 7:11 A.M. Sunset: 7:08 P.M. Moonrise: 10:08 A.M. Moonset: 12:48 A.M. Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (35%) *Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40 N 90 W. The Moons illumination is given at 12 P.M. local time from the same location.

Saturday, March 16 With the Moon reaching First Quarter tonight (shortly after midnight EDT, late on the 16th for all other time zones), lets turn our gaze toward our satellite specifically, the rugged terrain in the lunar south.

Tonight, our telescopic target is the 70-mile-wide (113 kilometers) crater Maurolycus, which you can use the map above to locate. This complex crater hosts a cluster of central peaks a common characteristic of impact craters which form as the newly excavated crater slumps back on itself due to gravity, piling material up in the center even as the material beneath the crater floor is also rebounding from the impact, further pressing the peaks upward.

But thats not the only sign of upheaval in the area. Maurolycus also features several craterlets along its floor, as well as a batch of craters carved into its northwestern rim. Take a look at the latter can you tell the order in which they were made, based on the way they overlap each other and the edge of larger Maurolycus?

Sunrise: 7:09 A.M. Sunset: 7:09 P.M. Moonrise: 10:53 A.M. Moonset: 1:59 A.M. Moon Phase: Waxing crescent (45%)

Sunday, March 17 First Quarter Moon occurs at 12:11 A.M. EDT, late on the 16th for all time zones farther west.

Rising in the east after sunset is the constellation Leo the Lion, looking as though the great cat is heading upward in the sky. Look for the famous Sickle asterism, which frames the Lions head and looks to many observers like a backwards question mark. The Sickle starts at Leos heart, magnitude 1.4 Regulus, which connects to Eta () Leonis to form the straight handle of the tool. From there, the blade curves around in a clockwise fashion, to Gamma, Zeta, Mu (), and finally Epsilon () Leo.

Keep watching as the hours pass and youll see Virgo start to climb above the eastern horizon as well, following Leo. This constellations Gamma star, also called Porrima, is a beautiful double star with an orbital period of 169 years. The stars last came closest in the early 2000s and are slowly growing farther apart, making them ever easier to split. They are now a bit more than 4 apart and can be spotted as separate suns under magnifications of about 100x.

Neptune is in conjunction with the Sun at 7 A.M. EDT, hence why the distant ice giant is not visible this month.

Sunrise: 7:07 A.M. Sunset: 7:10 P.M. Moonrise: 11:47 A.M. Moonset: 3:02 A.M. Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (56%)

Monday, March 18 Want to see a strange trick of the solar systems geometry? Tonight, turn your telescope on the bright planet Jupiter as soon as youre able after sunset. The giant planet hangs in the west, about 40 high 20 minutes after the Sun disappears.

Three of Jupiters Galilean moons Europa, Io, and Ganymede lie far west of the planet. But the fourth, Callisto, is trekking from west to east north of the gas giant, passing over its pole with several arcseconds of clearance!

Whats going on? The Galilean moons orbit Jupiter in the same plane, just as the planets orbit the Sun. That plane is roughly aligned with Jupiters equator. But, due to the changing angle at which we see Jupiter from Earth, sometimes that plane doesnt align with the plane of the moons orbits! So, depending on the angle at which were viewing the Jupiter system from here on Earth, Callisto the farthest out of the Galilean moons can seem to skim or miss the planets poles altogether as it orbits.

Check out the moons to Jupiters west as well. Early in the night, Europa is farthest out, then Io just west of Ganymede, which is closest in. But around 10 P.M. CDT, as the planet is setting on the East Coast, Io passes Ganymede as the former moves eastward and the latter moves westward. After that, Io is closer to the planet than Ganymede.

Sunrise: 7:06 A.M. Sunset: 7:11 P.M. Moonrise: 12:45 P.M. Moonset: 3:55 A.M. Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (65%)

Tuesday, March 19 The vernal equinox occurs today at 11:06 P.M. EDT, bringing the official start of spring to the Northern Hemisphere. The vernal equinox occurs when the Suns northward path through the sky, the ecliptic, crosses the celestial equator, which is a projection of Earths equator outward into the celestial sphere of the sky.

What better way to celebrate spring than to look for the Spring Triangle in the sky? This asterism is anchored by three bright, well-known stars, rising in the east in the early-evening hours: Arcturus (Alpha [] Botis, magnitude 0), Spica (Alpha Virginis, magnitude 1), and Denebola (Beta Leonis, magnitude 2).By 10 P.M. local daylight time, the Spring Triangle is well above the eastern horizon.

Ready for more spring-themed targets in the sky? Look farther west along the ecliptic, to the upper right of Leo, and youll spot Cancer the Crab. At the center of this constellation lies M44, also known as the Beehive Cluster. For some, this is a fuzzy naked-eye object; for all, though, binoculars or a telescope will bring out a stunning set of young stars, at least 80 of which are brighter than 10th magnitude. The Beehive shines with a total magnitude of about 3.7 and spans nearly 100 on the sky, slightly smaller than the Pleiades.

Sunrise: 7:04 A.M. Sunset: 7:12 P.M. Moonrise: 1:48 P.M. Moonset: 4:39 A.M. Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (74%)

Wednesday, March 20 Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is on the rise but also falling fast! Its brightening glow, now roughly around magnitude 5, is offset by its sinking altitude in the sky after sunset. But its worth seeking out for those observers who are quick about it.

Youll find Pons-Brooks about 25 high in the west some 30 minutes after sunset. Its in Andromeda, having recently passed the constellations eponymous galaxy. Together with Mercury (magnitude 7 and 10 high in Pisces) and Jupiter (magnitude 2.1 and 35 high in Aries), Pons-Brooks forms a triangle or arrow pointing to the right (north), with the comet at the northward-facing point. As the sky darkens, you can use magnitude 2.1 Mirach (Beta Andromedae) as a signpost Pons-Brooks lies about 7 south of this star.

The so-called Devil Comet (for its appearance during early outbursts) is fast approaching perihelion, when it passes closest to the Sun. As it does, it should continue to brighten, though astronomers arent sure how much. Many are hopeful it will reach easy naked-eye magnitude, earning it a spot as a great comet. Well have to wait and see, but for now, its easily viewed with binoculars or any small scope for as long as you can catch it before it sinks too close to the horizon within two to three hours after sunset. Note, too, that the waxing Moon is shedding plenty of light over the sky, somewhat affecting visibility even after twilight. Fortunately, the comet is bright enough now that it shouldnt matter much.

Sunrise: 7:03 A.M. Sunset: 7:13 P.M. Moonrise: 2:52 P.M. Moonset: 5:14 A.M. Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (82%)

Thursday, March 21 Its always a magnificent treat to see two planets at once in your eyepiece, and this morning offers that chance. Venus and Saturn stand just 0.6 apart in the early-morning sky today, readily visible together in binoculars or any telescope. Note, though, that this observation is a bit tricky, because the planets are also only 2.5 above the horizon a mere 20 minutes before sunrise.

Fortunately, Venus is bright and easy to find, a blazing magnitude 3.9 point of light thats readily visible even in the growing twilight. Saturn is much dimmer, just magnitude 1 as it sits to Venus east (lower left) this morning.

Once youve got the pair of planets in your sights, take the chance to compare and contrast them. Venus appears 11 across and nearly 94 percent lit. Saturns disk is some 16 across and fully illuminated by the Sun. The giant planets stunning rings are about 35 across and tilted by about 5. And about 13 west of the pair is a third planet magnitude 1.3 Mars. See if you can spot it, too, by sliding your gaze west along the ecliptic, to the upper right of the planetary pairing in the sky.

Take care when making this observation of course its mesmerizing, but youll want to put away your optics at least several minutes before sunrise from your location, which may differ from the time given below.

Venus will pass 0.3 north of Saturn at 10 P.M. EDT. If you catch the pair again tomorrow morning, the brighter planet will appear northeast of Saturn, putting it on the other side (left) of the ringed planet. The planets will be about 0.7 apart then.

Sunrise: 7:01 A.M. Sunset: 7:14 P.M. Moonrise: 3:55 P.M. Moonset: 5:43 A.M. Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (89%)

Friday, March 22 Mercury is fast approaching its greatest eastern elongation from the Sun, which it reaches in just two days.

Tonight, the tiny planet reaches 50 percent lit and spans 7 on the sky. You can catch it easily after sunset, glowing at magnitude 0.5 and still 6 high in the west an hour after sunset. Although it cant outshine Jupiter a little higher up in the sky, its still a bright, unmissable point of light slowly sinking toward the horizon in the evening sky.

If youd like to net a bonus planet in the west, Uranus lies in Aries not far from Jupiter, just 5 northeast of the gas giant. Youll need binoculars or a small scope to net the distant world, which glows at magnitude 5.8 and spans just over 3 in apparent diameter. Look for a gray-hued, flat star just 2.2 due south of magnitude 4.3 Botein (Delta [] Arietis) in your optics.

Sunrise: 6:59 A.M. Sunset: 7:15 P.M. Moonrise: 4:56 P.M. Moonset: 6:07 A.M. Moon Phase: Waxing gibbous (94%)

Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron.

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The Sky This Week from March 15 to 22: A conjunction of Venus and Saturn - Astronomy Magazine