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Northern Arizona astronomy: The planet Mercury - Grand Canyon News

University Park, Pa. The Penn State Eberly College of Science's popular AstroFest program is set to celebrate its 25th anniversary this year, welcoming visitors to Davey Laboratory from July 10-13 as part of the 2024 Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.

The four-night astronomy festival, running from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. each evening, will offer a variety of fun and educational activities for all ages, according to a news release. Visitors can pick up a program, get it stamped at activities, and return it for science-themed prizes.

"We're absolutely thrilled to be celebrating 25 years of this impactful community outreach program," said Randy McEntaffer, head of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, in the release. "Turning people on to the wonders of the universe is incredibly rewarding for us, and we hope it inspires them to continue to explore their curiosity through science and beyond."

On clear nights, visitors will be able to use the rooftop observatory telescopes including a brand-new instrument donated by Howard Schlegel, a 1971 alumnus with dual bachelor of science degrees in forest sciences and zoology to see up-close views of the moon, star clusters and glowing remnants of stellar death, according to the news release.

In addition to activities like the oobleck kiddie pool, this year's program will feature a talk on the upcoming rare nova explosion in the T Coronae Borealis system, which could become visible to the naked eye. Attendees will also be able to use the rooftop observatory telescopes and experience the newly upgraded planetarium shows.

The first AstroFest was organized in 1999 by three then-undergraduate students, Karen Knierman, Jane Rigby, and Nahks Tr'Ehnl. Over the past 25 years, the event has welcomed more than 45,000 community members, according to Penn State. Co-founder Tr'Ehnl is still affilliated with the university and continues to be part of the committee that plans the annual event.

For more information, visit the AstroFest website or contact the Penn State Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

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Celebrating 25 years of stargazing and astronomy education at Penn State's AstroFest - NorthcentralPA.com

The protostar inside the dark cloud L1527 with the near-infrared camera (NIRCam) of the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA. Zeus Valtierra Meteored Mexico 11/07/2024 09:49 8 min

Wherever the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) looks in the vast cosmos, matter and energy interact in spectacular exhibitions revealing more details than any other telescope, thanks to the fact that it can see through the dense gas and dust that hides many celestial objects.

In a new image, the JWST has detected a young protostar approximately 100,000 years old. This star, known as L1527, is still in its early stages of formation and is nestled in the molecular cloud that was the one that generated it.

One of the main reasons why NASA, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), built the JWST was precisely to observe these phenomena.

The image in question was captured using the Middle Infrared Instrument (MIRI) of the JWST. Where it is shown that the young protostar continues to grow, accumulating mass of the protoplanetary disk that surrounds it. This disc is crucial for the development of the star, since it provides the necessary material for its growth.

The protostar is not a main sequence star, which means that it is not experiencing nuclear fusion like the Sun does. Although there may be a small amount of deuterium fusion in its nucleus, the protostar generates energy in a different way.

As the gravity of the protostar attracts material to it, it is compressed and heated. The additional energy comes from the shock waves generated by the incoming material that collides with the existing gas. Which illuminates the protostar and its surroundings within the gigantic molecular cloud that generated it.

As young protostars accumulate mass, they generate powerful magnetic fields. These fields, combined with the rotation of the star, move part of the matter away from the protostar.

Thus, as a protostar acquires mass, it also expels part of it into space in spectacular hourglass-shaped jets that emerge from the poles of the star. These jets create visible shock arcs in the surrounding matter, forming filamentous structures.

In the environment of the star L1527 there are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (HAP), organic compounds abundant throughout the Universe that could have contributed to the appearance of life. In the image captured by the JWST, these compounds shine blue, even in the filamentous structures.

The red region in the center of the image is a thick layer of gas and dust that surrounds the young star, illuminated by its energy. The white region between red and blue is a mixture of materials, including more polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (HAP), as well as ionised gases such as neon and other hydrocarbons.

This interaction of matter and energy is transient. The powerful emanations of the protostar will clean much of the gas and dust from its surroundings, preserving its protoplanetary disk. And it will become a main sequence star, easily visible without its veil of gas and dust.

The study of these hydrocarbons and other compounds in the L1527 environment provides us with valuable information about the chemical ingredients that could have played a role in the formation of life in the Universe. Opening up new possibilities for astrobiology and the search for life in other stellar systems.

There are many unanswered questions about the formation of protostars. For example, astrophysicists still do not know exactly how and when the nuclear fusion is triggered that turns a protostar into a main sequence star.

Although astronomers know that there are powerful magnetic fields around the protostars, they do not fully understand how these fields are formed or what role they play in the collapse and rotation of the star.

The JWST has made some progress in this area. Recently, he confirmed that the jets of material expelled by young stars are aligned due to the rotation of the star and its magnetic fields, something that the theory had suggested but had not been confirmed by observations until now.

There are also uncertainties about how binary stars are formed. Are they formed in the same way as solitary stars? Why are there so many binary stars in the universe?

The processes involved play an important role in the formation of planetary systems. Jets and magnetic fields can influence the distribution of the material in the protoplanetary disk, affecting the formation of planets and other celestial bodies.

The study of these phenomena provides information about the formation of planetary systems and the origins of life in the Universe. With each new observation, the JWST brings us one step closer to unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos.

The exact nature of the phenomena that trigger the formation of stars remains a mystery. The shock waves of supernovae can trigger the birth of stars, but what happens in other cases? Is it just a matter of the density of gas and dust?

The answers to these questions will come gradually. Thanks to the ability of the JWST to observe in great detail the young stars and the clouds of gas and dust that surround them, the telescope is advancing in our understanding of these astronomical processes, one image at a time.

Continued here:

The JWST continues to revolutionise astronomy: It now shows the birth of a Star - Yourweather.co.uk

From mesmerizing "mythical monsters" to jaw-dropping distant constellations, the shortlisted candidates for Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 showcase the magnificent beauty in the skies around us.Here are this year's stunning nominees.

In this image, a powerful geomagnetic storm creates a stunning display of multicolored hues across the night sky in Iceland.

"There was a prediction of a KP7 storm [a strong geomagnetic storm that can cause auroras and affect electrical power systems] and I was excited as to what I might see," photographer Jos Miguel Picn Chimelis said in a statement.

He took the panoramic photo near Eystrahorn mountain, capturing a scene full of vibrant colors, which he described as "one of the most amazing that I have experienced in my nighttime photography outings."

In this vibrant display of energy, photographer Wenlian Li captured an exploding sunspot spewing out glowing plasma from the sun's surface.

In this shot from La Palma, one of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, the immense Isaac Newton Telescope sits below ominous cosmic clouds from the Cygnus constellation.

"The Cygnus region with its bright and vibrant star-forming regions is one of my favorite parts of the night sky. You can see it in the top right of the image," photographer Jakob Sahner said in the statement.

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Cygnus, which translates to "the swan" in Latin, is a northern constellation that sits above the Milky Way.

Related: The Milky Way will be visible without a telescope this summer. Here are the key nights to watch for.

Carina Letelier Baeza captured the aurora borealis forming the shape of a dragon. Its tail descends into the horizon, and bright green hues take the shape of wings that tower over the rock pyramids of the Arctic Henge in Iceland.

Paul Haworth created this entrancing image of radial stars above the ruins of an old jetty and cracked mudflats at Snettisham beach in Norfolk, U.K.

"I named this image 'Serpentine' as I love the curved channel in the mudflat, mirroring the trailing stars, and the wonderful scaly texture of the mud cracks," Haworth said in the statement.

The interstellar clouds of CG 4 (Cometary Globule 4) form a monstrous shape as if ready to devour the cosmos, in this picture taken by a team of astrophotographers known as ShaRA (Shared Remote Astrophotography).

The peculiar formation of gas clouds and dust is classed as a "cometary globule" because of its comet-like shape, and it's often referred to as "God's Hand" because of its similarity to an arm stretching across the universe.

Along with these names, a member of the astrophotography team noticed its resemblance to two famous fictional monsters.

"Is this the cosmic sandworm of Arrakis, from 'Dune,' or the terrifying Graboid from the film 'Tremors'?" ShaRa group member Alessandro Ravagnin said in the statement.

In this image, Sndor Biliczki captured the beauty of the Pleiades constellation.

Also known as Messier 45 or the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades consists of thousands of stars but is known for its seven brightest stars and is located 445 light-years from Earth, according to NASA.

Due to light pollution in Budapest, Biliczki traveled to Spain to photograph the constellation.

"The Pleiades are a popular target among astrophotographers, but there are still many tiny details to be discovered," Biliczki said in the statement.

This panorama captures the Geminid meteor shower in front of the entire winter Milky Way in the night sky over La Palma.

Jakob Sahner said he could see three meteors per minute within his field of view during the peak of the shower.

Yann Sainty captured the Cygnus supernova in this haunting image, named "The Scream of a Dying Star."

The name is a reference to 'The Scream,' the famous painting by Edvard Munch, symbolising the scream that continues to echo through space after the stars death, according to the image caption.

Sainty took advantage of the lack of light pollution and a long exposure time to capture rare details of the Cygnus Loop, such as the outer layers of the supernova remnant.

Leonardo Di Maggio created this eerie, abstract landscape image using a photo taken from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) a spacecraft on a mission to find evidence of water on Mars.

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Dragon-shaped aurora and 'scream of a dying star' revealed as 2024 Astronomy Photographer of the Year finalists - Livescience.com