Category Archives: Astronomy

Caltechs Shri Kulkarni has been honored with the 2024 Shaw Prize in Astronomy for his revolutionary work at the Palomar Transient Factory and its successor, the Zwicky Transient Facility. These projects have dramatically advanced our understanding of transient astronomical phenomena. Credit: SciTechDaily.com

Shri Kulkarni, a distinguished professor at Caltech, has received the 2024 Shaw Prize in Astronomy for his transformative work with the Palomar Transient Factory and its successor, the Zwicky Transient Facility, which have revolutionized our understanding of transient astronomical phenomena.

Shri Kulkarni, the George Ellery Hale Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Science at the California Institute of Technology, has been awarded the prestigious 2024 Shaw Prize in Astronomy for his ground-breaking discoveries about millisecond pulsars, gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, and other variable or transient astronomical objects, according to the Shaw Prize Foundation, which has been granting the honor since 2004. The award citation further states that Kulkarnis contributions to time-domain astronomy culminated in the conception, construction and leadership of the Palomar Transient Factory [PTF] and its successor, the Zwicky Transient Facility [ZTF], which have revolutionized our understanding of the time-variable optical sky.

The Shaw Prize consists of three annual awards: the Prize in Astronomy, the Prize in Life Science and Medicine, and the Prize in Mathematical Sciences. Each prize comes with a $1.2 million award.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear that I was the winner of the 2024 Shaw Astronomy Prize last evening. My wife did not believe me at first having suffered many of my pranks in the past! Kulkarni says. ZTF is possible because of a knowledgeable and dedicated crew at Palomar Observatory, the sophistication of the instrumentation program of the Caltech Optical Observatories, and finally, exceptional students and postdoctoral fellows at Caltech. ZTF is only possible at Caltech, which values exceptionalism.

Professor Shri Kulkarni was awarded the 2024 Shaw Prize in Astronomy for his pioneering discoveries and contributions to time-domain astronomy at Caltech. Credit: Caltech

Kulkarni has made a wide variety of discoveries over his career. In his recent Watson Lecture at Caltech titled Illuminating the Dynamic Night Sky: Discoveries from the Zwicky Transient Facility, he discussed his passion for building instruments to explore uncharted areas in astronomy. He has built a total of 10 instruments in his career. My motto has been to build a big enough gizmo and things will happen, he said.

Some of Kulkarnis earlier discoveries include the first millisecond pulsar, a rapidly rotating neutron star that emitted more than 600 precisely spaced pulses per second; and the first brown dwarf, or failed star, uncovered in 1995 using a then-novel instrument at the Palomar Observatorys 60-inch telescope. In 1997, Kulkarni and his colleagues were the first to measure the distance to a gamma-ray bursta brief intense burst of gamma rays from the cosmosshowing the energetic event originated far outside our galaxy, billions of light-years away.

Working with a graduate student, Kulkarni later developed the STARE2 (Survey for Transient Astronomical Radio Emission 2) instrument for studying fast-radio bursts, mysterious bursts of radio waves whose origins were unknown. STARE2, which consisted of three bucket-sized radio antennae spread across the southwestern United States, caught a massive fast-radio burst in our own galaxy, and helped pinpoint its origins to a type of dead magnetic star called a magnetar.

The 2024 Shaw Prize in Astronomy has been awarded to Shri Kulkarni for his significant contributions to the study of variable astronomical objects. Credit: Shaw Prize Foundation

To capture the dynamic night skywhich includes exploding stars, asteroids, and moreKulkarni developed the PTF camera and its successor, ZTF, funded by institutions around the world and two major grants from the National Science Foundation and the Heising-Simons Foundation. ZTF continues to operate from Caltechs Palomar Observatory.

According to the Shaw Prize news release, ZTF has discovered thousands of rare events, including extremely bright supernovae, luminous red novae, calcium-rich gap transients, and disruptions of stars by black holes. ZTF has also found a star swallowing one of its planets, one of the nearest and brightest supernovae in history, a new orbital class of asteroids, binary stars with orbital periods as short as seven minutes that are strong sources of low-frequency gravitational radiation, and many other exotic systems and rare events whose properties are just beginning to be understood. PTF and ZTF have trained a generation of young astronomers now leading the field of time-domain astronomy.

Kulkarni was born in Maharashtra, India. He received his masters degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 1978 and his PhD from UC Berkeley in 1983. He arrived at Caltech on a Millikan Fellowship in 1985 and joined the faculty in 1987, serving as an assistant professor of astronomy (198790), associate professor (199092), professor (199296), professor of astronomy and planetary science (19962001), MacArthur Professor (200117), and George Ellery Hale Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Science (2017present). He was also executive officer for astronomy (19972000) and director of Caltech Optical Observatories (200618). He is a member of the Royal Society of London, the Indian Academy of Sciences, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Kulkarni has received many awards, including the National Science Foundations Alan T. Waterman Award and the Dan David Prize. He authored or co-authored more than 60 papers in the journal Nature by the age of 60, one of his lifetime goals.

Past Caltech winners of the Shaw prize include Edward (Ed) C. Stone, the David Morrisroe Professor of Physics, Emeritus (2019); the late Ronald W. P. Drever, professor of physics, emeritus; and Kip S. Thorne (BS 62), the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics, Emeritus (who received the prize in 2016 with MITs Rainer Weiss for founding LIGO); and Peter Goldreich, the Lee A. DuBridge Professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Physics, Emeritus (2007).

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Caltech's Shri Kulkarni Awarded Shaw Prize in Astronomy For His Ground-Breaking Discoveries - SciTechDaily

When is the summer solstice?

The summer solstice for the Northern Hemisphere occurs on June 20, 2024, and the summer solstice for the Southern Hemisphere occurs on Dec. 21, 2024.

The summer solstice marks the official start of astronomical summer and the longest day of the year.

It occurs when one of Earth's poles is tilted toward the sun at its most extreme angle, and due to Earth's tilt, this happens twice a year. In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice falls in June (while the Southern Hemisphere experiences the winter solstice), and in the Southern Hemisphere, it falls in December (while the Northern Hemisphere experiences the winter solstice).

The summer solstice and subsequent longest day of the year are celebrated by many cultures around the world with numerous traditions, holidays and festivals. From sunrise gatherings to midsummer festivals, summer solstice celebrations certainly blow the winter cobwebs away.

Related: Stonehenge's summer solstice orientation is seen in monuments all over the UK in amazing photos

We asked meteorologist Joe Rao, a few commonly asked questions about the summer solstice.

Joe Rao is Space.com's skywatching columnist, as well as a veteran meteorologist and eclipse chaser who also serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium.

It marks that moment when the sun reaches that point when it is positioned farthestnorth 23.5 degrees from the celestial equator. This point on the Earth is known as the Tropic of Cancer. The word solstice literally means "sun standing still." It is derivedfromcombining the Latin words sol for "sun" and sistere for To Stand Still.

Forthe previous six months, the sun has appeared to migrate on a northerly course in thesky. At the moment of the solstice, that motion stops and then the sun will beginto move south. A motion that will continue for six months until the sun drops to itslowest point below the equator and then stop another solstice point marking thebeginning of winter.

During the 21st century, the dates for the occurrence of the solstice can fall either on June 20th or 21st.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the length of daylight varies depending on the latitude. At the equator, the time from sunrise to sunset is about 12 hours. At temperate or mid-northern latitudes (approximately 40 degrees north) the length of daylight lasts about 15 hours. And for those who are north of the Arctic Circle (66.5 degrees north) the sun remains above the horizon for 24 hours.

For most of the world, this is true. But for other parts of the world, thesolsticeis looked upon not as the start of summer, but rather asmidsummer.If, for example, you were to pay a visit to Sweden or Norway at this time of year, you would find the local inhabitants celebrating a local holiday known as Midsummer's Day, which by ancient custom falls on June 24, a day also linked with the name of St. John the Baptist. At night, fires are lit in the mountains in other parts of Europe. In northern Scandinavia, above the Arctic Circle, the phenomenon of the midnightsunat solstice time is a seasonal clock that seems to divide summer, if not the entire year into two distinct parts. It is that time of the year that the sun, having spent the previous six months plodding steadily northward has reached the pinnacle of its migration.

We have Earth's tilt to thank for the seasons, and without it both hemispheres would receive equal light throughout the year.

As Earth orbits the sun, the axis of rotation of Earth is slightly tilted at 23.44.1 according to the Royal Museums Greenwich. This means that as Earth orbits the sun, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the sun during one half of the year. During the other half of the year, the Southern Hemisphere tilts towards it.

When the Northern or Southern Hemisphere is most tilted towards the sun, it experiences the summer solstice; when it is most tilted away, it experiences the winter solstice.

The solstices also do not land on the same calendar day every year because the astronomical year is 365.25 days long. As such, the summer solstice for the Northern Hemisphere also known as the June solstice currently shifts between June 20, 21 and 22. The summer solstice does, however, occur at the same time for every country independently of which side of Earth is facing the sun. This means the exact moment of summer solstice can occur in the middle of the night for some people and the middle of the day for others.

The word solstice is derived from the Latin word solstitium which translates to "sun stands still." This is due to the apparent movement of the sun to the north or south stops before changing direction, according to Dictionary.com.

While the sun always rises in the east and sets in the west, it appears higher or lower in the sky throughout the year, depending on the season. Around the solstices, the sun reaches its apparent highest and lowest point in the sky. These correspond to midsummer and midwinter respectively, which are the turning points in the sun's journey.

Once the sun reaches its zenith at the summer solstice, it will begin its journey toward the horizon, culminating in the winter solstice at its lowest point. In the weeks before these solstice turning points, the sun appears to move very little, earning it the name "sun standstill."

If you were to map the sun's midday position every day for a year, it would make a lopsided figure eight, called an analemma. The point at which the curves of the figure eight intersect is the equinox, which is when day and night are roughly equal in length.

Humans have been observing the sun's position in the sky for thousands of years, and monuments such as Stonehenge in England, Karnak in Egypt, and Chankillo in Peru stand as a testament to our fascination with our nearest star. Solstices have also influenced many traditions and celebrations around the world.

At Stonehenge in the U.K., the sun rises behind the ancient entrance to a stone circle and "the sunlight is channeled into the center of the monument," the BBC reported. Researchers believe that solstices have been celebrated at Stonehenge for thousands of years. The stone circle is particularly important to pagans and druids.

According to some ancient Greek calendars, the summer solstice heralded the beginning of the new year and marked the one-month countdown to the start of the Olympic Games, according to St Neots Museum in the U.K.

In Sweden, midsummer celebrations rooted in paganism are the highlight of the year for many. The weekend surrounding the solstice is filled with food, drink and plenty of singing, according to Lonely Planet. Flower-wreath-wearing revelers take part in maypole and folk dances such as the traditional "Sm grodorna".

In the U.S., some Native American tribes living in the plains and The Rocky Mountains perform a Sun Dance to celebrate the summer solstice. In Fairbanks, Alaska, a baseball game known as the "Midnight Sun Game" traditionally starts at 10:30 p.m and takes a brief pause close to midnight for everyone to sing the Alaska Flag Song.

In the Wiccan religion, people celebrate Yule at the winter solstice to herald the return of the sun and warmer months.

Explore the difference between the equinox and solstice with the UK Met Office. Learn how to make your own solstice and equinox "suntrack" season model with NASA and the Stanford Solar Center. Discover 11 interesting June solstice facts with Time and Date.

Bland, A. (2012, December 20). The best places to see and celebrate the Winter Solstice. Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-best-places-to-see-and-celebrate-the-winter-solstice-169694017/

Chankillo Archaeoastronomical Complex. World Monuments Fund. (2021, July 1). Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://www.wmf.org/project/chankillo-archaeoastronomical-complex

Midnight Sun Game. Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks - Pointstreak Sites. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from http://goldpanners.pointstreaksites.com/view/goldpanners/june-21-2023-midnight-sun-game-tickets-go-on-sale-in-november-2022-stay-tuned

National Institutes of Health. Cheyenne Indians at a sun dance, by Edward S. Curtis, circa 1910. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/exhibition/healing-ways/medicine-ways/key-role-of-ceremony/images/ob1410.html

Why do we celebrate the summer solstice? St Neots Museum. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://www.stneotsmuseum.org.uk/articles/why-do-we-celebrate-the-summer-solstice/

Salisbury, V. (2020, June 18). Top 8 summer solstice celebrations from around the World Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/summer-solstice-celebrations

Sunrise and Sunset Times today: The old farmer's almanac. Almanac.com. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://www.almanac.com/astronomy/sun-rise-and-set

When is the summer solstice? Royal Museums Greenwich. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/summer-solstice

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The summer solstice: What is it and when does it occur? - Space.com

"After you see something like this, the first reaction is 'wow.'" Go With the Flows

Earth's hellish twin ain't dead yet. On Venus, where temperatures exceed 800 degrees Fahrenheit, astronomers have spotted two flows of lava crawling across the planet's barren surface, adding to a growing body of evidence that Venus is still volcanically active.

The research, published as a study in the journal Nature Astronomy, used decades-old radar images taken by NASA's Magellan spacecraft in 1990 and 1992, which in spite of their age, remain the most detailed images of the Venusian surface to date.

Both believed to be the aftermath of epic eruptions, one lava flow was found simmering near the mighty Sif Mons, a so-called shield volcano that spans nearly 200 miles across and is over a mile tall. The other was found in the Niobe Planitia, a region dominated by volcanic features.

"After you see something like this, the first reaction is 'wow,'" study co-author Davide Sulcanese at the Universit d'Annunzio in Italy told The New York Times.

Though the veritable hell-world is riddled with more volcanoes than any other in the solar system, proving that Venus is still governed by the same volcanic forces as Earth hasn't been easy.

The soaring hot temperatures on its surface, plus the insane pressures of its dense atmosphere, are too extreme for human-made probes to survive. But observing Venus from afar is difficult, too, as it's permanently shrouded in a haze of yellow, corrosive clouds.

During the two flybys it performed in the 1990s, the Magellan used radar to penetrate the atmosphere, producing what's known as backscatter data of the planet's topography. When the researchers examined the data sets, they found changes in certain regions that could be best explained by newly formed volcanic rock suggesting that eruptions had taken place between imaging.

"We interpret these signals as flows along slopes or volcanic plains that can deviate around obstacles such as shield volcanoes like a fluid," said study co-author Marco Mastrogiuseppe of Sapienza University of Rome, in a NASA statement about the work.

And those eruptions must've been something to behold. According to the astronomers, the Sif Mons eruption spewed up about 12 square miles of molten rock, while the Niobe Planitia one managed even more with about 17 square miles.

This is the clearest sign of volcanic activity on the planet since a groundbreaking study in 2023 documented a widening of a volcanic vent called a caldera, according to the NASA statement.

But with this latest discovery, Sulcanese said it shows that the planet is not only geologically active, but "that the volcanic activity on Venus could be comparable to that on Earth."

That parallel could end up informing our understanding of Venus just as much as our own planet. Unless the Magellan data is hiding any more secrets, however, we'll have to wait for future missions to our neighbor in the Solar System before turning up hotter discoveries.

More on space: Mars' Moon May Not Be What We Think, Scientists Claim

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Astronomers Spot Epic Flows of Lava Oozing Out of Venus - Futurism

The alignment on June 3 will be visible in much of the Northern Hemisphere, depending on the weather

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Another astronomical event is set to take place next month!

In the early hours of Monday, June 3, six of the eight planets Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune will be present in the sky at one time, in an event known as planetary alignment or a planetary parade, per astronomy app Star Walk.

According to app, "Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn may be spotted with the naked eye, but you'll need a telescope or high-powered binoculars to see Neptune and Uranus."

The app added that the alignment might not be limited to a single day and the planets may be spotted for several days before or after June 3.

Per USA Today, the planetary alignment also being referred to as the "parade of planets" will be visible in much of the Northern Hemisphere, depending on the weather.

Elmurod Usubaliev/Anadolu via Getty

Related: Unknown Planet May Exist in Our Solar System, Experts Say

In a description, Star Walk stated such an alignment occurs "when planets gather closely on one side of the Sun at the same time, as seen from above the Solar System," or "when the planets appear close together in a small sky sector, as seen from the Earth."

The planets can't actually be in a straight line in space despite that appearing to be the case, because their orbits aren't on the same plane.

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Per the app, "When the Earth is one of the planets gathered on one side of the Sun, it appears to the observer that several planets are aligned in the sky," with the post adding "the smaller the sector" the more incredible the alignment will be.

For anyone planning to see more alignments in the future, the site stated the six planets will be seen again on Aug. 28 and Jan. 18, 2025.

Getty

Related: Must-See Photos from Today's Incredible Eclipse

On Feb. 28, 2025, Saturn, Mercury, Neptune, Venus, Uranus, Jupiter and Mars will align, marking the next time people will be able to see seven planets visible in the sky at once, per the site.

Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn will also align on Aug. 29, 2025, the app added, stating that the last time all planets visibly aligned was during the total solar eclipse in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico on April 8, 2024.

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The latest astronomical event comes after the Northern Lights (also known as the aurora borealis) lit up the sky across areas in the U.K., Europe and the Northern Hemisphere earlier this month.

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6 Stars Will Soon Be Visible at the Same Time in Rare 'Parade of Planets' - Yahoo News Canada

Astronomy clubs want to help you enjoy the eclipse safely From Texas to Maine, they're teaching people how to enjoy the spectacle safely. Some will hand out glasses or answer questions at events. Others plan to take their own advice and get outta town.

Children use solar filters to safely view the sun in North Little Rock, Ark., in May. The event is part of the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society's public education effort to prepare for this year's April 8 total solar eclipse. Darcy Howard/Central Arkansas Astronomical Society hide caption

Children use solar filters to safely view the sun in North Little Rock, Ark., in May. The event is part of the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society's public education effort to prepare for this year's April 8 total solar eclipse.

Danielle Rappaport has been fielding a flood of emails about the upcoming total solar eclipse: where to go and how to view what will be, for many people, a once-in-a-lifetime event. With San Antonio the first major U.S. city to glimpse the eclipse, Rappaport, the outreach coordinator for the local astronomy club, has some advice: Get out of town.

"Actually, it's only going to hit the westernmost part" of the city, she says. And any place in the path of totality the moment when the moon perfectly covers the sun that is easily accessible by road will be inundated with gawkers gazing skyward. "San Antonio is going to get swamped," she says.

While some of her fellow members of the San Antonio Astronomical Association will be at Northwest Vista College on April 8 to distribute eclipse glasses and answer questions, Rappaport is heading to Garner State Park, about 100 miles west of the city, to avoid the crowds. She recommends that others stay out of the cities.

The eclipse in the San Antonio area will begin at 12:14 p.m. CDT, with totality arriving 80 minutes later.

Rappaport and others in the San Antonio club have been busy giving public lectures on the eclipse, with a strong emphasis on safety making clear that no one should look at the sun without darkened eclipse glasses or other equipment designed specifically for observing the sun. Many people, she says, are confused about what an eclipse even is. Others just want to know where the best place is to view it.

In North America, an estimated 31 million people in the narrow path of totality will have a shot at viewing the total eclipse. Others will see at least a partial event perhaps a bit less impressive, but still worth it, Rappaport says.

Of course, it all depends on the weather.

There won't be another chance to view a total solar eclipse anywhere in the contiguous U.S. until 2044 and that one will be visible only in parts of Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

In Little Rock, members of the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society are trying to make the most of this year's event. Darcy Howard has had her head in the eclipse for more than two years now, "doing outreach and education and training the trainers and talking to libraries and talking to schools and talking to anybody who will listen," she says.

She says that informing the public is a key goal of the 130-member society for the "peace of mind" it will bring them on April 8. "So when the time comes, we can feel confident that people know how to look, what to look for and how to watch the eclipse safely."

A composite image of the 2017 total solar eclipse seen from the Lowell Observatory Solar Eclipse Experience in Madras, Ore. Stan Honda/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

A composite image of the 2017 total solar eclipse seen from the Lowell Observatory Solar Eclipse Experience in Madras, Ore.

Part of her work is with the Little Rock-based World Services for the Blind. "How do you describe an eclipse to a person with low vision or who has never had sight?" she says. "This is a challenge and I'm looking forward to it."

One aid she's using is Getting a Feel for Eclipses, published in Braille by NASA. According to the space agency, the book features "[tactile] graphics [providing] an illustration of the interaction and alignment of the Sun with the Moon and the Earth."

About 15 minutes after totality in Little Rock, the residents of Indianapolis will get their first glimpse of the big show. Steve Haines, the public events coordinator for the Indiana Astronomical Society, is a little concerned about the weather.

"Actually, there's about a 60% chance of cloud cover that day," says Haines, a retired lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in Indianapolis who has looked at climatological trends in the state.

He's planning to be at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis on eclipse day, where his group will have a couple of telescopes set up. The society, the oldest and biggest astronomy club in the state, also has printed and distributed 15,000 eclipse brochures to libraries across central Indiana. And Haines says he and other club members have given at least 50 eclipse talks. "I just drove the other day a hundred miles away to give a talk."

Steve Haines of the Indiana Astronomical Society gives an eclipse presentation to students at Sunny Heights Elementary School in Indianapolis on March 8. Sarah Helfrich/Indiana Astronomical Society hide caption

Steve Haines of the Indiana Astronomical Society gives an eclipse presentation to students at Sunny Heights Elementary School in Indianapolis on March 8.

Like Rappaport in San Antonio, Haines is concerned about traffic congestion and crowds. "You have a lot of highways that converge on Indianapolis. That's why it's called the crossroads of America," he says. "So, we're going to get an influx of people from Chicago and northern Illinois to eastern and central Ohio."

Some small towns hoping to cash in on eclipse fever might get more people than they bargained for, he cautions. There are billboards advertising the eclipse in some places. Two Indiana cities, Evansville and Muncie, have even run prominent ads in Astronomy, the magazine confirms.

In Williston, Vt., located just east of Burlington, near Lake Champlain, where the Vermont Astronomical Society is based, totality will arrive at about 3:26 p.m. EDT. President Jack St. Louis says the society is making a big push to bring the eclipse message to the public.

St. Louis will be at ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, "and we have members who are going to be at libraries and schools and supporting different areas along the way," he says.

He says some people have heard the warnings about looking directly at the sun but missed the part about how to safely view the eclipse. Others are wondering if they should even bother if they don't live in the path of totality. "We tell them any place you can see the sun in the afternoon, you're good."

Farther north, Jon Silverman, president of the Central Maine Astronomical Society, says members are keeping their fingers crossed for good weather but are prepared to move quickly to ditch the clouds.

"The real hardcore eclipse chasers look at the weather on the morning of the eclipse and they dash to where they think it's going to be clearest," he says.

But the roads in the state may complicate that, he says. "The thing about Maine is that ... there are lots of roads going north and south and very few going east and west," Silverman says. "Once you commit to where you're going, your ability to shift east and west is limited."

The eclipse's northernmost point in the U.S. is in the town of Houlton, Maine, reaching totality almost an hour (3:32 p.m. EDT) after San Antonio. Houlton is planning a weekend of festivities running through the Monday eclipse, including singers, comedians, crafts and a "metaphysical tent" featuring crystals, astrology and tarot card readings.

"The towns that are on the path or even near the path are promoting it heavily and hoping to not just have a good and busy and financially rewarding eclipse, but to get people to want to return," he says.

Eclipse enthusiasts wearing protective glasses view a partial eclipse from Beckman Lawn at Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., on Aug. 21, 2017. Another solar eclipse is just weeks away. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

For all of the excitement the eclipse has created, Silverman says there are also those who couldn't care less. "No interest. That just boggles me. This is such a wonderful, rare thing to see. A gorgeous thing," he says.

But there are no guarantees, even for the enthusiasts. Silverman says the weather is the biggest "if" in the equation, pointing out that Maine is not the best place to avoid clouds in April.

"One of my friends in our astronomy club booked a flight to Mexico. ... He has a good 80% chance or higher of seeing the eclipse," Silverman says.

"You can go down to, say, Texas or someplace down there, but it's not a huge advantage," Silverman says. So he plans to stay put and hope for the best.

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Astronomy clubs want to help you enjoy the eclipse safely - NPR

Roughly every 71 years, the bright periodic comet 12P/Pons-Brooks passes by the sun and Earth. At its brightest, it can be seen with the naked eye in fairly dark skies. Nielander via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

A bright comet that only appears oncemaybe twicein a lifetime is currently on its way through our solar system. Called 12P/Pons-Brooks, the city-sized comet has already made headlines for bright outbursts over the past several months. And now, some astronomers are speculating it could appear in the darkened sky during the total solar eclipse on April 8, provided the comet is glowing brightly enough.

Right now, the comet can only be seen with binoculars or a telescope. But in the coming weeks, it might become visible with the naked eye. Heres what you need to know about the rare dirty snowball.

Measuring roughly 18 miles in diameter, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is a ball of dust, rock and ice that orbits the sun once roughly every 71 years. Because its orbital period falls between 20 and 200 years, it is known as a Halley-type comet, calling to mind the famous comet that last passed Earth in 1986 and left enough debris to give us several meteor showers today.

But Pons-Brooks isnt your standard cometits a cold volcano. It intermittently lets out blasts of gas in frigid conditions, known as cryovolcanic activity, and these outbursts can lead it to glow more brightly. After one such explosion last July, the comaor cloud of vapor and dust around the comets rocky coreexpanded to more than 7,000 times the size of the comet itself, Richard Miles of the British Astronomical Association told Live Sciences Harry Baker at the time.

This outburst caused the coma to take on a horseshoe-like shape, leading some to term it the horned cometor even the devils comet.

The comets many trips around the sun have a long history of astounding human observers. Chinese astronomers may have spotted Pons-Brooks in 1385, and an Italian astronomer may have glimpsed it in 1457. But its two-part name comes from observations made in 1812 and 1883, first by French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons and then by American astronomer William Brooks.

This month, Pons-Brooks has appeared to move through the constellation Andromeda, and now, its setting out on a path past Pisces and Aries.

To spot it, look low on the northwestern horizon after sunset. As the month goes on, the comet will set earlier, so the best time to look for it will be just after it gets dark.

While Pons-Brooks is a bright comet, it will most easily be seen in dark skies. If you have a half-decent pair of binoculars, certainly attempt to look for it with those, Robert Massey, the deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society in London, tells the Guardians Nicola Davis. You want to avoid haze, you want to avoid moonlight, you want to avoid light pollution.

As it makes its way across the sky, Pons-Brooks will appear to pass by a few notable celestial objects, making it easier to find on certain evenings. For instance, it will appear near the star Hamal, the brightest in the constellation Aries, on March 31. And from April 12 to 14, it can be seen very close to Jupiter. Regardless, using a night sky app can help you get oriented and find where the comet should be.

But the best time to see Pons-Brooks will be around April 21, when it will pass its nearest point to the sun, known as perihelion, and shine the most brightly. Look for the comet in the constellation Taurus.

Then, as the icy ball keeps moving, it will come even closer to Earth, crossing the point in its path nearest to our planet on June 2 and appearing in the constellation Lepus. But by that time, it will only be visible in the Southern Hemisphere, per New Scientists Abigail Beall.

During totality on April 8, skies will darken to a level resembling twilight, making some bright objects visible at a time they normally would be obscured by the sun. At this time, Pons-Brooks will lie above and to the left of the sun, near Jupiter.

Specifically, it should be about 21 degrees away from the sun, or roughly the amount of sky covered by both your fists held at arms length.

The comet has potential to appear during the eclipse, but some experts caution it might not be easily visible.

I dont want people to get disappointed if they dont see the comet, Rosita Kokotanekova, a planetary scientist at the Institute of Astronomy and National Astronomical Observatory at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, says to Scientific Americans Meghan Bartels. If people expect to see something extremely bright on a fully dark sky, I think that unless were very [lucky] with an outburst, it will be more challenging than that.

Amateur astronomer and comet expert John Bortle takes an even less optimistic view about seeing the comet during totality, per Space.coms Joe Rao. I would think that much more a fantasy than anything else, he tells the publication.

But in a sense, that might be for the best. While it could be fun to try to spot the comet during the eclipse, the spectacular phenomenon lasts for only a few minutes. During that short, rare moment, it might be most valuable to just focus on the sun and its ethereal corona.

Whether you want to tear your eyes away from the eclipsed sun to look around is up to you, writes EarthSkys Kelly Kizer Whitt. No matter how many minutes totality lasts, it will feel like its flying by.

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You Can See a Rare, Bright Comet This Month. Will It Be Visible During the Solar Eclipse? - Smithsonian Magazine

A rare total solar eclipse will take place next month and will be the last chance for Americans to view the natural phenomena for two decades, astronomy experts have said.

A total eclipse will be experienced by millions of Americans on April 8 this yeara rare astronomical event in which the skies briefly turn dark during daylight hours. Next month's eclipse is a rare event, with the last one taking place over the U.S. in 2017.

"You definitely want to be looking at the sky on April 8th because if you miss the solar eclipse this year, you have to wait two decades until the next chance to see a total solar eclipse from the contiguous United States," Brian Lada, AccuWeather astronomy expert, told Newsweek.

"Total solar eclipses themselves are not rare. They happen every year somewhere around the world. What is rare is to have them visible here in the United States."

Total eclipses occur once every other year somewhere on the planet, but for each individual community, they occur once every few centuries with some exceptions, Lada explained.

According to Jonathan Belles, digital meteorologist for The Weather Channel, a solar eclipse takes place when the moon's orbit "takes it into the same plane as the sun, blocking out the sun."

There are numerous things to look out for - aside from the skies turning dark in the middle of the day - during a solar eclipse. Belles told Newsweek: "During a total solar eclipse, you can see explosions of matter being launched from the sun on some occasions. You'll likely see some eerie shadows in the form of eclipsed discs or even slithering snakes on the ground under trees and other objects. You might see bats and birds head out for food thinking that the sunset has arrived."

"If you look at the horizon, you may see thin clouds of ice that are usually invisible to the naked eye. You may also see clouds shrink over land or grow over the ocean. In elevated locations, you might also be able to tell where the sun is still shining."

According to Lada, those wishing to catch a glimpse of the phenomenon will need to be "in a narrow area called the path of totality", stretching from Texas all the way to Maine in the northeast.

A NASA map shows the full trajectory of the eclipse across the states, including times it will occur on April 8. Starting in Texas at around 1:30 p.m. CDT, the eclipse will occur in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and finally in Maine at 3:30 p.m. EDT. Small parts of Tennessee and Michigan may also experience the total solar eclipse.

"Everywhere outside of the path of totality will only experience a partial solar eclipse, of course, as long as it's not cloudy," Lada told Newsweek.

If you're planning to look skyward to see the event, you need to be prepared. NASA advises using the correct equipment to prevent causing serious damage to your eyes.

"When watching the partial phases of the solar eclipse directly with your eyes, which happens before and after totality, you must look through safe solar viewing glasses ("eclipse glasses") or a safe handheld solar viewer at all times," NASA explains. You can also use an indirect viewing method, such as a pinhole projector."

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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Solar Eclipse Path Map Shows States Where Sun Will Be Blocked Out - Newsweek

Scientists have taken an instrument originally designed to study huge celestial objects in the cosmos and repurposed it to investigate the world on an infinitely smaller scale. With this instrument, they managed to probe the heart of the atom.

The team wanted to understand quantum-scale changes that occur within unstable atoms, and realized there's a state-of-the-art gamma-ray polarimeter they could tap into. This device, known as a Compton camera, can measure the polarization of high-energy light waves. In other words, it can dissect what direction such high-energy light is orientated toward.

The only thing is, however, that this instrument was technically built for deep-space astronomy, not atomic investigations. In fact, scientists constructed it because they wanted to place it on the Hitomi satellite to make observations of high-energy cosmic processes. Yet, the camera has now proven its versatility. By capturing the polarization of gamma rays emitted from atomic nuclei rather than faraway galactic objects, it managed to reveal the internal structure of the atomic nucleus as well as any changes such nuclei may be undergoing.

Related: Atomic clocks on Earth could reveal secrets about dark matter across the universe

Compton cameras are used to determine the direction and energy of gamma rays using a phenomenon called "Compton scattering."

Compton scattering happens when a high-energy particle of light, or "photon," bounces off a charged particle, usually an electron. This interaction forces the photons hitting the electrons to "scatter," meaning they transfer some of their energy and momentum to the particles they've just hit. In turn, those electrons can recoil and essentially pop off the atom they were previously attached to. This process can help reveal something about the atom that's involved.

"The research team demonstrated that this Compton camera serves as an effective polarimeter for nuclear spectroscopy, revealing insights into the nuclear structure," Tadayuki Takahashi, researcher leader and Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe scientist, told Space.com. "Developed initially for space observations, this instrument has now proven its worth as a tool for addressing complex scientific questions in other domains as well."

You can think of atoms as composed of "shells." Each shell is filled with varying portions of negatively charged electrons "buzzing" around; the outermost shell is known as the valence shell and the electrons within the valence shell are called valence electrons. These atomic shells surround a central nucleus comprised of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons.

The number of protons in an atomic nucleus defines what element that atom represents.

For instance, hydrogen is the universe's lightest element, and it always has one proton in its atomic nucleus. At the other end of the periodic table is uranium, one of the heaviest natural elements, which always has 92 protons in its nucleus. The number of neutrons in a nucleus doesn't define what element an atom is, so it can vary. For instance, hydrogen can have no neutrons, one neutron in the case of deuterium, or two neutrons in the case of tritium. These atoms varying in weight, however, are called "isotopes." Some isotopes are stable others are not.

While 270 stable atomic nuclei are known to exist in nature, the number of known isotopes of elements jumps up to 3,000 when unstable atomic nuclei are factored in.

Interestingly, scientists have also recently observed phenomena associated with unstable atomic nuclei that aren't seen around stable ones. These include anomalies in the electron energy levels as well as the disappearance and emergence of so-called "magic numbers." Magic numbers refer to the amount of electrons it would take to fill those energy-level shells around an atomic nucleus. Conventionally, these numbers are 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82 and 126.

Thus far, however, conventional methods have been insufficient in investigating changes in nuclear structure related to these phenomena. This is due to the difficulty of balancing sensitivity and detection efficiency for instruments analyzing the characteristics of transitions undertaken by atoms.

Here's lies the important part for the team's investigation.

An unstable atomic nucleus will attempt to reach stability by ejecting a proton or a neutron. This is known as radioactive decay, and it's a process that carries energy away from the atom in the form of photons. Gamma rays are a kind of photon and the Compton camera can detect those gamma rays! Perhaps understanding the transition between instability and stability can help decode some of those weird atomic phenomena scientists have observed.

So, these researchers believed the Compton camera, which includes something called a Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) semiconductor imaging sensor, could be ideal for measuring the polarization of gamma rays from unstable nuclei. Again, this is because such a sensor offers high-detection efficiency and precise accuracy when determining the position of gamma rays (even though it was initially meant for deep-space gamma-ray signals).

The polarization of photons from charged particles turns unpolarized light into polarized light, with the orientation of polarization arising as a result of the scattering angle. The Compton camera can precisely measure this scattering angle and the polarization of these gamma rays, which indicates properties of particles within the atom, such as the value of quantum mechanical characteristics called "spin" and "parity."

The scientists used accelerator experiments at the RIKEN research institute to perform a series of nuclear spectroscopy tests that involved blasting a film of iron nuclei with a beam of protons. This caused the electrons in the thin iron film to reach an excited state and emit gamma rays as they returned to their ground state. The team controlled both the position and intensity of these emissions artificially. This allowed for a detailed analysis of scattering events and the realization of a highly sensitive polarization measurement to test the capabilities of the Compton camera.

"The multi-layer CdTe Compton camera possesses several characteristics that make it well-suited for this research. First is the detection efficiency of CdTe," Takahashi said. "Typically, gamma rays emitted from nuclei have energies in the order of Mega-electron Volt (MeV), where the detection efficiency for gamma-ray polarimeters tends to be low. However, the 20 layers of CdTe significantly enhance the efficiency of detecting these gamma rays."

The Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe scientist added that the CdTe sensor developed by his group also achieves high-energy resolution for sub-MeV gamma rays.

"Lastly, it achieves a few millimeters of positional resolution within the detector's effective area, enabling it to 'see' detailed Compton scattering patterns," Takahashi added. "These patterns reflect the characteristics of the linear polarization of light, including gamma-rays."

The emitted gamma rays were measured, revealing a peak structure, and the team was able to determine the angle at which photons were scattered. The team expected their results could be crucial for investigating the structure of rare radioactive nuclei, but even the lead researcher was surprised by just how successful this test was.

"The research group, comprised of experts in astronomical observation and nuclear physics, anticipated to some extent that gamma-ray polarimetry would be feasible for nuclear gamma-ray spectroscopy experiments," Takahashi said. "However, the performance and results surpassed expectations."

These experiments could be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to using space instruments to investigate atomic nuclei.

"There are various types of Compton cameras in astronomical observation, and they could be used similarly to measure the linear polarization of photons," Takahashi concluded.

The team's research is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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Deep-space astronomy sensor peers into the heart of an atom - Space.com

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