Category Archives: Mars

Dr Christian Schrder, from the University of Stirling, will play a leading role in commanding the European-Russian ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover as it launches in September 2022, as part of a team of five scientists chosen by the European Space Agency (ESA). He exclusively toldExpress.co.ukthat he is excited by the prospect of discovering clues for extra-terrestrial life.

Dr Schrder said: It is reasonable to ask whether there could have been life on Mars because after decades of exploration we know that Mars was much more Earth-like early in its history.

More than 3.5 billion years ago it had plenty of liquid water on its surface and at that point, life was already established on Earth. Liquid water (as opposed to ice) is the most important prerequisite for life and hence Mars was habitable at that time.

"And by that, we mean that it offered the conditions for microbial life to survive.

But we do not know whether it has ever been inhabited by any form of life.

Once the rover lands at the selected site of Oxia Planum on Mars in June 2023, it will spend a minimum of 211 sols (Martian days), the same as 230 Earth days, searching for organic carbon molecules that could reveal alien clues.

Dr Schrder toldExpress.co.uk: If we were to find any evidence for life on Mars, we would then have to figure out whether it is independent from life on Earth.

That means, we did not bring it there inadvertently on our Spacecraft and it does not share an origin with life on Earth. Microbial life could have been transported between planets by meteorites in the Early Solar System, for example.

It would be very exciting to, first of all, find any evidence for life on Mars and, secondly, be able to establish an independent origin.

We are biased in our search because we only have the example of life on Earth, which is cellular and all cells contain their genetic code in the form of DNA. So we are looking for something similar with the reasonable assumption that life would be based on carbon chemistry.

The Rosalind Franklin rover will be the first to carry a drill long enough to explore molecules up to two metres below the surface, where they would be protected from the harsh radiation on the planets surface.

Dr Schrder was part of the team operating NASAs twin Mars exploration rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, from 2003 to 2019.

READ MORE:Brexit Britain ready to deny EU 15bn with better plan

The mission established the past presence of liquid water on the Martian surface the most important prerequisite for life.

Dr Schrder said of the new mission: The rover itself has been built by Airbus at its site in Stevenage in the UK, and it is named Rosalind Franklin after the British scientist who played a pioneering role in working out the structure of DNA.

The development of the rovers panoramic cameras has been led by the UK, and it made an important contribution to the rovers Raman Lase Spectrometer.

British scientists and engineers contribute to most NASA and ESA missions.

Participation in any space mission requires for an individual scientist to be selected from the worldwide science community.

DON'T MISSNASA signs up British priest to prepare for alien life reveal[REVEAL]Solar storm warning as NASA predicts 'Earth impact' before Christmas[REPORT]Scientists pinpoint exactly when the Sun will explode[INSIGHT]

The ExoMars rover mission is a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Russias Space Agency Roscosmos.

The UK is a member state of the European Space Agency and the second-largest contributor to the ExoMars mission.

Dr Schrder said that Britain has already been making strong waves in the field of space exploration.

He toldExpress.co.uk: Britain contributes to all aspects of space exploration, from building satellites and spacecraft to working on the International Space Station.

"Currently, the UK is working towards a rocket launch site on the British Isles.

Read the original:

Britain to lead Europe's mission in search of alien life: 'Very exciting' - Daily Express

The Earth is crawling with microorganisms. Some types of microbes even help break down rocks into soils. Companies have used this property to mine gold and copper in a process called biomining or bioleaching. Microbial mining is an attractive alternative to traditional mining, which operates at high temperatures and uses harsh chemicals.

Rock that contains the desired mineral, called ore, must be treated to extract the mineral. For example, conventional gold mining uses harmful chemicals like cyanide to get the gold out of the rock. Traditional mining needs to take great care to not let cyanide get into the environment, but using microbes eliminates the need for harsh chemicals. In copper mining, the ore is heated up to 1500 degrees Fahrenheit. Microbes can work at room temperature.

Biomining isnt limited to only copper and gold. Scientists are also looking to use biomining for valuable rare earth elements (REEs). REEs are in the first row of the bottom section under the periodic table, plus scandium and yttrium.

The elements highlighted in orange are the rare earth elements. Image credit: Sciworthy

REEs are everywhere in modern life, such as in the screen you are looking at right now! Theyre also in the phone in your pocket, the wind turbine making energy for that phone, and most other electronics. REEs have become so important, our demand is outpacing our supply, making them critical elements. So where are we going to get these vital elements if the Earth is running out? One answer is space.

A 2019 experiment on the International Space Station tested how effective microbes are at getting REEs out of a rock called basalt. Basalt is a common rock on Earth, as well as the Moon and Mars. Changes in gravity affect microbial growth, so scientists tested whether they could still extract REEs in low gravity.

The scientists set up chambers with basalt and a medium for the microbes to grow in. They then sent these chambers to the International Space Station, where they could control the strength of the gravity. Astronauts tested the REE extraction abilities of the microbes in three simulated gravities. These were: Earth gravity, a lower Martian gravity, and microgravity. Microgravity is near zero and simulates gravity on asteroids or The Moon. The experiment was also run on Earth as a true Earth gravity control.

The experiment showed that the bacteria Sphingomonas desiccabilis could leach up to four times as many REEs as controls without microbes. This bacterium extracted more rare earth elements from the basalt under Martian and Earth gravities compared to microgravity. The scientists also tested two other bacterial species, but neither performed as well as S. desiccabilis.

The microbes did not store the REEs, but instead released them into the liquid they were grown in. It is easier to extract the elements from the liquid solution than out of the bacterial cells.

They also were able to leach cerium, which tends to be harder to leach than other REEs. Cerium is used in burn medicines, specialty glass, catalytic converters, and more. Traditional leaching techniques leave behind this important element, while microbes do not.

As metals have started to become more scarce on Earth, people are looking to The Cosmos for resources. This study shows that microbes can extract rare earth elements in gravity weaker than Earths. This opens the possibility of going to other planets to mine these critical REEs. Not only did they show this is possible, but even identified a specific species that could be used in future endeavors. The future of REE mining may be in space, and Sphingomonas desiccabilis may be able to help.

Read the original:

Might microbes mine the Moon and Mars? - Sciworthy

During a recent interview, Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Muskshared his latest thoughts on money, cryptocurrency in general, Dogecoin, and Bitcoin.

His comments came an interview for episode #252 of the Lex Fridman podcast. Below are some highlights from Musks comments during this excellent interview.

Fridman and musk started this portion of the interview by talking about the planet Mars and that despite Musks tweeting (more or less) that the ideal cryptocurrency for Mars is Dogecoin, Mars needs to have its own completely separate cryptocurrency (i.e. one not tied to Earth):

Well, we need to have a different currency because you cant synchronize due to speed of light not easily Because Mars the closest approach is four light minutes away, roughly, and then at first approach, its roughly 20 light minutes away, maybe a little more.

So cant really have something synchronizing, you know, if youve got a 20 minute speed of light issue. If its got a one minute blockchain, its not going to synchronize properly. So I dont know if Mars will have a cryptocurrency is a thing, but probably. Seems likely, but it would be some kind of localized thing in Mars.

Musk next talked about cryptocurrency in general, calling it an interesting approach to reducing the error in the database that is called money. He went on to say:

You know, I think I have a pretty deep understanding of what money actually is on a practical day to day basis because of PayPal Right now, the money system actually for practical purposes is really a bunch of heterogeneous mainframes running old COBOL.. Pity the poor bastards who have to maintain that code

Banks are still buying mainframes in 2021 and running ancient COBOL code. And, you know, the Federal Reserve, probably has even [something] older than what the banks have. And so the government effectively has editing privileges on the money database and they use those editing privileges to make more money whenever they want. And this increases the error in the database that is money.

So, I think money should really be viewed through the lens of information theory and so its youre kind of like like an internet connection like whats the bandwidth? You know, took total cut rate. What is the latency generator packet drop? You know, errors in errors and network communication.

And then what system, from an information theory standpoint, allows an economy to function the best and you know cryptos are an attempt to reduce the error in money that is contributed by governments diluting the money supply as basically a pernicious apprenticeship full of taxation...

Just think of money as a database for resource allocation across time and space.

Musk next talked about Bitcoin and its disadvantages (vs something like Dogecoin) as a form of payment:

Theres a fundamental issue with Bitcoin in its current form in that its transaction volume is very limited and the latency for confirmed transactions is too long much longer than youd like. So, its not its actually not great from a transaction volume standpoint or a latency standpoint.

So, perhaps, its useful to solve an aspect of the money database problem, which is store of wealth or an accounting of relative obligations, I suppose. But it is not useful as a currency, as a day-to-day currency

Part of the reason why I think theres some merit to Dogecoin even though it was obviously created as a joke is that it actually does have much higher transaction value capability than Bitcoin and the costs of doing a transaction the Dogecoin fee is very low.

Right now, if you wanted to do a Bitcoin transaction, the price of doing that transaction is very high and so you cannot use it effectively for most things. Nor could it scale to a higher volume

When Bitcoin was started around 2008 the internet connections were much worse than they are today, like an order of magnitude. I mean theres the way way worse, you know, 2008. So having a small block size and a long synchronization made sense in 2008, but in 2021, its like comically low

And I think theres some value to having a linear increase in the amount of currency that is generated If a currency is too deflationary theres a reluctance to spend it But if this some dilution of the currency occurring over time, thats more of an incentive to use it as a currency.

So, Dogecoin, sort of randomly, has just a fixed number of coins that generate every year. So, theres some inflation, but its a fixed number. So, the percentage of inflation will necessarily decline over time. Im not saying that its like the ideal system for a currency, but I think it actually is just fundamentally better than anything else Ive seen just by accident.

The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.

See the original post here:

Elon Musk on Mars, Dogecoin, and Bitcoin - CryptoGlobe

With comet Leonard brightening the night skies in December, accompanied by the Geminid meteor showers, stargazers are in for new celestial events donning the night skies in 2022. The first month of the new year will have it all from a new moon being accompanied by Mars to a meteor shower streaking past.

The stargazing will commence after January 2 as the night sky become full of unique events in the new year. January will be ideal for spotting planets and stars in the skies since a few nights before and after the new moon are going to be the darkest.

Here's what's all is happening in January:

2022 will begin with the new moon rising in night skies after January 2, when it is aligned with the Sun with Earth on the opposite side. However, we cannot see the new moon since the alignment of the Sun, the Moon, and Earth leaves the side of the Moon that faces Earth in darkness and the new moon comes up during the daytime, closer to the glare from the sun rendering it mostly invisible.

New moon nights are optimal for stargazing since the nights are dark. Meanwhile, it brings with it high tides due to the higher gravitational pull of the lunar body. During the new moon phase, its gravitational force combines with that of the Sun to raise ocean waters in the same direction with increased speed and currents.

With the new moon rising, the Quadrantid meteor shower will peak on the night of January 2 and January 3 morning. The meteor showers produce enough fireballs for us to see and in 2022 the peak coincides with the new moon, making for great viewing conditions, provided the skies are clear.

According to Nasa, the meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Botes, which includes the bright star Arcturus. the best viewing will be after midnight, once Botes rises above your local horizon. The source of the Quadrantids is thought to be the asteroid 2003 EH1, which might actually be an extinct comet.

January will end with Mars coming close to the Moon and will be visible in the morning skies. Joining the pair in the southeastern sky will be Venus. Having left the evening skies last month, Venus is now rising before the Sun as the "Morning Star." The Red Planet is slowly coming into our view after emerging from behind the Sun, during which all communication with rovers and probes on the planet were shut.

Nasa said that Mars will continue to brighten and climb higher over the next few months, where it'll have super-close conjunctions with Saturn and Jupiter.

Read the original:

New moon, Mars and a meteor shower, first month of 2022 has a lot happening in skies - India Today

Shiba Inu, Dogecoin, Bitcoin, Ethereum, EGC, and Dogelon Mars- Which Crypto You Should Buy for 2022?

2021 was arguably the year of the memecoin, but will investors in 2022 be looking for hype and celebrity endorsement, or will value and utility lead the pack? Today we compare the top memecoins and the top utility projects to see which cryptos will perform best next year.

Shiba Inu currently sits at a staggering $19 billion valuation, and those who invested at the beginning of 2021 have likely been celebrating Christmas on their private yachts in the Caribbean. But for those mere mortals who missed out on turning $100 into $50 million over the last 12 months, is there still potential to make money from Shiba in 2022?

Popular price prediction website CryptoPredictions.com sees Shiba hitting $0.000084 in Q1 2022, $0.000088 by Q3, and killing a zero to reach $0.0001 by the end of the year. This would mean a further 300% potential upside for Shiba Inu investors over the next 12 months perhaps not enough to mint another 1000 Shiba millionaires, or turn your Camry into a Superyacht, but a healthy return all the same.

Probably the least known on our list, EverGrow is an interesting proposition for crypto investors. With a current market cap of around $350 million, it is the smallest project on our list, but could potentially be the one with the biggest upside for 2022.

For those looking for a serious project, with true fundamental value, crypto certainly ticks all the boxes. Launched just 3 months ago, the project has paid holders over $30 million worth of $BUSD rewards, and just recently announced that its content creation platform, Crator, will be the first fully crypto integrated social media platform to reach the metaverse.

With a team of serious big hitters from the world of finance, blockchain, and marketing behind the project, progress with their ambitious roadmap could propel EGC to the top 20 of global cryptos in 2022. Decent execution from here could see that modest $350 million value skyrocket anywhere from 1000% to 10,000% during 2022. A risky newcomer? Perhaps. But EGC looks worthy of forming at least a small percentage of your crypto portfolio.

When Elon Musk isnt building rocket ships to Mars, hes tweeting about one particular doggy-themed memecoin Dogecoin. Elon claims he got behind Doge because workers at his factories were talking about a coin created as a joke by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, all the way back in 2013.

$1000 invested in Doge at the beginning of 2021 wouldve grown to an eye-watering $32,000 over the course of the year. Despite this already meteoric growth, http://www.walletinvestor.com has an end of 2022 price prediction for Dogecoin of $0.4, which would net investors a further 135% in returns over the next 12 months.

Dogelon Mars was launched back in April this year at a price of $0.0000000037 and today trades at $0.00000125. A 33,683% 9-month return.

It is notoriously difficult to predict the price of a memecoin, and Dogelon Mars could be the ultimate memecoin, with its founders not having been shy in their attempts to exploit any possible Elon Musk link. With the name being made up of 3 parts Doge, Elon Musks favourite crypto, Elon, Elons name, and Mars Elon Musks future home, is possibly the most blatant attempt by any project to exploit the Elon link. But has it been a successful one? With a valuation of nearly $850 million, its difficult to argue the ploy hasnt worked!

Can Dogelon Mars follow on from their staggering 2021 returns? Analysts at http://www.cryptonewsz.com predict Dogelon Mars hitting $0.000004 by the end of 2022, which would be a further 212% increase over the current level.

For those who havent heard of Bitcoin perhaps you made it to Mars before Elon and have been living there for the last decade! Bitcoin is the daddy of all cryptos, the first and the biggest. Early investors moved past superyachts many years ago, and perhaps have their sights set on buying up a small country. With Bitcoin standing at a mere $48,000 a coin, is there any point in having the worlds number one crypto in your portfolio for 2022?

Most analysts would say yes. Bitcoin is the ultimate crypto store of value, and the majority of crypto investors insist on having at least some of it in their wallet. Bitcoin has real-world use these days, it can be bought and sold easily at a low cost and is recognised globally.

http://www.independent.co.uk predicts Bitcoin to rally past $100,000 per coin in 2022, which would see 100% or more returns for those remaining faithful to the original cryptocurrency.

Ethereum is the worlds second-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, at $450 billion, around half that of Bitcoin at number one. Despite a volatile 2021, investors in Ethereum wouldve still seen around 450% returns over the course of the year.

Back in August Ethereum was forced to split into two chains following a bug that made the network vulnerable to attacks. Further issues developed as rivals showed Ethereum to be slow and expensive, with high profile investors openly leaving the project.

With the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade planned for 2022, and backing from Billionaire Mark Cuban, Ethereum could still have a stellar year despite recent challenges. http://www.investingcube.com predict Ethereum could more than double over the next 12 months, hitting $10,000 by year-end.

Share This ArticleDo the sharing thingy

Continue reading here:

Shiba Inu, Dogecoin, Bitcoin, Ethereum, EGC, and Dogelon Mars- Which Crypto You Should Buy for 2022? - Analytics Insight

As the new age space race commences, 2021 will be remembered as the year when countries outpaced each other in technological marvelling as they breached new frontiers beyond the orbit of Earth.

From the US to Europe to China to the Middle East to India, countries are fighting for their share of the space that goes beyond the orbit of the Moon towards Mars and away. China seems to be leading this race going into 2022 with most launches in 2021. Beijing, fueling its ever-expanding space programme, conducted 55 space launches in 2021.

China has carried out 55 space launch missions in 2021, with this number ranking first in the world, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said.

The country on Thursday conducted the last launch of 2021, blasting a Long March 3B carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province. The rocket carried an experimental satellite, named Communication Technology Demonstrator 9, into a geosynchronous orbit. It was the 48th flight of the Long March rocket family and the 55th of China's launch vehicle fleet in 2021.

By now, the Long March rocket fleet has carried out more launches than any other rocket family in the world. All the Long March flights this year were successful, CASC said in a statement.

The most anticipated Chinese launch in 2021 had been of the first batch of astronauts departing for its under-construction space station. Named Tiangong, which translates to a "Heavenly Palace", the Chinese space station has been designed to house at least three astronauts for long-duration stays, and six for shorter stays.

China launched three astronauts to its under-construction space station. (Photo: AP)

Beijing conducted multiple launches this year to construct the second flying outpost in zero-gravity after the International Space Station. The China National Space Administration also performed one of the fastest docking when it launched the Tianzhou-2, dubbed the "delivery guy that mated with the space station in just eight hours after the launch.

Beijing recently launched the second batch of astronauts with the first female astronaut to the Space Station. The astronauts earlier this week completed the fourth extravehicular activity (EVAs) and returned to the space station core module Tianhe. The EVAs was conducted to test the function and performance of the core module airlock cabin, extravehicular suit and mechanical arm, and assessed the technologies related to EVAs, the coordination of taikonauts inside and outside the space station, and the coordination between space and Earth.

While the year will be remembered for Chinese ingenuity in space, mishaps wont go unnoticed. A Long March 5B rocket came down uncontrollably endangering lives of humans and property earlier this year.

China has been criticised for its habit of not planning the re-entry properly. In 2020, they had launched another Long March 5B rocket which made an 'out-of-control' re-entry into the earth, damaging buildings in two villages that were situated in the Republic of Ivory Coast, in West Africa.

Beijing conducted multiple launches this year to construct the second flying outpost in zero-gravity. (Photo: AP)

The debris from the 2021 rocket finally crashed into the Indian Ocean with the bulk of its components destroyed upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. China dismissed the concern as western hype.

With 2021 ending, China has newer plans for 2022. From sending probes to the Moon to building a lunar research base with Russia and the completion of its under-construction space station will boost its prowess in space that has largely been dominated by the US. Meanwhile, its rover is already trundling on Mars as Beijing begins work on sending a probe towards Jupiter and Saturn.

See original here:

With 55 launches, Mars landing and space station dockings China dominated the space race in 2021 - India Today

Space science next year will be rocketed forward with missions to the Moon, asteroids, Mars and the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope coming online.

Why it matters: The data sent back to Earth from these upcoming missions will help scientists learn more than ever before about objects in the solar system and far beyond it.

What's happening: Space agencies like NASA, the European Space Agency and Japan's space agency, JAXA, are all aiming to send probes to various targets around the solar system this year. They include:

Mars: The European Space Agency and Russia are planning to launch their joint ExoMars lander and rover to the surface of the Red Planet in September.

Asteroids: NASA's Psyche mission is due to launch in August 2022 on a mission to explore a strange, metal-dominated asteroid that may have once been part of the core of a long-dead planet.

The Moon: NASA is expected to launch the first flight of its Space Launch System mega-rocket on a trip around the Moon, and the space agency plans to load it with scientific experiments.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope the successor to the Hubble is also expected to be up and running starting early in 2022.

Between the lines: As all of these missions launch and arrive at their targets, astronomers and planetary scientists will also be shoring up their goals for the coming years.

What to watch: China is expected to continue collecting data from ongoing robotic missions to the Moon and Mars.

Read this article:

Moon, Mars and asteroid missions top 2022 space goals - Axios

Elon Musk said SpaceX will land humans on Mars with its Starship rocket in 10 years' time, in the worst-case scenario.

During an episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast released on Tuesday, Fridman asked Musk when he thinks SpaceX will land human beings on the Red Planet.

After a 20-second pause, the billionaire replied: "Best case is about five years, worst case 10 years."

Musk told Fridman that the determining factors included "engineering the vehicle," adding that "Starship is the most complex and advanced rocket that's ever been made."

"The fundamental optimization of Starship is minimizing the cost per ton to orbit and ultimately cost per ton to the surface of Mars," Musk told Fridman on the podcast.

Currently, nobody can fly to Mars for one trillion dollars, Musk told Fridman. "No amount of money can get you a ticket to Mars," he said on the podcast.

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO has forecasted various dates for his company reaching and landing on the Red Planet.

Musk said in an interview on the audio app Clubhouse in February that it will take "five and a half years" before a crewed mission of SpaceX's Starship rocket could land on the Red Planet.

Musk tweeted in March that his aerospace company would land its Starship rockets on Mars "well before" 2030.

Experts previously told Insider that it could take longer than he's predicting if things don't go exactly to plan during the three remaining launch opportunities before 2026.

Musk eventually plans to build1,000 Starship rockets and launch three of them a day to fly one million people to the Red Planet.

Continue reading here:

Elon Musk: SpaceX will land humans on Mars worst case in 10 years - Business Insider

The bright white region of this image shows the icy cap that covers Mars south pole, composed of frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide. ESAs Mars Express imaged this area of Mars on December 17, 2012, in infrared, green and blue light, using its High Resolution Stereo Camera. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/Bill Dunford

Is there water on Mars? There sure is! Its not exactly like water on Earth but Martian H20 can tell us a lot about the planets distant past while potentially aiding explorers in the future. Some of the water is even trapped inside rocks! Hear from Mars scientist Eva Scheller who helped make that discovery using NASA data.

The short answer is yes. Now, we have to think about, how do we actually define water? Its not quite like on Earth, but its definitely there. Water is a molecule that has one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. The ice on Mars is a little bit different than on Earth.

On Earth, usually the ice is just, you know, water ice. But on Mars, its actually water ice and CO2 ice mixed with each other. On Mars, its just so cold that it gets frozen, so you actually have those mixed together both at the poles and underneath the surface as well. We even have water in the atmosphere as a water vapor. Its a very small amount, but its there.

We also have water inside of rocks. So, you can think about rocks as sort of a stack of layers and sometimes theres water trapped in between those layers. Weve actually measured this with a lot of the different missions from NASA and thats actually what I study. And the last state of potential state of water is, do we have liquid water on Mars? The answer is we havent really observed it. We do see these dark streaks on some hillsides that we call recurring slope lineae.

One idea is that these slope lineae could be formed by the flow of liquid water. But theres also other ideas where you actually dont need liquid water to explain the formation of these dark streaks. Maybe they could form through sand flow or that kind of thing.

So, is there water on Mars? Not quite like the oceans we know on Earth, but its definitely there.

Visit link:

We Asked a NASA Scientist: Is There Water on Mars? [Video] - SciTechDaily

Look for reddish Mars with the aid of binoculars, if needed. Brighter, red Antares, the heart star of the Scorpion, may be seen with the naked eye at the center of Scorpius. Image courtesy EarthSky.org

December 27, 2021January 9, 2022

MOUNT WASHINGTON A boon for stargazers, the unusually long, dark mornings that follow the winter solstice reward the curious who venture outdoors at dawn. The solstice-time Sun rises at 7:22 a.m. this week through January 9, 2022. Mornings continue dark as afternoons are increasingly brighter: todays sunset is at 4:28 p.m.; sundown on January 9 is 4:39 p.m.

While familiar constellations of the winter season travel the sky at night, the celestial dome at dawn is painted with spring and summer stars, a crescent moon this week and enter planet Mars. Mars rises at 5:24 a.m. tomorrow morning and, climbing higher every day, 5:18 a.m. on January 9. Around the winter solstice, quintessential summer star patterns, Scorpius the Scorpion and the Summer Triangle, rise in the morning sky along the southeast and northeast horizon, respectively. At summer solstice they are in the exact same positions when they rise in the evening sky. Recall where on the skyline the Scorpion and the Triangle rise in June, and we are reminded of balmy summer evenings while stargazing on frosty mornings.

Referring to the diagram above, spring stars are higher in the sky at dawn, having preceded summer. At the top of the sky, the Big Dipper a fragment of its curved handle at the top of the schema points toward orange Arcturus, the second brightest star in northern skies. Arcturus rises in the evening sky on the vernal equinox. Blue Spica and vivid Corvus the Crow are not far behind.

How did Omicron Ophiuchi, 5.12 magnitude, not visible with the naked eye, come to my attention? When working on StarryNight7 software to compose the star chart, a slip of the cursor into the space around Mars brought Omicron into view. Intrigued, I read the description attached to the star, a double star, part of a multiple star system. Although the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is simply named for the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet, I had in mind reports that the number of mutations is much higher than weve seen in previous variants. My interest in the multiple aspect led me to discover that in astronomy, Omicron is used to designate the 15th star in a constellation group, prompting more questions.

Turning to the evening sky, the long-lasting presence of brilliant planet Venus at dusk is drawing to a close. By January 10, Venus will set with the Sun, having disappeared from the evening sky days before. To see Venus and Mercury together, look within the hour after sunset in the days before the New Year.

Excerpt from:

EYES TO THE SKY: Mars, Scorpius, Omicron, moon mornings; Mercury joins Venus evenings - theberkshireedge.com