Halley's Comet Is About to Return From the Outer Solar System
Video Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories - Duration: 01:30s - Published
Halley's Comet Is About to Return From the Outer Solar System
Halley's Comet Is, About to Return From , the Outer Solar System.
After nearly 40 years, Halley's comet will once
again reach its furthest point from the Sun
and begin its return journey back toward Earth.
.
'The Byte' reports that the comet will reach its "aphelion"
on December 9, which represents the middle point of
Halley's elliptical orbit through the solar system.
The comet was named for 18th century
English astronomer Edmond Halley.
.
Halley hasn't been visible from Earth since 1986.
.
In 2003, the European Southern Observatory's
Very Large Telescope captured images of the
comet on the outer edges of our solar system.
After hitting its aphelion near Jupiter,
its long journey through space will next
bring the comet past Earth in the year 2061.
'The Byte' reports that the debris from the tail
of Halley's comet is still visible from Earth
in the form of the Eta Aquariids meteor shower.
.
Between late April and early May, Earth passes through
remnants of the comet, with those in the Northern
hemisphere able to see 10 to 20 meteors per hour.
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Before the end of 2023, Earth will also see the peak of
the Geminids meteor shower on December 13 and 14.
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NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke told Space.com
that this year's viewing conditions for the
meteor display are supposed to be exceptional.
Massive Black Hole Awakens, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away.
'The Guardian' reports that astronomers have
traced the mysterious brightening of a distant
galaxy to the awakening of a massive black hole. .
The black hole at the center of
the remote star system is one million
times more massive than our own sun. .
At the end of 2019, decades of unremarkable observations
of the the distant galaxy in the constellation Virgo
changed when a dramatic surge in luminosity was detected. .
This significant increase in brightness has persisted
to this day, and researchers now believe that
they are witnessing an event never seen before.
We discovered this source at
the moment it started to show
these variations in luminosity. It’s the
first time we’ve see this in real time, Dr Paula Sanchez-Saez, Staff astronomer at the European Southern Observatory headquarters in Garching, Germany, via 'The Guardian'.
In 2019, when the Zwicky Transient Facility first recorded
the sudden increase in brightness, scientists scrambled to
understand more about the galaxy's unprecedented behavior.
Observations revealed that the galaxy doubled in brightness
in mid-infrared wavelengths, while ultraviolet
brightness increased by four times and X-rays by ten. .
Researchers say the most likely explanation would be the
creation of an “active galactic nucleus,” which occurs when
a black hole begins consuming the material surrounding it.
The team believe the change could also be related to an
exotic form of "tidal disruption event," meaning a star was
ripped apart after venturing too close to the black hole.
With the data we have at
the moment, it’s impossible
to disentangle which of these
scenarios is real. We need to
keep monitoring the source, Dr Paula Sanchez-Saez, Staff astronomer at the European Southern Observatory headquarters in Garching, Germany, via 'The Guardian'
Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories Duration: 01:31Published
Two astronauts who have been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) for over a month are talking to reporters for the first time on Wednesday afternoon. Sky News
Recently Spotted Asteroid, Set for Near Miss With Earth.
ABC reports that an asteroid
is set to make a close pass
by Earth this weekend.
Asteroid 2024 MK should
be visible with the proper
equipment and timing. .
Asteroid 2024 MK should
be visible with the proper
equipment and timing. .
The space rock will make its closest approach past
Earth early on June 29, passing at just three-quarters
of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
The asteroid, which was first spotted two
weeks ago by an observatory in South Africa,
is estimated to be about 393 feet to 853 feet wide.
According to asteroid expert Davide Farnocchia,
who works for NASA's Center for Near-Earth
Object Studies, asteroids the size of 2024 MK
only pass by about every 25 years.
We’re going to see a few
of those during our lifetimes,
but it’s not something that
happens every other day, Davide Farnocchia, NASA Center for
Near-Earth Object Studies, via ABC.
On June 27, a 7,579-foot asteroid just passed
the Earth at a slightly greater distance and
was only visible with professional telescopes.
The upcoming 2024 MK will be visible
with a small telescope but will not
be visible to the naked eye. .
ABC reports that skywatchers in
the Southern Hemisphere will have
the best odds of spotting the asteroid.
The next major asteroid is set for April 13, 2029,
when Apophis will pass Earth and be visible with
the naked eye to viewers in Europe, Africa and Asia.
Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories Duration: 01:31Published
Gaia Telescope Reveals Precise , Date of the Milky Way's Last , Act of Galactic Cannibalism.
Space.com reports that the latest findings from the Gaia
space telescope suggest that our Milky Way Galaxy may
have cannibalized a smaller galaxy relatively recently. .
The last major collision between the Milky Way
and another galaxy appears to have occurred billions
of years closer to now than previously believed.
Scientists have long known that the
Milky Way was formed through a series
of violent collisions with other galaxies. .
These massive collisions distribute stars
from the consumed galaxy throughout the
halo that surrounds the Milky Way's main disk. .
Galactic cannibalism sends "wrinkles"
through the galaxy, impacting different
families of stars in a number of ways.
Gaia now looks to retell the story of the
Milky Way by quantifying those wrinkles.
We get wrinklier as we age,
but our work reveals that the
opposite is true for the Milky Way.
It’s a sort of cosmic Benjamin Button,
getting less wrinkly over time. , Thomas Donlon, Study team leader of the Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute and University of Alabama scientist, via Space.com.
By looking at how these
wrinkles dissipate over time,
we can trace when the Milky Way
experienced its last big crash –
and it turns out this happened billions
of years later than we thought, Thomas Donlon, Study team leader of the Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute and University of Alabama scientist, via Space.com.
Astronomers have only been aware of these
wrinkles since Gaia discovered them in 2018. .
The latest findings represent the first time they have
been extensively investigated to find the
precise timing of the collision that spawned them.
Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories Duration: 01:30Published
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