What's Up? The Space Place

 Hey, Space Placers!      This artist’s conception depicts a bright pulse of radio waves (the FRB) on its journey through the fog between galaxies, known as the intergalactic medium. Long wavelengths, shown in red, are slowed down compared to shorter, bluer wavelengths, allowing astronomers to “weigh” the otherwise invisible ordinary matter. Credit: Melissa Weiss/CfA, via COSMOS. BIG STORY  Astronomers have found the "missing" matter they have been searching for spanning decades. This is "regular" matter - the stuff that makes up you, me, stars, galaxies and now - the intergalactic medium (IgM). The IgM comprises 76% of normal matter, 15% is in galactic halos and the remainder is the stuff of stars and cold galactic gas. This is NOT "dark matter" which holds galaxies together and comprises about 25% of all matter in the Universe. Our normal matter is just 5% of the total with dark energy making up the remaining 70%. This discovery was made using Fast Radio...

Hey Space Placers! Get the background on this informative and inspiring documentary. I was surprised to see an image of myself in the documentary. It was taken during the Media Day that was held by GSFC once the optical element of JWST had been completed. I did a lot of interviews, including Dr. John Mather and Dr. Amber Strong, as well as pictures. I have done multiple JWST stories for WTOP   during the years. Skywatching tip for tonight: WATCH MARS AND REGULUS TONIGHT IN THE WEST AFTER DARK . Sky Guy in VA  

 Hey, Space Placers! Here is a VERY interesting article about the beginning of our Universe being caused by a black hole . We are on the verge of gaining new insights and data with the arrival of new ground and space based telescopes. Stay Tuned. Sky Guy In VA

 Hey, Space Placers!    CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING IMAGE TO ENLARGE "The largest JWST observing program, awarded the most time and with the deepest, largest-area coverage is COSMOS-Web, boasting more than half a square degree of NIRCam area.   In that field of view alone, more than 780,000 galaxies have been discovered, including many ultra-distant candidates, incredibly deep gravitational lenses, and faint, deep, extended stellar haloes.   There’s so much science still to be mined in this unique field: the first of its kind. When all is said and done, the one thing we can be certain of is that our view of the cosmos will never be the same." --------- You have to read this article and see the incredible images from JWST . I marveled at the complexity and the utter simplicity of different areas in the image. One thing is certain, there are a LOT of galaxies in our observable universe. JWST is just getting started in its 20 year projected mission. And w...

 Hey, Space Placers!      The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, in the Andes Mountains in Chile, will map the entire southern sky every few nights.       Credit: Petr Horalek/Science Photo Library VIA NATURE VRO will be going operational soon and when it does our view and understanding of the Universe will be radically changed. The reason as explained in the Nature article : The Rubin Observatory will map the entire southern sky every three to four nights, observing each spot around 800 times over its ten years of planned operations. Eight science collaborations will sift through the data it produces, each focusing on different questions, from mapping the history of the Universe and its dark matter contents to tracking potentially dangerous objects in the Solar System. The observatory will also capture an unprecedented number of transient and variable astronomical events in real time — stars whose brightness changes unpredictably, for example, and those ...

 Hey, Space Placers! "Strawberry" Colored Full Moon Greg Redfern Check out the Full Strawberry Moon tonight as it will be the lowest the Moon has been in our sky since 2006. Check out the details here. Should be a beautiful sight at sunset tonight - perfect for pics! Sky Guy in VA