#aas astronomy

[spockvarietyhour]

Amateur astronomers once again ridiculed, this time for saying a city engaged a honeycomb in Earth orbit.

[a-moorcita]

do you think those dreams at night, which we take out of nowhere, say a lot about ourselves?

[luminecho]

LOL

[buckysbattleground]

AAS243

[visualtaehyun]

Names, particles, aliens and ghosts, oh my!

Disclaimer: not a native Thai speaker, still learning 🙏

Ongsa & Alpha

Last week's episode started with the trio talking about the sisters' names:

Nunnapat Ampornsopon /Nan-na-phat Am-phaawn-soh-phohn/ Matthayom 4, class 6 (=10th grade) English

While we see this, Tin tells us Alpha's name too:

Napatsanun Ampornsopon นภัสนันท์ อัมพรโสภณ /Na-phat-sa-nan Am-phaawn-soh-phohn/

Her and Ongsa's first names have the exact same two words in them, just switcheroo'd:

นันท์ /nan/ = joy, happiness;

นภัส /na phat/ = sky, heaven

-> Quick pronunciation lesson: The final consonant in นภัส /na phat/ is called ส เสือ /saw seuua/ (= lit. S like the word for tiger) but in final position it's pronounced as a /t/. In Alpha's name, that same letter gets reduplicated to better link นภัส /na phat/ and นันท์ /nan/ so we get Napat-sa-nun!

Their last name Ampornsopon contains:

อัมพร /am phaawn/ = sky;

โสภณ /soh phohn/ = beautiful

Aylin

Her club application form was only shown in a Next Break preview last week, not the actual scene, but I wanted to take a look at it anyway:

Application to join the Astronomy Club Name: Aylin Kueaahree Grade: Matthayom 4, class 1 (=10th grade) Hobbies: Communicating with aliens Goal in joining the club: Searching for a friend/friends

Aylin is her first name, her last name is เกื้ออารีย์ /geuua aa ree/:

เกื้อ /geuua/ = to aid, do a favor, assist, lend a hand;

อารีย์ /ah ree/ = kind, generous

We saw her name properly this week, too, in the document she hilariously designed, wrote up, and filled out by hand:

Permit for spending the night at S-TAR school Subject: Asking for permission to stay the night at school for the duration of 1 night To: Counselling homeroom teacher I, (young Mr./young Miss/Mr./Miss) Aylin Keuaahree, ID number 406123, student of Matthayom 4/1, need to stay over at school ... on the date of the 24th of the month of August in the year of 2566 (2023) from 20.00 o'clock until 06.00 o'clock. Please kindly take it into consideration. Respectfully yours Aylin Keuaahree (Miss Aylin Keuaahree) Student

I've mentioned before that the subs are a bit too generous and don't quite show how much Aylin limits her speech to the minimum she needs to get her point across. One thing that consistently gets subbed is how she differentiates between aliens and humans. But not every instance of human is the same. She does seem to differentiate between general observations about human behavior and specific humans she talks to, now even addressing them appropriately (albeit with the 'human' descriptor).

1) มนุษย์ครูใจร้าย /ma noot khruu jai raai/ = [You] are mean, teacher human. 2) มันเป็นหนทางที่เอเลี่ยนจะได้เจอเพื่อนนะ /man bpen hon thaang thee alien ja dai juuhr pheuuan na/

มนุษย์ชอบถามแปลก ๆ /ma noot chaawp thaam bplaaek bplaaek/ = Humans like to ask weird questions.

1) มนุษย์พี่เคยบอกเอง ว่าเรื่องที่เชื่อไม่ใช่เรื่องที่ไร้สาระ /ma noot phi koei baawk ehng - waa reuuang thee cheuua mai chai reuuang thee rai saa ra/ = [You] said so [your]self, senior human - that what [I] believe in isn't nonsense. 2) ทำไมมนุษย์ชอบกลับคำพูด /tham mai ma noot chaawp glap kham phuut/ = Why do humans like to go back on their word?

Luna, Mawin, and Ton

Thanks again, Tin, for helpfully giving us all the names lol:

Luna Lalita Chanthaboriboon ลูน่า ลลิตา จันทบริบูรณ์ /Luu-naa La-lee-dtaa Jan-tha-baw-ree-buun/

Luna is her nickname, her first name Lalita ลลิตา means pretty, charming, lovely, and her last name จันทบริบูรณ์ contains:

จันท /jan tha/ from จันทร์ /jan/ = moon;

บริบูรณ์ /baw ree buun/ = complete, full, perfect, abundant

พี่เป็นดวงจันทร์ต่างหาก /phi bpen duuang jan dtaang haak/

Moving on to the boys-

Mawin Kow(a)charoen มาวิน โค้วเจริญ /Maa-win Khoh(-wa)-ja-reern/ -> the added 'wa' would be for the same ease-of-pronunciation reason I explained earlier with Alpha's name

Mawin isn't a Thai name but his last name โค้วเจริญ consists of:

โค้ว* likely from หมูโค้ว /moo khoh/? = a pork belly dish

เจริญ /ja reern/ = the same as Charoen's name, meaning to pray/chant, to prosper, to thrive

Edit, addition by @recentadultburnout:

Based on the usual pattern, the *โค้ว in the surname โค้วเจริญ is likely a Chinese surname that got incorporated into a Thai one. โค้ว is one of the top ten most used ones among Chinese surnames in Thailand. As for [his first name] มาวิน, while it was indeed not originally Thai, it did have a meaning—a borrowed word plus slang of sorts. A winner or to win.

Ton Thanakorn Khajornyoo ต้น ธนกร ขจรอยู่ /Dtohn Tha-na-gaawn Kha-jaawn-yuu/

His first name ธนกร /tha na gaawn/ = to create assets/capital; rich, wealthy

His nickname Ton ต้น might stem haha from the plant (ต้น)ขจร /(dtohn) kha jaawn/, a type of vine. ต้น /dtohn/ is a prefix used for plants but it can also mean leader, chief, leading, beginning, etc.

His last name ขจรอยู่ /kha jawn yuu/ = is spread/spreading, emanating, diffusing

An addendum about Ton

Last week, I wondered if maybe Ton was a closeted gay guy because of a handful of instances where AJ's delivery of the typically-female polite ending particles ค่ะ/คะ /kha/ sounded pretty sassy (and because he's Ongsa's ex aka the biggest lesbian under the sun lol). After episode three, I'm pretty sure he's just a huge flirt with everyone regardless of gender, he just adjusts his particle use (and also his height!) accordingly to sweet-talk them all:

1) ว่าไงครับสุดหล่อ /waa ngai khrap soot laaw/ -> ครับ /khrap/ = typically-male polite ending particle 2) แต่คุณแอลคะ /dtaae khun Al kha/ -> คะ /kha/ = typically-female polite ending particle

And since he finger-guns his way into the student council room, I think we all know now that he's bi

"Filth-eating spirit"

ใครจะไปล่าแสงกระสือกับพี่ต้นบ้างครับ /khrai ja bpai laa saaeng gra seuu gap phi Ton baang khrap/

If that sounds familiar to you, you either know your Thai ghosts or you've seen this or other movies like it:

Inhuman Kiss or แสงกระสือ /saaeng gra seuu/, starring Minnie Phantira, Oab Oabnithi and Great Sapol

A Krasue is a type of evil spirit that possesses women and, when going out to hunt, leaves the body behind to be a floating head with internal organs still attached. It's translated as 'filth-eating' because a Krasue is cursed to feed on blood, organs, carrion etc. Ton calls the mysterious green light แสงกระสือ /saaeng gra seuu/ (=light of a Krasue) because sightings of a Krasue usually report them looking like a floating red or green orb. In that regard, they're comparable to will-o'-the-wisps!

[my-castles-crumbling]

Hello it's astronomy anon again ! (yes my name is because of Conan gray)

Thank you for your last answer !! I'm currently trying to figure out my gender (it takes time but it's okay) and now I have another thing I'm questioning : am I somewhere on the ace spectrum ?

actually its something I've been wondering about way before my gender but I didn't know who to ask for help and I kinda decided it was a problem for later but I think the quicker I'm know the better.

So here's the thing : I think that if someone tells me I'm never going to have sex in my life, I wouldn't mind. I might actually be relived because I'm a very anxious person and the idea of sex stresses me a lot. but I'm also a minor and I don't know if I'm not just too young. I also never masturbated and I don't plan on doing it and again I don't know if it's because I'm young or if it's something I'm supposed to do at my age. so yeah I don't know.

-AA

Hi!!!

Ugh love Conan.

So first of all I’m gonna tread lightly bc you’re a minor. However:

So here’s the thing with anything in life, really: you do not have to do anything before you’re ready. There’s no “normal for your age.” It’s whatever you feel comfortable with! What you’re saying right now is that you don’t feel comfortable with these things. That can be a complete thought. You don’t need to figure out yet if it’s because you’re young or because you’re ace.

Honestly I can’t tell you if it is that you’re ace or not. I think that might take some more reflection on where the anxiety comes from. That might be something you could think about with a trusted person (sorry not to get too deep here, just trying to keep boundaries since you’re a minor).

Whatever you decide/figure out, though, please know that there’s no real “normal.” You are allowed to like or not like things and that’s okay ❤️

[jcmarchi]

Erin Kara named Edgerton Award winner

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/erin-kara-named-edgerton-award-winner/

Erin Kara named Edgerton Award winner

Class of 1958 Career Development Assistant Professor Erin Kara of the Department of Physics has been named as the recipient of the 2023-24 Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award.   Established in 1982, the award is a tribute to the late Institute Professor Emeritus Harold E. Edgerton for his support for younger faculty members. This award recognizes exceptional distinction in teaching, research, and service.

Professor Kara is an observational astrophysicist who is a faculty member in the Department of Physics and a member of the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research (MKI). She uses high-energy transients and time-variable phenomena to understand the physics behind how black holes grow and how they affect their environments.

Kara has advanced a new technique called X-ray reverberation mapping, which allows astronomers to map the gas falling onto black holes and measure the effects of strongly curved spacetime close to the event horizon. She also works on a variety of transient phenomena, such as tidal disruption events and galactic black hole outbursts.

She is a NASA Participating Scientist for the XRISM Observatory, a joint JAXA/NASA X-ray spectroscopy mission that just launched this past September, and is a NASA Participating Scientist for the ULTRASAT Mission, an ultraviolet all-sky time domain mission, set to launch in 2027. She is also working to develop and launch the next generation of NASA missions, as deputy principal investigator of the AXIS Probe Mission.

“I am delighted for Erin,” says Claude Canizares, the Bruno Rossi Professor of Physics. “She is an exemplary Edgerton awardee. As one of the leading observational astrophysicists of her generation, she has made major advances in our understanding of black holes and their environments. She also plays a leadership role in the design of new space missions, is a passionate and effective teacher, and a thoughtful mentor of graduate students and postdocs.”

Adds Kavli Director Rob Simcoe, “Erin is one of a very rare breed of experimental astrophysicists who have the interest and stamina not only to use observatories built by colleagues before her, but also to dive into a leadership role planning and executing new spaceflight missions that will shape the future of her field.”

The committee also recognized Kara’s work to create “a stimulating and productive multigenerational research group. Her mentorship is thoughtful and intentional, guiding and supporting each student or postdoc while giving them the freedom to grow and become self-reliant.”

During the nomination process, students praised Kara’s teaching skills, enthusiasm, organization, friendly demeanor, and knowledge of the material.

“Erin is the best faculty mentor I have ever had,” says one of her students. “She is supportive, engaged, and able to provide detailed input on projects when needed, but also gives the right amount of freedom to her students/postdocs to aid in their development. Working with Erin has been one of the best parts of my time at MIT.”

Kara received a BA in physics from Barnard College, and an MPhil in physics and a PhD in astronomy from the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University. She subsequently served as Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow and then Neil Gehrels Prize Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Maryland and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. She joined the MIT faculty in 2019.

Her recognitions include the American Astronomical Society‘s Newton Lacy Pierce Prize, for “outstanding achievement, over the past five years, in observational astronomical research,” and the Rossi Prize from the High-Energy Astrophysics Division of the AAS (shared).

The award committee lauded Kara’s service in the field and at MIT, including her participation with the Physics Graduate Admissions Committee, the Pappalardo Postdoctoral Fellowship Committee, and the MKI Anti-Racism Task Force. Professor Kara also participates in dinners and meet-and-greets invited by student groups, such as Undergraduate Women in Physics, Graduate Women in Physics, and the Society of Physics Students.

Her participation in public outreach programs includes her talks “Black Hole Echoes and the Music of the Cosmos” at both the Concord Conservatory of Music and an event with MIT School of Science alumni, and “What’s for dinner? How black holes eat nearby stars” for the MIT Summer Research Program.

“There is nothing more gratifying than being recognized by your peers, and I am so appreciative and touched that my colleagues in physics even thought to nominate me for this award,” says Kara. “I also want to express my gratitude to my awesome research group. They are what makes this job so fun and so rewarding, and I know I wouldn’t be in this position without their hard work, great attitudes, and unwavering curiosity.” 

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

I've been listless for too long, wasting my life by following the path of least resistance, but I've decided to take initiative and go back to school to get a degree that isn't worth less than the cardstock it's printed on.

Math was my passion growing up. It was fun and exciting to me, like solving a puzzle, and I wanted to be an unspecified brand of Scientist™ someday; my mom wanted me to be a mechanical engineer like my grampa. She decided my natural aptitude for math wasn't fast enough for her liking, so she skipped me ahead from algebra straight to AP calculus without geometry or trigonometry. I was completely out of my element, miles behind every other student, so she made me take two year-long homeschool courses in one month to help me catch up before I flunked out. It didn't help, it just made my existing course load even harder. I was burned out and I barely coasted by with a C- and a newfound hatred of math.

I never managed to grok calculus, and promptly forgot everything about it the second I graduated. When I learned that the major my mom wanted me to take in college would require more calculus and physics, I said fuck that and settled for something easy. I bounced around for my first two years, got my AA, and finally chose to pursue English (the greatest mistake of my life) because I had vague ideas of becoming an author, but my university had a shitty English department that didn't teach me anything. All they offered were glorified high school courses, "read a book, write an essay, take a multiple choice test, repeat. Congratulations you're an English major." I never learned grammar or style, I still don't know how to punctuate certain clauses, I completely wasted my final two years taking the most bare bones credits I needed to get a degree with no real goal after graduating. I went to college because it was expected of me, but my plan evaporated in high school because my mom pushed me too hard and even though I passed all my classes I feel like I failed miserably.

I want to go back. I want to retake the high school math I missed in my own time then reapply to my alma mater for another bachelor's program. I want to go into astronomy/astrophysics because all the science classes I took as electives in school were as fun and exciting as I'd hoped they would be, and I remembered that I loved to learn. I want to go back and try again with a real goal this time, to major in astrophysics so I could get a job, a career, doing what I'm good at and enjoy. It's not going to be easy, but I've been taking it easy my entire adult life and I'm trapped in my home town working as a cashier at a side-of-the-highway tourist trap motel at 26. I need to apply myself. I need to live up to the potential I had in high school. I need to go to the moon in this d'cade and do the otha things, not because they are easy, but because they are hahd!

Astronomy and earth/space science were my favorite classes in college, but I never took any beyond the 1000 level, and the suggested semester plan for a BS in astrophysics requires advanced 3000 and 4000 level calc, physics, mechanics, quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, optics, stats, and differential equations to name a few, so I have my work cut out for me. I need to buy some textbooks this summer and relearn prerequisite math before I can even hope to jump into this field. I'm not gonna enjoy it, it's not gonna be fun and exciting all the way, I'm gonna wanna give up, but I need to prove that I'm capable. I need to push myself to do what I don't want to do. I don't need to be a savant, I just need to pass. Cs get degrees. My little sisters are in college now, and both of them are taking a relaxed schedule, part time credits, only a couple classes per semester, however long it takes. The full astrophysics major requires 120 credits, but only 62 are critical, the other 58 are gen ed, and I already have my BA so I can skip those. 62 credits is 2 years of full time work (year and a half if I take a summer semester, though that's four months of work in half the time, so I'd once again risk burnout), but I could bang it out as a part-timer in 3 or 4 years. Hell, if I went back full time I could take a bunch of fun gen ed classes for a minor, or even a double major, but I'm getting WAY ahead of myself.

Start small.

I need to brush up on

Algebra 1

Geometry

Algebra 2

Trigonometry/Pre-Calc

Calculus

It's too late to apply for fall semester this year, and I wouldn't want to anyway because 5 high school math classes are a lot to get through in 3 months. They don't allow spring applications either, so the earliest I could start is fall 2024, 10 years after I started college in the first place. That gives me over a year to master the maths I missed. That's plenty of time! I'm fairly competent in algebra and geometry, so I'd only need to relearn trig and calc.

This is doable.

It's never too late to start over.

[rainbowonyourparade]

Since JWST pics are going around, what with the new release and all, I'd like to clue tumblr users in to the Rename JWST campaign that many astronomers have been on for ages since that seems to not be common knowledge.

So most people probably know that JWST stands for the James Webb Space Telescope. It's been an ongoing, international project proposed before I was even born and had many launch delays, but finally launched on December 25th, 2021.

It's named after James Webb, a former NASA director in the 60s, who oversaw tne Mercury and Gemini missions. It was originally going to be named the Next Generation Telescope, but someone within nasa decided to change that in 2002 because he oversaw the Mercury and Gemini projects.

March 2021, before launch, there was a call from four astronomers in an opinion piece to rename the telescope. They go through the history and arguments quite well in there and are much more articulate than me lol, but to summarize: he helped organize what's known as the Lavender Scare where queer people were kicked out of government jobs simply for being queer. The authors suggest naming the telescope after Harriet Tubman because she navigated using the north star.

The piece kicked off a lot of astronomers protesting the name, especially on twitter where many are quite active, but nasa claimed there was "no evidence... that warrants changing the name." Which is, uh. Well. Utter bullshit. The evidence is literally publically accessible.

Even the American Astronomical Society (AAS, the main organization for astronomers in the united states) thought NASA's reasoning wasn't transparent enough and sent nasa a letter in November 2021 asking for more info. It's gone unanswered as far as i know.

March 2022, Nature published documents that showed that, yeah. He was a Bad Dude and was definitely involved in keeping queer people out of NASA because they were queer. Again, there was outcry. Again, nothing happened.

Issues within the astronomy community tend to be pretty niche, so I'm not surprised that when I mentioned it to my mom she wasn't aware. So I thought I'd make a post here so people would know.

There's really no resolution here except to bother NASA to change the name. You can sign this petition, but it does seem to be aimed at astronomers. It's also a google doc, sooo.... yeah. There really is no recourse other than to bother the agency leaders though. If you want to be clear about things, you gotta use the current name of the telescope, unfortunately. Though I have seen some fun alternative acronym meanings on twitter lol.

Dr. Katie Mack, a well respected astronomer, recommended this youtube video on this same subject on twitter and while I haven't watched it yet myself, I trust her judgement so it's probably good.

But yeah, that's what I know. I just wanted to raise awareness that, while space is definitely gay, NASA is still a government agency with many queerphobes in positions of power.

[dullahandyke]

Actually it's been long enough since I was an AA blogger that most of u probably don't know AA so I feel obligated to tell u abt Shi-Long Lang.

[ID: Shi-Long Lang from Ace Attorney Investigations, grinning cockily as he points at the viewer. His hair is swept up to resemble wolf ears. He is wearing a black fur-lined jacket with a yellow dragon wrapped around one sleeve, a black button-up with a high collar, gold accents, and the top few buttons undone, black pants with silver dragon designs, and knee-high black boots.]

Noted Shi-Long Lang activities:

Often quotes an ancestor of his, which basically just mean that he is constantly making shitty wolf metaphors

I'm pretty sure he growls and/or howls at some point

Leader of 100 men who all love him so so much and he gets their families birthday presents

Calls Edgeworth 'pretty boy prosecutor' as an insult. Ok gayboy

Catches a whip w his bare hands

Wears X-shaped sunglasses so he can whip them off dramatically

The character designer wanted him to be shirtless sooooo bad so it was proposed that 'he has a birthmark in the shape of a constellation on his chest that he wants to show off because he's really into astronomy' but it was rejected :/

[michaelgabrill]

The Marshall Star for January 24 2024

NASA’s IXPE Team Awarded Prestigious Rossi Prize By Rick Smith NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) team has been awarded a top prize in high-energy astronomy. The High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) has awarded the 2024 Bruno Rossi Prize to retired NASA astrophysicist Martin Weisskopf, Italian Space Agency principal investigator […] from NASA https://ift.tt/iazQOWA

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Scientists on the Hunt for Planetary Formation Fossils Reveal Unexpected Eccentricities in Nearby Debris Disk First radio images of HD 53143 shed new light on the early development of Sun-like systems Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have imaged the debris disk Debris Disk A ring-shaped circumstellar disk of dust and debris in orbit around a star. Seen in the earliest period of the formation of solar systems around stars such as our Sun. of the nearby star HD 53143 at millimeter wavelengths for the first time, and it looks nothing like they expected. Based on early coronagraphic data, scientists expected ALMA to confirm the debris disk as a face-on ring peppered with clumps of dust. Instead, the observations took a surprise turn, revealing the most complicated and eccentric debris disk observed to date. The observations were presented today in a press conference at the 240th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Pasadena, California, and will be published in an upcoming edition of The Astrophysical Journal Letters (ApJL). HD 53143— a roughly billion-year-old Sun-like star located 59.8 light-years from Earth in the Carina constellation— was first observed with the coronagraphic Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in 2006. It also is surrounded by a debris disk—a belt of comets orbiting a star that are constantly colliding and grinding down into smaller dust and debris— that scientists previously believed to be a face-on ring similar to the debris disk surrounding our Sun, more commonly known as the Kuiper Belt . The new observations were made of HD 53143 using the highly-sensitive Band 6 receivers on ALMA, an observatory co-operated by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), and have revealed that the star system’s debris disk is actually highly eccentric. In ring-shaped debris disks, the star is typically located at or near the center of the disk. But in elliptically-shaped eccentric disks, the star resides at one focus of the ellipse, far away from the disk’s center. Such is the case with HD 53143, which wasn’t seen in previous coronagraphic studies because coronagraphs purposely block the light of a star in order to more clearly see nearby objects. The star system may also be harboring a second disk and at least one planet. “Until now, scientists had never seen a debris disk with such a complicated structure. In addition to being an ellipse with a star at one focus, it also likely has a second inner disk that is misaligned or tilted relative to the outer disk,” said Meredith MacGregor, an assistant professor at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy (CASA) and Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences (APS) at CU Boulder, and the lead author on the study. “In order to produce this structure, there must be a planet or planets in the system that are gravitationally perturbing the material in the disk.” This level of eccentricity, MacGregor said, makes HD 53143 the most eccentric debris disk observed to date, being twice as eccentric as the Fomalhaut debris disk, which MacGregor fully imaged at millimeter wavelengths using ALMA in 2017. “So far, we have not found many disks with a significant eccentricity. In general, we don’t expect disks to be very eccentric unless something, like a planet, is sculpting them and forcing them to be eccentric. Without that force, orbits tend to circularize, like what we see in our own Solar System.” Importantly, MacGregor notes that debris disks aren’t just collections of dust and rocks in space. They are a historical record of planetary formation and how planetary systems evolve over time. and provide a peek into their futures. “We can’t study the formation of Earth and the Solar System directly, but we can study other systems that appear similar to but younger than our own. It’s a bit like looking back in time,” she said. “Debris disks are the fossil record of planet formation, and this new result is confirmation that there is much more to be learned from these systems and that knowledge may provide a glimpse into the complicated dynamics of young star systems similar to our own Solar System.” Dr. Joe Pesce, NSF program officer for ALMA, added, “We are finding planets everywhere we look, and these fabulous results by ALMA are showing us how planets form – both those around other stars and in our own Solar System. This research demonstrates how astronomy works and how progress is made, informing not only what we know about the field but also about ourselves.” IMAGE 1....Artist’s impression of the billion-year-old Sun-like star, HD 53143, and its highly eccentric debris disk. The star and a second inner disk are shown near the southern foci of the elliptical debris disk. A planet, which scientists assume is shaping the disk through gravitational force, is shown to the north. Debris disks are the fossils of planetary formation and since we can’t directly study our own disk— also known as the Kuiper Belt— scientists glean information about the formation of our Solar System by studying those we can see from a distance. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); M. Weiss (NRAO/AUI/NSF) IMAGE 2....While studying HD 53143— a roughly billion-year-old Sun-like star— in millimeter-wavelengths for the first time, scientists discovered that the star’s debris disk is highly eccentric. Unlike ring-shaped debris disks, in which the star sits in the center, HD 53143 is located at one foci of an elliptical-shaped disk, and is shown as the unresolved dot below and left of center. Scientists believe a second unresolved dot in the north of this image to be a planet that is perturbing and shaping the debris disk. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. MacGregor (U. Colorado Boulder); S. Dagnello (NRAO/AUI/NSF) IMAGE 3....HST ACS coronagraphic data shows the region surrounding HD 53143. Because coronagraphic masks block out starlight to reveal features of the regions surrounding stars, the eccentric disk, and inner disk, of HD 53143 were originally "hidden" from scientists. Credit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); NASA/ESA Hubble, P. Kalas (UC Berkeley); S. Dagnello (NRAO/AUI/NSF) IMAGE 4....Composite image of the HD 53143 star system. Shown in orange/red, millimeter-wavelength data from Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), reveal a previously unobserved eccentric debris disk orbiting HD 53143 in the form of an ellipse. Am unresolved dot shows the star off-center near the southern foci of the disk, while a second unresolved dot to the north indicates the potential presence of a planet. Optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) is shown in blue and white; a coronagraphic mask blocks out the starlight, allowing researchers to see what’s happening in the region surrounding HD 53143. Credit: ALMA(ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), M. MacGregor U. Colorado Boulder; NASA/ESA Hubble, P. Kalas (UC Berkeley); S. Dagnello (NRAO/AUI/NSF) IMAGE 5....HD 53143 is located in the Carina constellation, roughly 59.8 light-years from Earth. Credit: IAU/Sky & Telescope

[sunmoonstarsflowers]

SKY

The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.

In the field of astronomy, the sky is also called the celestial sphere. This is an abstract sphere, concentric to the Earth, on which the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars appear to be drifting. The celestial sphere is conventionally divided into designated areas called constellations.

Usually, the term sky informally refers to a perspective from the Earth's surface; however, the meaning and usage can vary. An observer on the surface of the Earth can see a small part of the sky, which resembles a dome (sometimes called the sky bowl) appearing flatter during the day than at night. In some cases, such as in discussing the weather, the sky refers to only the lower, denser layers of the atmosphere. Source.

Sky in different languages.

Hindi: आसमाँ (आसमान) [aas-man]

Korean: 하늘 [ha-neul]

Bengali: আকাশ

Arabic: سماء

French: ciel

Swedish: himmel

Tagalog (Filipino): langit Source

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Many early civilizations developed myths of sky gods or goddesses, to help them explain the sky and the stars. These deities were usually particularly important or powerful, associated with or the most powerful gods or goddesses in their pantheons. The stories below (in the link) provide an overview of a few myths associated with sky gods and goddesses identified by early civilizations around the world. Source

A fun article about sky gods in different mythologies.

Why is the sky blue?

[kurbaga]

biyoloji yandal transkriptime baktım aa düşen tek ders astronomi🤡

[merelygifted]

Scientists find pair of black holes dining together in nearby galaxy merger - Phys.org

While studying a nearby pair of merging galaxies using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)—an international observatory co-operated by the U.S. National Science Foundation's National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)—scientists discovered two supermassive black holes growing simultaneously near the center of the newly coalescing galaxy.

These super-hungry giants are the closest together that scientists have ever observed in multiple wavelengths. What's more, the new research reveals that binary black holes and the galaxy mergers that create them may be surprisingly commonplace in the universe.

The results of the new research were published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, and presented in a press conference at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Seattle, Washington.

At just 500 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Cancer, UGC4211 is an ideal candidate for studying the end stages of galaxy mergers, which occur more frequently in the distant universe, and as a result, can be difficult to observe. When scientists used the highly sensitive 1.3mm receivers at ALMA to look deep into the merger's active galactic nuclei—compact, highly luminous areas in galaxies caused by the accretion of matter around central black holes — they found not one, but two black holes gluttonously devouring the byproducts of the merger. Surprisingly, they were dining side-by-side with just 750 light-years between them.  ...

[my-castles-crumbling]

hello im the anon who asked you about he/they pronouns (since I might come back and I don’t plan on introducing like that every time please consider me as astronomy anon)

So I’m really confused now because I am a girl or at least I always thought I was one and I really never had any doubt or anything but I also never understood the idea of « feeling like *insert gender* » and I mean sometimes I actually forget I have a body so being aware of my gender seems miles away but it’s been a few months that I want to look less “girly” and with my family we were talking about gender and pronouns and I realised I didn’t really care and that’s why I asked you and I think I enjoyed being called he/they and now I’m really lost cause wth is my gender ?? Please help me and thanks already

-AA

Hi! (Now I'm wondering why astronomy. Do you like Conan Gray?)

Yeah, it definitely sounds like you have some thinking to do about your gender. And that's okay! I think some people go a long time not questioning what they're told about their own gender so when they start thinking about it, they're like "woah. that's possible?" and then it gets overwhelming. I would start by doing exactly what you're doing! Think about what pronouns make you feel good and also do some research on different gender identities. As you read about them, ask yourself if those resonate with you and why or why not- that'll give you some insight into your own gender. A good place I point people to a lot is this list of different nonbinary identities. Try looking at those and seeing what sticks out. If you want, inbox me again and let me know which ones you like and we can talk more!

Good luck!

<3