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https://buff.ly/4gOBI7A After months of waiting, a comet that could be bright enough to see with the naked eye and even during the day from the northern hemisphere has arrived — and the first photos are in. “If it survives its passage near the sun, becoming one of the brightest objects visible in the northern hemisphere — like Comet McNaught in 2007 — Comet A3 could prove to be one of the most significant celestial events of the year or even the decade,” said Franck Marchis, director of citizen science at the SETI Institute and co-founder of smart telescope maker Unistellar, which has a comet-dedicated tutorial page. “Observations will, in theory, provide answers to whether it will reach a magnitude of -2. As unpredictable as it is magnificent, it’s an event not to be missed!” If you’re wondering how, when and where to see Comet A3 — also known as C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) and “comet of the year”— here’s everything you need to know. IMAGE: Sky chart for seeing comet A3, also known as C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), after sunset on Oct. 12, 2024. Here's exactly where to look. CREDIT: Stellarium

'First Searches for Dark Matter with the KM3NeT Telescopes' In a new paper we present limits for neutrino production by Dark Matter annihilation in the Sun and the Galactic Centre. We used the data of early configurations of the ARCA and ORCA detectors of KM3NeT. We tested for different dark matter masses, spanning from a few GeV/c^2 up to 100 TeV/c^2, but did not find a dark matter signal in the data of ARCA from the direction of the Galactic Centre. The result was a limit on the self-annihilation cross section of dark matter into five different Standard Model particles, for the different dark matter masses tested. In the data of ORCA we did not find a dark matter signal from the Sun. In this case, we could set a limit on the cross section of the scattering process between dark matter and nucleons. Read the details in: arxiv.org/abs/2411.10092 #KM3NeT #neutrinos #DarkMatter #ARCA #ORCA In the image: 90% CF upper limits on the thermally-averaged WIMP annihilation cross section as a function of the WIMP mass for the τ +τ − annihilation channel obtained with the data sets from the ARCA8-21 configurations in comparison with results obtained by other experiments.

A soccer ball from 4.7 miles? The attached image of Mars, captured with an ASA 500mm f/15.6 telescope, shows a recent dust storm that began on August 18th in the Valles Marineris. While the image may not be the most aesthetically pleasing, it demonstrates how a small celestial object can be effectively imaged with a high-quality telescope and the right imaging techniques. (The dust storm is visible, spanning from the upper right corner to the middle of the top edge of the image.) To put the apparent size of Mars in perspective, as seen from Earth today (August 22, 2024): Mars is currently 6 arc seconds in apparent size. For comparison, a standard soccer ball would appear to be 1 arc minute in size if viewed from 2,480 feet away. At a distance of 24,800 feet (approximately 4.7 miles), that same soccer ball would also appear 6 arc seconds in size—just like Mars does from Earth today.

Exploring Alien Terrain with AI: A Journey from Mars Rovers to Deep Space Probes With ACE technology, space rovers navigate Martian landscape intelligently just like a human scientist would. From Mars rovers, we're pushing AI power into deep space exploration - enabling telescopes to identify celestial objects automatically and detect anomalous cosmic matter independent of human intervention. Deep space probes harness AI to delve into uncharted frontiers like never before! What are your thoughts on this?

A 'giant' rising in the desert: World's largest telescope comes together (photo) The European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) — the world's largest visible- and infrared-light telescope — is currently under development on the Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile's Atacama Desert. The mighty telescope is expected to see its "first light" by 2028, with the goal of observing terrestrial exoplanets and their atmospheres, as well as measuring the expansion of the universe. New photos from the ESO reveal that progress has really been made with construction of the ELT, including its dome, central structure and base of the M1 mirror — one of five mirrors that will work together to observe the cosmos.

Big News from Dark Sky New Mexico! The Penn State University has made a stellar addition to Dark Sky New Mexico with its brand-new 24” PlaneWave telescope mounted on a PlaneWave U-600. This cutting-edge setup will enhance astronomical research, offering unparalleled deep-sky imaging and observation capabilities. Exciting times ahead for astrophotography and space exploration! 🔭✨ #pennstateuniversity #darkskynewmexico #astrophotography #stargazing #darkskies #astronomy #newmexicoskies #telescopeviews #astroimaging #deepcosmos #milkywayviews #scienceandspace #observatorylife #nightphotography #skywatching

A 'giant' rising in the desert: World's largest telescope comes together (photo) C onstruction of the world's largest telescope moves forward with progress of the structure's dome and housing for the primary mirror. The European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) — the world's largest visible- and infrared-light telescope — is currently under development on the Cerro Armazones mountain in Chile's Atacama Desert. The mighty telescope is expected to see its "first light" by 2028, with the goal of observing terrestrial exoplanets and their atmospheres, as well as measuring the expansion of the universe. New photos from the ESO reveal that progress has really been made with construction of the ELT, including its dome, central structure and base of the M1 mirror — one of five mirrors that will work together to observe the cosmos.

Well over 5,000 planets have been found orbiting other star systems. One of the satellites hunting for them is TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Astronomers using TESS think they are made a rather surprising discovery; their first free-floating—or rogue—planet. The planet was discovered using gravitational microlensing where the planet passed in front of a star, distorting its light and revealing its presence. We are all familiar with the eight planets in our solar system and perhaps becoming familiar with the concept of exoplanets. But there is another category of planet, the rogue planets. These mysterious objects travel through space without being gravitationally bound to any star. Their origin has been cause for much debate but popular theory suggests they were ejected from their host star system during formation, or perhaps later due to gravitational interaction. Simulations have suggested that these 'free-floating planets' or FFPs should be abundant in the galaxy yet until now, not many have been detected. The popular theory of ejection from star systems may not be the full story though. It is now thought that different formation mechanisms will be responsible for different FFP masses. Those FFPs that are high mass may form in isolation from the collapse of gas while those at the low mass end (comparable to Earth) are likely to have been subjected to gravitational ejection from the system. A paper published in 2023 even suggests that those FFPs are likely to outnumber those bound planets across the galaxy. Detecting such wandering objects among the stars is rather more of a challenge than you might expect. Their limited emission (or reflection) of electromagnetic radiation makes them pretty much impossible to observe. Enter gravitational microlensing, a technique that relies upon an FFP passing in front of a star, it's gravity then focusing light from the distant star resulting in a brief brightness change as the planet moves along its line of sight. To date, only three FFPs have been detected from Earth using this technique. #TESS #FFPs #RoguePlanets

#FLYEYE: NEW FRONTIERS IN ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCE   At the end of June 2024, one of the most important technical event for ground-based, airborne, space-based telescopes and their supporting instrumentation, the “SPIE Telescopes + Instrumentation”, took place in Yokohama, Japan. In the frame of such valuable venue, an important #paper was presented to the public by OHB Italia S.p.A. (Prime Contractor), INAF - Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Università degli Studi di Padova (UNIPD) / University of Padua, #StudioSOME: “FLYEYE GROUND BASED TELESCOPE: UNVEILING NEW FRONTIERS IN ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCE”.   Leading star of the scene was the pioneering FLYEYE Telescope, which integrates a monolithic 1-meter class primary mirror feeding 16 cameras for discovering Near-Earth Object (#NEO) and any class of transient phenomena on a collision course with Earth, providing crucial advance notice of potential #impacts within weeks or days.   The FLYEYE distinctive design splits the #FieldofView into 16 channels, creating a unique multi-telescope system with a panoramic 44 square degree Field of View. While traditional telescopes provide snapshots that may miss critical changes or phenomena that occur rapidly or irregularly, the FLYEYE rapid scanning capability adds dynamic, capturing data across a wide spectrum of #celestialevents (fast radio bursts, high energy phenomena, development of supernovae, interaction of binary star system).   Placed atop #Mufara Mount in Sicily and robotized, FLYEYE ability to survey two-thirds of the visible #sky about three times per night will revolutionize #astronomy, enabling comprehensive studies of transient phenomena, placing FLYEYE in a new era of exploration of the dynamic universe.   The Telescope can strategically work in #synergy with other major astronomical projects, the Vera Rubin Telescope and the Zwicky Transient Facility. This integration can extend capabilities of this existing and planned observational infrastructures, by adding additional measurements in the visible sky or additional Earth longitude coverage. Such monitoring can lead to #breakthroughs in understanding the structure and the evolution of the ever-changing #universe, in opening new avenues for #discovery and in giving to astronomers new tools available to study the temporal aspects of the #cosmos.   www.ohb-italia.it

🚀 Excited to share the first step of my journey into machine learning for astronomy with exoplanet detection using the radial velocity method! 🌌 As part of my task from the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), I generated synthetic radial velocity curves for a star-exoplanet system. Using specified parameters and the radial velocity equation, I created curves for different orbital configurations, showcasing how variations in eccentricity and argument of periapsis affect the results. Stay tuned for more updates as I continue to explore the cosmos through data! 🌠 #MachineLearning #Astronomy #ExoplanetDetection #RadialVelocity #IIST #DataScience