Matthias Laux’s Post

The moon really is unique. Among the rocky planets, we have by far the largest satellite; Mars only has a couple of dinky stolen asteroids, and Mercury and Venus have nothing. Within the entire solar system, we have proportionally the largest moon of them all, roughly 10 percent of the mass of the Earth. We’ve had a good run, but it’s not going to last forever. The first person to notice that something was off was Edmund Halley, of Halley’s Comet fame. Living at the turn of the eighteenth century, Halley was a huge fan of the work of his good buddy, Isaac Newton. Using Newton’s newfound laws of motion and gravity, Halley found all sorts of interesting applications, including predicting the future paths of comets and the appearance of a total solar eclipse in 1715 – the first time in history anyone had ever accurately predicted such an event. And it was in ancient records of past eclipses that Halley noticed something odd. Going all the way back thousands of years to Sumerian accounts of eclipses, Halley found that the time between eclipses didn’t make sense if the moon had always stayed in its present orbit. The only way to reconcile Newton’s gravity with the ancient records was to hypothesize that the moon was slowly drifting away from us. And it is, although Halley didn’t live long enough to see his prediction verified. That would come only during the Apollo missions where the astronauts' placed mirrors on the surface of the moon. This allowed scientists back on Earth to bounce lasers off those mirrors and measure, in real time, the rate at which the moon is receding away from us. That number, roughly 3.8 centimeters per year, seems agonizingly slow. But multiplying that number over billions of years means that the moon is not going to hang around for long, astronomically speaking.

Reach for the stars: How to view the supermoon and other upcoming astronomical phenomena.

We are just hours away from a true wonder of the universe! Big Ideas Learning is in one of the few areas of the country to experience the solar eclipse in its path of totality! What exactly is the path of totality? The path of totality is the narrow track on the Earth's surface where a total solar eclipse can be observed, offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the moment when the moon completely obscures the sun. Predicting this astronomical mathematical coincidence requires precise models that consider the motions of the Earth, Moon, and Sun, as well as factors like the tilt of the Earth's axis and the eccentricity of the Moon's orbit. #SolarEclipse #Astronomy #Mathematics

Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, produces enough daily oxygen to sustain 1m humans, per new data from NASA. 🧊 Though very cold, scientists believe there could be life below the moon’s icy surface! 🌖 Jupiter is a fascinating planet! **As in life - it is important to remain open minded and be curious ! 💭♾️ Largest Planet in the Solar System Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, with a diameter of about 86,881 miles (139,822 kilometers). It's so large that it could fit all the other planets in the solar system inside it. Great Red Spot Jupiter is famous for its Great Red Spot, a gigantic storm that has been raging for at least 400 years. It's so large that three Earths could fit inside it. Fast Rotation Jupiter has the fastest rotation of any planet in the solar system. It completes one rotation on its axis in just under 10 hours, which is why it has a flattened appearance at the poles. Many Moons Jupiter has at least 79 moons, with the four largest being Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, known as the Galilean moons. Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system, even bigger than the planet Mercury. Magnetic Field Jupiter has the strongest magnetic field of any planet in the solar system. Its magnetosphere extends up to 7 million kilometers (4.3 million miles) toward the Sun and almost reaches Saturn's orbit on the other side. Rings While Saturn is known for its rings, Jupiter has its own faint ring system, made up of dust particles from its moons. The Hustle

#Orion Nebula, Seven Sisters, #Jupiter, And Its #Moons — Celestial Wonders Illuminating The #January Sky January 2024 skywatching highlights: The January sky is full of spectacular celestial delights. The Quadrantids meteor shower, the first meteor shower of the year, peaked from January 4 to 5. As many as 110 bright fireball meteors per hour were seen. On January 8, Venus was seen shining with a slim crescent Moon an hour before sunrise. The Moon was located close to the bright red star Antares. Mercury was also visible in the morning skies. However, these are not the only astronomical marvels seen in January. The second half of the month has more exciting celestial wonders, including the Moon pairing with Saturn and Jupiter, and the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades and Hyades star clusters, and Jupiter's moons appearing in the skies. Read my article to know about all the cosmic wonders that will be visible this month, and when to watch them. https://lnkd.in/dpJz-G4j

Twice this week I've seen Vortical and Husk in articles on cool things like this. *taps fingers* 🤔 😁 😊 Maybe this is one of those Dyson spheres, or maybe it's how Jupiter's moons feel on a tough cycle of stressing lol """ A strange planet discovered with NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has astronomers confused. Despite getting relentlessly bombarded with radiation from its red giant parent star, the world has, against all odds, hung on to its atmosphere. It is also smaller, older and hotter than scientists thought possible for such a planet. In truth, the extrasolar planet, or "exoplanet," should be a bare **** HUSK **** of rock due to its proximity to the star TIC 365102760, located around 1,800 light-years away from Earth. Yet the world, nicknamed "Phoenix," has emerged from the flames of its host star with a nice and puffy atmosphere. Phoenix, or TIC 365102760 b as the planet is officially designated, is part of a rare class of planets called "hot Neptunes." these are worlds with radii smaller than Jupiter's, but larger than Earth's. And, unlike the solar system's ice giant of the same name, hot Neptunes dwell relatively close to their host stars. Phoenix might be an incredible survivor, but the roughly 10 billion-year-old planet's luck and resilience won't last forever. The team that discovered it predicts it will spiral into its giant star in around 100 million years. The discovery of Phoenix shows the diverse variety of exoplanets that exist across the universe, and demonstrates that a planetary system can evolve in many ways. """

Unveiling the secrets of the universe! 🌌 Scientists discover a cosmic fossil formed by the explosive power of a supermassive black hole eruption. 🚀 Dive into the fascinating world of celestial phenomena and unravel the mysteries of our cosmos. 🌠 #astronomy #BlackHole #spaceengineering

Planetary alignments are beautiful celestial events that you can observe without special equipment. The next planetary alignment is on June 3, 2024. First came a rare solar eclipse, followed by the northern lights, fueled by a solar storm. The next celestial phenomenon will come next month, when skygazers can look forward to an alignment known as a "planetary parade." The parade will start June 3, when Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune will be aligned, according to Star Walk Astronomical News, a planetarium phone app. During such events, multiple planets can be seen across the sky. A "mini planetary alignment" is when three are aligned; a large alignment comprises five or six, according to the outlet. But don't expect to see them all. Preston Dyches of NASA's "Skywatching Tips" video series explained that only two planets will be visible to the naked eye June 3, if any. "Contrary to many reports and social media postings, there will not be a string of naked-eye planets visible on June 3," he said via email. "Mercury and Jupiter will be far too low in the sky at sunrise. Even under ideal conditions (a dark sky, free from light pollution) Uranus is very dim and challenging to spot. The skyglow near dawn makes matters worse." Neptune, which is six times dimmer than Uranus, requires a telescope to be seen, according to Dyches. The "real parade," he said, will occur about four weeks later, on June 29, when Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the three-quarter moon will be visible in the morning twilight. In Southern California, this should occur around 5 or 6 a.m., according to Paul Robertson, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at UC Irvine. "If you went out that morning, you could actually see all of those four objects at the same time, and that's not really the same for the June 3 thing," he said. The parades won't be the end of this year's sky spectacles. A nova outburst is expected to take place at some point before September, Robertson said. The outburst will be visible in the constellation Corona Borealis and will be as bright as the North Star for about a week before fading, according to Space.com. The phenomenon occurs when a white dwarf and red giant star orbit each other. As the white dwarf takes stellar material from the red giant, a flash of nuclear fusion is ignited, launching a nova outburst, according to the outlet. The event is expected to be a "once-in-a-lifetime stargazing opportunity." "I think people may have gotten a little more interested in watching the sky since the big eclipse," Robertson noted. "I know people traveled for that. It changes your perspective on things."

Earth gets a second moon! 🌖 🌟 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: Episode - 9 1️⃣ 𝙊𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙗𝙚𝙧'𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝘼 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙧 '𝙍𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙁𝙞𝙧𝙚' 𝙚𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨𝙚 ➡ A 94 minute long annular Solar eclipsed occured on 2nd October that swept across the Pacific Ocean, including Hawaii, southern Chile, Argentina. ➡ Over 240 million people outside the path of the annularity were able to see at least part of the sun obscured by the dark disk of the moon. 2️⃣ 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒖𝒓𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒐𝒇 𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒏 𝑯𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 ➡ The sun's magnetic field is currently at the peak of its 11-year cycle. ➡ Auroras have been faintly visible in north of USA. It is forecasted that Pale auroras may be visible as far south as South Dakota, Iowa and New York. 3️⃣ 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒖𝒃𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 ➡ Value of Hubble constant is 67–68 (km/s)/Mpc as per CMB and 73–75 (km/s)/Mpc as per cosmic ladder distance. This disagreement is now known as the Hubble tension problem, and it is the most bothersome mystery in cosmology. ➡ Gravitational lensing occurs because gravity warps space, meaning that the path of light can be deflected by the presence of a large mass. Researchers invented an new method of measurement to further improve the precision of the Hubble constant using gravitationally lensed supernovae 4️⃣ 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒆𝒙𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒓𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒖𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 ➡ Astronomers have discovered a small exoplanet orbiting Barnard’s star, the closest single star to our sun at distance 6 light years away. ➡ This newly discovered has roughly half the mass of Venus and it takes just over three Earth days for it to orbit the sun. Its very existence hints at three more exoplanet candidates in various orbits around Barnard’s star. 5️⃣ 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒕𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒔 ➡ Long-anticipated findings by Plymouth State University students confirm thtat eclipses create a ripple effect in Earth's atmosphere. ➡ They confirmed the prediction by identifying a signature of the waves in data obtained from the NASA-sponsored Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project (NEBP) during the annular solar eclipse on Oct. 14, 2023. 6️⃣ 𝑬𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑯 𝑮𝑬𝑻𝑺 𝑨 𝑺𝑬𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑫 𝑴𝑶𝑶𝑵! ➡ Earth's orbit captured an asteroid named 2024 PT5 on September 29, temporarily turning it into a “mini-moon” for nearly two months till November 29. ➡ The asteroid, measuring about 37 feet in width, will circle our planet before returning to its original path in the Arjuna asteroid belt. ➡ The new mini moon won't unfortunately be visible by naked eye. One needs a professional telescope to view it. #SpaceStories #AstronauticsClub #IIITH #Astronomy #NASA

On this Solar Eclipse Day drawing an analogy of our mind as a vast celestial landscape, where thoughts swirl like cosmic bodies. And comparing a solar eclipse to our negative thoughts. Picture yourself standing beneath the open sky, watching the sun gradually dim as the moon slides in front of it. At first, it's just a subtle shadow, barely noticeable. But as time passes, that shadow grows, encroaching upon the sun's brilliance until it's obscured, leaving only a haunting glow around the edges. Similarly, our negative thoughts can start as small shadows in the mind, barely registering among the brighter thoughts and emotions. But if left unchecked, they can intensify, casting a shadow over our positivity and clarity of mind. Just as the moon's passage in front of the sun alters the landscape of daylight, negative thoughts can obscure one's perspective, dimming the light of hope and happiness within. However, there's a crucial distinction: just as a solar eclipse eventually passes, negative thoughts too can be transient. With awareness and effort, one can acknowledge and address them, allowing the light of positivity to once again shine brightly in our mental sky. Thus, as one can witness a solar eclipse from a place of observation, we can observe the negative thoughts without fully identifying with them. This perspective empowers one to navigate through them, allowing the radiance of optimism and positivity to prevail once more in the celestial expanse of our mind. Solar Eclipse will be visible in US, Canada, Mexico and not in India. Should you wish to watch it live, here is the NASA link to their live streaming: https://lnkd.in/g4wpc_e9 #nasa #solarsystem #solareclipse #emotions #eclipse #beholdingconsciousness Pic credit: NASA