#Astronomical Databases

[planetariumhub]

Unveiling the Cosmic Remnant: Exploring the Crab Nebula (M1)

Credits: NASA, ESA, J. Hester and A. Loll (Arizona State University) Among the fascinating remnants of stellar explosions, the Crab Nebula, also known as Messier 1 (M1), stands as a testament to the immense forces that shape our universe. Located in the constellation Taurus, this celestial spectacle has captivated astronomers and enthusiasts alike for centuries. In this article, we embark on a…

[markscherz]

Natural history museums hold innumerable misidentified specimens on their shelves. These specimens make their way into databases like GBIF, and muddy data that is used in global-scale analyses and other research drawing on such records. Careful verification of all specimens in a collection holding tens to hundreds of thousands of specimens would be a Herculean task that could take a dozen experts a decade. So, we often rely on spot checks.

Whilst searching our constrictor collection to see if we have any albino snakes (we don’t seem to), I came across this snake that had been identified as a Boa constrictor. It is in fact Malayopython reticulatus, a reticulated python. A quick new label and an update in our database, and I was able to move it over to the right shelf. Now it won’t muddy the waters further, and is able to be referred to by anyone interested in examining a retic.

How many more such cases are haunting our shelves of over 14 million objects? And that’s just the Natural History Museum of Denmark; there are billions of objects in similar collections globally. This is quite literally an astronomically huge problem.

[mindblowingscience]

If we discover alien life, what will it  look like?  We have no way of knowing, but the hunt for extraterrestrial life can now include purple bacteria, according to a group of astronomers who are recording the chemical makeup unique to the lavender-hued organisms. These microbes may have dominated Earth early on in our planet's history and are well-suited to emerge on faraway worlds that circle dim red stars smaller than our sun, a new study suggests. The latest cataloging effort is in part "to create a database for signs of life to make sure our telescopes don't miss life if it happens not to look exactly like what we encounter around us every day," study co-author Lisa Kaltenegger of Cornell University said in a statement. "Purple bacteria can survive and thrive under such a variety of conditions that it is easy to imagine that on many different worlds, purple may just be the new green."

Continue Reading.

[goodfish-bowl]

What Little Remains

Chapter 1: Finding the Pieces

Ectoberhaunt 2024 Day 3: Archeology

AO3 Link

Summary: The Terra Zero Archeology Project has received funding to locate a laboratory of both historical and technological importance. What they actually end up bringing back is something of much greater significance.

Warnings: Dissection, gore, blood

Words: 2,374

They had found it on the planet once known as Earth, now known as Terra Zero. It had been buried in a laboratory of historical and technological importance. The laboratory was the target of their mission and this had merely been something they had discovered along the way, but it was likely a much more significant find than their original goal. It was a miracle, really, that the jar protecting this particular specimen was fully intact, and an even greater wonder that they found a second one to go with it. Despite the atypical building practices found at that location, it had managed to survive the several planetary disasters that had befallen Terra Zero since the lab had been constructed. It was truly an amazingly complex and baffling in its own era. The laboratory itself had been buried under tons of sediment, ash, and debris that had built up on the planet's surface over the centuries, yet it managed to preserve the space from the very passage of time. 

The Terra Zero Archeology Project, shortened down to T.Z.A.P, had only been able to discover it through a related digital archiving project, following mentions of its existence along with digital records from the time, particularly a set of patents that were of interest to the team's investors. They read like utter nonsense, completely indecipherable despite running them through every algorithm available and having sloughs of intergalactic experts look them over. The only hope of figuring them out lay in the lab where they had been created. A myzack-chase through several databases and many long message chains and holos later, the mission was underway. The promise of new technologies was what got the T.Z.A.P. its funding in the first place. This lab was sure to have them keep their funding for a while longer. 

The lab itself had been odd, with unknown radioactive elements non-native to the Terra Zero planetary area found in unusual amounts with a positive correlation with the proximity to the lab. Special suits were created just for this excavation, and entire collections of journals were being written based off of the findings. The interior of the lab looked untouched, only a thin coat of dust covered every surface. It was in a general state of disarray like it had been abandoned in the middle of something, but the walls were intact (except for the portion they had drilled through) with minimal rust and decay setting in. It was an astronomically amazing find. 

Then there were the samples. 

Most of the samples, which looked to be biological samples from a dissection, were degraded beyond use, a millennium beyond expiration. They appeared to be humanoid in nature, which ended up being one of the most unnerving portions of the discovery. It wouldn’t be confirmed until they were actually processed and tested. It wasn’t safe to assume, they had found ones made of ‘rubber’ before. One jar, containing a singular, whole hand, was preserved properly, in what appeared to be an isotopic solution tinted green. The next samples of interest were a set of small vials containing a viscous green liquid that actively rested in a set of a dozen, three of which were intact, the rest exposed to the heavy, damp atmosphere of the lab. It was an unnaturally bright green substance with a dull glow, flecked with red. The intact vials wouldn’t be opened until after the samples of the broken ones were processed first. It would give them a good idea of the decay rate of the substance. There was a heavy containment unit, made from glass that could rival modern war spacecraft windows, with a glowing crystal orb inside, floating in a similar solution to what the vials must contain. All of the other samples were labeled “Phantom” with a time and date on their collection date. This one was marked with the name “Danny”, instead. They were all within two days of each other, with the orb being last. 

The most valuable thing T.Z.A.P. managed to collect from the lab, other than just recording of the finding of an intact lab from the early 2000s era, was the intact digital files located on the ancient external hard drive. Someone on the tech team had managed to reconstruct and restore the files on it and found hundreds of files containing everything from lab journal entries to video recordings, to entire papers. It was an almanium mine of information, shining light on many of the patents themselves, though the blueprints and the construction of the technology remained theoretical at best. Whoever had designed these was using a language all of their own that no one else could decipher. 

The samples and digital files were brought into the in-orbit lab and processed while the systems scanned the antique files for relevant information, matching the patents and the surviving samples. The computer pinged a collection of lab recordings almost immediately, curiously matching the time stamps of the sample collections. 

Zavier, one of the many interns assigned to this project, absently clicked on one at random, sound on, in the middle of the main research room. 

Corroded, the audio snapped and popped, showing its age, but it caught the attention of everyone else in the room. Grainy footage of a woman in a teal jumpsuit, with red goggles covering her eyes, and black gloves covered the screen. A large figure in orange moved in the background. 

“This is Doctor Madeline Fenton, it is June 4th, 2006, at precisely 14:23. I am joined by Doctor Jack Fenton in collecting a whole-piece sample from the ecto-entity known as Phantom.”   

Ecto-entity. It was a term that popped up frequently in the study of this particular laboratory and the related patents. There were at least a dozen sets of eyes on the monitor at this point, several different people scribbling down notes of interest. 

“As mentioned in Recording 632006-334 samples collected from Phantom seem to rapidly degenerate once removed from the central entity. To correct this, we have diluted a solution made from the entity’s own ectoplasm mixed with an isotopic preservation solution in an attempt to preserve the sample for further, future study.”

The woman moved the camera to show a prone figure, heavily strapped down to a mental table, distinctly human, despite their odd features for the time. They appeared young, prepubescent in age, uselessly crying and thrashing on the table they were strapped to. They were covered in past incisions, and missing several fingers from their other hand. Several harsh breaths of horror were taken around the room. Zavier should’ve paused the video there, but he hadn’t. 

“Our intended sample is going to be the entire right hand.”

The child on the table let out a heart wrenching whine, barely picked up through the harsh muzzle on their face. 

Something in the room broke, it sounded fragile, but no one moved, transfixed by the screen. 

The woman, Dr. Madeline repositioned the camera over the child’s right hand. They visibly struggled, straining against the restraint. 

“Jack, the bone saw?”

“Here you go, darling!” The man said with a large smile. 

The boy screamed and it echoed around the entire room, the video filled with bright colors of green and red as the bone saw ate through flesh.

The video was abruptly stopped before it could finish, and someone immediately rushed to the trash unit in the corner. A few people did. The scream still seemed to linger around the room anyways. 

“What in the void of space are you all doing?!” A new voice interrupted.

“H-head Doctor! I didn’t mean to! But it started playing and I didn’t want to stop it so I let it play!”

“And?”

“A… a-and?” the intern stuttered. 

“What did you learn?”

“That… that I shouldn’t click on a random video without permission…” Zavier admitted reluctantly. 

“I meant about our subject.”

“OH! Oh… um. Young, possibly male humanoid, unusual features… they cut off their hand with a bone saw…” Zavier’s voice trembled, unable to focus on the words coming out of his mouth with the scream echoing even louder in his own head than it had in the room. 

The Head Doctor’s eyes darkened. Her grip tightening on her tablet, before snapping down the tech and sending out several messages all at once in a furious efficiency. 

“If continuing on this particular project makes you uncomfortable, please report to the main deck for reassignment!” The Head Doctor announced it to the whole room. “I understand that we’re dealing with humanoid experimentation in this discovery. You will not be punished for wanting to be reassigned.”

Several people left the room almost immediately, practically fleeing in terror. Zavier found himself agreeing, but was firmly rooted in place. Others thought about it, before following the rest out. From the two dozen researchers and interns in the room, less than a fourth remained. Zavier rediscovered his ability to move for a moment, and contemplated joining them before staying in his spot. He couldn’t. 

“Intern. I need you to find the video of the collection of the orb. The video should be labeled 642006-1746.”

“Yes, ma’am. May I ask why?” 

Zavier really didn’t want ot have to watch another video when this one was going to be haunting him for the next decade.

“The sample associated with it refuses to be identified, but it has responded to external stimuli, including sounds and being moved about. Several of our preliminary scans have identified something similar to brain waves emitting from it. We need to identify it.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Zavier swallowed thickly before clicking on the video labeled just as the Head Doctor had specified. The video pulled up just like the first, popping and snapping before settling in place. The same woman from the first video appeared in the camera, slightly worse for wear. Her suit was splattered with green and red. Zavier cringed and looked away, but refrained from covering his ears with his hands. He had to at least listen, even if that was the worst part. 

“This is Doctor Madeline Fenton, it is June 4th, 2006, at 17:46. Dr. Jack Fenton and I have just finished our full dissection of the ecto-entity once known as Phantom.”

The camera panned to show the same child from earlier, cut up into pieces, a large vivisection cut splaying their chest wide open, cavity practically hollowed out, and several stained jars littered the free space on the table. They boy wasn’t moving anymore.

“We have made an… interesting discovery concerning its biology.” 

The scientist paused for a moment, glancing behind her before she seemed to hesitate. 

“Not… not only did it possess a perfect copy of human biology, it was a functioning one. However, after considerable loss of ectoplasm and substantial damage to its internal organs, its facsimile of life ceased. We were able to locate its core,” she held up the jar containing the small glowing orb. It seemed so tragic floating in that solution. All that blood and viscera for something the size of a pinging ball. She placed the jar on a table out of frame.

“And have successfully removed it and placed it within an isolating containment unit. Reasons for this have been stated in my husband and I’s previous papers on the nature of cores. However, Phantom’s seems to be behaving differently than expected. It’s fallen completely dormant after drawing in all available ectoplasm. Theories on this will be further elaborated in the paper currently being constructed on the ecto-entity Phant-”

There was a flash of light in the background that glitched out the camera for a moment, before the video returned. There was much more red than there was before. The boy was noticeably different, his appearance much more in line with the humans of the era, black hair and red blood. 

The woman swiftly turned around, a weapon she reached for off screen suddenly in her hand. It clattered to the ground soon after. She made a horrible choking noise, like she was being strangled. Zavier didn’t think she had the right to react like that. She and her partner had done this after all.

“Danny..?”

The Head Doctor reached over Zavier and turned the video off, gripping the bridge of her nose and letting out a harsh breath of her own. Zavier himself sunk further into his seat to process the information that was likely going to continue to plague his nightmares. He didn’t know why he felt so terrible, or why it was all knotted up in the base of his throat. That kid had been dead for over a millennium at this point. There was no saving them, just the bits of what little of them that remained, as samples, recordings, and data. He shouldn’t be this horrified and torn up over someone long dead. 

“Intern, what is your name?”

“Zavier, ma’am.”

“Zavier, go make yourself something warm to eat and distract yourself. I don’t want to see you until it looks like you’ve had at least a full cycle of rest. Senior members,” she signaled the three of the older researchers who had remained, one of which was trying to light a smoke in the corner, “We are going to be having a long night to figure out the nature of this research. If… If this lines up with some of my current conclusions, then we may have a much more… interesting project on our hands.”

“Ma’am… what do you mean by that?” 

One of the researchers asked, coming in closer to relieve Zavier from his seat at the monitor. Zavier hadn’t been expecting his knees to be so weak when he tried to stand and the world spun around him for a moment before he managed to steady himself.

“Simple. We have the current approval and supplies to use the D.R.C.R.A. on a suitable… sample of interest,” The Doctor claimed. 

“You don’t mean… by the void,” The researcher with the smoke cackled. “Oh, this is going to get us in so much trouble!”

“Well, it would certainly line up with our objective to study the era. What’s better than a first-person witness?”

Ectoberhaunt 2024 Masterpost

[enneegon]

i woke up to a massive fucking SURGE of notifs on my dash, hello funky space iterator enjoyers

i come bearing LORE!!! (very long read i'm sorry i wanted to rant)

so this guys full name is Hollow Intercession, Falling Space, All Mundane Order Towards Unawakened Discovery/HIFSAMOTUD (or just Discovery).

the astronomically (pun intended) long name is to celebrate their successful launch!! there were at least fourteen other failures before them

component-wise:

roughly ten times the size of a regular iterator (still deciding on the scale!)

solar-powered

four sets of wings (for moving in zero g)

vacuums to suck out biological waste and prevent slag buildup

massive communication arrays

overseers are used to photograph

personality wise they're actually extremely goofy, really outgoing and concerningly likeable. like they are so fucking silly. could definitely make any iterator laugh. cannot be serious for the life of them

purpose wise, they still worked on the great problem but were also tasked with researching space eg. taking pictures, sampling matter, naming planets.

(think big satellite or massive james webb telescope except the ancient version)

and STORY WISE

HIFSAMOTUD worked on their given tasks for a very short time after taking one look at the earth and going 'why the fuck do i have to be stationary and work on the great problem when you have all of them'

after MULTIPLE reminders HIFSAMOTUD just goes 'lmao no you gave me wings', breaks out of orbit and flies thousands of kilometres into space until the ancients completely lost connection with them. because of this, their model is discontinued in fear of this situation ever happening again <3

long after the ancients have all ascended HIFSAMOTUD floats their way back and makes a distress signal in hopes of contacting someone again - to their shock getting the attention of hundreds of iterators, all in different situations but being broken down by time.

HIFSAMOTUD, being in deep space where there is no oxygen for erosion, gets very concerned for their ground iterator friends.

they were already a massive communication system from the start, but they go off to rewrite some of their genomes so they can reprogram themselves. (and it goes surprisingly well! probably because they don't have resources to share with anyone and they told all their friends to shut the fuck up and leave them to focus)

they reprogram their coms to be a full global system for the iterators (invented discord) and use it to reconnect with older iterators and as a system where all the other iterators can communicate with each other. sorta like a server host!!

they also made a database for the iterators (registration) so they know who has been contacted and/or uses their system.

this is when the group of 'discoverists' form!! these are iterators who HIFSAMOTUD has registered on their database (in this au fp and lttm are discoverists!) discoverists are all anonymous and are given new aliases by HIFSAMOTUD - this can either be based on a role, or HIFSAMOTUD names them something space related based on their name or puppet colour, eg. OPERATOR, LIFEGIVER (roles) MOONLIGHT, NEBULA (colours) etc etc

these guys either don't work on the great problem, are massive space nerds, crave social interaction, are just here to fuck around or all of the above :)

[acti-veg]

doesn’t genocide mean you have to be *intentionally* trying to wipe out an ethnic group though? what is the evidence for that?

I feel like I've already covered this point in the answer you're responding to here, but I'll expand on it if it helps. If you are looking for Netanyahu to come out and say 'hey we are trying to wipe out the Palestinian people in whole or in part' before you'll call this a genocide then you'll never identify any genocide until it is already completed.

Unless someone announces their intentions, you can only infer those intentions by their actions. Intention is the thing everyone is waving around and saying ‘you can’t prove they’re wiping out Palestinians intentionally’ but this principle of inferring intention by evidence is well grounded in both national and international law. That’s how you try someone for murder without them admitting they killed someone intentionally.

Israel is one of the most powerful militaries in the world, with highly advanced targeting systems and weapons supplied by Western powers. Yet still, the majority of people they are killing are civilians. So one of three things are happening: They are not capable of avoiding astronomical civilian losses while waging war, they do not think avoiding civilian losses is important, or they are targeting civilians intentionally. In any case, a responsible global power that did not think that that level of loss of life was acceptable would cease their aggression, or at the very least, stop bombing a densely populated civilian area indiscriminately. By the way, many Israeli officials, decision-makers and military personnel absolutely have expressed genocidal intentions. You can find a database of about 500+ of them here, with sources for every one of them. You can never wholly prove intent without admission, but honestly, it is hard to think of many historical examples where genocidal intentions had such a large evidentiary basis while the conflict is still ongoing as we have for Israel’s actions in Gaza.

[im-your-new-quartermaster]

what’re your top 5 benthan hcs? :)

thanks for the ask :D narrowing it down to 5 was quite the task, but here we are -

ethan pining over benji, good god‼️ it’s gotten to the point where ethan will call ilsa up (when it’s 2 am in london) and ramble about how benji’s hands accidentally brushed against his during a mission (ilsa has sleep deprivation at this point)

ethan has this entire notebook filled with random sketches of benji, (ghost protocol callback?) it helps when he’s separated from him and somehow drawing him calms ethan down and makes him feel better when he’s missing benji

(bonus: luther somehow finds the notebook and he’s like - ethan. you are down astronomically bad‼️)

ethan has a major competency kink💀 he sees benji seamlessly hack into the live camera feeds and elevator databases of the world’s most secure network like it’s nothing and he’ll get turned on😭😭

also, when ethan witnesses benji shooting someone for the first time. hoooo boy is it gettin hot in here

their love language is sharing music <3 benji secretly learns ethan’s favourite songs on the guitar and surprises him, benji serenades ethan while the latter rests his head on benji’s shoulder and whispers the lyrics along (AAAAAAAAAA)

and when ethan finally decides to propose to benji, the ENTIRE team joins in on the plan - luther goes ring hunting with ethan, luther and will create a diversion on the DAY, and when benji says yes ilsa and jane burst in with champagne and cheers <33 (everyone ends up crying)

[obearvatory]

Completed Crab Nebula

The photo above is my first ever fully completed photo in astrophotography. Thanks to the help of GIMP, I was able to do all the necessary steps to allow me to start my journey in Astro-photography.

Thankfully, the astronomy database had pre-calibrated images of the crab nebula from January 5th, 2020. This allowed me to skip the drawn-out process of calibrating images. What does that mean? Calibrating images involves adjusting and standardizing the colors, brightness, accuracy, and consistency within an image. This process ensures that the red, blue, green, and luminance layers look consistent. Not only does calibration help with consistency, but it also sets the brightness and contrast to allow clear visibility while also preventing images from being either too dark or too bright.

So, if I didn’t calibrate the images, what did I do? I went over a lot of what I did to this image in another post “Work in Progress Crab Nebula.” However, I’ll roughly go over what I did to the image overall.

After other astronomers calibrated the crab nebula photos and made them available to me in the database, I took the red, blue, green, and luminance images and converted them onto GIMP. This made the different filters into different layers.

From there I adjusted the brightness and color contrast of each layer. This allows for the brighter pixels in the images (which happen to be stars) to become brighter without brightening the far dark pixels (the space behind and/ or in between the stars.)

Since all the images are layered on top of each other, I can only see the images that are layered first. To combat this, I needed to change the opacity of each layer. This allowed me to see all the colored images at once.

Another adjustment needs to be made. Now that all the images were shown together, I could see that they were not all lined up. To line up each of the images I had to search each layer and find the most notable star that was the same in each image.

It doesn’t end there; however, Since I wanted to get more of the intricate details within the nebula itself, I turned up the brightness of the image. This allowed me to see more of the stars in the galaxies and a larger array of colors as well. Not only did turning up the brightness affect the stars, but I could now see more dust clouds along with red lines streaking through.

I wasn’t a fan of how reddish/ brownish the image looked and decided to change the brightness of the red layer and the green layer. I lowered the red layer, getting rid of the reddish/brownish hue over the image. In turn, I enhanced the green layer and slightly the blue to allow more of a cool colored finish without taking away from the red stars and the redness inside of the nebula.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

NASA's Hubble celebrates decade of tracking outer planets

Encountering Neptune in 1989, NASA's Voyager mission completed humankind's first close-up exploration of the four giant outer planets of our solar system. Collectively, since their launch in 1977, the twin Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft discovered that Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune were far more complex than scientists had imagined. There was a lot more to be learned.

A NASA Hubble Space Telescope observation program called OPAL (Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy) obtains long-term baseline observations of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in order to understand their atmospheric dynamics and evolution.

"The Voyagers don't tell you the full story," said Amy Simon of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who conducted giant planet observations with OPAL.

Hubble's image sharpness is comparable to the Voyager views as they approached the outer planets, and Hubble spans wavelengths from ultraviolet to near-infrared light. Hubble is the only telescope that can provide high spatial resolution and image stability for global studies of cloud coloration, activity, and atmospheric motion on a consistent time basis to help constrain the underlying mechanics of weather and climate systems.

All four of the outer planets have deep atmospheres and no solid surfaces. Their churning atmospheres have their own unique weather systems, some with colorful bands of multicolored clouds, and with mysterious, large storms that pop up or linger for many years. Each outer planet also has seasons lasting many years. (The James Webb Space Telescope's infrared capabilities will be used to probe deep into atmospheres of the outer planets to complement the OPAL observations.)

Following the complex behavior is akin to understanding Earth's dynamic weather as followed over many years, as well as the Sun's influence on the solar system's weather. The four distant worlds also serve as proxies for understanding the weather and climate on similar planets orbiting other stars.

Planetary scientists realized that any one year of data from Hubble, while interesting in its own right, doesn't tell the full story of the outer planets. Hubble's OPAL program has routinely observed the planets once a year when they are closest to the Earth.

"Because OPAL now spans 10 years and counting, our database of planetary observations is ever growing. That longevity allows for serendipitous discoveries, but also for tracking long-term atmospheric changes as the planets orbit the Sun. The scientific value of these data is underscored by the more than 60 publications to date that include OPAL data," said Simon.

This payoff continues to be a huge archive of data that has led to a string of remarkable discoveries to share with planetary astronomers around the world. "OPAL also interfaces with other ground- and space-based planetary programs. Many papers from other observatories and space missions pull in Hubble data from OPAL for context," said Simon.

The team's decade of discovery under Hubble's OPAL program is being presented at the December meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington, D.C.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS:

JUPITER

Jupiter's bands of clouds present an ever-changing kaleidoscope of shapes and colors. There is always stormy weather on Jupiter: cyclones, anticyclones, wind shear, and the largest storm in the solar system, the Great Red Spot (GRS). Jupiter is covered with largely ammonia ice-crystal clouds on top of an atmosphere that's tens of thousands of miles deep.

Hubble's sharp images track clouds and measure the winds, storms, and vortices, in addition to monitoring the size, shape and behavior of the GRS. Hubble follows as the GRS continues shrinking in size and its winds are speeding up. OPAL data recently measured how often mysterious dark ovals — visible only at ultraviolet wavelengths — appeared in the "polar hoods" of stratospheric haze. Unlike Earth, Jupiter is only inclined three degrees on its axis (Earth is 23.5 degrees). Seasonal changes might not be expected, except that Jupiter's distance from the Sun varies by about 5% over its 12-year-long orbit, and so OPAL closely monitors the atmosphere for seasonal effects. Another Hubble advantage is that ground-based observatories can't continuously view Jupiter for two Jupiter rotations, because that adds up to 20 hours. During that time, an observatory on the ground would have gone into daytime and Jupiter would no longer be visible until the next evening.

SATURN

Saturn takes more than 29 years to orbit the Sun, and so OPAL has followed it for approximately one quarter of a Saturnian year (picking up in 2018, after the end of the Cassini mission). Because Saturn is tilted 26.7 degrees, it goes through more profound seasonal changes than Jupiter. Saturnian seasons last approximately seven years. This also means Hubble can view the spectacular ring system from an oblique angle of almost 30 degrees to seeing the rings tilted edge-on. Edge-on, the rings nearly vanish because they are relatively paper-thin. This will happen again in 2025.

OPAL has followed changes in colors of Saturn's atmosphere. The varying color was first detected by the Cassini orbiter, but Hubble provides a longer baseline. Hubble revealed slight changes from year-to-year in color, possibly caused by cloud height and winds. The observed changes are subtle because OPAL has covered only a fraction of a Saturnian year. Major changes happen when Saturn progresses into the next season.

Saturn's mysteriously dark ring spokes, which slice across the ring plane, are transient features that rotate along with the rings. Their ghostly appearance only persists for two or three rotations around Saturn. During active periods, freshly formed spokes continuously add to the pattern. They were first seen in 1981 by Voyager 2. Cassini also saw the spokes during its 13-year-long mission, which ended in 2017. Hubble shows that the frequency of spoke apparitions is seasonally driven, first appearing in OPAL data in 2021. Long-term monitoring shows that both the number and contrast of the spokes vary with Saturn's seasons.

URANUS

Uranus is tilted on its side so that its spin axis almost lies in the plane of the planet's orbit. This results in the planet going through radical seasonal changes along it 84-year-long trek around the Sun. The consequence of the planet's tilt means part of one hemisphere is completely without sunlight, for stretches of time lasting up to 42 years. OPAL has followed the northern pole now tipping toward the Sun.

With OPAL, Hubble first imaged Uranus after the spring equinox, when the Sun was last shining directly over the planet's equator. Hubble resolved multiple storms with methane ice-crystal clouds appearing at mid-northern latitudes as summer approaches the north pole. Uranus' north pole now has a thickened photochemical haze with several little storms near the edge of the boundary. Hubble has been tracking the size of the north polar cap and it continues to get brighter year after year. As northern summer solstice approaches in 2028, the cap may grow brighter still, and will be aimed directly toward Earth, allowing good views of the rings and north pole. The ring system will then appear face-on. Understanding how Uranus changes over time will help in mission planning for NASA's proposed Uranus Orbiter and Probe.

NEPTUNE

When Voyager 2 flew by Neptune in 1989, astronomers were mystified by a great dark spot the size of the Atlantic Ocean looming in the atmosphere. Was it long-lived like Jupiter's Great Red Spot? The question remained unanswered until Hubble was able to show in 1994 that such dark storms were transitory, cropping up and then disappearing over a duration of two to six years each. During the OPAL program, Hubble saw the end of one dark spot and the full life cycle of a second one — both of them migrating toward the equator before dissipating. The OPAL program ensures that astronomers won't miss another one.

Hubble observations uncovered a link between Neptune's shifting cloud abundance and the 11-year solar cycle. The connection between Neptune and solar activity is surprising to planetary scientists because Neptune is our solar system's farthest major planet. It receives only about 1/1000th as much sunlight as Earth receives. Yet Neptune's global cloudy weather seems to be influenced by solar activity. Do the planet's seasons also play a role?

The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.

TOP IMAGE: This is a montage of Hubble Space Telescope views of our solar system's four giant outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, each shown in enhanced color. The images were taken over nearly 10 years, from 2014 to 2024. This long baseline allows astronomers to track seasonal changes in each planet's turbulent atmosphere, with the sharpness of the NASA planetary flyby probes of the 1980s. These images were taken under a program called OPAL (Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy).

From upper-left toward center, the hazy white polar cap on the three teal-colored Uranus images appears more face-on as the planet approaches northern summer.

From center-right to far-center right, three images of the blue planet Neptune show the coming and going of clouds as the Sun's radiation level changes. Several of Neptune's mysterious dark spots have come and gone sequentially over OPAL's decade of observations.

Seven views of yellow-brown Saturn stretch across the center of the mosaic in a triangle—one for each year of OPAL observations—showing the tilt of the ring plane relative to the view from Earth. Approximately every 15 years the relatively paper-thin rings (about one mile thick) can be seen edge-on. In 2018 they were near their maximum tilt toward Earth. Colorful changes in Saturn's bands of clouds can be followed as the weather changes.

At bottom center, three images of Jupiter spanning nearly a decade, form a triangle. There are notable changes in Jupiter's banded cloud structure of zones and belts. OPAL measured shrinking of the legendary Great Red Spot, while its rotation period shortens.

Credit NASA, ESA, Amy Simo

CENTRE IMAGE:

Two views of Jupiter showcase the wealth of information provided by the spectral filters on the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) science instrument. At left, the RGB composite is created using three filters at wavelengths similar to the colors seen by the human eye. At right, the wavelength bounds are widened beyond the visible range to extend just into the ultraviolet (UV) and infrared regimes. Humans cannot perceive these extended wavelengths, but some animals (such as mantis shrimp, whose eyes function similarly to certain sensors on some NASA missions) are able to detect infrared and ultraviolet light. The result is a vivid disk that shows UV-absorbing lofty hazes as orange (over the poles and in three large storms, including the Great Red Spot), and freshly-formed ice as white (compact storm plumes just north of the equator). Astronomers, including the OPAL team, use these filters (and others not shown here) to study differences in cloud thickness, altitude, and chemical makeup.

Credit NASA, ESA, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), Michael H. Wong (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

LOWER IMAGE: A "Warhol-esque" array of Saturn images depict real data from multiple filters mapped onto the RGB colors perceptible to the human eye. Each filter combination emphasizes subtle differences in cloud altitude or composition. Infrared spectra from the Cassini mission suggested that Saturn's aerosol particles may have even more complex chemical diversity than on Jupiter. The OPAL program extends Cassini's legacy by measuring how the subtle patterns in the clouds vary over time.

Credit NASA, ESA, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), Michael H. Wong (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

[cliriqstars]

This panoramic view of the entire sky reveals the distribution of galaxies beyond our Milky Way galaxy, which astronomers call extended sources, as observed by Two Micron All-Sky Survey. The image is constructed from a database of over 1.6 million galaxies listed in the survey's Extended Source Catalog; more than half of the galaxies have never before been catalogued. The image is a representation of the relative brightnesses of these million-plus galaxies, all observed at a wavelength of 2.2 microns. The brightest and nearest galaxies are represented in blue, and the faintest, most distant ones are in red. This color scheme gives insights into the three dimensional large-scale structure of the nearby universe with the brightest, closest clusters and superclusters showing up as the blue and bluish-white features. The dark band in this image shows the area of the sky where our Milky Way galaxy blocks our view of distant objects, which, in this projection, lies predominantly along the edges of the image.

[sidekickjoey]

You're On Your Own, Kid (You Can Face This)

Graphics & writing by: @sidekickjoey Beta: @steddieasitgoes Art by: @ja0netholmes/@bittlebarnes and @danadaria Part of @steddiebang 2023

Read on Ao3

A week out from Robin leaving and everything about his world changing, Steve finds himself both closer and impossibly further away from knowing what his future holds.

Chapter 5 - Pick The Petals (preview under the cut)

It’s a week out from Robin leaving for Connecticut, and Steve still hasn’t asked Eddie.

It’s rather upsetting, knowing he needs to do something but feeling so physically incapable of doing so. Steve has wrestled with the feeling for some time now, waking with it haunting him like a ghost and hearing its taunts as he falls asleep in Robin’s spare bed and his colder one back home. He isn't even really sure what he is so afraid of, which complicates things astronomically. Asking Eddie a simple question that would solve all of his problems with one yes shouldn’t be scary. If anything, doing so as soon as possible should be something he jumps to do, just to end his suffering.

And yet, Steve can’t bring himself to do it.

At the beginning of this torment, when Robin let him go free from her house, he had claimed he needed to wait a bit. He couldn’t just up and leave Hawkins in the middle of his spat with his parents and expect to not be followed like a hawk, after all. It would be better, he reckoned, to wait. An unsuspecting foe is better than one on guard. Robin had reluctantly agreed, and with a pinky-swear promise that he’d get to leaving eventually, he was let off. 

By day three, when Robin revived the conversation moments before handing in her resignation letter to Keith, Steve had changed his story. His new claim was that he was waiting to see Eddie to make the first move. ‘Can’t ask the guy something if he isn’t around, you know?’ Robin’s eyes had never rolled quite so far into her head, especially given Steve not only had Eddie’s number in his possession, but also access to it in the Family Video database before him. But, she held her tongue, and Steve held on to his excuses. 

The weekend should have been where all excuses ran out. Eddie was among a number of close friends invited over for a movie night at the Wheeler household, as was Steve. The guy most definitely would be present and available for Steve to talk to about this, or really anything for that matter. However, despite Eddie casting curious looks his way and trying to start up conversations about how he’s doing, practically begging for an in, Steve managed to not go through with asking him. He let Eddie go, leaving his future slip perpetually back in limbo and refusing to do anything else. 

Now, he knows he is only a matter of hours, not days, from his hesitancy becoming a problem. He knows his friends are slowly but surely on their way out. He knows that his window to head out with them, and to do so with Eddie by his side, is slipping away like they are. Nancy and Jonathan had even brought up leaving earlier than planned at the movie night. Argyle wants to go sight-seeing with them before all three end up muddled with work and responsibilities for ‘the man,’ as he put it. Jonathan doesn’t want to leave him hanging, especially when his ticket to NYU is sitting in his drawer placing a ticking clock on their in-person friendship. Nancy is too kind to let him do so, so it’s as good of a done deal as any.

Robin is set to leave on Friday. Her parents, ever adamant about following their only daughter off to her new start, are eager to take their time and move her into her new dorm room together. Steve is grateful to know she won’t be all on her own to do so. However, he also knows this means he's only got a few days left to figure things out with her around and, sue him, he's not ready to lose her yet. He wants to sit down and plan with her like the entire party used to plan for Vecna. He wants to make sure with her that everything is air-tight about his plan so that he won't screw up his words and scare Eddie off. The thought of going into all of that alone is enough to keep him up at night. Unsurprisingly, it does. He mourns her absence before it even comes and, worse then, neglects to reach out to her for fear he may never let her leave.

All his worries, fears, and stressors come to a head on Monday afternoon, when Steve is fresh off of a stint at Family Video. The day had been a hectic one, filled with a few large parties of middle schoolers looking to rent out any movie they could get their grubby little hands on. With Robin gone, Steve had been the only one around to fend them off. After nearly losing his voice ordering them around and threatening baselessly to quit more than five times, he's exhausted. He wants nothing more when he arrives home than to feel the sweet embrace of a shower and the comfort of a quiet bedroom, away from anyone and anything that could bother him. As such, he doesn't think twice about pushing inside his home and running up the stairs to it. 

His mother, however, does. 

[planetariumhub]

The Majestic Eagle Nebula (M16): Unveiling the Stellar Sculptor

Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) In the depths of the cosmos lies a breathtaking celestial masterpiece known as the Eagle Nebula, or Messier 16 (M16). Located in the constellation Serpens, this nebula has captivated astronomers and stargazers with its stunning beauty and unique features. In this article, we will embark on a journey to explore the enigmatic Eagle…

[androgynousbirdtale]

James Webb telescope reveals gargantuan 'Mothra' star in most colorful image of the universe ever taken.

By Jamie Carter published 2 days ago

The James Webb and Hubble space telescopes have combined forces to image a cluster of galaxies 4.3 billion light-years away in one of the most colorful pictures of the universe ever taken.

NASA has combined the power of its two premier space telescopes to produce one of the most colorful and comprehensive views of the universe ever.

We see an array of twinkling yellow, red, and blue galaxies stretched across space in a way that is reminiscent of Christmas lights.

Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Hubble Space Telescope to collect light in different wavelengths, a new, combined image reveals a parade of stars and galaxies within the massive galaxy cluster MACS0416, 4.3 billion light-years from the solar system. While JWST detects infrared light invisible to humans, Hubble detects visible light; the resulting panchromatic image creates colors that help astronomers measure vast cosmic distances.

For example, a landscape of galaxies in blue and red can be seen surrounding the yellowish line of lights that make up MACS0416. The bluest galaxies, which mostly come from Hubble's data, are both the closest to Earth and the busiest hotbeds of star formation. The redder galaxies are much dustier and farther away. They're the work of JWST's infrared instruments, which can detect heat signatures through dust clouds.

The image also includes concentric circles curving around MACS0416. They're actually objects far behind, magnified by MACS0416's gravitational field. This gravitational lensing occurs when a massive foreground object distorts the space around it and bends the light from objects behind it. The result of this chance alignment is often referred to as a "cosmic magnifying glass," which both reveals and magnifies objects. One of those magnified objects in the new image is an enormous star, nicknamed "Mothra." It's being magnified by a factor of at least 4,000 times, according to NASA.

"We're calling MACS0416 the Christmas Tree Galaxy Cluster, both because it's so colorful and because of these flickering lights we find within it," said Haojing Yan, professor of astronomy at the University of Missouri and lead author of a new paper describing the results, said in a NASA statement. The paper, available on the preprint database arXiv, has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.The image could be the first of many like it. Since 2014, Hubble has been busy imaging the faintest and youngest galaxies ever detected. And JWST is now adding valuable data about the early universe.

"The whole picture doesn't become clear until you combine Webb data with Hubble data," Rogier Windhorst, professor of astronomy at Arizona State University and principal investigator of the Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science (PEARLS) program, which took the Webb observations, said in the statement. "We are building on Hubble's legacy by pushing to greater distances and fainter objects." While Hubble images took 122 hours to produce, JWST's — collected nine years after Hubble's — took just 22 hours.

[mindblowingscience]

Using data from the Spitzer space observatory, Dr. Susana Iglesias-Groth, a researcher from The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has found evidence for the existence of the amino acid tryptophan in the interstellar material in a nearby star-forming region. The research is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. High amounts of tryptophan were detected in the Perseus molecular complex, specifically in the IC348 star system, a star-forming region that lies 1,000 light years away from Earth—relatively close in astronomical terms. The region is generally invisible to the naked eye, but shines brightly when viewed in infrared wavelengths. Tryptophan is one of the 20 amino acids essential for the formation of key proteins for life on Earth, and produces one of the richest pattern of spectral lines in the infrared. It was therefore an obvious candidate to be explored using the extensive spectroscopic database of the Spitzer satellite, a space-based infrared telescope.

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[pandorias-box]

Chloris…

Hmm.

The usual holder of this account has that same surname.

That certainly is a coincidence. Unless…

I may have to search my genetic database in order to discern whether or not I actually have a connection to the typical user. Chloris is a somewhat common surname for Megolaians, Nihili, and hybrids, but the chances of someone bearing the same name whilst also being a Nadelan hybrid are astronomically low…

Perhaps this was, or rather is, the personal account of one of my ancestors considering our similarities. If that is the case, this is truly fascinating.

[tigersharktheautisticseawing]

Wierd helluva boss AU I just thoguth of (it's consuming me)

Basically, everything is the same, very canon compliant, but during the fire Blitzø lost an eye, specifically the one on the scarred side of his face

Now, he would be less effective with guns, since from what I heard once you lose an eye your depth perception goes to fuck itself and I'm pretty sure it's important for shooting and aiming guns, but if I'm wrong correct me

Now, he could go either of 3 directions:

(my favorite) He wears a sick-ass eyepatch 24/7, only ever taking it off to wash his face. Even Loona doesn't know he's disabled in the eye department. Everyone just assumed he was doing it for the vibes. Now, the outing of his disability could go two routes in this scenario • The Stolitz route Basically goes kinda like Crooked, they argue a bit, Blitzø has low self worth, Stolas says something, and Blitzø goes "because this is who I am!" or some bullshit and pulls of his eyepatch, to reveal that there's nothing behind it • The IMP route Moxxie: Umm, Sir, why are you wearing that eyepatch all the time? wouldn't it be better for fighting if you took it off? Blitzø: Oh I WISH! *pulls of eyepatch to reveal empty eye socket* Moxxie: *shooketh*

2. Protethic eye

Basically, just an eye, to put in his eyesocket to make him seem normal.

In this case, it goes like this

Blitzø: *misses target* Goddamn it, this would be easier without my eye issues!

Moxxie: Sir, may I suggest some glasses?

Blitzø: Aprecciate the thought Moxxie, but this shit won't be fixed by glasses! *pulls out prostethic eye mid-battle*

Moxxie: What the fuck-

3. Just plain ol' empty eye socket

No covering it up. Nothing. Just empty eye.

That woud make for a fun scene i ep. 7 tho, so even though it's my least fav it's still a fun idea to consider

Also, consider:

If Stolas found out about his disability, he would definetely ask for a fully functional prostethic eye along with a crystal. Like, Oz already makes limb protethics, and really advanced ones at that, so he probably has some kind of working robo-eyes for astronomical prices on the factory tape.

And, smol bonus, if Ozzie gave Stolas that eye for Blitz, he would totally have the eye do cool-ass tricks, like change colors or see super good or like be contected to a database like in Iron Man.

That would definetely make Full Moon much more interesting, and maybe help Blitz understand what's going on, since Stolas just giving him the crystal could be understood as trying to get rid of him, but ordering him a custom fucking actually working prostethic eye?*Not so much

So yeah, do whatever you want with this AU, just wanted to get this man outta my system, may edit screenshots/draw him without that eye

Anyway bye bye!