EMIT Mission

"NASA’s EMIT mission has created the first comprehensive maps of the world’s mineral dust-source regions, providing precise locations of 10 key minerals based on how they reflect and absorb light. "

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-sensor-produces-first-global-maps-of-surface-minerals-in-arid-regions

MAVEN

"NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission observed a sudden disappearance of solar wind while in orbit around the Red Planet. The solar wind then resumed as normal 2 days later."

https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/astronomy/mars-nasa-solar-wind/?utm_source=Cosmos+Magazine&utm_campaign=7cd5f5c8d9-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3f5c04479a-7cd5f5c8d9-181027409&mc_cid=7cd5f5c8d9&mc_eid=3e3d9f7a52

Water

"Water is essential for life as we know it."

https://esawebb.org/news/weic2318/?lang

Jazero Crator

"This animated artist’s concept depicts a scene of water breaking through the rim of Mars’ Jezero Crater, which NASA’s Perseverance rover is now exploring. Water entered the crater billions of years ago, depositing sediments that built up into a delta."

https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/27840/water-enters-jezero-crater-billions-of-years-ago-artists-concept/?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter

Frank Rubio

"Astronaut Frank Rubio may feel vindicated after produce that went missing on his watch was finally found aboard the International Space Station."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/18/how-iss-tomato-looks-eight-months-lost-nasa-space-station/71957382007/

Universe Expands

Did you know?

"One of the biggest mysteries in cosmology is the rate at which the universe is expanding. This can be predicted using the standard model of cosmology, also known as Lambda-cold dark matter (ΛCDM)."

https://phys.org/news/2023-12-giant-void-puzzle-universe-expansion.html

Psyche is on a Roll

"NASA’s Psyche spacecraft is on a roll. In the eight weeks since it left Earth on Oct. 13, the orbiter has performed one successful operation after another, powering on scientific instruments, streaming data toward home, and setting a deep-space record with its electric thrusters."

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-psyche-delivers-first-images-and-other-data

Largest Black Hole Merger

"The largest black-hole merger ever detected seemed to produce a black hole 150 times the mass of the Sun, in defiance of some accepted theories."

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03813-w

Weight of DCBH

Did you know?

"A DCBH would outweigh the total mass of stars in its small host galexy by up to 50 times, Natarajan says, creating bizarre objects known as an obese black hole galexy."

Astronomy Magazine March 2021 "How to Grow a Giant Black Hole" pp. 16-23

Meteor Shower

https://www.almanac.com/content/meteor-shower-calendar?trk_msg=EKNLFNNIGOG4B1JVETMP3055P0&trk_contact=7P4DL6LCTF9MHOCNU0TVI0O1AK&trk_module=new&trk_sid=VVLRTNPTDBR9IDERHVUE3VTT6K&trk_link=KGU7E65PFLFKF7R7CEJ7BBHCA4&lctg=&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=Meteor+Showers+Calendar+2023%3a+Times+and+Dates+(read+more)&utm_campaign=Companion+Newsletter&utm_content=Daily

Earliest Galexy Detected

"The James Webb Space Telescope has detected the earliest-known carbon dust in a galaxy ever."

https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-1st-detection-of-diamond-like-carbon-dust-earliest-stars

Primordial Growth of Gas Giants

Did you know?

"Natajan emphasizes that "special conditions" are required to form these DCBHs: a small primordial cloud of hydrogen and helium gas sitting at just the right distance to a much larger star-forming galexy. This explains why high-redshift quasars are uncommon. "The conditions you need are pretty stringent to make direct collapse black holes," she says. Those conditions are rare in the early universe, but they are available. Luckily these monster black holes are very rare, so you can accommodate what is seen so far easily, without a problem."

Astronomy Magazine March 2021 "How to Grow a Giant Black Hole" pp. 16-23