[Spacetalk] https://www.nasa.gov/index.html

Wed Feb 6 00:58:38 CST 2019

Hi all,

 I hope all is going well, last week I visited Stowers Elementary School, it was wonderful…I did 2 large presentations, 2-3 & 4-5, then ate lunch with the kids and visited classrooms…I am using this format because the time in the classrooms is so great and the kids will be more open in smaller groups…I want to thank Al, who I have know for many years, following him to different schools as I do with so many of you, for setting this up…also, another wonderful teacher and long time friend, Jacqueline was there to say hi… both Al  & Jacqueline were able to get a VIP pass to see a shuttle launch, which was awesome for them and so much fun for me… 

On Thursday I am leaving for Brazil…I will be in Macapa for 4 days and in Sao Paulo for 6…I know it will be amazing, everyone in Brazil, as every where I go, is so kind... they always make me feel “at home” and I feel so very fortunate.

We have to remember to always do our best, enjoy everything we do, believe in ourselves and let those we care about most know…hugs & smiles...     love ya, Gabe

The Milky Way Is Totally Twisted

An illustration of the true shape of the Milky Way, with an S-like warp in the outer reaches of the disk. Credit: CHEN Xiaodian

The Milky Way's shape is a disk … with a twist. New research finds that at the edges of the galaxy, where the pull of gravity weakens, the shape of the Milky Way warps. Instead of lying in a flat plane, the galaxy takes on a bit of a twisted "S" shape. "This new morphology provides a crucial updated map for studies of our galaxy's stellar motions and the origins of the Milky Way's disk," study co-author Licai Deng, a senior researcher at the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in a statement <https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-02/caos-tmw020119.php>. [11 Fascinating Facts About Our Milky Way Galaxy <https://www.livescience.com/63847-facts-about-the-milky-way.html>] At the center of the Milky Way <https://www.livescience.com/32716-whats-at-the-center-of-the-milky-way.html> is a supermassive black hole, surrounded by billions of stars and invisible "dark matter <https://www.livescience.com/64113-dark-matter-mysteries.html>," which can't be seen directly but exerts a gravitational pull that helps keep the galaxy intact. Burning bright: The outer reaches of the galaxy are difficult to image, given that the Milky Way is 100,000 light-years, or 0.5 quintillion miles (1 quintillion kilometers), across. Deng and his colleagues used a special category of stars called the classical Cepheid stars to measure the distances at the edge of the galaxy. These stars <https://www.space.com/15396-variable-stars.html> are as much as 100,000 times brighter than Earth's sun and up to 20 times larger. They burn bright and die young, running out of fuel within several million years after formation. The light of these short-lived stars changes regularly, in day- to month-long cycles. Using these pulses in brightness, scientists can detect the distance of these stars within 3 percent to 5 percent accuracy, study lead author Xiaodian Chen, a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatories, said in the statement. Torqued galaxy: The Chinese scientists recently published a new catalog] of these stars. Looking at 1,339 Cepheid stars from that catalog, the scientists discovered that their positions reveal a warping at the outer edges of the galaxy. The ends of the Milky Way bend like an S in a "progressively twisted spiral pattern," study co-author Richard de Grijs of Australia's Macquarie University said in the statement.The Milky Way isn't alone. A dozen other galaxies had previously been shown to display similar warping, the researchers reported today (Feb. 4) in the journal Nature Astronomy <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-018-0686-7>. According to Chao Liu, a study co-author and researcher at the National Astronomical Observatories, the warping seems to be caused by torque induced by the rotation of the inner disk of the galaxy.

Super-Earth Smackdowns May Explain Diverse Worlds

An artist's image of the violent collision that formed Earth's moon. Such collisions could explain the surprising differences in more massive super-Earths and super-Neptunes.
Credit: NASA
Catastrophic collisions may explain differences in giant rocky planets around other stars.

A new study suggests that the heat generated by material smashing into a planet plays an important role in removing some or all of a planet's atmosphere. A wide variety of sizes for these deadly asteroids would explain differences seen in the more massive rocky worlds.

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope <https://www.space.com/24903-kepler-space-telescope.html> revealed a surprising number of worlds with sizes that fall between Earth and Neptune in relatively short orbits. By calculating the densities of the planets, astronomers learned that many of them seem to boast massive hydrogen-helium atmospheres. However, these atmospheres seem to come in many different flavors, suggesting something was happening to the worlds after planetary formation. [Tales from the Exoplanet Archive: How NASA Keeps Track of Alien Worlds <https://www.space.com/35470-exoplanet-archive-tracks-alien-worlds.html>]

Bright Sights, Big City: Planets Align Over Manhattan in Gorgeous Photo

Alexander Krivenyshev of WorldTimeZone.com captured this alignment of Saturn, the crescent moon, Venus, Jupiter and the red supergiant star Antares over Manhattan during the predawn hours of Feb. 1, 2019. Credit: Alexander Krivenyshev (WorldTimeZone.com)
Celestial sights rival Manhattan's lights in a gorgeous new skywatcher photo.

Alexander Krivenyshev of WorldTimeZone.com captured a glorious arcing alignment of Saturn <https://www.space.com/10850-planet-saturn-moons-rings-cassini-spacecraft.html>, the crescent moon, Venus, Jupiter and the red star Antares over the Big Apple shortly before sunrise on Friday morning (Feb. 1).

"It was a great show — no time to sleep!" Krivenyshev, who took the photo from Guttenberg, New Jersey, told Space.com via email.

Earth's Magnetic Field Nearly Disappeared 565 Million Years Ago

Credit: Shutterstock

Five hundred and sixty-five million years ago, Earth's magnetic field almost disappeared.

But a geological phenomenon might have saved it, a new study suggests. Earth's then-liquid core likely began to solidify around that time, which strengthened the field, the group reported yesterday (Jan. 28) in the journal Nature Geoscience <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-018-0288-0>. This is important because the magnetic field protects our planet and its inhabitants from harmful radiation and solar winds — streams of plasma particles thrown our way <https://www.livescience.com/62734-bow-shock-thwarts-solar-wind.html> by the sun.

Scientists figured out what our planet's core was like back then by looking at crystals the size of grains of sand.

Once Around the Sun! NASA's Parker Solar Probe Aces 1st Trip Around Our Star <http://click.emails.purch.com/?qs=4647f8c4955d86423f829eb00a852a0ec1e24f57cdd6e2715ba3c314af3eb61f9b5463c1496e1090b5d9535ec41e2d4decea53206bf230dae4d6b52482aa6da8>

NASA's Parker Solar Probe has completed its first full orbit around the sun. Credit: Steve Gribben/NASA/Johns Hopkins APL
NASA's Parker Solar Probe has completed its first loop around the sun and entered the second of 24 planned orbits.

The spacecraft launched on Aug. 12, 2018, and survived its first close flyby <https://www.space.com/42378-parker-solar-probe-survives-first-sun-flyby.html> of the sun on Nov. 5 of last year, when it swooped within 15 million miles (24 million kilometers) of the star. As of Jan. 19, the probe has reached its farthest distance from the sun, called aphelion, before it goes in for another close pass on April 4.

The spacecraft has already delivered 17 gigabits of science data from its first orbit, NASA officials said in a statement <https://blogs.nasa.gov/parkersolarprobe/2019/01/28/all-systems-go-as-parker-solar-probe-begins-second-sun-orbit/>, and will transmit its full observations from the orbit by April. [NASA's Parker Solar Probe Mission in Pictures <https://www.space.com/37037-nasa-parker-solar-probe-mission-pictures.html>]
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