<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><font size="4" class="">Good morning all,</font><div class=""><font size="4" class=""> Time is going so fast, I know many of you will be getting your Christmas/Holiday break very soon so I wanted to wish everyone a wonderful Holiday, be it <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span style="letter-spacing: -0.11999999731779099px;" class="">Hanukkah, Christmas, or anything else you may celebrate… many of us will celebrate Christmas next week and I know most schools </span></span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.11999999731779099px;" class="">will be off about 2 weeks… a</span></font><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><font size="4" class=""><font face="Open Sans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" class=""> Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian commander, a NASA flight engineer and a Japanese physician-astronaut docked with the International Space Station early Tuesday, capping a smooth two-day rendezvous to boost the lab’s crew back to six. Follow all the latest events on </font></font></span><font face="Open Sans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" size="4" color="#0433ff" class=""><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/index.html" class="">https://www.nasa.gov/index.html</a>; <a href="https://spaceflightnow.com" class="">https://spaceflightnow.com</a> </font><font face="Open Sans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" size="4" class="">as well as see replay of launches and amazing videos…remember </font><font size="4" class="">to <span style="color: rgb(22, 25, 31);" class="">focus on and enjoy each day as we pass through it…it is the most
important day of our lives…each day as we pass through it…we build our past and
create our future….a happy day means a happy past, together, our future is
always optimistic…</span></font><span class="" style="font-size: large; color: rgb(32, 32, 32);">wishing you all a wonderful day….</span><span class="" style="font-size: large; color: rgb(32, 32, 32);"> we have to always remember to do our best, enjoy everything we do, live in the present, be appreciative of the good in our lives, make each day special, smile & have fun! Gabe</span></div>
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<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal"><b class=""><span style="font-size:20.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:23.0pt;
font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial" class="">How to See the Space Station From
the Ground:</span></b><span style="font-size:20.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:23.0pt;
font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial" class=""> </span><a href="http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/" class=""><span style="font-size:20.0pt;
mso-bidi-font-size:23.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:#386EFF" class="">http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/</span></a><span style="font-size:20.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:23.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:
Arial" class=""> </span></p>
<!--EndFragment--></div><div class=""><font size="4" class=""><span style="letter-spacing: -0.11999999731779099px;" class=""><br class=""></span></font></div><div class=""><figure class=" article-hero figure" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: table; width: 553.28125px; color: rgb(91, 91, 91);"><div class="magnify-wrapper iZoom img-zoom-in" style="font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><div id="1513766943810" tabindex="3" class="img-zoom-container" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><img class=" pure-img z-loaded" big-src="https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zcGFjZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA3Mi82NTIvb3JpZ2luYWwvdXJhbnVzX2hzdGltYWdlLmpwZw==" alt="Cosmic Crash That Knocked Uranus Sideways Also Made Its Moons" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%; display: block; cursor: zoom-in;" apple-inline="yes" id="86774773-A8FD-464A-B147-2C255BB03860" height="371" width="660" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:7B8A8413-444E-4604-BD3F-D085F2326FE9"><div id="1513766943810-3" class="img-zoom-sub" style="margin: auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: 0px; width: 0px; position: fixed; left: 0px; right: 0px; top: 0px; bottom: 0px; transition: height 0.2s ease-in-out, width 0.2s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: height 0.2s ease-in-out, width 0.2s ease-in-out; cursor: zoom-out;"><img class="img-zoom" style="margin: auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; z-index: 10003; max-width: 98%; min-width: 30%; max-height: 98%; left: 0px; right: 0px; top: 0px; bottom: 0px;" apple-inline="yes" id="0E0E6E98-47C7-4D61-BBA9-345E9F48C549" height="786" width="1396" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:68D66E5E-362D-42EE-A29B-14F6B4B98344"></div></div></div><figcaption class="fig-cap" id="nointelliTXT" style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px; border: 1px solid rgb(211, 211, 211); font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><div class="fig-desc" style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;">Uranus is a strange, giant planet tilted on its side. A new study finds that the same impact that knocked Uranus sideways may have also created the planet's moons. This image shows Uranus in false color as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.</div><cite class="fig-credit" style="margin: 8px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block;">Credit: Erich Karkoschka (University of Arizona)/NASA</cite></figcaption></figure><div class="article-content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="font-family: inherit; margin: 16px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><font size="4" class="">NEW ORLEANS — The giant impact from an Earth-size rock <a href="https://www.space.com/18705-how-was-uranus-formed.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;" class="">that knocked Uranus sideways</a> may have also helped create the tilted planet's moons, a new study finds. <span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;" class="">The poles along which Earth spins are mostly pointed the same way as the poles of the sun and nearly all the other planets of the solar system. However, Uranus is an oddball in that its axis of spin is tilted by a whopping 98 degrees (relative to the plane of the solar system), meaning it essentially spins on its side. No other planet in the solar system is tilted as much — Jupiter is tilted by about 3 degrees, for example, and Earth by about 23 degrees. </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;" class="">Now, researchers in Japan suggest a giant cosmic impact may not only have knocked Uranus on its side, but also created most of the planet's moons. [</span><a href="https://www.space.com/13017-photos-uranus-tilted-planet-rings-moons.html" style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;" class="">Photos of Uranus, a Tilted Planet</a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;" class="">]</span></font></p><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><font size="5" class=""><b class="">this has to be amazing...</b></font></div><div class=""><figure class=" article-hero figure" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: table; width: 553.28125px;"><div class="magnify-wrapper iZoom img-zoom-in" style="font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><div id="1513767769494" tabindex="3" class="img-zoom-container" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><img class=" pure-img z-loaded" big-src="https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zcGFjZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA3Mi8wMzYvb3JpZ2luYWwvbW9vbmJvdy1hdXJvcmEtZ2l1c2VwcGUtcGV0cmljY2EuanBn" alt="Lucky View: Rare Double 'Moonbow' Shines in Magical Photo of Green Aurora" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%; display: block; cursor: zoom-in;" apple-inline="yes" id="634D8FA7-A2D4-48D7-A777-A7B4E0776BA9" height="440" width="660" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:528864F1-F27B-4BAD-AF68-1E2B095E9207"><div id="1513767769494-3" class="img-zoom-sub" style="margin: auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: 0px; width: 0px; position: fixed; left: 0px; right: 0px; top: 0px; bottom: 0px; transition: height 0.2s ease-in-out, width 0.2s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: height 0.2s ease-in-out, width 0.2s ease-in-out; cursor: zoom-out;"><img class="img-zoom" style="margin: auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; z-index: 10003; max-width: 98%; min-width: 30%; max-height: 98%; left: 0px; right: 0px; top: 0px; bottom: 0px;" apple-inline="yes" id="5F16EB82-F1A1-4F06-9A37-1441951E70AB" height="932" width="1396" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:D2B541B0-3323-4FA4-92A7-D06AE212694B"></div></div></div><figcaption class="fig-cap" id="nointelliTXT" style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px; border: 1px solid rgb(211, 211, 211); font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="fig-desc" style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;">A double moonbow meets the northern lights under starry skies in this photo by astrophotographer Giuseppe Petricca.</div><cite class="fig-credit" style="margin: 8px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block;">Credit: <a href="http://www.gmrphotographer.net/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(51, 102, 204); text-decoration: none;" class="">Giuseppe Petricca</a></cite></figcaption></figure><div class="article-content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 16px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: FreeSans, Arimo, 'Droid Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><font size="4" class="">An explosion of colors lights up the evening sky as a rare double "moonbow" meets the northern lights in this stunning, star-speckled view. <span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;" class="">Astrophotographer Giuseppe Petricca photographed the moonbows, or nighttime rainbows, from the Isle of Lewis in Outer Hebrides, Scotland, on Nov. 7, 2017. </span><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;" class="">"Between fast moving clouds, rain showers which lasted no more than two or three minutes, this fantastic moonbow appeared, when the almost-full moon managed to break the clouds," Petricca told <a href="http://space.com" class="">Space.com</a> in an email. [</span><a href="https://www.space.com/27151-aurora-photos-solar-flares-september-2014.html" style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;" class="">Aurora Photos: Amazing Northern Lights Display from Solar Storms</a><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit;" class="">]</span></font></p><div id="in-article-1" data-google-query-id="CN6r26q4mNgCFQJjwQoda5sOkQ" style="font-size: 16px; margin: 10px auto 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: FreeSans, Arimo, 'Droid Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-align: center; color: rgb(91, 91, 91);" class=""></div></div></div><div style="font-family: FreeSans, Arimo, 'Droid Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="font-family: FreeSans, Arimo, 'Droid Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><font size="4" class=""><b class=""><a href="https://www.space.com/39112-spacex-launches-star-wars-patches.html?utm_source=sdc-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20171218-sdc" class="">https://www.space.com/39112-spacex-launches-star-wars-patches.html?utm_source=sdc-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20171218-sdc</a></b></font></div><div class=""><figure class="figure" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: table; width: 553.28125px; color: rgb(91, 91, 91);"><div class="magnify-wrapper iZoom img-zoom-in" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><div id="1513767151505" tabindex="3" class="img-zoom-container" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;"><img class="lazy z-loaded loaded pure-img" big-src="https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zcGFjZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA3Mi82Mjkvb3JpZ2luYWwvc3BhY2V4X2xhdW5jaF9zdGFyX3dhcnNfcGF0Y2hlczAxLmpwZz8xNTEzMzYwNjUw" data-src="https://img.purch.com/w/640/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zcGFjZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA3Mi82MjkvaTAyL3NwYWNleF9sYXVuY2hfc3Rhcl93YXJzX3BhdGNoZXMwMS5qcGc/MTUxMzM2MDY1MA==" alt="Mission patches represent the science aboard the U.S. National Laboratory launched aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station on Dec. 15, 2017. The patches are the result of a partnership between Lucasfilm and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS)." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 100%; display: block; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.3s; -webkit-transition: opacity 0.3s; cursor: zoom-in;" apple-inline="yes" id="5029F751-807A-4CA9-A702-8264A47864CC" height="424" width="640" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:FB268019-434D-4777-AE4D-BC659517D611"><div id="1513767151505-3" class="img-zoom-sub" style="margin: auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: 0px; width: 0px; position: fixed; left: 0px; right: 0px; top: 0px; bottom: 0px; transition: height 0.2s ease-in-out, width 0.2s ease-in-out; -webkit-transition: height 0.2s ease-in-out, width 0.2s ease-in-out; cursor: zoom-out;"><img class="img-zoom" style="margin: auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; z-index: 10003; max-width: 98%; min-width: 30%; max-height: 98%; left: 0px; right: 0px; top: 0px; bottom: 0px;" apple-inline="yes" id="2D08D5DE-5F07-4FC2-99B5-F7DB1E21BE2A" height="925" width="1396" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:1AE50C0A-4B34-43C9-9982-ED0F40A07DB7"></div></div></div><figcaption class="fig-cap" id="nointelliTXT" style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px; border: 1px solid rgb(211, 211, 211); font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><div class="fig-desc" style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit;"><font class=""><b class="">Mission patches represent the science aboard the U.S. National Laboratory launched aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station on Dec. 15, 2017. The patches are the result of a partnership between Lucasfilm and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS).</b></font></div><cite class="fig-credit" style="margin: 8px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block;"><font class=""><b class="">Credit: <a href="http://collectspace.com" class="">collectSPACE.com</a><span style="font-size: 12px;" class=""> </span></b></font></cite></figcaption></figure><p style="font-family: FreeSans, Arimo, 'Droid Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 16px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(91, 91, 91); font-size: 16px;" class="">L</span><font size="4" class="">aunching atop the Falcon 9 at 10:36 a.m. EST (1536 GMT) was a SpaceX <a href="https://www.space.com/12033-spacex-dragon-space-capsule-infographic.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;" class="">Dragon uncrewed spacecraft</a> packed with supplies and science experiments for the Expedition 54 crew aboard the International Space Station. The solar-powered cargo capsule is slated to arrive and berth at the orbiting outpost early Sunday morning (Dec. 17).</font></p><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class=""><div class="title-bar" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Titillium Web', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="title-wrap" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 738.75px; padding: 0px;"><h1 class="title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 2.2em; margin: 0px; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.1; color: inherit;">A New Twist in the Dark Matter Tale</h1></div></div><section id="ember785" class="opened collapsible ember-view" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-height: none; overflow-y: hidden; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Titillium Web', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><div class="type-image dnd-atom-wrapper context-full_width" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; display: table; margin: 0px auto 2em;"><div class="dnd-drop-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/perseus_xray_optical_radio.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(42, 100, 150); outline: 0px;" class=""><img typeof="foaf:Image" width="985" height="736" alt="Composite image of the Perseus galaxy cluster using data from Chandra X-ray Observatory, ESA’s XMM-Newton and Hitomi." title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px; vertical-align: middle; max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px;" apple-inline="yes" id="E4F77EA3-9AC0-43F5-89B0-554BBFCAB01B" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:9A1D5FB5-7615-44E8-8603-EAF1AC4D1900" class=""></a></div><div class="dnd-legend-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Composite image of the Perseus galaxy cluster using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, ESA’s XMM-Newton and Hitomi, a Japanese-led X-ray telescope.</div><div class="credits" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXO/Fabian et al.; Radio: Gendron-Marsolais et al.; NRAO/AUI/NSF Optical: NASA, SDSS</div><div class="link" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: inherit; background-size: inherit; background-attachment: inherit; background-origin: inherit; background-clip: inherit; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/images/perseus-galaxy-cluster.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class="">Read full caption</a></div></div></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: inherit; line-height: 1.4em;" class=""><font size="4" class="">An innovative interpretation of X-ray data from a cluster of galaxies could help scientists fulfill a quest they have been on for decades: determining the nature of dark matter. The finding involves a new explanation for a set of results made with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, ESA’s XMM-Newton and Hitomi, a Japanese-led X-ray telescope. If confirmed with future observations, this may represent a major step forward in understanding the nature of the mysterious, invisible substance that makes up about 85% of matter in the universe. “We expect that this result will either be hugely important or a total dud,” said Joseph Conlon of Oxford University who led the new study. “I don't think there is a halfway point when you are looking for answers to one of the biggest questions in science.” The story of this work started in 2014 when a team of astronomers led by Esra Bulbul (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.) <a href="http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/14_releases/press_062414.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class="">found a spike of intensity</a> at a very specific energy in Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of the hot gas in the Perseus galaxy cluster. This spike, or emission line, is at an energy of 3.5 kiloelectron volts (keV). The intensity of the 3.5 keV emission line is very difficult if not impossible to explain in terms of previously observed or predicted features from astronomical objects, and therefore a dark matter origin was suggested. Bulbul and colleagues also reported the existence of the 3.5 keV line in a study of 73 other galaxy clusters using XMM-Newton. The plot of this dark matter tale thickened when only a week after Bulbul’s team submitted their paper a different group, led by Alexey Boyarsky of Leiden University in the Netherlands, reported evidence for an emission line at 3.5 keV in XMM-Newton observations of the galaxy M31 and the outskirts of the Perseus cluster, confirming the Bulbul et al. result. However, these two results were controversial, with other astronomers later detecting the 3.5 keV line when observing other objects, and some failing to detect it. The debate seemed to be resolved in 2016 when Hitomi especially designed to observe detailed features such as line emission in the X-ray spectra of cosmic sources, failed to detect the 3.5 keV line in the Perseus cluster. “One might think that when Hitomi didn’t see the 3.5 keV line that we would have just thrown in the towel for this line of investigation,” said co-author Francesca Day, also from Oxford. “On the contrary, this is where, like in any good story, an interesting plot twist occurred.” Conlon and colleagues noted that the Hitomi telescope had much fuzzier images than Chandra, so its data on the Perseus cluster are actually comprised of a mixture of the X-ray signals from two sources: a diffuse component of hot gas enveloping the large galaxy in the center of the cluster and X-ray emission from near the supermassive black hole in this galaxy. The sharper vision of Chandra can separate the contribution from the two regions. Capitalizing on this, Bulbul et al. isolated the X-ray signal from the hot gas by removing point sources from their analysis, including X-rays from material near the supermassive black hole In order to test whether this difference mattered, the Oxford team re-analyzed Chandra data from close to the black hole at the center of the Perseus cluster taken in 2009. They found something surprising: evidence for a deficit rather than a surplus of X-rays at 3.5 keV. This suggests that something in Perseus is absorbing X-rays at this exact energy. When the researchers simulated the Hitomi spectrum by adding this absorption line to the hot gas’ emission line seen with Chandra and XMM-Newton, they found no evidence in the summed spectrum for either absorption or emission of X-rays at 3.5 keV, consistent with the Hitomi observations. The challenge is to explain this behavior: detecting absorption of X-ray light when observing the black hole and emission of X-ray light at the same energy when looking at the hot gas at larger angles away from the black hole. In fact, such behavior is well known to astronomers who study stars and clouds of gas with optical telescopes. Light from a star surrounded by a cloud of gas often shows absorption lines produced when starlight of a specific energy is absorbed by atoms in the gas cloud. The absorption kicks the atoms from a low to a high energy state. The atom quickly drops back to the low energy state with the emission of light of a specific energy, but the light is re-emitted in all directions, producing a net loss of light at the specific energy – an absorption line – in the observed spectrum of the star. In contrast, an observation of a cloud in a direction away from the star would detect only the re-emitted, or fluorescent light at a specific energy, which would show up as an emission line. The Oxford team suggests in their report that dark matter particles may be like atoms in having two energy states separated by 3.5 keV. If so, it could be possible to observe an absorption line at 3.5 keV when observing at angles close to the direction of the black hole, and an emission line when looking at the cluster hot gas at large angles away from the black hole. “This is not a simple picture to paint, but it’s possible that we’ve found a way to both explain the unusual X-ray signals coming from Perseus and uncover a hint about what dark matter actually is,” said co-author Nicholas Jennings, also of Oxford. To write the next chapter of this story, astronomers will need further observations of the Perseus cluster and others like it. For example, more data is needed to confirm the reality of the dip and to exclude a more mundane possibility, namely that we have a combination of an unexpected instrumental effect and a statistically unlikely dip in X-rays at an energy of 3.5 keV. Chandra, XMM-Newton and future X-ray missions will continue to observe clusters to address the dark matter mystery. A paper describing these results was published in Physical Review D on December 19, 2017 and a preprint is <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1608.01684" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class="">available online</a>. The other co-authors of the paper are Sven Krippendorf and Markus Rummel, both from Oxford. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, controls Chandra's science and flight operations. <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><a href="http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2017/dark/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class="">Read More from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory</a>. </strong>For more Chandra images, multimedia and related materials, visit: <strong style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/chandra" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(66, 139, 202);" class="">http://www.nasa.gov/chandra</a></strong></font></p></div></section></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></div></body></html>