Sunday, August 23, 2020

Everything Tech 2020: Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence Today & Tomorrow

Cloud computing represents a huge advancement for small and large businesses alike. Organizations will evolve their data solutions from hardwired datacenters to an architecture where applications run on dynamic and dedicated servers in automated environments. Cloud computing environments offer large advances in computing resources at minimal costs to the subscribers. With cloud computing businesses will find modern-day convenient solutions at hands reach, and these solutions fit their needs anywhere and anytime.

At present cloud computing does not mitigate security risks. That's right, the same security risks that target enterprises and the web are still in play in cloud computing. A shared responsibility model helps customers and providers clearly define and understand what each identity has for security responsibilities. In most cases, the cloud provider secures the cloud and its physical data centers, as well as its foundational networks. The cloud customer also holds responsibility for security while working in the cloud; including responsibility for their operating system, software, applications and data they bring with them. Cloud computing relies on shared resources and requires best practices for positive results. Security best practices show that critical applications and data are best separated into secure segments, similar to the idea of a blockchain where each link of the chain is secured and holds different data.

In cloud environments Virtual Machines (VMs) communicate directly with other Virtual Machines within a host server, each Virtual Machine may have a different allocated trust level. Cloud computing environments are highly dynamic which results in security policies being stressed by changing scenarios as new cloud workload deployments are communicated between VMs. Infrastructure as code or (IaC) has become a go-to solution to secure configurations and misconfigurations inside the cloud while rapidly creating an immutable infrastructure. An immutable infrastructure has the unique ability to freeze many parts of cloud infrastructures as needed, making results more predictable when running codes. If you know every node in your network has the same virtual networking configurations it will be much easier to make changes or problem solve.


Everything Tech 2020: Software Terms for Business & Technological Growth


Technology and computers have advanced dramatically over the course of the last 20 years. For example, a smartphone produced in 2020 makes an original 2000 Nokia flip look a little outdated and under-publicized. Modern computing, data, resources, and software have advanced rather dramatically providing businesses core applications that can be used to; analyze, store, exchange, and transact business. 

Core business applications can be used to record customer relations, manage inventory, shipments, publications, web content, distribution, information, and cloud compute with ease. Communicating with our world's people and social networks enables the worldwide economy to work as a global collaboration. These software applications are used for small, mid, and enterprise-scale businesses alike. As our world innovates new applications and services life becomes simpler. We find enhanced connections and our world's economy and people benefit together.


Best Applications For Business Today:


Accounting Software:

NetSuite, QuickBooks, Sage, Intact, and Microsoft Dynamics are used to record accounting data and transactions, process payroll, balance ledgers, and pay taxes with ease.

Business Analytical Software: (BAS)

IBM Cognos, Oracle Hyperion, SAP, and MicroStrategy are used to examine performance management, for data mining and predictive strategies.

Content Management Systems: (CMS)

Microsoft SharePoint, Open Text, and EMC Documentum are used to organize data and files, publish, search, and workflow management from a central management viewpoint.

Customer Relationship Management: (CRM)

Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sugar CRM, ZOHO, and Salesforce are used to gather lead validation, record sales records, communications, interactions, and history of service.

Database Management Systems: (DBMS)

Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, NoSQL, and Oracle Database are used to admin data including tables, reports, queries, and many other points of interest.

Enterprise Resource Planning: (ERP)

EnterpriseOne, PeopleSoft, NetSuite, and Oracle JD Edwards are used to view and understand core business processes like cost planning, manufacturing, inventory management, service costs, delivery costs, shipping expenses, and payments.

Enterprise Asset Management: (EAM)

IBM Maximo, Infor EAM, and SAP are commonly used to track many facets of company assets including new acquisitions, upgrades, maintenance, repair, replacement, disposal and decommissioning.

Supply Chain Management: (SCM)

FreightView, Management, Sage X3, Infor Supply Chain, and Fishbowl inventory are commonly used for managing supply chain transactions, business processes, purchase orders, inventory, and warehouse management.

Web Content Management: (WCM)

Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, and IBM FileNet are used for managing websites, content syncing and sharing, information distributing, authoring, collaboration, publishing, and administration. 

These programs are helpful for many types of business like Warehousing, Trade, Shipping, Accounting, Publishing, Food & Dining, Hospitality, News, Medical Fields, Music, Photography, Sales, and Much more.

Common file syncing and sharing services today are Apple iCloud, DropBox, Google Drive, Facebook, Instagram, Microsoft One Drive, Skype, Snapchat, Spotify, Spotify, Tumbler, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube, and Zoom.

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Best Astronomy Apps 2020


Star Rover 
Platform: Android IOS

Star Rover is a complete star gazing guide where you can tour galaxies, star groups and more simply by pointing your phone towards the sky. Star Rover helps you identify Nebulas, Constellations, Planets, Stars, Moons and More.





Star & Planet Finder
Platform: IOS

You can use the Star and Planet Finder App on your iPhone by choosing a planet or star from the directory. Then point your phone towards the night sky and follow the cursor. This will lead you towards your desired destination in the night sky!





Cosmic Watch: Time and Space
Platform: IOS / Android

This app is a 3D planetarium allowing you to study stars, constellations and our solar system. The app comes with a stopwatch allowing you to move those the cosmos forwards and backwards though time to study the location of objects. This app offers separate modes to view our solar system and more.



ISS Detector
Platform: Android

This App easily assists you in locating the International Space Station and can alert you when it's flying above as well. It's also capable of tracking SpaceX's Starlink Satellites and The Hubble Space Telescope.


Starmap
Platform: IOS

This App stores valuable information on over 2.5 million stars, nebulas, white dwarfs and gravitational lenses like abell galaxy clusters. It offers the informational library and latest space & astronomy news conveniently on your phone. It catalogues 500,000 asteroids and you can use the tonight app to see what is in your neighborhood.

Pocket Universe
Platform: IOS

A great App for beginners because it will teach you the names of the constellations, brightest stars, planets and about the universe in general. It has a built in compass and with your iPhone or iPad Pocket Universe will display the stars and planets in your night sky. It also have fun quizzes for learners.




 SkEye | Astronomy
Platform: Android

This App will also help familiarize you with what your looking at in the night sky tonight. Perfect for amateaur astronomers and students this apps best feature is easy navigation to see events in the present, pas and future night sky.


 Deluxe Moon HD
Platform: IOS


The Deluxe Moon HD App is high quality with beautifully designed ingenuity, organization, and top notch information about our moon. Combing traditional Lunar maps with today's technology Deluxe Moon HD offers incredible graphics, moons phases and timings and information about moon and solar eclipse events.


 SkySafari
Platform: IOS / Android

On SkySafari you can simulate the night sky from any viewpoint on earth at present, past or future events. It offers Hubble telescope databases and you can see high quality images of our solar systems planets, moons, meteor showers and more.





 Sky Map
Platform: Android

Google's original Sky Map App uses data from your GPS to identify cosmic attractions in your neighborhood. User's simply point their device towards the night sky to be navigated to their destination.



 Solar Walk
Platform: IOS / Android

This app in an interactive space encyclopedia providing 3D models of our solar system and it's details. Solar Walk is easy to navigate as you travel throughout the universe to view stars, planets, asteroids, and comets in high resolution detail.


DSO Planner Plus
Platform: Android

This App is more advanced and able to assist you in locating deep sky objects from databases like: USNO, Tycho-2, DSS and more. It identifies over 700 comets and much more.





SkyView
Platform: IOS

SkyView can locate many different objects in space and offers valuable information on stars, constellations, telescopes, the international space station and how they travel the universe.



NASA App
Platform: IOS / Android

If your a space exploration fan, astronomy enthusiast or even just interesting in learning more about what NASA does, this App is made for you. It will help you keep in touch with NASA's wealth of high quality images taken in space, current missions and streaming of live events.





Stars Chart
Platform: IOS / Android

If you love watching the night skies or your looking to discover something new about the universe today this App is amazing. It offers GPS technology, a virtual 3D universe and can locate major stars and planets that can be seen from planet earth. Stars Chart includes the Messier catalogue and allows you to move through time to see how our beautiful universe evolves over time. If you love stargazing this is a must have.



NASA's Eyes Free Visualization Software Downloads: Explore Our Solar System

NASA's Eyes is a free and complete visual package for enthusiasts and students created by the Visualization Technology Applications & Development Team at The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and designed for public use. With NASA's Eyes Software you can explore planet earth, and the solar system, watch earth's satellites in  orbit, explore eyes on exoplanets, see our solar systems from the perspective of Cassini Spacecraft or Voyager Spacecraft, learn about the deep space network,  and experience a 3D simulation operating NASA's mars rover Curiosity and much more. 


This is fantastic free and easily accessible gift to the public, astronomy enthusiasts, planetary sciences enthusiasts and students alike. Try the download today and see what incredible experiences wait for you!


New Update Experience What It Would Be Like To Operate NASA's New Insight Spacecraft In 3D Demo.
Expand it's solar panels upon landing on the red planet and perform scientific experiments with the space craft!






Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Most Amazing Views In Space: The Fountain of Youth & The Spanish Dancer



Location: Ursa Major 600 Million Light Years Away

The brilliant image above is courtesy of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope capturing a spectacular view of cosmic neighbors interacting. This group is known as The Fountain of Youth; composed of interacting galaxies, stars, dust and gas it stretching over 100,000 light years in space time. 

Credit: NASA \ ESA



NGC 1566 The Spanish Dancer
Location: Dorado 40 Million Light Years Away

In a universe if infinite possible The Spanish Dancer is one of the most beautifully created grand spiral galaxies. Containing a black hole in it's center The NGC 1566 is one of the most famous Seyfert Galaxies that frequently wreaks havoc on it's surrounding stars.
Credit: NASA \ ESA


NGC 3256
Location: Vela 100,000 light years away

A beautiful galaxy is hidden behind dust here known as NGC 3256.
Credit: NASA \ ESA


NGC 6786
Location: Draco 350 Million Light Years Away

Above are two beautiful and interacting spiral galaxies dubbed LEDA 62876 on left and LEDA 62 on the right. A super nova was spotted in LEDA 62 2004.
Credit: NASA \ ESA


NGC 7674
Location: Pegasus 350 Million Light Years Away

Above at the center of the photo is NGC 7674, also known as Markarian 533. The central bar shapes defines the characterization of this galaxy as photo is taken near face on. This galaxy is also a powerful type 2 Seyfert Galaxy fed by stars and gas drawn near to the black hole hiding behind it's center.
Credit: NASA \ ESA


Messier 83
Location: Hydra

Perhaps one of the most famous galaxies in the universe, Messier 83 is shown in new light by The Hubble Space Telescope.
Credit: NASA \ ESA


M51 The Whirlpool Galaxy
Location: 25 Million Light Years Away

The Cosmic Storm Lying inside M51 is shown well in this split panorama photo as the two images show dramatically different views. The image on left shows how we see M51 in visible light. The brilliant blue strands on light signify areas of star clusters while the pink highlights star forming regions inside the galaxy.

The image on the right does not show starlight, instead it is taken in the infrared light highlighting the huge amounts of dust hidden within the galaxy drawn towards a comic storm at it's center.


Thursday, August 13, 2020

The Most Powerful and Complex Space Telescope: The James Webb

The James Webb telescope is also being built with the capability of studying the atmospheric compositions of planets in the nearby future while finding new ones. The James Webb telescope is scheduled to be launched in 2021; it will be the largest, most powerful and complex space telescope ever designed and launched into space.

The James Webb telescope's mirror is made eighteen segments of beryllium coated with gold, combined it will be able to resolve optical resolutions of .1 arc seconds. It's wavelength coverage ranges from 0.6 - 28.5 microns. The telescope is designed to orbit earth at roughly 150,000 million kilometers and is designed to endure temperatures under 50k or -370 degrees Fahrenheit

The James Webb Telescope main mission goals are to search for the first galaxies and luminous objects created just after the big bang, study how galaxies evolve into their formation at present, observe stars that are in the process of forming planets. The James Webb Telescope will also be able to measure the physical and chemical properties of planetary systems; including our own solar system and also to investigate for the footprints of life. Webb will be able to use spectral analysis to detect nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, sulfur, hydrogen and methane that are linked to the support life as we know it.



The James Webb Telescope will be equipped with a Near Infrared Camera ( NIR Cam ), a Near Infrared Spectrograph ( NIR Spec ), Mid Infrared Instrument 

( MIRI ), Lightweight Optics, Deployable Sunshield, Foldable Segmented Mirror, Improved Detectors and Sensors, Cryogenic Actuators and Mirror Control and Micro Shutters. Webb will be undoubtable the most powerful and complex space telescope ever launched into space from earth, it will forever change our understating of the the universe.

Monday, August 10, 2020

Goldi Lock Stars and Planet Hunting


In our search for new planets in the universe, which has spanned roughly 30 years we have learned a lot. Certain stars are just more habitable for life! Sun like Stars are classified and Type G Stars; stars that are less massive and a bit cooler are Type K Stars and stars that are much dimmer and cooler are red Dwarfs. A stars habitable zone defines the region where liquid water and life can exist around a given star. For a larger star the region allows much more space that is habitable, while a smaller star has a smaller habitable zone. In addition, A M red dwarf can have a life span of up to 1oo billion years and a K dwarf will similarly have a life span of up to 45 billion years. 


However, the amount of harmful radiation from different stars is estimated to be up to 500 times more intense for the habitable zone corresponding to a red dwarf star than a Type G Star like our sun, leaving some uncertainties in our estimation for the capability of life to thrive there. Being that a Type G Star's habitable zone is so close to it's parent star any planet there would be inflicted with great amounts of X-Ray and UV radiation from the star and being too close also means that planets would be stripped of water and baked until dry. Scientists are now less enthusiastic about the odds of finding life around Type M Red Dwarfs because of this. Also stars of different temperature emit different 




A Type K Star may only have up to 25 times the amount of harmful radiation when compared to our sun. Red dwarfs actually make most of the Milky Ways Star Population with about 73% of stars being cooler red dwarfs. K dwarfs are estimated to make up about 13%.

Considering our sun a Type G Star has shown the ability to flourish on Earth, this is also a great place to start looking for life in the universe as well. Our own sun is actually about halfway through it's lifespan; whereas a Type K Star would typically survive four times longer than our sun increasing the odds that life could evolve there. Earth will likely be uninhabitable within the next 1 to 2 billion years as stars like our sun slowly over time grow hotter and expand. This effect would push earth closer to the inner edge of it's habitable zone; having adverse effects such as the burning off earth's atmospheres and oceans, leaving earth looking much more like mars in the future. At the end of the earth's life cycle it will swell up and become a red giant star and swallow the inner planets entirely. Realistically, while we still have a great many years.. someday mankind will have to move to the stars to survive.


According to mathematical estimates of longevity and habituality Type K Stars would be the next best place to look for life supporting habitable zones. These slightly cooler Type K Stars are also three times as populous in our own Milky Way Galaxy. More than 1,000 type stars lie within 100 light years of our own sun. Some of the most famous Type K stars found to host planets are Kepler-442, Tua Ceti, and Epsilon Eridani. The stars Tua Ceti and Epsilon Eridani were also targets of the 1950's Project Ozma which attempted to find radio transmissions from extraterrestrial civilizations.


Kepler-442 is an extraordinary target because of it's K5V Star classification, being on the hot side of the K Spectrum it also hosts a solid rocky planets roughly two times the mass of Earth. Being one of Kepler's newly found super earths orbiting a Goldilocks Star perfect for life to evolve.

Kepler 442 also known as KIC 4138008 is located roughly 1200 light years away from Earth in the Constellation of Lyra, putting it beyond our immediate limitations for space travel. Discovered in The first Kepler mission this system is a gem because there are many complications to detect an earth sized planets via transit method.

If you would like to have a look for yourself follow these instructions to view Kepler 442 in the night sky.

Download Google Earth Pro for desktop
Load the program
Enter Sky mode (click the saturn icon)
Follow this link and copy the J200 coordinates

19 01 27.979 +39 16 48.29
Plug in coordinates in search box and Enjoy!
You will land in the Constellation of Lyra right next to Vega.

Sample of Google Earth Pro Keyhole Data

Thursday, August 6, 2020

Where to Find Habitable Planets in the Night Sky



We now know of the many thousands of Exoplanets that exist throughout the universe and even beyond our own Milky Way Galaxy. With such an extensive line-up and diversity of planets found recently by NASA's TESS and Kepler Mission there is still only a handful that can be considered habitable, as rare as finding golden grains of sand at the beach. Many exoplanets may be too big to support life, too far from their host star(s) or may not support liquid water.



The University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo's Planetary Laboratory has put together a catalogue showing where we may find some of these newly found worlds in the night sky. This is a beautiful showcase summarizing the work of the Kepler Mission and TESS. They also have a very dedicated statistical list of characterizing many of our potentially habitable worlds.


The Kepler mission targeted a specific designation covering stars in the Lyrae, Draco and Cygnus Star Constellations for over 3 years of study, hence why there are many worlds focused upon a small point in the sky!

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Nasa's Kepler Mission and The Most Interesting Habitable Worlds List


The Kepler Space Telescope launched into orbit around earth in 2009 with the goal of determining the frequency of planets existing in other star systems. This satellite was named after Johannes Kepler, who in in the early 1600's formulated our equations used for orbital mechanics of planetary and star systems. In 2018 the Kepler Telescope lost one of it's four main reaction wheels making it unable to point specifically at a field for extended periods of time, so it was repurposed to do short term observations as part of Kepler's Second Light.




Kepler was originally designed to study a fixed point of view centered on the Lyrae, Draco and Cygnus star constellations with the goal of searching for earthlike planets existing inside their star's habitable zones. Kepler's Photometer was able to monitor target stars for over three years. Data was then transmitted back to earth and analyzed for the tell-tale dimming signatures in a star's light curve that reveal planets exist there. Larger planets tended to be much easier to find because a  1 x Radius Earth planet is very much smaller than our own sun; likewise a planet the size of the earth makes only a very small dimming signature on a star like our sun, and roughly one million earths could fit inside the volume of the sun. The limitations of the transit detection method Kepler used also meant that we can only see planets who orbit's are edge on from our viewpoint in respect to Kepler's orbit around earth. During the original mission Kepler observed 530,506 stars and detected 2,662 planets orbiting other stars.

Kepler's fixed point of view in the sky focused in the Lyrae, Draco and Cygnus Star Constellations just above the plane of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Kepler's field covered 115 square degrees, just only about .25 of one percent of the sky. The very nearest star system in Kepler's Field of View was Gliese 1245 lying approximately 15 light years from our own sun. Exploring the unknowns of planetary compositions, characteristics, atmospheric structure, diversity and abundances were Kepler's main mission. Unlike 2MASS Surveys Kepler was limited to only visible light, whereas 2MASS surveys can peek into infrared light spectrums revealing objects that are much cooler than stars. Many of the targets in Kepler's field of view can also be found in 2MASS and other galactic surveys.






Kepler's Key Missions:

Determine how often earth size planets occur in the habitable zone of their stars.

Define the range of properties for rocky planets; orbital characteristics, size, mass and density.

Define the range of properties for short period gas giants; brightness, size, mass and density.

Identify additional stellar and planetary members in each star system with detectable planets.

Collect further estimations of how many planets may exist in multi planet and multi star systems.



 


Most Interesting Star Systems & Habitable List

Kepler 3-b

Kepler 10-c

Kepler 16-b

Kepler 22-b *Hab
(600 light years away)

Kepler 47-b
(two planets circling a double star)

Kepler 47-c
(two planets circling a double star)
Period=303 Days

Kepler 61-b *Hab

Kepler 62-e *Hab

Kepler 62-f *Hab

Kepler 69-c

Kepler 78-b

Kepler 155-c

Kepler 174-d *Hab

Kepler 186-f *Hab

Kepler 235-e

Kepler 283-c

Kepler 296-e *Hab

Kepler 296-f *Hab

Kepler 298-d *Hab

Kepler 438-b *Hab

Kepler 440-b *Hab

Kepler 441-b *Phab

Kepler 442-b *Hab

Period=112 Days 1.3 x R_Earth K5V Star!
(1200 light years away)

Kepler 443-b *Hab

Kepler 452-b **Hab**
Period=385 days 1.6 x R_Earth 1.1 x R_SOL G2Star!

60% bigger than earth. 5% farther from sun. Sun 10% bigger.
(1400 light years away)

Kepler 539-c *PHab

Kepler 560-b

Kepler 705-b *Hab

Kepler 1090-b *Hab

Kepler 1229-b *Hab

Kepler 1410-b *Hab

Kepler 1455-b

Kepler 1522-b *Hab

Kepler 1540-b *Hab

Kepler 1544-b *Hab

Kepler 1593-b

Kepler 1606-b *Hab

Kepler 1630-b *Phab

Kepler 1638-b *Hab

Corot 7-b

Epsilon Eridani -b

Gliese 163-c *Hab

Gliese 581-d

(20 light years away)

Gliese 581-g


Gliese 667-bc *Hab -dg*Phab
(23 light years away, triple red dwarf star system C)
c* Period=28 Days Kelvins=277

Gliese 832-c *Hab
(16 light years away)
Period=35 Days 1.5 x R_Earth Kelvins=253

Gliese 85512-b

Gliese 876-d

GJ 163

GJ 180

GJ 504-b

GJ 1214-b

GJ 3293

GJ 3323

PSRJ1719-1438-b

TAU CETI -c

TRAPPIST 1

TRES-4b


TOI 700 d**

(TESS's first announced earthlike habitable zone candidate)
HD 40307-g

HD 189733-b

HD 209458-b

HD 219134-e *Phab

HD 283869

HOA-2007-BLG-192LB

Kapteyn's Star

OOGLE-2005-BLG-390LB

PEGASI 51-b

Proxima Centauri -b *Hab

SWEEPS 10

TRES 2-b

WASP 18-b


WOLF 503-b

fulton gap*

WOLF 1061-c *Hab

WOLF 1061-d *Phab

K2 3-d *Hab
(3rd planet in red dwarf system, 137 light years away)
Period=44 Days Kelvins=282 or 48 F

K2 9-b *Hab

K2 18-b *Hab

K2 72-e *Hab




If you would like to start searching the skies try downloading Google Earth Pro for Desktop. Once loaded set the view option middle of the top navigation to sky. This will bring you into the Keyhole data sky set. Learn how to navigate using J2000 coordinates and enjoy!




Previous & Future Exo Planet Searches:

PLATO 2026

CHEOPS 2019

TESS 2018

GAIA 2013

COROT 2012

NGTS 2015

APF 2013

HARPS 2003

SUPERWASP 2002

PLANET QUEST 2002

HAT 2001



Monday, August 3, 2020

Detection of Gravitational Waves From Neutron-Star Marks New Era of Astronomy




The First detection of gravitational waves from a Neutron Star marked a new era in Astronomy. These stars are the collapsed remains of massive stars that died producing supernova events, the explosions produce some of the most exotic objects known to our universe. After many decades of searching, scientists have spotted gravitational waves and light being emitted from two super dense stellar corpses known as neutron stars, as they merged together in space time. Albert Einstein first predicted the existence of gravitational waves as part of his general theory of relativity published in 1916. Many dedicated scientists have been searching to prove that Gravitational Waves exist

 since Einstein predicted the possibility many years ago.

These new gravitational waves are ripples found in the fabric of space time radiated by energy conversions in space, 

this implies that space and energy may beconnected in ways we have not fully comprehended. These ripples move at the speed of light but are much more penetrating, Gravitational Waves do not scatter and cannot be absorbed as we have observed of light-waves.

After a century of searching astronomers proved the theory

of gravitational waves when LIGO detected the waves being emitted by two large merging blackholes. This initial find won the 2017 Nobel prize for three physicists and the LIGO team followed shortly with more discoveries linked to colliding black holes. The next detection was announced on October 16th 2017 at news conferences worldwide as LIGO's two detectors picked up a signal lasting 100 seconds longer than any previously recorded events cause by black holes. Immediately scientists concluded the event was caused by colliding neutron stars.

The mass of the colliding neutron stars was estimated to lie between 1.1 and 1.6 the mass of our sun. According to theoretical astrophysicists a Neutron Star is the closet physical object to a blackhole. In fact the collision of two neutron stars can cause a black hole to appear. Just one teaspoon of a Neutron Star weighs as much as all of the people on earth!


Neutron Star



This discovery shows much promise continue these studies so that we may learn more about the universe we live in. Observations of the glowing light from the event revealed

heavy elements such as gold and uranium, which were produced when the two neutron stars collided. Scientists now have solid evidence that colliding neutron stars produce much of the universe's gold, platinum and other heavy elements. Scientists have previously known that the lightest elements like hydrogen and helium were produced around the time of the bid bang and that stars produce many of our heavier elements. It has not been well understood how many of the heaviest elements form like diamonds, gold or platinum. An event like this would likely produce about 10 Earth masses of gold and uranium.

Near Pisa Italy the Virgo gravitational wave detector also picked up a signal from the same event and NASA's Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope was able to pick up Gamma Rays from the event. A Gamma Ray is the highest and most energetic form of light-wave in the

electromagnetic spectrum. All of the detections matched in origination with the neutron collision positioned approximately 130 million light years from earth. This was followed up with visual telescopes on earth to confirm a very bright blue source of light in a nearby galaxy, this records the first ever time a neutron merger has been observed.

Additionally, researchers at the Gemini South telescope in Chile spotted that same source in infrared light spectrum. The event was recorded on many instruments showing many sources across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio to X-ray wavelengths. Perhaps one of the most interesting extrapolations from this event is that gamma rya bursts were detected just 2 seconds behind the gravitational waves, showing that gravitational waves move at the speed of light! These measurements can help us calculate the rate of universal expansion, estimates of this are previously known as the Hubble Constant.




Sunday, August 2, 2020

A Perfect Splashdown for NASA and SpaceX's Crew Dragon



In collaboration NASA and SpaceX's Dragon Crew spaceship did a perfect splashdown off the coast of Florida. The Dragon crew splashed down just off the coast of Pensacola Florida in the Gulf of Mexico, Sunday August 2nd 2020. Surpassing all odds, the first ever commercial space crew landed safely while the Covid-19 crises and a hurricane raged on nearby. Many onlookers were astounded that they were able to get such a close up views as the astronauts were recovered from the capsule.

The landing celebrated the completion of the first Commercial Spaceflight when astronauts Bob Behnke and Dough Hurley were safely returned to Earth. The Dragon crew had initially docked their space ship named Endeavour at the International Space Station on May 30th. Originally launched upon a Falcon 9 rocket the SpaceX Dragon Crew stayed for two months before entering the capsule and descending back to Earth. This experimental mission was named Demo-2.

Their safe landing marks a new milestone to NASA's and SpaceX's many years of efforts to lesson the costs of space exploration and to be able to privately commercialize the Space Industry. The Hawthorne California based company SpaceX is owned by Elon Musk, who also began PayPal and Tesla Motors. SpaceX is the first privately funded company with it's sights set upon the stars, they are also the first privately owned company trusted to launch and land NASA's astronauts.

Astronauts can sometimes be overwhelmed with the transition of months of weightlessness and a lack of gravity while on the space station as they return to Earth's gravity. Consuming salt and water is one approach that has been found to be helpful and can sometimes offset the effects caused on the human body by reentering Earth's gravity.

Upon reentry to Earth's atmosphere the capsule was traveling 17,500 mph and heated up to approximately 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Drag and parachutes were used to slow the capsules reentry prior to splashdown. Precision craftsmanship showed when the capsule splashed down at roughly 15 mph safely landing the two astronauts in the Gulf. Additionally, the Crew Dragon is equipped with water ballasts that would pump water to turn the capsule upright if need be.

The once snow white space craft returned to earth as a toasty brown color from the immense heat it endured while reentering Earth's atmosphere. This event marked the countries first ever water landing since 1975. This successful landing is a celebration of NASA and SpaceX's collaborations.

Cheers,
JLC