Backward world? Rubin finds a retrograde object past Neptune

Rubin Observatory has discovered a retrograde object, currently labeled R631. It orbits the sun beyond the orbit of the 8th planet, Neptune, at a steep inclination. Simulation via Tony Dunn.

Rubin finds retrograde object past Neptune

The new Rubin Observatory in Chile has found an object beyond Neptune that follows a retrograde orbit. Most other other planets, moons and asteroids orbit our sun in a more or less flat plane. They generally move in the same direction, counterclockwise as seen from earthly north.

This object’s orbit is highly inclined, slicing through at a severe angle.

When we hear the word retrograde, we tend to think of an object moving backward in its orbit, against the direction of most planets, and many asteroids and moons. But in astronomy, retrograde has a more precise meaning. Any object whose orbit is tilted more than 90 degrees relative to the plane of the solar system is considered to be in retrograde motion.

This newly discovered object, currently designated R631 in the Rubin data, has an orbital inclination of 142 degrees. So its orbit is tilted beyond perpendicular, and it is moving in the opposite direction from most planets.

EarthSky’s famous lunar calendar is now available. Beautiful blue and silver poster shows every day’s moon phase for 2027. Get yours now!

What sort of object is R631?

The designation R631 is only temporary. The object will soon get an official designation from the Minor Planet Center. Astronomers and citizens alike who monitor Rubin’s alert stream noticed this object, which has appeared over four months in the data. Rubin’s observations of the retrograde object are from December 2025 through March 2026.

R631 is located 32 astronomical units (AU) from our sun. That’s 30 times the Earth-sun distance. And it would place the object just beyond the orbit of Neptune, which is 30 AU from the sun. The object R631 will reach its closest point to the sun, or perihelion, on October 31, 2047, at a distance of 24 AU.

If this orbit is correct, it will take object R631 some 547.84 Earth-years to make one full orbit of the sun.

Physicist and astronomer Marshall Eubanks said on Minor Planet Mailing List that the object could be 62 miles (100 km) in diameter. He said it might be akin to giant Comet Bernardinelli–Bernstein (comet C/2014 UN271), the largest known Oort cloud comet.

If R631 is cometary in nature, it might show some activity (such as outgassing) around the time of its 2047 perihelion. In June 2025, we reported that Comet Bernardinelli–Bernstein has been belching jets from a distance of 16.6 AU from our sun.

Why does R631 orbit in retrograde motion?

Why do objects in our solar system tend to orbit the sun in the same direction? And why might this object be orbiting differently from other objects?

Our solar system is thought to have been formed from a spinning cloud of gas and dust in space. The central concentration of mass pulled itself inward through gravity to form the sun. The rest of the dust and gas went on to clump together and eventually form planets, with crumbs left over as objects such as asteroids, moons and comets.

So there are several ways R631 might have developed a retrograde orbit. It might have been born in another solar system — flung out of its that system, perhaps when the system brushed too close to ours — and ultimately was pulled into the sun’s gravity well.

Alternatively, it might have begun life in our solar system, in an ordinary prograde orbit, like Earth’s. It might then have passed too close to a large object, say Jupiter or a passing star, which flung it into a retrograde path.

Sam Deen, an amateur astronomer who finds lost objects such as asteroids and comets in archival data, said the retrograde object is likely from the Kuiper belt and became destabilized when it passed too close to Neptune sometime in the past billion years.

Is R631 related to the Kreutz sungrazers?

This is not the first object discovered with a retrograde orbit. In fact, there was another famous object that had a 142-degree inclination: the Great Comet of 1882.

This comet was bright. It might have been the brightest natural object in the sky in recorded history. It was visible in daylight, reaching what some say was a magnitude of -17. That’s in contrast to our sun, which has a magnitude of -26. The Great Comet of 1882 came so close to our sun that it broke into fragments. Its highly inclined orbit matched that of the Kreutz sungrazer family of comets, a group of comets that follow remarkably similar orbits, bringing them extremely close to the sun at their nearest approach.

Comet Ikeya-Seki was another Kreutz sungrazer that had an inclination of about 142 degrees. It had a spectacular encounter with the sun in October 1965. Although it survived its extremely close passage, its nucleus broke apart into several pieces. Those fragments gradually faded as they traveled away from the sun.

Scientists think the Kreutz sungrazer comets are all remnants of a single, massive ancient comet that fragmented hundreds or thousands of years ago.

If you’re curious — like I was — if R631 could be from that same object, Tony Dunn ran a simulation of the Kreutz sungrazers versus R631 and the rest of the solar system. His simulation makes it clear that R631 is unrelated.

The retrograde object R631 has a 142 degree inclination from the plane of our solar system. The Kreutz sungrazing comets also have a 142 degree inclination, but they take starkly different paths from R631. R631 is in green, and the Kreutz sungrazers are in white. Simulation via Tony Dunn.

Bottom line: The Rubin Observatory in Chile has discovered a retrograde object in our solar system. It circles the sun in a highly inclined orbit beyond Neptune.

Via Minor Planet Mailing List

The post Backward world? Rubin finds a retrograde object past Neptune first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/uGkot8l

Rubin Observatory has discovered a retrograde object, currently labeled R631. It orbits the sun beyond the orbit of the 8th planet, Neptune, at a steep inclination. Simulation via Tony Dunn.

Rubin finds retrograde object past Neptune

The new Rubin Observatory in Chile has found an object beyond Neptune that follows a retrograde orbit. Most other other planets, moons and asteroids orbit our sun in a more or less flat plane. They generally move in the same direction, counterclockwise as seen from earthly north.

This object’s orbit is highly inclined, slicing through at a severe angle.

When we hear the word retrograde, we tend to think of an object moving backward in its orbit, against the direction of most planets, and many asteroids and moons. But in astronomy, retrograde has a more precise meaning. Any object whose orbit is tilted more than 90 degrees relative to the plane of the solar system is considered to be in retrograde motion.

This newly discovered object, currently designated R631 in the Rubin data, has an orbital inclination of 142 degrees. So its orbit is tilted beyond perpendicular, and it is moving in the opposite direction from most planets.

EarthSky’s famous lunar calendar is now available. Beautiful blue and silver poster shows every day’s moon phase for 2027. Get yours now!

What sort of object is R631?

The designation R631 is only temporary. The object will soon get an official designation from the Minor Planet Center. Astronomers and citizens alike who monitor Rubin’s alert stream noticed this object, which has appeared over four months in the data. Rubin’s observations of the retrograde object are from December 2025 through March 2026.

R631 is located 32 astronomical units (AU) from our sun. That’s 30 times the Earth-sun distance. And it would place the object just beyond the orbit of Neptune, which is 30 AU from the sun. The object R631 will reach its closest point to the sun, or perihelion, on October 31, 2047, at a distance of 24 AU.

If this orbit is correct, it will take object R631 some 547.84 Earth-years to make one full orbit of the sun.

Physicist and astronomer Marshall Eubanks said on Minor Planet Mailing List that the object could be 62 miles (100 km) in diameter. He said it might be akin to giant Comet Bernardinelli–Bernstein (comet C/2014 UN271), the largest known Oort cloud comet.

If R631 is cometary in nature, it might show some activity (such as outgassing) around the time of its 2047 perihelion. In June 2025, we reported that Comet Bernardinelli–Bernstein has been belching jets from a distance of 16.6 AU from our sun.

Why does R631 orbit in retrograde motion?

Why do objects in our solar system tend to orbit the sun in the same direction? And why might this object be orbiting differently from other objects?

Our solar system is thought to have been formed from a spinning cloud of gas and dust in space. The central concentration of mass pulled itself inward through gravity to form the sun. The rest of the dust and gas went on to clump together and eventually form planets, with crumbs left over as objects such as asteroids, moons and comets.

So there are several ways R631 might have developed a retrograde orbit. It might have been born in another solar system — flung out of its that system, perhaps when the system brushed too close to ours — and ultimately was pulled into the sun’s gravity well.

Alternatively, it might have begun life in our solar system, in an ordinary prograde orbit, like Earth’s. It might then have passed too close to a large object, say Jupiter or a passing star, which flung it into a retrograde path.

Sam Deen, an amateur astronomer who finds lost objects such as asteroids and comets in archival data, said the retrograde object is likely from the Kuiper belt and became destabilized when it passed too close to Neptune sometime in the past billion years.

Is R631 related to the Kreutz sungrazers?

This is not the first object discovered with a retrograde orbit. In fact, there was another famous object that had a 142-degree inclination: the Great Comet of 1882.

This comet was bright. It might have been the brightest natural object in the sky in recorded history. It was visible in daylight, reaching what some say was a magnitude of -17. That’s in contrast to our sun, which has a magnitude of -26. The Great Comet of 1882 came so close to our sun that it broke into fragments. Its highly inclined orbit matched that of the Kreutz sungrazer family of comets, a group of comets that follow remarkably similar orbits, bringing them extremely close to the sun at their nearest approach.

Comet Ikeya-Seki was another Kreutz sungrazer that had an inclination of about 142 degrees. It had a spectacular encounter with the sun in October 1965. Although it survived its extremely close passage, its nucleus broke apart into several pieces. Those fragments gradually faded as they traveled away from the sun.

Scientists think the Kreutz sungrazer comets are all remnants of a single, massive ancient comet that fragmented hundreds or thousands of years ago.

If you’re curious — like I was — if R631 could be from that same object, Tony Dunn ran a simulation of the Kreutz sungrazers versus R631 and the rest of the solar system. His simulation makes it clear that R631 is unrelated.

The retrograde object R631 has a 142 degree inclination from the plane of our solar system. The Kreutz sungrazing comets also have a 142 degree inclination, but they take starkly different paths from R631. R631 is in green, and the Kreutz sungrazers are in white. Simulation via Tony Dunn.

Bottom line: The Rubin Observatory in Chile has discovered a retrograde object in our solar system. It circles the sun in a highly inclined orbit beyond Neptune.

Via Minor Planet Mailing List

The post Backward world? Rubin finds a retrograde object past Neptune first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/uGkot8l

Carl Sagan born 92 years ago tomorrow

Carl Sagan born November 9, 1934

Tomorrow would have been Carl Sagan’s 92nd birthday. The astronomer and science popularizer became famous through his books and the 1980 television series Cosmos. He also made major contributions to planetary science and the American space program.

Carl Edward Sagan was born on November 9, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York. He studied physics at the University of Chicago and earned his doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics in 1960.

In the 1960s, one of Sagan’s earliest works in professional astronomical research shed light on the atmospheres of our solar system’s planets, for example Mars and Venus. In Sagan’s day, scientists were still trying to understand how Mars could be so cold while Venus is so hot. Sagan successfully argued that Venus could be a greenhouse furnace by using data from tables for steam boiler engineering.

It was Carl Sagan who said, “We’re made of starstuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” Image via NASA/ Planetary Society/ Wikimedia Commons.

Carl Sagan and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence

Around this same time, Sagan became interested in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) and contributed to those programs. He showed that the building blocks of life could be easily created by exposing simple chemicals to UV light. In 1966, he helped I. S. Shklovskii, a Soviet astronomer and astrophysicist, revise and expand his classic book on extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Life in the Universe.

In 1968, Harvard University denied Sagan tenure; some speculated it was due to his controversial opinions on extraterrestrial intelligence. He went on to become a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he spent the rest of his professional career.

Also, Sagan contributed to the U.S. space program. Among other things, he briefed astronauts before their trip to the moon, and he was part of the Mariner, Viking, Galileo, and Voyager space missions. In the Viking missions, for example — two probes sent to explore Mars in the 1970s — he collaborated on choosing ideal landing sites.

But in addition to his books and the “Cosmos” television series, it’s Sagan’s actual messages to the cosmos — placed aboard the first spacecraft designed to leave our solar system, the Pioneer and Voyager missions — that may be his greatest legacy.

Carl Sagan poses with a model of the Viking lander in Death Valley, California. Image via NASA.

Messages to the stars: Pioneer

The original idea for the Pioneer plaques — a pair of gold-anodized aluminum plaques carrying messages from humankind, placed aboard the 1972 Pioneer 10 and 1973 Pioneer 11 spacecraft — came from journalist and consultant Eric Burgess. He approached Sagan about it, and NASA agreed to it and gave Sagan three weeks to prepare a message.

Together with astronomer Frank Drake, who formulated the famous Drake Equation (a way of estimating the number of intelligent civilizations in our Milky Way galaxy), Sagan designed the plaque, with artwork prepared by his wife at the time, Linda Salzman Sagan.

The Pioneers and their plaques are now billions of miles from Earth. Both spacecraft are coasting toward interstellar space, carrying messages from Earth into the distant future.

A Pioneer plaque, which Carl Sagan helped create for the first two spacecraft designed to leave our solar system, image via NASA/ Wikimedia Commons.

Get your EarthSky lunar calendar now. This beautiful poster shows the moon phase for every day of 2027. Now available!

Messages to the stars: Voyager

Later in that same decade, Sagan and his wife-to-be, Ann Druyan, contributed to the design of yet another message from humankind to outer space. The Voyager probes launched in 1977. They both carry what is known as a Voyager Golden Record. Each Golden Record contains 116 images that depict historical scientific works and humans performing mundane activities, plus music from artists such as Bach, Mozart, and Chuck Berry, an hour-long record of Ann Druyan’s brainwaves, and greetings in 55 languages.

See a list of all the material on the Golden Records

Listen to the entire musical selection of the Golden Records

The Voyagers launched later, but traveled faster than the Pioneers. Voyager 1 and 2 have reached interstellar space. Voyager 1 is the farthest human-made object from Earth. Voyager 1 is expected to reach 1 light-day from Earth on November 18, 2026. Voyager 2 is closer than Voyager 1 but farther away than Pioneer 10.

See where the Voyager probes are, in real time

The Golden Record. image via NASA/JPL/ Wikimedia Commons.

Carl Sagan’s legacies

During the 1980s, Sagan encouraged nuclear disarmament and was one of the five authors of the concept of nuclear winter, which describes the aftermath of a nuclear war. Moreover, the work showed that, in a nuclear war, no one would win. It’s hard to estimate the importance of this work to the global consciousness of the time, but it’s perhaps no accident that the Cold War ended not long afterward.

Carl Sagan remained at Cornell until his death on December 20, 1996, at age 62 from pneumonia.

Over the course of his life, Carl Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and articles, and wrote, co-wrote or edited more than 20 books. He was an inspiration to many, and continues to inspire many young scientists to tread the path of astronomy and astronomical communication. Plus, he encouraged scientific responsibility by promoting nuclear disarmament. Equally important, his work in science outreach encouraged science literacy not only among Americans, but around the world. He was very quotable and said, among many other wonderful things:

The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.

Do you remember him? Do you remember his words and the sound of his voice? Listen and remember, via the video below.

Bottom line: Carl Sagan was born on November 9, 1934. He is most remembered for his efforts in popularizing science through his books, for his television series “Cosmos” and for his messages to the cosmos placed on the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft.

The post Carl Sagan born 92 years ago tomorrow first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/c43k6YN

Carl Sagan born November 9, 1934

Tomorrow would have been Carl Sagan’s 92nd birthday. The astronomer and science popularizer became famous through his books and the 1980 television series Cosmos. He also made major contributions to planetary science and the American space program.

Carl Edward Sagan was born on November 9, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York. He studied physics at the University of Chicago and earned his doctorate in astronomy and astrophysics in 1960.

In the 1960s, one of Sagan’s earliest works in professional astronomical research shed light on the atmospheres of our solar system’s planets, for example Mars and Venus. In Sagan’s day, scientists were still trying to understand how Mars could be so cold while Venus is so hot. Sagan successfully argued that Venus could be a greenhouse furnace by using data from tables for steam boiler engineering.

It was Carl Sagan who said, “We’re made of starstuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” Image via NASA/ Planetary Society/ Wikimedia Commons.

Carl Sagan and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence

Around this same time, Sagan became interested in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) and contributed to those programs. He showed that the building blocks of life could be easily created by exposing simple chemicals to UV light. In 1966, he helped I. S. Shklovskii, a Soviet astronomer and astrophysicist, revise and expand his classic book on extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Life in the Universe.

In 1968, Harvard University denied Sagan tenure; some speculated it was due to his controversial opinions on extraterrestrial intelligence. He went on to become a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he spent the rest of his professional career.

Also, Sagan contributed to the U.S. space program. Among other things, he briefed astronauts before their trip to the moon, and he was part of the Mariner, Viking, Galileo, and Voyager space missions. In the Viking missions, for example — two probes sent to explore Mars in the 1970s — he collaborated on choosing ideal landing sites.

But in addition to his books and the “Cosmos” television series, it’s Sagan’s actual messages to the cosmos — placed aboard the first spacecraft designed to leave our solar system, the Pioneer and Voyager missions — that may be his greatest legacy.

Carl Sagan poses with a model of the Viking lander in Death Valley, California. Image via NASA.

Messages to the stars: Pioneer

The original idea for the Pioneer plaques — a pair of gold-anodized aluminum plaques carrying messages from humankind, placed aboard the 1972 Pioneer 10 and 1973 Pioneer 11 spacecraft — came from journalist and consultant Eric Burgess. He approached Sagan about it, and NASA agreed to it and gave Sagan three weeks to prepare a message.

Together with astronomer Frank Drake, who formulated the famous Drake Equation (a way of estimating the number of intelligent civilizations in our Milky Way galaxy), Sagan designed the plaque, with artwork prepared by his wife at the time, Linda Salzman Sagan.

The Pioneers and their plaques are now billions of miles from Earth. Both spacecraft are coasting toward interstellar space, carrying messages from Earth into the distant future.

A Pioneer plaque, which Carl Sagan helped create for the first two spacecraft designed to leave our solar system, image via NASA/ Wikimedia Commons.

Get your EarthSky lunar calendar now. This beautiful poster shows the moon phase for every day of 2027. Now available!

Messages to the stars: Voyager

Later in that same decade, Sagan and his wife-to-be, Ann Druyan, contributed to the design of yet another message from humankind to outer space. The Voyager probes launched in 1977. They both carry what is known as a Voyager Golden Record. Each Golden Record contains 116 images that depict historical scientific works and humans performing mundane activities, plus music from artists such as Bach, Mozart, and Chuck Berry, an hour-long record of Ann Druyan’s brainwaves, and greetings in 55 languages.

See a list of all the material on the Golden Records

Listen to the entire musical selection of the Golden Records

The Voyagers launched later, but traveled faster than the Pioneers. Voyager 1 and 2 have reached interstellar space. Voyager 1 is the farthest human-made object from Earth. Voyager 1 is expected to reach 1 light-day from Earth on November 18, 2026. Voyager 2 is closer than Voyager 1 but farther away than Pioneer 10.

See where the Voyager probes are, in real time

The Golden Record. image via NASA/JPL/ Wikimedia Commons.

Carl Sagan’s legacies

During the 1980s, Sagan encouraged nuclear disarmament and was one of the five authors of the concept of nuclear winter, which describes the aftermath of a nuclear war. Moreover, the work showed that, in a nuclear war, no one would win. It’s hard to estimate the importance of this work to the global consciousness of the time, but it’s perhaps no accident that the Cold War ended not long afterward.

Carl Sagan remained at Cornell until his death on December 20, 1996, at age 62 from pneumonia.

Over the course of his life, Carl Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and articles, and wrote, co-wrote or edited more than 20 books. He was an inspiration to many, and continues to inspire many young scientists to tread the path of astronomy and astronomical communication. Plus, he encouraged scientific responsibility by promoting nuclear disarmament. Equally important, his work in science outreach encouraged science literacy not only among Americans, but around the world. He was very quotable and said, among many other wonderful things:

The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.

Do you remember him? Do you remember his words and the sound of his voice? Listen and remember, via the video below.

Bottom line: Carl Sagan was born on November 9, 1934. He is most remembered for his efforts in popularizing science through his books, for his television series “Cosmos” and for his messages to the cosmos placed on the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft.

The post Carl Sagan born 92 years ago tomorrow first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/c43k6YN

Do we all see the same moon phase from Earth?

The moon phase is a whole-Earth phenomenon

Everyone on Earth sees essentially the same moon phase at the same time. But the moon can look different depending on where you are. Its orientation changes with your location and even over the course of a single night.

Why does this happen? It comes down to Earth’s rotation and our different perspectives on the sky.

The moon appears to change its angle in the sky as the night goes on. That’s because Earth rotates, changing our view of the moon. Like the sun and stars, the moon appears to travel in an arc across the sky.

The illustration below shows the curved line traveled by the stars and the moon, as they traverse sky’s dome each night (or day). And that is because Earth’s rotation under the sky causes the stars and moon to move westward throughout the night. However, the moon’s motion in its orbit around Earth each day is eastward, in front of the background stars.

Each night, the stars and moon travel along curved lines moving westward across the sky dome. That’s why the moon’s orientation with respect to your horizon changes throughout the night. On the other hand, the moon’s orbit around Earth results in the moon moving eastward relative to the background stars each day. Chart via Marcy Curran.

How the moon changes over hours

Overnight — or even in a few hours — you can notice that the appearance of the moon changes.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Meiying Lee in Taipei, Taiwan, captured these images and made this composite chart of the moon over a single evening in July. It shows how the angle of the waxing gibbous moon — and the color of both the moon itself and the background sky — change from when you might first spy it in late afternoon until after midnight, when it sets. Thank you, Meiying!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | This is a crop of an image taken by Andy Bentley in Mountain View, California, showing the moon on a single night in February. See the full image here. We all see the same moon phase. But, as the image shows, the moon’s orientation to your horizon changes throughout the night, or as you move northward or southward on Earth’s globe. Thanks, Andy!

How the moon changes between hemispheres

So, why do people in different parts of the globe see the same moon phase, but it appears different? People in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres see the moon oriented differently from one another. It’s not a change in phase. It’s a change in the orientation of the moon with respect to your horizon. The differences can be hard to comprehend!

For one thing, observers in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres see the moon apparently upside down with respect to each other. You can see that if you scrutinize the moon’s features in the image below.

From Earth’s Northern Hemisphere, the moon’s north pole appears at the top. From Earth’s Southern Hemisphere, the moon’s south pole appears at the top. It’s all a matter of perspective! Image and caption via The Planetary Society. Used with permission.

Also, notice that from the Northern Hemisphere, a waxing moon (from new moon to full moon) increases its phase from right to left. Meanwhile, from the Southern Hemisphere, a waxing moon increases its phase from left to right.

Have you ever been to the southern hemisphere Ashes??
Ever see the Southern Cross? Sigma Octantis?
The sun moving from right to left each day?
The stars moving clockwise each night?
The moon phases move from left to right over 28 days?#SouthernHemisphereDisprovesFlatEarth pic.twitter.com/pfESD411yH

— Rozzie (@RozzieVox) November 18, 2019

Why so different? Think of the moon’s path across your sky. Just picture yourself standing there, looking at it. From the Northern Hemisphere, we look generally southward to see the moon (or sun) crossing our sky. From the Southern Hemisphere, people look generally northward to see the moon (or sun) crossing the sky.

Can you see why that shift in your orientation on the globe would cause you to see the moon differently?

A final thought

What we on Earth call moon phases are really about sunrise/set on the moon. Astronomers call the line between light and dark on the moon the terminator. That’s the line of sunrise or sunset on the moon, and it shifts, just as the line of sunrise and sunset on Earth is constantly shifting.

Also, Earth spins relatively fast, approximately once every 24 hours. The moon spins on its axis only about once a month, and its line of sunrise/set moves slowly. It’s wonderful fun to beg or borrow a telescope for a night when the moon is up … and watch for yourself over several hours. The shadows slowly shift on the moon, as the lunar sunrise or sunset slowly creeps across the moon’s face.

Of course, it’s also a great way to clear the mind!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Meiying Lee submitted this composite image of moon phases and wrote: “The photos of the moon were taken from August 15th, through September 10th. On September 11th, typhoon #14 Chanthu began to hit Taiwan and interrupted the progress. A friend Bob in Phoenix, Arizona agreed to complete the last three moon phase photographs that ended on September 13th. Through the cooperation of Taiwan and USA, the month-long moon phases documentation finally completes.” Thank you, Meiying!

Bottom line: The moon shows one phase to the Earth at the same time, but our different perspectives due to where we are on the globe can make the moon appear differently in our sky.

Want more? Here are 4 keys to understanding the moon’s phases.

Read more: Does a supermoon have a super effect on us?

The post Do we all see the same moon phase from Earth? first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/dGFnIkZ

The moon phase is a whole-Earth phenomenon

Everyone on Earth sees essentially the same moon phase at the same time. But the moon can look different depending on where you are. Its orientation changes with your location and even over the course of a single night.

Why does this happen? It comes down to Earth’s rotation and our different perspectives on the sky.

The moon appears to change its angle in the sky as the night goes on. That’s because Earth rotates, changing our view of the moon. Like the sun and stars, the moon appears to travel in an arc across the sky.

The illustration below shows the curved line traveled by the stars and the moon, as they traverse sky’s dome each night (or day). And that is because Earth’s rotation under the sky causes the stars and moon to move westward throughout the night. However, the moon’s motion in its orbit around Earth each day is eastward, in front of the background stars.

Each night, the stars and moon travel along curved lines moving westward across the sky dome. That’s why the moon’s orientation with respect to your horizon changes throughout the night. On the other hand, the moon’s orbit around Earth results in the moon moving eastward relative to the background stars each day. Chart via Marcy Curran.

How the moon changes over hours

Overnight — or even in a few hours — you can notice that the appearance of the moon changes.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Meiying Lee in Taipei, Taiwan, captured these images and made this composite chart of the moon over a single evening in July. It shows how the angle of the waxing gibbous moon — and the color of both the moon itself and the background sky — change from when you might first spy it in late afternoon until after midnight, when it sets. Thank you, Meiying!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | This is a crop of an image taken by Andy Bentley in Mountain View, California, showing the moon on a single night in February. See the full image here. We all see the same moon phase. But, as the image shows, the moon’s orientation to your horizon changes throughout the night, or as you move northward or southward on Earth’s globe. Thanks, Andy!

How the moon changes between hemispheres

So, why do people in different parts of the globe see the same moon phase, but it appears different? People in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres see the moon oriented differently from one another. It’s not a change in phase. It’s a change in the orientation of the moon with respect to your horizon. The differences can be hard to comprehend!

For one thing, observers in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres see the moon apparently upside down with respect to each other. You can see that if you scrutinize the moon’s features in the image below.

From Earth’s Northern Hemisphere, the moon’s north pole appears at the top. From Earth’s Southern Hemisphere, the moon’s south pole appears at the top. It’s all a matter of perspective! Image and caption via The Planetary Society. Used with permission.

Also, notice that from the Northern Hemisphere, a waxing moon (from new moon to full moon) increases its phase from right to left. Meanwhile, from the Southern Hemisphere, a waxing moon increases its phase from left to right.

Have you ever been to the southern hemisphere Ashes??
Ever see the Southern Cross? Sigma Octantis?
The sun moving from right to left each day?
The stars moving clockwise each night?
The moon phases move from left to right over 28 days?#SouthernHemisphereDisprovesFlatEarth pic.twitter.com/pfESD411yH

— Rozzie (@RozzieVox) November 18, 2019

Why so different? Think of the moon’s path across your sky. Just picture yourself standing there, looking at it. From the Northern Hemisphere, we look generally southward to see the moon (or sun) crossing our sky. From the Southern Hemisphere, people look generally northward to see the moon (or sun) crossing the sky.

Can you see why that shift in your orientation on the globe would cause you to see the moon differently?

A final thought

What we on Earth call moon phases are really about sunrise/set on the moon. Astronomers call the line between light and dark on the moon the terminator. That’s the line of sunrise or sunset on the moon, and it shifts, just as the line of sunrise and sunset on Earth is constantly shifting.

Also, Earth spins relatively fast, approximately once every 24 hours. The moon spins on its axis only about once a month, and its line of sunrise/set moves slowly. It’s wonderful fun to beg or borrow a telescope for a night when the moon is up … and watch for yourself over several hours. The shadows slowly shift on the moon, as the lunar sunrise or sunset slowly creeps across the moon’s face.

Of course, it’s also a great way to clear the mind!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Meiying Lee submitted this composite image of moon phases and wrote: “The photos of the moon were taken from August 15th, through September 10th. On September 11th, typhoon #14 Chanthu began to hit Taiwan and interrupted the progress. A friend Bob in Phoenix, Arizona agreed to complete the last three moon phase photographs that ended on September 13th. Through the cooperation of Taiwan and USA, the month-long moon phases documentation finally completes.” Thank you, Meiying!

Bottom line: The moon shows one phase to the Earth at the same time, but our different perspectives due to where we are on the globe can make the moon appear differently in our sky.

Want more? Here are 4 keys to understanding the moon’s phases.

Read more: Does a supermoon have a super effect on us?

The post Do we all see the same moon phase from Earth? first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/dGFnIkZ

Active volcanoes on Mars? Noxious gas discovery says — maybe

View larger. | Color-coded topographic map of the Alba Mons volcano (center) and surrounding region. Many cracks in the surface are visible around the volcano. The European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) detected the gas hydrogen chloride coming from some of the cracks. Are they evidence of active volcanoes on Mars? Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ Arizona State University/ Wikimedia Commons.

• Are there still active volcanoes on Mars? The planet’s volcanoes are no longer erupting, but there could still be flowing magma underground.
• The European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter has detected hydrogen chloride coming out of cracks in the surface in the Alba Mons volcano region.
• The noxious gas is often produced by hot magma moving below the surface on Earth.

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

Are there active volcanoes on Mars?

Mars’ enormous volcanoes — including Olympus Mons, the largest in the solar system — are remnants of an active volcanic past. But, unlike Earth, Mars has no moving tectonic plates to continually reshape its surface. And so, for much of the space age, Mars has been considered a largely dormant world.

But that picture has been changing. NASA’s InSight lander detected more than 1,300 seismic events, revealing that Mars still experiences marsquakes. And evidence of relatively recent volcanic activity has been accumulating, too.

Now, an international team of researchers says it has found perhaps the strongest evidence yet that Mars might still be volcanically active, with magma moving beneath its surface.

The researchers said on November 4, 2026, that the European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has detected the gas hydrogen chloride (HCl) above cracks in the Martian surface in the region of the Alba Mons volcano. Alba Mons is northeast of Olympus Mons.

On Earth, magmatism — the movement of hot magma below the surface — often produces hydrogen chloride. It is a minor volcanic gas compared to water vapor, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide from earthly volcanoes. But, on Mars, hydrogen chloride might be a major volcanic gas, according to scientists.

The detection adds to previous evidence for active volcanism still occurring on Mars today. Even though Mars’ volcanoes are no long erupting, magma could still flow deeper down.

The researchers published their new peer-reviewed findings in Science Advances on November 4, 2026.

Mars may not be geologically dead after all. ? Our ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has detected hydrogen chloride above volcanic fissures in the Alba Mons region, which scientists suggest could be linked to dormant volcanic activity beneath the surface. Read more: new.esa.int/articles/new…

— European Space Agency (@esa.int) 2026-11-05T08:50:58.722Z

Traces of noxious gas point to possible active volcanoes on Mars

Trace Gas Orbiter detected the traces of hydrogen chloride above geologically fresh cracks in the surface in the Alba Mons region. The gas was at parts-per-billion levels, but still higher than expected (if future studies confirm it is there at all). The paper states:

Detections of hydrogen chloride at low altitudes, unexplained by observed atmospheric state and models, together with the geological context of the region, hint at an igneous origin of this gas.

Mars is reputed to lack ongoing volcanic activity. However, marsquakes were revealed recently, and clues to volcanism younger than tens of million years have accumulated. While sulfur dioxide, so far undetected, could testify to ongoing eruptive activity, evidence of active magma chambers may be better identified by seepage of halogen gases, such as hydrogen chloride.

Co-lead author Daniel Mège at the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences said:

Our findings suggest that Mars has retained enough internal heat to support volcanic activity until recently, and possibly still does.

The Trace Gas Orbiter was able to find the smoking gun. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. It’s truly amazing that it spotted a handful of molecules from a perhaps intermittent source, whilst moving continuously along its orbit to monitor the whole martian atmosphere,

A huge part of the work consisted of examining all the possible chemical processes going on in the martian atmosphere. We needed to be rigorous, critical and creative to explain the presence of hydrogen chloride. The data were complex, but also excellent brain food.

View larger. | This Mars Express spacecraft view shows Olympus Mons on Mars, the largest volcano in the solar system. Mars’ volcanoes might no longer be erupting, but it seems there may still be magma flowing beneath the surface. If so, Mars could still have active volcanic systems deep underground. Image via ESA/ DLR/ FU Berlin/ J. Cowart.

Aerosols and seepage

Hydrogen chloride can be found virtually everywhere in the Martian atmosphere. But those observations are typically during warmer seasons, when the hydrogen chloride behaves as an aerosol. Aerosols are fine solid particles or liquid droplets in the atmosphere.

This gas isn’t seen as much during Mars’ colder seasons because its molecules are quickly “absorbed” by water ice crystals and disappear from the observations. But the detections at Alba Mons were during the cold season. And the levels were much higher than anticipated. The gas was detected above geologically fresh new cracks in the surface around the volcano. The cracks were several hundred meters long, and tens of centimeters wide.

The researchers said it’s likely that the hydrogen chloride seeped into Mars’ atmosphere from these cracks. That would make it volcanic in origin. The paper states:

Observations by Atmospheric Chemistry Suite led to the widespread observations of hydrogen chloride at part-­per-­billion levels in the atmosphere of Mars during the warm perihelion period [when Mars was closest to the sun in its 2-year orbit], attributed to aerosol-­atmospheric sources. Here, we report hydrogen chloride detections during the cold aphelion season [when Mars is farthest from the sun] that are isolated in the Alba Mons region.

We also identify fresh and narrow (<1 meter) fissures in this area, which we interpret to be potential hydrogen chloride pathways rooted into magmatic bodies at depth. Our results are best explained by ongoing igneous processes in the Martian interior.

A supplementary to the main paper (pdf download) also states:

Localized aphelion detections of HCl at low altitudes, together with the geological context of the area, suggests an igneous origin of this gas and that the detections are made above the seepage.

Icy buffer zone

It’s possible that the hydrogen chloride doesn’t come straight from the magma. It might come from a buffer zone, a layer of permafrost above the magma.

In the cold winter, the ice traps the hydrogen chloride molecules. But when the temperatures get a bit warmer in spring, the ice sublimates and release the gas into the atmosphere.

If there is a permanent source of hydrogen chloride in the surface “soil,” this could explain the seasonality of the observations and their binding to a certain area.

View larger. | The possible chlorine cycle on Mars, including hydrogen chloride. Image via ESA.

The chlorine cycle

On both Earth and Mars, there was a chlorine cycle initiated by degassing while the planets were still forming. In other words, as molten rock cooled and solidified, it released gases from the planets’ interiors into their atmospheres.The paper states:

On Mars, as on Earth, the chlorine cycle initiated by volcanic degassing from the deep interior upon planetary accretion was fed by the subsequent volcanic eruptions, and, because of its high mobility and solubility, chlorine has been continuously recycled in water, sediments, permafrost, and ice clouds. However, contrary to Earth, the absence of recycling due to plate tectonics probably make the volcanic source the main input to the surface-­atmosphere system on Mars. The topic addressed here is volcanism still contributing to this cycle on Mars today?

The more we know about Mars, the more we learn that it’s not as cold and dead as we thought it was. While the surface is a cold desert, there might still be heat deeper down. Heat from flowing magma that just might be able to melt ice and support life.

Co-lead author Daniel Mège at the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Image via Daniel Mège.

Habitats for life?

Plus, hot magma deeper down could heat ice and create groundwater. So could there still be active hydrothermal systems, too? If so, they might provide habitable conditions for microbes below the surface. Mège said:

Looking for Martian life in the seeping fissures of the Alba Mons region would make a lot of sense. If hydrothermal systems are active, they could contain the ingredients and energy needed for microorganisms to develop, and shield microorganisms from the hostile and changing environment above the surface.

Bottom line: Are there still active volcanoes on Mars? New detections of hydrogen chloride from below the surface suggest flowing magma.

Source: Enigmatic HCl detections as a potential signature of igneous activity on Mars

Via:

Institute of Space Research Russian Academy of Sciences

ESA

AAAS/ EurekAlert!

Read more:

Did the Viking 2 lander detect marsquakes in 1976?

The most recent volcanoes on Mars were surprisingly active

Huge magma systems on Mars existed below the surface

The post Active volcanoes on Mars? Noxious gas discovery says — maybe first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/YTawRh6

View larger. | Color-coded topographic map of the Alba Mons volcano (center) and surrounding region. Many cracks in the surface are visible around the volcano. The European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) detected the gas hydrogen chloride coming from some of the cracks. Are they evidence of active volcanoes on Mars? Image via NASA/ JPL-Caltech/ Arizona State University/ Wikimedia Commons.

• Are there still active volcanoes on Mars? The planet’s volcanoes are no longer erupting, but there could still be flowing magma underground.
• The European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter has detected hydrogen chloride coming out of cracks in the surface in the Alba Mons volcano region.
• The noxious gas is often produced by hot magma moving below the surface on Earth.

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

Are there active volcanoes on Mars?

Mars’ enormous volcanoes — including Olympus Mons, the largest in the solar system — are remnants of an active volcanic past. But, unlike Earth, Mars has no moving tectonic plates to continually reshape its surface. And so, for much of the space age, Mars has been considered a largely dormant world.

But that picture has been changing. NASA’s InSight lander detected more than 1,300 seismic events, revealing that Mars still experiences marsquakes. And evidence of relatively recent volcanic activity has been accumulating, too.

Now, an international team of researchers says it has found perhaps the strongest evidence yet that Mars might still be volcanically active, with magma moving beneath its surface.

The researchers said on November 4, 2026, that the European Space Agency’s Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has detected the gas hydrogen chloride (HCl) above cracks in the Martian surface in the region of the Alba Mons volcano. Alba Mons is northeast of Olympus Mons.

On Earth, magmatism — the movement of hot magma below the surface — often produces hydrogen chloride. It is a minor volcanic gas compared to water vapor, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide from earthly volcanoes. But, on Mars, hydrogen chloride might be a major volcanic gas, according to scientists.

The detection adds to previous evidence for active volcanism still occurring on Mars today. Even though Mars’ volcanoes are no long erupting, magma could still flow deeper down.

The researchers published their new peer-reviewed findings in Science Advances on November 4, 2026.

Mars may not be geologically dead after all. ? Our ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has detected hydrogen chloride above volcanic fissures in the Alba Mons region, which scientists suggest could be linked to dormant volcanic activity beneath the surface. Read more: new.esa.int/articles/new…

— European Space Agency (@esa.int) 2026-11-05T08:50:58.722Z

Traces of noxious gas point to possible active volcanoes on Mars

Trace Gas Orbiter detected the traces of hydrogen chloride above geologically fresh cracks in the surface in the Alba Mons region. The gas was at parts-per-billion levels, but still higher than expected (if future studies confirm it is there at all). The paper states:

Detections of hydrogen chloride at low altitudes, unexplained by observed atmospheric state and models, together with the geological context of the region, hint at an igneous origin of this gas.

Mars is reputed to lack ongoing volcanic activity. However, marsquakes were revealed recently, and clues to volcanism younger than tens of million years have accumulated. While sulfur dioxide, so far undetected, could testify to ongoing eruptive activity, evidence of active magma chambers may be better identified by seepage of halogen gases, such as hydrogen chloride.

Co-lead author Daniel Mège at the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences said:

Our findings suggest that Mars has retained enough internal heat to support volcanic activity until recently, and possibly still does.

The Trace Gas Orbiter was able to find the smoking gun. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. It’s truly amazing that it spotted a handful of molecules from a perhaps intermittent source, whilst moving continuously along its orbit to monitor the whole martian atmosphere,

A huge part of the work consisted of examining all the possible chemical processes going on in the martian atmosphere. We needed to be rigorous, critical and creative to explain the presence of hydrogen chloride. The data were complex, but also excellent brain food.

View larger. | This Mars Express spacecraft view shows Olympus Mons on Mars, the largest volcano in the solar system. Mars’ volcanoes might no longer be erupting, but it seems there may still be magma flowing beneath the surface. If so, Mars could still have active volcanic systems deep underground. Image via ESA/ DLR/ FU Berlin/ J. Cowart.

Aerosols and seepage

Hydrogen chloride can be found virtually everywhere in the Martian atmosphere. But those observations are typically during warmer seasons, when the hydrogen chloride behaves as an aerosol. Aerosols are fine solid particles or liquid droplets in the atmosphere.

This gas isn’t seen as much during Mars’ colder seasons because its molecules are quickly “absorbed” by water ice crystals and disappear from the observations. But the detections at Alba Mons were during the cold season. And the levels were much higher than anticipated. The gas was detected above geologically fresh new cracks in the surface around the volcano. The cracks were several hundred meters long, and tens of centimeters wide.

The researchers said it’s likely that the hydrogen chloride seeped into Mars’ atmosphere from these cracks. That would make it volcanic in origin. The paper states:

Observations by Atmospheric Chemistry Suite led to the widespread observations of hydrogen chloride at part-­per-­billion levels in the atmosphere of Mars during the warm perihelion period [when Mars was closest to the sun in its 2-year orbit], attributed to aerosol-­atmospheric sources. Here, we report hydrogen chloride detections during the cold aphelion season [when Mars is farthest from the sun] that are isolated in the Alba Mons region.

We also identify fresh and narrow (<1 meter) fissures in this area, which we interpret to be potential hydrogen chloride pathways rooted into magmatic bodies at depth. Our results are best explained by ongoing igneous processes in the Martian interior.

A supplementary to the main paper (pdf download) also states:

Localized aphelion detections of HCl at low altitudes, together with the geological context of the area, suggests an igneous origin of this gas and that the detections are made above the seepage.

Icy buffer zone

It’s possible that the hydrogen chloride doesn’t come straight from the magma. It might come from a buffer zone, a layer of permafrost above the magma.

In the cold winter, the ice traps the hydrogen chloride molecules. But when the temperatures get a bit warmer in spring, the ice sublimates and release the gas into the atmosphere.

If there is a permanent source of hydrogen chloride in the surface “soil,” this could explain the seasonality of the observations and their binding to a certain area.

View larger. | The possible chlorine cycle on Mars, including hydrogen chloride. Image via ESA.

The chlorine cycle

On both Earth and Mars, there was a chlorine cycle initiated by degassing while the planets were still forming. In other words, as molten rock cooled and solidified, it released gases from the planets’ interiors into their atmospheres.The paper states:

On Mars, as on Earth, the chlorine cycle initiated by volcanic degassing from the deep interior upon planetary accretion was fed by the subsequent volcanic eruptions, and, because of its high mobility and solubility, chlorine has been continuously recycled in water, sediments, permafrost, and ice clouds. However, contrary to Earth, the absence of recycling due to plate tectonics probably make the volcanic source the main input to the surface-­atmosphere system on Mars. The topic addressed here is volcanism still contributing to this cycle on Mars today?

The more we know about Mars, the more we learn that it’s not as cold and dead as we thought it was. While the surface is a cold desert, there might still be heat deeper down. Heat from flowing magma that just might be able to melt ice and support life.

Co-lead author Daniel Mège at the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Image via Daniel Mège.

Habitats for life?

Plus, hot magma deeper down could heat ice and create groundwater. So could there still be active hydrothermal systems, too? If so, they might provide habitable conditions for microbes below the surface. Mège said:

Looking for Martian life in the seeping fissures of the Alba Mons region would make a lot of sense. If hydrothermal systems are active, they could contain the ingredients and energy needed for microorganisms to develop, and shield microorganisms from the hostile and changing environment above the surface.

Bottom line: Are there still active volcanoes on Mars? New detections of hydrogen chloride from below the surface suggest flowing magma.

Source: Enigmatic HCl detections as a potential signature of igneous activity on Mars

Via:

Institute of Space Research Russian Academy of Sciences

ESA

AAAS/ EurekAlert!

Read more:

Did the Viking 2 lander detect marsquakes in 1976?

The most recent volcanoes on Mars were surprisingly active

Huge magma systems on Mars existed below the surface

The post Active volcanoes on Mars? Noxious gas discovery says — maybe first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/YTawRh6

Traces of dinosaur blood found for the 1st time?

Within this fossil is the first direct molecular evidence of compounds from dinosaur blood preserved within structures that look like red blood cells. Image via Curtin University/ The Conversation.

• Scientists found the first direct molecular evidence of dinosaur blood in a 115-million-year-old fossil bone from Brazil. The bone contains structures resembling red blood cells.
• Chemical analysis revealed heme molecules, a key component of hemoglobin. It also found traces of collagen, supporting the conclusion that the remains came from blood and connective tissue.
• Rapid burial in a low-oxygen environment and protective minerals might have helped preserve these molecules for millions of years. Thus, other museum fossils could hold similar biological clues.

You deserve a daily dose of good news. For the latest in science and the night sky, subscribe to EarthSky’s free daily newsletter.

By Kliti Grice, Curtin University

Traces of dinosaur blood found for the 1st time

A 115-million-year-old fossil dinosaur bone encased in a dense mat of microbes found in Brazil contains tiny structures resembling red blood cells, and molecular traces of blood.

Along with colleagues from Brazil, Japan and the United States, we reported the discovery on November 2, 2026, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

This is the first direct molecular evidence of compounds from dinosaur blood preserved within structures that look like red blood cells. The find offers an unprecedented window into the biology of extinct animals.

It also expands what we thought possible: that fossils can preserve soft tissues and biomolecules such as blood over millions of years.

A remarkable fossil from Brazil

We studied a fossil specimen of a small dinosaur called Aratasaurus museunacionali, found in the Romualdo Formation in northeast Brazil.

The Romualdo Formation is renowned for its exquisitely preserved fish, turtles, crocodile relatives and pterosaurs. It also contains rare dinosaur material. The site’s unique geochemical conditions have preserved fossils with fine anatomical detail rarely seen elsewhere.

Currently housed at a palaeontology museum in northeast Brazil, the dinosaur fossil consists of an exceptionally well-preserved partial hind limb.

The specimen was in Brazil’s National Museum until a catastrophic fire destroyed much of the museum’s irreplaceable collection in 2018. However, the building holding this fossil was not affected by the fire.

Its name reflects this extraordinary history. Aratasaurus combines the Tupi (an Indigenous Brazilian language) words ara (“born”) and atá (“fire”) with the Greek sauros (“lizard”). The species name museunacionali honors the museum itself.

Together, the name means “the dinosaur born from the National Museum fire”.

What we discovered inside the bone

A key question was whether the structures we saw were really biological remnants – that is, actual blood – or something that may have happened to the fossil later as the tissues were turning to stone.

Some of the most compelling evidence comes from the precise anatomical location of the structures. They are exclusively within vascular canals inside the bone – where red blood cells are found in living vertebrates.

At the same time, the sediment that surrounded the fossil didn’t have any of these structures. This makes it even less likely they came from some sort of external contamination.

We evaluated and ruled out several alternative explanations for the structures. In the end, we believe they’re most likely authentic fossilized red blood cell remains.

Chemical fingerprints of ancient blood

To further strengthen the claim, we also found two chemical “fingerprints” of blood. These had the structure of heme molecules – a key component of hemoglobin, the protein in blood which carries oxygen.

There was a dramatic difference when we analyzed the chemistry of the sediment that surrounded the fossil, and the chemistry inside it. The sediment mostly contained compounds from plant and bacterial sources. The fossil bone contained a distinct signature dominated by the heme molecules.

Together, this evidence points to the conclusion that we’re seeing real preserved compounds derived from blood.

Other analysis techniques confirmed the presence of molecules from heme, as well as elements including iron, carbon and nitrogen. We also discovered amino acids associated with collagen, which is found in connective tissue.

How could this be preserved for 115 million years?

The dinosaur was rapidly buried in a low-oxygen environment which slowed down its decay. The blood did not remain fresh or unchanged. Instead, microscopic red blood cells turned into minerals during fossilization.

Another crucial factor may be the presence of minerals such as hausmannite, which can act a bit like antioxidants. They could stabilize sensitive organic molecules and slow their breakdown.

Together, these conditions preserved biological information at a molecular level – blood and collagen – for far longer than expected.

Illustration shows a limb bone from the theropod dinosaur Artasaurus preserved red blood cells containing heme and heme breakdown products. Victor O. Leshyk

What the cells reveal

The fossil red blood cell-like structures appear a bit larger and more rounded than the cells found in modern birds and crocodilians.

This difference may be because they were deformed as the bone fossilized. Alternatively, it could suggest the red blood cells of dinosaurs not related to birds were shaped differently than those of birds, their modern relatives.

We’ll need further research to resolve this question. However, the discovery opens intriguing new possibilities for understanding dinosaurs’ bodies at a cellular level.

How sure are we it’s really blood?

Evidence from microscopy, mineralogy, spectroscopy and molecular geochemistry all points toward the same conclusion. We are convinced these are fossilized red blood cell structures containing traces of heme molecules.

Our discovery shows that blood-derived molecules can survive for more than 110 million years under the right conditions. It also provides a plausible explanation of how it happened.

Fundamentally, it suggests soft tissues in fossils are more likely to withstand time than researchers previously thought.

Perhaps the most exciting implication is that museums around the world already hold an enormous, largely untapped scientific resource. Many fossils are not spectacular display specimens. Even so, they may preserve remarkable molecular, chemical and environmental information.

Using modern analytical techniques, we can revisit specimens collected decades ago and ask completely new questions about ancient life.

The fossil was collected and curated through the efforts of researchers including Renan Bantim and Antônio Saraiva of the Regional University of Cariri, along with Juliana Sayão and Alexander Kellner from Brazil’s National Museum and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, who also contributed to the research and facilitated access to the specimen. Other collaborators include Yuta Isaji, Calum Fox, Nana Ogawa and Noa Ohkouchi from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology and Jasmina Wiemann from Johns Hopkins University in the US.

Kliti Grice, Founding Director of WA-Organic & Isotope Geochemistry Centre, School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Bottom line: For the 1st time, scientists say they’ve found trace of dinosaur blood. It comes from a 115-million-year-old fossil dinosaur bone from Brazil.

Read more: New dinosaur species identified from fossil stashed in drawer for a century

The post Traces of dinosaur blood found for the 1st time? first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/JpgtNAc

Within this fossil is the first direct molecular evidence of compounds from dinosaur blood preserved within structures that look like red blood cells. Image via Curtin University/ The Conversation.

• Scientists found the first direct molecular evidence of dinosaur blood in a 115-million-year-old fossil bone from Brazil. The bone contains structures resembling red blood cells.
• Chemical analysis revealed heme molecules, a key component of hemoglobin. It also found traces of collagen, supporting the conclusion that the remains came from blood and connective tissue.
• Rapid burial in a low-oxygen environment and protective minerals might have helped preserve these molecules for millions of years. Thus, other museum fossils could hold similar biological clues.

You deserve a daily dose of good news. For the latest in science and the night sky, subscribe to EarthSky’s free daily newsletter.

By Kliti Grice, Curtin University

Traces of dinosaur blood found for the 1st time

A 115-million-year-old fossil dinosaur bone encased in a dense mat of microbes found in Brazil contains tiny structures resembling red blood cells, and molecular traces of blood.

Along with colleagues from Brazil, Japan and the United States, we reported the discovery on November 2, 2026, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

This is the first direct molecular evidence of compounds from dinosaur blood preserved within structures that look like red blood cells. The find offers an unprecedented window into the biology of extinct animals.

It also expands what we thought possible: that fossils can preserve soft tissues and biomolecules such as blood over millions of years.

A remarkable fossil from Brazil

We studied a fossil specimen of a small dinosaur called Aratasaurus museunacionali, found in the Romualdo Formation in northeast Brazil.

The Romualdo Formation is renowned for its exquisitely preserved fish, turtles, crocodile relatives and pterosaurs. It also contains rare dinosaur material. The site’s unique geochemical conditions have preserved fossils with fine anatomical detail rarely seen elsewhere.

Currently housed at a palaeontology museum in northeast Brazil, the dinosaur fossil consists of an exceptionally well-preserved partial hind limb.

The specimen was in Brazil’s National Museum until a catastrophic fire destroyed much of the museum’s irreplaceable collection in 2018. However, the building holding this fossil was not affected by the fire.

Its name reflects this extraordinary history. Aratasaurus combines the Tupi (an Indigenous Brazilian language) words ara (“born”) and atá (“fire”) with the Greek sauros (“lizard”). The species name museunacionali honors the museum itself.

Together, the name means “the dinosaur born from the National Museum fire”.

What we discovered inside the bone

A key question was whether the structures we saw were really biological remnants – that is, actual blood – or something that may have happened to the fossil later as the tissues were turning to stone.

Some of the most compelling evidence comes from the precise anatomical location of the structures. They are exclusively within vascular canals inside the bone – where red blood cells are found in living vertebrates.

At the same time, the sediment that surrounded the fossil didn’t have any of these structures. This makes it even less likely they came from some sort of external contamination.

We evaluated and ruled out several alternative explanations for the structures. In the end, we believe they’re most likely authentic fossilized red blood cell remains.

Chemical fingerprints of ancient blood

To further strengthen the claim, we also found two chemical “fingerprints” of blood. These had the structure of heme molecules – a key component of hemoglobin, the protein in blood which carries oxygen.

There was a dramatic difference when we analyzed the chemistry of the sediment that surrounded the fossil, and the chemistry inside it. The sediment mostly contained compounds from plant and bacterial sources. The fossil bone contained a distinct signature dominated by the heme molecules.

Together, this evidence points to the conclusion that we’re seeing real preserved compounds derived from blood.

Other analysis techniques confirmed the presence of molecules from heme, as well as elements including iron, carbon and nitrogen. We also discovered amino acids associated with collagen, which is found in connective tissue.

How could this be preserved for 115 million years?

The dinosaur was rapidly buried in a low-oxygen environment which slowed down its decay. The blood did not remain fresh or unchanged. Instead, microscopic red blood cells turned into minerals during fossilization.

Another crucial factor may be the presence of minerals such as hausmannite, which can act a bit like antioxidants. They could stabilize sensitive organic molecules and slow their breakdown.

Together, these conditions preserved biological information at a molecular level – blood and collagen – for far longer than expected.

Illustration shows a limb bone from the theropod dinosaur Artasaurus preserved red blood cells containing heme and heme breakdown products. Victor O. Leshyk

What the cells reveal

The fossil red blood cell-like structures appear a bit larger and more rounded than the cells found in modern birds and crocodilians.

This difference may be because they were deformed as the bone fossilized. Alternatively, it could suggest the red blood cells of dinosaurs not related to birds were shaped differently than those of birds, their modern relatives.

We’ll need further research to resolve this question. However, the discovery opens intriguing new possibilities for understanding dinosaurs’ bodies at a cellular level.

How sure are we it’s really blood?

Evidence from microscopy, mineralogy, spectroscopy and molecular geochemistry all points toward the same conclusion. We are convinced these are fossilized red blood cell structures containing traces of heme molecules.

Our discovery shows that blood-derived molecules can survive for more than 110 million years under the right conditions. It also provides a plausible explanation of how it happened.

Fundamentally, it suggests soft tissues in fossils are more likely to withstand time than researchers previously thought.

Perhaps the most exciting implication is that museums around the world already hold an enormous, largely untapped scientific resource. Many fossils are not spectacular display specimens. Even so, they may preserve remarkable molecular, chemical and environmental information.

Using modern analytical techniques, we can revisit specimens collected decades ago and ask completely new questions about ancient life.

The fossil was collected and curated through the efforts of researchers including Renan Bantim and Antônio Saraiva of the Regional University of Cariri, along with Juliana Sayão and Alexander Kellner from Brazil’s National Museum and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, who also contributed to the research and facilitated access to the specimen. Other collaborators include Yuta Isaji, Calum Fox, Nana Ogawa and Noa Ohkouchi from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology and Jasmina Wiemann from Johns Hopkins University in the US.

Kliti Grice, Founding Director of WA-Organic & Isotope Geochemistry Centre, School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Bottom line: For the 1st time, scientists say they’ve found trace of dinosaur blood. It comes from a 115-million-year-old fossil dinosaur bone from Brazil.

Read more: New dinosaur species identified from fossil stashed in drawer for a century

The post Traces of dinosaur blood found for the 1st time? first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/JpgtNAc

The constellation Andromeda the Chained Lady

The W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia points to the stars of the constellation Andromeda and the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). Chart via EarthSky.

The constellation Andromeda is named for the daughter of Queen Cassiopeia and King Cepheus of Greek mythology. Andromeda has the nickname of the Chained Lady because her parents chained her up and offered her as a sacrifice to appease the sea monster Cetus. In the story, she is saved by Perseus and eventually becomes his queen. All these mythological characters are now visible as constellations in the night sky.

View larger. | Andromeda the Chained Lady lies near her parents, Queen Cassiopeia and King Cepheus. She also contributes one star to the Great Square of Pegasus. Image via Stellarium. Used with permission.

How to find the constellation Andromeda

Andromeda is easy to find because of the company it keeps. The W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia points toward Andromeda. Andromeda is also next to the Great Square of Pegasus. In fact, one of the stars of the Great Square actually belongs to Andromeda.

November and December are excellent months to try to spot Andromeda the Chained Lady. Look east after it gets dark to find the constellation already high above the horizon. Plus, Andromeda favors viewers in the Northern Hemisphere; it is not visible to those south of 40 degrees south latitude. The constellation is the 19th largest, in size, of the 88 constellations. The finder chart above can guide you to it.

Stars of the constellation Andromeda

The brightest star in the Great Square of Pegasus actually belongs to Andromeda: the magnitude 2.06 star Alpheratz. Alpheratz lies 97 light-years away. In addition, another magnitude 2.06 star, Mirach, lies to the upper left of Alpheratz. Mirach lies 197 light-years away and is the closest bright star to the Andromeda Galaxy. The third brightest star in Andromeda is magnitude 2.26 Almach, to the upper left of Mirach. Almach lies 355 light-years away.

A star map of the constellation Andromeda showing the locations of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the Triangulum galaxy (M33). Image via IAU/ Sky & Telescope/ Wikimedia Commons.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Vikash Singh captured this image on July 15, 2026, from India. Vikash wrote: “This is the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), captured using the Dwarf 3 smart telescope. The completely clear night sky and low light pollution of Ladakh made it possible to capture incredible details of our neighboring galaxy.” Thank you, Vikash!

Finding the Andromeda Galaxy with Cassiopeia

Although M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, is centrally located in the constellation Andromeda, it’s also easy to find by using the stars of Cassiopeia. The magnitude 3.5 galaxy can be seen as a hazy patch in a dark sky, but most people will need binoculars or a telescope to find the wide misty patch.

Andromeda stretches about 3 degrees across and 1 degree wide. That’s twice as wide as the full moon. It lies at a distance of approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth, which means that as we view the light from Andromeda, we are seeing it as it was 2.5 million years ago.

To find the Andromeda Galaxy, look for the W shape of Cassiopeia. With the two V shapes that make up the W, use the V shape on the right. Imagine the V as an arrow, pointing into the constellation Andromeda. From the tip of the arrow star to the spiral galaxy, the angular distance is a little over 15 degrees. (Hold your hand at arm’s length and use your index finger and pinky spread apart to measure 15 degrees on the sky’s dome.) The arrow of Cassiopeia does not point precisely to Andromeda, however. You will have to look a bit to the right to find the galaxy M31.

Some people use the M- or W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia to find the Andromeda Galaxy. See how the V shape points to the galaxy? Chart via Stellarium. Used with permission.

Finding Andromeda Galaxy from the Great Square of Pegasus

One of the stars that makes up the Great Square of Pegasus — Alpheratz — belongs to the constellation Andromeda. You can use Alpheratz to find the Andromeda Galaxy. Then look left and find three stars leading away from it: a 3rd magnitude star (Delta Andromedae), Mirach and Almach. Focus on Mirach, and then look above Mirach. There are two stars in a line above it, the top one dimmer than the bottom. If you can see the highest star without optical aid, look just to its right for a slightly lighter patch of sky. Put your binoculars or a telescope on it to confirm that you’ve found the Andromeda Galaxy.

Many observers find the Andromeda Galaxy by star-hopping from the Great Square of Pegasus to the constellation Andromeda and then to the galaxy. Chart via Stellarium. Used with permission.

Observing M31, the Andromeda Galaxy

M31, at magnitude 3.5, should be easy to see once you have it located in your binoculars or telescope. Indeed, the grayish patch should show an oval shape, characteristic of spiral galaxies. In addition, two other Messier objects are within your field of view when you are looking at Andromeda. M32 and M110 are elliptical galaxies that are companions to the large Andromeda Galaxy. They also lie 2.5 million light-years away. M32 is magnitude 8.1 and is closest to the galaxy, appearing to lie on the larger spiral’s edge. M110 is magnitude 8.5 and is a bit farther away from the large spiral.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeremy Likness in Newport, Oregon, captured this telescopic view of the Andromeda Galaxy on September 10, 2026. Jeremy wrote: “The numbers are mind-numbing. 2.5 million light years? One trillion stars? My target: M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. Our nearest galactic neighbor is also enthusiastically approaching us at a rate of 250,000 miles per hour, on track to collide after the estimated billions of years it will take to cross the estimated 250 million light years between our galaxies. And this is the busy neighborhood!” Thank you, Jeremy!

Read more: Are the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies already merging?

Bottom line: The constellation Andromeda the Chained Lady is most famous for containing the closest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way.

The post The constellation Andromeda the Chained Lady first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/sqgLv2H

The W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia points to the stars of the constellation Andromeda and the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). Chart via EarthSky.

The constellation Andromeda is named for the daughter of Queen Cassiopeia and King Cepheus of Greek mythology. Andromeda has the nickname of the Chained Lady because her parents chained her up and offered her as a sacrifice to appease the sea monster Cetus. In the story, she is saved by Perseus and eventually becomes his queen. All these mythological characters are now visible as constellations in the night sky.

View larger. | Andromeda the Chained Lady lies near her parents, Queen Cassiopeia and King Cepheus. She also contributes one star to the Great Square of Pegasus. Image via Stellarium. Used with permission.

How to find the constellation Andromeda

Andromeda is easy to find because of the company it keeps. The W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia points toward Andromeda. Andromeda is also next to the Great Square of Pegasus. In fact, one of the stars of the Great Square actually belongs to Andromeda.

November and December are excellent months to try to spot Andromeda the Chained Lady. Look east after it gets dark to find the constellation already high above the horizon. Plus, Andromeda favors viewers in the Northern Hemisphere; it is not visible to those south of 40 degrees south latitude. The constellation is the 19th largest, in size, of the 88 constellations. The finder chart above can guide you to it.

Stars of the constellation Andromeda

The brightest star in the Great Square of Pegasus actually belongs to Andromeda: the magnitude 2.06 star Alpheratz. Alpheratz lies 97 light-years away. In addition, another magnitude 2.06 star, Mirach, lies to the upper left of Alpheratz. Mirach lies 197 light-years away and is the closest bright star to the Andromeda Galaxy. The third brightest star in Andromeda is magnitude 2.26 Almach, to the upper left of Mirach. Almach lies 355 light-years away.

A star map of the constellation Andromeda showing the locations of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and the Triangulum galaxy (M33). Image via IAU/ Sky & Telescope/ Wikimedia Commons.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Vikash Singh captured this image on July 15, 2026, from India. Vikash wrote: “This is the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), captured using the Dwarf 3 smart telescope. The completely clear night sky and low light pollution of Ladakh made it possible to capture incredible details of our neighboring galaxy.” Thank you, Vikash!

Finding the Andromeda Galaxy with Cassiopeia

Although M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, is centrally located in the constellation Andromeda, it’s also easy to find by using the stars of Cassiopeia. The magnitude 3.5 galaxy can be seen as a hazy patch in a dark sky, but most people will need binoculars or a telescope to find the wide misty patch.

Andromeda stretches about 3 degrees across and 1 degree wide. That’s twice as wide as the full moon. It lies at a distance of approximately 2.5 million light-years from Earth, which means that as we view the light from Andromeda, we are seeing it as it was 2.5 million years ago.

To find the Andromeda Galaxy, look for the W shape of Cassiopeia. With the two V shapes that make up the W, use the V shape on the right. Imagine the V as an arrow, pointing into the constellation Andromeda. From the tip of the arrow star to the spiral galaxy, the angular distance is a little over 15 degrees. (Hold your hand at arm’s length and use your index finger and pinky spread apart to measure 15 degrees on the sky’s dome.) The arrow of Cassiopeia does not point precisely to Andromeda, however. You will have to look a bit to the right to find the galaxy M31.

Some people use the M- or W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia to find the Andromeda Galaxy. See how the V shape points to the galaxy? Chart via Stellarium. Used with permission.

Finding Andromeda Galaxy from the Great Square of Pegasus

One of the stars that makes up the Great Square of Pegasus — Alpheratz — belongs to the constellation Andromeda. You can use Alpheratz to find the Andromeda Galaxy. Then look left and find three stars leading away from it: a 3rd magnitude star (Delta Andromedae), Mirach and Almach. Focus on Mirach, and then look above Mirach. There are two stars in a line above it, the top one dimmer than the bottom. If you can see the highest star without optical aid, look just to its right for a slightly lighter patch of sky. Put your binoculars or a telescope on it to confirm that you’ve found the Andromeda Galaxy.

Many observers find the Andromeda Galaxy by star-hopping from the Great Square of Pegasus to the constellation Andromeda and then to the galaxy. Chart via Stellarium. Used with permission.

Observing M31, the Andromeda Galaxy

M31, at magnitude 3.5, should be easy to see once you have it located in your binoculars or telescope. Indeed, the grayish patch should show an oval shape, characteristic of spiral galaxies. In addition, two other Messier objects are within your field of view when you are looking at Andromeda. M32 and M110 are elliptical galaxies that are companions to the large Andromeda Galaxy. They also lie 2.5 million light-years away. M32 is magnitude 8.1 and is closest to the galaxy, appearing to lie on the larger spiral’s edge. M110 is magnitude 8.5 and is a bit farther away from the large spiral.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeremy Likness in Newport, Oregon, captured this telescopic view of the Andromeda Galaxy on September 10, 2026. Jeremy wrote: “The numbers are mind-numbing. 2.5 million light years? One trillion stars? My target: M31, the Andromeda Galaxy. Our nearest galactic neighbor is also enthusiastically approaching us at a rate of 250,000 miles per hour, on track to collide after the estimated billions of years it will take to cross the estimated 250 million light years between our galaxies. And this is the busy neighborhood!” Thank you, Jeremy!

Read more: Are the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies already merging?

Bottom line: The constellation Andromeda the Chained Lady is most famous for containing the closest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way.

The post The constellation Andromeda the Chained Lady first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/sqgLv2H

Hera mission gets its 1st closeup view of Didymos and Dimorphos

This is Hera’s 1st closeup view of Didymos. The ESA space mission is on its way to investigate what happened when the DART mission impacted Didymos’s little moonlet, Dimorphos. A glimpse of Dimorphos is visible here, hiding in Didymos’s shadow. Image via ESA.

Hera’s 1st closeup view of Didymos and Dimorphos

On November 5, 2026, ESA said that its Hera mission has caught its first glimpse of its target, the binary asteroid system of Didymos and Dimorphos. Dimorphos, a little moonlet of asteroid Didymos, was struck by NASA’s DART mission back in 2022, in the name of planetary defense. Hera was about 37 miles (60 km) away from Didymos when it took this image. Little Dimorphos also shows a glimpse of itself, hiding in the larger asteroid’s shadow.

Hera principal investigator Patrick Michel said:

The first thing we said was wow! This is the other side of Didymos from the one that DART’s camera showed us shortly before impact, so this feels like looking at a whole new world. This side of Didymos has the same central ridge along its equator that we saw before, but otherwise appears very different, with multiple boulders and craters and what look like patterns of grooves or ridges.

ESA’s Hera mission scientist Michael Kueppers added:

Since we expect a lot of impact-ejected material to have made it across the approximately 1 km of space from Dimorphos to Didymos, it may be that some of these characteristics originate from this transport of material, and we have an exciting work ahead of us to sort it out. We look forward to seeing much more of both bodies and systemically mapping all the changes we identify.

ESA said that detailed images of both asteroids will be unveiled on November 25.

The Hera mission hits the brakes

The European Space Agency’s Hera mission has hit the brakes! The spacecraft is headed for the site of a human-made impact on the asteroid Dimorphos, created in 2022 by NASA’s DART spacecraft as a test of our ability to move an asteroid in its orbit. But — before Hera can properly reach Dimorphos — first it had to slow down.

That’s why the spacecraft will fire its thrusters on October 15, 2026. And, ESA said, the maneuver was a tricky one:

Hera will rotate around so that its ring of Orbit Control Thrusters face toward the Didymos system. Three of these hydrazine-based thrusters will be ignited at once, burning continuously for a total of 93 minutes, to reduce Hera’s velocity relative to the asteroids by a few hundred meters per second.

We’re happy to report that all went well. Now, Hera is closing in on Dimorphos to begin its investigations!

The Hera mission to asteroid Dimorphos — the asteroid struck by another earthly spacecraft (DART) in 2022, in the name of planetary defense — performed a braking maneuver on October 15. Why is Hera going to Dimorphos?  Read more below. Image via ESA Science Office.

Hera is ready for its asteroid rendezvous

In 2022, the groundbreaking DART mission struck and moved an asteroid. It was a test of Earth’s ability to defend itself from an incoming asteroid threat. Two years ago, on October 7, 2024, a follow-up mission — ESA’s Hera — launched toward the asteroid impact site on Dimorphos, a little moon of the asteroid Didymos. Now, Hera is ready for its November 2026 meeting with the asteroid pair. After it arrives, it will spend six months investigating the aftereffects from the impact.

So far in 2026, the Hera mission has undergone a deep-space maneuver to correct its course toward its target. And in July 2026, it finished receiving an upgrade to its software. The braking maneuver on October 15 worked to get the spacecraft to its target.

When Hera reaches the asteroids, it will release two cubesats, Milani and Junventas. Milani is in charge of spectral surface observations (splitting light bounced off the asteroid into a rainbow array of colors, then analyzing that light). And Juventas will take the first radar soundings in the heart of an asteroid.

In this artist’s concept, the Hera mission scans the impact crater that DART left behind. Image via ESA.

When DART hit Didymos

Back in 2022, when DART hit Didymos’ little moon Dimorphos, it made a big splash. We know for sure it pushed the asteroid slightly out of its previous orbit. And the debris kicked up in the collision might even have created a new meteor shower for Earth!

Hera is going to learn more about just what happened when DART struck the little asteroid, creating a crater on its surface and moving it slightly in orbit. It’s going to learn more about Dimorphos itself, to help refine our knowledge of what DART did … to keep us safe from future asteroid collisions.

This will be the first investigation of a binary asteroid. Hera’s focus will be on Dimorphos, the moonlet that DART impacted. According to ESA — the mission planner — Hera will conduct a “crime scene investigation” at the little asteroid moon. But Hera will also check out both Didymos and the dusty environs unleashed by the impact.

Here are 3 mysteries that Hera will help solve

ESA shared three mysteries that Hera will help solve:

1. Hera will measure the density and composition of Dimorphos in detail and help scientists determine whether it is a “rubble pile” loosely held together by gravity, or a solid core covered in boulders and gravel.
2. Hera will map the crater created by DART’s impact down to 4-inch (10-cm) resolution to help scientists better understand how the surface material responded to the collision. It’s possible that there is no crater at all, but rather the impact reshaped the entire asteroid!
3. About 15% of known asteroids are actually binary systems, but their origins remain mysterious. Hera will determine whether Dimorphos and Didymos are made from the same material, which would hint that the rapidly spinning Didymos once threw off debris into space that later formed Dimorphos.

Hera project scientist Michael Küppers

Watch EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd speak with Hera project scientist Michael Küppers below. Get the latest here about keeping Earth safe from asteroids.

The Hera mission and a missing planet

Watch a video about the Hera mission to the asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos.

The Hera mission vs the Colosseum

The asteroid Didymos is about a half mile (800 meters) wide. So, that’s about the size of the Golden Gate Bridge. Its little companion, Dimorphos, is about 560 feet (170 meters) in diameter. And that’s about the size of the Great Pyramid. Or compare it to Italy’s Colosseum below.

This graphic compares the size of the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos to the Colosseum in Rome, Italy. Image via ESA.

Bottom line: The Hera mission just got its 1st closeup view of the asteroid Didymos and its little moonlet Dimorphos. Soon it will begin investigating the aftermath of the DART impact.

Via ESA

Read more: Boulders from asteroid Dimorphos, after spacecraft impact

Read more: Remember when DART struck an asteroid? New surprises!

The post Hera mission gets its 1st closeup view of Didymos and Dimorphos first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2VT3REo

This is Hera’s 1st closeup view of Didymos. The ESA space mission is on its way to investigate what happened when the DART mission impacted Didymos’s little moonlet, Dimorphos. A glimpse of Dimorphos is visible here, hiding in Didymos’s shadow. Image via ESA.

Hera’s 1st closeup view of Didymos and Dimorphos

On November 5, 2026, ESA said that its Hera mission has caught its first glimpse of its target, the binary asteroid system of Didymos and Dimorphos. Dimorphos, a little moonlet of asteroid Didymos, was struck by NASA’s DART mission back in 2022, in the name of planetary defense. Hera was about 37 miles (60 km) away from Didymos when it took this image. Little Dimorphos also shows a glimpse of itself, hiding in the larger asteroid’s shadow.

Hera principal investigator Patrick Michel said:

The first thing we said was wow! This is the other side of Didymos from the one that DART’s camera showed us shortly before impact, so this feels like looking at a whole new world. This side of Didymos has the same central ridge along its equator that we saw before, but otherwise appears very different, with multiple boulders and craters and what look like patterns of grooves or ridges.

ESA’s Hera mission scientist Michael Kueppers added:

Since we expect a lot of impact-ejected material to have made it across the approximately 1 km of space from Dimorphos to Didymos, it may be that some of these characteristics originate from this transport of material, and we have an exciting work ahead of us to sort it out. We look forward to seeing much more of both bodies and systemically mapping all the changes we identify.

ESA said that detailed images of both asteroids will be unveiled on November 25.

The Hera mission hits the brakes

The European Space Agency’s Hera mission has hit the brakes! The spacecraft is headed for the site of a human-made impact on the asteroid Dimorphos, created in 2022 by NASA’s DART spacecraft as a test of our ability to move an asteroid in its orbit. But — before Hera can properly reach Dimorphos — first it had to slow down.

That’s why the spacecraft will fire its thrusters on October 15, 2026. And, ESA said, the maneuver was a tricky one:

Hera will rotate around so that its ring of Orbit Control Thrusters face toward the Didymos system. Three of these hydrazine-based thrusters will be ignited at once, burning continuously for a total of 93 minutes, to reduce Hera’s velocity relative to the asteroids by a few hundred meters per second.

We’re happy to report that all went well. Now, Hera is closing in on Dimorphos to begin its investigations!

The Hera mission to asteroid Dimorphos — the asteroid struck by another earthly spacecraft (DART) in 2022, in the name of planetary defense — performed a braking maneuver on October 15. Why is Hera going to Dimorphos?  Read more below. Image via ESA Science Office.

Hera is ready for its asteroid rendezvous

In 2022, the groundbreaking DART mission struck and moved an asteroid. It was a test of Earth’s ability to defend itself from an incoming asteroid threat. Two years ago, on October 7, 2024, a follow-up mission — ESA’s Hera — launched toward the asteroid impact site on Dimorphos, a little moon of the asteroid Didymos. Now, Hera is ready for its November 2026 meeting with the asteroid pair. After it arrives, it will spend six months investigating the aftereffects from the impact.

So far in 2026, the Hera mission has undergone a deep-space maneuver to correct its course toward its target. And in July 2026, it finished receiving an upgrade to its software. The braking maneuver on October 15 worked to get the spacecraft to its target.

When Hera reaches the asteroids, it will release two cubesats, Milani and Junventas. Milani is in charge of spectral surface observations (splitting light bounced off the asteroid into a rainbow array of colors, then analyzing that light). And Juventas will take the first radar soundings in the heart of an asteroid.

In this artist’s concept, the Hera mission scans the impact crater that DART left behind. Image via ESA.

When DART hit Didymos

Back in 2022, when DART hit Didymos’ little moon Dimorphos, it made a big splash. We know for sure it pushed the asteroid slightly out of its previous orbit. And the debris kicked up in the collision might even have created a new meteor shower for Earth!

Hera is going to learn more about just what happened when DART struck the little asteroid, creating a crater on its surface and moving it slightly in orbit. It’s going to learn more about Dimorphos itself, to help refine our knowledge of what DART did … to keep us safe from future asteroid collisions.

This will be the first investigation of a binary asteroid. Hera’s focus will be on Dimorphos, the moonlet that DART impacted. According to ESA — the mission planner — Hera will conduct a “crime scene investigation” at the little asteroid moon. But Hera will also check out both Didymos and the dusty environs unleashed by the impact.

Here are 3 mysteries that Hera will help solve

ESA shared three mysteries that Hera will help solve:

1. Hera will measure the density and composition of Dimorphos in detail and help scientists determine whether it is a “rubble pile” loosely held together by gravity, or a solid core covered in boulders and gravel.
2. Hera will map the crater created by DART’s impact down to 4-inch (10-cm) resolution to help scientists better understand how the surface material responded to the collision. It’s possible that there is no crater at all, but rather the impact reshaped the entire asteroid!
3. About 15% of known asteroids are actually binary systems, but their origins remain mysterious. Hera will determine whether Dimorphos and Didymos are made from the same material, which would hint that the rapidly spinning Didymos once threw off debris into space that later formed Dimorphos.

Hera project scientist Michael Küppers

Watch EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd speak with Hera project scientist Michael Küppers below. Get the latest here about keeping Earth safe from asteroids.

The Hera mission and a missing planet

Watch a video about the Hera mission to the asteroids Didymos and Dimorphos.

The Hera mission vs the Colosseum

The asteroid Didymos is about a half mile (800 meters) wide. So, that’s about the size of the Golden Gate Bridge. Its little companion, Dimorphos, is about 560 feet (170 meters) in diameter. And that’s about the size of the Great Pyramid. Or compare it to Italy’s Colosseum below.

This graphic compares the size of the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos to the Colosseum in Rome, Italy. Image via ESA.

Bottom line: The Hera mission just got its 1st closeup view of the asteroid Didymos and its little moonlet Dimorphos. Soon it will begin investigating the aftermath of the DART impact.

Via ESA

Read more: Boulders from asteroid Dimorphos, after spacecraft impact

Read more: Remember when DART struck an asteroid? New surprises!

The post Hera mission gets its 1st closeup view of Didymos and Dimorphos first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2VT3REo