Voyager 1 and 2 still alive!!!! 38,000 mph!
- Thread starter Turboomni
- Start date
What else? Another first-ever by Webb (mainly due to its superior resolution. Oh, btw, "nerd alert" on this one. 
Webb images "brown dwarf" stars free-floating in open space. For me, if not pointed out by the space kids, I would not be able to identify them, let alone confirm what they were in this super-clear but "ordinary" space picture from Webb.
source: NASA’s Webb Identifies Tiniest Free-Floating Brown Dwarf - NASA
"This image from the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the central portion of the star cluster IC 348.
Astronomers combed the cluster in search of tiny, free-floating brown dwarfs: objects too small to be stars but larger than most planets.
They found three brown dwarfs that are less than eight times the mass of Jupiter, which are circled in the main image and shown in the detailed pullouts at right. The smallest weighs just three to four times Jupiter, challenging theories for star formation."
Recall, there are several types of stars.
"Brown dwarfs", relative to Earth's size at least, are still big. They are called "stars", but they are nowhere near size/temperature/brightness of our Sun .. itself a "yellow dwarf" star.
They are balls of hydrogen that collapsed under gravity, but were below some mass threshhold that didnt alllow them to light up. There still is some fusion going on, but its weak compared to the nuclear fusion furnaces of "regular" stars like our Sun.
Alternatively, some people calll them "planets" .. big ones albiet, but as weak as their fusion characteristics are, brown drarfs can still get to 2,500 degrees C. NO planet can do that -- not that we have found anyway.
source: Brown dwarf - Wikipedia
Lotta stuff here, some of it way up in the scientific stratosphere. Interested folks, looking at this thread in ten years, will probably be astounded by what Webb and its successors discover about the Universe.
Solve world hunger? Naw, but maybe?
Webb images "brown dwarf" stars free-floating in open space. For me, if not pointed out by the space kids, I would not be able to identify them, let alone confirm what they were in this super-clear but "ordinary" space picture from Webb.
source: NASA’s Webb Identifies Tiniest Free-Floating Brown Dwarf - NASA
"This image from the NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the central portion of the star cluster IC 348.
Astronomers combed the cluster in search of tiny, free-floating brown dwarfs: objects too small to be stars but larger than most planets.
They found three brown dwarfs that are less than eight times the mass of Jupiter, which are circled in the main image and shown in the detailed pullouts at right. The smallest weighs just three to four times Jupiter, challenging theories for star formation."
Recall, there are several types of stars.
"Brown dwarfs", relative to Earth's size at least, are still big. They are called "stars", but they are nowhere near size/temperature/brightness of our Sun .. itself a "yellow dwarf" star.
They are balls of hydrogen that collapsed under gravity, but were below some mass threshhold that didnt alllow them to light up. There still is some fusion going on, but its weak compared to the nuclear fusion furnaces of "regular" stars like our Sun.
Alternatively, some people calll them "planets" .. big ones albiet, but as weak as their fusion characteristics are, brown drarfs can still get to 2,500 degrees C. NO planet can do that -- not that we have found anyway.
source: Brown dwarf - Wikipedia
Lotta stuff here, some of it way up in the scientific stratosphere. Interested folks, looking at this thread in ten years, will probably be astounded by what Webb and its successors discover about the Universe.
Solve world hunger? Naw, but maybe?
like the post, sad for the news.its was gonna be something mechanical like this, or running out of nuclear fuel, that would permanently silence these magnificent machines -- 45+ years into their 5 year lives (yes, both had a five-year design life as we know).
if this is finally EOM (end of mission) for one of 'em, "wow, whatta run!"
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Published December 10. Webb shoots Uranus.
Lot going on, you can nerd out at the link.
The wide-field image has several dozen galaxies in it (millions of LY away of course, hundreds of billions of stars in each one, but visible in this tiny little section of sky in arc seconds).
Recall, Uranus has 27 moons, and "rings" like Saturn (and we know that all four of the Jovian planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune). Uranus' rings are not horizontal like the plane of the solar system (e.g, appearing to be around the equator of the planet).
Fact is, though, Uranius' rings ARE around its equator., the whole planet is "laying on its side" .. its axis is sideways. Like somewhere in distant past, something BIG (like another planet) hit and knocked it over.
On the right side of the planet, the 'white area", is its NORTH pole.
Anyway, enjoy.
source: NASA’s Webb Rings in Holidays With Ringed Planet Uranus - NASA
"This image of Uranus from NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope exquisitely captures Uranus’s seasonal north polar cap and dim inner and outer rings.
This Webb image also shows 9 of the planet’s 27 moons – clockwise starting at 2 o’clock, they are: Rosalind, Puck, Belinda, Desdemona, Cressida, Bianca, Portia, Juliet, and Perdita."
"This wide-field image of Uranus from NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the planet amid a smattering of distant background galaxies.
This image also includes 14 of the planet’s 27 moons: Oberon, Titania, Umbriel, Juliet, Perdita, Rosalind, Puck, Belinda, Desdemona, Cressida, Ariel, Miranda, Bianca, and Portia."
"Annotated wide-field compass image of Uranus with some of its 27 moons and a few prominent stars (with characteristic diffraction spikes) labelled."
Lot going on, you can nerd out at the link.
The wide-field image has several dozen galaxies in it (millions of LY away of course, hundreds of billions of stars in each one, but visible in this tiny little section of sky in arc seconds).
Recall, Uranus has 27 moons, and "rings" like Saturn (and we know that all four of the Jovian planets - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune). Uranus' rings are not horizontal like the plane of the solar system (e.g, appearing to be around the equator of the planet).
Fact is, though, Uranius' rings ARE around its equator., the whole planet is "laying on its side" .. its axis is sideways. Like somewhere in distant past, something BIG (like another planet) hit and knocked it over.
On the right side of the planet, the 'white area", is its NORTH pole.
Anyway, enjoy.
source: NASA’s Webb Rings in Holidays With Ringed Planet Uranus - NASA
"This image of Uranus from NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope exquisitely captures Uranus’s seasonal north polar cap and dim inner and outer rings.
This Webb image also shows 9 of the planet’s 27 moons – clockwise starting at 2 o’clock, they are: Rosalind, Puck, Belinda, Desdemona, Cressida, Bianca, Portia, Juliet, and Perdita."
"This wide-field image of Uranus from NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the planet amid a smattering of distant background galaxies.
This image also includes 14 of the planet’s 27 moons: Oberon, Titania, Umbriel, Juliet, Perdita, Rosalind, Puck, Belinda, Desdemona, Cressida, Ariel, Miranda, Bianca, and Portia."
"Annotated wide-field compass image of Uranus with some of its 27 moons and a few prominent stars (with characteristic diffraction spikes) labelled."
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aint heard from Jimbo Webb in a bit .. maybe space kids have been working so hard they just got back from New Year's parties
This one is kinda involved. As always one can nerd out at the links. I'll put my pedestrian spin on it to keep this post easier to absorb quickly.
sources: https://science.nasa.gov/image-detail/hubble-betapic-stsci-01evtasvzvc41ttrdzaab8a39m/, NASA’s Webb Discovers Dusty ‘Cat’s Tail’ in Beta Pictoris System - NASA
Back in 1995. Hubble found the first dust disk around Beta_Pictoris (a star 2X size, 8X as bright, 63 LY away vs. our Sun). Recall planetary disks are believed to from around new stars with dust left over from the nebula in which that star formed.
It orbits around the new star and eventually aggregates some more and forms planets and moons .. i.e., a "solar system". When we finally got a telescope ABOVE the atmosphere, with Hubble, we found the first evidence of a planetary disk.
Beta Pictoris has a couple planets, still a bunch dust, AND ... drumroll ... eagle-eye Webb sees in clearer detail the SECOND disk (tilted with respect the the MAIN disk) around this star ... and it has a tail.
Dont be fooled on apparent disk size ... that whole disk is 200 Billion miles wide (50X Pluto's orbit around our Sun).
Immediatley below, Webb pic on left, Hubble on right.. Beta Pictoris is artificially blocked out (with a "coronograph") because even for Webb its SO BRIGHT it would dominate the view.
Now, the same view with Webb with explanations below. Heck's going on? Double disk -- and it has a "tail" -- first one we found and it took Webb to confirm it.
"This image from Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) shows the star system Beta Pictoris.
It shows an edge-on disk of dusty debris generated by collisions between planetesimals (orange) dominates the view.
A hotter, secondary disk (cyan) is inclined by about 5 degrees relative to the primary disk.
The curved feature at upper right, which the science team nicknamed the “cat’s tail,” has never been seen before. The disk of dusty debris generated by collisions between planetesimals (orange) dominates the view and is labeled 'main disk plane.'
A coronagraph (black circle and two small disks) has been used to block the light of the central star.
This one is kinda involved. As always one can nerd out at the links. I'll put my pedestrian spin on it to keep this post easier to absorb quickly.
sources: https://science.nasa.gov/image-detail/hubble-betapic-stsci-01evtasvzvc41ttrdzaab8a39m/, NASA’s Webb Discovers Dusty ‘Cat’s Tail’ in Beta Pictoris System - NASA
Back in 1995. Hubble found the first dust disk around Beta_Pictoris (a star 2X size, 8X as bright, 63 LY away vs. our Sun). Recall planetary disks are believed to from around new stars with dust left over from the nebula in which that star formed.
It orbits around the new star and eventually aggregates some more and forms planets and moons .. i.e., a "solar system". When we finally got a telescope ABOVE the atmosphere, with Hubble, we found the first evidence of a planetary disk.
Beta Pictoris has a couple planets, still a bunch dust, AND ... drumroll ... eagle-eye Webb sees in clearer detail the SECOND disk (tilted with respect the the MAIN disk) around this star ... and it has a tail.
Dont be fooled on apparent disk size ... that whole disk is 200 Billion miles wide (50X Pluto's orbit around our Sun).
Immediatley below, Webb pic on left, Hubble on right.. Beta Pictoris is artificially blocked out (with a "coronograph") because even for Webb its SO BRIGHT it would dominate the view.
Now, the same view with Webb with explanations below. Heck's going on? Double disk -- and it has a "tail" -- first one we found and it took Webb to confirm it.
"This image from Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) shows the star system Beta Pictoris.
It shows an edge-on disk of dusty debris generated by collisions between planetesimals (orange) dominates the view.
A hotter, secondary disk (cyan) is inclined by about 5 degrees relative to the primary disk.
The curved feature at upper right, which the science team nicknamed the “cat’s tail,” has never been seen before. The disk of dusty debris generated by collisions between planetesimals (orange) dominates the view and is labeled 'main disk plane.'
A coronagraph (black circle and two small disks) has been used to block the light of the central star.
Thank you for posting this and the explanation that even a caveman [me] can understand!! We all appreciate your efforts Amazin.
I am a bit concerned though about Voyager 1 , I have been digging around the Nasa site and google to find out the latest. It has been one month now and no news according to Space.com
"Voyager 1's flight data system (FDS), which collects onboard engineering information and data from the spacecraft's scientific instruments, is no longer communicating as expected with the probe's telecommunications unit (TMU), according to a NASA blog post on Dec. 12."
I am a bit concerned though about Voyager 1 , I have been digging around the Nasa site and google to find out the latest. It has been one month now and no news according to Space.com
"Voyager 1's flight data system (FDS), which collects onboard engineering information and data from the spacecraft's scientific instruments, is no longer communicating as expected with the probe's telecommunications unit (TMU), according to a NASA blog post on Dec. 12."
nah man, i am just a neanderthal with a science hobby, mixed in with a dose of nerd.
. more trying to make a post readable for busy people. i stay outta the really hard parts.
oh yeah, "V'ger" One may truly be EOM. I am keeping with latest news btoo and it just aint looking good.
Even if it were to "wake up", she's running outta "nuke juice" and when that happens, it truly is the end.
still, extraordinary machines. 45+ years .. astounding!!!
NERD ALERT! Apologies.
Checked on Webb other day, and saw a neat special on PBS (Nova) on it last week.
Webb has another "deep field" (next pic below - back in time when Universe was <1 billion years old) showing galaxies in "pool noodle" and "surf board" shapes.
You can veg out at the link. these shapes are "new", so to speak, and are along with the typical "spirals" and "spheres."
source: Webb Shows Many Early Galaxies Looked Like Pool Noodles, Surfboards - NASA
NERD ALERT, part II
While Webb is showing off its eagle eyes, the "old man in space" (Hubble) has been at it for almost 34 years now.
Its "deep field" shot, until Webb or successors find something more spectacular, in 1995 many be the most significant learning about space ever taken.
source: https://hubblesite.org/contents/articles/hubble-deep-fields
Again, one can dig in at the link. Recall, we had just completed the repairs on Hubble so it could see. The mirror issue.
Almost on a lark, those space kids back then pointed Hubble at what had been, in ALL human history before then, a BLANK patch of sky.
For scale by analogy, the area of the sky was the size of a "grain of sand, at arms length: Small, completely black, and they let Hubble stare at that patch for 10 days.
Expecting nothing, this is what they got. 3,000 galaxies, all ages (i.e., LY's away), shapes, and (later) colors.
In that little dark patch of sky, all that stuff, EVERYWHERE we look. This is the Hubble deep field right below.
Extrapolate .. billions of galaxies, each with billions of stars, each galaxy with a diameter about 100,000 LY x 6 TRILLION miles per LY, and each galaxy 4M LY apart .
The visible Universe .. recall there may as much we CAN'T see because its SO FAR AWAY, the light will NEVER get here (cuz Universe is expanding) .. is HUGE. Gives one headache thinking about that.
Parsing/magnifying photo above, you get photo below.
The RED galaxies (so far away, light is "red-shifted") are the "youngest" (meaning, the "oldest" (measured vs. present day) in the pic because they were the first to form in the baby Universe - hence relatively young compared to the others NOT redshifted).
Checked on Webb other day, and saw a neat special on PBS (Nova) on it last week.
Webb has another "deep field" (next pic below - back in time when Universe was <1 billion years old) showing galaxies in "pool noodle" and "surf board" shapes.
You can veg out at the link. these shapes are "new", so to speak, and are along with the typical "spirals" and "spheres."
source: Webb Shows Many Early Galaxies Looked Like Pool Noodles, Surfboards - NASA
NERD ALERT, part II
While Webb is showing off its eagle eyes, the "old man in space" (Hubble) has been at it for almost 34 years now.
Its "deep field" shot, until Webb or successors find something more spectacular, in 1995 many be the most significant learning about space ever taken.
source: https://hubblesite.org/contents/articles/hubble-deep-fields
Again, one can dig in at the link. Recall, we had just completed the repairs on Hubble so it could see. The mirror issue.
Almost on a lark, those space kids back then pointed Hubble at what had been, in ALL human history before then, a BLANK patch of sky.
For scale by analogy, the area of the sky was the size of a "grain of sand, at arms length: Small, completely black, and they let Hubble stare at that patch for 10 days.
Expecting nothing, this is what they got. 3,000 galaxies, all ages (i.e., LY's away), shapes, and (later) colors.
In that little dark patch of sky, all that stuff, EVERYWHERE we look. This is the Hubble deep field right below.
Extrapolate .. billions of galaxies, each with billions of stars, each galaxy with a diameter about 100,000 LY x 6 TRILLION miles per LY, and each galaxy 4M LY apart .
The visible Universe .. recall there may as much we CAN'T see because its SO FAR AWAY, the light will NEVER get here (cuz Universe is expanding) .. is HUGE. Gives one headache thinking about that.
Parsing/magnifying photo above, you get photo below.
The RED galaxies (so far away, light is "red-shifted") are the "youngest" (meaning, the "oldest" (measured vs. present day) in the pic because they were the first to form in the baby Universe - hence relatively young compared to the others NOT redshifted).
The helicopter was designed to last 5 flights and now has over 70.
www.space.com
NASA restores contact with Mars helicopter Ingenuity after communications dropout on latest flight
Everything appears to be fine for our Red Planet robots — NASA can talk to Ingenuity again.
Mars helicopter Ingenuity has made its final flight
It flew at an equivalent altitude of 100,000 feet here on earth. No earth bound Heli can fly even half this altitude. Designed for 5 flights but made 72. Huge success!! RIP
"It would be the biggest miracle if we get it back. We certainly haven't given up."
So far, the ground team believes the most likely explanation for the problem is a bit of corrupted memory in the FDS. However, because of the computer hangup, engineers lack detailed data from Voyager 1 that might lead them to the root of the issue. "It's likely somewhere in the FDS memory," Dodd said. "A bit got flipped or corrupted. But without the telemetry, we can't see where that FDS memory corruption is."
Humanity’s most distant space probe jeopardized by computer glitch
"It would be the biggest miracle if we get it back. We certainly haven't given up."
Way outta my league here, but we dealt with similar challenges in name only - issues with "memory corruption' in the car biz (ECM/PCM)... out in the lab in Detroit was hard enough, vs. 15 billion miles away.
Ms. Dodd has been project manager on V'Gers since 2010. No doubt she and her team can get it fixed '-- IF its fixable. Whatever outcome, helluva good run.
"State-of-the-art 50 years ago
The latest problem with Voyager 1 lies in the probe's Flight Data Subsystem (FDS), one of three computers on the spacecraft working alongside a command-and-control central computer and another device overseeing attitude control and pointing.
The FDS is responsible for collecting science and engineering data from the spacecraft's network of sensors and then combining the information into a single data package in binary code—a series of ones and zeros.
A separate component called the Telemetry Modulation Unit actually sends the data package back to Earth through Voyager's 12-foot (3.7-meter) dish antenna.
In November, the data packages transmitted by Voyager 1 manifested a repeating pattern of ones and zeros as if it were stuck, according to NASA. Dodd said engineers at JPL have spent the better part of three months trying to diagnose the cause of the problem.
She said the engineering team is "99.9 percent sure" the problem originated in the FDS, which appears to be having trouble "frame syncing" data."
3175375
Senior Member
This possibility of Voyager having a memory problem reminds me of an issue that we had with the memory on the microprocessor board of a piece of test equipment we were gutting and increasing the capability of.
The memory had a design problem with it that caused it to lose the contents. The processor stored the return address in the memory and when it recalled the contents, they were zero, sending the processor to address zero, executing the contents of the interrupt vector table, which caused all kinds of problems.
We ended up replacing the memory with a different brand and shared our results with the manufacturer (Harris), who never admitted a problem. A couple of years later, I checked to see if the Harris part was still available and it had been discontinued.
Of course, Voyager is stuck with the memory onboard, but my point is that the memory could have a design flaw.
The memory had a design problem with it that caused it to lose the contents. The processor stored the return address in the memory and when it recalled the contents, they were zero, sending the processor to address zero, executing the contents of the interrupt vector table, which caused all kinds of problems.
We ended up replacing the memory with a different brand and shared our results with the manufacturer (Harris), who never admitted a problem. A couple of years later, I checked to see if the Harris part was still available and it had been discontinued.
Of course, Voyager is stuck with the memory onboard, but my point is that the memory could have a design flaw.
They are out there, by the billions, in this galaxy alone. Who? Not who, but "what? You can nerd out at the link.
artist's conception. source: Discovery Alert: A 'Super-Earth' in the Habitable Zone
Earth-sized and/or "rocky" planets, in their star's habitable zone. This one was found a week ago.
Actually, TWO planets were found in a star's "Goldilocks (habitable) Zone" - the right kinda star, the right distance from some of its planets, to allow the potential for liquid water on the planets surface.
One of these planets is a "super-earth" (1.5x Earth's size), the other MAY be earth-sized. 137 LY away (137 times 6 trillion miles, so still in the Milky Way), but we won't be visiting anytime soon.
If somebody was there, and if ..if..if.., and they phoned us up yesterday, we would.t get the message for 137 years. Or, as I type, the "space phone" will ring in some lab somewhere on this planet.
Jimbo could have, but didn't , found this one. TESS found it. The space kids will eventually point Jimbo's spectrum tools at them to see if atmosphere's are indicated.
Man, we have some neat toys up there.
TESS
artist's conception. source: Discovery Alert: A 'Super-Earth' in the Habitable Zone
Earth-sized and/or "rocky" planets, in their star's habitable zone. This one was found a week ago.
Actually, TWO planets were found in a star's "Goldilocks (habitable) Zone" - the right kinda star, the right distance from some of its planets, to allow the potential for liquid water on the planets surface.
One of these planets is a "super-earth" (1.5x Earth's size), the other MAY be earth-sized. 137 LY away (137 times 6 trillion miles, so still in the Milky Way), but we won't be visiting anytime soon.
If somebody was there, and if ..if..if.., and they phoned us up yesterday, we would.t get the message for 137 years. Or, as I type, the "space phone" will ring in some lab somewhere on this planet.
Jimbo could have, but didn't , found this one. TESS found it. The space kids will eventually point Jimbo's spectrum tools at them to see if atmosphere's are indicated.
Man, we have some neat toys up there.
TESS
They are out there, by the billions, in this galaxy alone. Who? Not who, but "what? You can nerd out at the link.
artist's conception. source: Discovery Alert: A 'Super-Earth' in the Habitable Zone
View attachment 643183
Earth-sized and/or "rocky" planets, in their star's habitable zone. This one was found a week ago.
Actually, TWO planets were found in a star's "Goldilocks (habitable) Zone" - the right kinda star, the right distance from some of its planets, to allow the potential for liquid water on the planets surface.
One of these planets is a "super-earth" (1.5x Earth's size), the other MAY be earth-sized. 137 LY away (137 times 6 trillion miles, so still in the Milky Way), but we won't be visiting anytime soon.
If somebody was there, and if ..if..if.., and they phoned us up yesterday, we would.t get the message for 137 years. Or, as I type, the "space phone" will ring in some lab somewhere on this planet.
Jimbo could have, but didn't , found this one. TESS found it. The space kids will eventually point Jimbo's spectrum tools at them to see if atmosphere's are indicated.
Man, we have some neat toys up there.
TESS
View attachment 643184
If the phoned us 137 years ago, everyone should answer their phone tomorrow.
Update as of February 6, almost two months into this last, possibly "fatal" malfunction.
Details at link, but basically the space kids still CANNOT get data back from Voyager 1. THey are still working on it.
As we know, V'ger One is 162 AU's (162 times 93 million miles), so at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) , it still takes nearly TWO days for the round-trip signal to indicate whether the stuff they are trying fixed the FDS issue or not.
source: NASA's interstellar Voyager 1 spacecraft isn't doing so well — here's what we know
artist's conception.
Details at link, but basically the space kids still CANNOT get data back from Voyager 1. THey are still working on it.
As we know, V'ger One is 162 AU's (162 times 93 million miles), so at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) , it still takes nearly TWO days for the round-trip signal to indicate whether the stuff they are trying fixed the FDS issue or not.
source: NASA's interstellar Voyager 1 spacecraft isn't doing so well — here's what we know
artist's conception.
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