CERN - Improved ATLAS result weighs in on the W boson

 

CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research logo.

March 23, 2023

An improved ATLAS measurement of the W boson mass is in line with the Standard Model of particle physics

Images above: Event display of a W-boson candidate decaying into a muon and a muon neutrino inside the ATLAS experiment. The blue line shows the reconstructed track of the muon, and the red arrow denotes the energy of the undetected muon neutrino (Image: CERN).

Geneva, 23 March 2023. The W boson, a fundamental particle that carries the charged weak force, is the subject of a new precision measurement of its mass by the ATLAS experiment at CERN.

The preliminary result, reported in a new conference note presented today at the Rencontres de Moriond conference, is based on a reanalysis of a sample of 14 million W boson candidates produced in proton–proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), CERN’s flagship particle accelerator.

The new ATLAS measurement concurs with, and is more precise than, all previous W mass measurements except one – the latest measurement from the CDF experiment at the Tevatron, a former accelerator at Fermilab.

Together with its electrically neutral counterpart, the Z boson, the electrically charged W boson mediates the weak force, a fundamental force that is responsible for a form of radioactivity and initiates the nuclear fusion reaction that powers the Sun.

The particle’s discovery at CERN 40 years ago helped to confirm the theory of the electroweak interaction that unifies the electromagnetic and weak forces. This theory is now a cornerstone of the Standard Model of particle physics. CERN researchers who enabled the discovery were awarded the 1984 Nobel Prize in physics.

Since then, experiments at particle colliders at CERN and elsewhere have measured the W boson mass ever more precisely. In the Standard Model, the W boson mass is closely related to the strength of the electroweak interactions and the masses of the heaviest fundamental particles, including the Z boson, the top quark and the Higgs boson. In this theory, the particle is constrained to weigh 80354 million electronvolts (MeV), within an uncertainty of 7 MeV.

Any deviation of the measured mass from the Standard Model prediction would be an indicator of new physics phenomena, such as new particles or interactions. To be sensitive to such deviations, mass measurements need to be extremely precise.

New ATLAS measurement of W boson mass

In 2017, ATLAS released its first measurement of the W boson mass, which was determined using a sample of W bosons recorded by ATLAS in 2011, when the LHC was running at a collision energy of 7 TeV. The W boson mass came out at 80370 MeV, with an uncertainty of 19 MeV.

At the time, this result represented the most precise W boson mass value ever obtained by a single experiment, and was in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction and all previous experimental results, including those from experiments at the Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEP), the LHC’s predecessor at CERN.

Last year, the CDF collaboration at Fermilab announced an even more precise measurement, based on an analysis of its full dataset collected at the Tevatron. The result, 80434 MeV with an uncertainty of 9 MeV, differed significantly from the Standard Model prediction and from the other experimental results, calling for more measurements to try to identify the cause of the difference.

In its new study, ATLAS reanalysed its 2011 sample of W bosons, improving the precision of its previous measurement. The new W boson mass, 80360 MeV with an uncertainty of 16 MeV, is 10 MeV lower than the previous ATLAS result and 16% more precise. The result is in agreement with the Standard Model.

Graphic above: Comparison of the measured value of the W boson mass with other published results. The vertical bands show the Standard Model prediction, and the horizontal bands and lines show the statistical and total uncertainties of the results (Image: CERN).

To attain this result, ATLAS used an advanced data-fitting technique to determine the mass, as well as more recent, improved versions of what are known as the parton distribution functions of the proton. These functions describe the sharing of the proton’s momentum amongst its constituent quarks and gluons. In addition, ATLAS verified the theoretical description of the W boson production process using dedicated LHC proton–proton runs.

“Due to an undetected neutrino in the particle’s decay, the W mass measurement is among the most challenging precision measurements performed at hadron colliders. It requires extremely accurate calibration of the measured particle energies and momenta, and a careful assessment and excellent control of modelling uncertainties,” says ATLAS spokesperson Andreas Hoecker. “This updated result from ATLAS provides a stringent test, and confirms the consistency of our theoretical understanding of electroweak interactions.”

Further measurements of the W boson mass are expected from ATLAS and CMS and from LHCb, which has also recently weighed the boson.

Note:

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world’s largest and most respected centres for scientific research. Its business is fundamental physics, finding out what the Universe is made of and how it works. At CERN, the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments are used to study the basic constituents of matter — the fundamental particles. By studying what happens when these particles collide, physicists learn about the laws of Nature.

The instruments used at CERN are particle accelerators and detectors. Accelerators boost beams of particles to high energies before they are made to collide with each other or with stationary targets. Detectors observe and record the results of these collisions.

Founded in 1954, the CERN Laboratory sits astride the Franco–Swiss border near Geneva. It was one of Europe’s first joint ventures and now has 23 Member States.

Related links:

Rencontres de Moriond: http://moriond.in2p3.fr/

Large Hadron Collider (LHC):
https://home.cern/science/accelerators/large-hadron-collider

Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEP):
https://home.cern/science/accelerators/large-electron-positron-collider

Tevatron: https://www.fnal.gov/pub/tevatron/tevatron-accelerator.html

ATLAS experiment: https://home.cern/science/experiments/atlas

CMS experiment: https://home.cern/science/experiments/cms

LHCb experiment: https://home.cern/science/experiments/lhcb

Higgs boson: https://home.cern/science/physics/higgs-boson

W boson: https://home.cern/science/physics/w-boson-sunshine-and-stardust

Z boson: https://home.cern/science/physics/z-boson

Standard Model: https://home.cern/science/physics/standard-model

For more information about European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Visit: https://home.cern/

Image (mentioned), Graphic (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Hubble monitors changing weather and seasons on Jupiter and Uranus

 

NASA / ESA - Hubble Space Telescope (HST) patch.

March 23, 2023

 Hubble’s new views of Jupiter and Uranus

Ever since its launch in 1990, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has been an interplanetary weather observer, keeping an eye on the ever-changing atmospheres of the largely gaseous outer planets. And it’s an unblinking eye that allows Hubble’s sharpness and sensitivity to monitor a kaleidoscope of complex activities over time. Today new images are shared of Jupiter and Uranus.

Hubble’s new views of Jupiter and Uranus

The outer planets beyond Mars do not have solid surfaces to affect weather as on Earth. And sunlight is much less able to drive atmospheric circulation. Nevertheless, these are ever-changing worlds. And Hubble - in its role as interplanetary meteorologist - is keeping track, as it does every year. Jupiter’s weather is driven from the inside out, as more heat percolates up from its interior than it receives from the Sun. This heat indirectly drives colour-change cycles in the clouds, like the cycle that’s currently highlighting a system of alternating cyclones and anticyclones. Uranus has seasons that pass by at a snail’s pace because it takes 84 years to complete one orbit about the Sun. But those seasons are extreme, because Uranus is tipped on its side. As summer approaches in the northern hemisphere, Hubble sees a growing polar cap of high-altitude photochemical haze that looks similar to the smog over cities on Earth.

Inaugurated in 2014, the Hubble Space Telescope’s Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) programme has been providing us with yearly views of the giant planets. Here are some recent images.

Jupiter

 

Jupiter (November 2022)

[Image 1] - The forecast for Jupiter is for stormy weather at low northern latitudes. A prominent string of alternating storms is visible, forming a ‘vortex street’ as some planetary astronomers call it. This is a wave pattern of nested cyclones and anticyclones, locked together like the alternating gears of a machine moving clockwise and counterclockwise. If the storms get close enough to each other and merge together, they could build an even larger storm, potentially rivalling the current size of the Great Red Spot. The staggered pattern of cyclones and anticyclones prevents individual storms from merging. Activity is also seen interior to these storms; in the 1990s Hubble didn’t see any cyclones or anticyclones with built-in thunderstorms, but these storms have sprung up in the last decade. Strong colour differences indicate that Hubble is seeing different cloud heights and depths as well.

Jupiter (November 2022 and January 2023)

The orange moon Io photobombs this view of Jupiter’s multicoloured cloud tops, casting a shadow toward the planet’s western limb. Hubble’s resolution is so sharp that it can see Io’s mottled-orange appearance, the result of its numerous active volcanoes. These volcanoes were first discovered when the Voyager 1 spacecraft flew by in 1979. The moon’s molten interior is overlaid by a thin crust through which the volcanoes eject material. Sulphur takes on various hues at different temperatures, which is why Io’s surface is so colourful. This image was taken on 12 November 2022.

Jupiter (January 2023)

[Image 2] - Jupiter’s legendary Great Red Spot takes centre stage in this view. Though this vortex is big enough to swallow Earth, it has actually shrunk to the smallest size it has ever been according to observation records dating back 150 years. Jupiter’s icy moon Ganymede can be seen transiting the giant planet at lower right. Slightly larger than the planet Mercury, Ganymede is the largest moon in the Solar System. It is a cratered world and has a mainly water-ice surface with apparent glacial flows driven by internal heat. This image was taken on 6 January 2023.

Jupiter (November 2022 and January 2023) compass image

Jupiter and its large ocean-bearing moons (Ganymede, Callisto and Europa) are the target of ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice). Preparations are currently underway to ready Juice for liftoff from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 13 April 2023 [1].

Uranus

Uranus (November 2014 and November 2022)

Planetary oddball Uranus rolls around the Sun on its side as it follows its 84-year orbit, rather than spinning in a more ’vertical’ position as Earth does. Its weirdly tilted ‘horizontal’ rotation axis is angled just eight degrees off the plane of the planet’s orbit. One recent theory proposes that Uranus once had a massive moon that gravitationally destabilised it and then crashed into it. Other possibilities include giant impacts during the formation of the planets, or even giant planets exerting resonant torques on each other over time. The consequences of Uranus’s tilt are that for stretches of time lasting up to 42 years, parts of one hemisphere are completely without sunlight. When the Voyager 2 spacecraft visited during the 1980s, the planet’s south pole was pointed almost directly at the Sun. Hubble’s latest view shows the northern pole now tipping toward the Sun.

Uranus (November 2014)

[Image 1] - This is a Hubble view of Uranus taken in 2014, seven years after the northern spring equinox when the Sun was shining directly over the planet’s equator, and shows one of the first images from the OPAL programme. Multiple storms with methane ice-crystal clouds appear at mid-northern latitudes above the planet’s cyan-tinted lower atmosphere. Hubble imaged the ring system edge-on in 2007, but the rings are seen starting to open up seven years later in this view. At this time, the planet had multiple small storms and even some faint cloud bands.

Uranus (November 2022)

[Image 2] - As seen in 2022, Uranus’s north pole shows a thickened photochemical haze that looks similar to the smog over cities. Several little storms can be seen near the edge of the polar haze boundary. Hubble has been tracking the size and brightness of the north polar cap and it continues to get brighter year after year. Astronomers are disentangling multiple effects - from atmospheric circulation, particle properties, and chemical processes — that control how the atmospheric polar cap changes with the seasons. At the Uranian equinox in 2007, neither pole was particularly bright. As the northern summer solstice approaches in 2028 the cap may grow brighter still, and will be aimed directly toward Earth, allowing good views of the rings and the north pole; the ring system will then appear face-on. This image was taken on 10 November 2022.

Uranus (November 2014 and November 2022) compass image

Notes

[1] Ganymede is the main target of ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice). As humanity’s next bold mission to the outer Solar System, Juice will complete numerous flybys around Ganymede, and eventually enter orbit around the moon. The mission will explore various key topics: Ganymede’s mysterious magnetic field, its hidden ocean, its complex core, its ice content and shell, its interactions with its local environment and that of Jupiter, its past and present activity, and whether or not the moon could be a habitable environment.

More information

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.

The HST observations featured in this release include those from program 16790, 13937 , and 16995 (A. Simon).

16790: https://archive.stsci.edu/proposal_search.php?mission=hst&id=16790

13937: https://archive.stsci.edu/proposal_search.php?mission=hst&id=13937

16995: https://archive.stsci.edu/proposal_search.php?mission=hst&id=16995

Links:

Images of Hubble: https://esahubble.org/images/archive/category/spacecraft/

Hubble's new image of Saturn (February 2023): https://esahubble.org/images/opo2305a/

Release on STScI website:
https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-007

Release on NASA website:
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2023/hubble-monitors-changing-weather-and-seasons-at-jupiter-and-uranus

Release on ESA website: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Hubble_monitors_changing_weather_and_seasons_on_Jupiter_and_Uranus

ESA's Hubblesite: https://esahubble.org/

Images Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI, A. Simon (NASA-GSFC), M. H. Wong (UC Berkeley), J. DePasquale (STScI)/Video Credits: NASA, ESA, STScI, A. Simon (NASA-GSFC), M. H. Wong (UC Berkeley), J. DePasquale (STScI), N. Bartmann (ESA/Hubble)/Music: Tonelabs – The Red North (www.tonelabs.com)/Text Credits: ESA/Hubble/Bethany Downer.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome

 

ROSCOSMOS logo.

March 23, 2023

Today at 09:40 Moscow time from the Plesetsk State Test Cosmodrome of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in the Arkhangelsk Region, combat crews of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces launched a Soyuz-2.1a medium-class launch vehicle with a spacecraft in the interests of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The launch of the carrier rocket and the launch of the spacecraft into the calculated orbit took place in the normal mode. After launch, the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle was taken for escort by means of the ground-based automated control complex of the Main Test Space Center named after G.S. Titov.

At the estimated time, the spacecraft was launched into the target orbit and accepted for control of the ground facilities of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces.

A stable telemetry connection has been established and maintained with the spacecraft, its onboard systems are operating in the normal mode. The spacecraft was assigned the serial number Kosmos-2567.

After launching into orbit, officers of the Main Center for Space Intelligence of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces entered information about the satellite into the Main Catalog of Space Objects of the Russian Space Control System and began to analyze and process information about the new object.

Related links:

ROSCOSMOS Press Release: https://www.roscosmos.ru/39060/

Soyuz-2: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/sojuz-2/

Plesetsk: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/pleseck/

Ministry of Defence: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/ministerstvo-oboronih/

Image, Text, Credits: ROSCOSMOS/Ministry of Defence (Russia)/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Relativity Space - The First Launch of the Terran 1 launch vehicle

 

Relativity Space logo.

March 23, 2023

Relativity Space Terran 1 liftoff. Image Credit: Relativity Space

Relativity Space’s Terran 1 launch vehicle was launched for the first time, the “Good Luck, Have Fun” mission, from Launch Complex 16 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 23 March 2023, at 03:25 UTC (22 March, at 23:25 EDT). 

The First Launch of the Terran 1 launch vehicle

According to Relativity Space,  Terran 1 is “The World’s First 3D Printed Rocket”, with nine 3D printed Aeon engines on the first stage, using liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid natural gas (LNG) for propulsion. There was no customer payload on the mission. As a symbolic payload,  Terran 1 launched Relativity Space’s first 3D printed part.

While the mission failed early into second stage flight, Relativity successfully flew through max-q per the main objective. So, we can deduce that the mission went relatively well.

Relativity and Terran 1

California-based Relativity Space was founded in 2016 by Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone. The company’s Terran 1 rocket is a two-stage fully expendable small-lift launch vehicle capable of delivering a maximum payload of up to 1,250 kg to low Earth orbit (LEO), and up to 900 kg of payload to a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).

 

Relativity Space Terran 1 rocket. Image Credit: Relativity Space

The entire vehicle stands 33.5 meters tall, with a diameter of 2.28 meters and a dry mass of 9,280 kg. Terran 1 is unique compared to other launch vehicles as it is predominantly 3D printed – and was aiming to be the first vehicle of its type to reach orbit. The vehicle used for the GLHF mission was 85% 3D printed by mass with Relativity hoping to increase that proportion to 95% in the future.

Both of Terran 1’s stages use the same propellant: liquid methane (CH4) and liquid oxygen (LOX). This allows the design to be kept simple, eliminating the need for the rocket itself and the ground support equipment (GSE) to handle additional types of propellant. With this launch, Terran 1 is also aiming to become the first methane-fueled rocket to reach orbit — China’s Zhuque-2 rocket having suffered a failure during its first launch in December.

Aeon 1 engines. Image Credit: Relativity Space

The first stage is propelled by nine Aeon 1 engines, built in-house at Relativity. Similar to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the engines are arranged in an octagonal configuration, with eight of the engines clustered around the ninth, center, engine at the base of the vehicle.

Aeon 1 is the first engine to have been developed by Relativity and was designed for use on Terran 1. It uses a gas generator cycle and produces approximately 100 kilonewtons of thrust at sea level, increasing to 113 kN in a vacuum. Like Terran 1 itself, Aeon 1 is almost entirely 3D printed. This vastly simplifies the design and manufacturing of the engine compared to traditional methods, as complex assemblies can be printed as single parts, greatly reducing the number of individual components needed to make up an engine.

A robot 3D printing the rocket. Animation Credit: Relativity Space

Terran 1’s second stage supports a single vacuum-optimized Aeon Vac engine, which is also 3D printed.

Relativity is currently developing the more powerful Aeon R engine for its upcoming Terran R launch vehicle, but after development is complete this is also expected to be used on Terran 1. A planned block upgrade to Terran 1 will see the nine Aeon 1 engines on the first stage replaced with a single Aeon R.

Good Luck, Have Fun mission

Since the Good Luck, Have Fun mission was Relativity’s first attempt to reach orbit, Terran 1 was not carrying a functioning payload. Instead, a small 16.5-centimeter, 1.49-kilogram aluminum alloy ring was aboard the rocket. This ring was one of the first metal 3D prints the company made using its first generation of Stargate 3D printers.

Image above: The 16.5 cm, 1.49 kg aluminum ring being flown on the GLHF mission. Image Credit: Relativity Space.

For its maiden flight, Terran 1 also flew without a deployable payload fairing. Instead, it used a smaller fixed nosecone, which remained attached to the second stage.

The launch took place from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 16 (LC-16), a launch pad formerly used to test Titan, and later Pershing, missiles.

Shortly before liftoff, Terran 1 ignited its nine Aeon 1 engines, with a command sent by the onboard flight computers to release the vehicle for flight. After climbing vertically for the first 12 seconds of flight, the vehicle began its gravity turn by slowly pitching downrange.

Terran 1 passed through the area of maximum aerodynamic pressure (max-q) at T+1 minute and 20 seconds. Max-q is the period of flight where the rocket will experience the greatest amount of aerodynamic forces as it climbs through the atmosphere.

Relativity stated that passing this point of the flight during this launch would be a big inflection point, as it proved the structural integrity of the 3D-printed rocket under the most extreme conditions it is expected to encounter in flight.

Having passed max-q, the nine first-stage engines continued to fire for another 80 seconds until the next major flight event – main engine cutoff (MECO) – was reached. At this point in the flight, the first stage shut down its engines, with the separation of the first and second stages taking place approximately five seconds later.

Image above: Launch timeline of the Good Luck Have Fun (GLHF) mission. Image Credit: Relativity Space.

Terran 1’s second stage was to coast for six seconds after separation before igniting its single Aeon Vac engine at two minutes and 51 seconds mission elapsed time. However, despite visual indications that the engine was attempting to ignite, no amount of useful thrust was produced and the anomaly ended the mission.

Terran R

While Relativity was preparing for its first launch with Terran 1, the company was also already making progress on its much larger next-generation launch vehicle: Terran R. This is expected to be a fully-reusable launch system with an anticipated payload capacity of 20,000 kg to LEO.

Relativity Space Terran R rocket. Image Credit: Relativity Space

Like Terran 1, Terran R will be a two-stage rocket, which will be almost entirely 3D-printed and use the same propellant combination of liquid methane and liquid oxygen. It will fly with seven Aeon R engines powering its first stage, with a single vacuum-optimized Aeon R on its second stage.

Using lessons learned from the development of Terran 1, as well as from the GLHF mission, Terran R’s first launch is currently slated to occur no earlier than 2024. While this goal may be optimistic, Relativity has seemingly been making rapid progress on the engine that will power its next-generation launcher.

Related link:

Relativity Space: https://www.relativityspace.com/
 
Images (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: Relativity Space/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Crew Focuses on Experiments and Equipment to Maintain Health While in Space

 

ISS - Expedition 68 Mission patch.

March 22, 2023

The Expedition 68 crew members conducted experiments and maintained equipment aboard the International Space Station while activities for cargo transfers continued.

Image above: The southern coast of Turkey on the Mediterranean Sea near Syria is pictured from the International Space Station as it orbited 264 miles above on Feb. 14, 2023. Image Credit: NASA.

NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio performed microscopy and video recordings on eight BioCell tissue chambers for the Cardinal Heart 2.0 in the Life Sciences Glovebox. This investigation uses heart organoids to test whether clinically approved drugs reduce microgravity-induced changes in heart cell function. Rubio also removed the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device’s (ARED) cylinder flywheel and inspected the treadmill as part of monthly maintenance. The ARED exercises all major muscle groups while focusing on the primary resistive exercise: squats, deadlifts, and heel raises. Crew members exercise daily on ARED to maintain preflight muscle and bone strength during long periods in space.

Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi from UAE (United Arab Emirates) recorded a video of Cardinal Heart 2.0 tissue chambers. The investigation tests clinically approved pharmaceutical drugs to reverse the negative effects on heart cells and tissues caused by prolonged exposure to the space environment. Afterward, Alneyadi removed the Bio-Monitor garment and headband and synchronized the unit to the controller for data transfer. Alneyadi donned the Dry-EEG Headband overnight for sleep studies in space. Considering the central role of sleep in human behavior and health, sleep quality is a key factor for current and future exploration missions. The investigation monitors crew members’ quality of sleep by measuring duration, sleep stages, heart rate, and the number of awakenings.

Image above: Stars leave streaks of light in concentric circles in this March 16, 2012, view from the International Space Station. To create this composite long exposure, NASA astronaut Don Pettit combined multiple 30-second exposures from a mounted camera on the space station into one image. Image Credits: NASA/Don Pettit.

Additionally, Rubio and Alneyadi spent the evening continuing to transfer the 6,200 pounds of research hardware and supplies between the space station and the uncrewed SpaceX CRS-27, which arrived at the orbital outpost on March 16.

Flight Engineer Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos continued to replace the condensate evacuation lines that carry away excess moisture from the cabin atmosphere. Meanwhile, Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin prepared cargo to return in the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, slated to undock from the station’s Rassvet module on March 28.

Related links:

Expedition 68: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition68/index.html

Cardinal Heart 2.0: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8800

Life Sciences Glovebox: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=7676

Advanced Resistive Exercise Device’s (ARED): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html#id=973

Bio-Monitor: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=7392

Dry-EEG Headband: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8344

Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/overview.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Heidi Lavelle.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

CASIC - Kuaizhou-1A launches four Tianmu-1 satellites

 

CASIC - China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited  logo.

March 22, 2023

Kuaizhou-1A carrying four Tianmu-1 satellites liftoff

A Kuaizhou-1A (KZ-1A) launch vehicle launched four Tianmu-1 meteorological satellites from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu Province, China, on 22 March 2023, at 09:09 UTC (17:09 local time). 

Kuaizhou-1A launches four Tianmu-1 satellites

According to official sources, the Tianmu-1 03, 04, 05 and 06 satellites (天目一号气象星座03星、04星、05星、06) have entered the planned orbits and “will be mainly used to provide commercial meteorological data services”

Tianmu-1 satellite

China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited (CASIC): http://www.casic.com/

Images, Video, Text, Credits: China Central Television (CCTV)/China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited (CASIC)/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

Webb spots swirling, gritty clouds on remote planet

 

NASA / ESA / CSA-ASC - James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) patch.

March 22, 2023

Researchers observing with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have pinpointed silicate cloud features in a distant planet’s atmosphere. The atmosphere is constantly rising, mixing, and moving during its 22-hour day, bringing hotter material up and pushing colder material down. The resulting brightness changes are so dramatic that it is the most variable planetary-mass object known to date. The science team also made extraordinarily clear detections of water, methane and carbon monoxide with Webb’s data, and found evidence of carbon dioxide. This is the largest number of molecules ever identified all at once on a planet outside our Solar System.

Exoplanet VHS 1256 b and its stars (illustration)

Catalogued as VHS 1256 b, the planet is about 40 light-years away and orbits not one, but two stars over a 10 000-year period. “VHS 1256 b is about four times farther from its stars than Pluto is from our Sun, which makes it a great target for Webb,” said science team lead Brittany Miles of the University of Arizona. “That means the planet’s light is not mixed with light from its stars.” Higher up in its atmosphere, where the silicate clouds are churning, temperatures reach a scorching 830 degrees Celsius.

Within those clouds, Webb detected both larger and smaller silicate dust grains, which are shown on a spectrum. “The finer silicate grains in its atmosphere may be more like tiny particles in smoke,” noted co-author Beth Biller of the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom. “The larger grains might be more like very hot, very small sand particles.”

VHS 1256 b has low gravity compared to more massive brown dwarfs [1], which means that its silicate clouds can appear and remain higher in its atmosphere where Webb can detect them. Another reason its skies are so turbulent is the planet’s age. In astronomical terms, it’s quite young. Only 150 million years have passed since it formed — and it will continue to change and cool over billions of years.

In many ways, the team considers these findings to be the first ‘coins’ pulled out of a spectrum that researchers view as a treasure chest of data. In many ways, they’ve only begun identifying its contents. “We’ve identified silicates, but a better understanding of which grain sizes and shapes match specific types of clouds is going to take a lot of additional work,” Miles said. “This is not the final word on this planet — it is the beginning of a large-scale modelling effort to fit Webb’s complex data.”

Although all of the features the team observed have been spotted on other planets elsewhere in the Milky Way by other telescopes, other research teams typically identified only one at a time. “No other telescope has identified so many features at once for a single target,” said co-author Andrew Skemer of the University of California, Santa Cruz. “We’re seeing a lot of molecules in a single spectrum from Webb that detail the planet’s dynamic cloud and weather systems.”

Exoplanet VHS 1256 b (NIRSpec and MIRI emission spectrum)

The team came to these conclusions by analysing data known as spectra gathered by two instruments aboard Webb, the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). Since the planet orbits at such a great distance from its stars, the researchers were able to observe it directly, rather than using the transit technique [2] or a coronagraph [3] to take this data.

There will be plenty more to learn about VHS 1256 b in the months and years to come as this team — and others — continue to sift through Webb’s high-resolution infrared data. “There’s a huge return on a very modest amount of telescope time,” Biller added. “With only a few hours of observations, we have what feels like unending potential for additional discoveries.”

What might become of this planet billions of years from now? Since it’s so far from its stars, it will become colder over time, and its skies may transition from cloudy to clear.

The researchers observed VHS 1256 b as part of Webb’s Early Release Science program, which is designed to help transform the astronomical community’s ability to characterise planets and the discs from which they form.

The team's paper, entitled “The JWST Early Release Science Program for Direct Observations of Exoplanetary Systems II: A 1 to 20 Micron Spectrum of the Planetary-Mass Companion VHS 1256-1257 b,” will be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on 22 March.

Notes

[1] A brown dwarf is an object that is too small to be an ordinary star because it cannot produce enough energy by fusion in its core to compensate for the radiative energy it loses from its surface. A brown dwarf has a mass less than 0.08 times that of the Sun.

[2] The transit technique is used for detecting and studying exoplanets. When a planet passes directly between a star and its observer, it dims the star’s light by a measurable amount. Transits can help determine a variety of exoplanet characteristics, including its orbit or period, the size of the planet, and details about its atmosphere.

[3] A coronagraph is an instrument designed to block out the direct light from a star so that surrounding objects which would otherwise be hidden in the star's glare can be observed.

More information

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Webb is the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. Under an international collaboration agreement, ESA provided the telescope’s launch service, using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace.

Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

NIRSpec was built for the European Space Agency (ESA) by a consortium of European companies led by Airbus Defence and Space (ADS) with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre providing its detector and micro-shutter subsystems.

MIRI was developed as a partnership between Europe and the USA: the main partners are ESA, a consortium of nationally funded European institutes, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and GSFC. The instrument was nationally funded by the European Consortium under the auspices of the European Space Agency.

Links

Spectroscopy with Webb:
https://esawebb.org/about/general/spectroscopy-with-webb/

ESA's new and fuuture exoplanet missions:
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2021/12/ESA_s_new_and_future_exoplanet_missions

ESA Webb Seeing Farther interactive brochure:
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA_Publications/ESA_BR-348_Webb_Seeing_farther

Release on NASA website:
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2023/nasa-s-webb-spots-swirling-gritty-clouds-on-remote-planet

Release on STScI website:
https://webbtelescope.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-105

Early Release Science program:
https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-execution/approved-ers-programs

ESA's Webbsite: https://esawebb.org/

Images, Animation Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Olmsted (STScI)/NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Olmsted (STScI), B. Miles (University of Arizona), S. Hinkley (University of Exeter), B. Biller (University of Edinburgh), A. Skemer (University of California, Santa Cruz)/Text Credits: ESA/Webb/Bethany Downer/Ninja Menning.

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