Cold Rays Of A Warm Sun

M27. Just a collection of stuff I find fun or interesting.

[scifiseries]

[sunnycosmology]

[nasa]

Tiny Wrinkles in Space-Time

This artist’s impression visualizes a variety of terrestrial planets.

There are several ways to find a planet, but most methods are best at discovering worlds that are gargantuan, ultra-close to their star, or both. Those toasty, star-hugging planets are fascinating, however astronomers want to find more familiar worlds too. One of the most mind-bending planet hunting methods, called microlensing, promises to reveal planets like those in our solar system thanks to tiny wrinkles in space-time.

Microlensing is a light-bending phenomenon that occurs because anything that has mass warps the fabric of space-time, sort of like the sag a bowling ball makes when set on a trampoline. The effect is extreme around the heftiest objects, like black holes and entire galaxies. But even stars and planets cause a detectable degree of warping.

This animation illustrates the concept of gravitational microlensing. When one star in the sky appears to pass nearly in front of another, the light rays of the background source star become bent due to the warped space-time around the foreground star. This star acts like a virtual magnifying glass, amplifying the brightness of the background source star. If the nearer star harbors a planetary system, then those planets can also act as lenses, each one producing a short deviation in the brightness of the source. When astronomers find planets this way, they can measure their mass and orbital distance from their host star.

Here’s how it works. Light travels in a straight line, but if space-time is bent — which happens near something massive, like a star — light follows the curve. Any time two stars align closely from our vantage point, light from the more distant star curves as it travels through the warped space-time around the nearer star.

If the alignment is especially close, the nearer star acts like a cosmic lens, focusing and amplifying light from the background star. Planets orbiting the foreground star may also modify the lensed light, acting as their own tiny magnifying glasses. Astronomers see the effect as a spike in the star’s brightness.

This animation illustrates how a star and orbiting planet can lens light from a farther star when they align from our vantage point.

Even for powerful telescopes, it’s extremely difficult to see these little surges of starlight. For one thing, they’re rare — they rely on chance alignments between two widely separated and unrelated stars drifting through space. And the signals often only last a few hours before disappearing forever, so there is some luck involved.

Telescopes on the ground also have to peer through Earth’s hazy atmosphere, which can make images too blurry to tell different stars apart. Put all that together, and it’s little surprise that less than 5% of known exoplanets have been found using this method so far.

A rogue planet drifts through the galaxy alone, untethered to a star.

But microlensing can reveal a wide variety of worlds, including ones too small or far from their host star for other methods to detect. While other techniques are biased toward bizarre planets, like lava worlds and hot Jupiters, microlensing is best suited to finding familiar ones — worlds in their star’s habitable zone and even farther out. 

That includes ice giants, like Uranus and Neptune in our solar system, and even rogue planets — worlds freely roaming the galaxy unbound to any stars.

Most microlensing exoplanets discovered so far were found by ground based observatories, though our retired Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes found a few too. Soon our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will begin surveying the cosmos, and its wide, sharp view will take us from dozens of microlensing planets to more than a thousand! Who knows how many Earth-like planets will be among them?

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[americancitizen2025]

Deleting your digital footprint

How to delete 99% of your digital footprint from the internet

Become a digital ghost

[king6705]

[hoosierdaddy78]

Can’t take any chances …….

[lakegirlfun]

I hate these things but right now is not a good time to tempt or take a chance for me either….just sayin!

[ahabsrevenge]

Better safe than sorry

[deception-united]

Worldbuilding: Questions to Consider

Government & authority:

Types of government: What type of government exists (monarchy, democracy, theocracy, etc.)? Is it centralised or decentralised?

Leadership: Who holds power and how is it acquired (inheritance, election, divine right, conquest)?

Law enforcement: Who enforces the laws (military, police, magical entities)?

Legal system: How are laws made, interpreted, and enforced? Are there courts, judges, or councils?

Laws:

Criminal laws: What constitutes a crime? What are the punishments?

Civil laws: How are disputes between individuals resolved?

Cultural norms: How do customs and traditions influence the laws?

Magic/supernatural: Are there laws governing the use of magic or interaction with supernatural beings?

Social structure:

Class/status: How is society divided (nobility, commoners, slaves)? Are there caste systems or social mobility?

Rights & freedoms: What rights do individuals have (speech, religion, property)?

Discrimination: Are there laws that protect or discriminate against certain groups (race, gender, species, culture)?

Economy & trade:

Currency: What is used as currency? Is it standardised?

Trade laws: Are there regulations on trade, tariffs, or embargoes?

Property laws: How is ownership determined and transferred? Are there inheritance laws?

Religion/belief systems:

Religious authority: What role does religion play in governance? Are religious leaders also political leaders?

Freedom of religion: Are citizens free to practice different religions? If not, which are taboo?

Holy laws: Are there laws based on religious texts or teachings?

Military & defense:

Standing army: Is there a professional military or a militia? Who serves, and how are they recruited?

War & peace: What are the laws regarding war, peace treaties, and diplomacy?

Weapons: Are there restrictions or laws regarding weapons for civilians? What is used as a weapon? Who has access to them?

Technology & magic:

Technological advancements: How advanced is the technology (medieval, steampunk, futuristic, etc.)?

Magical laws: Are there regulations on the use of magic, magical creatures, or artifacts?

Innovation & research: How are inventors and researchers treated? Are there laws protecting intellectual property?

Environmental/resource management:

Natural resources: How are resources like water, minerals, and forests managed and protected, if at all?

Environmental laws: Are there protections for the environment? How are they enforced? Are there consequences for violations?

Cultural & ethical considerations:

Cultural diversity: How does the law accommodate or suppress cultural diversity?

Ethics: What are the ethical foundations of the laws? Are there philosophical or moral principles that underpin them?

Traditions vs. change: Does the society balance tradition with progress? How?

Happy writing ❤

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[pisces-core]

[puffinsplaces]

Westerlund 2 is an obscured compact young star cluster.

[cute-catts]

[pieklo]

Reblog daily for health and prosperity

[pangeen]

" It's not often we get to see detached solar prominences, certainly not ones that sustain for this long. This time lapse is over the course of 1 hour compressed down into seconds. Super heated plasma is held in place, high above the chromosphere of the sun. Magnetically locked into place by unseen forces, waiting to be released. I also capture other areas of the sun, including a grouping of highly active sun spots that littered the face of the sun."

// © The Stupid Astronomer

[frogshunnedshadows]

Pre-launch Apollo 11 good will signs in the Canaveral area, July, 1969.

[389]

Ozzy Osbourne at home in his garden. 19th August 1978

[gulistan-blog]

㋡🥀

[sunnycosmology]

[adastra-sf]

First light from the Vera C Rubin Observatory

This image combines 678 images taken by the Vera C Rubin Observatory over seven hours. Combining many images in this way reveals otherwise faint or invisible details, such as the clouds of gas and dust of the Trifid nebula (top) and the Lagoon nebula, thousands of light-years from Earth.

This new observatory is named in honor of trailblazing astronomer Vera C Rubin, who found conclusive evidence of vast quantities of invisible material known as dark matter.

Understanding the nature of dark matter, dark energy, and other large-scale cosmic mysteries is a central focus of the new observatory's mission. Dark energy is the mysterious and colossally powerful force that appears to be pushing galaxies away from each other at an accelerating rate. Although dark matter and dark energy collectively comprise 95% of the Universe, their properties remain unknown.

More at the official Rubin Observatory site: X

[scifiseries]