M.S.Fizicks

Life with a brain crammed full of a Masters in Physics

[msfizicks]

Thousands of tiny 'ice needles' may explain mysterious stone patterns on Earth … and Mars

These stunning patterns have an unlikely designer

[americasgreatoutdoors]

Saguaros reach their arms to the sky in this starlight silhouette at the Sonoran Desert National Monument in Arizona.

Just south of Phoenix, a captivating desert landscape protects these majestic cacti, which can take 100 years to start growing arms. If you’re in the area, make a day trip and be sure to stay after the sun goes down — the night sky viewing is some of the best in the United States.

Photo by Bob Wick, BLM. Photo description: Tall Saguaro cactus reach upwards towards the night sky. The sky is dark and filled with thousands of stars. 

[msfizicks]

This website is dedicated to the Citizen Science project Active Asteroids, launching on the Zooniverse in 2021. The project is dedicated to locating new active objects, especially active asteroids (asteroids with comet-like features such as tails). These objects will help us understand where water on Earth originated, how much was delivered after our planet was born, and where volatiles like water are found throughout the solar system today.

[msfizicks]

Distance and our eyes distort the true colors of stars

[msfizicks]

Striking bull's-eye-shaped clouds form above erupting La Palma volcano

What causes these strange concentric cloud rings?

[msfizicks]

Best stargazing apps 2021

We've tried, tested and ranked the best stargazing apps for both Android and iOS.

[msfizicks]

How binoculars work

A few minutes getting to know how your binoculars work is time well spent, if you're planning on using them in your stargazing sessions.

[cheese24k]

Astronaut readjusts to life back on Earth

> Don’t give him a baby for a while.

[msfizicks]

Research results in astronomy, solar physics, and planetary science are about to become more widely accessible to scientists and the public alike. The AAS journals will be fully open access as of 1 January 2022.

[msfizicks]

A Rising Star, the High Seas, and a Conspiracy Theory - The Vatican Observatory

The Earth's atmosphere bends light, and when the subject is atmospheric refraction, astronomy, history, and weird ideas both old and new all come together.

[msfizicks]

Earth rocks collected in 19th century hold clues to finding water on Mars

New research suggests that rocks on Mars could be holding water within them

[apod]

2021 August 13

A Perfect Spiral Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, HLA; Processing: Mehmet Hakan Ozsarac

Explanation: If not perfect then this spiral galaxy is at least one of the most photogenic. An island universe of about 100 billion stars, 32 million light-years away toward the constellation Pisces, M74 presents a gorgeous face-on view. Classified as an Sc galaxy, the grand design of M74’s graceful spiral arms are traced by bright blue star clusters and dark cosmic dust lanes. This sharp composite was constructed from image data recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. Spanning about 30,000 light-years across the face of M74, it includes exposures recording emission from hydrogen atoms, highlighting the reddish glow of the galaxy’s large star-forming regions. With a lower surface brightness than most galaxies in the Messier catalog, M74 is sometimes known as the Phantom Galaxy.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210813.html

[apod]

2021 August 10

Fire in Space Image Credit: NASA

Explanation: What does fire look like in space? In the gravity on Earth, heated air rises and expands, causing flames to be teardrop shaped. In the microgravity of the air-filled International Space Station (ISS), however, flames are spheres. Fire is the rapid acquisition of oxygen, and space flames meet new oxygen molecules when they float by randomly from all directions – creating the enveloping sphere. In the featured image taken in the ISS’s Combustion Integration Rack, a spherical flame envelopes clusters of hot glowing soot. Without oxygen, say in the vacuum of empty space, a fire would go out immediately. The many chemical reactions involved with fire are complex, and testing them in microgravity is helping humanity not only to better understand fire – but how to put out fire, too.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210810.html

[msfizicks]

Nuclear Bombs Can Cause Geomagnetic Storms

July 29, 2021: They called it “Starfish Prime.” On July 9, 1962, the US military exploded a thermonuclear warhead 250 miles above the Pacific Ocean. What happened next surprised everyon…

[msfizicks]

Mars' buried polar 'lakes' may just be frozen clay

Clays likely caused the radar reflections spotted beneath Mars' south pole, a new study finds.

[msfizicks]

We found a new type of stellar explosion that could explain a 13-billion-year-old mystery of the Milky Way’s elements

Until recently it was thought neutron star mergers were the only way heavy elements (heavier than Zinc) could be produced.

[apod]

2021 July 27

Fleming’s Triangular Wisp Image Credit & Copyright: Anthony Saab

Explanation: Chaotic in appearance, these tangled filaments of shocked, glowing gas are spread across planet Earth’s sky toward the constellation of Cygnus as part of the Veil Nebula. The Veil Nebula itself is a large supernova remnant, an expanding cloud born of the death explosion of a massive star. Light from the original supernova explosion likely reached Earth over 5,000 years ago. The glowing filaments are really more like long ripples in a sheet seen almost edge on, remarkably well separated into the glow of ionized hydrogen atoms shown in blue and oxygen in red hues. Also known as the Cygnus Loop and cataloged as NGC 6979, the Veil Nebula now spans about 6 times the diameter of the full Moon. The length of the wisp corresponds to about 30 light years, given its estimated distance of 2,400 light years. Often identified as Pickering’s Triangle for a director of Harvard College Observatory, it is also named for its discoverer, astronomer Williamina Fleming, as Fleming’s Triangular Wisp.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210727.html