Space News for October 5, 2018: Surface of Asteroid Ryugu, New Dwarf Planet “The Goblin” and more…

Our Book is Here!

Well look at this. It finally happened. The Universe Today Ultimate Guide to Viewing the Cosmos is here. I’m holding one of the advanced copies, but it’ll be shipping for everyone on October 23, 2018.

I’m really pleased with how the final book turned out. It’s got a great hardcover, and full color pages inside. Dave Dickinson did a great job with the writing, and it was an honor to edit him and give him some additional content.

But the part the book that I’m proudest about are the photographs. We tapped our wonderful photography community on Instagram to fill the book with images taken by amateur astrophotographers. Not everyone has their own personal Hubble Space Telescope. I wanted to show what’s possible with skill, patience and reasonably priced gear. Keep that in mind when you read it. YOU could take pictures like this too.

If you want to support what we’re doing, please consider pre-ordering the book. The regular price is $28.99 on Amazon, but you can pre-order it today for only $18.89. So you’ll get it the moment it drops to the public in about two weeks.

You can also buy it from Barnes & Noble or Indiebound.

Thanks!

Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today

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A Return Mission to Pluto? This Time to Stay

New Horizons gave us the best views we could have hoped for of Pluto. But it was only a single glimpse of half the world. What’s New Horizons up to next? And what plans are in the works to return to Pluto and Charon?

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Japanese Rovers are Now on the Surface of an Asteroid, Sending Back Amazing Pictures

One of the most exciting missions in the Solar System right now is the Japanese Hayabusa 2 to asteroid Ryugu. The spacecraft deployed its twin MINERVA-II rovers to the surface of the asteroid, and followed up with the German-French MASCOT lander, which had a unique hopping method of exploration while its battery held out. Stay tuned for more awesome updates from this incredible mission.

New Dwarf Planet Found in the Outskirts of the Solar System, Giving Astronomers More Ammunition to Search for Evidence of Planet 9

A fascinating world has just been discovered in the outer reaches of the Solar System: 2015 TG387, nicknamed “The Goblin”. It measures about 300 km across and never gets closer than 65 AU from the Sun. The world is interesting on its own, but it also provides more data for astronomers to search for the mysterious Planet 9 which is influencing it through its gravity.

The “Death Comet” Will Pass By Earth Just After Halloween

Oooh, spooky. There’s a comet that kinda, sorta, looks like skull. And it was first discovered on October 31, 2015. Now it’s going to be passing again, close to Halloween. Coincidence?!? Yes. It’ll make its closest approach on November 11 at about ten times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. So, there’s nothing to fear but overblown media hype.

Images of a Crater on Mars Before and then During the Recent Dust Storm

Still no word from Opportunity on Mars, but here’s a photo that really shows you the scale of the global dust storm that could have taken the rover out of commission. On the left is a crater on Mars taken during clear skies, and then on the right is the same crater during the 2018 dust storm. As the storm clears up, astronomers will be studying the surface to see what changes have happened to the landscapes.

NASA Report Outlines How it Will Go Back to the Moon, to Mars, and Beyond in a Sustainable Way

As you’ve probably heard, NASA has its sights set on the Moon again, hoping to send the first crewed missions beyond low Earth orbit in over 40 years. They’ll start with sending humans back to the Moon, and eventually on to Mars. NASA recently submitted a plan to Congress that explains how they plan to run this next generation of missions.

New Image Shows the Rugged Landscape of Comet 67P

Remember the Rosetta mission? Although the spacecraft is gone now, people are still sifting through the many images it took and processing them to reveal new details. This photograph was taken on September 22, 2014, just a couple of months after Rosetta arrived at Comet 67P. There are so many details to see, including a cliff that’s 134 meters high.

A New Solution to the Space Junk Problem. Spacecraft with Plasma Beams to Force Space Junk to Burn Up

That space junk problem continues to worsen, so it’s not surprising that people are trying to come up with new solutions to deal with it. One interesting idea is to fire at junk with a plasma thruster, causing it to lose altitude and burn up into the atmosphere. In order to stay in orbit, a spacecraft equipped with a thruster like this would fire in two directions at the same time.

Gaia Spacecraft Finds Four Stars That Could Have Been Home to Interstellar Oumuamua

Astronomers originally thought Oumuamua was an interstellar asteroid, now it’s looking more like a comet. But no matter what it is, the fact that it came from another solar system is really exciting. Now astronomers have narrowed down four stars that they think could have sent the interstellar object our way.

Good night Kepler. NASA’s Planet Hunter is Almost out of Fuel, and has Gone Into Sleep Mode

Thanks to NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, we know about thousands of exoplanets, many of which were discovered even after the spacecraft was crippled several years ago. But now it’s really out of fuel and time, and NASA has put the hard working planet hunter into sleep mode. Thanks for all you did for us Kepler!

This is How We Will See the Event Horizon of a Black Hole

We’re probably just a few months away from seeing a historic image: the first ever direct photograph of the event horizon of a black hole. The image was actually gathered up by a worldwide series of telescopes last year, and now scientists are crunching the data down to see the final image. Dr. Ethan Siegel explains what went into taking the picture, and what it should reveal.

Lockheed Martin Just Revealed their New Plans for a Lunar Lander: and it’s a Monster

As more and more space exploration plans include the Moon, companies are starting to plan out the kind of hardware that might be used to make the journey. And Lockheed Martin just showed off an impressive lunar lander concept that could be the one that brings astronauts to the surface of the Moon. This first iteration would carry 4 astronauts and a ton of cargo supplies to the lunar surface.

Dark Matter Isn’t Made From Black Holes

Dark matter makes up 90% of the mass in the Universe and astronomers still don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s an invisible particle that only interacts with regular matter through gravity, or maybe it’s a misunderstanding of how gravity works on the largest scales. But an additional theory, that dark matter is actually made of black holes has just been ruled out.

First Exomoon Found? A Neptune-Sized Moon Orbiting a Jupiter-Sized Planet

Astronomers have turned up compelling evidence for the first ever exomoon discovery. In this case, it’s a world the size of Neptune orbiting a planet as big as Jupiter. They’re located in the Kepler 1625 system, which is about 8,000 light-years away. The Hubble Space Telescope helped with the followup observations to help build the case that it’s there. It might turn out to be a mistake, but it’s impressive to think that we’re now in the age of being able to detect moons orbiting other planets orbiting other stars.

Other Interesting Space Stuff

• Happy 60th Birthday NASA. 60 years of NASA in 60 seconds
• Weekly Space Hangout: Oct 3, 2018 — Dr. David Warmflash
• Would Trump’s “Space Force” Patrol the Moon?
• Engines that don’t need propellant?
• One of the key building blocks to life might have needed to come from space
• SpaceX’s Starlink satellites may use unique solar array deploymentmechanism
• What Happens When a Drone Hits an Airplane Wing?
• Uh oh, development of the SLS Exploration Upper Stage might have stopped
• Blue Origin just contracted with companies to send several tonnes of cargo to the Moon by 2023
• Gaia Sees Stars Out in Deep Space, Flying Between Galaxies
• How much of the Milky Way has actually been searched for signals from other civilizations? How hard will this job really be?

Amazing Astrophotography on @universetoday

This week’s astrophoto comes from Pepe Chambo, who specializes in taking photographs of comets at his channel @cometografia. This is Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner, which is actually visible in the sky right now.

We have featured nearly 1,000 astrophotographers on our Instagram page, which has more than 137,000 followers. Want to do a takeover? Use the hashtag #universetoday and I’ll check out your photos.