
Astronomy Rewind: October 2019
With the whisper of winter upon the sand and snow replacing the autumn land. To satisfy the curious hare, the past events before you, like the trees, lay bare.


NASA, ESA, J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams, and M. Durbin (University of Washington)
Top Highlights
► Cosmic Collisions and Stellar Shrapnel
Resonating with the spooky vibe, the universe itself gazes back at its beholders. This image of two galaxies colliding was witnessed with eerie wonder by the Hubble telescope. Imagine trillions of stars and planets colliding, dragging each other off course, and changing the paths forever. A maelstrom of fiery stars, icy comets, and rocky planets, smashing each other to smithereens and reforming the starscape forever.

Four enormous galaxies are on a collision course, to merge into one of the most titanic cosmic phenomena known to humankind.
The fusion of such magnitude yields the Abell 1758 system. It has two pairs of galaxies which are themselves in the process of merging, soon to form one whole system.
Scientists and astronomers alike have their sights locked on to this wonderful spectacle, trying to study the events that ensue.
“Both of these clusters show indications that they are themselves still forming through their own strong mergers between two smaller galaxy clusters,”. “More recently, the violent merger in the northern cluster has been confirmed, and the southern cluster seems to be in an earlier stage of merger. Eventually, the northern and southern clusters will also collide, so the whole system is a quadruple merger, which makes this a uniquely interesting case to study.”
~ Schellenberger
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► Flux Infusion

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” ~Aristotle
With the legendary Magnetars being some of the strongest sources of magnetic fields in the known universe, this kind of stellar mergers rival their strengths, perhaps shedding more light into the way these extremely attractive characters are formed in the stage of darkness.
“Magnetars are thought to have the strongest magnetic fields in the Universe — up to one hundred million times stronger than the strongest magnetic field ever produced by humans,” ~Prof. Dr Friedrich Röpke from HITS
When two spinning balls of fire collide, they rip apart their surfaces and realign most of its particle trajectories. The result is such a strong magnetic field that neither star has seen. This process of differential rotation is what causes the twisting of the magnetic field lines of each star and gives rise to these spectacular fields that catch the eyes of our electromagnetic observers.
► Storm Clouds Spotted!

There are two known types of storms in Saturn’s violent atmosphere: The big ones that span around a thousand miles and last for multiple days, and the behemoths called the Great White Spots sizing a massive ten times larger than the previous.
These are the consequence of the sunlight and water vapor interacting with the other constituent gases.
This new type of storm sighted near its north pole reminds us of the fact that there is so much to learn out there. There are computer simulations and theories being made to understand the magnitude of energy involved, and the factors giving rise to what seems to be, a seasonal phenomenon in Saturn’s year.
► More Moons!

Illustration: Carnegie Institution for Science; Saturn image: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute;
A fuzzy white spot isn’t the only thing our fashionable planet is sporting this October. To go with its spectacular rings, Saturn adds to its jewelry, 20 new moons, making it the most extravagant member of our solar system, with 82 known natural satellites, surpassing Jupiter’s 79 moons. We are finding so much about our own backyard in space, this is a telltale sign that there is virtually an infinite number of exciting things in the cosmos.

Hyped up by the findings, our members went out to take a look with their own eyes through our humble telescope. Although we couldn’t find many moons, we still admired the spectacle and would urge you to find your nearest observatory. The sky is just brilliant this time of year.
Mission Update
► Breaking The Ice Between Man And Moon

NASA is sending a scout over to the Moon. Its goal, to find Ice deposits for extracting water for astronauts.
By the winter of 2022, NASA hopes to have a rover scouting the lunar landscape to open up opportunities for the Artemis program that aims to land humans for an extended stay. This mission would serve a pivotal role in space exploration as it will add much to our understanding and in enabling future missions.
Mining out ice water deposits will not just give access to our most vital fluid, but also enable the extraction of hydrogen and oxygen for making rocket fuel. Thus decreasing the amount of fuel and water they have to fetch from Earth. Having a station where we can refuel and restock water upon our natural satellite will make the expeditions to other planets more feasible.
“It can be used, and we need to use it, not just for life support but maybe even rocket fuel,” ~Jim Bridenstine (NASA administrator).
As the Curiosity rover explores an ancient oasis on Mars’s Gale crater, it seems like there will be many more like itself and VIPER, to be sent out in search of understanding the rich resources and history of moons and planets.
Bonus News
- And the Nobel Prize for physics this year goes to? Find out here!
- You might have heard of salt crystals, rock crystals, or maybe even time crystals. But ever came across gravity crystals? Now you shall!
Presents for Everybody

This festive season, the flashy planets don’t grab all the attention. Even our little Pluto gets some gifts packed up for it. Plans are being laid to give our tiny friend, an artificial satellite to keep it company. NASA has funded the Southwest Research Institute to study the feasibility and to design an orbiter for Pluto.
This is not a lone venture but one of ten mission studies enabled by NASA!
“We’re excited to have this opportunity to inform the decadal survey deliberations with this study,”. “Our mission concept is to send a single spacecraft to orbit Pluto for two Earth years before breaking away to visit at least one KBO(Kuiper Belt Object) and one other KBO dwarf planet.” ~ Dr. Carly Howett (of SwRI)
The skies will soon be cold, and our fluffy clouds will settle down as rain or snow. Giving clear skies to watch the breathtaking winter sky. Stargazing is a perfect hobby to pick up, as it will be too cold for extreme activity. A cozy fireplace with a telescope on the side will bring out myths and stories that will bring your friends and family together. I hope you had an amazing autumn, and wishing you a wonderful winter!
Love reading Rewind? Clap if you liked this one, and yes, don’t forget to follow Nakshatra, NIT Trichy to stay up to date with the cosmos. Until next time!

