Published By: Soham Halder

Science & Space Roundup: Top News of the Day (June 2)

Here are today’s most important updates from the realm of Science and Space.

The Quiet Side of the Moon: Ideal Spot for NASA’s Deep-Space Radio Vision

A NASA-funded $2 billion project is designed to build a large radio telescope on the moon's far side and could become a reality by the 2030s. The ambitious project will help safeguard astronomy from satellite "megaconstellations" — and help scientists unravel more of the radio spectrum. The first-of-its-kind dish, known as the Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (LCRT) will be built entirely by robots and consist of a giant wire mesh suspended via cables within a crater on the moon's far side, similar to the collapsed alien-hunting Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico. The researchers have already selected their preferred crater — a 0.8-mile-wide (1.3 km) depression in the moon's Northern Hemisphere — but are keeping its exact location under wraps.

Pink Rain on the Sun? New Images Redefine Solar Spectacle

(Credit: X/@NatSolarObs)

A team at the National Solar Observatory applied adaptive optics (AO) technology to study the Sun's corona in remarkable detail. The corona, the Sun's outermost layer, stretches millions of kilometres into space and is mysteriously hotter than the underlying photosphere, a phenomenon known as the 'coronal heating problem.' This region is governed by powerful magnetic fields and is the source of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which can interact with Earth's magnetosphere, triggering auroras and geomagnetic storms. Observing the Sun's corona is challenging due to its dimness compared to the Sun's surface. Whereas, AO employs computer-controlled, deformable mirrors to counteract atmospheric interference, producing clear images. It may provide key insights into rapid eruptions and the heating of the corona.

Crowded Skies, Lost Signals: Humanity’s Race May Silence the Heavens

(Credit: X/@forallcurious)

On a clear night, shortly after one of SpaceX's many Falcon 9 rocket launches, you might see a bright string of lights zooming across the heavens. This phenomenon, known as a Starlink train, occurs when light reflects off a newly deployed batch of SpaceX satellites before they eventually fan out and become part of the wider Starlink network. If our eyes could also detect radio wavelength, the sky would be full of bright spots and nonstop flashing that would obscure the distant signals from objects beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). Now, researchers are worried about this invisible pollution that could eventually reach an "inflection point," beyond which ground-based astronomy instruments could become radio-blind to the cosmos. Scientists use radio frequencies to studies including jets of energy shooting from supermassive black holes and subtle changes in the trajectories of near-Earth asteroids.

Galactic Ballet: Hubble Gazes at a Twirling Twin Spiral Spectacle

(Credit: X/@HUBBLE_space)

A single member of a galaxy pair takes centerstage in a recent NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observation. This beautiful spiral galaxy is NGC 3507, which is situated about 46 million light-years away in the constellation Leo (the Lion). NGC 3507’s classification is a barred spiral because the galaxy’s sweeping spiral arms emerge from the ends of a central bar of stars rather than the central core of the galaxy. NGC 3507 actually travels the universe with a galactic partner named NGC 3501. While NGC 3507 is a quintessential galactic pinwheel, its partner resembles a streak of quicksilver across the sky.