compiled by Arlene & David Kaplan
Jupiter’s south pole – NASA
NASA’s Jupiter Mission Reveals the ‘Brand-New and Unexpected’
The top and bottom of Jupiter are pockmarked with a chaotic mélange of swirls that are immense storms hundreds of miles across. The planet’s interior core appears bigger than expected, and swirling electric currents are generating surprisingly strong magnetic fields…more
Jupiter’s moon Europa -NASA
Nasa seeks experiment ideas for Europa lander
NASA is seeking the best ideas for experiments to fly on a mission that will land on Jupiter’s moon Europa. The Jovian satellite has a deep subsurface ocean beneath its ice crust and is considered one of the top targets in the search for alien life. After decades of work, a pair of missions to the moon have been taking shape…more
7 Planets of Trappist-1 – NYT
The Harmony That Keeps 7 Earth-size Worlds From Colliding
In February, astronomers announced the discovery of a nearby star with seven Earth-size planets, and at least some of the planets seemed to be in a zone that could provide cozy conditions for life. The finding of these planets circling the star Trappist-1…more
-NYT (ALMA/J. Bally/H. Drass et al. )
Aftermath of a Star Collision 1,900 Years Ago
About 1,900 years ago and 1,350 light years away, stars in a giant gas cloud behind the Orion constellation collided, ejecting two other young stars. With a telescope, the blast would have been visible from Earth about 500 years ago…more
Parker Solar Probe -JHU
Last week, NASA teased that it would have an announcement about next year’s mission to send a spacecraft into the outer atmosphere of the sun. Commenters on Twitter joked that the space agency might be sending humans there. The actual news? About 20 spacecraft have been named after prominent…more
An artist’s conception of merging black holes
Third Gravitational Wave Detection
The void is rocking and rolling with invisible cataclysms. Astronomers said Thursday that they had felt space-time vibrations known as gravitational waves from the merger of a pair of mammoth black holes resulting in a pit of infinitely deep darkness weighing as much as 49 suns, some 3 billion light-years from here…more
Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton 