Space, astronomy and planetary science

Scientists have captured a new image of M87*, the black hole at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy, showing the “launching point of a colossal jet of high-energy particles shooting outward into space,” reports Will Dunham for Reuters. "This is what astronomers and astrophysicists have been wanting to see for more than half a century," explains Research Scientist Kazunori Akiyama. "This is the dawn of an exciting new era."

A team of researchers have produced a new image of the black hole at the center of galaxy Messier 87, reports Isaac Schultz for Gizmodo. “The new image shows a larger ring of accreted material than the first images of the black hole indicated. At the center of the ring is the black hole—or its ‘shadow,’ as scientists say, because the black hole itself cannot be imaged,” writes Schultz.

An international team of astronomers, including MIT scientists, have captured new images of  black hole in a nearby galaxy, reports Jon Kelvey for Popular Science. “Going forward, astronomers plan to observe the black hole at other wavelengths to highlight different parts and layers of its structure, and better understand how such cosmic behemoths form at the hearts of galaxies and contribute to galactic evolution,” writes Kelvey.

Research Scientist Kazunori Akiyama speaks with Guardian reporter Hannah Delvin about the first image of a jet being launched from edge of black hole. “This is the first image where we are able to pin down where the ring is, relative to the powerful jet escaping out of the central black hole,” says Akiyama. ““Now we can start to address questions such as how particles are accelerated and heated, and many other mysteries around the black hole, more deeply.”

Postdoctoral Scholar Michelle Kunimoto speaks with BBC CrowdScience presenter Marnie Chesterton about the transit technique used to find distant worlds. “The idea behind the transit method is, as a planet is passing in front of a star as it orbits, it will block a small portion of that star’s light,” explains Kunimoto.  “So if we are measuring the brightness of our star with the telescope, we can look for these temporary decreases in the brightness of stars over time.”

Lt. Col. Jasmin Moghbeli ‘05 will be commanding the SpaceX Crew 7 mission to the International Space Station (ISS), reports Jennifer McLogan. Moghbeli returned to her elementary school to share her journey with students.

Virginia Norwood ’47, an aerospace pioneer who designed and championed the scanner used to map and study the earth from space, has died at 96, reports Dylan Loeb McClain for The New York Times. Using her invention, the Landsat Satellite program has been able to capture images of the planet that provide “powerful visual evidence of climate change, deforestation and other shifts affecting the planet’s well-being,” writes McClain.

Prof. Danielle Wood speaks with NPR Shortwave co-host Aaron Scott about the future of space sustainability. “I hope that humans pause and note that the actions we're taking now and in the next 10 years really are going to be decisive in the relationship between humans and our planet, and humans and other locations, like the Moon,” says Wood.

Researchers from MIT and else have documented the destructive power of hand magnets, a technique used for identifying meteorites, reports Zack Savitsky for Science. “When brought within a few centimeters of a rock, the researchers found, the magnets overwrite vestigial fields contained in iron-based minerals such as magnetite and reset them to the higher strength and orientation of the magnet,” writes Savitsky.  

Prof. Tanja Bosak speaks with Scientific American reporter Jonathan O’Callaghan about the possibility that the soil samples collected by NASA’s Perseverance Rover on Mars could contain evidence of ancient Martian life.

NPR reporter Kaitlyn Radde spotlights the life and work of Virginia Norwood ’47, “a founding figure in satellite land imaging who developed technology to scan the surface of the moon for safe landing sites and map our planet from space.” Norwood was known as the "Mother of Landsat” for her work developing the Multispectral Scanner System that flew on the first Landsat satellite.

Virginia Norwood ’47, “a pioneering aerospace engineer who used design innovations, emerging technologies and seasoned intuition in projects that scanned the lunar surface for safe Apollo landing sites and mapped the Earth from space with digital imagery never before seen,” has died at 96, reports Brian Murphy for The Washington Post. “Over a four-decade career that began with slide rules and moved into the age of computer modeling, Ms. Norwood became known as a resourceful problem solver who often hit upon simple but effective solutions,” Murphy writes.

Postdoc Saverio Cambioni speaks with Andrew Corselli of Tech Briefs about NASA’s DART mission, which was aimed at testing a method to protect Earth in case of an asteroid impact threat. “DART showed that it is technologically possible to intercept and impact a sub-kilometer asteroid, with limited prior knowledge of its shape and surface properties,” Cambioni explains. 

Prof. Sara Seager and her colleagues write for Physics Today about how the SpaceX Starship could help transform astrophysics missions. “Assuming it is successful, Starship will dramatically enhance our space capabilities in ways that will qualitatively alter how astrophysics missions can be built,” write Seager and her colleagues.

Xin Liu SM ’17, art curator for the Media Lab’s Space Exploration Initiative, and Pat Pataranutaporn, a graduate student, speak with Mashable video producer Teodosia Dobriyanova about why sending plastic-eating bacteria to space could aid sustainability efforts. “We envision that in the future when astronauts, as they travel deeper into space, they’ll need to do what we call in-situ resource utilization,” says Pataranutaporn. “So using the materials that already exists there, in this case plastic waste, to upcycle it into new materials.”