Good morning, Y'all! Hope all of you are having a wonderful morning like her, or evening depending on where you are or when you are watching or listening! Please remember to follow the Collision Course Podcast on your favorite streaming app. Drop a like and maybe a comment or answer a poll or question that comes with each, new episode. Every action you take makes it possible for more listeners and viewers to get a chance to choose Collision Course as a great source of outer space news that they can relate to! So, thank you in advance for that follow, like, comment, or answer! THANK YOU! We're already at lucky episode 13! This episode brings back Marco Velli to talk about the dynamics around the Sun and the Parker Solar Probe mission Parker Solar Probe (jhuapl.edu) in particular. I enjoyed being able to ask some questions that did not relate to the Parker Solar Probe but were relevant to understand the role that plasmas play in our Universe. I really enjoyed being able to hear that in his view, the Universe was working like I had believed too. Mass and rotation are the main driver of the way bodies in the Universe behave, but minus mass and rotation, you are left with energized electromagnetic space that is channeling energy along magnetic field lines and boundaries which can accelerate anergy at very high levels or at least propel them extreme distances. Today the Parker Solar Probe is on the other side of the Sun heading toward Venus. It will use a tug backward from Venus to drop it in to an even lower orbit with the Sun. Each new perihelion closer than the last, new territory with each, new orbit around our star. The mission continues. January 10,2023 it was announced in a paper that some of the science that has been extracted from the data from an assortment of missions including the Parker Solar Probe are the introduction of the phrase "Jetlets" to describe an activity which can, when combined with an overall activity level across the whole surface of the sun, an activity which interacts with the solar corona and is able to accelerate particles up and through the corona.  As well as that, there recognition of enormous waves of energy. "Switchbacks" that curl like a whip or a road that traverses the highest mountain. back and forth up the same hillside until you get to the top... When released they can express energy at extreme speed and can cover a lot of the corona at one time. The notion that acceleration of particles was a one-off event which accelerated all the particles at once is now a misnomer and it should be seen more as an ebb and flow that maintains the energetic side of our closest star. I want to thank Professor Velli for his time. Anything that I can add to the discussion is an addition that can help others understand the topic too. #ParkerSolarProbe #Sun #astronomy #science #fyp #interview #MarcoVelli If You Would Like to Support the Show, you can use send a tip to my ($) Cashapp or my (@) Venmo! I appreciate all your support tremendously! Thank you! $FrancisWalsh @FrantheMan77429

Tonight, is a Collision Course Comet Night! 

I am going out with the neighbors to try and see the comet through an 8" SE Celestron Computerized Telescope! Wish us luck! 

Carl is an expert AND a fan of transient objects. His whole career has had something to do with surveying the night skies and charting asteroids and comets as they move the solar system! Besides the short introduction and intro to his work, we go over the different comets in the sky right now! I hope you enjoy this first, video episode! Time sensitive info was just recorded! LIVE!

#astronomy #comet #transientobject #orbit #magnitude #stargazing

Carl William Hergenrother (born 1973) is an American astronomer and discoverer of minor planets and comets.

As credited by the Minor Planet Center, he has discovered and co-discovered 32 numbered asteroids at the Bigelow Sky Survey during 1993–1999. He has also discovered a number of comets including the long-period comet, C/1996 R1 (Hergenrother-Spahr), and three periodic comets, 168P/Hergenrother, 175P/Hergenrother and P/1999 V1 (Catalina). He is also a member of the science and operations team of the 2016-launched OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, a sample return mission to study near-Earth asteroid 101955 Bennu.

The outer main-belt asteroid 3099 Hergenrother was named in his honor on 3 May 1996 (M.P.C. 27124).

Carl Hergenrother | Astronomy Working Group Lead & Strategic and Tactical Scientist – NASA Solar System Exploration

This is our second of three talks with Avi Loeb, the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard University. With our first discussion focusing mainly on the first Interstellar Object 'Oumuamua, I took the time to go back since the second known interstellar traveler had graced us with its presence. The topic of today's discussion was all things Interstellar. From objects to new discoveries to old science and new. We asked questions that crossed over all of Avi's best research and ideas. His knowledge about where humanity is on its quest for interstellar travel is as cutting edge as you can get. His involvement in the development of spacecraft that can reach our nearest star has been critical. His open mind has given him insight into the science of today. His choices are our choices as we follow along with those who design and create. Our future lies in the hands of people like Avi Loeb. He and thousands of scientists like him are uncracking the code, ending the ignorance. We have to be happy that men like him are taking time out for us to talk to, to learn. Our brain is his and only when we can ask the questions can we get the answers we need to be better informed, even ahead of the rest.

I hope you like this interview, Episode 10 in Season 2 of Collision Course. Please like, follow, fill out a poll or answer a question we leave behind. Rate the show so we can reach more people like you! subscribe or send a direct donation to the me below. Beyond that, I am working on the next episode of Collision COurse Season 2! See you Sunday!

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Avi Loeb | Center for Astrophysics (harvard.edu) Research Papers linked from this page.

Abraham (Avi) Loeb is the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard University and a bestselling author (in lists of the New York Times,Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, L'Express and more). He received a PhD in Physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel at age 24 (1980-1986), led the first international project supported by the Strategic Defense Initiative (1983-1988), and was subsequently a long-term member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton (1988-1993). Loeb wrote 8 books and over 800 papers on a wide range of topics, including black holes, the first stars, the search for extraterrestrial life and the future of the Universe. He had been the longest serving Chair of Harvard's Department of Astronomy (2011-2020), Founding Director of Harvard's Black Hole Initiative and Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation (2007-present) within the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics . He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the International Academy of Astronautics. Loeb is a former member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) at the White House, a former chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies and a current member of the Advisory Board for "Einstein: Visualize the Impossible" of the Hebrew University. He also chairs the Advisory Committee for the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative (2016-present) and serves as the Science Theory Director for all Initiatives of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. In 2012, TIME magazine selected Loeb as one of the 25 most influential people in space.

Breakthrough Starshot: A voyage to the stars within our lifetimes | Astronomy.com

#astronomy #interstellertravel #lightsail #starshotInitiative #alphacentauri #FRB #FYP #light #radiowave #cometborizov #oumuamua 

Good morning!

Tuesday, January 24th 20231 

It's a great day to give you an update regarding the comet that is blazing across the sky as we speak. Of course, that's comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)! It's a comet that was first discovered on March 2, 2022. It was first captured in images from the Zwicky Transient Facility at the Palomar Observatory in California. Palomar is the famous observatory built by George Ellery Hale who was the person most responsible for the building of Palomar Observatory. A graduate of MIT and a founder of Caltech, in 1928 he secured a grant of $6 million from the Rockefeller Foundation for the fabrication of a 200-inch reflecting telescope. During the 1930s, he assembled a remarkable team of engineers and designers from academia and industry. Under his direction, these people set to work on the mirror, on the mounting, and on the dome and its support facilities on Palomar Mountain. A triumph of innovation, insight, persistence, and precision the telescope was dedicated in June 1948 ten years after Hale's death. This is the Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory, an instrument that after many decades of service continues to play a leading role in the advancement of astronomy and astrophysics.

Welcome to Palomar Observatory (caltech.edu)

History of Palomar (caltech.edu)

Stellarium Astronomy Software

I am going to recommend everyone download this free astronomy software for your desktop or laptop. There is mobile version, but it is not free. Once you have this downloaded, you can add Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) to the database like this!

You can now search on C/2022 E3 to find its position in your sky and estimated magnitude.

The comet is rapidly reaching perigee, its closest point to Earth, which makes it easier to spot in the night sky. The comet, discovered in March 2022 by astronomers Frank Masci and Bryce Bolin using the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at the Palomar Observatory in California, has been brightening since November with it's bright green coma and up to three tails. To see the comet for yourself, look to the north just after sunset and look for a faint greenish glow. Under the right dark sky conditions, the comet could be visible to the unaided eye, but binoculars will certainly make the job easier.

Why do comets turn green?

Comets, for example take on a green hue because of the gas tail that forms as they approach the Sun. Most of the gas consists of hydrogen, but other compounds such as cyanide (CN 2) and carbon (C 2) can be contained in the tail as well. These molecules emit light at green wavelengths and can be bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.

#comet #astronomy #CollisionCourse #fyp #howto #comethunting #stargazing #cometwatching #avertedvision #binoculars #telescope #greencomet #zwickytransientfacility #c2022e3ztf #CosmicObsessionKerrville #observatory #palomar 

It's a perilous trip to the edge of the Sun to unlock the mysteries of its atmosphere. The Parker Solar Probe will interact with Venus’ gravity during seven flybys over nearly seven years to gradually bring its orbit closer to the Sun. The spacecraft will fly through the Sun’s atmosphere, sometimes called a "Fry-by", it's as close as 3.8 million miles from our star’s surface, well within the orbit of Mercury and more than seven times closer than any spacecraft has come before. (Earth’s average distance to the Sun is 93 million miles.)

It will orbit into the outermost part of the Sun's atmosphere, known as the corona. For the first time, Parker Solar Probe will employ a combination of in situ measurements and imaging equipment revolutionizing our understanding of the corona and expanding our knowledge of the origin and evolution of solar wind. It also makes critical contributions to our ability to forecast changes in Earth's space environment that affect life and technology on Earth.

Professor Velli's research has focused on space plasma physics and solar magnetic activity with particular emphasis on:

He is principal investigator of Heliospheric Origins on the Solar Probe Plus mission, the first spacecraft to fly within 9 solar radii of the Sun's surface, directly studying the outer solar corona and acceleration region of the solar wind. SPP is part of NASA's Living with a Star Program, designed to understand aspects of the sun and Earth's space environment that affect life and society. As the mission's observatory scientist, he will provide an independent assessment of scientific performance and act as a community advocate for the mission.

Prof. Velli has taught mechanics, electromagnetism, astrophysics, and plasma physics courses at the University of Florence, and mentored 7 students for their Laurea Thesis in Florence, directed 5 PhD theses at the University of Florence and 2 at the University of Paris XI Orsay. He has been member of peer review committees for NASA research and payload proposals as well as for ESA, member of the science definition team for Solar Orbiter (2003) and is presently a member of Solar Probe science and technology definition team, responsible for drafting the Scientific Objectives and requirements. Dr. Velli was chair and main scientific editor for the international conference Solar Wind 10, Pisa, June 2002. He has published over seventy peer-reviewed research papers involving many collaborators both in Italy and abroad, as well as invited papers and lecture notes. He holds a joint appointment the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

#ParkerSolarProbe #Astronomy #Sun #Probe #fyp #science #outerspace #spacemission #spacecraft #research #Spaceweather #particlephysics #acceleratedparticles #teach #learning #astronomical #lessons #howto #citizenscience #citizenspaceforce 

Our solar system is travelling through the Inter Space Medium on its way around the center of the Milky Way. One of the missions to map the edge of our solar system was undertaken when the IBEX spacecraft was dropped from the belly of a high-altitude jet and sent into an extremely elliptical orbit around Earth. The orbit takes the craft 4/5ths the distance to the Moon and allows it to image the edge of the Heliosphere like never before. After ten years in service, the information the IBEX mission is reporting back to mission control, is that there is a unique feature interacting with a specific area of our out solar system.

What is it and how does it affect live here on Earth? The discussion within details what is so important about ENAs (Energetically Neutral Atoms). The particles zip away from interacting with charged particle after exchanging their charged ion to another, non-energetic type particle. The process can be imaged and when there is more activity in particular area, it can be quantified and mapped. 

So come inside and sit down for a discussion about IBES and ENAs with the man who probably knows the most, Dr. Stephen Fuselier.

Dr. Fuselier has over 35 years of experience as a scientist, project manager and senior manager for scientists, engineers, and technicians. He was Co-Investigator on the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) Co-Investigator and sensor lead on the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission, and Co-Investigator and lead for the Hot Plasma Composition Experiment (HPCA) on the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Mission.

he Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission is designed to explore the nature of the interactions between the solar wind and the interstellar medium at the edge of our solar system. IBEX carries two energetic neutral atom (ENA) imagers that observes ENAs created at the edge of the heliosphere flowing unimpeded towards the inner solar system. The IBEX mission has made the first all-sky maps of the boundary between our solar system and local interstellar medium, resulting in new discoveries of plasma interactions and insight into the local interstellar magnetic field. IBEX has also been utilized to study ENAs produced by interactions in the Earth’s magnetosphere and has produced the first ENA images of the magnetospheric cusps and magnetotail plasma sheet. Along with being the PI institution of the IBEX mission, SwRI also developed and built the IBEX ENA imagers.

May 4, 2021 — Dr. Stephen Fuselier, executive director of Southwest Research Institute’s Space Science Directorate, was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

NAS membership is one of the highest honors given to a scientist or engineer in the United States. With this distinction, Fuselier was also elected to the Academy of Medicine, Engineering & Science of Texas (TAMEST) as well. TAMEST is composed of the Texas-based members of the three national academies — of medicine, engineering and sciences — the Royal Society and the state’s 11 Nobel Laureates.

Fuselier was among 120 engineers and scientists elected this year to NAS, which has 2,461 active members. Notable past members include Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer and Orville Wright. Approximately 500 current and deceased Academy members have won Nobel Prizes.

#astronomy #IBEX #energeticallneutralatoms #ENA #helioshpere #IBEXRibbon #chargedparticles #chargeexchange #space #mission #heliopause #earth #magneticfield #interstellarspacemedium #fyp #podcast

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Why Was 'Oumuamua Different Than Other Space Rocks Orbiting Inside Our Solar System?

We cannot emphasize enough the importance of this information. It is too easy to quickly forget something as important as the discovery of the first interstellar traveler to enter the inner solar system. The information discussed in this episode covers how our guest was critical to the story of 'Oumuamua. Being one of the astronomers on site made it possible for her to receive the first reports of data that proved to be a new, highly interesting, object with origins that take it outside of our own solar system. To date there had not been an observation like this. Even though astronomers and astrophysicists had theorized the probabilities, there had not been an object that came from outside our solar system Like 'Oumuamua. 

It came in moving at 26,000 MPS (miles per SECOND!) and it wasn't discovered until it had already made its close approach to the Sun meaning that it was already moving away from us and not toward us. The scientific community was not left with an enormous amount of time to observe the new object. It had many peculiarities about it that we are still trying to understand. I have more scientists coming on to give us reports on the latest research that, while not investigating 'Oumuamua directly, has implications for understanding what it could be and what we should expect in the future if it was indeed alien technology.

Being a new, previously unknown object, designating, classifying, and naming the object was immediate requirement. How we ended up with 'Oumuamua is important. I believe that this could be one of those opportunities to reveal truth in a way that it reveals the truth, but it offsets the importance by omission. I promise to continue to follow up and correlate new and existing information to bring this research full circle before the truth turns bad..

#astronomy #oumuamua #interstellartraveler #alien #technology #ETC #CollisionCourse #scout #recon #enemy #battle #hawaii #astronomer #KarenMeech

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STAY TUNED! WE HAVE AN EXCITING YEAR PLANNED! 2023 WIL BE GREAT FOR ASTRONOMY AND COLLISION COURSE

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Karen J. Meech is an astronomer and astrobiologist who investigates how habitable worlds form and explores the questions of whether there is life on other planetesimals, rocky or cometary bodies other than Earth.

Astrobiologist Karen J. Meech uses the pieces of information gleaned from observations of our solar system. She researches how a cometary object's formation can help us to understand how habitable planets are made. Her curiosity about life beyond earth was inspired as a child watching science fiction shows on TV. Meech has a PhD in planetary physics from MIT. She is now an astronomer at the University of Hawaii, where she leads the astrobiology group, and she is passionate about being a scientist and an educator.

Meech started her astronomy career researching comets. Comets are the icy leftovers from the birth of our solar system and solar systems outside our own. Her work led to an understanding of many of the processes that cause a comet tail to develop far from our Sun. She was co-investigator on three comet missions. Her discoveries provide information that test our understanding of how planetary systems assembled. Her work embraces the power of interdisciplinary science, and she combines geological field work, geochemistry, astronomical observations, theory and space mission concepts to address fundamental questions about how earth got its water.

On October 19, 2017 a signal came from a Hawaiian-based research telescope that energized a large community of scientists and astronomers to learn more about an object orbiting within the inner solar system that had originated from outside our solar system An Interstellar Traveler, a first.

Francis was quick to hear about and research the discovery and any information that was gleened from observation made as the object remained visible to land and space-based telescopes pointed their lenses in the way of 'Oumuamua. With every new repot there interest increased. With every new report something peculiar about the objects shape, origin, and speed was revealed. This was no ordinary object and so the search was on for relevant, accurate, and fact=based. The best way to get to the truth is to speak with the scientists who are on the front lines. Astronomers and scientists who research and write papers about new discoveries like 'Oumuamua. We are even guilty of this ourselves. 

But make sure you understand before you go, this WAS NO ORDINARY OBJECT. BELIEVE ME.

Oumuamua.pdf (harvard.edu) by Professor Avi Loeb

Professor Loeb received a PhD in plasma physics at age 24 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1986) and was subsequently a long-term member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (1988-1993), where he started to work in theoretical astrophysics. In 1993 he moved to Harvard University where he was tenured three years later.  He is now the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science and former chair of the department.

He also holds a visiting professorship at the Weizmann Institute of Science and a Sackler Senior Professorship by special appointment in the School of Physics and Astronomy at Tel Aviv University.

Loeb has authored nearly 700 research articles and 4 books. For full publications and biographies, visit his Professional Site 

Additional Titles:

Renu Malhotra (born 1961) is an American planetary scientist from India, known for using the orbital resonance between Pluto and Neptune to infer large-scale orbital migration of the giant planets and to predict the existence of Plutinos in resonance with Neptune. The asteroid 6698 Malhotra was named for her on 14 December 1997 (M.P.C. 31025).

Francis and Dr. Malhotra discuss the latest information coming from the scientific community regarding the discovery of yet to be discovered planetesimals Planet 9 and Planet 10 (X). Hear how the work she and other scientists are performing are giving us a better understanding of far-flung objects residing out near Neptune. These objects are so far away and so dispersed that even with years of observing the motion of known planets and transient objects, the information still doesn't point a finger at any particular object or place in the solar system.

Learn how the presession of the planets effects orbits of small rocky bodies orbiting inside the solar system. We touch on the gas giants' migration during the early times of the solar system, and we discuss the "Great Bombardment" as well. This was an enlightening discussion, and we hope to hear more from Dr. Malhotra again soon! So, STAY TUNED!

As always, please like, follow, comment, and review the Collision Course podcast whenever asked as it helps us reach more listeners! Thanks for all your help and for your friendship! We have many more episodes coming as we get ready for the total solar eclipse of April 8th, 2024!

#planetnine #planetten #planetX #planetary #astronomy 

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