Carnival of Space 524

by

The Carnival of Space 524 is up at Urban Astronomer.

Universe Today – Mars Express Captures Mars’ Moving Bow Shock

For many decades, astronomers have been aware that bow shocks form upstream of a planet, where interaction between solar wind and the planet causes energetic particles to slow down and gradually be diverted. Where the solar wind meets the planet’s magnetosphere or atmosphere, a sharp boundary line is formed, which them extends around the planet in a widening arc.

This is where the term bow shock comes from, owing to its distinctive shape. In the case of Mars, which does not have a global magnetic field and a rather thin atmosphere to boot (less than 1% of Earth’s atmospheric pressure at sea level), it is the electrically-charged region of the upper atmosphere (the ionosphere) that is responsible for creating the bow shock around the planet.


Artist’s impression of the moving Martian bow shock. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab


Illustration showing how Mars and Earth interact with solar wind. Credit: NASA

Universe Today – Elon Musk Reveals New SpaceX Spacesuit

Nextbigfuture –
James Cameron is writing a trilogy of new Terminator Movies and is creating four Avatar sequels

Nextbigfuture -Europe, Japan and the US are launching error correcting systems to enable centimeter accuracy for GPS

Nextbigfuture -Spacex should have more launches than Russia in 2017

Nextbigfuture -AI and Satellite imaging make all naval surface ships vulnerable. Aircraft carriers and other ships will be tracked in near realtime