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High-performance scientific satellites are currently the exclusive domain of government-funded agencies. The team behind the Twinkle Space Mission is developing a new class of small and sustainable science satellites that leverages recent innovations in the commercial space sector.
Earth’s exosphere is set to become increasingly crowded, with tens of thousands of commercial telecommunication satellites planned in the next few years. We need to ensure that technological and socio-economic advancements will not imperil scientific progress and humanity’s access to dark skies.
Astronomy research in Malaysia has progressed rapidly in the last few decades, with an increasing number of enthusiastic Malaysian astronomers working together to build new research groups and observing facilities, while establishing research networks both locally and globally.
Philanthropic donations are a significant contribution to the betterment of humankind, with a large percentage dedicated to science and education. Affordable small satellites may offer philanthropists the opportunity to give students and underprivileged communities access to small space telescopes.
The Space Academic Network made a case for a small-satellite programme for the United Kingdom to provide access to space, and a route for advancing science and technology; however, funding has not been forthcoming. The search for a killer argument for this widely supported programme continues.
The determination of the evolutionary stage for a supernova remnant is a demanding task. This guide for radio observers presents a relatively straightforward way to establish the evolutionary phase of newly observed supernova remnants.
Measuring the carbon emissions of the CFHT in 2019 reveals that the per employee emissions are 16.5 tCO2e, six times above the recommendation of the Paris Agreement, with ~63% due to the electricity consumption of the summit facility and ~25% to out-of-state air travel. Concerted efforts are underway to reduce this figure.
Analysing greenhouse gas emissions of an astronomical institute is a first step to reducing its environmental impact. Here, we break down the emissions of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg and propose measures for reductions.
The annual meeting of the European Astronomical Society took place in Lyon, France, in 2019, but in 2020 it was held online only due the COVID-19 pandemic. The carbon footprint of the virtual meeting was roughly 3,000 times smaller than the face-to-face one, providing encouragement for more ecologically minded conferencing.
Climate change is affecting and will increasingly affect astronomical observations, particularly in terms of dome seeing, surface layer turbulence, atmospheric water vapour content and the wind-driven halo effect in exoplanet direct imaging.
Computer use in astronomy continues to increase, and so also its impact on the environment. To minimize the effects, astronomers should avoid interpreted scripting languages such as Python, and favour the optimal use of energy-efficient workstations.
The Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment is a new initiative towards constructing a multi-cubic-kilometre neutrino telescope to expand our observable window of the Universe to the highest energies, and will be installed within the deep Pacific Ocean underwater infrastructure of Ocean Networks Canada.
During the last 15 years the number of astronomy-related papers published by scientists in Venezuela has been continuously decreasing, mainly due to emigration. If rapid corrective actions are not implemented, professional astronomy in Venezuela could disappear.
The historic launch of the first several hundred out of 12,000 planned Starlink satellites heralds the arrival of the era of ultra-large satellite constellations. If it will bring new opportunities or insurmountable challenges to astronomy will probably depend on whether you are conducting your observations in space or from the surface of the Earth.
No confirmed counterparts during LIGO and Virgo’s third observing run bring more questions than answers to the active multi-messenger community, which is adapting collaboratively and technically as expectations evolve and more data are taken.
eROSITA, a new X-ray telescope currently performing an all-sky survey of unprecedented depth, aims to provide insights into dark energy, dark matter, black holes and perhaps new phenomena that have so far been invisible.
The Spitzer Space Telescope returned infrared images and spectra with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution, enabling the characterization of the dust-enshrouded star formation of and within galaxies. This has yielded indicators of total star formation, used as unbiased tracers of the stellar production across cosmic times.
A recent national survey on behalf of the French Society of Astronomy and Astrophysics highlights the elitism and gender discrimination faced by women — particularly women educated in universities rather than grandes écoles — when applying for permanent positions in astronomy in France.
The support of the international astronomical community to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is fundamental to advance the rights and needs of the most vulnerable groups of our global society. Among these groups are the refugees.
Growing evidence suggests that synchrotron radiation plays a significant role in shaping the spectra of most γ-ray bursts. The relativistic jets producing them are likely to carry a significant fraction of energy in the form of a Poynting flux.
