Blobs . . . In Space!

[Recusant]

It wouldn't be the same without the exclamation mark. 

A French astronaut is taking some unicellular organisms to the space station, and thousands of French school children will be carrying out the same experiment on Earth.

"Meet the 'blobs', French astronaut Thomas Pesquet's unusual space companions" | France 24

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet is due to lift off Friday for his second stay aboard the International Space Station. This time around he is taking four "blobs" with him, strange single-celled organisms that are neither plants nor animals nor funghi. The aim is to study how their behaviour in space is affected by microgravity.

During the Alpha mission, which is scheduled to last six months, Pesquet will carry out numerous scientific experiments aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The programme includes observing how astronauts sleep in space, growing a plant, moving an object with an "acoustic clamp" and also taking care of four blobs, the unicellular organisms that have long fascinated the scientific community.

Blob, or physarum polycephalum, its scientific name, is a living species difficult to classify: it is neither animal, plant, nor fungus. Composed of a single cell and several nuclei, it is one of the few unicellular organisms visible to the naked eye and its yellow colour gives it the appearance of an omelette or cheese gratin.

[Continues . . .]

[Tank]

I love this sort of school involvement.

[Icarus]

So little time, so much to learn.

[Randy]

I often think there are not enough children involved in the sciences eagerly. When I see something like this I think there may be hope yet.

[Tank]

I miss Myth Busters

[Icarus]

Voyager has  extended its' trip beyond our solar system. It is sending back some recorded sound or at least a constant frequency that would produce a humming sound here on earth.   

Might be angels singing.  Could be an angel sound intended to warn we heathens. 

[Dark Lightning]

Or it could be that the carrier frequency of its communications system is no longer being modulated for communication purposes. Party pooper, I know. 

[Recusant]

 

I think the only other Firesign head at HAF doesn't visit anymore, but I'll say it anyway--it's Gas Music From Beyond Jupiter.

"The Voyager 1 probe is now so far away that it can hear the background 'hum' of interstellar space" | Salon

The Voyager 1 spacecraft holds the record for the most distant human-made object to ever exist. Though it was launched 44 years ago and is over 14 billion miles away from Earth, this space probe continues to send critical information and data back to Earth even as it floats through the void between our solar system and the next.

What is this vast, empty void between stars like? It turns out that the galaxy has a hum, not unlike the static you might hear when you're moving the dial between two radio stations.

On Monday, scientists published research in the journal Nature Astronomy analyzing the data that Voyager 1's Plasma Wave System (PWS) sent back to Earth after it passed through our solar system's theoretical border — a region of space known as the heliopause, where the effect of our sun's solar wind on space and celestial objects is believed to end.

Notably, the PWS detected a low, unexpected emission pattering against its detector.

"It's very faint and monotone, because it is in a narrow frequency bandwidth," said Stella Koch Ocker, a doctoral student in the Department of Astronomy and Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, who is also the lead author of the study. "We're detecting the faint, persistent hum of interstellar gas."

[Continues . . .]

The paper is behind a paywall, but with paragraph breaks added, here's the --

Abstract:

In 2012, Voyager 1 became the first in situ probe of the very local interstellar medium. The Voyager 1 Plasma Wave System has given point estimates of the plasma density spanning about 30 au of interstellar space, revealing a large-scale density gradient and turbulence outside of the heliopause.

Previous studies of the plasma density relied on the detection of discrete plasma oscillation events triggered ahead of shocks propagating outwards from the Sun, which were used to infer the plasma frequency and, hence, density.

We present the detection of a class of very weak, narrowband plasma wave emission in the Voyager 1 data that persists from 2017 onwards and enables a steadily sampled measurement of the interstellar plasma density over about 10 au with an average sampling distance of 0.03 au. We find au-scale density fluctuations that trace interstellar turbulence between episodes of previously detected plasma oscillations.

Possible mechanisms for the narrowband emission include thermally excited plasma oscillations and quasi-thermal noise, and they could be clarified by new findings from Voyager or a future interstellar mission. The emission's persistence suggests that Voyager 1 may be able to continue tracking the interstellar plasma density in the absence of shock-generated plasma oscillation events.

[Icarus]

Farts from God maybe?   

[Tank]

When debating with creationists I often point out that 'god' basically created hydrogen, helium and a scape of lithium. So more the 'Big Fart' than the 'Big Bang'.