Polaris Dawn brings new areas of research, medical care
Monday, 16 September 2024 13:12
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The launch of Polaris Dawn from Kennedy Space Center includes the first civilian commercial spacewalk and other factors that will be firsts for space medicine research. And that's why Emmanuel Urquieta, an internationally recognized space medicine expert who recently joined UCF's College of Medicine, is especially excited about this latest mission.
The spacecraft is flying up to 870 miles above Earth—the highest orbit flown in the last half century. And at that altitude, the astronauts will be exposed to higher radiation than most astronauts who stay in low Earth orbit, such as those onboard the International Space Station.
After achieving the high orbit, Polaris Dawn will come down to a lower altitude for the spacewalk.
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The skies are about to get a new star as a result of a cosmic cataclysm
Monday, 16 September 2024 12:26 Write a comment
Any night now, the astrophysicists tell us, a new star will appear in the night sky—about as bright as the North Star—the result of a cosmic explosion in a distant constellation millennia ago.
NASA scientist Rebekah Hounsell has called it "a once-in-a-lifetime event that will create a lot of new astronomers out there."
Once you see it, however, don't get too attached to it. The so-called recurring nova star, T. Coronae Borealis, which periodically mutates into an earth-size hydrogen bomb, will flame out in less than a week. But if you're around, you'll get another shot at seeing it at the beginning of the 22nd century.
Precisely when the nova, affectionately known as T CrB in the astronomical community, will be visible is unclear, astronomers say, and nailing the timing is a bit more complicated than predicting what time the sun will rise.
It could be sometime this month, maybe even this week, or maybe not until winter. But the evidence is unmistakable that it will appear soon.
When will the star explosion happen?
It already has, about 3,000 years ago, around the time of King David (he who felled Goliath in one of the great upsets in human history); Zoroaster; the Iron Age; and the golden age of the Villanovan people, who overran northern Italy.
