Asteroid sample returns to Earth / JWST settles the issue: Big Bang still seems proven correct

Nothing new to show in my astrophotography endeavors. With a rare string of clear nights here in Maryland I imaged two new objects, but simply haven't had the time to process them yet. Stay tuned and check back as I plan to have them completed in the next week or so.  

The sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission
 is seen shortly after touching down in the desert, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023. Credit: NASA

OSIRIS-Rex Mission

As for other news ... the OSIRIS-REx mission has just completed NASA’s first sample-return mission from a near-Earth asteroid (NEA). The samples arrived at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) near Salt Lake City, where a team of engineers arrived by helicopter to retrieve the sample capsule. All went well and the initial examination of the sample shows some dust and dirt. Now we need to wait until the analysis phase starts and provides data on the composition of the material. See Universe Today for more details on the mission and the return of the sample. Exciting times for sure.

The James Webb telescope sees baby galaxies at the distant edges of the universe and finds they contain very little heavy elements just as the Big Bang predicts. There was a lot of talk over the past weeks about far distant galaxies imaged by JWST appearing too mature for their age. It seemed that something might be seriously flawed in our theory of galactic evolution. But the new spectroscopic data coming in clearly shows the lack of heavy elements as would be expected for galaxies formed in the early years of the universe. 

Day Has Returned, but India’s Lander and Rover have Failed to Wake Up

The Pragyaan rover captured this image of the Vikram Lander on August 30th,
before lunar night enshrouded it in its frigid darkness. Image Credit: ISRO.

It looks like India’s Chandrayaan-3 succumbed to the cold, and its mission is over. The frigid lunar night lasted about two weeks, and a new day has dawned. With that day came hopes of a sunlit revival for the lander and the rover, but the India Space Research Organization (ISRO) says the chances of the spacecraft awakening in the Sun are diminishing by the hour. 

The Chandrayaan-3 lander was the first spacecraft to land in the rugged terrain of the Moon's south pole region. It is here where deep craters that never see sunlight might hold reservoir of water and therefore would be an ideal location for manned lunar bases. See complete story at Universe Today.