Science

NASA’s Mars rover extracts first oxygen; Ingenuity helicopter completes second flight

Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) made major strides on the surface of Mars this week.

On Wednesday, the agency announced the Perseverance Mars rover’s MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) instrument had converted carbon dioxide into oxygen on the red planet for the first time.

Just a day later, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter embarked on its second experimental test flight — a more challenging feat for a longer duration.

SPACE X CREW-2 FLIGHT DELAYED TO FRIDAY DUE TO WEATHER

In a release, NASA explained that MOXIE’s test had initially taken place on April 20 and that the ability to turn carbon dioxide into oxygen in such a thin and carbon-rich atmosphere could one day be critical to human exploration of the planet, powering rockets or providing breathable air for astronauts.

Mars’ atmosphere is 96% carbon dioxide and MOXIE works to separate the oxygen atoms from carbon dioxide molecules, expelling carbon monoxide into the Martian atmosphere.

Technicians at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory lower the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) instrument into the belly of the Perseverance rover.
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The conversion process, NASA notes, requires high levels of heat, reaching approximately 1,470 degrees Fahrenheit.

Although MOXIE’s first oxygen production was “modest,” generating about 10 minutes of breathable oxygen, the instrument is designed to generate double that amount every hour.

MOXIE is expected to attempt to extract oxygen at least nine more times over the course of almost two years.

NASA INGENUITY MARS HELICOPTER MAKES HISTORY WITH FIRST POWERED, CONTROLLED FLIGHT ON ANOTHER PLANET

“MOXIE has more work to do, but the results from this technology demonstration are full of promise as we move toward our goal of one day seeing humans on Mars,” Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) Associate Administrator Jim Reuter said. “Oxygen isn’t just the stuff we breathe. Rocket propellant depends on oxygen, and future explorers will depend on producing propellant on Mars to make the trip home.”

In a step towards that same goal, on Thursday, JPL said in a separate statement that its rotorcraft had successfully completed the second Mars flight on April 19.

The flight lasted for 51.9 seconds — almost 12 seconds longer than its first flight — and the team added several new challenges, including a higher maximum altitude and sideways movement.

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s navigation camera captures the helicopter’s shadow on the surface of Jezero Crater during rotorcraft’s second experimental test flight on April 22, 2021.
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Ingenuity took off from “Wright Brothers Field” at 5:33 a.m. EDT and climbed to 16 feet — six feet higher than the historic Monday event.

In addition, after hovering, the copter’s flight control system performed a slight tilt, allowing the craft to accelerate sideways for seven feet.

As with the first test, Perseverance took images of the flight using its Navcam and Mastcam-Z imagers, though using a different zoom level.

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NASA said it is considering how best to expand the profiles of its next flights to acquire additional data.

Ingenuity will conduct up to five test filghts, assuming NASA continues to successfully clear potential hurdles.

“So far, the engineering telemetry we have received and analyzed tell us that the flight met expectations and our prior computer modeling has been accurate,” said Bob Balaram, chief engineer for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. “We have two flights of Mars under our belts, which means that there is still a lot to learn during this month of Ingenuity.”

How to watch Lyrid meteor shower tonight

Lyrid meteor shower: What to know

In late April, skywatchers in the northern hemisphere will get a view of 2018’s Lyrid meteor shower. Here is everything you need to know about this year’s starry spectacle.

The annual Lyrid meteor shower will light up the night sky this week, with its peak in the predawn hours on Thursday.

While the first months of the year have been quiet since January’s Quadrantid meteor shower, the Lyrids are a welcome sight to observers hoping for a celestial spectacle.

NASA GIVES ALL CLEAR: EARTH SAFE FROM ASTEROID THREATS FOR 100 YEARS

Though the shooting stars can appear anywhere in the sky, curious stargazers can look to the meteors’ namesake constellation Lyra — the harp — for reference as Lyrid meteors appear to radiate from near the bright star Vega, EarthSky reported on Tuesday.

The American Meteor Society shows that the moon will be around 68% full on Thursday, possibly impacting visibility.

A meteor crosses the sky illuminated under the stars on a clear night on April 21, 2020 in London, England. Multiple exposures were combined in camera to produce this image. (Photo by Simon Robling/Getty Images)
(Simon Robling/Getty Images)

Light pollution will also be a potentially debilitating factor and experts advise viewers to attempt to find an unobstructed view.

One of the oldest known meteor showers, Lyrids have been witnessed for 2,700 years, according to NASA.

The agency notes they are recognizable for their fast and bright meteors and can produce an outburst of as many as 100 meteors per hour.

METEOR BLAZES ACROSS SOUTH FLORIDA SKIES

In general, 10 to 20 Lyrid meteors can be observed per hour during their peak, traveling at a velocity of 30 miles per second and NASA notes that Lyrids often leave behind glowing dust trains as they blaze through the Earth’s atmosphere.

The source of the shower is the Comet Thatcher (C/1861 G1), which was discovered on April 5, 1861, by astronomer A. E. Thatcher.

As Earth crosses Thatcher’s orbital path, it passes through a trail of debris and is bombarded with comet litter for two weeks.

Thatcher was last seen in the 19th century and isn’t expected to return until the year 2276, according to Insider.

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After the Lyrids pass, there are still 11 meteor showers to watch for this year.

The Lyrids will overlap with the Eta Aquarids meteor shower that NASA says is set to peak in early May.

SpaceX Crew-2 flight delayed to Friday due to weather

NASA announced on Wednesday that its highly anticipated SpaceX Crew-2 launch to the International Space Station (ISS) is delayed.

NASA, SPACEX CREW-2 PREPARE FOR ANOTHER HISTORIC FLIGHT THURSDAY MORNING

Initially scheduled to liftoff Thursday morning at 6:11 a.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, agency leaders confirmed Wednesday that the event is now targeted for 5:49 a.m. ET on Friday.

The delay, NASA explained in a release, is due to unfavorable weather conditions that were forecast along the flight path for Thursday.

The spacecraft is anticipated to dock at the space station at around 5:10 a.m. ET on Saturday.

At a Tuesday prelaunch news conference, U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron Launch Weather Officer Brian Cizek said that downrange weather and winds were the agency’s biggest concern.

From left to right, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, wearing SpaceX spacesuits, are seen as they prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building for Launch Complex 39A during a dress rehearsal prior to the Crew-2 mission launch, Sunday, April 18, 2021, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
(NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

On Wednesday at NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 administrator briefing, Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana explained that they were “worried” about downrange winds and wave heights in case of an “abort” mission.

“It’s going to be absolutely beautiful on Friday morning and we’re gonna come out and do it again,” he said.

Acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) SS Manager Junichi Sakai and European Space Agency (ESA) ISS Program Manager Frank de Winne were also in attendance.

The Crew Dragon Endeavour — the second crew rotation on a commercial spacecraft mission and the first with two international partner astronauts — includes NASA’s Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

Their journey aboard the ISS is slated to last for six months.

“As Bob mentioned, we’ve got some inclement weather offshore. Unlike a robotic mission where we just really need to focus on weather here at the launch site, for a crewed mission we need to look downrange and make sure our weather’s good for a potential launch escape and recovery of the crew,” Jurczyk remarked. ” And so, we’ll be scheduled to go on Friday.”

Jurczyk said he met with the crew members on Tuesday night and they are “ready to go.”

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“I could not be more proud of the Commerical Crew program and the SpaceX team and the NASA team. And, what they’ve been able to do to enable reliable, safe, effective transportation to and from [the] station,” he concluded. “Third launch in less than a year. Demo-2, Crew-1 and now Crew-2 and looking forward to a great launch on Friday and bringing Crew-1 home next week.”

Coverage of prelaunch activities, the launch and docking will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s app and website.

Ingenuity has flown on Mars; what’s next in NASA’s Perseverance mission?

Now that NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has completed its first test flight on the red planet, members of the agency’s Southern California-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory will prepare for the next stages of their mission.

Following Monday’s historic event, the solar-powered rotorcraft will attempt up to four more flights during a period of fewer than 30 days.

NASA INGENUITY MARS HELICOPTER MAKES HISTORY WITH FIRST POWERED, CONTROLLED FLIGHT ON ANOTHER PLANET

Over the next three Martian days — also known as sols — the helicopter’s team will receive and analyze data and imagery from the first flight and devise a plan for the second experimental test, which is scheduled for no sooner than April 22.

“If the helicopter survives the second flight test, the Ingenuity team will consider how best to expand the flight profile,” NASA said in a Monday release.

Ingenuity will conduct up to five flights, assuming NASA continues to successfully clear potential hurdles, each with chances to record additional data for future use.

The Associated Press reported on Monday that the ambitious endeavor could lead the way to a fleet of Martian drones as well as assist helicopter navigation on Earth

Perseverance’s Navcam View of Ingenuity’s First Flight
(NASA)

After Ingenuity is done, the Perseverance rover will resume its focus on surface operations.

Before Ingenuity’s flight, Perseverance drove to its Overlook site, where it documented the feat using its Mastcam-Z and Navcam imagers.

NASA’s Perseverance Twitter account also wrote that it had been imaging some of the local rocks at the lookout point ahead of Ingenuity’s liftoff.

Perseverance will still be used to communicate with the now fully autonomous Ingenuity throughout the process.

As NASA notes in its press releases, a primary objective for “Percy’s” mission on Mars is astrobiology research that includes the search for ancient microbial life.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with the Ingenuity helicopter, seen here about 13 feet (3.9 meters) from the rover. This image was taken by the WASTON camera on the rover’s robotic arm on April 6, 2021, the 46th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

As the rover characterizes Martian geology, it will collect and cache rock and sediment — drilling core samples into rock targets of interest to the scientists.

In March, NASA announced that Perseverance’s SuperCam instrument had selected two rock targets, “Yeehgo” and “Máaz,” for study.

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In cooperation with NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), will send spacecraft to Mars to collect the cached samples — stored in tubes and placed on a storage rack before set in the same area on Mars’ surface — and return them to Earth for analysis.

The rover may cache over 30 selected rock and “soil” samples before its task is complete.

NASA, SpaceX Crew-2 prepare for another historic flight Thursday morning

From left to right, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, prior to the Crew-2 mission launch Sunday. (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission is set to launch for the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday morning.

In a prelaunch news conference on Tuesday, representatives from the agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed that they were set for a 6:11 a.m. ET liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Crew Dragon Endeavour, marking the second crew rotation on a commercial spacecraft mission and the first with two international partner astronauts.

EXPEDITION 64 CREW MEMBERS RETURN FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

NASA’s Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet will embark on a six-month trip aboard the ISS.

Once there, International Space Station manager Joel Montalbano said they will conduct more than 260 scientific experiments and that the fourth crew member will help to increase the research and development for both the highly anticipated Artemis program and the low Earth orbit commercialization efforts.

“With the crew-2 launch, we welcome the European Space Agency’s flying an astronaut for the first time on Dragon. We also welcome back the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency flying on Dragon for a second time,” he added. “So, truly an international program and this is our future where we’ll have international partners on our vehicles for the future. That’s a goal and that’s where we’re planning to be.”

Speaking before Montalbano, Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stitch said that the NASA-SpaceX team had its first “Readiness Review” and dress rehearsal on Tuesday morning, leading to the conclusion that it was “on track” for Thursday and that — assuming there are no changes — docking would be scheduled for Friday at around 4:30 a.m. ET.

“The main thing we’re watching over the next few days is the weather. You know we have to have the launch weather be ‘go’ and also ‘abort’ weather all along the abort ground track to protect the crew in the vehicle. So, we’re looking at both Thursday and Friday and looking at the weather over the next few days,” he said.

Launch Weather Officer Brian Cizek, from U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron, explained that there is currently an 80% chance of favorable weather on Thursday and a 90% chance of favorable weather on Friday.

According to Cizek, downrange weather and winds remain the biggest concern.

NASA INGENUITY MARS HELICOPTER MAKES HISTORY WITH FIRST POWERED, CONTROLLED FLIGHT ON ANOTHER PLANET

Benji Reed, SpaceX’s senior director of human spaceflight programs, thanked NASA for awarding its $2.89 billion commercial human lander to SpaceX and said that the Elon Musk-owned company is excited to be able to fly crew again.

He said that the teams will continue to perform analyses and data assessments, called “paranoia reviews,” until it’s time to fly.

“And, in fact, our teams are actually doing even additional practices, like I mentioned, we continue to want to ensure that everything is great. And so we’re continuing down that path as we get ready for Thursday,” Reed said.

Johnson Space Center Flight Operations Directorate Deputy Manager Norm Knight called the business of human spaceflight “unforgiving” and praised the teams for their work.

“It’s the vigilance from the teams that guarantee that continued safety and it was definitely present in these reviews this week. And you know you step back and you look, it’s, it’s, it’s hard enough in a regular environment but you put COVID on top of that; it’s been exceptionally impressive what these teams have been able to pull together,” he said.

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“The cadence is very good for the teams, between SpaceX and NASA people are working well with each other. We’re looking forward to a successful mission. And again, it’s just a very exciting time,” he said.

Also in attendance were JAXA ISS Manager Junichi Sakai, ESA ISS Program Manager Frank de Winne and Johnson Space Center ISS Program Chief Scientist Kirt Costello.

Fossil site may prove tyrannosaurs lived in packs

Ferocious tyrannosaur dinosaurs may not have been solitary predators as long envisioned, but more like social carnivores such as wolves, new research unveiled Monday found.

Paleontologists developed the theory while studying a mass tyrannosaur death site found seven years ago in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah, one of two monuments that the Biden administration is considering restoring to their full size after former President Donald Trump shrunk them.

STUDY: ABOUT 2.5 BILLION T. REX ROAMED EARTH BUT NOT AT ONCE

Using geochemical analysis of the bones and rock, a team of researchers with the University of Arkansas determined that the dinosaurs died and were buried in the same place and were not the result of fossils washing in from multiple areas.

The new Utah site is the third mass tyrannosaur grave site that’s been discovered in North America — bolstering a theory first developed 20 years ago that they lived in packs. However, more research needs to be done to make that argument, said Kristi Curry Rogers, a biology professor at Macalester College who wasn’t involved in the research but reviewed the finding Monday.

In this photo provided by the Bureau of Land Management, researchers prepare fossils to be airlifted from the Rainbows and Unicorns Quarry on Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to the Paria River District paleontology lab in Kanab, Utah, on Sept. 4, 2018. Ferocious tyrannosaur dinosaurs may not have been solitary predators as long envisioned, but more like social carnivores such as wolves, new research unveiled Monday, April 19, 2021, found. (Dr. Alan Titus/Bureau of Land Management via AP)

“It is a little tougher to be so sure that these data mean that these tyrannosaurs lived together in the good times,” Rogers said. “It’s possible that these animals may have lived in the same vicinity as one another without traveling together in a social group, and just came together around dwindling resources as times got tougher.”

In 2014, Bureau of Land Management paleontologist Alan Titus discovered the site, which was later named the Rainbows and Unicorns quarry because of the vast array of fossils contained inside. Excavation has been ongoing since the site’s discovery because of the size of the area and volume of bones.

“I consider this a once-in-a-lifetime discovery for myself,” Titus told reporters during a virtual news conference. “I probably won’t find another site this exciting and scientifically significant during my career.”

FLORIDA WOMAN THINKS SHE SAW A ‘SMALL DINOSAUR’ RUNNING THROUGH YARD, SOCIAL MEDIA DEBATES

The social tyrannosaurs theory began over 20 years ago when more than a dozen tyrannosaurs were found at a site in Alberta, Canada. Another mass death site in Montana again raised the possibility of social tyrannosaurs. Many scientists questioned the theory, arguing that the dinosaurs didn’t have the brainpower to engage in sophisticated social interaction, Titus said.

“Going that next step to understand behavior and how animals behave requires really amazing evidence,” Joseph Sertich, curator of dinosaurs at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, said at the news conference. “I think that this site, the spectacular collection of tyrannosaurs but also the other assembled pieces of evidence … pushes us to the point where we can show some evidence for behavior.”

In addition to the tyrannosaurs, researchers have also found seven species of turtles, multiple fish and ray species, two other kinds of dinosaurs and a nearly complete skeleton of a juvenile Deinosuchus alligator. These other animals do not appear to have all died together.

Paleontology groups have been among those pushing the federal government to restore the Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante to their original sizes to protect the region’s rich paleontological and archaeological record.

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Interior Secretary Deb Haaland visited southern Utah earlier this month as she prepared to submit recommendations on whether to reverse Trump’s decision to downsize the monuments. Titus said he showed Haaland some of the fossils at his lab during her visit and said she “appreciated getting to see the material.”

“The (Bureau of Land Management) is protecting these fossils as national treasures.” Titus said. “They’re part of the story of how North America came to be and how ultimately we came to be.”

Alert level raised for Aleutian Islands volcano emitting ash

JUNEAU, Alaska — A volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands chain has continued to emit ash, the Alaska Volcano Observatory reported Thursday, prompting officials to raise the alert level.

NASA SATELLITE DATA COULD DETECT VOLCANIC UNREST YEARS BEFORE ERUPTIONS

Satellite views suggested ash emissions from the Semisopochnoi volcano that started in the morning are continuing with no decrease in intensity. The observatory listed the volcano being under a watch.

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The ash cloud extends more than 217 miles (350 kilometers) southeast of the volcano and has reached heights of up to 20,000 feet (6 kilometers) above sea level, the observatory said.

Adak is about 160 miles (257 kilometers) east of the volcano.

Study: About 2.5 billion T. Rex roamed Earth but not at once

Paleontologists stunned as dinosaur skull discovery throws previous assumptions for a loop

Paleontologists have always believed that dinosaurs had symmetrical faces. But now, a newly discovered Styracosaurus skull has been unearthed, which throws those previously conceived notions for a loop. Researchers were surprised that it had horns that were not symmetrical, and said that if found separately, paleontologists could have guessed they were from two different species.

One Tyrannosaurus rex seems scary enough. Now picture 2.5 billion of them. That’s how many of the fierce dinosaur king probably roamed Earth over the course of a couple million years, a new study finds.

Using calculations based on body size, sexual maturity and the creatures’ energy needs, a team at the University of California, Berkeley figured out just how many T. rex lived over 127,000 generations, according to a study in Thursday’s journal Science. It’s a first-of-its-kind number, but just an estimate with a margin of error that is the size of a T. rex.

T. REX AND TRICERATOPS FOSSILS UNEARTHED IN FEROCIOUS BATTLE, TO BE DISPLAYED FOR FIRST TIME

“That’s a lot of jaws,” said study lead author Charles Marshall, director of the University of California Museum of Paleontology. “That’s a lot of teeth. That’s a lot of claws.”

The species roamed North America for about 1.2 million to 3.6 million years, meaning the T. rex population density was small at any one moment. There would be about two in a place the size of the Washington, D.C., or 3,800 in California, the study said.

“Probably like a lot of people, I literally did a double-take to make sure that my eyes hadn’t deceived me when I first read that 2.5 billion T. rexes have ever lived,” said Macalester College paleobiologist Kristi Curry Rogers, who wasn’t part of the study.

Marshall said the estimate helps scientists figure the preservation rate of T. rex fossils and underscores how lucky the world is to know about them at all. About 100 or so T. rex fossils have been found — 32 of them with enough material to figure they are adults. If there were 2.5 million T. rex instead of 2.5 billion, we would probably have never known they existed, he said.

Marshall’s team calculated the population by using a general biology rule of thumb that says the bigger the animal, the less dense its population. Then they added estimates of how much energy the carnivorous T. rex needed to stay alive — somewhere between a Komodo dragon and a lion. The more energy required, the less dense the population. They also factored in that the T. rex reached sexual maturity somewhere around 14 to 17 years old and lived at most 28 years.

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Given uncertainties in the creatures’ generation length, range and how long they roamed, the Berkeley team said the total population could be as little as 140 million or as much as 42 billion with 2.4 billion as the middle value.

The science about the biggest land-living carnivores of all time is important, “but the truth, as I see it, is that this kind of thing is just very cool,” said Purdue University geology professor James Farlow.

Study finds about 2.5 billion T. Rex roamed Earth but not at once: ‘That’s a lot of jaws’

A model of a Tyrannosaurus-rex predatory dinosaur – file photo.
(Photo by Christophe Gateau/picture alliance via Getty Images)

NEW SPECIES OF DINOSAUR RELATED TO TYRANNOSAURUS REX DISCOVERED

“That’s a lot of jaws,” said study lead author Charles Marshall, director of the University of California Museum of Paleontology. “That’s a lot of teeth. That’s a lot of claws.”

TYRANNOSAURUS REX HAD MASSIVE GROWTH SPURT AS TEENAGER, STUDY FINDS

A fossil of a Tyrannosaurus rex known as “Sue” is seen in Chicago’s Field Museum, Oct. 6, 2016.
(Reuters)

DINOSAURS MAY HAVE BEEN POISONED BEFORE THEY BECAME EXTINCT, STUDY REVEALS

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NASA, international astronomers announce unprecedented data on famous supermassive black hole M87

New data released by a team of hundreds of international scientists offers a more comprehensive understanding of the supermassive black hole at the heart of the galaxy M87 and the system it powers.

A dramatic video announcing the findings promises “unparalleled insight” into the black hole and suggests that the observations could also help to improve tests of prolific mathematician Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.

NASA SATELLITE DATA COULD DETECT VOLCANIC UNREST YEARS BEFORE ERUPTIONS

In order to measure and observe black hole behavior, researchers gathered information from 19 observatories, using imagery from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR), Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT).

In 2019, the scientists released the first-ever image of a black hole in the galaxy M87 — 55 million light-years away from Earth — using the EHT.

A co-author of a report on the new data sets published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan’s Kazuhiro Hada, told NASA that the image had informed their work.

“We knew that the first direct image of a black hole would be groundbreaking,” he said in a Wednesday release. “But to get the most out of this remarkable image, we need to know everything we can about the black hole’s behavior at that time by observing over the entire electromagnetic spectrum.”

For example, the space agency said in March that the Chandra X-ray Observatory had found evidence of a jet of particles coming from a fast-growing supermassive black hole.

The EHT Multi-wavelength Science Working Group; the EHT Collaboration; ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO); the EVN; the EAVN Collaboration; VLBA (NRAO); the GMVA; the Hubble Space Telescope; the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory; the Chandra X-ray Observatory; the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array; the Fermi-LAT Collaboration; the H.E.S.S collaboration; the MAGIC collaboration; the VERITAS collaboration; NASA and ESA.
(NASA)

Astronomers have studied the jets that travel at almost the speed of light across vast distances and NASA said that the jets from M87 produce light across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, suggesting that each black hole has a unique pattern based on the intensity of light it produces.

“Identifying this pattern gives crucial insight into a black hole’s properties (for example, its spin and energy output), but this is a challenge because the pattern changes with time,” NASA said in the statement.

The various telescopes utilized in this coordinated undertaking help to characterize the black holes and compensate for spectrum variability.

According to NASA, the observations — made from the end of March to the middle of April 2017 — mark the largest simultaneous observing campaign ever undertaken on a supermassive black hole with jets.

“The combination of data from these telescopes, and current (and future) EHT observations, will allow scientists to conduct important lines of investigation into some of astrophysics’ most significant and challenging fields of study,” the agency said, noting that the first results showed the intensity of electromagnetic radiation produced by material around M87’s supermassive black hole was the lowest that had ever been witnessed.

This week, EHT array scientists are looking at the black hole in M87 once more as well as several other distant black holes. Several radio telescopes have been added to the network since 2017.

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Technical issues stymied the 2019 campaign and the 2020 campaign was scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Space.com.

“With the release of these data, combined with the resumption of observing and an improved EHT, we know many exciting new results are on the horizon, co-author Mislav Baloković of Yale University, said in the NASA release.

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