Blaine @drapterthon@qoto.org

How South Carolina Ended Up With an All-Male Supreme Court

https://www.propublica.org/article/how-south-carolina-ended-up-with-all-male-supreme-court

A single genetic mutation made humans more susceptible to cancer

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2318407-a-single-genetic-mutation-made-humans-more-susceptible-to-cancer/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home

#NewScientist #RSS #News #Science

so um, I was going to spend tonight answering your questions about the updates from the conference I posted earlier...

but I'm more than a little distracted by the supreme court getting ready to overturn my rights as a uterus holder in this country.

I'm worth more than my uterus.

Please enjoy this awesome video of the HR 8799 system made by Jason Wang, for anyone who hadn't seen it yet.

(See: https://jasonwang.space/orbits.html)

The star itself was blocked by the telescope so we can see the planets, though some of the light still scatters around the edges. All four known planets are visible. The orbital motion is interpolated from a series of images taken by the Keck Telescope in Hawaii.

As for the planets themselves...

Methane emissions from cows spotted from space for the first time

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2318299-methane-emissions-from-cows-spotted-from-space-for-the-first-time/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home

#NewScientist #RSS #News #Science

This cool gif shows what we would see if we could resolve the star and planet system (we actually only see them as a single point of light)

When we split the star light up into it's different color constituents we see that the planet will looks slightly bigger (blocks more starlight) at certain wavelengths of light, so that tells us there must be something in the atmosphere absorbing/blocking light at that specific wavelength.

@astromecanik I just use an adapter to strap my iPhone 6 to the lens. :)

Then again, I mostly just photograph the Moon and planets.

If you weren't aware, astronomers don't have a great relationship with Musk. A big issue for us is the Starlink satellites, which due to their low altitude and high number, already regularly interfere with ground-based observations. #starlinked on Twitter has endless examples.

We get told it's the "price of progress" and that SpaceX will make space telescopes cheap anyway. But that's BS: development of advanced space tech is much more expensive than the launch.

https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/22396388/space-x-elon-musk-starlink-too-bright-astronomy-stars-pollution

#JWST is now fully aligned to all 5 instruments! Check out the in-focus test images and blog post below. We're in the final stretch!

https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/04/28/nasas-webb-in-full-focus-ready-for-instrument-commissioning/