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Fifty years ago today, the crew of Apollo 17 completed humanity’s last voyage to the Moon, leaving the lunar surface for the final time. On December 14, 1972, Commander Gene Cernan spoke the now famous quote, “We leave as we came and God willing, we shall return -- with peace and hope for all mankind.” On November 16 of this year, NASA took the next major step in returning to the Moon with the launch of Artemis I. Millions around the world watched live as the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket launched the Orion spacecraft on its 25 day mission that saw the un-crewed vehicle log over 1.4 million miles and travel farther (40,000 miles beyond the far side of the Moon) than any human-rated spacecraft has ever traveled. Orion made its initial flight around the Moon and has returned stunning images rivaling the Apollo 8 “Earthrise.” This historic milestone represents a truly monumental achievement. But this is only the first step.

The Vanguard launch vehicle was selected by the US for its first attempt to launch a satellite into orbit around the Earth as part of the International Geophysical Year (IGY). The USSR had already launched two Sputnik satellites, with one carrying a dog into orbit, as the US prepared for its first attempt. On December 6, 1957, the Vanguard booster ignited, but about 2 seconds after liftoff, after rising about four feet, the rocket lost thrust and began to crash back down onto the launch pad. As it sank into the launch pad, the fuel tanks ruptured and exploded, destroying the rocket and severely damaging the launch pad. The Vanguard satellite was thrown clear and landed on the ground a short distance away with its transmitters still sending out a beacon signal as it rolled across the ground. It was a humiliating failure. In New York City, members of the Soviet delegation to the United Nations sarcastically asked American delegates if the United States would be interested in receiving aid under USSR's program of technical assistance for backward nations. But by the end of the year, America’s attention was riveted on the efforts of the Army-JPL team to prepare Jupiter-C for an Explorer I satellite-launch attempt, tentatively scheduled for late January l958.

Welcome to the night sky report for December 2022 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. The Moon sweeps past Jupiter twice this month, and actually covers Mars completely, in an event called an occultation, on December 7th. The event is visible across the U.S., except for the Southeast and East Coast, where the Moon will graze closely past Mars. Step outside on a cold December night when the stars shine bright to find the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, and Cepheus. They will help you locate a binary star system (Eta Cassiopeiae), a fan-shaped open star cluster (M103 or NGC 581), and a variable star (Mu Cephei). Also, throughout the month, you can find Pegasus, the winged stallion, high overhead in the south. The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

Using data from ESA’s Gaia astrometry mission, astronomers have identified the closest known black hole, less than 1600 light-years away from Earth and have determined its mass. The black hole is orbiting a star similar to our Sun, and was identified by tracking the star that the black hole is orbiting. It is expected to be the first one of many black holes to be discovered using the same method. At the same time, the properties of the binary star system are unexpected, indicating a serious gap in astronomers’ understanding of how such systems form in the first place.

Fifty five years ago, on November 9, 1967, the first Saturn V rocket, carrying the unmanned Apollo 4 spacecraft, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Scientists calculated that the noise created by the launch was one of the loudest ever on Earth, natural or man-made. The vibrations rattled the press site several miles away as the rocket cleared the launch tower. The mission objectives included testing of structural integrity of the mega-rocket, the compatibility of the rocket and Apollo spacecraft, heat shield and thermal seal integrity, overall reentry operations, launch load and dynamic characteristics, stage separations, rocket subsystems, the emergency detection system, and mission support facilities and operations. All mission objectives were achieved. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center designed, developed, and managed the production of the Saturn family of rockets that eventually took astronauts to the Moon in 1969. Today, Marshall is developing NASA's Space Launch System (or SLS, sometimes referred to as a “Saturn V on Steroids”), the most powerful rocket ever built, capable of sending astronauts to the Moon, Mars, and deeper into space than ever before.

Welcome to the night sky report for November 2022 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. In November, hunt for the fainter constellations of fall, including Pisces, Aries, and Triangulum. They will guide you to several galaxies and a pair of white stars. Look for spiral galaxy M74 and M33, the Triangulum Galaxy. Also, a lunar eclipse and the Leonid meteors will be visible during the month. The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

The universe is 13.77 billion years old – or is it? The age of the universe is closely related to the so-called Hubble Constant, which measures the current expansion rate of the universe. A higher Hubble Constant means the universe expands faster and is therefore younger, while a more slowly expanding universe is older. The various measurements of the Hubble Constant have become more and more precise in recent years, but have revealed a puzzling observation: different experiments have given different values of the Hubble Constant and consequently different answers about how old our universe is. What is even more puzzling is that rather than converging on a common end value, these measurements seem to now be diverging. Something is not quite right. This discrepancy has been dubbed the “Hubble Tension.” In the latest findings, the tension has now passed the important 5-sigma threshold that physicists use to distinguish between possible statistical flukes and something that is real and must be explained. Reaching this new statistical level highlights the challenges for both theorists and astrophysicists and could lead to new physics beyond the Standard Model of Cosmology.

Astronomers around the world were captivated by an unusually bright and long-lasting pulse of high-energy radiation that swept over the Earth on October 9, 2022. The emission came from a Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) – the most powerful class of explosions in the universe – and ranks as the most luminous event ever recorded. A Gamma-Ray Burst is a super energetic explosion and this one originated in the constellation Sagitta. The signal of the burst – called GRB 221009A – was picked up by many observatories. Some suddenly noticed an increase in their detection of high-energy emissions. Others were pointed towards the source soon thereafter. The event took place some 1.9 billion years ago and likely indicates the birth of a black hole. The GRB provided an unexpected occasion for different NASA and ESA missions to come together and study the same astronomical event.

75 years ago today, on October 14, 1947, Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager became the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound when he piloted his X-1 rocket plane to a speed of Mach 1.06, or 700 mph. During World War II, Chuck Yeager distinguished himself in aerial combat over France and Germany during the years 1943-1945 by shooting down 13 enemy aircraft, including one of Germany's first jet fighters. In July 1966 he assumed command of the 405th Fighter Wing at Clark Air Base in the Philippines and flew 127 missions Vietnam. All in all, Chuck Yeager flew more than 10,000 hours in more than 361 different makes and models of military aircraft. In addition to the Collier Trophy, which he received in 1948 for breaking the sound barrier, he was awarded the MacKay Trophy in 1948 and the Harmon International Trophy in 1954.

This year, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine went to Svante Pääbo, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. Dr. Pääbo is no stranger to readers of Astromart News, as we have followed his work in early human genomics since 2009 when he and his team generated a first draft sequence for more than 60 percent of the Neanderthal genome. In 2014, his team succeeded in deciphering nearly 100 percent of the Neanderthal genome. This made a comparison with the genomes of today's humans possible. When Pääbo's team first published the Neanderthal mitochondrial genome, nothing seemed to indicate an exchange of genes between modern day humans and Neanderthals when they coexisted in close proximity. However, when Pääbo succeeded in deciphering the nuclear Neanderthal genome, it became clear that Neanderthals passed on large parts of their genome to modern humans. It turns out that one to three percent of the genomes of people living outside of Africa today stem from Neanderthals. An interesting side note -- Svante Pääbo's father, Sune Bergström, received the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1982.

History changed 65 years ago today, on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik 1. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball -- about 23 inches in diameter -- and weighed less than 190 pounds. It took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That single launch ushered in a whole array of new political, military, technological, and scientific developments in the years that followed. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the Space Age… and the US - USSR space race. While President Eisenhower congratulated the Soviets and tried to downplay the importance of the accomplishment, he misjudged the public reaction to the event. The launch of Sputnik 1 had a "Pearl Harbor-like" effect on the American public psyche. It was a shock that exposed a significant technological gap in US capabilities and in the years to come, provided the necessary impetus for increased spending in aerospace endeavors, technical and scientific educational programs, and the chartering of new federal agencies to manage air and space research and development.

55 years ago today, on October 3, 1967, William John “Pete” Knight set a world aircraft speed record for a manned aircraft by piloting his X-15A-2 to Mach 6.7 or 4520 miles per hour (7274 km/h) -- a record that still stands today. During his 16 flights in the X-15, Knight also became one of only eight test pilots to earn Astronaut Wings by flying an airplane to space, reaching an altitude of 280,500 feet (85,500 m). After nearly ten years of test flying at Edwards Air Force Base in California, Knight went to Southeast Asia in 1968 where he completed a total of 253 combat missions in an F-100 Super Saber during the Vietnam War. After 32 years of service and more than 6000 hours in the cockpits of more than 100 different aircraft, he retired from the US Air Force as a Colonel in 1982. Pete Knight was a test pilot, aeronautical engineer, Vietnam War combat pilot, astronaut, and even for a short time, a politician. Knight passed away in 2004 at age 74, truly an American hero… As were the rest of the brave test pilots who participated in the X-15 program.

Welcome to the night sky report for October 2022 -- Your guide to the constellations, deep sky objects, planets, and celestial events that are observable during the month. Enjoy the two giant planets Jupiter and Saturn all night throughout the month. Then watch as Mars begins its retrograde motion, moving westward each night instead of eastward, for the next few months. Finally, check out the Orionid meteors overnight on Oct. 20th. The crisp, clear October nights are also full of celestial showpieces for the deep sky gazer too. Find Pegasus, the flying horse of Greek myth, to pinpoint dense globular star clusters and galaxies. Look for M15, NGC 7331, and M31 - the Andromeda Galaxy. The night sky is truly a celestial showcase. Get outside and explore its wonders from your own backyard.

How many intelligent civilizations should there be in our galaxy right now? In 1961, the US astrophysicist Frank Drake, who passed away on September 2, 2022 at the age of 92, came up with an equation to estimate this. Whatever reasonable values you feed into the equation, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that we shouldn’t be alone in the galaxy. Drake remained a proponent and a supporter of the search for extraterrestrial life throughout his days. Today, there are about 100 scientists at the SETI Institute working on nearly 100 research questions and each of these topics can be related to one of the terms in the Drake Equation.