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Corey S Powell
@coreyspowell@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 1 hour ago

This summary of the Starshot project by one of its team leaders is a bit defensive. But it's a fascinating peek into the minds of the engineers who deeply, passionately wanted to be able to send a spacecraft to another star within their lifetime.

https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/03/03/starshot-is-a-success-part-i/ #science #astronomy #space #tech

https://www.centauri-dreams.org

Starshot Is a Success: Part I

The figure shows a concept for the sail, about 5 m in diameter. Some studies show that at the velocity under consideration the gas and dust will pass through the thin sail with virtually no damage if it travels face-on. Only the payload would need protection. The sail can also be oriented edge-on in order to avoid such collisions, giving meters of material protection to the center. The payload is around the center, protected from damage due to incoming gas and dust.
The figure shows a concept for the sail, about 5 m in diameter. Some studies show that at the velocity under consideration the gas and dust will pass through the thin sail with virtually no damage if it travels face-on. Only the payload would need protection. The sail can also be oriented edge-on in order to avoid such collisions, giving meters of material protection to the center. The payload is around the center, protected from damage due to incoming gas and dust.
The figure shows a concept for the sail, about 5 m in diameter. Some studies show that at the velocity under consideration the gas and dust will pass through the thin sail with virtually no damage if it travels face-on. Only the payload would need protection. The sail can also be oriented edge-on in order to avoid such collisions, giving meters of material protection to the center. The payload is around the center, protected from damage due to incoming gas and dust.
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Corey S Powell
@coreyspowell@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 1 hour ago

This summary of the Starshot project by one of its team leaders is a bit defensive. But it's a fascinating peek into the minds of the engineers who deeply, passionately wanted to be able to send a spacecraft to another star within their lifetime.

https://www.centauri-dreams.org/2026/03/03/starshot-is-a-success-part-i/ #science #astronomy #space #tech

https://www.centauri-dreams.org

Starshot Is a Success: Part I

The figure shows a concept for the sail, about 5 m in diameter. Some studies show that at the velocity under consideration the gas and dust will pass through the thin sail with virtually no damage if it travels face-on. Only the payload would need protection. The sail can also be oriented edge-on in order to avoid such collisions, giving meters of material protection to the center. The payload is around the center, protected from damage due to incoming gas and dust.
The figure shows a concept for the sail, about 5 m in diameter. Some studies show that at the velocity under consideration the gas and dust will pass through the thin sail with virtually no damage if it travels face-on. Only the payload would need protection. The sail can also be oriented edge-on in order to avoid such collisions, giving meters of material protection to the center. The payload is around the center, protected from damage due to incoming gas and dust.
The figure shows a concept for the sail, about 5 m in diameter. Some studies show that at the velocity under consideration the gas and dust will pass through the thin sail with virtually no damage if it travels face-on. Only the payload would need protection. The sail can also be oriented edge-on in order to avoid such collisions, giving meters of material protection to the center. The payload is around the center, protected from damage due to incoming gas and dust.
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Corey S Powell
@coreyspowell@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 3 days ago

A major advance is using the MeerKAT radio telescope to map emission from hydrogen clouds in otherwise-invisible galaxies.

By combining different types of vision, astronomers are now bringing hidden parts of the universe into view.

Full paper at link.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.09339 #astronomy #space #nature #tech

arXiv.org

Hidden Vela Supercluster Revealed by First Hybrid Redshift & Peculiar Velocity Reconstruction

A large fraction of the extragalactic sky is obscured by foreground dust and stars along the plane of the Milky Way, leaving a major gap (~ 20%) in whole-sky maps of large-scale structures -- an incompleteness that is even more severe for peculiar velocity samples. This has long limited an unambiguous interpretation of observed cosmic flows and their connection to the underlying mass-density field. We present a new hybrid reconstruction methodology which combines 65,518 galaxy peculiar velocity distances from the CF4++ catalogue (Courtois2025) with 8283 new galaxy redshifts observed near the southern Galactic plane (|b| <= 10 degrees) Zone of Avoidance. A major advance is the inclusion of 2176 high-sensitivity, interferometric HI redshifts obtained with the SARAO MeerKAT telescope which for the first time provide coverage of the innermost 3degrees-wide strip of the southern ZOA and to unprecedented depth. This hybrid redshifts & peculiar velocities approach yields a substantially revised view of the inferred overdensities in and around the ZOA. In particular, the Vela supercluster emerges as a dominant mass concentration, rivaling the Shapley concentration and exceeding the mass associated with Laniakea and the Great Attractor region. With a total mass of 33.8 10^16 Msol, a characteristic radius of 70 hmpc, and a double core morphology at a distance of 189 hmpc, Vela dominates the mass budget and gravitational influence of the southern Zone of Avoidance. These results provide the most complete and dynamically consistent picture to date of the southern Zone of Avoidance and demonstrate the transformative potential of hybrid reconstruction techniques tailored for the next generation of large-scale surveys.
The MeerKAT telescope in the Karoo. Since its inauguration in 2018, the 64 dish array has been used to investigate a variety of questions in modern astrophysics such as how galaxies form and evolve across cosmic history.
The MeerKAT telescope in the Karoo. Since its inauguration in 2018, the 64 dish array has been used to investigate a variety of questions in modern astrophysics such as how galaxies form and evolve across cosmic history.
The MeerKAT telescope in the Karoo. Since its inauguration in 2018, the 64 dish array has been used to investigate a variety of questions in modern astrophysics such as how galaxies form and evolve across cosmic history.
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हिति , in Nepāl Bhāṣā, is the word for a shared community water tap. Even in modern Newar cities, these ancient structures still pour out fresh mountain water piped through ancient underground filters and conduits. They are a place to wash, to talk, to drink, to meet the locals: a nourishing, refreshing social-ecological place.

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