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Francesca Toma (right) and Johanna Eichhorn shown at the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP) laboratory at Berkeley Lab on July 2, 2018. They developed a special technique using an atomic force microscope at JCAP to capture images of thin-film bismuth vanadate at the nanoscale to understand how a material’s properties can affect its performance in an artificial photosynthesis device.

An updated model suggests the shape of the Sun’s bubble of influence, the heliosphere (seen in yellow), may be a deflated croissant shape, rather than the long-tailed comet shape suggested by other research.

noirlab2019 – Artist’s interpretation of the calcium-rich supernova 2019ehk
Artist’s interpretation (without labels) of the calcium-rich supernova 2019ehk. Shown in orange is the calcium-rich material created in the explosion. Purple coloring represents gas shed by the star right before the explosion, which then produced bright X-ray emission when the material collided with the supernova shockwave.

Cyclone observed in Jupiter’s northern hemisphere by JunoCam in July 2018. The central part covers an area of 3200 x 3800 km. White clouds of ammonia can be seen, rotating anticlockwise. Clouds rising as much as 15 km above the others (based on the shadow they cast) are visible in several places, especially in the upper central part of the cyclone. These storms are thought to contain a kind of water-ammonia hail (‘mushballs’) specific to Jupiter’s atmosphere, which drags the ammonia down into the deep atmosphere and may explain the presence of shallow lightning flashes.

Illustration of the planetary system TVLM 513–46546; the newly discovered Saturn-like planet is seen in front of its host star, a small and cool brown dwarf.

Exoplanet Mismatch

New study: The quiet Sun is much more active than we thought

noirlab2018a – Artist’s impression of K2-25b
New detailed observations with NSF’s NOIRLab facilities reveal a young exoplanet, orbiting a young star in the Hyades cluster, that is unusually dense for its size and age. Slightly smaller than Neptune, K2-25b orbits an M-dwarf star — the most common type of star in the galaxy — in 3.5 days.

ESA's Optical Ground Station

Rocket Lab’s Photon satellite bus will deliver CAPSTONE into a trajectory toward the Moon through a series of orbit raising maneuvers.