I had such a fun time chatting with Tony and Dustin about Conspiracy Theories that they brought me back for round two. This time to chat about the Fermi Paradox, and why it's such a troubling concept. The Universe is big and old, and there should be live everywhere in the Universe. So, where is it? If you think you've solved the Fermi Paradox, you probably haven't thought enough about the Fermi Paradox.
I enjoyed the interview, and I think you will to. And definitely check out the Space Junk Podcast and subscribe. Lots of great discussions with astrophotographers, astronomers and other space-minded people.
Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today
As always, if you have comments or questions, or suggestions on how I can improve this newsletter, please don't hesitate to reply this email or email me at info@universetoday.com.
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 On Thursday, May 23rd, 2019, SpaceX launched one of its most important payloads in the history of the company - 60 satellites that will begin the constellation of their Starlink internet satellite system. There were several delays leading up to the launch. It was originally supposed to launch on May 15th, but high upper-level winds scrubbed it. Then the launch was pushed back a week because they needed to upgrade the software on all 60 satellites. But finally, on Thursday, the rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 10:30 pm Eastern Time from the Space Launch Complex 40 pad. Subscribe to our podcasts:
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Sen (or Space Exploration Network) just launched the first satellite in their 4K streaming platform that will show off the surface of the Earth below them. This first satellite is just a demonstration, to show how the service will work and what the video feed will look like. Several other satellites are coming shortly
Venus is the worst today, but was it better in the past? Astronomers have detected evidence that it might have had a large ocean billions of years ago. And this ocean might have acted like a brake, slowing down the rotation of Venus to the point that it led to a runaway greenhouse effect
After the launch of Starlink, skywatchers have seen the bright train of satellites moving through the sky. This has led to big concerns that the constellation of satellites is going to cause havoc for astronomers across the world. We don't know the final configuration and how bright things are going to get, but let's just say, it's a big controversy right now.
Did you know that the Apollo missions carried a machete on board when they traveled to the Moon? Of course it wasn't to cut through the thick foliage on the desolate Moon, it was part of a survival pack that the astronauts could use if their capsule landed in a forest or jungle. And now, you can buy a replica.
In this dramatic picture, you can see a Russian Soyuz rocket blasted by lightning as it was lifting off on Monday. It was carrying a replacement satellite for the GLONASS navigation system (a Russian equivalent of GPS). Incredibly, the strike didn't seem to affect the rocket, and it deployed its payload into orbit safely.
NASA has been studying the state of the Earth's climate for decades, from the ground, from the air, and of course, from space. They've gotten very very good at developing predictive models about how the planet's temperatures are going to change based on carbon emissions. In fact, they've predicted the current state of the world with surprising accuracy - within 1/20th of a degree Celsius.
Planetary scientists are discovering more and more water on Mars, trapped beneath the surface in the form of ice. Researchers used Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's shallow radar instrument to peer several kilometers below the surface of Mars, and it found several layers of sand and ice beneath Mars' north pole.
Mars is similar to Earth in so many ways, but it's always happy to remind us that it's a truly alien world. Mars has sand dunes, but the places they form and the way they move is very different from the same features we have here on Earth.
It's time to start getting excited for NASA's next mission to the Red Planet: the Mars 2020 rover (although I'm sure it'll get renamed). This recently released picture shows the region where Mars 2020 is going, and I think you can probably guess why it's such an exciting destination. Look at that ancient river delta. If there's life on Mars, this is a pretty good place to look.
Older images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope have this familiar look. It's almost a perfect rectangle and then there's a block taken out of the corner. What's in there? What are they hiding? Is that where all the aliens live? No, there's a perfectly rational explanation, one of Hubble's science instruments has a narrower focus.
Astronomers think that a powerful supernova bombarded the Earth with high energy particles about 2.6 million years ago. Coincidentally, this was the same time that hominids moved from being on all fours to standing upright. It's possible that the supernova changed our atmosphere, leading to more forest fires, and more savannas, giving humans a reason to stand up and look around.
Astronomers have found a very rare example of a planet; one they thought shouldn't exist. NGTS-4b has three times the size of Earth and is 20% smaller than Neptune. The bizarre part is that it's orbiting so close to its parent star that it suffers temperatures above 1000 Celsius. The radiation from the star should have blasted away all its ices. So how can it be there?
Other Interesting Space Stuff
This is a beautiful photograph of the Soul Nebula by Paul C. Swift, aka @moonrocks_astro . It's an emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia, and Paul needed to gather 60 hours of exposure to take this amazing image.
We have featured over 1,000 astrophotographers on our Instagram page, which has more than 174,000 followers. Want to do a takeover? Use the hashtag #universetoday and I'll check out your photos.
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