The Spirals

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a stunning new series of near- and mid-infrared images that depict 19 nearby spiral galaxies in vivid detail.

The achievement provides a level of clarity and detail in the new imagery that offers astronomers unprecedented insights into the structure and dynamics of this group of celestial bodies.

Read much more about these images here: https://thedebrief.org/james-webb-space-telescope-captures-amazing-new-images-of-19-distant-spiral-galaxies/. And download high res versions of your favorite galaxies from the mosaic on Webb’s Flikr page.

That'll do, Ingenuity. That'll do.

Who's ready to cry over another anthropomorphized space robot? * raises hand *

Ingenuity's incredible Martian mission has come to an end. It was intended as a technology "proof of concept," with a mission span of 30 days and a max of 5 test flights. Many believed the little helicopter wouldn't fly at all in the thin Martian atmosphere.

Instead, it flew 72 missions in 3 years, traversing over 11 miles and reaching as high as 79 feet in the air. It flew in treacherous terrain, dealt with a dead sensor, cleaned itself off after dust storms, operated from 48 different airfields, performed three emergency landings, and survived a frigid Martian winter. Through all that, it wormed its way into our hearts and inspired our imagination.

On January 18th, it sustained rotor damage during landing and lost contact with Perseverance and NASA. Communications were re-established the next day, and imagery revealed damage to one of its blades severe enough to render it unable to take off again.

With such an amazing performance that silenced every doubter, Ingenuity is only the first craft to fly on Mars; it will not be the last.

That'll do, Ingenuity. That'll do.

Learn more here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/after-three-years-on-mars-nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-mission-ends

Ad Astra, Per Aspera

"Shoot for the moon - even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."

I haven't posted about this before now, because the ultimate fate of the Peregrine spacecraft wasn't certain until yesterday. But now I can tell the story in full.

The space enthusiasts among you probably know that Peregrine successfully launched early last week, with a planned lunar landing in February. However, a propellant leak once it reached space derailed those plans. The team made a remarkable recovery, and the craft did reach lunar distance (but the moon wasn't there at the moment) and did a lot of science before sweeping back toward earth; it burned up safely in the atmosphere yesterday.

In the image below, top left is the DHL MoonBox, which held the tiny digital record of my short stories, Apogee, Solatium, Venatoris, Re/Genesis, Fractals, Chrysalis and Starlight Express, together with the writings and art of thousands of other creators, thanks to the tireless efforts of Susan Kaye Quinn (Writers on the Moon) and Samuel Peralta (Lunar Codex).

So for a time my stories soared among the stars where they belong, before returning home. And because Sam Peralta never, ever gives up (and understands the power of redundancies!), the Lunar Codex will also be flying on at least four additional lunar missions by Astrobotic and Inuitive Machines in the next year, so those stories will get to the moon soon enough!

Ad Astra, Per Aspera

SciFi in 2024

Hey, it's a new year! What are you excited about in the world of science fiction this year? The theatrical release of Dune: Part Two is the 800-lb gorilla, of course (and I'm excited), but it's hardly the only game in town.

How about the 3 Body Problem show on Netflix, or new seasons of the growing number of quality scifi shows on Apple+ (For All Mankind, Foundation, Silo, Invasion and more)?

Or books (we love those)! On tap is the first book in a brand-new series from James S. A. Corey ("The Mercy of Gods"), as well as at least two new novels from Adrian Tchaikovsky (the man is prolific AF) and a new Bobiverse novel, to name just a few.

So what do you have your eye on?

Io's Close-Up

On December 30, NASA's Juno spacecraft, which has been orbiting Jupiter for the better part of a decade, made its closest flyby of Io, the innermost moon in the Jovian system.

The spacecraft came to within 930 miles (1,500 km) of the surface of Io, a dense moon that is the fourth largest in the Solar System. Unlike a lot of moons around Jupiter and Saturn, which have surface ice or subsurface water, Io is a very dry world. It is also extremely geologically active. Io has more than 400 active volcanoes and is therefore an object of great interest to astronomers and planetary scientists.

Read more about the flyby here.

Happy Book Birthday to Duality

Happy 1st Book Birthday to DUALITY, the book that, among many other feats, changed our perception of the 18 books that came before it. (If you know, you know. On that note, armed with this capital-K Knowledge, have you started your reread yet?)

Were you all as exhausted as I was after finishing the epic saga that was Riven Worlds? My goodness! This is one reason why we're taking a fun little diversion with the Cosmic Shores stand-alones - everyone (you, me, the characters) needs a little break to catch their breath, lol.

Underrated

What a cool surprise: STARSHINE made The Review Geek’s list of “10 Great Books from Underrated Authors”! The list covers all genres, and Starshine is the only scifi novel.

The site looks to offer awesome coverage of all things geek entertainment, so after you peruse the list, check out the rest of their content.

https://www.thereviewgeek.com/10books-underratedauthors/

Holiday Festivities

This week's holiday festivities included ice skating with friends!

Have I ice skated before? Yes.

When did I last ice skate? In The Long Long Ago, when we fashioned our skates from materials dug out of the land.

But I didn't fall - not once! Mind you, this is pretty much the *only* accomplishment from my ice skating endeavors, but I get a gold star for it.

Tremendous fun was had by all. It really does make you feel like a kid again. Pretty damn magical.

Stunning Amateur Image of the Andromeda Galaxy

What life might be thriving here, one wonders?

The photograph comes from a group that calls itself the Association of Widefield Astrophotographers, and the photo was a 100-hour project by six participants in the United States, Poland, and the United Kingdom. They collected data over several months to produce the image.

According to the organization, "Our goal with this project was to prove that very expensive equipment and dark skies aren’t required to create unique images of faint objects. Since most of us are high schoolers and college students with a passion for astronomy, our summer jobs did not allow us to afford the expensive gear used by most astrophotographers."

Learn more here.

Webb's Incredible View of Cassiopeia A

Isn’t this just an astonishing image? We thought we knew Cassiopeia A, but we were wrong.

“Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) view of Cas A displays a very violent explosion at a resolution previously unreachable at these wavelengths. This high-resolution look unveils intricate details of the expanding shell of material slamming into the gas shed by the star before it exploded.” Learn much more about the image and the history of our study of Cas A, go here: https://esawebb.org/news/weic2330/

Gifts that Keep On Giving

The Christmas gifts that will keep on giving! First The Abyss, now these beauties, both remastered for BluRay at long last. Mr. Jennsen and I are going to spend the next several months re-experiencing some of the best scifi TV has ever offered up.

P.S.: Remastering is not a magic bullet that transforms the content into "just like new" visuals. We've started with Farscape and, like The Abyss, the core cinematography - interior shots focused on the characters - looks excellent. The colors are vibrant and the visuals are sharp. What it doesn't do that much for are the special effects (also true for The Abyss); I suspect modernizing those would be a much larger project. However, I imagine that if I were to go back and watch the original DVDs, I would be blown away at how much better these look.

P.P.S: Yes, the Farscape box includes The Peacekeeper Wars (and new special features)! But make sure you get the 25th Anniversary Edition, as there are several collections out there that do not.

The Abyss Remastered

Mr. Jennsen and I had a date night Wednesday! One of my favorite movies has FINALLY been remastered in 4K, and they released it to selected theaters for one night only. Don’t fret if you didn’t know - the new version will be available to stream later this month, and a BluRay will be released in March 2024.

It looked gorgeous! Yes, at times the special effects heavy scenes showed their age, but the rest of the cinematography looked incredible - they definitely did far more than just slap a new label on it.

A Note About Today's SMBH Email

Hi! My newsletter provider has done a massive upgrade to their system, which means I’ve had to re-set up some things. For one, this email might look ever-so-slightly different (but not much). Also, you might see some of the same stories from the last email reposted here - this should be a one-time-only event as the system reboots where things stand.

If you see anything else funky, give me a shout. Thanks!

Christmas Gifts?

Fancy gifting your favorite Amaranthe fan with a personalized, signed paperback for Christmas? Get your orders in early, before the postal service totally melts down!

https://www.gsjennsen.com/paperback-store?category=Signed+Paperbacks

P.S.: It's 100% okay if your favorite Amaranthe fan is yourself.

P.P.S.: I have paperbacks of Medusa Falling and the Short Stories Collection as well - I just don't have handy pics of them.

Starship Stacked For Flight

Starship gets stacked ahead of its second test flight on Saturday!

From SpaceX: “This is another chance to put Starship in a true flight environment, maximizing how much we learn. Rapid iterative development is essential as we work to build a fully reusable launch system capable of carrying satellites, payloads, crew, and cargo to a variety of orbits and Earth, lunar, and Martian landing sites.”

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