Hello Earth

As astronomical instruments improve and become more powerful, astronomers can peer farther into space and see more stellar spectacles.

Scientists and staff at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California watched something different that came from outer space on 11 December. It was a 15-second high-definition video showing a cat chasing a laser beam on a couch. 

The clip didn't come from extraterrestrials in a distant galaxy. It was a pre-recorded video beamed by the NASA spacecraft Psyche 31 million kilometers from Earth.

Psyche was launched in October to scan an asteroid of the same name that is located between the planets Mars and Jupiter. The transmission of the video, the first to be streamed from deep space, was intended to test the spacecraft's laser's maximum bit rate of 267 megabits per second, faster than most home broadband connections, Agence France-Presse reported.

The encoded near-infrared signal was received by the Hale Telescope at Caltech's Palomar Observatory in San Diego County 101 seconds after it was sent, and then relayed to the JPL via the internet.

Psyche's laser communication, which requires extremely precise "pointing" as both sender and receiver are moving, offers a better alternative to traditional space communication through radio waves.

Still, stars remain the most spectacular sight in outer space as seen through radio telescopes. The enhanced image of the NGC 2264 star cluster was released by NASA before Christmas.

The cluster resembles a Christmas tree with  "gas in the nebula in green, corresponding to the pine needles of the tree," captivating astronomers and stargazers alike, ABC News reported.

The "Christmas tree cluster," as it was dubbed, seemed to have rubbed the holiday mood off on  a portion of the universe. Or something is sending a greeting from that area of the Milky Way, 2,500 light years from Earth.

WJG with AFP @tribunephl_wjg