Good Morning! 🌞

Ever since I was a child, I was captivated by The Voyager missions. The idea of two spacecraft traveling through space and transmitting critical data about our solar system and beyond sparked my interest. I spent hours reading books and watching documentaries about Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, fascinated by their discoveries and the uniqueness of their missions. I feel like it really brought people from different nations and backgrounds together - then and now.

Check out today’s article about Voyager 1 below!

Earth Sciences

Data From Outside the Solar System

Two months ago NASA reestablished diagnostic communications with Voyager 1 after it suddenly stopped sending messages back to Earth.

After the impressive recovery of communications, they have finally received new scientific data.

Transmitted by the last operational instruments on the furthest man-made object from Earth, the data provides key observations on plasma and magnetism in interstellar space. Voyager 1 has been traveling for 46 years and 7 months since its launch, and 11 years and 8 months since it left the solar system. It is currently 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth.

In March 2024, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory identified and fixed an issue that was preventing two-way communication with the probe. They resolved the problem by dividing corrupted computer code into short sections and storing them in different places on the probe’s flight data subsystem. Commands to restart sending scientific data were issued on May 19th.

Two of the four science instruments resumed normal operation immediately. The other two required additional work but are now also returning usable data. These instruments study plasma waves, magnetic fields, and particles. Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, are the only spacecraft to directly sample interstellar space, the region beyond the heliosphere.

“We never know for sure what’s going to happen with the Voyagers, but it constantly amazes me when they just keep going,” said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager’s project manager, in April.

Within a year or so, some of these instruments will have to be powered down due to battery drain. By 2036, Voyager 1 will move beyond the range of the Deep Space Network, carrying the Golden Record into the unknown.

What amazes me the most is that we are still able to receive the data from 15 billion miles away.

World News

$4 Vase is Actually Ancient Mayan Artifact

The vase in Anne Lee Dozier’s Washington D.C. home could have been broken by a cat, dog, or one of her three sons, losing its chance to end up in Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology and History.

In 2019, Dozier, who worked in Latin America for a human rights group, spotted the vase on a clearance shelf at the 2A Thrift Store in Clinton, Maryland. She bought it for $4.00, thinking it would be a nice keepsake from Mexico. Dozier believed the vase was just a few decades old.

However, during a visit to Mexico City five years later, she noticed that the vases at the National Museum looked remarkably similar to the one on her mantle. She asked a museum official about it, who advised her to contact the embassy in Washington. After examining photos of the vase, the embassy confirmed its authenticity.

“I got an email saying, ‘Congratulations—it’s real and we would like it back,’” Dozier told the Guardian. Speaking to WUSA, a CBS affiliate, she said, “I’m thrilled to have played a part in its repatriation. It belongs in its rightful place. Plus, I was nervous about keeping it at home with my three boys—I didn’t want to be the one to break it after two thousand years!”

Mexico’s ambassador to the US, Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, estimates the vase dates between the 2nd and 8th centuries CE, from the Classical Mayan period. “It’s important to recognize the historical and cultural value of such artifacts,” Dozier said, adding that contributing to a nation's cultural heritage is worth more than any auction price.

I hope they pay her for it 😄.

Environment

A New Species of Dinosaur

A new genus of giant horned dinosaur, Lokiceratops, has been unveiled at the Natural History Museum of Utah. Discovered in northern Montana in 2019, Lokiceratops is among the largest and most ornate horned dinosaurs ever found. Its name, inspired by the Norse god Loki, reflects the unique blade-like horns on its frill. Lokiceratops was approximately 22 feet long and weighed around five tons. It existed at least 12 million years before Triceratops and was the largest horned dinosaur of its time.

"This new dinosaur pushes the boundaries of ceratopsian headgear with the largest frill horns ever seen," said Joseph Sertich, a paleontologist involved in the study. "We realized it was unlike anything seen before," added co-lead author Mark Loewen, a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum of Utah and the University of Utah. The name "rangiformis," meaning "caribou-like," refers to the uneven horn lengths on each side of the frill, similar to caribou antlers. Lokiceratops had over 200 teeth for cutting vegetation and small branches. Ceratopsian ancestors were widespread in the northern hemisphere during the Cretaceous period, but isolation on Laramidia led to their unique evolution.

Scientists have long debated the evolutionary patterns of horned dinosaurs. "Rapid evolution likely led to the 100- to 200-thousand-year turnover of species," said Loewen. This rapid evolution is consistent with sexual selection. "Sexual selection on frill horns would cause variations in size and shape," explained coauthor Jingmai O’Connor of the Field Museum in Chicago.

Mind Stretchers 

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What coat goes on wet? 

The answer to yesterday’s Mind Stretcher was:
What 4-letter word can be written forward, backward or upside down, and can still be read from left to right? - Noon

Gerry Moore got the correct answer first!

Be the first to send us the correct answer for today’s mind stretcher for a shout-out with the answer tomorrow. Just send us the answer and your name to [email protected] or reply to this email.

If you have any uplifting stories and experience you might want to share, send those over to [email protected] for the chance to be featured.