The quintuple star system σ Orionis // Larry Ammann

(source: Spain Fotogramas Magazine)

Marilyn Monroe sings to the soldiers of the Korean War.

Research alert! Rebecca Oppenheimer, a curator in the Museum’s Department of Astrophysics, co-discovered the first brown dwarf, Gliese 229B, in 1995. Since then, there’s been a long-standing mystery: Why does this brown dwarf shine so faintly despite having a significant mass—70 times that of Jupiter?

The answer, which is detailed in her latest study with Caltech—out today in the journal Nature—is that this brown dwarf is actually two objects, orbiting very closely around each other.

“These two worlds whipping around each other are actually smaller in radius than Jupiter. They’d look quite strange in our night sky if we had something like them in our own solar system,” Oppenheimer said. The discovery leads to new questions about how tight-knit brown dwarf duos like this one form and suggests that similar systems are likely out there. Read more.

Astral Bastion.

Completed on 25th August 2025.

My interpretation: In a retro-futuristic version of the US, the technology and capability to explore the galaxy has grown exponentially since the 70s. Where, in the present day of 2189, an expedition of the United States Space Command has sent a survey team to investigate a distant binary star system. In that star system, they find several habitable worlds, but while in orbit of one, they pick up an unusual signal coming from its moon. They enter the lunar orbit and capture an obvious anomaly disrupting the moons' surface. They send down a lander to set up a forward operating base and investigate the anomaly. A small team of USSC scientists, engineers, technicians, and other specialists head out to take a closer look at what is clearly some kind of alien structure erupting out of the moon's surface.

The scene is shot from the perspective of the 1st rank space-man, photojournalist, videographer, IT expert. Capturing his team:

2nd rank space-man, engineer, mech pilot, geologist

Staff sergeant, pioneer, security, anthropologist

2nd rank space-man, comms specialist, intelligence, astrophysicist

3rd rank space-man, mechanic, backup drone pilot, biologist

USSC remote piloted Ox cargo drone

Captain, medic, team commander, historian