Swabs for science! 🦠
Last week, @Soph_astro stepped outside of the space station to swab for microbes near life support systems. Samples could reveal how microbes may spread from a spacecraft and help scientists limit contamination on future missions to the Moon and beyond.
You start noticing Greek letters everywhere once you learn physics.
α is the fine structure constant, roughly 1/137. λ is wavelength. ρ is density. ψ represents a quantum state, while ω commonly describes angular frequency.
What makes this interesting is that these symbols are not a universal code. Their meaning depends on context. The same Greek letter can describe completely different ideas in different parts of physics.
That is part of what makes equations so powerful: a few symbols can carry an entire physical idea.