Black holes bend our understanding of the Universe and laws of physics. But astronomers have discovered a black hole spinning so quickly, it breaks all the speed laws for rotation. The stellar mass black hole in question is known as GRS1915+105, and it’s spinning more than 950 times every second. As the black hole spins, it drags the surrounding space around with it, and gives astronomers an opportunity to study some of Einstein’s predictions about relativity.
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Enhanced Vision for the Subaru Telescope
The Subaru telescope has been equipped with a new adaptive optics system that has enhanced its already impressive vision by a factor of 10. The new system uses a laser beam to project an artificial guide star into the sky at an altitude of 90 km. Computers can then calculate the distortions from the Earth’s atmosphere and adjust the shape of a special mirror to remove those distortions.
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What’s Up this Week: November 20 – November 26, 2006
Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! We start off the week with New Moon – it’s time to galaxy hunt! Are you Abell? If you have a small telescope or binoculars, it’s time to rock with the Queen as we begin exploration in Cassiopeia. Cross your fingers for clear skies, because…
Here’s what’s up!
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Mercury’s Transit Captured by Hinode
The Japanese solar observing spacecraft Hinode captured this photograph of Mercury’s transit this week. Hinode, formerly known as Solar B, is currently in its shakedown period, where controllers ensure that each of its scientific instruments are working. But they couldn’t pass up this opportunity, so they pointed the spacecraft at the Sun, and watched the entire transit. Hinode should resume its normal science operations next month.
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Delta Carries GPS Satellite into Orbit
A Boeing Delta II rocket blasted today off from Space Launch Complex 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It was carrying a replacement Block IIR Global Positioning System satellite for the U.S. Air Force. The rocket lifted off at 1912 UTC (2:12 pm EST), and delivered the satellite into its transfer orbit 68 minutes later. The GPS IIR-16 is the third of a new generation of GPS satellites that give greater accuracy for navigation here on Earth.
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Detailed Look at Twin Asteroid 1999 KW4
Asteroid 1999 KW4 was first discovered by astronomers in 1999. When it got closer, in 2001, astronomers realized it wasn’t a single asteroid, but two clusters of rubble orbiting each other. It’s been classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid, but astronomers have calculated a safe trajectory out for at least 1,000 years. Since it’s a binary object, astronomers are able to calculate the mass and density of the two asteroids. New observations from the Arecibo Observatory have mapped the twin objects in tremendous detail.
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Ring Particles Chasing Prometheus
This Cassini photograph shows particles from Saturn’s F ring streaming after its moon Prometheus. Even though the moon is only 102 km (63 miles) across, its gravity has this kind of an effect on the ring particles. Astronomers are looking forward to 2009, when the moon will travel into the F ring’s core, plowing straight through the particles. Cassini took this photo on Oct.16, 2006 when it was 1.8 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Prometheus.
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Dark Energy Has Been With Us For a Long Time
Dark energy isn’t new, in fact, it’s been around for at least 9 billion years. According to new data gathered by the Hubble Space Telescope, this mysterious force was already working to speed up the expansion of the Universe was only a few billion years old. Hubble measured the light from 24 of the most distant supernovae ever seen, and found that the Universe is further apart than it should be if only gravity was around to slow things down.
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Supernova Remnant Acts as a Particle Accelerator
Instead of investing in particle accelerators here on Earth, physicists might consider just blowing up a few stars. New images taken by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory show how supernova remnant Cassiopeia A acts as a natural particle accelerator, firing out cosmic rays. As particles move around the remnant, they’re accelerated by the tremendous magnetic fields, eventually nearing the speed of light. The images from Chandra show that the particles are being accelerated to the maximum rate predicted by theories.
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Leonid Meteor Shower: November 19, 2006
One of the best meteor showers of the year is about to get rolling, so make sure you mark your calendar. The Leonid Meteor Shower will be peaking on Sunday, November 19, 2006, and you might be able to see as many as 100 meteors an hour. Find the darkest possible skies that you can, and wait until the constellation Leo is highest in the sky. Observers in western Europe, Africa, Brazil and the eastern parts of North America will get the best view this year.
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