On the morning of September 8, 2004, NASA scientists were elated. Their Genesis spacecraft had traveled 32 million kilometers (20 million miles), and was loaded up with precious samples of the solar wind and interstellar particles. But as the spacecraft hurtled through the Earth’s atmosphere, it quickly became clear something was very wrong. Instead of floating gently down to Earth on its parachutes, Genesis cratered into the ground at high speed, and its fragile cargo suffered devastating damage. What went wrong? A special Mishap Board released their findings today.
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What’s Up this Week – June 12-18, 2006
Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! This week will be an exciting one as we return the the galaxy hunt and view the cosmos through the eyes of Pioneer. The excitement heats up as the Ophiuchid meteor shower comes along and Mars mixes it up with the Beehive. Still not enough? Then hang on as the June Lyrids streak across the night and Saturn and Mars team up to join Mercury! It’s going to be one great week to enjoy the night, because…
Here’s what’s up!
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Extreme Star Birth in Merging Galaxies
The newest image released from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the turbulent region where two galaxies are merging together. The galactic collision is known as Arp 220, and it’s one of the nearest, brightest examples of this in the sky. Hubble’s keen vision has located more than 200 massive star clusters, the largest of which is twice as big as anything we have in the Milky Way. Arp 220 should continue producing new start clusters until it runs out of gas in about 40 million years.
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Astrophoto: Sagittarius Wide Field View
Around midnight this time of year it’s possible to witness the fires that smolder at our galaxy’s core. Northern star gazers can see this by looking to the south, just above the horizon. Folks in the southern hemisphere should look closer overhead. Regardless, it’s a view that should not be missed, if possible. This picture offers a tantalizing close-up that’s part of the scene.
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Strange Cloud Features on Saturn
This close up view of Saturn shows an unusual feature in its atmosphere. It appears as if part of one belt is crossing over into another. Another possibility is that it’s just an illusion created by different layers of clouds. Cassini took this photograph on May 12, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn.
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CALIPSO Begins Scientific Observations
NASA’s newly launched CALIPSO Earth observation satellite began its scientific observations last week. The satellite is designed to help scientists understand what effect cloud reflectivity and aerosol particles are having on the planet’s climate. CALIPSO is part of a satellite formation called the A-Train; several satellites in the same orbit which can analyze the same spot on Earth, one after the other.
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Gigantic Ball of Fire Discovered
An international team of astronomers have discovered a massive gas ball hurtling through a distant galaxy cluster. This ball of gas is traveling more than 750 km/second (466 miles/second) through galaxy cluster Abell 3266. The enormous speed and pressure has heated the gas up to the point that it blazes in the X-ray spectrum. The discovery was made using ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray satellite.
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Icy Tail on Enceladus
A plume of water ice is seen streaming off the southern pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus in this photograph. Cassini used very long exposure to capture the wispy stream of vapour, so everything else in the image is overexposed. Cassini took the photograph on May 4, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Enceladus.
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Ancient Martian Volcano Caldera
This image, taken by ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, shows Apollinaris Patera, an ancient volcano caldera near Gusev Crater on Mars. The massive volcano measures 180 by 280 kilometres (112 by 174 miles) at its base and rises 5 km (3 miles) above the surrounding terrain. The bluish-tinted haze are thin clouds above the rim of the caldera.
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Globular Cluster 47 Tucanae
One of the biggest brightest clusters of stars in the sky is 47 Tucanae, located in the southern constellation of the Toucan. Located about 16,000 light years away, this globular cluster contains a million times the mass of our Sun, and measures 120 light years across. The stars in the cluster are so dense, they average only 1/10th a light year apart; approximately the size of the Solar System. This photograph was taken using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope.
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