Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

New Eye on the Outer Solar System Launches Successfully

The Interstellar Boundary Explorer. Credit: NASA

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There’s a new spacecraft in Earth orbit, with a really “far out” mission: to map the outer solar system. NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer mission, or IBEX launched successfully from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean at 1:47 p.m. EDT, Sunday, from an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL launch vehicle. IBEX will be the first spacecraft to image and map dynamic interactions taking place in the outer solar system. The two Voyager probes sent back a limited amount of information about the region of space where our solar system ends and interstellar space begins. But beyond that, not much is known about this area. The region is about three times further from the sun than the orbit of planet Pluto. “No one has seen an image of the interaction at the edge of our solar system where the solar wind collides with interstellar space,” said IBEX Principal Investigator David McComas of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “We know we’re going to be surprised.”

The spacecraft separated from the third stage of its Pegasus launch vehicle at 1:53 p.m. and immediately began powering up components necessary to control onboard systems. The operations team is continuing to check out spacecraft subsystems.

“After a 45-day orbit raising and spacecraft checkout period, the spacecraft will start its exciting science mission,” said IBEX mission manager Greg Frazier of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

“The heliosphere’s boundary region is enormous, and the Voyager crossings of the termination shock, while historic, only sampled two tiny areas 10 billion miles (16 billion km) apart,” NASA scientist Eric Christian said.

Voyager 1 passed the inner boundary in 2004 and Voyager 2 crossed over last year.

The solar wind, a stream of electrically conducting gas continuously moving outward from the sun at 1 million mph (1.6 million kph), blows against this interstellar material and forms a huge protective bubble around the solar system. This bubble is called the heliosphere.

As the solar wind reaches far beyond the planets to the solar system’s outer limits, it encounters the edge of the heliosphere and collides with interstellar space. A shock wave is present at this boundary.

“Every six months, we will make global sky maps of where these atoms come from and how fast they are traveling. From this information, we will be able to discover what the edge of our bubble looks like and learn about the properties of the interstellar cloud that lies beyond the bubble,” physicist Herb Funsten of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Sources: NASA, Reuters

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Fermi Telescope Makes First Big Discovery: Gamma Ray Pulsar

The pulsar lies in the CTA 1 supernova remnant in Cepheus. Credit: NASA/S. Pineault, DRAO

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NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope discovered the first pulsar that beams only in gamma rays. A pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star, the crushed core left behind when a massive sun explodes. Astronomers have cataloged nearly 1,800 pulsars. Although most were found through their pulses at radio wavelengths, some of these objects also beam energy in other forms, including visible light and X-rays. However, this new object only pulses at gamma-ray energies. “This is the first example of a new class of pulsars that will give us fundamental insights into how these collapsed stars work,” said Stanford University’s Peter Michelson, principal investigator for Fermi’s Large Area Telescope.

The gamma-ray-only pulsar lies within a supernova remnant known as CTA 1, which is located about 4,600 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus. Its lighthouse-like beam sweeps Earth’s way every 316.86 milliseconds. The pulsar, which formed about 10,000 years ago, emits 1,000 times the energy of our sun.

“We think the region that emits the pulsed gamma rays is broader than that responsible for pulses of lower-energy radiation,” explained team member Alice Harding at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “The radio beam probably never swings toward Earth, so we never see it. But the wider gamma-ray beam does sweep our way.”

Scientists think CTA 1 is only the first of a large population of similar objects.

“The Large Area Telescope provides us with a unique probe of the galaxy’s pulsar population, revealing objects we would not otherwise even know exist,” says Fermi project scientist Steve Ritz, also at Goddard.

Watch an animation of pulsar.

Fermi’s Large Area Telescope scans the entire sky every three hours and detects photons with energies ranging from 20 million to more than 300 billion times the energy of visible light. The instrument sees about one gamma ray every minute from CTA 1, enough for scientists to piece together the neutron star’s pulsing behavior, its rotation period, and the rate at which it is slowing down.

The pulsar in CTA 1 is not located at the center of the remnant’s expanding gaseous shell. Supernova explosions can be asymmetrical, often imparting a “kick” that sends the neutron star careening through space. Based on the remnant’s age and the pulsar’s distance from its center, astronomers believe the neutron star is moving at about a million miles per hour — a typical speed.

Source: NASA

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Even Early Galaxies Had Supermassive Black Holes

Artist’s conception of the 4C60.07 system of colliding galaxies. Credit: David A. Hardy/UK ATC

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We’re learning more about black holes and the early universe all the time, with the help of all the amazing ground-based telescopes astronomers now have at their disposal. Astronomers think that many – perhaps all – galaxies in the universe contain massive black holes at their centers. New observations with the Submillimeter Array now suggest that such colossal black holes were common even 12 billion years ago, when the universe was only 1.7 billion years old and galaxies were just beginning to form. The new conclusion comes from the discovery of two distant galaxies, both with black holes at their centers, which are involved in a spectacular collision.

4C60.07, the first of the galaxies to be discovered, came to astronomers’ attention because of its bright radio emission. This radio signal is one telltale sign of a quasar – a rapidly spinning black hole that is feeding on its home galaxy.

When 4C60.07 was first studied, astronomers thought that hydrogen gas surrounding the black hole was undergoing a burst of star formation, forming stars at a remarkable rate – the equivalent of 5,000 suns every year. This vigorous activity was revealed by the infrared glow from smoky debris left over when the largest stars rapidly died.

The latest research, using the keen vision of the Submillimeter Array of eight radio antennas located in Hawaii, revealed a surprise. 4C60.07 is not forming stars after all. Indeed, its stars appear to be relatively old and quiescent. Instead, prodigious star formation is taking place in a previously unseen companion galaxy, rich in gas and deeply enshrouded in dust, which also has a colossal black hole at its center.

“This new image reveals two galaxies where we only expected to find one,” said Rob Ivison (UK Astronomy Technology Centre), lead author of the study that will be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. “Remarkably, both galaxies contain supermassive black holes at their centers, each capable of powering a billion, billion, billion light bulbs. The implications are wide-reaching: you can’t help wondering how many other colossal black holes may be lurking unseen in the distant universe.”

Due to the finite speed of light, we see the two galaxies as they existed in the distant past, less than 2 billion years after the Big Bang. The new image from the Submillimeter Array captures the moment when 4C60.07 ripped a stream of material from its neighboring galaxy, as shown in the accompanying artist’s conception. By now the galaxies have merged to create a football-shaped elliptical galaxy. Their black holes are likely to have merged and formed a single, more massive black hole.

The galaxies themselves show surprising differences. One is a dead system that has formed all of its stars already and used up its gaseous fuel. The second galaxy is still alive and well, holding plenty of dust and gas that can form new stars.

“These two galaxies are fraternal twins. Both are about the size of the Milky Way, but each one is unique,” said Steve Willner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, a co-author of the paper.

“The superb resolution of the Submillimeter Array was key to our discovery,” he added.

Source: Smithsonian CfA

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Where In The Universe #25: The Answer

Here’s the answer for this week’s Where In The Universe Challenge. And okay, okay, almost everyone proved they’ve been keeping up on current events. And UT readers are definitely getting to know HiRISE images almost on sight. So congrats if you said a HiRISE image. I’m really proud of all of you! So, just what is in this image? Ian wrote about it here last week. This is terrain near the north pole on Mars, probably not all that far away from the little Phoenix lander . The bright patch of material is ice, which might have been deposited in the previous winter. Here’s the explanation from the HiRISE site:

“After ice in the form of surface frost is deposited from the atmosphere, it experiences changes throughout the Martian year. Some of the ice has a polygonal texture which probably formed when temperature variations created stress and cracks in the ice.

The dark features scattered throughout the scene are dunes. The streaks emanating from the dunes trending in the southwest direction indicate the dominant direction of the wind in recent times.”

So great job, to all of our wonderful and knowledgeable UT readers who got it right. I’ll try to make it a little more challenging next week. For those of you who guessed wrong, just keep trying; there will be lots of chances to get some right. As my uncle used to say, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in awhile.

How did everyone like this new format, where we pose the challenge one day and provide the answer the next?

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Looking Good –So Far — For Hubble

Engineers look on in the Space Telescope Operations Control Center as commands are sent to the SIC and DH. Credit: NASA

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So far, everything is going well and as planned for the Hubble Space Telescope’s long-distance ‘brain surgery.’ During the night of Oct. 15, Space Telescope Operations Control Center engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center successfully turned on and checked out Side B of Hubble’s Science Instrument Control and Data Handling (SIC&DH) system. Engineers were then able to retrieve the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) and Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) instruments. They were being held in safe mode, and were turned on, each showing they had a working interface to the Side B of SIC&DH. The instruments were then commanded back into safe mode, and then at noon today commands will be sent from Side B to each of the instruments. Engineers will then begin calibrations of the telescope’s science instruments, which they hope to finish before midnight Thursday. So this is good news…

The primary data handling system, Side A, had been used exclusively since HST launched in 1991. It failed two weeks ago. While engineers believed the redundant Side B – which hadn’t been turned on for over 18 years – would work, nothing was certain.

Scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore should complete the check-out of all the instruments by noon on Friday, October 17. They will collecting and compare baseline exposures previously taken using Side A to new exposures, using by Side B. If everything looks good, everyone is hoping normal science observations will resume early Friday morning.

Wouldn’t that be great!

Source: NASA

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

NASA Confirms ISS Crew Will Expand to Six in 2009

The ISS had a full house during the STS-124 mission. Credit:NASA

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A Russian official misspoke last weekend when he said the number of crew members on board the International Space Station probably wouldn’t increase next year as planned. On Saturday, Roscosmos head Anatoly Perminov said, “I doubt that the ISS crew will be increased to six people from next year because the final decision has not been taken yet. All countries participating in the ISS program have to decide it.” But today NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries said Perminov made a mistake. “There are no impediments for going forward with expanding the crew size from three to six,” Humphries told Universe Today. The issue was also discussed during a press conference with the space station crew, including the newly arrived crew of three that launched on a Soyuz rocket on Sunday: U.S. astronaut Mike Fincke, Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov and U.S. space tourist Richard Garriott.

NASA and the international partners working together to construct the ISS want to increase the crew size in order to expand the capability to conduct research. But in order to boost the crew size, the station must be able to recycle condensation, cooling water and even urine to provide enough potable water for the astronauts, their experiments and the station’s U.S. oxygen generator. Additional astronaut sleep stations, a second toilet (and repairing the one already on board) and a second galley also must be delivered, installed and checked out.

Fincke said the main mission during his Expedition 18 is to get the space station, currently sized for three people, up and running and ready to go for six people. “It’s going to take a lot of work, but it’s the next step in getting the space station fully operational. We’ve got the right team for it,” he said. Fincke will take over as commander of the station on Oct. 22.

Sources: UPI, SpaceflightNow.com,

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Where In The Universe Challenge — With a New Twist

Here’s the image for this week’s “Where In The Universe” challenge. But we’re going to try something different this time. Several readers have suggested (and maybe even begged) that we don’t reveal the answer right away, but allow everyone a chance to mull over the image and provide their answer in the comment section. Then tomorrow, I’ll post the answer and you can see how you did. So here you go: Take a look at the image above and try to determine where in the universe this image was taken. Give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft responsible for taking this image. Post your answers in the comments (if you’re brave enough!) and check back tomorrow for the answer. Good luck!

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

The Violent Variations of Black Holes

Artist impression of a black hole. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada

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What is the environment around a black hole really like? Astronomers are getting a better idea by observing the light coming from the accretion disk surrounding black holes. The light is not constant — it flares, sputters and sparkles – and this flickering provides new and surprising insights into the colossal amount of energy emanating from around black holes. By mapping out how well the variations in visible light match those in X-rays on very short timescales, astronomers have shown that magnetic fields must play a crucial role in the way black holes swallow matter.

“The rapid flickering of light from a black hole is most commonly observed at X-ray wavelengths,” says Poshak Gandhi, who led the international team that reports these results. “This new study is one of only a handful to date that also explore the fast variations in visible light, and, most importantly how these fluctuations relate to those in X-rays.”

The observations tracked the flickering of the black holes simultaneously using two different instruments, one on the ground and one in space. The X-ray data were taken using NASA’s Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer satellite. The visible light was collected with the high speed camera ULTRACAM, a visiting instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), recording up to 20 images a second. ULTRACAM was developed by team members Vik Dhillon and Tom Marsh. “These are among the fastest observations of a black hole ever obtained with a large optical telescope,” says Dhillon.

To their surprise, astronomers discovered that the brightness fluctuations in the visible light were even more rapid than those seen in X-rays. In addition, the visible-light and X-ray variations were found not to be simultaneous, but to follow a repeated and remarkable pattern: just before an X-ray flare the visible light dims, and then surges to a bright flash for a tiny fraction of a second before rapidly decreasing again.

Watch a movie of the fluctuations.

None of this radiation emerges directly from the black hole, but from the intense energy flows of electrically charged matter in its vicinity. The environment of a black hole is constantly being reshaped by a competing forces such as gravity, magnetism and explosive pressure. As a result, light emitted by the hot flows of matter varies in brightness in a muddled and haphazard way. “But the pattern found in this new study possesses a stable structure that stands out amidst an otherwise chaotic variability, and so, it can yield vital clues about the dominant underlying physical processes in action,” says team member Andy Fabian.

The visible-light emission from the neighborhoods of black holes was widely thought to be a secondary effect, with a primary X-ray outburst illuminating the surrounding gas that subsequently shone in the visible range. But if this were so, any visible-light variations would lag behind the X-ray variability, and would be much slower to peak and fade away. “The rapid visible-light flickering now discovered immediately rules out this scenario for both systems studied,” asserts Gandhi. “Instead the variations in the X-ray and visible light output must have some common origin, and one very close to the black hole itself.”

Strong magnetic fields represent the best candidate for the dominant physical process. Acting as a reservoir, they can soak up the energy released close to the black hole, storing it until it can be discharged either as hot (multi-million degree) X-ray emitting plasma, or as streams of charged particles travelling at close to the speed of light. The division of energy into these two components can result in the characteristic pattern of X-ray and visible-light variability.

Papers on this research: Here and Here

Source: ESO

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

18-Year-Old Rocket Motor Found in Australian Outback

A solid rocket motor casing from a commercial U.S. Delta 2 launch vehicle was found inAustralia, nearly 18 years after it reentered. Picture by Michael White

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This just in from ‘The Sky is Falling’ Department: NASA’s Orbital Debris Newsletter reports that a launch vehicle rocket motor casing was found by ranchers in the Australian Outback during a cattle round-up on a three million-acre pasture property. It was first spotted by Mr. Arthur Taylor who was flying a Cessna aircraft to look for stray cattle. The casing appeared in relatively good condition (see picture above) and did not seem to be very old. Mr. Michael White forwarded numerous photos of the object to the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office, including one with a clear serial number next to the nozzle attachment point. Using the serial number, NASA Kennedy Space Center personnel were able to trace the motor casing to a a specific mission.

The casing came from a Delta 2 rocket used on June 2, 1990 to launch the Indian INSAT-1D geosynchronous spacecraft from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. This solid rocket motor served as the launch vehicle’s third stage which carried the payload from a low altitude parking orbit into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. (If you want to trace it yourself, here are the particulars: U.S. Satellite Number 20645, International Designator 1990-051C), Reentry of the stage occurred a few months later.

This isn’t the first time rocket casings have been found in Australia, and this object joins similar solid rocket motor casings found in Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Argentina during the past several years.

Yikes!

Sources: CollectSpace, NASA’s Orbital Debris Program

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Martian Dust Storm Hampers Phoenix Lander’s Activities

Dust storm on Mars. Credit: MARCI Science Team

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The science team for the Phoenix Lander was forced to curtail many of their activities over the weekend because of a regional dust storm that temporarily lowered the lander’s solar power. But Phoenix weathered the storm well, and the team is back investigating the Red Planet’s northern plains. The 37,000 square-kilometer storm (nearly 23,000 miles) moved west to east, and weakened considerably by the time it reached the lander on Saturday, Oct. 11. The science team was expecting the worst, so this tamer storm put the spacecraft in a better than expected situation, said Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, the lead scientist for Phoenix’s Robotic Arm.

The lander is now back to busily collecting samples and weather data, analyzing the soil samples, and conducting other activities before fall and winter stop Phoenix cold.

“Energy is becoming an issue, so we have to carefully budget our activities,” Arvidson said.

The Phoenix team tracked the dust storm last week through images provided by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Mars Color Imager. The imager’s team estimated that after the dust storm passed through Phoenix’s landing site on Saturday, the dust would gradually decrease this week.

This dust storm is a harbinger of more wintry and volatile weather to come. As Martian late summer turns into fall, the Phoenix team anticipates more dust storms, frost in trenches, and water-ice clouds. They look forward to collecting data and documenting this “most interesting season,” Arvidson said.

Source: Phoenix News Site