NGC 3572 seen with a 2.2-meter telescope at the European Southern Observatory's La Silla Observatory in Chile. Credit: ESO/G. Beccari
Star winds are pushing the gas around NGC 3572 into “elephant trunks”, as you can see if you look carefully as this picture snapped by a La Silla Observatory telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile. It’s a demonstration of the power of the youngster blue-white stars embedded in the cloud, which are generating huge gusts blowing the gas and dust away from them.
It’s common for young stars to form in groups. After a few million years growing together, their respective gravities pushes everything further apart, and the stars then finish their lifetimes on their own. Looking at young star clusters such as this gives astronomers a better sense about how our own Sun began its life.
If we zoomed closer to those elephant trunks, they would look similar to the famous “Pillars of Creation” image captured in 1995 by the Hubble Space Telescope in the Eagle Nebula (M16). NASA also did a follow-up observation using infrared wavelengths in 2005 and 2011, which made the young stars a bit easier to see amid the gas and dust.
One of the Hubble Space Telescope’s most famous images, the “Pillars of Creation” in the Eagle Nebula. Credit: NASA/ESA
As for the picture of NGC 3572, the high-resolution image from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope is also revealing new mysteries that will require further investigation, ESO stated.
“A strange feature captured in this image is the tiny ring-like nebula located slightly above the centre of the image,” ESO wrote. “Astronomers still are a little uncertain about the origin of this curious feature. It is probably a dense leftover from the molecular cloud that formed the cluster, perhaps a bubble created around a very bright hot star. But some authors have considered that it may be some kind of oddly shaped planetary nebula — the remnants of a dying star.”
Astronomers were also surprised by seeing stars older than 10 million years old within this image that were still picking up mass, which implies that planetary formation could take longer than previously believed.
Research was led by ESO astronomer Giacomo Beccari.
NGC 5044 as seen by XMM-Newton. Astronomers say they are able to see hot gas moving in this galaxy because of an interaction with another galaxy millions of years ago. Credit: E. O’Sullivan & ESA
So galaxy group NGC 5044 was just sitting quietly by itself a few million years ago when galaxy NGC 5054 decided to pass right through it. That close encounter finished long ago, but the ricochet is still visible in telescopes as astronomers spotted hot gas rippling through the host galaxy.
“Galaxies are social beasts that are mostly found in groups or clusters – large assemblies of galaxies that are permeated by even larger amounts of diffuse gas. With temperatures of 10 million degrees or more, the gas in galaxy groups and clusters is hot enough to shine brightly in X-rays and be detected by ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory,” the European Space Agency stated.
“As galaxies speed through these gigantic cauldrons, they occasionally jumble the gas and forge it into lop-sided shapes. An example is revealed in this composite image of the galaxy group NGC 5044, the brightest group in X-rays in the entire sky.”
Fresh observations from XMM-Newton (in blue) are visible in this composite image with other pictures from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the Digitized Sky Survey (optical) and Galex (near-ultraviolet).
Publication of this research was accepted in MNRAS and is currently available on prepublishing site Arxiv. The lead author is Ewan O’Sullivan, a visiting scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.
Comet ISON on Nov. 17 with a tail nearly 8 degrees long and small, highly condensed coma! It looks more like a jet contrail. Credit: Michael Jaeger
Wonderful photos of Comets ISON and Lovejoy with their swollen comas and developing tails have appeared on these pages, but recently, amateur and professional astronomers have probed deeper to discover fascinating dust structures emanating from their very cores. Most comets possess a fuzzy, starlike pseudo-nucleus glowing near the center of the coma. Hidden within this minute luminous cocoon of haze and gas lies the true comet nucleus, a dark, icy body that typically spans from a few to 10 kilometers wide. Comet ISON’s nucleus could be as large as several kilometers and hefty enough (we hope!) to survive its close call with the sun on Nov. 28.
Sketch using Photoshop of the inner region of Comet Lovejoy’s coma showing the false nucleus and the curious dust fountain observed on Nov. 13 in a 15-inch (37-cm) telescope. Credit: Bob King. At right the same plume photographed on Nov. 12 with north up and east to the left. Credit: Luc Arnold
Last Wednesday morning Nov. 13 when calm air allowed a sharp view inside Comet Lovejoy’s large, 15-arc-minute-wide coma I noticed something odd about the false nucleus at low magnification, so I upped the power to 287x for a closer look. Extending from the fuzzy core in the sunward direction was a small cone or fountain-shaped structure of denser, brighter dust shaped like a miniature comet. It stretched eastward from the center and wrapped slightly to the south. Usually it’s harder than heck to see any details within the fuzzy, low-contrast environment of a comet’s coma unless that comet is close to Earth and actively spewing dust and ice. Lovejoy scored on both.
Negative image taken Nov. 14 of Lovejoy’s nucleus and dust fan. North up, west to the right. Credit: Dr. P. Clay Sherrod
By good fortune, Dr. P. Clay Sherrodof the Arkansas Sky Observatories, USA, and Luc Arnold of Saint-Michel-l’Observatoire, France, shared images they’d made at high magnification of the identical feature right at the same time as my own observation. There’s no doubt that what we saw was a jet or combined jets of dust and vapor blasting from Lovejoy’s true nucleus. Jets are linear or fan-shaped features and carry ice, dust and even snowballs from inside the nucleus out into space. They typically form where freshly-exposed ice from breaks or fissures in the comet’s crust vaporizes in the sun’s heat.
What I wouldn’t give to see one up close. Wait – we can. Take a look at the photo of Comet 103P/Hartleymade during NASA’s EPOXI flyby mission in November 2010. Notice that most of Hartley’s crust appears intact with the jets being the main contributors to the dust and gas that form the coma and tail.
Multiple jets were actively spewing ice and dust when NASA’s EPOXI mission zoomed by Comet Hartley 2 in November 2010. The fuzzy spots are balls of fluffy snowballs measuring between 1 inch and 1 foot across. Credit: NASA
Spotting a jet usually requires good seeing (low atmospheric turbulence) and high magnification. They’re low-contrast features but worth searching for in any bright comet. Jets often point toward the sun for good reason – the sunward side of the comet is where the heating is happening. Activity dies back as the comet rotates to face away from the sun during the night and early morning hours. By studying the material streaming away from a comet via jets, astronomers can determine the rotation period of the nucleus.
Nightly images of Comet Hale-Bopp’s rotating nucleus and spiraling jet made March 24-30, 1997 by Brad D. Wallis of JPL. The photos were assembled into this animation by Sky & Telescope
Sometimes material sprayed by jets expands into a curved parabolic hood within the coma. This may explain the wing-shaped structures poking out from Comet ISON’s coma seen in recent photos. Possibly the Nov. 13-14 outburst released a great deal of fresh dust that’s now being pushed back toward the tail by the ever-increasing pressure of sunlight as the comet approaches perihelion.
The inner coma of Comet Hale-Bopp developed a striking series of hoods in March 1997 when a dust jet spewed material night after night from the comet’s rotating nucleus. The animation captures garden sprinkler effect beautifully. Since the nucleus spun around every 11 hours 46 minutes, multiple spiraling waves passed through the coma in the sunward direction. To the delight of amateur astronomers at the time, they were plainly visible through the telescope.
Processed images showing a possible jet extending southeast (PA 150 degrees) of Comet ISON’s nucleus as well as the new wing-like hoods on Nov. 17, 2013. Credit: Denis Buczynski and Nick James of the BAA
When examining a comet, I start at low magnification and note coma shape, compactness and color as well as tail form and length and details like the presence of streamers or knots. Then I crank up the power and carefully study the area around the nucleus. Surprises may await your careful gaze. If Comet ISON does break up, the first sign of it happening might be an elongation or stretching of the false nucleus. If it’s no longer a small, star-like disk or if you notice a fainter, second nucleus tailward of the main, the comet’s days may be numbered.
Another view of the symmetrical “wings” photographed branching from Comet ISON’s coma on Nov. 15. At right, the photo has been specially processed to show the structure more clearly. Credit: Erik Bryssinck
Almost all astronomers agree on the theory of the Big Bang, that the entire Universe is spreading apart, with distant galaxies speeding away from us in all directions. Run the clock backwards to 13.8 billion years ago, and everything in the Cosmos started out as a single point in space. In an instant, everything expanded outward from that location, forming the energy, atoms and eventually the stars and galaxies we see today. But to call this concept merely a theory is to misjudge the overwhelming amount of evidence.
There are separate lines of evidence, each of which independently points towards this as the origin story for our Universe. The first came with the amazing discovery that almost all galaxies are moving away from us.
In 1912, Vesto Slipher calculated the speed and direction of “spiral nebulae” by measuring the change in the wavelengths of light coming from them. He realized that most of them were moving away from us. We now know these objects are galaxies, but a century ago astronomers thought these vast collections of stars might actually be within the Milky Way.
In 1924, Edwin Hubble figured out that these galaxies are actually outside the Milky Way. He observed a special type of variable star that has a direct relationship between its energy output and the time it takes to pulse in brightness. By finding these variable stars in other galaxies, he was able to calculate how far away they were. Hubble discovered that all these galaxies are outside our own Milky Way, millions of light-years away.
So, if these galaxies are far, far away, and moving quickly away from us, this suggests that the entire Universe must have been located in a single point billions of years ago. The second line of evidence came from the abundance of elements we see around us.
In the earliest moments after the Big Bang, there was nothing more than hydrogen compressed into a tiny volume, with crazy high heat and pressure. The entire Universe was acting like the core of a star, fusing hydrogen into helium and other elements.
This is known as Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. As astronomers look out into the Universe and measure the ratios of hydrogen, helium and other trace elements, they exactly match what you would expect to find if the entire Universe was once a really big star.
Line of evidence number 3: cosmic microwave background radiation. In the 1960s, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson were experimenting with a 6-meter radio telescope, and discovered a background radio emission that was coming from every direction in the sky – day or night. From what they could tell, the entire sky measured a few degrees above absolute zero.
WMAP data of the Cosmic Microwave Background. Credit: NASA
Theories predicted that after a Big Bang, there would have been a tremendous release of radiation. And now, billions of years later, this radiation would be moving so fast away from us that the wavelength of this radiation would have been shifted from visible light to the microwave background radiation we see today.
The final line of evidence is the formation of galaxies and the large scale structure of the cosmos. About 10,000 years after the Big Bang, the Universe cooled to the point that the gravitational attraction of matter was the dominant form of energy density in the Universe. This mass was able to collect together into the first stars, galaxies and eventually the large scale structures we see across the Universe today.
These are known as the 4 pillars of the Big Bang Theory. Four independent lines of evidence that build up one of the most influential and well-supported theories in all of cosmology. But there are more lines of evidence. There are fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation, we don’t see any stars older than 13.8 billion years, the discoveries of dark matter and dark energy, along with how the light curves from distant supernovae.
So, even though it’s a theory, we should regard it the same way that we regard gravity, evolution and general relativity. We have a pretty good idea of what’s going on, and we’ve come up with a good way to understand and explain it. As time progresses we’ll come up with more inventive experiments to throw at. We’ll refine our understanding and the theory that goes along with it.
Most importantly, we can have confidence when talking about what we know about the early stages of our magnificent Universe and why we understand it to be true.
NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft on Nov. 17, 2013, the day before its launch window opened. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
As NASA Social attendees gather for NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft’s date with space today, NASA administrator Charles Bolden recalled that time in October when it looked like MAVEN may have had to lose its launch window for two years because of the government shutdown.
“It was a very complicated process that we were engaged in, back in Washington, where the term used was ‘accepted activity’,” Bolden said in an interview with Universe Today.
For launch preparations to proceed during that 16-day shutdown, Bolden and other officials engaged in the mission needed to make the case that MAVEN was vital. The mission’s science focus, examining the atmosphere of Mars and tracking down the planet’s lost water, is usually what is talked about when justifying its activities to the public.
It was a different argument, however, that got MAVEN’s launch preparations on track: “imminent risk to life or property,” Bolden said, specifically with regard to its role in sending huge data files from the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers on the surface (as well as the forthcoming Mars 2020 rover, if that gets off the ground.)
Opportunity rover’s 1st mountain climbing goal is dead ahead in this up close view of Solander Point along the eroded rim of Endeavour Crater. Opportunity will soon ascend the mountain in search of minerals signatures indicative of a past Martian habitable environment. This navcam panoramic mosaic was assembled from raw images taken on Sol 3385 (Aug 2, 2013). Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)
“If we had lost the opportunity to launch MAVEN, we had to slip another two-year period of time, and during that period of time it was likely that the current communications relays working on Mars would die because the ones that were there were over their current design lifetime,” Bolden said, referring to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey.
Launch work was halted for a couple of days, and then more time had to be spent bringing the crew back in to prepare the spacecraft, but Bolden said the parties involved were able to “make it up without any major problem.” Other programs, however, took a hit. Bolden said there has been a loss in confidence in NASA workers getting the Orion human spacecraft and next-generation Space Launch System ready for a crewed mission late this decade. Bolden cites Orion as a stepping stone for NASA’s dream of sending astronauts away from Earth, including Mars missions.
“The biggest impact, to be quite honest, was not on the program but on the people,” he said. “Their attitude towards working in the government is they’re very proud of what they do, they know they do an exceptional job, and they felt the Congress — at the time — didn’t have respect for what we do. We’re spending a lot of time now trying to repair some … morale.”
Artist’s conception of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. Amid tighter budgets, NASA is focusing on Mars and causing concern from some planetary scientists that new missions to the outer solar system are being neglected. Credit: NASA
Another one of Bolden’s tasks these days is to allay concerns in the planetary science community that the focus on Mars may be coming at a detriment to the outer planets. NASA’s planetary science budget took a big hit in fiscal 2013 and some critics say the agency’s focus now is on developing Mars missions over those to the other planets.
“My response has been, and continues to be, what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to figure out better ways” for the planetary science community to participate, Bolden said.
Characterizing the multi-billion dollar missions such as Cassini as “a thing of the past,” Bolden said the agency is now looking at creating missions that are smaller, but more technologically advanced than the behemoth missions NASA used to send when its budgets weren’t quite so tight. He added that he feels the smaller missions could still accomplish the objectives of the larger ones.
Saturn and its rings, as seen from above the planet by the Cassini spacecraft that is currently at the ringed planet. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. Assembled by Gordan Ugarkovic.
“I would hope that the scientific community … will help us define ways that we can design and build satellites that we can fly on a more frequent basis, that cost us a little less money, so you end up getting the same amount — if not more — of data,” Bolden said. He also cited more frequent missions as a boon to inspiring younger students for science, since the big missions might have a gap of 10 or more years between them.
Bolden, a former astronaut, commanded the STS-45 mission in in 1992 that did Earth atmospheric science of its own using the payload ATLAS-1. “I think I have bored the Mars atmospheric scientists to death relating it to what we’re hoping to do with MAVEN in the upper atmosphere,” he joked, but added the science is somewhat related.
NASA hopes MAVEN will help scientists better understand “what happened with the upper atmosphere of Mars that went it to go from green and fertile, to where it is today — a cold, icy planet,” he said. “In doing so, we hope we’ll learn about our own planet.”
MAVEN’s launch window opens at 1:38 p.m. EST (6:38 p.m. UTC) today (Nov. 18). The only major issue NASA was working at the time of the interview (roughly 6 a.m. EST, or 1 p.m. UTC) was weather, which was only 60% go, Bolden said.
NASA’s Mars bound MAVEN spacecraft atop Atlas V booster rolls out to Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov. 16, 2013. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
NASA’s Mars bound MAVEN spacecraft atop Atlas V booster rolls out to Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov. 16, 2013. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
Story updated[/caption]
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – NASA’s Mars bound MAVEN spacecraft was rolled out to the seaside launch pad on Saturday Nov. 16 on Florida’s space coast on an expedition to study the Red Planet’s atmosphere and its potential for astrobiology.
All systems are “GO” for MAVEN and the powerful Atlas booster that will set the probe streaking on a ten month interplanetary journey to the Red Planet.
MAVEN is targeted to launch Monday, Nov. 18 at 1:28 p.m. EST atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
NASA’s Mars bound MAVEN spacecraft and Atlas V booster poised to blastoff from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov. 18, 2013. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com
The battery is being charged. After a day of rest for the launch pad crew, the countdown is set to resume at about 6:28 a.m. on Monday.
The Atlas launch window extends for 2 hours until about 3:30 p.m.
The weather outlook is somewhat iffy with a 60% chance of favorable conditions at launch time. The main threats are rain, winds and clouds.
Crowds of spectators are descending on Florida to view the historic launch and the local hotels are filling up. And I’ve spoken to many enthusiastic folks and kids hoping to witness a space spectacular.
Mars beckons humans for centuries as a place of myths and mysteries.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden (right) shaking hands and congratulating MAVEN Mars probe chief scientist Bruce Jakosky (center) during media Q & A session with NASA Science Chief John Grunsfeld in front of the Atlas V rocket poised to blastoff from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov. 18, 2013. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.comMAVEN will answer key questions about the evolution of Mars, its geology and the potential for the evolution of life
“MAVEN is an astrobiology mission,” said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN’s Principal Investigator from the University of Colorado at Boulder, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
Mars was once wet billions of years ago, but no longer. Now it’s a cold arid world, not exactly hospitable to life.
“We want to determine what were the drivers of that change?” said Jakosky. “What is the history of Martian habitability, climate change and the potential for life?”
NASA’s MAVEN Mars orbiter – which stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution – is the first real attempt to investigating these fundamental questions that hold the key to solving the Martian mysteries perplexing the science community.
The 5,400 pound MAVEN probe carries nine sensors in three instrument suites.
The Particles and Fields Package, provided by the University of California at Berkeley with support from CU/LASP and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., contains six instruments to characterize the solar wind and the ionosphere of Mars. The Remote Sensing Package, built by CU/LASP, will determine global characteristics of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere. The Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer, built by Goddard, will measure the composition of Mars’ upper atmosphere.
You can watch the launch live on NASA TV.
Thrilled band of photojournalists and space reporters (including Ken Kremer of Universe Today) covering the MAVEN Mars orbiter launch pose for group photo op in front of the Atlas V rocket poised to blastoff from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov. 18, 2013. Credit: Nicolle Solomon
Stay tuned here for continuing MAVEN and MOM news and Ken’s MAVEN launch reports from on site at the Kennedy Space Center press site.
Learn more about MAVEN, MOM, Mars rovers, Orion and more at Ken’s upcoming presentations
Nov 15-20: “MAVEN Mars Launch and Curiosity Explores Mars, Orion and NASA’s Future”, Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, 8 PM
Dec 11: “Curiosity, MAVEN and the Search for Life on Mars”, “LADEE & Antares ISS Launches from Virginia”, Rittenhouse Astronomical Society, Franklin Institute, Phila, PA, 8 PM
Star Trek actor LeVar Burton Shares MAVEN’s Story in a New NASA public service announcement (PSA). Credit: NASA
Star Trek actor LeVar Burton Shares MAVEN’s Story in a New NASA public service announcement (PSA). Credit: NASA
Watch the PSA below[/caption]
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – Star Trek actor and space enthusiast LeVar Burton stars in a new action packed NASA public service announcement (PSA) about the agency’s next Mars-bound spacecraft, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft slated for blast off in barely two days time on Nov. 18 from the Florida Space Coast.
Burton played the beloved character of chief engineer ‘Geordi LeForge’ aboard the legendary Starship Enterprise on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” – known by audiences worldwide.
And Burton gives an appropriately other worldly narration in the NASA PSA containing exciting new animations explaining the goals and science behind the MAVEN Mars orbiter and how it will accomplish its tasks.
I was privileged to meet chief engineer ‘Geordi LeForge’ at a prior NASA launch event.
He is genuinely and truly dedicated to advancing science and education through his many STEM initiatives and participation in educational programming like the NASA PSA.
MAVEN will study the Red Planet’s atmosphere like never before and in unprecedented detail and is the first mission dedicated to studying Mars upper atmosphere.
MAVEN’s is aimed at unlocking one of the greatest Martian mysteries; Where did all the water go ? And when did the Red Planet’s water and atmosphere disappear ?
MAVEN’s suite of nine science instruments will help scientists understand the history, mechanism and causes of the Red Planet’s dramatic climate change over billions of years.
Burton’s PSA will be used at MAVEN scheduled events around the country and will also be shared on the web and social media, according to NASA. The goal is to educate the public about MAVEN and NASA’s efforts to better understand the Red Planet and the history of climate change there.
Be sure to check out the new video – below:
Video caption: NASA is returning to Mars! This NASA Public Service Announcement regarding the MAVEN mission is presented by LeVar Burton in which he shares the story about NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission—or MAVEN—and how it will explore Mars’ climate history and gather clues about the question scientists have been asking for decades. MAVEN will look at specific processes at Mars that led to the loss of much of its atmosphere…and MAVEN data could tell scientists a lot about the history of climate change on the Red Planet.
“NASA is thrilled to have LeVar Burton explain this mission to the greater public,” said Bert Ulrich, NASA’s multimedia liaison for film and TV collaborations in a NASA statement. “Thanks to Burton’s engaging talents and passion for space exploration, audiences of all ages will be able to share in the excitement of NASA’s next mission to Mars.”
MAVEN is targeted to launch Monday, Nov. 18 at 1:28 p.m. EST atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
You can watch the launch live on NASA TV
Stay tuned here for continuing MAVEN and MOM news and Ken’s MAVEN launch reports from on site at the Kennedy Space Center press site.
Learn more about MAVEN, MOM, Mars rovers, Orion and more at Ken’s upcoming presentations
Nov 15-20: “MAVEN Mars Launch and Curiosity Explores Mars, Orion and NASA’s Future”, Kennedy Space Center Quality Inn, Titusville, FL, 8 PM
Dec 11: “Curiosity, MAVEN and the Search for Life on Mars”, “LADEE & Antares ISS Launches from Virginia”, Rittenhouse Astronomical Society, Franklin Institute, Phila, PA, 8 PM
Comet 2012 S1 ISON in outburst, seen on November 15, 2013. Credit and copyright: Damian Peach.
Let the show begin! With all our reports and images of Comet ISON being in outburst, this latest image from astrophotographer Damian Peach shows just how much activity is taking place in this comet as it races towards the Sun. “Hard to believe this is the same comet in my last image of Nov 10th!” Damian said via email.
ISON’s tail is suddenly full of streamers and features not seen before in this comet. At less than two weeks to its close encounter with the Sun on November 28, only a short amount of time will tell us if Comet ISON is just beginning to show off its brightness or if it is beginning to break apart.
The views here are through good quality telescopes. It is just now becoming visible to the naked eye, looking like a faint smudge at about magnitude +5.5.
Below is a “negative” view from Damain Peach, as well as a variety of views from Joseph Brimacombe and others that are coming in:
A widefield view of Comet ISON, taken from New Mexico Skies at 11h 59m UT on Nov. 15, 2013 using an FSQ 106 ED telescope and STL11K camera on a PME II mount. 1 x 10 min exposures. Credit and copyright: Joseph Brimacombe.A narrowfield, false color view of Comet ISON on Nov. 15, 2013, taken from New Mexico. Credit and copyright: Joseph Brimacombe.
And an animation from Brimacombe:
A negative image of Comet ISON on Nov. 15, 2013, 106mm F5.0 with STL-11k. LRGB. L: 5x2mins. RGB: 1x2mins. Credit and copyright: Damian Peach. Another view of Comet ISON this morning (Nov. 15) photographed by Leonid EleninSpectacular photo of Comet ISON taken this morning Nov. 15 from Charleston, Rhode Island, USA showing the recent outburst. Click to enlarge. Credit: Scott MacNeill
If you haven’t seen the comet yet, you can use this map to track it through the weekend as it zips quickly through Virgo. The map shows the sky facing southeast just before the start of morning twilight or about 100 minutes before sunrise. ISON should be plainly visible in binoculars in a dark sky. Created with Chris Marriott’s SkyMap program
And for comparison, here is Damian Peach’s previous image from Nov. 10:
Comet ISON on Nov. 10 before the recent outburst with well-developed dust (upper) and gas tails. Click ot enlarge. Credit: Damian Peach
European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano minutes after landing in November 2013, after five months in space during Expedition 36/37. Here, he is being carried to a nearby medical tent to stand up for the first time. Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi
OTTAWA, CANADA – Astronauts appear to hold their heads more rigidly in relation to their trunks after returning to Earth from multi-month spaceflights, which may affect how they balance themselves back on Earth, according to ongoing research.
A note of caution: the sample size is small (six astronauts so far) and the research is still being conducted by the University of Houston and NASA. So this isn’t finalized in any sense. The early studies, however, shows that people returning to Earth may be changing their “strategy”, said Ph.D. student Stefan Madansingh.
“The changing strategy might put you at higher risks of falls as you ambulate around your environment, and if you are on Mars and you fall and break your hip, that is the start of a very bad day,” he said in a speech.
ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli works with an experiment on board the International Space Station. Astronauts find it harder to move around on Earth after several months working in the orbiting complex. Credit: NASA
Generally, NASA is interested in learning about changes in cardiovascular, balance and muscle function after six-month spaceflights or more, when they are “like spaghetti people,” Madansingh said. Over the years, astronauts have shown changes in inner eye pressure, bone density, muscles and their balance, among other things.
To obtain the information, NASA has had astronauts walking around a simple obstacle course, which they encourage astronauts to complete at a comfortable walking pace. They’ll weave around pylons, climb ladders and do other simple tasks.
Tests are performed at 180, 60 and 30 days before launch, then one, six and 30 days after landing. (In the shuttle era, astronauts would do these types of tests immediately after landing, but these days there’s a day-long flight from Kazakhstan before arriving in Houston.) Some tests are started from a lying position, and some from a sitting position.
Artist impression of an astronaut on Mars (NASA)
It takes more time for astronauts to complete the obstacle course after coming back from space, Madansingh said, and his ongoing research looks at the relation between the head and trunk as the astronauts are doing so.
As controls, NASA uses bed rest subjects, who are people voluntarily spending 70 days in a head-down position without getting up once, even to go to the bathroom. “I think it’s absolutely bonkers,” Madansingh joked, but added that the bed rest subjects don’t show that same head-trunk changes that returning astronauts do. More research will be needed to learn why, he said.
Chris Hadfield during an EVA in 2001. Also in the image is the Canadarm2 robotic arm on the ISS. Credit: NASA
OTTAWA, CANADA – A small Canadian community seems an unlikely spot for an artist now working with Mars One (those people plotting a one-way trip to Mars) and asteroid mining concept company Deep Space Industries. But that’s how Bryan Versteeg got his start in life and — despite his remoteness — found space inspiration from an iconic Canadian technology.
“In a small, isolated Canadian community, I wasn’t really exposed to space exploration at all. I had no one around me who was in the industry. The only thing I had that talked to me about Canadians in space … was the Canadarm,” said Versteeg in a speech Nov. 15.
“So growing up as a kid I’d see this Canadian flag prominently featured on one of the most incredible industrial pieces of machinery put into space,” he added, saying one of his goals now is to “stick the Canadian flag where I can.” Flashing a picture of a futuristic Mars base sporting a flag, he said, “Why not? If this place is going to be built by anyone, it’s built by Canadians.”
Artist’s conception of Mars One. Credit: Mars One/Brian Versteeg
Today, Versteeg does artistic work for Deep Space Industries as well as Mars One, work that initially first reached the space community because he put information out on his website and people who were interested in colonization came to him to share ideas, he said.
“I imagine concepts, and I work with people who are trying to develop concepts and show concepts. Although most of the work is self-directed, I worked on 40 projects in the past two years,” he said.
In a sense, he feels that Mars is even easier to communicate with than the far North a few decades ago. When he was living in Inuvik (in Canada’s Northwest Territories) in the 1980s, it would take 2.5 weeks to get a reply from a letter, he said.
Versteeg delivered his remarks at the Canadian Space Society’s annual summit, held this year (Nov. 14 to 15) in Ottawa, Canada.
