A high-resolution view of a "silky" surface on Mercury
During its two years in orbit around Mercury — as well as several more years performing flybys — the MESSENGER spacecraft has taken over 150,000 images of the innermost planet, giving us a look at its incredibly rugged, Sun-scoured surface like never before. But not all areas on Mercury appear so harsh — it has its softer sides too, as seen above in an image released earlier today.
Here we see the smooth walls, floor and upper surfaces around an irregular depression on Mercury in high definition. The velvety texture is the result of widespread layering of fine particles, because unlike many features on Mercury’s ancient surface this rimless depression wasn’t caused by an impact from above but rather explosively escaping lava from below — this is the rim of a volcanic vent, not a crater!
Previous images have been acquired of this irregularly-shaped depression but this is the highest resolution view MESSENGER has captured to date — about 26 meters per pixel.
A wide-angle view of the same depression, captured by MESSENGER in July 2012
The full depression, located northeast of the Rachmaninoff basin, is about 36 km (22 miles) across at its widest. It’s surrounded by a smooth blanket of high-reflectance material — explosively ejected volcanic particles from a pyroclastic eruption that spread over the surface like snow.
Other similar vents have been found on Mercury, like this heart-shaped one in Caloris basin. The smooth, bright surface material is a telltale sign of a volcanic outburst, as are the rimless, irregular shapes of the vents.
The numerous small craters that are seen inside the vent and on the smooth surrounding surfaces would be from meteorite impacts that occurred well after the eruption.
On March 17, 2011, MESSENGER became the first spacecraft ever to orbit the planet Mercury. It is capable of continuing orbital operations until early 2015. Find out more about the mission here.
Image credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Like archaeologists sifting through the dust of ancient civilizations, scientists with the ESA Planck mission today showed a map of the oldest light in the Universe. The first cosmology results of the mission suggest our Universe is slightly older and expanding more slowly than previously thought.
Planck’s new estimate for the age of the Universe is 13.82 billion years.
The map also appears to show more matter and dark matter and less dark energy, a hypothetical force that is causing an expansion of the Universe.
“We are measuring the oldest light in the Universe, the cosmic microwave background,” says Paul Hertz, director of astrophysics with NASA. “It is the most sensitive and detailed map ever. It’s like going from standard television to a new high definition screen. The new details have become crystal clear.”
Overall, the cosmic background radiation, the afterglow of the Universe’s birth, is smooth and uniform. The map, however, provides a glimpse of the tiny temperature fluctuations that were imprinted on the sky when the Universe was just 370,000 years old. Scientists believe the map reveals a fossil, an imprint, of the state of the Universe just 10 nano-nano-nano-nano seconds after the Big Bang; just a tiny fraction of the time it took to read that sentence. The splotches in the Planck map represent the seeds from which the stars and galaxies formed.
The colors in the map represent different temperatures; red for warmer, blue for cooler. The temperature differences being only 1/100 millionth of a degree. “The contrast on the map has been turned way up,” says Charles Lawrence, the US project scientist for Planck at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
Planck, launched in 2009 from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, is a European Space Agency mission with significant contribution from NASA. The two-ton spacecraft gathers the ancient glow of the Universe’s beginning from a vantage more than 1 million miles from Earth.
This graphic shows the evolution of satellites designed to measure the light left over from the Big Bang that created our Universe about 13.8 billion years ago. Called the cosmic background radiation, the light reveals information about the early Universe. The three panels show the same 10-square-degree patch of sky as seen by NASA’s Cosmic Background Explorer, or COBE, NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, or WMAP, and Planck. Planck has a resolution about 2.5 times greater than WMAP. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA
This is not the first map produced by Planck. In 2010, Planck produced an all-sky radiation map. Scientists, using supercomputers, have removed not only the bright emissions from foreground sources, like the Milky Way, but also stray light from the satellite itself.
As the light travels, matter scattered throughout the Universe with its associated gravity subtly bends and absorbs the light, “making it wiggle to and fro,” said Martin White, a Planck project scientist with the University of California, Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
“The Planck map shows the impact of all matter back to the edge of the Universe,” says White. “It’s not just a pretty picture. Our theories on how matter forms and how the Universe formed match spectacularly to this new data.”
“This is a treasury of scientific data,” said Krzysztof Gorski, a member of the Planck team with JPL. “We are very excited with the results. We find an early Universe that is considerably less rigged and more random than other, more complex models. We think they’ll be facing a dead-end.”
An artists animation depicting the “life” of a photon, or a particle light, as it travels across space and time from the beginning of the Universe to the detectors of the Planck telescope. Credit: NASA
Planck scientists believe the new data should help scientists refine many of the theories proposed by cosmologists that the Universe underwent a sudden and rapid inflation.
Apollo F-1 Thrust Chamber on ocean floor. Credit: Bezos Expeditions
Last year, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos announced that he had located some of the Apollo F-1 rocket engines and planned to recover them. He and his Bezos Expedition team were successful in recovering engines that helped power Apollo astronauts to the Moon and have now brought “a couple of your F-1s home,” Bezos said in a message to NASA. On the Bezos Expedition website, Bezos called the recovery “an incredible adventure.”
Here are some pictures and a video of the recovery:
NASA was happy about the recovery as well.
“This is a historic find and I congratulate the team for its determination and perseverance in the recovery of these important artifacts of our first efforts to send humans beyond Earth orbit,” said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden in a statement. “We look forward to the restoration of these engines by the Bezos team and applaud Jeff’s desire to make these historic artifacts available for public display.”
There is no indication so far from Bezos of which flight these engines were from. Last year when Bezos made his announcement, he said they had found the engines from Apollo 11, but it may be been difficult to determine exactly which flight the ones found were from. In total, NASA launched 65 F-1 engines, five per flight, on 13 Saturn V boosters between 1967 and 1973. Supposedly there would be serial numbers to make the identification of which flight these engines were from. Bezos indicated on his blog they were still on the ship, so perhaps the identification will come later.
Five F-1 engines were used in the 138-foot-tall S-IC, or first stage, of each Saturn V, which depended on the five-engine cluster for the 7.5 million pounds of thrust needed to lift it from the launch pad. Each of the engines stands 19 feet tall by 12 feet wide and weigh over 18,000 pounds.
F-1 Thrust Chamber. Credit: Bezos Expeditions
Bezos and his team spent three weeks at sea, working almost 3 miles below the surface. “We found so much,” Bezos wrote. “We’ve seen an underwater wonderland – an incredible sculpture garden of twisted F-1 engines that tells the story of a fiery and violent end, one that serves testament to the Apollo program. We photographed many beautiful objects in situ and have now recovered many prime pieces. Each piece we bring on deck conjures for me the thousands of engineers who worked together back then to do what for all time had been thought surely impossible.”
Gas Generator and Manifold. Credit: Bezos ExpeditionsThrust Chamber and Fuel Manifold. Credit: Bezos ExpeditionsNozzle on the ocean floor. Credit: Bezos ExpeditionsSaturn V Stage Structure. Credit: Bezos Expeditions.
Multiple exposures of Comet PANSTARRS taken on March 19 were stacked to create this amazing image. The field of view is about 6 by 4 degrees. Details: Leica-Apo180mm lens at f/4. Click to enlarge. Credit: Michael Jaeger
Wow – what an image! Michael Jaeger’s photo of Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS on March 19 resembles those taken by the orbiting Stereo-B spacecraft. Check out this video (and the one below) to see what I mean. Most observers using binoculars and telescopes are seeing the comet’s head, bright false nucleus and a single plume-like tail.
Michael Jaeger of Stixendorf, Austria has been shooting beautiful comet images since 1982. Credit: Michael Jaeger
Careful photography like Jaeger’s reveals so much more – two bright, broad dust tails and three shorter spikes. One of the dust tails peels off to the left of the comet’s head, the other extends upward feather-like before splitting into two separate streamers. There are also several narrow, spike-like tails due to various excited elements and gas emissions from the comet’s icy nucleus.
Video of Comet PANSTARRS made from pictures taken by NASA’s STEREO-B spacecraft on March 13, one of two spacecraft that orbit ahead and behind Earth monitoring solar activity on the sun’s farside.
Michael Jaeger of Austria has been shooting pictures of comets since 1982. His images always reveal details that entice visual observers to go out and look for more than what first meets the eye. Last night I got my first look at the comet through a telescope and was delighted at the sight of its smooth, luminous tail and brilliant yellow false-nucleus. The false nucleus is the bright spot visible in the center of the PANSTARRS’ head; in 10×50 binoculars it looks like a star. Through a telescope it’s a fuzzy, yellow pea. Buried deep within the false nucleus is the icy comet nucleus itself, vaporizing in the sun’s heat and shrouded by its own dust.
Comet PANSTARRS last night March 19, 2013 in the company of white pines. Details: 300mm lens, f/2.8, ISO 800 and 3-second exposure. Credit: Bob King
The comet has faded in the past week or two from 1st magnitude – equal to some of the brightest stars – to about magnitude 2.5 or somewhat fainter than the stars of the Big Dipper. In very clear skies, it was still dimly visible with the naked eye about 40 minutes after sunset low in the northwestern sky. I only knew where to look after first finding the comet in 10×50 binoculars. The tail points straight up and stretches nearly 2 degrees in length once the sky gets dark enough to increase contrast and before PANSTARRS sinks too low. I kept it in view for nearly an hour from a wind-whipped location north of Duluth, Minn.
The comet at 64x through a 15-inch (37cm) telescope on March 19, 2013. The pale yellow false nucleus highlights the smooth, curved tail. Illustration: Bob King
Through the telescope the nucleus blazed yellow from sunlit dust. Set inside the comet’s sleek, smooth head it reminded me of a lighthouse beacon shining through the mist. Gorgeous! The tail trailed bent back to the northeast with a slight arc. I highly recommend setting up your telescope for a look at PANSTARRS, if for no other reason than to see the beauty of the false-nucleus within the finger-like tail.
Use this map to find Comet PANSTARRS now through March 31. It depicts the sky facing west-northwest 30-40 minutes after sunset. The comet’s height remains fairly steady at about 10-14 degrees but it moves steadily northward (to the right). The yellow circles represent the sun’s position every 3 days. It also moves northward but more slowly. One fist equals about 10 degrees of sky. Created with Chris Marriott’s SkyMap software
You can use the chart to help you find the comet for the remainder of the month. It shows the comet’s position every 3 days now through March 31 from mid-northern latitudes, specially 42 degrees north (Chicago, Ill.). If you live in the northern U.S., the comet will be in approximately the same positions but slightly higher in the sky; in the southern U.S. it will be a little lower. Notice the “15 degree” altitude line. If you set the bottom of your fist flat on the horizon, the 15 degree line is a fist and a half above that level.
Time lapse video made by Patrick Cullis showing Comet PANSTARRS setting behind the Flatirons of Boulder, Col. on March 19. As you watch, notice how the comet appears against the sky background and the direction it moves toward the horizon – both clues to help you find it.
The map compensates for the sun rising later each night and shows the comet’s height above the horizon when the sun is 7.5 degrees below the horizon. 7.5 degrees corresponds to about 30 minutes after sunset. Notice that the sun moves northward (to the right) just like the comet does over the next couple weeks but more slowly.
A compass has two sets of markings. One shows the basic directions N, S, etc. Those directions are subdivided into degrees of azimuth seen in the outer ring. Credit: Wikipedia
See those yellow numbers along the map’s horizon? Those are compass bearings called azimuths. If you have a compass, dig it out and give it a look. Every compass is marked in degrees of azimuth. 270 degrees is due west, 285 degrees is a fist and a half to the right of due west, 315 degrees is exactly halfway between due west and due north. North can be either 360 degrees or 0 degrees. Azimuths are simple way to subdivide directions to make them more precise.
Comet PANSTARRS very low in the northwestern sky shortly before setting last night March 19. Details: 300mm lens, f2.8, ISO 3200 and about 4 seconds exposure. Credit: Bob King
The next time it’s clear, bring your binoculars and a compass (if needed) and find a location with a great view of the western sky preferably down to the horizon. Use the map along with the compass bearings to guide your eyes in the right direction. You can also use the sun’s position below the horizon to point you to the comet by angling up from the lingering glow at the sunset point. Remember to first focus your binoculars on the moon, cloud bank or star before attempting to find PANSTARRS. There’s nothing more frustrating than sweeping for a fuzzy comet with an out-of-focus instrument.
A panorama of eight images stitched together showing the aurora over the Rødsand-nordlys region of Norway on March 19, 2013. Credit and copyright: Frank Olsen.
Photographer Frank Olsen from Norway was feeling left out of the recent auroral activity from the Sun’s activity last Friday, as his region in northern Norway was socked in with clouds. “I really envied those Alaska guys that brought home amazing pictures,” he said on his Flickr page. But he was rewarded with an awesome view of the aurora last night (March 19, 2013) and took this beautiful panorama of 8 images. pictures. “A half moon lit up the sky just perfectly,” he said. “To the right, the small town of Sortland, and to the left the even smaller town of Stokmarknes. In between Langøya (long) island.” Click on the image to see a larger version, and Frank has a 20 MB version, too.
Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.
The edge of the solar system. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
A new paper out today reports that the Voyager 1 spacecraft appears to have traveled beyond the influence of the Sun and exited the heliosphere. However, the data they cite is the same as what NASA Voyager scientists claimed in December 2012 was just a new region at the edge of the solar system that scientists previously didn’t know was there. They called it a “highway” of magnetic particles, shepherding Voyager 1 out into interstellar space, whereas the new paper put out by the American Geophysical Union says Voyager 1 has crossed a “heliocliff” and into interstellar space.
JPL spokesperson Jia-Rui Cook had just heard of the paper when Universe Today called this morning to verify the findings of the new paper. “Our last statement about this was the critical thing we were looking for was a change in the magnetic field data,” she said via phone. “This paper does not appear to address the magnetic field data.”
UPDATE: NASA has issued a statement regarding this issue:
“The Voyager team is aware of reports today that NASA’s Voyager 1 has left the solar system,” said Edward Stone, Voyager project scientist based at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. “It is the consensus of the Voyager science team that Voyager 1 has not yet left the solar system or reached interstellar space. In December 2012, the Voyager science team reported that Voyager 1 is within a new region called ‘the magnetic highway’ where energetic particles changed dramatically. A change in the direction of the magnetic field is the last critical indicator of reaching interstellar space and that change of direction has not yet been observed.”
Cook told Universe Today that Voyager Project Scientist Ed Stone was out of the country, and she was trying to get in touch with him to verify the paper’s claims that Voyager has left the solar system, and he obviously wasted no time in setting the record straight.
In another update, the AGU reissued the press release with a different title to “to better represent the findings reported in the study.” The initial headline was “Voyager 1 Has Left the Solar System, Sudden Changes in Cosmic Rays Indicate,” and the new headline is “Voyager 1 has entered a new region of space, sudden changes in cosmic rays indicate.” So, basically, the new paper was just iterating the previous findings.
(End of updates)
The authors of the new paper, William Webber and F.B. McDonald, cite the events of last summer when Voyager 1 measured drastic changes in radiation levels, more than 18 billion km (11 billion miles) from the Sun. On July 28, 2012 the level of lower-energy particles originating from inside our Solar System dropped by half. However, in three days, the levels had recovered to near their previous levels. But then the bottom dropped out at the end of August, where anomalous cosmic rays (cosmic rays trapped in the outer heliosphere) all but vanished, dropping to less than 1 percent of previous amounts. At the same time, galactic cosmic rays – cosmic radiation from outside of the solar system – spiked to levels not seen since Voyager’s launch, with intensities as much as twice previous levels.
“Within just a few days, the heliospheric intensity of trapped radiation decreased, and the cosmic ray intensity went up as you would expect if it exited the heliosphere,” said Webber in an AGU press release. Webber is a professor emeritus of astronomy at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. He called this transition boundary the “heliocliff.”
In the Geophysical Research Letters article, the authors say, “It appears that [Voyager 1] has exited the main solar modulation region, revealing [hydrogen] and [helium] spectra characteristic of those to be expected in the local interstellar medium.”
However, last December in a NASA press conference, the Voyager team said they infered this region is still inside our solar bubble because the direction of the magnetic field lines has not changed. The direction of these magnetic field lines is predicted to change when Voyager breaks through to interstellar space.
“We believe this is the last leg of our journey to interstellar space,” Stone said during the press conference. “Our best guess is it’s likely just a few months to a couple years away. The new region isn’t what we expected, but we’ve come to expect the unexpected from Voyager.”
We’ll provide more information on this discrepancy between the interpretations of the events when we hear more from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
A marshmellow-sized Pu-238 pellet awaits a space mission. (Credit: The Department of Energy).
The end of NASA’s plutonium shortage may be in sight. On Monday March 18th, NASA’s planetary science division head Jim Green announced that production of Plutonium-238 (Pu-238) by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) is currently in the test phases leading up to a restart of full scale production.
“By the end of the calendar year, we’ll have a complete plan from the Department of Energy on how they’ll be able to satisfy our requirement of 1.5 to 2 kilograms a year.” Green said at the 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference being held in Woodlands, Texas this past Monday.
This news comes none too soon. We’ve written previously on the impending Plutonium shortage and the consequences it has for future deep space exploration. Solar power is adequate in most cases when you explore the inner solar system, but when you venture out beyond the asteroid belt, you need nuclear power to do it.
Production of the isotope Pu-238 was a fortunate consequence of the Cold War. First produced by Glen Seaborg in 1940, the weapons grade isotope of plutonium (-239) is produced via bombarding neptunium (which itself is a decay product of uranium-238) with neutrons. Use the same target isotope of Neptunium-237 in a fast reactor, and Pu-238 is the result. Pu-238 produces 280x times the decay heat at 560 watts per kilogram versus weapons grade Pu-239 and is ideal as a compact source of energy for deep space exploration.
Since 1961, over 26 U.S. spacecraft have been launched carrying Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (MMRTG, or formerly simply RTGs) as power sources and have explored every planet except Mercury. RTGs were used by the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) science payloads left on by the astronauts on the Moon, and Cassini, Mars Curiosity and New Horizons enroute to explore Pluto in July 2015 are all nuclear powered.
Plutonium powered RTGs are the only technology that we have currently in use that can carry out deep space exploration. NASA’s Juno spacecraft will be the first to reach Jupiter in 2016 without the use of a nuclear-powered RTG, but it will need to employ 3 enormous 2.7 x 8.9 metre solar panels to do it.
The plutonium power source inside the Mars Science Laboratory’s MMRTG during assembly at the Idaho National Laboratory. (Credit: Department of Energy/Idaho National Laboratory image under a Creative Commons Generic Attribution 2.0 License).
The problem is, plutonium production in the U.S. ceased in 1988 with the end of the Cold War. How much Plutonium-238 NASA and the DOE has stockpiled is classified, but it has been speculated that it has at most enough for one more large Flag Ship class mission and perhaps a small Scout class mission. Plus, once weapons grade plutonium-239 is manufactured, there’s no re-processing it the desired Pu-238 isotope. The plutonium that currently powers Curiosity across the surface of Mars was bought from the Russians, and that source ended in 2010. New Horizons is equipped with a spare MMRTG that was built for Cassini, which was launched in 1999.
Technicians handle an RTG at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center for the Cassini spacecraft. (Credit: NASA).
As an added bonus, plutonium powered missions often exceed expectations as well. For example, the Voyager 1 & 2 spacecraft had an original mission duration of five years and are now expected to continue well into their fifth decade of operation. Mars Curiosity doesn’t suffer from the issues of “dusty solar panels” that plagued Spirit and Opportunity and can operate through the long Martian winter. Incidentally, while the Spirit and Opportunity rovers were not nuclear powered, they did employ tiny pellets of plutonium oxide in their joints to stay warm, as well as radioactive curium to provide neutron sources in their spectrometers. It’s even quite possible that any alien intelligence stumbles upon the five spacecraft escaping our solar system (Pioneer 10 & 11, Voyagers 1 & 2, and New Horizons) could conceivably date their departure from Earth by measuring the decay of their plutonium power source. (Pu-238 has a half life of 87.7 years and eventually decays after transitioning through a long series of daughter isotopes into lead-206).
New Horizons in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center. Note the RTG (black) protruding from the spacecraft. (Credit: NASA/Uwe W.)
The current production run of Pu-238 will be carried out at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) using its High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). “Old” Pu-238 can also be revived by adding newly manufactured Pu-238 to it.
“For every 1 kilogram, we really revive two kilograms of the older plutonium by mixing it… it’s a critical part of our process to be able to utilize our existing supply at the energy density we want it,” Green told a recent Mars exploration planning committee.
Still, full target production of 1.5 kilograms per year may be some time off. For context, the Mars rover Curiosity utilizes 4.8 kilograms of Pu-238, and New Horizons contains 11 kilograms. No missions to the outer planets have left Earth since the launch of Curiosity in November 2011, and the next mission likely to sport an RTG is the proposed Mars 2020 rover. Ideas on the drawing board such as a Titan lake lander and a Jupiter Icy Moons mission would all be nuclear powered.
Engineers perform a fit check of the MMRTG on Curiosity at the Kennedy Space Center. The final installation of the MMRTG occurred the evening prior to launch. (Credit: NASA/Cory Huston).
Along with new plutonium production, NASA plans to have two new RTGs dubbed Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generators (ASRGs) available by 2016. While more efficient, the ASRG may not always be the device of choice. For example, Curiosity uses its MMRTG waste heat to keep instruments warm via Freon circulation. Curiosity also had to vent waste heat produced by the 110-watt generator while cooped up in its aero shell enroute to Mars.
Cutaway diagram of the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator. (Credit: DOE/NASA).
And of course, there are the added precautions that come with launching a nuclear payload. The President of the United States had to sign off on the launch of Curiosity from the Florida Space Coast. The launch of Cassini, New Horizons, and Curiosity all drew a scattering of protesters, as does anything nuclear related. Never mind that coal fired power plants produce radioactive polonium, radon and thorium as an undesired by-product daily.
An RTG (in the foreground on the pallet) left on the Moon by astronauts during Apollo 14. (Credit: NASA/Alan Shepard).
Said launches aren’t without hazards, albeit with risks that can be mitigated and managed. One of the most notorious space-related nuclear accidents occurred early in the U.S. space program with the loss of an RTG-equipped Transit-5BN-3 satellite off of the coast of Madagascar shortly after launch in 1964. And when Apollo 13 had to abort and return to Earth, the astronauts were directed to ditch the Aquarius Landing Module along with its nuclear-powered science experiments meant for the surface of the Moon in the Pacific Ocean near the island of Fiji. (They don’t tell you that in the movie) One wonders if it would be cost effective to “resurrect” this RTG from the ocean floor for a future space mission. On previous nuclear-equipped launches such as New Horizons, NASA placed the chance of a “launch accident that could release plutonium” at 350-to-1 against Even then, the shielded RTG is “over-engineered” to survive an explosion and impact with the water.
But the risks are worth the gain in terms of new solar system discoveries. In a brave new future of space exploration, the restart of plutonium production for peaceful purposes gives us hope. To paraphrase Carl Sagan, space travel is one of the best uses of nuclear fission that we can think of!
One of the most lovely deep space objects to observe is the grand-design spiral galaxy and there are few so grand as NGC 1637. Located in the constellation of Eridanus and positioned approximately 35 million light years away, this twisted beauty was home to a radical supernova event just 14 years ago. Now astronomers are taking a close look at the resultant damage caused by the stellar explosion and giving us some pretty incredible views of the galaxy as well.
When viewing NGC 1637, it seems as if the galaxy itself is evenly distributed, but take a closer look. In this image you will notice the spiral arm to the top left is much more openly constructed and stretches out a bit further than the more concentrated and stubby spiral arm to its opposite side. You will also notice the more compact arm has the appearance of being cut through its mid-section. In whole, this particular appearance is what astronomers refer to as a “lopsided spiral galaxy”.
Now, let’s talk about what happened to disturb the peace…
In 1999, high atop Mt. Hamilton and near San Jose, California, the Lick Observatory was busy utilizing a telescope which specialized in searching for supernova events. Low and behold, they discovered one… a very bright one located in NGC 1637. Like all astronomical observations, the call went out immediately to other observatories to confirm their find and to gather support data. As with most dramatic events, SN 1999em was quickly and thoroughly researched by telescopes around the world – its magnitude carefully recorded and the resultant fading meticulously accounted for as the years have passed.
Better to burn out than to fade away? There are very few things in our natural world which can match the violent beauty of a supernova event. When a star ends its life in this way, it goes out with a bang, not a whimper. For their cosmic finale, they briefly outshine the combined light of all the stars contained within the host galaxy. Like snowflakes, each supernova is unique and the cataclysmic star within NGC 1637 was eight times more massive than our Sun.
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This video sequence starts with a view of the bright constellation of Orion (The Hunter). As we zoom in, we focus on an adjacent region of the constellation of Eridanus (The River) and a faint glow appears. This is the spiral galaxy NGC 1637, which appears in all its glory in the final view from ESO’s Very Large Telescope. In 1999 scientists discovered a Type II supernova in this galaxy and followed its slow fading over the following years. Credit: ESO/Nick Risinger
Go ahead. Take another look. During the confirmation observing runs, astronomers also imaged SN 1999em with the VLT and this data was combined with the Lick Observatory information to give us the spectacular view above. Caught in the spiral arm are young stars singing the blues amidst ethereal gas clouds and veiling dust lanes. NGC 1637 isn’t alone, either… You’ll see line of sight stars and even more galaxies in the background.
Information about Alpha Centauri Bb. Information about Alpha Centauri Bb. Credit: Planetary Habitability Laboratory/University of Puerto Rico/Arecibo
It’s time to “get real” about naming exoplanets, says Uwingu CEO and scientist Dr. Alan Stern. And so the latest project from the space funding startup company is a contest to name the nearest exoplanet, currently known as Alpha Centauri Bb.
“Let’s face it,” Stern told Universe Today, “the current names astronomers use for exoplanets are boring. The public is really excited about all the planets that are being found around other stars, but the names do nothing to help fuel that excitement. We’re giving the public the chance to name the closest exoplanet.”
Nominations for new names for Alpha Centauri Bb cost $4.99; votes for nominated names are $0.99. Proceeds from naming and voting will help fuel new Uwingu grants to fund space exploration, research, and education.
The names won’t be officially approved by the International Astronomical Union, but Stern said they will be similar to the names given to features on Mars by the mission science teams (such as Mt. Sharp on Mars –the IAU approved name is Aeolis Mons) that everyone ends up using.
“Or it’s like Pike’s Peak,” said Stern of the mountain in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. “People started calling it that long ago and over time, it became the only name people recognized. This should be the wave of the future for planets and there’s no reason for the public not to get involved.”
So far, the IAU’s stance on naming exoplanets is that there is seemingly going to be so many of them, (we’re nearing the 1,000 mark) that it will be difficult to name them all.
In response to frequent questions about plans to assign actual names to extra-solar planets, the IAU sees no need and has no plan to assign names to these objects at the present stage of our knowledge. Indeed, if planets are found to occur very frequently in the Universe, a system of individual names for planets might well rapidly be found equally impracticable as it is for stars, as planet discoveries progress.
“The IAU has had ten years to do something about this and they haven’t done anything,” said Stern. “What we’re doing might be controversial, but that’s OK. It’s time to step up to the plate and do something.”
Previously Uwingu has offered the chance to create a “baby book” of names that can be used for exoplanets. For this contest, they are naming a specific planet, and the name getting the highest number of votes will be declared the public’s name for this mysterious new world. “Never before has the public been asked to choose its favorite name for a planet,” says Uwingu.
Anyone can nominate one or more names; anyone can vote. The namer of the most popular new name for alpha Cen Bb will receive prizes from Uwingu; there will also be prizes for runner-ups, and for all names that reach thresholds of 100, 1,000, and 10,000 votes.
There are those who have been critical of Uwingu, but our stance is that Uwingu is so far the only group or organization to step forward with innovative, out-of-the-box ways to try and solve what seems to be a continuous, perennial problem: how to fund creative space and astronomy projects and move beyond the old tried and not always true methods of relying on government grants and subsidies or angel donors.
Former president of the IAU Planetary Systems Science body, Karen Meech told Universe Today last year that since the IAU is the only scientifically recognized arbiter of astronomical names, any contests for names from the public will not be officially recognized by the scientific community.
But, it’s obvious people love to name things and people are eventually going to start referring to endearing exoplanets with “real” names instead of the license-plate like names currently used.
“Who knows,” said Stern. “There could be a real Pandora or Tatooine out there.”
