Universe Today

January 23, 2013December 23, 2015 by Fraser Cain

Noctilucent Clouds Imaged by Astronaut Chris Hadfield

Noctilucent clouds, also known as “night shining” clouds imaged by Chris Hadfield. Image credit: NASA

What a perspective! Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield captured this stunning image of noctilucent clouds above the Pacific South Ocean on January 5th, 2013. Also known as “night shining”, or noctilucent clouds, they form at the edge of much larger polar mesospheric clouds.

Polar mesospheric clouds form at an altitude of 76 to 85 kilometers, near the boundary between the mesosphere and the thermosphere. The mesosphere is the layer of the atmosphere above the stratosphere (where airplanes fly), and the thermosphere is above that, where solar radiation causes a significant spike in temperature. (The Space Shuttle photo over on the right is positioned right between those two layers).

These clouds are typically seen between 70°-75° in latitude, and last for a season of 60-80 days during the late Spring and early Summer. The clouds themselves are made up of ice crystals which measure up to 100 nm in diameter. Scientists are still working out exactly what causes noctilucent clouds; they’re still a bit of a mystery. But their appearance has become more frequent, increasing in brightness and extent, so it’s possible they’re an indication of increasing climate change.

In this photograph, the Sun is below the horizon, and the ground is dark. Those clouds are still partially illuminated by the Sun, and so we see them with this ethereal wispy structure. Hadfield used a Nikon D35 camera with a 400 mm telephoto lens. At the very bottom of the image, you can see the pale orange color of the stratosphere.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield (did I mention he’s Canadian?) launched to the International Space Station on December 19, 2012 to participate in Expedition 34. He has been returning wondering pictures and sharing them on Twitter and Google+.

Original Source: NASA Earth Observatory

January 23, 2013December 23, 2015 by Fraser Cain

In Orion, There Really is a Hole in the Sky

Clouds of cosmic dust in the region of Orion. Credit: ESO

A new image from ESO’s APEX instrument shows a cloud of gas and dust in the Orion region. Image credit: ESO

When astronomers see dark regions in nebula in visible light, they know there’s something going on. There’s got to be some kind of star forming activity pumping out material that obscures the view to the newly forming starts. Switch to infrared and you can peer through that intervening dust to see the young stars at work.

Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope in Chile were surprised to see a dark region in the nebula NGC 1999, even in infrared, when the cause of the dark region should have been apparent.

Ooo, mystery.

These dark regions in nebulae have been observed for hundreds of years. Even William Herschel found one in the constellation Scorpius back in 1774.”Truly there is a hole in the sky here!” he noted. But it wasn’t a hole. It was a region where star formation is actively happening.

Under construction, nothing to see here, come back in a million years when the newly formed stars have generated powerful solar winds and are clearing out their stellar neighborhoods.

Here, I’ve attached an image of bok globules (dark nebulae in IC 2944), which can contain 2 to 50 solar masses of material contained within a volume of about a light-year. Often these dark regions can result in double or even multiple star systems.

But in the case of NGC 1999, astronomers used the APEX instrument to peer at this region in infrared; the perfect wavelength to see through all that dust.

And the hole, this dark region, was still there.

This is a widefield view of the region around NGC 1999. The nebula itself is right at the middle of this image, with the more famous Orion Nebula up at the top of the picture. Image credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin

Thanks to multiple observations from different instruments, astronomers think they’ve puzzled out the nature of this dark hole. It’s actually a cavity carved out by the star V380 Orionis. It really is a dark hole in the nebula, and not a secret star forming region at all.

V380 Orionis is the brightest star in the region of NGC 1999 – it’s actually the brightest member of a triple star system. It’s got a surface temperature of about 10,000 Kelvin and contains about 3.5 times the mass of the Sun. Back in 2010, researchers uncovered that a powerful jet from V380 Ori is probably responsible for carving out this gap in the nebula.

Original Source: ESO News Release

P.S. Pixies running through my head as I’m writing this.

January 23, 2013April 26, 2016 by Elizabeth Howell

The Ocean is a lot Like Outer Space

A view of the Bathyscaphe Trieste in 1959. (U.S. NHHC)

Just about any space mission these days requires water training. Think of the countless hours astronauts spend in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center, practicing the steps to do spacewalks. Then there are the crews that actually live in the ocean for days at a time on NASA’s NEEMO missions.

Long before these “aquanauts” added flippers to their list of equipment, however, the U.S. Navy was busy exploring the depths of the ocean. Today – Jan. 23 – marks the anniversary of the Bathyscaphe Trieste’s descent to the bottom of the ocean in 1960. This was the first time a vessel, manned or unmanned, had reached the deepest known point of the Earth’s oceans, the Mariana Trench.

Trieste was at first operated by the French Navy, which operated it for several years in the Mediterranean Sea, but the US Navy purchased the Trieste in 1958.

Although two men took the ride down, all accounts say that it was an isolating experience. Jacques Piccard – well-known today for his exploration of the oceans – and US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh descended about 11 kilometers (7 miles) to the bottom.

Lt. Don Walsh, USN (left) and Jacques Piccard (centre)
in the bathyscaphe Trieste. Via Wikipedia. — Lt. Don Walsh, USN (left) and Jacques Piccard (centre) in the bathyscaphe Trieste. Via Wikipedia.

Fighting with poor communications and high pressure – which cracked a window at 30,000 feet below the surface – the crew made their way to ocean floor. They worked in a tiny sphere only 2 meters (6.5 feet) wide, and according to the University of Delaware, the interior reached frigid temperatures of 7 degrees Celsius (45 degrees Fahrenheit) during their successful descent and return.

Spaceflight and deep-ocean diving share many similarities, as this mission demonstrated. The early days of the space program had communications blackouts as spaceships flew between stations; this proved to be a near-disaster for the Gemini 8 crew in 1966 when their spacecraft spun out of control during a period with no voice connection to the ground.

Also, sustaining life is no less challenging in the water as it is in space. Humans require oxygen, pressure and a comfortable environment where they work. Crews in space have faced serious problems with all of these matters before – Mir suffered a partial depressurization in 1997, and the early days of the Skylab space station were rather hot until the astronauts could deploy a sunshade.

Walsh was not available for an interview with Universe Today due to travel, but in a 2012 BBC interview he noted that he had reserved confidence that they would make it to the bottom.

“I knew the machine well enough, at that point, to know that theoretically, it could be done,” Walsh recalled.

The mens’ feat would go unrepeated for decades, until in 2012 Hollywood director James Cameron made the descent again – alone, although certainly equipped with more modern technology. For comparison, only one American has flown solo in space since the 1960s; in 2004, Mike Melvill piloted SpaceShipOne into suborbital space twice as part of the Ansari X-Prize win.

January 23, 2013December 23, 2015 by Fraser Cain

Detailed View of Betelgeuse, on a Collision Course with a Nearby Wall of Dust

A photograph of the red supergiant Betelgeuse interacting with a mysterious dusty wall. Image credit: Herschel/ESA

Betelgeuse is one of my favorite objects to look at, partly because of its pure red color, and mostly because my imagination fills in the rest. That bright red star, the shoulder of Orion is a supergiant, with dozens of times the mass of the Sun, and ready to detonate as a supernova any day now (any day within the next few million years).

But look at Betelgeuse with a really powerful telescope, like the European Space Agency’s Herschel telescope, and you’ll see something like this: the red supergiant Betelgeuse in all its glory, smashing its ferocious solar winds into its environment.

In this photograph, just released from the European Space Agency, you can see the powerful solar winds creating a bow shock around the star as it ploughs through the interstellar medium at a speed of 30 km/s. Closer into the star there are asymmetric structures, where the star shed material in fits and starts into its surroundings, like convective bubbles randomly popping to the top of a pot of boiling water.

It’s the interaction of this supergiant star and its surroundings that astronomers were attempting to unravel with their research, in a paper titled: The enigmatic nature of the circumstellar envelope and bow shock surrounding Betelgeuse as revealed by Herschel. Researchers from several European universities combined data from Herschel, the GALEX space observatory, WISE, and even radio wavelengths to study Betelgeuse and its environment. They studied the star, the bow shock, and the asymmetric clumps of material around it.

Over on the left-hand side of the photograph is a mysterious dusty wall structure that Betelgeuse is heading straight for. Because this dusty wall doesn’t curve, like the bow shock around Betelgeuse, astronomers don’t think it was caused by the star itself. According to the researchers:

The linear bar might be the edge of an interstellar cloud illuminated by Betelgeuse or a linear filament whose a possible origin is linked to the Galactic magnetic field. Since no curvature is present in the bar, we believe that the bar is not directly linked to a previous blue supergiant wind

Betelgeuse is, however, responsible for illuminating this structure, like a flashlight illuminating a nearby fog bank. And according the astronomer’s calculations, the star’s bow shock will collide with that wall in a mere 5,000 years, with the star itself following suit 12,500 years later.

Original Source: ESA News Release

January 22, 2013December 23, 2015 by Ken Kremer

NASA Stars at 2013 Presidential Inaugural Parade with Orion and Curiosity – Photos and Video

Image caption: Orion deep space crew capsule float passes in front of the White House at the Presidential Inaugural parade on Jan 21, 2013 in Washington, DC. Credit: NASA

NASA’s new Orion deep space crew capsule and sensational Curiosity Mars rover had starring roles at the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Parade held on Monday, Jan 21, 2013 in Washington D.C.

NASA photographers captured stunning photos and video (above and below) as Orion and Curiosity passed in front of the White House and the official reviewing stand – with President Obama & VP Joe Biden and their families and numerous dignitaries smiling and waving.

Beautiful weather shined though out the entire day’s festivities and into the early evening as full size models of Orion and Curiosity made their way thought the capitol streets to participate in the 2013 Inaugural parade.

NASA’s floats prominently placed near the front of the parade and seen on Live TV about 530 PM EDT as well as by about a million spectators on hand.

Image caption: Curiosity Mars rover float passes in front of the White House and reviewing stand at the Presidential Inaugural parade on Jan 21, 2013 in Washington, DC. Credit: NASA

The fantastically successful Curiosity rover is discovering widespread evidence for the ancient flow of liquid water on Mars.

The Orion multi-purpose capsule will take our astronauts back to the Moon and farther into deep space than ever before.

NASA is the ONLY federal agency asked to be in the inaugural parade. Curiosity led the way followed by Orion.

Video of full-size models of the Curiosity Mars rover and Orion, the multi-purpose capsule that will take our astronauts farther into space than ever, as they appeared in the Washington, D.C. parade on Jan. 21.

Accompanying the NASA vehicles were members of the Curiosity team from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and current and former astronauts Alvin Drew, Serena Aunon, Kate Rubins, Mike Massimino, Lee Morin and Kjell Lindgren, as well as Leland Melvin, NASA’s associate administrator for Education, and John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for Science.

Be sure to check out NASA’s Flickr stream for many photos from the 2013 Inaugural Day festivities and parade – here and here

See my preview story – here

Ken Kremer

January 22, 2013December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Astrophotos: Jupiter and the Moon Conjunction

The Galilean Satellites of Jupiter are clearly visible just above a halo around the Moon, seen over central Italy on January 21, 2013. Credit: Giuseppe Petricca

Last night, the Moon and Jupiter snuggled up in the sky, coming within 29 arcminutes of each other. This will be the closest conjunction of these two bodies in the sky until 2026. The waxing gibbous Moon and the gas giant planet made for a great pair in the western night sky, and some astrophotographers, like Giuseppe Petricca in the image above, were also able to capture some of the Moons of Jupiter as well.

See more images from around the world, below.

Jupiter and the Moon 1-21-13. The Moon is intentionally overexposed so you can see three moons. Ganymede on the left and Io and Callisto on the right (Europa was transiting at the time). Credit and copyright: Robert Sparks.

Moon & Jupiter Conjunction, January 21, 2013. Quick 2-frame collage of this remarkable conjunction between our Moon and the giant planet. This was taken with a Canon EOS Rebel T2i DSLR and a Celestron C90 Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope. Credit an copyright: Gustavo Sanchez/Observatorio Guajataca.

Reflections over Lavender Bay, Sydney Australia, Jupiter and Moon conjunction. ‘By this point I had to leave the bay area but one last look back and I saw this frame, so I tried my best to capture it whilst the timer on my parking ticket was quickly running out.’ Credit and copyright: Carlos Orue (ourkind on Flickr.)

Moon-Jupiter January conjunction. Taken with Nikon 55-300 + kenko 2X, 3 different shots for each body. Credit: Alejandro García (bokepacha on Flickr). — Moon-Jupiter January conjunction. Taken with Nikon 55-300 + kenko 2X, 3 different shots for each body. Credit and copyright: Alejandro García (bokepacha on Flickr).

Planet Jupiter vs. the Moon. The small orb on the lower left is the planet Jupiter visible near the moon in the night sky of January 21, 2013. Credit and copyright: Daniel Lowe/danieldragonfilms.com./IStockTimelapse.com

In some areas of South America, the conjunction actually became an occultation. This picture captures the moment when about half of Jupiter was behind the (dark part of) the disk of the Moon. Credit and copyright: Sergio Gorbach, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Sergio Gorbach, from Buenos Aires, Argentina sent us this image, showing how he was in a region where the conjunction turned into an occulation. “This captures the moment when about half of Jupiter was behind the dark part of the disk of the moon,” Sergio wrote via email. “On the scope three of the Galilean moons where visible, but not on this picture, unfortunately. The picture quality is not great since they were taken by a smartphone held by hand in front of the eyepiece of my (cheap) telescope, but the resulting image is not that bad.”

Not bad indeed!

Jupiter and the Moon over London, England on January 21, 2013. Credit and copyright: Sculptor Lil on Flickr.

Jupiter and the Moon. Hooligan handhelded shot series with EF-S 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. Credit and copyright: Sergei Golyshev.

Luna con Jupiter -- as seen from Spain. Credit and copyright: Jordi Villanueva Alberich.

Moon and Jupiter conjunction Jan. 21, 2013. Two exposures back to back to compensate for the exposure differences. Credit and copyright: jimnista on Flickr.

This is a collage of three photos, all taken on January 21, 2013: one of the Moon and Jupiter, another focusing on Jupiter’s Moons (both with a Canon Rebel T2i), and another through an 8 inch Dobsonian telescope of Jupiter, which was scaled to size and overlayed on Jupiter to provide some detail. ‘The moons are obviously not to scale because they are out of focus, I think it makes the photo a bit more dramatic,’ said photographer Chris Gorman.

Who says you can't enjoy the night sky even in Urban areas! This photo of Jupiter and the Moon in close proximity was taken in the light polluted suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. This photo is one shot - not a collage! Credit and copyright: Dave Hudson.

Dave Hudson took this great shot on Tuesday, January 21, 2013 @ 10:32pm EST.
Camera and Telescope: Celestron C8 on a Celestron CG5 EQ mount
Canon 60D using Eyepiece projection with MAXIM adapter and Celestron .63 Focal Reducer
17mp picture, ISO 100, 1/60 second exposure, no filters
Telescope: 203.2 mm aperture, 2000mm focal length, F10 – reduced to F6.3 using Celestron Focal Reducer

Jupiter-Moon Conjunction, Jan 21, 2013 from San Diego, California. Shot with a Fuji Finepix 2000hd. Credit and copyright: Bob Gould.

Jupiter-Moon conjunction on January 21, 2013. Credit and copyright: Paul Latham.

Jupiter-Moon conjunction 1/21/13 from Houston Texas. Credit and copyright: Chris Grabo.

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.

January 21, 2013December 23, 2015 by Fraser Cain

Virtual Star Party: January 20, 2013: The Welcome Rookie Edition

Another wonderful Virtual Star Party, this time with 5 astronomers broadcasting their view of the night sky live. We had amazing views of Jupiter, the Moon, and several deep sky objects, including the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades, M33, the Rosette Nebula, Andromeda, the Cave Nebula, and several others. Check out the really cool “37 star cluster”, where the stars in the cluster actually write out the number 37.

This was also the first time were joined by Louis Mamakos, who delighted us with his dark sky views from Pennsylvania.

Astronomers: Roy Salisbury, Stuart Forman, Mike Phillips, Bill McLaughlin and Louis Mamakos.

Commentary: Nicole Gugliucci, Dr. Pamela Gay, Dr. Thad Szabo, Scott Lewis

Host: Fraser Cain

We run the Virtual Star Party every Sunday night as a live Google+ Hangout. Want to find when it’s happening next? Just circle the Virtual Star Party page on Google+. Visit the Universe Today YouTube channel to see an archive of all our past events.

Here are some amazing pictures that were captured during the event:

January 21, 2013December 23, 2015 by Ken Kremer

NASA’s Curiosity and Orion Shine at Presidential Inaugural Parade

Video caption: Preview of Mars Curiosity Parade Float. Jim Green, Director of the Science Mission Directorate Planetary Systems Division at NASA Headquarters, describes the replica of the Mars Curiosity Rover on the second NASA float in Monday’s (Jan 21, 2013) presidential inaugural parade. Parade photos below

Full scale models of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover and the Orion crew capsule are participating in the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Parade on Monday, Jan 21, 2013, in Washington, DC – representing NASA’s robotic and human spaceflight endeavors.

The fantastically successful Curiosity rover is discovering widespread evidence for the ancient flow of liquid water on Mars.

The Orion multi-purpose capsule will take our astronauts back to the Moon and farther into space than ever.

NASA is the ONLY federal agency asked to be in the inaugural parade and now Curiosity is leading the NASA group with Orion after Curiosity.

Update 530 PM EDT – NASA’s 2 floats just passed by a cheering and waving President Obama & VP Biden at the reviewing stand in front of the White House – prominently near the front of the parade. See float photos from the parade below

Walking alongside both floats are members of the Curiosity team from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory – including ‘Mohawk Guy’ – and several current and former astronauts.

The participating astronauts are Alvin Drew, Serena Aunon, Kate Rubins, Mike Massimino, Lee Morin and Kjell Lindgren, as well as Leland Melvin, NASA’s associate administrator for Education, and John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for Science.

The marching team for Curiosity includes Richard Cook-project manager (from JPL), Bobak Ferdowsi (otherwise known as ‘Mohawk Guy’)-flight director (from JPL), Dave Lavery – program executive (from NASA Headquarters) , Michael Meyer – program Scientist (from NASA Headquarters), Jennifer Trosper-mission manager (from JPL) and Ashwin Vasavada, Deputy Project Scientist (from JPL)

Image caption: Orion crew capsule float with NASA astronauts at the Presidential Inaugural parade on Jan 21, 2013 in Washington, DC. Credit: NASA

Image caption: Curiosity float with team members at the Presidential Inaugural parade on Jan 21, 2013 in Washington, DC. Credit: NASA

Be sure to check out NASA’s Flickr stream for many photos from the 2013 Inaugural Day festivities and parade – here and here

Here’s another video about the Curiosity float:

Ken Kremer

Image caption: Orion crew capsule arrives in Washington, DC, for Presidential Inaugural parade on Jan 21, 2013. Credit: NASA

January 21, 2013December 23, 2015 by Jason Major

Take a Rollercoaster Ride Around Venus

If you’ve ever wanted to see what it’s like to buzz Venus like only a spacecraft can, here’s your chance: this is a video animation of images taken by ESA’s Venus Express as it makes a pole-to-pole orbit of our neighboring world.

Captured in ultraviolet wavelengths, the images were acquired by the spacecraft’s Venus Monitoring Camera last January over a period of 18 hours. It’s truly a “day in the life” of Venus Express!

From ESA’s description of the video:

We join the spacecraft from a staggering 66,000 km above the south pole, staring down into the swirling south polar vortex. From this bird’s-eye view, half of the planet is in darkness, the ‘terminator’ marking the dividing line between the day and night sides of the planet.

Intricate features on smaller and smaller scales are revealed as Venus Express dives to just 250 km above the north pole and clouds flood the field of view, before regaining a global perspective as it climbs away from the north pole.

The observed pattern of bright and dark markings is caused by variations in an unknown absorbing chemical at the Venus cloud tops.

False-color image of cloud features on Venus. Captured by Venus Express from a distance of 30,000 km (18,640 miles) on December 8, 2011. (ESA/MPS/DLR/IDA)

Source: European Space Agency

January 21, 2013December 23, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Stunning Death Valley ‘Dreamlapse’

Meteor still shot from 'Death Valley Dreamlapse.' Credit: Gavin Heffernan/Sunchaser Pictures.

Here’s yet another gorgeous timelapse from Gavin Heffernan and his team. As we previewed in our Geminid Meteor Shower post, the Sunchaser Pictures team trekked to the world-famous Eureka Dunes in Death Valley National Park to search for some of the darkest skies on Earth during the meteor shower peak on the night of December 13th, 2012. They braved a long journey, a tough climb cold temperatures.

“But it was all worth it when the skies cleared and showed us an incredible galactic palette!” Gavin writes on Vimeo.

In addition to Geminids, there are star trails, planets and a weird spiraling object at about 1:30-1:35. It makes three broad circular sweeps over the desert – although in timelapse it appears to be moving fast, but the 5 seconds of time in timelapse equals about 50 minutes, so it’s actually not moving all that fast. It can also be seen cutting through the circular star trails picture below. There’s another 25-second exposure that of the object moving that makes it look almost like a colored rope.

“I don’t think that ‘rope’ look is unusual for a normal plane etc.,” Gavin told Universe Today via email. “The circular motion, and very slow movement are what really make it interesting/unusual. It’s definitely worth noting that the site is definitely near some kind of military installation or air force base, because we saw the spectacular sight of F-16 fighter planes zooming over the dunes, not too far off the ground. I know for sure it wasn’t a helicopter, because we would have heard it.”

Shots from the timelapse:

Star trails from 'Death Valley Dreamlapse." Credit: Gavin Heffernan/Sunchaser Pictures. — Star trails from 'Death Valley Dreamlapse.

A close-up, 25 second exposure of an object flying through the field of view. Credit: Gavin Heffernan/Sunchaser Pictures. — A 25 second exposure of an object flying through the field of view. Credit: Gavin Heffernan/Sunchaser Pictures.

DEATH VALLEY DREAMLAPSE from Sunchaser Pictures on Vimeo.