Posted on by Ken Kremer

Earths Entire Star for the First Time on Super SUNday

Latest image of the far side of the Sun based on high resolution STEREO data, taken on February 3, 2011 at 23:56 UT when there was still a small gap between the STEREO Ahead and Behind data. This gap will start to close on February 6, 2011, when the spacecraft achieve 180 degree separation, and will completely close over the next several days. Credit: NASA. Note this STEREO image was taken Feb 3. NASA today released an image taken on Feb 2. New images are taken every day

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Super Bowl SUNday XLV marks a watershed moment in observing our Sun. Today, February 6, 2011, NASA’s twin STEREO solar observatories will reach locations on exact opposite sides of the Sun, called opposition, and they are beaming back uninterrupted images from both the entire front and rear side hemispheres of Earths star in three dimensions and 360 degrees for the first time.

“For the first time in history we can see the entire Sun at one time – both the far side and the near side,” said Joe Gurman, in an interview for Universe Today. Gurman is the Project Scientist for NASA’s STEREO mission at the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, MD. This will significant aid space weather forecasting.

To mark this historic milestone, NASA today released images captured by STEREO on Feb. 2 – slightly prior to opposition – which gives humankind our first ever global look at the whole sphere of our Suns surface and atmosphere in extreme ultraviolet light (EUV). The probes were over 179 degrees apart. See location maps and images below

This article features even newer EUV images – compared to NASA’s press release – that were taken even closer to opposition by STEREO on Feb. 3 and today on Feb. 6 and which I downloaded from the STEREO website. The newer EUV images show an ever so slightly more complete solar view as the probes orbit reaches further to the suns far side.

Coincidentally, the STEREO duo may reach opposition – exactly 180 degrees apart – while the Super Bowl XLV half time show is ongoing, at roughly 7:30 p.m. EST in the evening of Sunday, Feb. 6.

The Sun from STEREO A and B on Feb. 3, 2011.
Images taken by the SECCHI Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUVI) at the 304 Angstrom bandpass which is sensitive to the He II singly ionized state of helium, at a characteristic temperature of about 80 thousand degrees Kelvin. These are the most current images used to create the spherical solar view on Feb 3, 2011. Credit: NASA

There is a tiny sliver of unseen solar surface on the far side of the sun at the extreme fringes of the far side EUV images that will fill in over the new few days to give an even better view. As of today that wedge is less than 1 degree. See the solar image collections above and below.

“The currently unseen far side wedge will disappear around February 12,” Gurman told me. “There might still be some small areas at high latitudes we won’t be able to see, but the view from the ecliptic is always limited. It takes about 3 days to get back the high resolution data.”

“On either side of the wedge, the features are smeared out because they’re from the “limbs” (edges) of the Sun as seen from each STEREO spacecraft.”

“The far side resolution will increase as the STEREO twins proceed around the sun.”

“On the near side, we can substitute the much higher resolution SDO AIA image data along the nearside “seam”, said Gurman.

SDO is in Earth orbit on the earth-facing side of the sun and will fill in the gap.

“For the next 8 years we will have a 360 degree view of the Sun by combining STEREO and SDO data,” said Gurman. “We will have that whole sun view until the STEREO spacecraft swing back to the earth side of the Sun.”

The Sun from STEREO A and B on Feb. 6, 2011 on SuperSUNday.
The probes were nearly at opposition 180 degrees apart. These images provide the first 360 degree global view of Earths Star. Images taken by the SECCHI Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUVI) at the 195 Angstrom bandpass is sensitive to the Fe XII ionization state of iron, at a characteristic temperature of about 1.4 million degrees Kelvin. Credit: NASA

Why is it important to image the far side of the sun?

Because scientists can now immediately detect active regions on the far side of the sun which were hidden from our view up until now.

“No active region can hide from us anymore because we will now have this 360 degree view.”

The new far side data will allow much faster detection of solar storms which in turn will enable faster predictions of space weather which potentially can severely impact sensitive technological infrastructure on Earth and throughout the solar system.


Until now, we had to wait about two weeks until the rear side active regions of the sun rotated into our view on the front side. But no longer. On average the sun rotates in about 27 days – faster at the equator and slower at the poles.

“We will now be able to detect the coronal mass ejections, or CMEs as they happen on the far side instead of waiting until they rotate around with no forewarning. The magnetic storms with energetic particles blast out at varying speeds of about 700 to 1000 km/sec and can reach Earth in one to three days,” said Gurman.

These magnetic storms are a threat to air traffic control of airliners, can disrupt the power grip, damage communications systems, space satellites in Earth orbit and around the solar system, effect other sensitive electronics systems and also harm astronauts working aboard the International Space Station.

An artist's concept shows both STEREO surrounding the sun on opposite sides. Credit: NASA

STEREO is comprised of two nearly identical STEREO spacecraft – dubbed STEREO Ahead and STEREO Behind –orbiting around our Sun. One probe – B – trails Earth around the sun and moves a bit slower; the other one – A – leads the Earth traveling slightly faster.

Each probe images half of the suns sphere and broadcasts the data back to Earth continuously, 24 hours each day. STEREO’s solar telescopes are tuned to four different wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet radiation (171, 195, 284, 304 Å) selected to trace key aspects of solar activity such as flares, tsunamis and magnetic filaments.

“The images are converted into a spherical projection by researchers on the science teams,” said Gurman. An international group of scientific institutions and governments from the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland designed and built STEREO’s science imaging and particle detecting instruments.

The two probes have been slowly separating in opposite directions at about 45 degrees per year ever since they were launched together aboard a Delta II rocket on October 25, 2006 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida.

After hurtling past the moon, the solar powered spacecraft – weighing some 600 kg – were flung into solar orbit on opposite sides of the Earth and have been moving away from Earth and apart from each other. In this way the wedge of unseen solar territory has been diminishing as the probes gain more complete coverage of the sun, thus enabling us to formulate a more complete understanding of the solar environment.

STEREO stands for Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory. Their mission is to provide the very first, 3-D “stereo” images of the sun to study the nature of coronal mass ejections.

The STEREO mission is currently funded until 2013.

“The probes have enough fuel to last 100 years,” said Gurman. “The lifetime limiting factor is the spacecraft electronics and funding. The solar arrays will only gradually degrade over decades.”

NASA/STEREO Reveals the Entire Sun

Launched in October 2006, STEREO traces the flow of energy and matter from the sun to Earth. It also provides unique and revolutionary views of the sun-Earth system. STEREO, when paired with SDO, can now give us the first complete view of the sun’s entire surface and atmosphere

On Super Bowl SUNday - Feb 6, 2011;
The two NASA STEREO spacecraft will see the entire Sun ! Super Bowl SUNday will truly mark a milestone for solar observations. On February 6, the two STEREO spacecrafts will be 180 degrees apart and for the next 8 years the STEREO spacecrafts and SDO will be able to observe the entire 360 degrees of the Sun. Credit: NASA
Positions of STEREO A and B for 6-Feb-2011 17:00 UT. This figure plots the current positions of the STEREO Ahead (red) and Behind (blue) spacecraft relative to the Sun (yellow) and Earth (green). The dotted lines show the angular displacement from the Sun. Units are in A.U.
Posted on by Ken Kremer

NASA Robot and First Whole Sun Picture .. Coming on Super Bowl SUNday

The Sun from STEREO and Robonaut 2 holds a football at the Kennedy Space Center. On Super SUNday Feb. 6, 2011, NASA will release humankinds first ever view of the entire Sun and NASA’s Robonaut 2 will make a first ever guest appearance on the NFL’s Super Bowl Pre game show for Super Bowl XLV. Left: The Sun from STEREO taken by the SECCHI Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUVI) at the 304 Angstrom bandpass which is sensitive to the He II singly ionized state of helium, at a characteristic temperature of about 80 thousand degrees Kelvin. Credit: NASA. Right: Robonaut 2 practicing football for the NFL Super Bowl XLV at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in front of the world famous Countdown Clock. Credit & Mosaic: Ken Kremer

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What do NASA, Robots, the Sun and the NFL have in common ?

Well … its Super SUNday … for Super Bowl XLV on Feb. 6, 2011

The unlikely pairing of Football and Science face off head to head on Super Bowl SUNday. Millions of television viewers will see NASA’s Robonaut 2, or R2, share the the limelight with the Steelers and the Packers of the NFL. The twin brother of R2 is destined for the International Space Station (ISS) and will become the first humanoid robot in space. It will work side by side as an astronaut’s assistant aboard the space station.

The fearsome looking R2 is set to make a first ever special guest appearance during the FOX Networks Super Bowl pre-game show with FOX sports analyst Howie Long. The pre-game show will air starting at 2 p.m. EST on Feb. 6.

And there’s more.

The Sun from Stereo B. Credit: NASA
On Super SUNday Feb. 6, NASA will publish Humankinds first ever image of the ‘Entire Sun’ courtesy of NASA’s twin STEREO spacecraft. And given the stunningly cold and snowy weather in Dallas, the arrival of our Sun can’t come soon enough for the ice covered stadium and football fans. See photos above and below.

The two STEREO spacecraft will reach positions on opposite sides of the Sun on Sunday, Feb. 6 at about 7:30 p.m. in the evening, possibly coinciding with the Super Bowl half time show.

At opposition, the STEREO duo will observe the entire 360 degrees sphere of the Sun’s surface and atmosphere for the first time in the history of humankind.

The nearly identical twin brother of R2 is packed aboard Space Shuttle Discovery and awaiting an out of this world adventure from Launch Pad 39 A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Blast off of the first humanoid robot is currently slated for Feb. 24.

R2 is the most dextrously advanced humanoid robot in the world and the culmination of five decades of wide-ranging robotics research at NASA and General Motors (GM).

This newest generation of Robonauts are an engineering marvel and can accomplish real work with exceptionally dexterous hands and an opposable thumb. R2 will contribute to the assembly, maintenance and scientific output of the ISS

“R2 is the most sophisticated robot in the world,” says Rob Ambrose, Chief of NASA’s Johnson Space Center’s (JSC) Robotics Division.

“We hope R2 should help to motivate kids to study science and space,” Ron Diftler told me in an interview at KSC. Diftler is NASA’s R2 project manager at JSC.

Fearsome Robonaut 2 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center prepares to meet the NFL’s best players at Super Bowl XLV on Feb 6, 2011. Credit: Ken Kremer

The amazingly dexterity of the jointed arms and hands enables R2 to use exactly the same tools as the astronauts and thereby eliminates the need for constructing specialized tools for the robots –saving valuable time, money and weight.

The robot is loaded with advanced technology including an optimized overlapping dual arm dexterous workspace, series elastic joint technology, extended finger and thumb travel, miniaturized 6-axis load cells, redundant force sensing, ultra-high speed joint controllers, extreme neck travel, and high resolution camera and IR systems.

R2 weighs some 300 pounds and was manufactured from nickel-plated carbon fiber and aluminum. It is equipped with two human like arms and two hands as well as four visible light cameras that provide stereo vision with twice the resolution of high definition TV.

“With R2 we will demonstrate ground breaking and innovative robotics technology which is beyond anything else out there and that will also have real world applications as GM works to build better, smarter and safer cars,” according to Susan Smyth, GM Director of Research and Development.

“Crash avoidance technology with advanced sensors is a prime example of robonaut technology that will be integrated into GM vehicles and manufacturing processes.”

A team of engineers and scientists from NASA and GM pooled resources in a joint endeavor to create Robonaut 2, the most dexterously advanced robot in history. The NASA/GM team is pictured here at the Kennedy Space Center. R2 will fly aboard Space Shuttle Discovery with the STS-133 crew of humans and become the first humanoid robot in space.
R2 will become an official ISS crew member. Credit: Ken Kremer

Robonaut 2 flight unit poses with the NASA/GM development team inside the Space Station Processing Facility at KSC in this 360 degree panorama from nasatech.net

I was fortunate to meet R2 and the Robonaut team at KSC. R2 is incredibly life like and imposing and I’ll never forget the chance to shake hands. Although its motions, sounds, illuminated hands and muscular chest gives the unmistakable impression of standing next to a lively and powerful 300 pound gorilla, it firmly but gently grasped my hand in friendship – unlike a Terminator.

So its going to make for a mighty match up some day between the fearsome looking R2 and the NFL players.

Well apparently, R2 and Howie will be making some predictions on which player will win the MVP award and a GM Chevrolet. Stay tuned.

So come back on SUNday Feb. 6 for NASA’s release of the first ever images of our entire Sun from the STEREO twins.

Clash of the Titans - R2 and NASA robotics engineer at football practice at KSC. Credit: Ken Kremer
Space Shuttle Discovery awaits launch from Pad 39 A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Robonaut 2 is loaded inside the Leonardo storage module which will be permanently attached to the ISS by the STS-133 crew. Credit: Ken Kremer
On Super Bowl SUNday - Feb 6, 2011 - the two NASA STEREO spacecraft
will see the entire Sun for the first time! Credit: NASA.
Posted on by Steve Nerlich

Astronomy Without A Telescope – Situation Cloudy

In 2010 Nidever et al found the Magellanic Stream was much longer than previously realised - maybe 2.5 billion years old. The stream trails behind the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds - visible below the Milky Ways galactic disk, to the right. Ahead of the Clouds is another structure called the Leading Arm. This is a false colour image - the Stream, Arm and Magellanic Bridge between the two Clouds are only visible in radio light.

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Most people agree that the Magellanic Clouds are in orbit around the Milky Way. What’s not clear is whether it is a bound orbit or just a temporary ‘ships passing in the night’ arrangement. Something which could clarify the relationship is the Magellanic Stream, a 600,000 light year long string of gas dragged through and beyond the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds.

For the complete picture, note that there is also a shorter trail of gas drawn out ahead of the Clouds, known as the Leading Arm – and the gas flow between the Clouds is known as the Magellanic Bridge. The Bridge is an indication that the Clouds are gravitationally bound in a binary pair – at least for now. The Large Magellanic Cloud may dragging the Small Magellanic Cloud behind it, since the Magellanic Stream ‘skid mark’ is most chemically similar to the contents of the Small Magellanic Cloud.

What remains unresolved is whether the Clouds are in a bound orbit around the Milky Way – or are they just passing by? The level of uncertainty about the dynamics of objects that are relatively close to us, and are easily visible to the naked eye, may seem surprising.

Firstly, it is tricky to gain an accurate estimation of each Cloud’s velocity relative to the Milky Way – partly because we, the observers, have our own independent movement and we need to find a reference frame that we can reliably measure the Clouds’ velocity against.

Estimates derived from Hubble Space Telescope observations by Kallivayalil and colleagues in 2006, measured the Clouds’ velocities against a background of distant quasars, which are visible through the Clouds. These data were then used by Besla and colleagues to propose that the Clouds’ velocities were too fast to be in bound orbits around the Milky Way and so must be just passing by.

But there is another area of uncertainty, where – even with the Clouds’ velocity determined – you still need to decide what escape velocity they need to avoid being caught in a bound orbit of the Milky Way. While we can estimate the Milky Way’s mass, there is the issue of dark matter – which we can’t see and hence can’t locate accurately – so there is some uncertainty about how the combined mass of the Milky Way’s visible and dark matter is distributed.

If, like the visible matter, the dark matter is centralized around the galactic hub, the Clouds won’t need so much velocity to escape. But if the dark matter is more evenly distributed with the galactic disk of visible matter being surrounded by a spherical halo of dark matter, then it’s less clear as to whether the Cloud’s could escape (a scenario that was acknowledged by Besla et al).

A spherical halo of dark matter is the generally preferred model for the Milky Way’s total mass distribution – since, without it, the outer edges of the Milky Way’s visible disk are rotating so fast that they should fly off into space.

Diaz and Bekki have run with this idea by computer-modeling a Milky Way with a circular velocity of 250 kilometres a second (a recent new estimate), which hence requires a more substantial dark matter halo than was assumed by Besla et al. Otherwise, they still use the same Cloud velocities determined from the 2006 Hubble Space Telescope observations.

Left: The neutral hydrogen Magellanic Stream stretching upwards past the Large (red) and Small (green) Magellanic Clouds Right: A computer-modeled scenario in which both clouds are in bound orbits around the Milky Way. Most of the Stream, Bridge and Leading Arm structures are replicated - and are found to originate from the substance of the Small Magellanic Cloud. Credit: Diaz and Bekki.

Their model, when wound back in time, suggests the Clouds have been locked in bound orbits around the Milky Way for more than 5 billion years – with the Magellanic Stream and Leading Arm arising more recently, following a close encounter between the two Clouds (an idea also proposed in Besla et al’s unbound orbit model).

Diaz and Bekki suggest that the Clouds began separate orbits, but passed close to each other around 1.25 billion years ago and then became the binary pair we observe today. The Leading Arm is freed gas being drawn into the Milky Way’s halo – an indication that both Clouds may eventually be assimilated.

Further reading: Diaz and Bekki. Constraining the orbital history of the Magellanic Clouds: A new bound scenario suggested by the tidal origin of the Magellanic Stream.

Posted on by Tammy Plotner

Observing Alert: Z Canis Major In Outburst

Z Canis Major - Credit: Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech

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Heads up, weekend warriors! With very little Moon to contend with, it would be a great time to observe the bright outburst of the pre-main sequence variable star, Z Canis Major. It has gained more than two magnitudes and is well within binocular and small telescope range.

From the AAVSO Special Notice compiled by Elizabeth O. Waagen: “John Bortle, Stormville, NY, reports that the pre-main sequence binary variable Z CMa is in outburst, according to his observation of 2011 February 4.0 UT at visual magnitude 8.5. Observations in the AAVSO International Database confirm this outburst, which may have begun as long ago as April 2010, when it began brightening slightly from visual magnitude 10.7. When Z CMa emerged from its seasonal gap in November 2010, it was already 9th magnitude.

Locator Chart Courtesy of AAVSO

The current outburst is as bright as the one that occurred in 2008, the brightest in the star’s known history. Z CMa is a very interesting object, a binary composed of a Herbig Be star and an FU Ori star. The Herbig star is embedded in nebulosity. The system is an x-ray source and has an x-ray jet. According to Stelzer et al. (2009, Astronomy & Astrophysics v.499, p.529, and astro-ph arXiv:0903.4060), the FU Ori star is the source of both the optical outbursts and the x-ray emission. Observations of Z CMa (RA 07:03:43.16 Dec -11:33:06.2) are strongly encouraged, both during the current outburst and throughout the observing season. With its range of visual magnitude ~8.0 – 10.5, it is an excellent visual observing target.”

Our thanks to John Bortle and the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) for drawing our attention to the current outburst of this interesting system!

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Small Asteroid Just Buzzed Earth

If you felt a sudden breeze at about 19:40 GMT (2:40 pm EST), it was probably from a small asteroid that came extremely close to the Earth today (Feb. 4, 2011). The object, officially designated 2011 CQ1, is fairly small — about 2-3 meters (6.5 -10 ft) wide — and at closest approach it came within 11,855 km (7,366 miles) or about 0.03 lunar distances (LD), or 0.00008 astronomical units (AU). Yep, that’s pretty close.

Richard Kowalski with the Catalina Sky Survey discovered this object early today. The image above is from Giovanni Sostero & Ernesto Guido who made remote follow-up observations to confirm with the Tzec Maun Observatory in New Mexico.

There was no chance this object was going to hit Earth, but it did come well within what is known as the Clarke Belt among geosynchronous satellites.

Find out more about the path this object is taking at Remanzacco Observatory in Italy.

Info on the Minor Planet Center website about 2011 CQ1.

Astronomer Bill Gray calculated a transit line plot showing the path over South America. You can see the charts here:

http://www.projectpluto.com/cq1.png

http://www.projectpluto.com/cq1a.png

And if you are an astrophotographer, let us know if you capture any images of 2011 CQ1.

Posted on by Jason Rhian

Kelly remains commander of STS-134 mission (Updated)

It was announced today that Mark, Kelly, center, will fly on the STS-134 mission currently slated to launch Apr. 19. Image Credit: NASA

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HOUSTON — Whether or not Mark Kelly would command the final scheduled flight of the space shuttle Endeavour, STS-134, had been left undecided in the wake of the shootings in Tucson, Arizona. It was announced today that Kelly would remain the commander of the mission, if all goes well he will launch with the remainder of his crew on Apr. 19.

Kelly’s wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was severely injured when she was shot during an event held outdoors in Tucson, Arizona. As such, Kelly’s time has been spent at his wife’s side as she recuperates.

“I am looking forward to rejoining my STS-134 crew members and finishing our training for the mission,” Kelly said. “We have been preparing for more than 18 months, and we will be ready to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) to the International Space Station and complete the other objectives of the flight. I appreciate the confidence that my NASA management has in me and the rest of my space shuttle crew.”

Kelly was forced to take leave to be at his wife’s side. He asked that a backup commander be chosen. NASA selected four-time shuttle veteran Rick Sturckow, to take Kelly’s place in case he could not make the flight.

At a press conference on Friday, Kelly said his decision to return “has everything to do with what is right for NASA first and then me and my family.”

He said all of his family – including his daughters and Giffords’ parents – support his decision to fly the mission, and that when he was considering not commanding STS-134, they all told him he needed to reconsider.

The main reason he has decided to return to training is the incredible recovery of Giffords, which has surprised everyone, including her doctors. Kelly would not talk about Giffords’ condition, or give any information if Giffords has spoken directly to Kelly about the decision to fly the mission, but he did say that Giffords should be able to come to Kennedy Space Center for the launch in April.

“Absolutely. I have every intention that she’ll be there for the launch,” he said in response to a question of if she would be able to attend. “I’ve already talked to her doctors about it. There really shouldn’t be any reason why she can’t go to the launch.”

Although Kelly was willing to return as commander, Peggy Whitson, chief of the Astronaut Office, said they didn’t take his decision lightly. “We researched this and really looked into Gabby’s condition and looked at the prognosis,” as well as making sure Kelly wouldn’t change his mind at the last minute. They put Kelly through a trial run this week of what his activities would be during training and if he could hand the work flow.

Asked about those who might criticize his decision, Kelly said those people might not understand the entire situation.

“They don’t know her very well, so they don’t know what she would want,” he said. “She is a big supporter of my career, a big supporter of NASA. She really values the mission of NASA. What we do and what the nation gets from that are very high on her list of things she really treasures about this country. So I think they don’t understand that, and they also don’t understand her condition or the support system that I have in place. I think if they had more details about those things, you’d probably have less people being critical. But I think in any decision there’s a lot of interest in, you’re going to have people on both sides.”

As to whether NASA will be criticized for allowing Kelly to return when he has been absent from training for several weeks, Brent Jett, chief Flight Crew Operations Directorate said, “When Mark’s situation got to the point where he was ready to commit to fly, our job was to evaluate what was best for the mission, it is that simple. With all the training and time he has put in, we had to know if he was ready. But we had to take certain steps to make sure he was ready. And we feel we’ve done that. And we’re really happy that he is back as commander of STS-134.”

Kelly said the outpouring of support he has received is a bit humbling. “I’m very grateful for it,” he said. “It is nice to see that people care about who she is and what she represents. The fact that something so horrible where 6 people lost their lives, it is really a sad situation. But I’m hopeful that something positive can come from it.”

STS-134 is currently scheduled to be the final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour, the youngest orbiter in the fleet. It will carry the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer – 2 (AMS-02) science experiment, the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier 3 as well as equipment that will test out the risk mitigation equipment for the Orion spacecraft.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Brand New Look at Apollo 14 Landing Site

Latest view of the Apollo 14 landing site by LRO. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

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40 years ago this week, the Apollo 14 crew landed on the Moon. Here’s the latest look at their landing site, just downloaded from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Narrow Angle Cameras. Even though LRO has imaged this area before, this seems to be a much better, crisper view of the lander and the ALSEP experiment package left of the Moon by Al Shepard and Edgar Mitchell. Also visible are the tracks left where the astronauts walked repeatedly in a “high traffic zone” and perhaps by the Modularized Equipment Transporter (MET) wheelbarrow-like carrier used on Apollo 14. Below are a couple of close-up looks at the image.

A closer view of the Apollo 14 landing site. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

The LROC folks say that every time LRO passes overhead the different landing sites, the Sun is at a different position so each image gives a different perspective. Additionally, since the position of the lunar modules and other pieces of hardware are very accurately known, the LROC team can check the accuracy of the mission-provided ephemeris.

Closer yet: Apollo 14, as seen by LRO, cleaned up and zoomed in by Carlos Ayala.

Thanks to UT reader Carlos Ayala who sent in this this sharpened and enhanced “closer” close-up. He captured the original image on the LRO site, and “using CS3 I enlarged the area and applied a Bicubic smoothing filter to the re-sampled image. The resulting image is set to 1200 x 1200 pixels,” he wrote us. Click on the image for a larger version.

You can compare the old images with this new one.

Source: LROC

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Earth-like Cirrus Clouds Found on Titan

Titan peeks from behind two of Saturn's rings. Another small moon Epimetheus, appears just above the rings. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

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It seems Titan is getting more Earth-like all the time. There are lakes, rainfall (never mind that any liquids on Titan are frigid hydrocarbons), dust storms, lightning and all sorts of other activity going on it the atmosphere, along with clouds. And now, not just any clouds but cirrus clouds, very similar to what we have on Earth: thin, wispy clouds of ice particles high in the atmosphere. A team of researchers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center say that unlike Titan’s brownish haze, the ice clouds are pearly white.

“This is the first time we have been able to get details about these clouds,” said Robert Samuelson, an emeritus scientist at Goddard and the co-author of a new paper published in the journal Icarus. “Previously, we had a lot of information about the gases in Titan’s atmosphere but not much about the [high-altitude] clouds.”


Using the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft scientists can get a “weather report” of sorts. Previously, scientists have found that Titan’s intriguing atmosphere has a one-way cycle that delivers hydrocarbons and other organic compounds to the ground as precipitation.

Those compounds don’t evaporate to replenish the atmosphere, but somehow the supply has not run out.
Additionally, puffy methane and ethane clouds had been found before by ground-based observers and in images taken by Cassini. But these new clouds are much thinner and located higher in the atmosphere.

“They are very tenuous and very easy to miss,” said Carrie Anderson, the paper’s lead author. “The only earlier hints that they existed were faint glimpses that NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft caught as it flew by Titan in 1980.”

So what are these cirrus clouds made of?

This mosaic of Titan was created from the first flyby of the moon by Cassini in 2004. Credit: NASA/JPL/SS

More than a half-dozen hydrocarbons have been identified in gas form in Titan’s atmosphere, but many scientists feel there are probably many more that haven’t yet been identified.

The clouds on Titan can’t be made from water because of the planet’s extreme cold. “If Titan has any water on the surface, it would be solid as a rock,” said Goddard’s Michael Flasar, the Principal Investigator for CIRS.

Instead, the key ingredient is likely methane. High in the atmosphere, some of the methane breaks up and reforms into ethane and other hydrocarbons, or combines with nitrogen to make materials called nitriles. Any of these compounds can probably form clouds if enough accumulates in a sufficiently cold area.

To find these cloud, the team focuses on the observations made when CIRS is positioned to peer into the atmosphere at an angle, grazing the edge of Titan. This path through the atmosphere is longer than the one when the spacecraft looks straight down at the surface. Planetary scientists call this “viewing on the limb,” and it raises the odds of encountering enough molecules of interest to yield a strong signal.

So, when the researchers look at the data, they can separate the telltale signatures of ice clouds from the other aerosols in the atmosphere. “These beautiful, beautiful ice clouds are optically thin, and they’re diffuse,” said Anderson. “But we were able to pick up on them because of the long path lengths of the observations.”

NASA has a long article that describes these new observations in more detail.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Videos: Two Different Satellite Views of the Big Snowstorm of 2011

Here's an image from the top animation, the storm as seen on January 31, 2011

To speak in the vernacular of the peasantry, this storm was a whopper. Heavy snow, ice, freezing rain, and frigid wind battered about two thirds of the United States, making it “a winter storm of historic proportions,” said the National Weather Service. This animation—made with images from the NOAA-NASA GOES 13 satellite—shows the giant storm developing and moving across the country between January 31 and February 2. Below is another video view from GOES-East satellite, which includes infrared water vapor imagery from January 29 -February 1, 2011.

And there’s also an update on Cyclone Yasi.

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Cyclone Yasi as seen on Feb. 1, 2011 from The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite

Yasi weakened after coming ashore early on Thursday morning but was still strong enough to produce high winds and tidal surges that sent waves crashing deep into seaside communities. Thankfully, so far no lives have been lost because of this storm. Officials said lives were saved because after days of dire warnings people heeded directions to flee to evacuation centers or bunker themselves at home. Track the storm on WeatherUnderground, and read more on the latest news from Yasi on The Guardian.

Sources: NASA Earth Observatory, SolarWatcher, The Guardian