Universe Today

May 21, 2010December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Picture Gallery: STS-132, Atlantis’ Last Mission

Another incredible shot of the ISS, with Atlantis' tail visible. Credit: NASA

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Is this Atlantis’ last mission to space? STS-132 is the last scheduled flight for space shuttle Atlantis, and it remains to be seen whether any additional shuttle flights will be added. But the imagery from this mission is incredibly rich with wonderful images of the orbiter. So, while previous shuttle mission galleries we have here on Universe Today normally feature images from the EVAs, this gallery will mainly showcase images of Atlantis. And there are some really great photos — not sure whether the astronauts/photographers are consciously focusing on the shuttle or these images are just marvelously serendipitous. We’ll do a second gallery as more images come in from the later part of the mission. Enjoy!

Atlantis during the R-bar pitch maneuver as it approaches the ISS. Credit: NASA

Atlantis is backdropped by Earth as the shuttle approaches the International Space Station during STS-132 rendezvous and docking operations. Docking occurred at 9:28 a.m. (CDT) on May 16, 2010.

Cool view of Atlantis' back end, as it approaches the ISS. Credit: NASA

Just a very neat image of Atlantis, as seen from the ISS, backdropped by a cloudy area on Earth.

Amazing shot of the Russian Segment behind Atlantis’s tail on FD 4 prior to docking.

Robotic arm ballet, with astronaut. Credit: NASA

Anchored to a Canadarm2 mobile foot restraint, NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman works during the STS-132 mission’s first EVA. Dextre, a two-armed extension for the station’s robotic arm is also visible.

Fish eye view of Garrett Reisman working in the ISS's Cupola. Credit: NASA

This image might win the award for most futuristic looking image of the mission, and some have compared it to a scene from the movie “2001” — um, wait, is that considered a history movie now?

View of the ISS as Atlantis approaches on May 16, 2010. Credit: NASA

The Russian Mini Research Module, Rassvet, pulled from Atlantis' payload bay. Credit: NASA

In the grasp of the Canadarm2, the Russian-built Mini-Research Module 1 (MRM-1) is transferred from space shuttle Atlantis’ payload bay to be permanently attached to the Earth-facing port of the Zarya Functional Cargo Block (FGB) of the International Space Station.

Steve Bowen during the first EVA of STS-132. Credit: NASA

Obligatory image of a waving astronaut during an EVA. But it never gets old, so keep it up, guys!

Another great view of Atlantis, her starboard wing area, over Earth. Credit: NASA

NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman takes a self-portrait visor while participating in the first of three spacewalks. Credit: NASA

Atlantis' launch on May 14, 2010. Credit: NASA

May 21, 2010December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

New Weekly Sun Fix: SDO’s Pick of the Week

View of action on the Sun during this past week. Credit: NASA/SDO team

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Images and data are starting to roll in from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and the images are nothing short of stunning. So, the SDO website has started a couple of new image gallery features, which will provide a “best of” weekly fix without overloading your Sun senses (and no sunscreen needed!) The first one is Pick of the Week. The image above is the first “pick” and what a pick it is! This SDO close-up shows a filament and active region on the Sun, taken in extreme UV light on May 18, 2010. It shows a dark and elongated filament hovering above the Sun’s surface, with bright regions beneath it. The filaments are cooler clouds of gas that are suspended by tenuous magnetic fields that are often unstable and commonly erupt. This one is estimated to be at least 60 Earth diameters long (about 805,000 km, or 500,000 miles). Wowza!

Click here to see a super-huge full disk image.

See below for another new SDO feature, Hot Shots.

Solar flare on May 17, 2010, as seen by the AIA instrument on SDO. Credit: NASA

Hot Shots will feature some great looking flares. This image from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument shows a solar eruption and a flare. The dark regions show the site of evacuated material from the eruption, and the large magnetic loops were formed during the flare. AIA takes images of the solar atmosphere in multiple wavelengths to study link changes in the surface and how they related to interior changes in the Sun. AIA takes images of the Sun in 10 wavelengths every 10 seconds.

For more see the SDO website.

May 21, 2010December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Launch Dates Narrowed for Mars Science Lab

This artist's concept from an animation depicts Curiosity, the rover to be launched in 2011 by NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, as it is being lowered by the mission's rocket-powered descent stage during a critical moment of the "sky crane" landing in 2012. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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Mission planners have narrowed the field for possible launch dates for NASA’s next generation rover to Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory, nicknamed Curiosity. Taking into account orbital mechanics, planetary alignment, and communications issues, MSL’s launch will occur between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18, 2011, with landing will taking place between Aug. 6 and Aug. 20, 2012. The actual landing site is still being decided, between four different locations on Mars (read about the four sites here.)

“The key factor was a choice between different strategies for sending communications during the critical moments before and during touchdown,” said Michael Watkins, mission manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “The shorter trajectory is optimal for keeping both orbiters in view of Curiosity all the way to touchdown on the surface of Mars. The longer trajectory allows direct communication to Earth all the way to touchdown.”

Landing on Mars is always very difficult, and NASA has put a high priority on communication during Mars landings, especially after a landing failure in 1999. Therefore, the flight schedule allows for favorable positions for the Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, currently orbiting Mars, which can both obtain information during descent and landing of MSL.

The simplicity of direct-to-Earth communication from Curiosity during landing has appeal to mission planners, but the direct-to-Earth option allows a communication rate equivalent to only about 1 bit per second, while the relay option allows about 8,000 bits or more per second.

“It is important to capture high-quality telemetry to allow us to learn what happens during the entry, descent and landing, which is arguably the most challenging part of the mission,” said Fuk Li, manager of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at JPL. “The trajectory we have selected maximizes the amount of information we will learn to mitigate any problems.”

Curiosity will use several innovations during entry, descent and landing in order to hit a relatively small target area on the surface and set down a rover too heavy for the cushioning air bags used in earlier Mars rover landings. MSL will use employ of the largest parachutes ever used in a space mission to land a car-sized rover on the Red Planet. Most interesting is the final phase of landing, where a “sky-crane,” a rocket-powered descent stage will lower Curiosity on a tether for a wheels-down landing directly onto the surface.

Even though Curiosity won’t be communicating directly with Earth at touchdown, data about the landing will reach Earth promptly. Odyssey will be in view of both Earth and Curiosity, in position to immediately forward to Earth the data stream it is receiving during the touchdown. Odyssey performed this type of “bent-pipe” relay during the May 25, 2008, arrival of NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander.

Curiosity will rove extensively on Mars, carrying an analytical laboratory and other instruments to examine a carefully selected landing area. It will investigate whether conditions there have favored development of microbial life and its preservation in the rock record. Plans call for the mission to operate on Mars for a full Martian year, which is equivalent to two Earth years.

More information about NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory.

Source: JPL

May 21, 2010December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Incredible Image: Atlantis and ISS Transit the Sun

Atlantis and the ISS transit the Sun. Credit: Thierry Legault www.astrophoto.fr

Here are some incredible images of Atlantis and the International Space Station captured as it transit the Sun.

You can also view space from where you are. You just need a good telescope for that. Take a look at these cool and amazing telescopes from Amazon.com.

French astrophotographer Thierry Legault has done it again. He captured a view of space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station crossing the face of the Sun on May 16, 2010 about 50 minutes before the shuttle docked with the space station. Legault took the image from Madrid, Spain at 13:28:55 UT. “Atlantis has just begun the ‘R-bar pitch maneuver,'” Legault wrote on his website, “as the shuttle performs a backflip that exposes its heat-shield to the crew of the ISS that makes photographs of it; since its approach trajectory is between the ISS and the Earth, this means that we are seeing Atlantis essentially from above, with the payload bay door opened.”

Since this may be Atlantis’ last flight to space, the image is especially poignant.

See below for the full image, and make sure you go to Legault’s website and watch the movie of how quickly the pair of spacecraft actually flew across the face of the Sun — like the blink of an eye! It’s amazing he was able to capture this incredible image at all, not to mention how clear and sharp the two spacecraft are in the photo, against the face of the otherwise spotless Sun. The shuttle’s tail is even visible!

Legault said he used a Takahashi TOA-150 refractor (diameter 150mm, final focal 2500mm), Baader Herschel prism and Canon 5D Mark II camera, at an exposure of 1/8000s at 100 ISO, extracted from a series of 16 images (4 images/s) started 2 seconds before the predicted transit time.

Full image of the Sun, with transiting shuttle and ISS. Credit: Thierry Legault www.astrophoto.fr

Take time to browse through Legault’s impressive collection of spacecraft photography, including an amazing 3-D movie of the ISS.

May 21, 2010December 24, 2015 by Tammy Plotner

Weekend SkyWatcher’s Forecast – May 21-23, 2010

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers… Are you enjoying the typical “change of seasons” weather in your area? If skies should clear for you this weekend, we have some very nice lunar challenges along with some very interesting stars! Why not spend a little time contemplating lunacy and gathering a few photons? When ever you are ready, I’ll see you in the back yard…

May 21, 2010 – Today we’d like to wish a happy birthday to Nils Christofer Duner. Born in 1839, this classical astronomer studied the rotational period of the Sun. Duner was an outstanding observer and made 2,679 measurements of 445 double and multiple stars. He also specialized in observing the spectra of red stars, and later made a series of measurements of the Doppler shift caused by solar rotation. As you know, one of our own Sun’s main ingredients is helium. If you would like to see a helium-rich star, look no further tonight than Alpha Virginis See Spica— Spica . As the 16th brightest star in the sky, this brilliant blue-white ‘‘youngster’’ appears to be about 275 light-years away and is about 2,300 times brighter than our own Sun. Although we cannot see it visually, Spica is a double star. Its spectroscopic companion is roughly half its size and is also helium rich.

Now, let’s have a look at the Moon! Tonight’s challenges are craters Cassini and Cassini A, which come into view just south of the black slash of the Alpine Valley.

The major crater spans 57 kilometers and reaches a floor depth of 1,240 meters. Your assignment, should you decide to accept it, is to spot the central crater A. It only spans 17 kilometers, yet drops down another 2,830 meters below the primary crater’s floor!

May 22, 2010 – Let’s begin the day by honoring the 1920 birth on this date of Thomas Gold, an astronomer known for
proposing the ‘‘steady-state’’ theory of the universe; for explaining pulsars; and for giving the magnetosphere its name. Gold was also an auditory research genius. In his interview with D.T. Kemp he stated: ‘‘I’m a compulsive thinker, I never turn my brain off, I’ve never in my life complained of being bored because I’m constantly thinking about some problem, mostly physics I suppose. A problem is always on my mind—evidently even in my sleep because I often wake up with a solution clearly spread out.’’

Tonight let’s take a long Moonwalk together and do some major crater exploration. Try using mid-range magnification in your telescope and see how many of the features you can identify:

(1) Sinus Asperitatis, (2) Theophilus, (3) Cyrillus, (4) Catharina, (5) Rupes Altai, (6) Piccolomini, (7) Sacrobosco, (8) Abulfeda, (9) Almanon, (10) Taylor, (11) Abenezra, (12) Apianus, (13) Playfair, (14) Aliacensis, (15) Werner, (16) Blanchinus, (17) Lacaille, (18) Walter, (19) Regiomontanus, (20) Purbach, (21) Thebit, (22) Arzachel, (23) Alphonsus, (24) Ptolemaeus, and (25) Albategnius.

May 23, 2010 – If you like to venture to the lunar surface tonight, we can enjoy a strange, thin feature that’s a nice challenge! Look toward the lunar south, where you will note the prominent rings of craters Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus, Arzachel, Purbach, and Walter descending from north to south. Just west of them, you’ll see the emerging Mare Nubium.

Between Purbach and Walter, you will see the small, bright ring of Thebit, with a crater caught on its edge. Look further west to spot a long, thin, dark feature cutting across the mare. Its name? Rupes Recta , better known as the ‘‘Straight Wall,’’ or sometimes Rima Birt. The Straight Wall is one of the steepest known lunar slopes, rising around 366 meters from the surface at a 41 degree angle. Be sure to mark your lunar challenge notes and visit this feature again!

If you’d like to take a look at a ‘‘habitable zone,’’ look no further than AX Microscopii (RA21 17 15 Dec – 38 52 02). AX is a dwarf red flare star, which resides only 12.9 light-years from us. Although it might not seem that important, it is the target of interferometric studies searching for planets that may have formed in habitable zones around stars similar to our own. Even though AX is slightly smaller than Sol, this cool main sequence star might in fact be inhospitable, due to its daily flare activity.

Until next week? Ask for the Moon… But keep on reaching for the stars!

This week’s awesome images (in order of appearance) are: Cassini – courtesy of Wes Higgins, Thomas Gold (archival image), Lunar Photo courtesy of Greg Konkel – Annotations by Tammy Plotner, Rupes Recta courtesy of Damien Peach and AX Microscopi was done by Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech. We thank you so much!

May 20, 2010December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Mars Rovers Set Surface Longevity Record

Mars Exploration Rover Mission — Artist concept of the Mars Exploration Rover on Mars. Credit: NASA

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Congrats to the science and engineering teams for the Mars Exploration Rover program! Today, (Thursday May 20) the Opportunity rover marked an historic milestone: it has now passed the duration record set by NASA’s Viking 1 Lander of six years and 116 days operating on the surface of Mars. The celebration was tempered just a bit because Oppy may be the longest lasting mission on Mars, or it may be second to its twin, Spirit. Spirit has not communicated with Earth since March 22, succumbing to the cold and decreased power from its solar panels. If Spirit awakens from hibernation and resumes communication, then she will attain the Martian surface longevity record.

The rover teams are encouraged now about resuming communications with Spirit, as the winter solstice has now passed, on May 12 here on Earth. “Passing the solstice means we’re over the hump for the cold, dark, winter season,” said Mars Exploration Project Manager John Callas.

Unless dust interferes, which is unlikely in the coming months, the solar panels on both rovers should gradually generate more electricity. Operators hope that Spirit will recharge its batteries enough to awaken from hibernation, start communicating and resume science tasks.

Opportunity's view of the far-off rim of Endeavour Crater. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University

Opportunity is doing well and still driving towards Endeavour crater, but making shorter drives since there is less power available from the solar panels. But that should continue to improve.

For the next few weeks, some of Opportunity’s drives have been planned to end at an energy-favorable tilt on the northern face of small Martian plain surface ripples. The positioning sacrifices some distance to regain energy sooner for the next drive. Opportunity’s cameras can see a portion of the rim of Endeavour on the horizon, approximately eight miles away, across the plain’s ripples of windblown sand.

“The ripples look like waves on the ocean, like we’re out in the middle of the ocean with land on the horizon, our destination,” said Steve Squyres principal investigator for the two rovers. “Even though we know we might never get there, Endeavour is the goal that drives our exploration.”

Opportunity's tracks show how the rover avoided driving through potentially dangerous sand dunes. Credit: NASA/JPL/U of AZ

Viking was a flagship mission that launched in 1975. It consisted of two orbiters, each carrying a stationary lander. Viking Lander 1 was the first successful mission to the surface of Mars, touching down on July 20, 1976. It operated until Nov. 13, 1982, more than two years longer than its twin lander or either of the Viking orbiters. The record for longest working lifetime by a spacecraft at Mars belongs to a later orbiter: NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor operated for more than 9 years after arriving in 1997. NASA’s Mars Odyssey, in orbit since in 2001, has been working at Mars longer than any other current mission and is on track to take the Mars longevity record late this year.

May 20, 2010January 22, 2016 by Nancy Atkinson

Japan’s Venus Orbiter and Solar Sail Missions Launch Successfully

Japan’s first robotic mission to Venus and an experimental solar sail launched successfully from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. The Venus Climate Orbiter, or Akatsuki, the IKAROS solar sail and several smaller payloads launched aboard an H-IIA rocket at 6:58 local time May 21 (21:58 UTC May 20). The video shows a very smooth-looking launch, and 27 minutes later, JAXA confirmed the successful separation of Akatsuki. Then, about 15 minutes after that, the solar sail canister separated.
Continue reading “Japan’s Venus Orbiter and Solar Sail Missions Launch Successfully”

May 20, 2010December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Satellite Images Show Oil Slick on the Move Towards Florida, Possibly East Coast of US

A satellite image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on May 17, 2010, showing a long ribbon of oil stretched far to the southeast. Credit: NASA NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team.

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Confirming some of the worst fears about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, satellite images now show part of the oil slick has entered the Loop Current, a powerful conveyor belt-like current that flows clockwise around the Gulf of Mexico towards Florida. The Loop Current joins the Gulf Stream — the northern hemisphere’s most important ocean-current system — and the oil could enter this system and be carried up to the US East Coast.

Both NASA and ESA satellites have been returning daily satellite images of the oil spill.

“With these images from space, we have visible proof that at least oil from the surface of the water has reached the current,” said Dr Bertrand Chapron of Ifremer, the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea.

During the first weeks following the explosion at the oil rig, oil could be seen drifting from the site of the incident and it usually headed west and northwest to the Mississippi River Delta. But in the third week of May, currents drew some of the oil southeast. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the southward spread increased the chance that the oil would become mixed up with the Loop Current and spread to Florida or even the U.S. East Coast.

In this Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) image, acquired on 18 May 2010, a long tendril of the oil spill (outlined in white) is visible extending down into the Loop Current (red arrow).

An infrared image from May 18, 2010 from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.

The infrared image is annotated with the location of the leaking well and the approximate location of the southern arm of the oil slick on May 17 (based on natural-color MODIS imagery). Oil was very close to the Loop Current, whose warm waters appear in yellow near the bottom of the image. However, there is also an eddy of cooler water (purple) circulating counterclockwise at the top of the Loop Current. According to NOAA, “Some amount of any oil drawn into the Loop Current would likely remain in the eddy, heading to the northeast, and some would enter the main Loop Current, where it might eventually head to the Florida Strait.”

Image from MODIS on Aqua from May 18. NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team.

This unusual natural color image taken on May 18, 2010 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite shows sun glinting off the oil slick. The diagonal stripes result from the Sun’s reflection on the ocean surface, called sunglint. The sunglint accentuates the left-to-right scans that the satellite sensor makes as it passes over the Earth’s surface, and the stripes are perpendicular to the satellite’s path.

Besides hinting at the sensor’s scans, the sunglint also illuminates oil slicks on the sea surface. Bright oil slicks appear east and southeast of the delta.

NASA’s and ESA’s satellites will keep watch on this oil slick from above.

Sources: NASA Earth Observatory, (this page, and this page, too), ESA

May 20, 2010December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Hubble Confirms Star is Devouring Hot Exoplanet

Artist's concept of the exoplanet WASP-12b -- a hot Jupiter being devoured by its parent star. Artwork Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)

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We all like a hot meal, but this is really bizarre. Back in February, Jean wrote an article about WASP-12b, the hottest known planet in the Milky Way that is being ripped to shreds by its parent star. Shu-lin Li of the Department of Astronomy at the Peking University, Beijing, predicted that the star’s gravity would distort the planet’s surface and make the interior of the planet so hot that the atmosphere would expand out and co-mingle with the star. Shu-lin calculated the planet would one day be completely consumed. Now the Hubble Space Telescope has confirmed this prediction, and astronomers estimate the planet may only have another 10 million years left before it is completely devoured.

Using the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), and its sensitive ultraviolet instruments, astronomers saw that the star and the planet’s atmosphere share elements, passing them back and forth. “We see a huge cloud of material around the planet, which is escaping and will be captured by the star. We have identified chemical elements never before seen on planets outside our own solar system,” says team leader Carole Haswell of The Open University in Great Britain.

This effect of matter exchange between two stellar objects is commonly seen in close binary star systems, but this is the first time it has been seen so clearly for a planet.

The planet, called WASP-12b, is so close to its sunlike star that it completes an orbit in 1.1 days, and is heated to nearly 1,540 C (2,800 F) and stretched into a football shape by enormous tidal forces. The atmosphere has ballooned to nearly three times Jupiter’s radius and is spilling material onto the star. The planet is 40 percent more massive than Jupiter.

WASP-12 is a yellow dwarf star located approximately 600 light-years away in the winter constellation Auriga.

Haswell and her science team’s results were published in the May 10, 2010 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Science Paper by: L Fossati et al.

Original article on Universe Today by Jean Tate
Original paper by Shu-Lin

Source: HubbleSite

May 20, 2010December 29, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Carnival of Space #154

This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Chris Dann over at Weird Warp.

Click here to read the Carnival of Space #154

And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry to [email protected], and the next host will link to it. It will help get awareness out there about your writing, help you meet others in the space community – and community is what blogging is all about. And if you really want to help out, let Fraser know if you can be a host, and he’ll schedule you into the calendar.

Finally, if you run a space-related blog, please post a link to the Carnival of Space. Help us get the word out.