Solar flares are the most powerful explosions in the Solar System, releasing enormous energy in the form of radiation, high energy particles and magnetic fields. A new spacecraft, Solar B, developed by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) is set to launch on September 22, 2006, and will be able to detect these flares as they’re forming. The spacecraft will measure the movement of magnetic fields across the surface of the Sun, to help scientists predict when they will build up to a flare.
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The Link Between Asteroids and Meteorites
In theory, asteroids and meteorites are made of the same basic elements; it’s just that asteroids are much much bigger. But scientists had always found troubling chemical differences between the two kinds of objects. New data gathered by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa, which recently visited the near-Earth asteroid Itokawa, shows that there’s a good reason for the difference. It’s the long-term effect of space weathering – solar and cosmic radiation – that changes the surface of asteroids to look different from meteorites.
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Ancient Ocean Released a Torrent of Methane
New research indicates that periods of global warming in the past triggered the release of vast quantities of methane stored beneath the oceans. These reserves are generated over long periods of time by bacteria and other organisms, but is chemically frozen into the sea floor. Methane is powerful greenhouse gas, and contributes to the general effect of global warming. The emissions peaked 16,000-14,000 years ago, and then again 11,000-10,000 years ago, and could happen again if ocean temperatures rise above some unknown level.
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Pounded Mimas
In this Cassini photograph, Saturn’s moon Mimas reveals the battle scars it has taken over its long history in the Solar System. Its largest crater, Herschel, is visible on the right – it stretches 130 km (80 miles) across. This photo was taken on August 16, 2006 when Cassini was approximately 221,000 kilometers (137,000 miles) from Mimas.
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What’s Up this Week: September 11 – September 17, 2006
Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! As the Moon exits the early evening scene, we return to pick up some of the summer season’s finest studies. This week’s studies are planetary nebulae, galactic and globular clusters, as well as a look at history. So, get out your binoculars or telescopes, because…
Here’s what’s up!
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Atlantis Links Up with the Station
The Space Shuttle Atlantis caught up with the International Space Station this morning, linking up at 1048 GMT (6:48am EDT). After 2 hours of preparations, the airlock was opened, and the astronauts were greeted by the current station residents. As one of the first tasks of the day, the Atlantis crew used their robotic arm to transfer the P3/P4 integrated truss from the shuttle’s cargo bay to the robotic arm on the station. The STS-115 crew will conduct three spacewalks during their mission to connect and configure the truss for permanent operations.
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Space Shuttle Atlantis Blasts Off
After 4 delays, the Space Shuttle Atlantis finally lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Saturday, September 9, beginning its 11-day mission to return to the International Space Station. The main objective for Atlantis and its six astronaut crew will be to deliver and install the P3/P4 truss to the station. This 15.5-tonne structure includes the station’s giant solar arrays that will double its power capacity. Atlantis is currently catching up with the station, and is expected to dock on Monday.
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Network of Small Telescopes Find a Big Planet
A network of amateur astronomers has discovered an extrasolar planet located 500 light years away. This incredible discovery was made using a technique that measures the brightness of thousands of stars, watching for a periodic dimming. In this case, the Jupiter-sized planet, TrES-2, orbits its host star every 2.5 days, dimming it by 1.5%. Although the planet was discovered by a 10cm telescope, followup observations were made using the 10 metre W.M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
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Earth-Sized Planets are Probably Common
Of the many extrasolar planetary systems discovered so far, more than a third could contain Earth-like planets. This is according to a new study by scientists associated with NASA’s Center for Astrobiology. It was originally thought that Jupiter-sized planets should clear out their star systems as they form, but some new calculations show that they actually promote the formation of rocky planets – and even help pull in icy objects that deliver water to the inner planets.
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Finding All the Black Holes
Black holes might be invisible, but the superheated matter piling up around them shines brightly in the gamma ray spectrum. Most of these black holes are so far away, their gamma rays look like a diffuse background radiation that covers the sky. ESA’s Integral spacecraft recently calibrated the level of this background radiation by watching a point of sky, and let the Earth pass in front of it, to slowly block it out. Using these calculations, astronomers will be better able to distinguish point sources of gamma rays from the wash of background radiation.
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