One of the best meteor showers of the year – the Perseids – will get washed out by a nearly full Moon this year. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try and enjoy them anyway. The Moon will be 87% full on Friday, August 11, rising after 10:00pm. Head out after it goes dark, and see if you can spot an Earth grazer; a special kind of meteor that can be very bright and slow, leaving a dramatic tail. After 10:00pm, only the brightest meteors will be visible. 2007 will be much better, when it’ll be a moonless sky.
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Chandra Confirms the Hubble Constant
Nearly every single astronomical measurement depends on the Hubble constant, a number that calculates the expansion of the Universe. NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory recently measured this value independently, and came up with a similar number – 77 km per second per megaparsec (3.26 million light-years to the megaparsec). Give or take 15%. This confirms that the Universe is still between 12 and 14 billion years old.
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Hubble Finds an Exoplanet’s Parent Star
When a star flared briefly, astronomers knew it was because a dimmer star had passed directly in front, acting as a lens with its gravity to focus light. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find the star. This was important, because the brief microlensing event also turned up the fact that this lensing star has a planet. Astronomers have used the power of the Hubble Space Telescope to find this dim star two years after the lensing event. Identifying the star is critical, because it allows astronomers to measure its unique characteristics, such as mass, temperature and composition.
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What’s Up this Week: August 7 – August 13, 2006
Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! The week begins with the Moon and ends up going globular as we have a look at some of the finest the Summer has to offer. Although skies will be bright, don’t forget the most reliable meteor shower of all – the Perseids! Hang around to explore multiple star systems because…
Here’s what’s up!
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Enceladus Occults Rhea
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured this photograph of Saturn’s moon Rhea emerging from behind another of its moons, Enceladus. At 1,528 km (949 miles) across, Rhea is actually three times larger than Enceladus (505 km or 314 miles), but Cassini was much closer to Enceladus when it captured this occultation event on July 4, 2006.
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Constant Rain of Space Dust Adds Up
A slow, steady rain of cosmic space dust is always falling through the Earth’s atmosphere. These particles from space are infused with a rare isotope of helium that makes it immediately identifiable compared to a more common isotope of helium we find here on Earth. Scientists recently drilled an ice core in Antarctica containing a record of this dust fall that goes back 30,000 years. This new data gives scientists another line of data to study global climate history as the ratio between the isotopes varies between interglacial periods.
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The Universe Could Be Larger Than Previously Thought
Astronomers recently calculated the distance to the relatively nearby galaxy M33 (aka the Triangulum Galaxy) as being about 15% further than previously estimated. They analyzed the distance using several telescopes, fine tuning their instruments very carefully. This measurement means that the Hubble constant – which astronomers use to measure distances in the Universe – could be off as well. The Universe might actually be 15% larger than previously believed.
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Proton Launches Eutelsat Satellite
A Proton Breeze M rocket blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Friday night, carrying the Eutelsat Hot Bird 8 broadcast satellite. The rocked lifted off at 2148 GMT (5:48 pm EDT), and released its satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit about 9 hours later. Hot Bird 8 will provide broadcast television to customers in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
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False Colour View of Hyperion
This view of Saturn’s moon Hyperion has been given false colour enhancements to highlight its geologic features. Photographs in ultraviolet, green, and infrared were combined together on computer, and then superimposed over a clear-filter image to preserve brightness. Scientists don’t fully understand why Hyperion has the variations, but it could be due to the size of the ice grains on its surface.
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SMART-1’s Final Days
After 16 months of successful observations, ESA’s SMART-1 is about to make its final contribution to lunar science. On September 3, 2006, it’ll crash into the Moon in full view of Earth- and space-based telescopes, giving astronomers a glimpse of what’s underneath the surface. In its final orbits, the spacecraft will be flying so low that it might crash into a hill on a previous pass, giving different Earth-based telescopes a better view. The final crater is expected to be 3-10 metres (10-33 feet) wide and 1 metre (3 feet) deep.
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