This photograph, captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, shows Saturn’s moon Dione crossing the face of Rhea. Dione is on the right, and it’s about two-thirds the size of Rhea, and it has a much smoother surface, suggesting it has been modified more recently. The image was taken on May 14, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.7 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Dione.
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Fizzing Space Around the Earth
New observations from ESA’s Cluster and Double Star spacecraft have found that that space around the Earth fizzes as bubbles of superheated gas are created and popped. These bubbles are known as density holes, and they occur when gas in a region drops in density, but rises in temperature. The European spacecraft encountered these bubbles on the day-lit side of Earth at an altitude of 13-19 Earth radii. Scientists aren’t exactly sure what’s causing these bubbles, but it has something to do with the interaction between the Earth’s magnetic field and the solar wind.
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NASA Announces STS-120 Crew
NASA has announced the crew of astronauts that will fly the space shuttle for mission STS-120. This mission will launch the Italian-built Node 2 connecting module to the International Space Station. The commander is Air Force Col. Pamela A. Melroy; the second woman to lead a shuttle mission. The flight mission specialists will be Scott E. Parazynski, Army Col. Douglas H. Wheelock, Navy Capt. Michael J. Foreman and Paolo A. Nespoli, a European Space Agency astronaut from Italy.
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Distant Quasars are Natural Particle Accelerators
An international team of astronomers has gathered new data that helps to explain the origins of quasar particle jets. These are enormous jets, hundreds of thousands of light-years long, emanating from the supermassive black holes at the heart of distant galaxies. They’re mysterious because the energy of particles they emit goes down across the length of the jet. This new theory proposes that the jets are emitting particles through synchrotron radiation; where the environment close to the black hole acts as a natural particle accelerator.
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Continues to Lower its Orbit
NASA’s newest visitor to the Red Planet, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, is still in the process of shrinking its orbit, enroute to its final science orbit. When the spacecraft first arrived, its farthest point from the planet was 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles). After 11 weeks of aerobraking operations, it’s reduced this distance to about 20,000 km (12,000 miles). Controllers estimate that the spacecraft will still need to sweep through Mars atmosphere 400 more times over the next 12 weeks to complete its orbital maneuvers. Its final mapping orbit will be approximately 255 to 320 km (160 to 200 mi) above the Martian surface.
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Airship Observatories Could Give the Best View
When it comes to astronomy, large telescopes rule. But if you can get your instrument into space, you bypass the atmosphere that blurs sensitive data. Unfortunately, the cost of launching observatories into space is beyond the budget of most researchers. One possible strategy is to install powerful observatories instruments onto high altitude airships, which can float above most of obscuring atmosphere. The view from the high atmosphere is almost as good as actually being in orbit, and it can be had for a fraction of the price of flying a telescope into orbit.
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What’s Up this Week – June 19-25, 2006
Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Get ready to rock as the week opens with the another stream of the Ophiuchid meteor shower and summer studies begin in the Milky Way. Venus teams with the crescent Moon and we’ll go globular as we head out to party under the stars, because….
Here’s what’s up!
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Crescent Moon Dione
This photograph shows Saturn’s moon Dione as a thin crescent beneath the luminous F ring. The image shows the dark side of the rings, so they’re not illuminated directly by the Sun. Cassini took this photo on May 3, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.8 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Dione.
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Construction Begins on Cosmic Ray Observatory
Construction has begun on a cosmic ray observatory in the Utah desert that should be 10 times more sensitive than previous instruments. The observatory should be ready for tests by early 2007, and start full operations by summer 2007. The “Telescope Array” is made up of 564 table-shaped detectors, which will measure showers of subatomic particles that fall to Earth when cosmic rays interact with our atmosphere. It will help scientists uncover the source of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays.
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Italian Astronaut Assigned to STS-120
ESA announced today that Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli will be joining the crew of STS-120, due to launch in summer 2007. This mission will carry Node 2, an Italian-built connecting module, to the International Space Station. The station will eventually have 3 nodes; node 1 is the Unity module, which was the second ISS module orbited. Nodes 2 and 3 are being developed by ESA, and will allow further modules to be attached, including the European Columbus, US Destiny, and Japanese Kibo laboratories.
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