Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! This is going to be an exciting week as we start off watching two planets get farther apart and two planets getting closer. Deep sky studies aren't always the property of telescopes, and I encourage you to turn binoculars toward the "Swan Nebula". The next seven days mean dark skies and New Moon, so hitch your wagon to a star as we fly with the "Eagle", take part in a meteor shower, learn we are not "Dumbbells", reach for the "Ring", and quest for the holy "Veil". If all this leaves you "Blinking", then best get your binoculars and telescopes ready, because...
Here's what's up!
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Dream up an hypothesis and envelop it with supporting evidence and you're well on the way to contributing to the scientific process. Given that nature surrounds us with a veritable nirvana of wonders, this reasoning process serves us well. A case in point - many years ago, bright flashes in the sky, followed by powerful explosions, teased our imaginations and brain power then and today. Surendra Verma in his book
The Tunguska Fireball plays part detective, part historian and part scientist in presenting some highly speculative yet nevertheless plausible reasons for this natural wonder. Scientific processes by their nature are based on fact, but read this and you can judge for yourself how close imagination is its parody.
If you look closely, you can just see Saturn's moon Pan, making its way in between a gap in the planet's majestic rings. Pan is only 26 km (16 miles) across, and it lives inside the Encke Gap. It's also possible to see the subtle F ring in the upper right-hand corner of the photo. Cassini took this image on August 13, 2005 when it was approximately 2.3 million km (1.5 million miles) above Saturn.
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Once again, the sky is getting ready to put on a beautiful show - one that doesn't require particularly dark skies, a telescope, or lots of time to enjoy. Three of the brightest objects in the sky: Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon will gather close together over the next two weeks. Jupiter and Venus will reach their closest point on September 1, but on September 6, all three will be relatively clustered together. All you have to do to enjoy this spectacle is look to the West after sunset.
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According to new research from geologists, the Earth's core rotates just a little bit faster - about 1 degree per year - than the crust of the planet. The scientists took advantage of historical records for "earthquake twins" near the South Sandwich Islands. These are quakes that occurred in virtually the same spot with the same magnitude, but were years apart. As the seismic waves passed through the Earth, they were bent as they passed through the Earth's iron core. The shape of this bending has changed over time, indicating the core's faster rotation.
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Larry took this close picture of comet Hale-Bopp from Germantown Hills, Illinois. This image was taken with a Nikon 35mm camera and a 200mm lense riding piggyback on the guided telescope.
Do you have photos you'd like to share? Post them to the
Universe Today astrophotography forum or
email them to me directly, and I might feature one in Universe Today.
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Wait, don't throw that garbage bag away. It might come in handy if you wanted to build a spaceship. At least, that's what NASA scientists working on new spacecraft materials are proposing. They've invented a new polyethylene-based material called RXF1 that's even stronger and lighter than aluminum. A plastic material like this is actually surprisingly protective against solar flares and cosmic rays since it doesn't produce "secondary radiation", like aluminum.
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Amateur astronomers are helping unravel mysteries about about a strange binary star system. Even though space and ground-based observatories will be observing the cataclysmic variable star AE Aqr, astronomers are calling on amateurs to make additional observations as well. AE Aqr consists of a red dwarf feeding material to a white dwarf companion star. Instead of striking the white dwarf, this material is flung out of the system by the star's intense magnetic field. Amateurs are being asked to observe this object every night until September 3.
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In the constellation of Pisces, 100 million light-years from Earth, two galaxies are smashing together in a dramatic demonstration of our far future: when the Milky Way collides with the Andromeda Galaxy. This image of NGC 520 was taken with the Gemini North Telescope on the evening of July 13-14, 2005. It's possible to see dark dust lanes and a long trail of stars thrown out by the cosmic collision.
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Cassini captured this image of Titan's bright side during its recent flyby on August 21, 2005. The photograph was taken when Cassini was 213,000 kilometers (132,000 miles) from Titan. This picture is a natural image, which shows the thick smoggy atmosphere that normally blocks views of the moon's surface.
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Scientists always function on the cutting edge of their field. New discoveries, new processes, and new events highlight a challenging and sometimes rewarding career. However, scientists share this edge with others. For example, authors of science fiction novels regularly create new worlds, new physics and new societies that allow us to contemplate our own existence and guide our scientific studies. Robert Markley in his book
Dying Planet captures nuances of both these fields in reviewing how research and literature about the planet Mars have been busily advancing our wonder, questioning and knowledge.
Rick Stankiewicz took this picture of the Moon and Mercury on the 22th, March 2004 from his backyard near Keene, Ontario, Canada. This image was taken with a Nikon Coolpix 995.
Do you have photos you'd like to share? Post them to the
Universe Today astrophotography forum or
email them to me directly, and I might feature one in Universe Today.
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NASA scientists think they've developed a strong case that liquid water created the strange gullies discovered on Mars a few years ago. These gullies might indicate underground sites of water, and could be a good place to search for life. Although Mars' environment is too cold, dry and low pressure to support liquid water, it could last a little while as it escaped from an underground reservoir. The lack of debris fields at the ends of these gullies suggests the water froze or evaporated before it reached the bottom.
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Around 251 million years ago, something happened to the Earth's climate that wiped out 90-95% of marine life and 70% of terrestrial life. Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) have developed a computer model that demonstrates that rapid increases in carbon dioxide belched out of volcanoes did the trick. Temperatures were 10 to 30 degrees Celsius (18 to 54 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than they are today, which broke a cycle that pulled carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
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On the night of August 4, 2005, legendary amateur astronomer Reverend Robert Evans discovered a supernova just north of galaxy NGC 1559. In the days that followed, astronomers classified it as a Type 1A supernova, the kind created when a white dwarf constantly pulls material from a larger stellar partner; eventually it can't hold any more and explodes as a supernova. These kinds of supernovae explode with a set amount of energy, so astronomers can use them to measure distance to galaxies.
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Climate scientists are predicting that the Arctic Ocean could be completely free of ice during the summer within 100 years thanks to rising ocean temperatures. Several feedback mechanisms will also accelerate these changes. For example, the white ice reflects radiation from the Sun, and contributes to lower temperatures. As the ice melts, the region becomes darker and the melting should speed up.
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Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! I'd like to thank all of you who took the time to write to me about this year's Mars apparition and this week we'll look at both the "fact" and the "fiction". Now it's time to start our explorations as we check in on the planets, visit the "Lagoon", have a look at the M25, journey to the "Small Sagittarius Star Cloud", and track down the "Trifid". So, get your telescopes and binoculars ready, because...
Here's what's up!
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As it passed through the ring plane, Cassini took this amazing photograph of Saturn's moon Pandora, hovering just above the rings. Saturn's F ring is thinly visible just above the main rings which are the dark line across the picture. You can also see some variation in the height of Saturn's cloud tops in this photograph, which look like ripples in an ocean. Pandora is only 84 km (52 miles across).
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Researchers from the University of Michigan are predicting that when asteroid 99942 Apophis (2004 MN4) swings past the Earth in 2029, it will get so close that astronomers should learn a tremendous amount about how the Earth's gravity can shift asteroid orbits. The researchers are hoping that a space agency will put instruments on the surface of the asteroid to measure seismic data, similar to the way seismologists use earthquakes to probe the Earth's interior.
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This is part 2 of an edited transcript of a presentation given by Pamela Conrad, a NASA astrobiologist who has been traveling to the ends of the Earth to study the extremes of life. In this second part, Conrad continues her explanation of how studying cold deserts here on Earth can aid the search for life in our Solar System.
Part 1 is available here.
A researcher from the University of Toronto has found unexpectedly young material in meteorites, challenging theories about early events in the formation of the Solar System. A paper published in Nature reports that key minerals called chondrules have been found in meteorites that formed much later than the initial nebula that collapsed to form our Solar System. Instead, these chodrules were probably created when two newly forming planets smashed together.
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The most successful comet hunter in history is actually the ESA/NASA SOHO spacecraft, which spends its time gazing at the Sun. Since many comets streak past the Sun all the time, they often get caught in SOHO's cameras. Toni Scarmato from Calabria, Italy discovered both SOHO's 999th comet, and then 5 minutes later he discovered its 1,000th as well. Almost all the discoveries have been made using SOHO's LASCO instrument, which images the Sun's large corona.
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Even after all their safety improvements, NASA engineers weren't able to completely solve the problem of foam shedding off the space shuttle's external fuel tank. During Discovery's launch a large piece flew off; fortunately it completely missed the orbiter, but the risk remains. In order to give engineers time to come up with a solution, NASA is targeting March 2006 for Discovery to return to the launch pad and continue construction of the International Space Station.
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NASA's Swift satellite has found brand new baby black holes, just seconds after birth. These newborn black holes are created at the heart of massive star explosions, called gamma ray bursts, and actually generate multiple blasts over the next few minutes. Nearly half of the gamma ray bursts seen by Swift follow a similar model, where there's an initial release of gamma rays, and then followed by several X-ray after-explosions as matter falling into the new black hole clogs up and releases more energy.
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Pamela Conrad is an astrobiologist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She recently gave a lecture explaining how to searching cold deserts on Earth will help scientists understand environments that life could be hiding in the rest of the Solar System. The following article is the first part of an edited transcript of her presentation.
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One of the most famous supernovae in recent memory is SN 1987A, which exploded in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Before its death, the star produced a ferocious stellar wind that carved out a large bubble in the surrounding, colder gas. When it went supernova, a shockwave traveled out in space, and astronomers have been waiting in anticipation for the shockwave to slam into the edge of this bubble. New images from NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory shows that this stage now appears to be underway.
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Saturn's rings are separate from the planet they circle, and then even have an atmosphere of their own. During several flybys, Cassini has been able to detect very small amounts of molecular oxygen floating around the rings. Molecules of water are broken apart by ultraviolet light from the Sun; the hydrogen and some of the oxygen is lost into space, and some of the oxygen is frozen back into the rings. But there's enough of a cloud of these atoms around the rings that this process must be ongoing and kept in a continual balance.
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John Bunyan took this picture of green aurora on the 5th August from Washington, USA. This image was taken with a Canon rebel.
Do you have photos you'd like to share? Post them to the
Universe Today astrophotography forum or
email them to me directly, and I might feature one in Universe Today.
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When astronauts will be spending more time in space, it'll be helpful to know when there'll be clear "space weather", to minimize their exposure to dangerous amounts of radiation. NASA scientists have developed a better understanding of the underlying causes of solar flares, and think they can now predict times for "clear skies". Areas likely to explode as flares happen when magnetic fields of different alignments merge together on the Sun's surface. Electrical currents must then build up for several hours before a flare erupts.
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NASA's Cassini spacecraft took this picture of Rhea, one of Saturn's moons. The reasonably close view is of the moon's southern polar region which has been extensively cratered during its long history. Cassini acquired this view on July 14, 2005 when it made a close flyby, passing only 239,000 km (149,000 miles) away from the moon. The large, well-defined oval-shaped crater on the upper right is approximately 115 km (71 miles) across.
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A new NASA-funded study has discovered that sea ice in the Antarctic might actually be on the increase as global temperatures go up. There has been overwhelming evidence that sea ice is decreasing in the Arctic ocean, but scientists didn't realize there might be a difference between the two poles. As temperatures rise, it seems to create more precipitation around the southern pole, which falls as snow. The weight of the snow pushes sea ice below sea level, and causes the snow to melt and then freeze as additional ice.
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Using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have created a detailed survey of the structure of the Milky Way. Based on this evidence, they think the shape of the Milky Way is more complex than a plain old spiral. Our galaxy seems to have a long central bar, approximately 27,000 light-years in length. From our vantage point going around the Sun, we see this bar at a 45-degree angle.
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Bob Sigall took this picture of Venus and Moon setting behind the ridge in Kalihi valley on the 7th August from Honolulu, Hawaii. Bob used an Olympus C740 10x camera.
Do you have photos you'd like to share? Post them to the
Universe Today astrophotography forum or
email them to me directly, and I might feature one in Universe Today.
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NASA's Cassini spacecraft took this image of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, on July 7, 2005. In it, it's possible to see the bright Xanadu region on the moon's right side - where the Huygens probe. Scientists think this area consists of upland terrain that isn't contaminated by the darker material visible in the low lying regions. Near the moon's south pole, Cassini has previously found what looks like a large lake of hydrocarbons.
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With Friday's launch, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is now on its way to the Red Planet. One of the instruments on board is CRISM, or the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars. This instrument will search for evidence of past water on the surface of the planet, by locating the residues left by minerals that formed in water. It'll have 20 times the resolution of any previous instrument sent to Mars to do this task. With data gathered by CRISM, researchers should have a wealth of potential targets for future rovers and landers.
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Hi folks, I just wanted to give you a warning that Universe Today might be spotty for the next week. I'm attending a convention in Indianapolis called
Gencon from Thursday to Sunday, so my regular schedule will be all mixed up. I will be taking my laptop and should be able to update the site, and answer emails, but I can't promise it'll come out on regular days, etc. If you're attending Gencon too, or live in the Indianapolis area and want to have a meetup, drop me an email. I'll try and set something up. Can anyone recommend a venue?
Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today
P.S. Here's a shameless picture of me and the kids having a picnic here in
Courtenay. I'm actually happier than I look. :-)
Greetings fellow SkyWatchers! Let's start the week off colorfully as we view the mighty Albireo. We'll explore lunar features and learn about the Blue Moon. Keep an eye on the dance of the planets and on Cygnus as the Kappa Cygnid meteor shower peaks. We'll learn about M39 and more. So, get your binoculars and telescopes aimed at the sky, because...
Here's what's up!
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In this photograph of Saturn, it's possible to see the faint filaments that circle around major storms on the planet. Scientists still don't know what these filaments are; they might be material connecting two storms together after they've split up. The could also represent wind flow in Saturn's atmosphere. Cassini took this image on July 6, 2005 when it was 2.4 million km (1.5 million miles) away from the planet.
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Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev is about to break the record for human spaceflight on Tuesday. Currently on board the International Space Station, he will tie the current record holder, Sergei Avdeyev, when reaches 748 days in orbit. Krikalev has been on two long-duration stays on the Mir space station, two flights on the Space Shuttle, and two trips on the Space Station. He was aboard Mir when the Soviet Union collapsed, the first Russian to fly on the Shuttle, and a member of the first crew for the International Space Station.
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New research from the University of California, San Diego suggests that the cloud of gas and dust that would eventually turn into the Sun was already hot and glowing. The ultraviolet radiation blazing off this protosun played a big part in chemically shaping the early Solar System, including many of the organic compounds that make up life on Earth. The scientists detected it by finding evidence of high-energy solar wind in ancient meteorites.
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After a few days of delays, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has begun its journey towards the Red Planet. The orbiter lifted off atop a massive Atlas V launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral at 1143 UTC (7:43 am EDT). The spacecraft established radio contact with controllers on the ground 61 minutes after launch and confirmed that everything's working well. MRO will reach Mars on March 10, 2006, and begin several months of aerobraking maneuvers to lower its orbit.
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This image of Saturn taken by Cassini looks it was drawn by an impressionist painter. The giant planets' atmospheres are dominated by counter-flowing jets of wind, and this image shows the process up close. You can see the turbulence as these jets shear against each other. Cassini took this image on July 6, 2005 when it was 2.5 million km (1.5 million miles) away from Saturn.
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The European Space Agency's Cluster fleet of spacecraft have identified micro-vortices in the Earth's magnetosphere. These small vortices were predicted in mathematical models, but they hadn't been seen before now. They're created when plasma from the Sun's solar winds slip through holes in the magnetosphere. As it moves through these holes, the flow of turbulence creates the vortices, like pouring one liquid into another.
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This image of Saturn shows how the planet has gigantic hurricanes which spin backwards through its atmosphere. On Earth, hurricanes in the Southern Hemisphere spin clockwise, but Saturn's anti-hurricanes are spinning counter-clockwise. These kinds of storms are very common in the giant planets. This image was taken by Cassini on July 4/5, 2005 when the spacecraft was 2.4 million kilometers (1.5 million miles) from the planet.
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An Ariane 5G rocket blasted off from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana today carrying the largest telecommunications satellite ever to be placed into geostationary transfer orbit. The massive Thaicom 4 (previously named iPSTAR) satellite weighed almost 6500 kg at launch. Thaicom 4 will provide Internet access to customers in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Arianespace's next scheduled launch will be two satellites on September 29, 2005.
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When human explorers reach the Moon or Mars, they're going to have to watch out for something we've all experienced here on Earth: static electricity. Zap! It's annoying when you grab a door handle after rubbing your socks across the carpet. But the dry environments on the Moon and Mars could cause astronauts to build up a significant charge that could fry electronic equipment when they try to handle it. Astronauts may have to walk across a sheet of aluminum mesh to ground themselves before returning to base.
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