Space and astronomy news
Scientists at the European Space Agency now believe that Huygens landed with a splat when it reached the surface of Titan last Friday. They reached this conclusion because the probe’s downward-facing High Resolution Thermal Imager camera lens has accumulated material since Huygens landed. This means that the probe has probably been settling down into the muck. Another possiblity, though, is that it steamed hydrocarbons off the surface which are collecting on the lens.
One mystery has been puzzling astronomers for a few years now; strange distant clouds of intensely glowing material located billions of light-years away. They’ve even struggled to come up with a name, and have settled for “blobs”. Using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have caught a glimpse inside the blobs, and discovered evidence that they surround multiple galaxies which could be in the process of merging together. Under visible light, these galaxies are unremarkable, but Spitzer uncovered that they’re some of the brightest galaxies in the Universe. If the blobs are created by galactic mergers, astronomers will need to figure out why they’re putting out so much material.
An unmanned Progress cargo ship lifted off from Kazakhstan over night, carrying much needed supplies for the International Space Station. Food supplies were getting low on board the station, so the Progress is loaded up with a 112-day supply of food, as well as water, air, propellant, and additional spare parts for the station. It’s expected to dock automatically on December 25th to the aft port of the Zvezda living quarters module.
Both Hubble and the Spitzer Space Telescope have provided astronomers with a view of planetary systems forming around other stars similar to our own Sun. Hubble viewed a young star, only 50 to 250 million years old, which could have gas giants, but its rocky planets would still be forming. This could be a view into what our Solar System looked like when it was first forming. Spitzer found 6 much older stars with planetary disks; closer to 4 billion years old, which is the age of our Sun. These stars are known to have gas giants, and probably have rocky planets as well.
It’s been 10 months since the Mars Exploration Rovers arrived at the Red Planet, and their full suite of scientific tools are still working perfectly. Spirit is now discovering further evidence of past water on a slope of layered bedrock, which was once layers of volcanic ash altered by water over a long period. Opportunity is heading towards the base of “Burns Cliff”, a tall exposure of layered rock in wall of Endurance Crater. The rover is taking advantage of a mysterious power boost that happened about a month ago to get more scientific work done.
Although Australia’s Mt. Stromlo was devastated in January 2003 by wildfires, the first stage of reconstruction is complete, and the observatory is back in business. The observatory’s visitor centre opened its doors to the public on October 30, and gave visitors a chance to explore the reconstruction and do a little skywatching with its rebuilt and brand new telescopes. Before the fire, Stromlo saw 70,000 visitors a year, and researchers used its instruments to make many important contributions to astronomy. Phase two of the reconstruction is now underway.
Astrophysicists using the National Science Foundation’s Very Large Array (VLA) radio observatory have revealed new details about a puzzling object called SS 433; a microquasar with bizarre corkscrew-shaped jets blasting out. SS 433 is probably a black hole or neutron star that’s feeding on material from a normal companion star. Some of this material is consumed, but much of it is blasted back out at a quarter the speed of light. SS 433 wobbles like a child’s top every 162 days, which causes the unusual corkscrew shape of the jets.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will make its first close approach tomorrow to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. The spacecraft will skim within only 1,200 km (745 miles) of the moon’s atmosphere, which should allow its radar to penetrate through its thick methane atmosphere and reveal details about its surface. Scientists have theories, but they really have no idea exactly what Cassini is going to discover; whether it’s covered in ancient craters, or there are ongoing geologic processes that are reshaping its surface continuously. Cassini will also gather data about Huygens’ potential landing site when it arrives at the moon in a couple of months.
When NASA’s Cassini spacecraft took off towards Saturn, it brought along a passenger: the ESA’s Huygens probe, which is designed study Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. The two spacecraft have been orbiting together for a few months now, but on January 14, 2005, Huygens will make the plunge into Titan’s thick methane and hydrocarbon atmosphere. And if it’s really lucky, the probe will survive the journey down to the moon’s surface, and give scientists a unique opportunity to study an environment that might have been similar to our own Earth’s early history.
The Sun Observer’s Guide by Pam Spence is a practical reference for how and why to view our nearest star. Though the uninitiated consider our sun to be a steady source of light and heat, nothing could be further from the truth. Using the proper equipment with appropriate safeguards, viewers can watch a seething tempest. Changes can occur in a few short minutes or, with appropriate record keeping, changes can be seen to vary over decades. This book can start you making worthwhile observations.