Universe Today

Where In The Universe Challenge #22

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:50:36 +0000

It's time once again for this week's Where In The Universe challenge. Take a look at the image above and try to determine where in the universe this image was taken. Give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft responsible for taking this image. As always, no peeking below before you make your guess. And comments are welcome if you want to share how well you did!

Make your guess, and then proceed.

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Observing Alert: Outburst of GK Persei

Tammy Plotner — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:21:34 +0000

GK Persei Prior To Outburst...

Wake up, all you variable star observers!! According to AAVSO Alert Notice 384 released just minutes ago, the cataclysmic variable star - GK Persei - is beginning to wake up and appears to be entering another outburst.

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Evidence of Rain on Mars

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:16:56 +0000

Images of layered sedimentary deposits and deltas on Mars have provided evidence for lakes and flowing rivers that carried eroded material downstream. A team of researchers also believes there is evidence for precipitation in the Red Planet's past. "For years scientists have been suspecting that the current appearance of the landscape has, in part, been shaped by rivers that cut into the surface," said Ernst Hauber of the German Aerospace Center. “We can see layered sediments where these valleys open into impact craters. The shape of certain sediments is typical for deltas formed in standing water." Hauber and his team also believe that surface runoff from rain or snowmelt completes the picture of past water on Mars.

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Shuttle Mission to Hubble Delayed

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:47:31 +0000

Atlantis and Endeavour on pads 39 A and B. Credit: NASA

Because of delays and complications from Hurricane Ike, the launch date for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope has been delayed four days until Oct. 14 at 10:19 p.m. EDT. The delay is not a surprise. The crew and mission controllers missed out on a week of valuable training time when they were forced to evacuate the Houston area when Hurricane Ike which hit on September 13. "You come to the question of either slipping the launch or cutting out events," said STS-125 Commander Scott Altman when the crew arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday to prepare for a launch rehearsal. "All [our training] needs to be done and we have to make it happen before we fly… And that, of course, may mean a bit of a slip." With Atlantis' launch delay, subsequently shuttle Endeavour's STS-126 supply mission to the International Space Station, also will move from Nov. 12 to Nov. 16 at 7:07 p.m. EST.

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Phoenix Lander Successful in Moving "Headless" Rock

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:26:08 +0000

The robotic arm on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander slid a rock out of the way during the mission's 117th Martian day (Sept. 22, 2008) in order to take a look at the soil underneath the rock, and to see at what depth the subsurface ice was under the rock. The lander's Surface Stereo Imager took this image later the same day, showing the rock, called "Headless," after the arm pushed it about 40 centimeters (16 inches) from its previous location. "The rock ended up exactly where we intended it to," said Matt Robinson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, robotic arm flight software lead for the Phoenix team. And what was underneath the rock? Take a look:

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Dusty Disk Evidence of Planetary Collision

Nicholos Wethington — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:45:18 +0000

When exoplanets collide... Credit: Artwork by Lynette Cook

What astronomers had expected to be a run-of-the-mill protoplanetary disk turned out to be evidence of a much more intriguing story. While observing the sun-like star BD 20 307, a team of astronomers noticed a large disk of dust surrounding the star. Usually, this is evidence of planetary formation around younger stars. The 8 planets (and plutoids…) in our own solar system formed out of just such a disk. Disks like this aren't generally found around older stars, though, and when the age of the star was calculated to be several billion years old, the source of the dust appears to come from a rare event: it is the resulting debris of two planets slamming into each other.

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Really Bad News: LHC to be Switched Off Until Spring 2009

Ian O'Neill — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:35:30 +0000

It looks like some significant repairs will need to be made to the LHC before a re-start attempt (CERN)

First there was a glitch with one of the huge 30-tonne transformers causing a delay of a few days, then a quench leaked a tonne of helium coolant into one of the tunnels, forcing a two-month shutdown while repairs could be made.

Brace yourselves for some more bad news.

In a statement released by CERN today, due to an obligatory maintenance period, the LHC will have to remain off-line until late March or early April 2009. Problems with an experiment as huge as the worlds biggest particle accelerator can be expected, but this will be a costly delay and a psychological setback after the initial excitement of the first particle circulation on October 10th. The elusive Higgs Boson will have to wait a few more months…

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Saturn's Eerie Radio Emissions Mapped in 3-D

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:35:55 +0000

While Saturn and its rings are beautiful and wondrous, the sounds of Saturn are eerie and strange. Scientists have been trying to understand the bizarre radio emissions that come from the ringed planet, called the Saturn Kilometric Radiation (SKR). Scientists have used observations from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft build a 3-D picture of these intense radio emissions emanating from Saturn's magnetic field. The SKR radio emissions are generated by high-energy electrons spiraling around magnetic field lines threaded through Saturn’s auroras.

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Scientists Detect "Dark Flow:" Matter From Beyond the Visible Universe

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:08:03 +0000

Galaxy clusters like 1E 0657-56 (inset) seem to be drifting toward a 20-degree-wide patch of sky (ellipse) between the constellations of Centaurus and Vela. Credit: NASA/WMAP/A. Kashlinsky et al.

Just as unseen dark energy is increasing the rate of expansion of the universe, there's something else out there causing an unexpected motion in distant galaxy clusters. Scientists believe the cause is the gravitational attraction of matter that lies beyond the observable universe, and they are calling it "Dark Flow," in the vein of two other cosmological mysteries, dark matter and dark energy. "The clusters show a small but measurable velocity that is independent of the universe's expansion and does not change as distances increase," said lead researcher Alexander Kashlinsky at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The distribution of matter in the observed universe cannot account for this motion."

"We never expected to find anything like this," he said.

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Saturn's Rings May Be Billions of Years Old

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:26:22 +0000

Saturn's enigmatic rings may be much older and also much more massive than previously thought, according to a new study. Because Saturn's rings look so clean and bright, it was thought the rings were younger than the planet itself, which is estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old. But using data from the Cassini spacecraft's UVIS (Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph) instrument, Principal Investigator Dr. Larry Esposito and his team used computer simulations to study colliding particles in Saturn's rings and their erosion by meteorites. Their results support the possibility that Saturn's rings formed billions of years ago, perhaps at the time when giant impacts excavated the great basins on the Moon. The findings also suggest that giant exoplanets may also commonly have rings.

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NASA Uses 90 Rubber Ducks to Study Global Warming

Ian O'Neill — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:20:27 +0000

Little yellow ducks, the new face of the global warming fight (Wikimedia Commons)

NASA scientists have dropped 90 yellow rubber ducks into holes in Greenland's Jakobshavn glacier in an attempt to understand why glaciers speed up during summer months as they slip into the sea. The ducks, attached to a football-sized probe, have an email address and message prompting anyone who discovers the ducks to contact NASA to reveal where and when the duck was found. There is an undisclosed award for anyone who finds one of these rubber global warming crusaders. The NASA scientists, based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, hope this campaign will shed new light on the melting mechanisms behind Greenland's fastest moving glacier…

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Solar Cycle 24 Sunspots Finally Say "Hello!"

Ian O'Neill — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:11:49 +0000

After an extended period of calm for Solar Cycle 24, a cluster of sunspots have appeared on the disk of the Sun. Although we have observed sunspots since the beginning of this new solar cycle (which officially began on January 4th, 2008 with the observation of a high-latitude sunspot pair), this is the first time for many months "new" Cycle 24 sunspots have shown themselves. Before today, the sunspots (including occasional flares and coronal mass ejections) belonged to the previous cycle (Cycle 23). It would appear the spots have evolved into a cluster in a high-latitude location with the magnetic polarity consistent with this new cycle. But does this mean we can expect an increase in solar activity after this pretty dull period of "blank" solar disk observations? Your guess is as good as mine…

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Opportunity's Next Adventure: The Big Drive

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:38:11 +0000

The Big Drive to Endeavour-crater. Credit: NASA/JPL

Opportunity, the intrepid Mars Exploration Rover, is going to put the pedal to the metal and head out for a crater nearly 12 kilometers (7 miles) away. That would match the distance the rover has traveled since landing in 2004. But the call of the unknown is compelling the rover science team to make the attempt. "We may not get there, but it is scientifically the right direction to go anyway," said Steve Squyres, principal investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit. For an "aging" rover (what age is 4 in rover years?), this might be setting the bar pretty high. But maybe it’s the journey and not the destination. "This is a bolder, more aggressive objective than we have had before," said John Callas, the project manager the rovers. "It's tremendously exciting. It's new science. It's the next great challenge for these robotic explorers."

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Anything Under That Rock on Mars? Phoenix to Take a Peek

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:17:13 +0000

Ever wondered what might crawl out from under a rock on Mars? The Phoenix lander is going to attempt to find out today by trying to nudge a rock aside today with its robotic arm to see what might be underneath. Engineers have developed a plan to try moving a rock on the north side of the lander. This rock, roughly the size and shape of a VHS videotape, is called "Headless." Even though the Phoenix mission has been extended for a second time – the mission is now on through December, the team feels like it's time to pull out all the stops and do as much work as possible. "We're getting towards fall in the northern plains of Mars and our sun is dropping lower day by day," said mission principal investigator Peter Smith on NPR's Science Friday. "Our days are getting precious." So, even though Phoenix's robotic arm was not designed to move rocks, the team wants to give it a shot. "The appeal of studying what's underneath is so strong we have to give this a try," said Michael Mellon, a Phoenix science team member at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

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Deep Inside a Giant: Part 2 - Centaurus A by Mike Sidonio

Tammy Plotner — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:32:23 +0000

Centaurus A Dustlane - Mike Sidonio

Our first glimpse into the intricacies of Centaurus A was the big picture. We soon found out that not only was the first photograph a deep study, but the study of NGC 5128 was going to go deeper as well. One of the most obvious of all features is the central dust lane which positively crackles to the eye photographically. Let's be mindful of the radiation and get just a little closer….

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Planetary Scientists Studying Changes in Red Spot Junior

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:54:09 +0000

As far as storms go, nothing will rival Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS). But of interest is a smaller and newer storm called Oval BA, a giant anticyclone on Jupiter also known as Red Spot Junior. 'Smaller' is a relative term, as although Oval BA is about half the size of GRS, it has a diameter about the size of our Earth. It formed in 2000 as several vortices converged. However, recently Oval BA has undergone some changes. Suddenly it turned from white to red in a period of just a few months, and planetary scientists are trying to understand the processes that could cause the changes. While they are able to explain some of Red Spot Junior's attributes, they are puzzled by others.

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Why is Mars' Southern Polar Cap Crooked?

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:39:51 +0000

Like Earth, Mars has frozen polar caps, but unlike Earth, these caps are made of carbon dioxide ice as well as water ice. During the southern hemisphere’s summer, much of the ice cap sublimates, or evaporates directly to a gas, but leaves behind what is known as the residual polar cap. The problem is that while the winter cap is symmetrical about the south pole, the residual cap is offset by some three to four degrees. Using data from ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, scientists say two things are to blame: the Martian weather system, and interestingly, so is the largest impact crater on Mars – even though it is nowhere near the south pole.

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Earth's Precious Metals Could Be From Meteorites and Asteroids

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:54:07 +0000

Artist impression of the Asteroid Kleopatra. Credit: NASA

Meteorites and asteroids from the inner solar system could be responsible for Earth's store of precious metals such as platinum and iridium, brought to our nascent planet during the period of Late Heavy Bombardment, about 4,000 million years ago. Dr. Gerhard Schmidt from the University of Mainz, Germany, has calculated that about 160 metallic asteroids of about 20 kilometers in diameter would be sufficient to provide the concentrations of these metals, known as Highly Siderophile Elements (HSE), found in the Earth's crust. "A key issue for understanding the origin of planets is the knowledge of the abundances of HSE in the crust and mantle of the Earth, Mars and the Moon. We have found remarkably uniform abundance distributions of HSE in our samples of the Earth's upper crust. A comparison of these HSE values with meteorites strongly suggests that they have a cosmo-chemical source," said Schmidt.

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Deep Inside a Giant - Centaurus A by Mike Sidonio

Tammy Plotner — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:27:59 +0000

Centaurus A - Ultra-Deep by Mike Sidonio

Before you dismiss this as just another photo of Centaurus A, you better look again. It's way deeper… First discovered by James Dunlop on August 4, 1826 this incredible galaxy known as Centaurus A (NGC 5128) has been tickling the imagination of astronomers since John Herschel described it as "two semi-ovals of elliptically formed nebula appearing to be cut asunder and separated by a broad obscure band parallel to the larger axis of the nebula, in the midst of which a faint streak of light parallel to the sides of the cut appears." in 1847. What makes this incredible galaxy tick? Step inside and let's find out…

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Helium Leak Forces LHC Shutdown for at Least Two Months

Ian O'Neill — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 20:10:53 +0000

A series of problems forces LHC shutdown (CERN/LHC)

It's this sort of news I really did not want to wake up to. At 0927 GMT Friday morning, a fault known as a "quench" resulted in the leakage of a tonne of helium coolant causing 100 of the LHC superconducting magnets to heat up 100°C. The fire services had to be called and it was some time before engineers could access the tunnels to assess the damage. It was worse than they were expecting. Although no one was hurt and there was no danger to the public, the once-supercooled magnets were one hundred times warmer than they should be and optimal vacuum conditions had been lost. To perform repairs, the rest of the damaged sector will need to be warmed up and then slowly cooled down again, resulting in a shutdown of LHC operations for at least two months…

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Pentax Eyepieces - Observatory Quality

Tammy Plotner — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 20:08:16 +0000

Back awhile ago I did a review on plossl eyepieces. In that article I was trying to reach for the average individual looking for a high quality eyepiece on a limited budget. This time I asked for an example of observatory quality eyepieces that I know some of our readers own and enjoy. Is there a difference between how a very expensive eyepiece behaves in average equipment as opposed to an average eyepiece? Is there a difference in how it behaves in observatory class equipment? Step inside and let's take a look…

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Gamma Ray Burst From the Edge of the Universe

Nancy Atkinson — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:19:21 +0000

NASA's Swift satellite captured the most distant gamma-ray burst ever detected. The blast came from an exploding star 12.8 billion light-years away, near the edge of the visible universe. Swift saw the explosion on September 13 at 1:47 am EDT. But because light moves at finite speed, and looking farther into the universe means looking back in time, this means the burst occurred less than 825 million years after the universe began, or when the universe was less than one-seventh its present age. This star was probably from the earliest generations of stars ever formed. "This is the most amazing burst Swift has seen," said the mission's lead scientist Neil Gehrels at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

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The Cepheids Aren't Falling

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:02:43 +0000

Cepheid variable stars have been used for years as a way to determine distance to other galaxies. The correlation between their period of variability and absolute luminosity provides a cosmic yardstick to measure distances out to a few tens of millions of light-years. Additionally, Cepheids closer to home are used as tools to investigate how the Milky Way spins. But the motion of the Cepheids in our galaxy has confused astronomers, as these neighborhood Cepheids appear to fall towards the sun. A debate has raged for decades as to whether this phenomenon was truly related to the actual motion of the Cepheids and, consequently, to a complicated rotating pattern of our galaxy, or if it was the result of effects within the atmospheres of the Cepheids. But new observations with the HARPS (High Accuracy Radio Velocity Planet Searcher) spectograph shows that the Cepheids aren't falling, and that the much debated, apparent 'fall' does in fact stem from properties of the atmospheres around these variable stars.

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Two Shuttles on the Pad — The Last Time

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:30:01 +0000

It’s a rare event anyway, but this is the last time ever. Two shuttles are now sitting on NASA's two launchpads at Kennedy Space Center. Space shuttle Endeavour completed a 4.2-mile journey to Launch Pad 39B Friday morning, Sept. 19, at 6:59 a.m. EDT, and this is the first time a shuttle has stood by as a rescue vehicle. Atlantis, over at Pad 39A is preparing for its mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, currently scheduled for Oct. 10 (although there might be an problem with that date –see below). Since Atlantis won't be going to the International Space Station which would be a "safe haven" in the event of an emergency, Endeavour will stand by in the unlikely event a rescue mission is necessary. After Endeavour is cleared from its duty as a rescue vehicle, it will move to Launch Pad 39A for the upcoming STS-126 mission to the International Space Station. That flight is targeted for launch Nov. 12. This Saturday, there will be a good photo op as the Rotating Service Structures for Endeavour will be rolled back, making both the shuttles more visible. Robert Pearlman at CollectSPACE.com has a full list of the 17 times in history two shuttles sat on the launchpads, and some great pictures, too.

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Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast - September 19-21, 2008

Tammy Plotner — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 12:48:53 +0000

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you psyched up for tonight's Pleiades occultation? I am! While the Moon often passes near the ancient cluster, it's not often we get to enjoy such a great event so well placed at a comfortable time of the year. This weekend we'll be watching for ISS passes, reaching for the "Ring", visiting Andromeda, and taking on two new Herschel 400 studies. Time to get out your telescopes, spotting scopes and binoculars and head out into the night because…. Here's what's up!

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