Showing posts with label Astrophoto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Astrophoto. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Catastrophic Impacts Made Life on Earth Possible

Catastrophic Impacts Made Life on Earth Possible:

Further studies show that meteorite impacts may have created the right environments for life to develop
Meteorite impacts can be destructive, but they may have created the right environments for life to develop
How did life on Earth originally develop from random organic compounds into living, evolving cells? It may have relied on impacts by enormous meteorites and comets — the same sort of catastrophic events that helped bring an end to the dinosaurs’ reign 65 million years ago. In fact, ancient impact craters might be precisely where life was able to develop on an otherwise hostile primordial Earth.
This is the hypothesis proposed by Sankar Chaterjee, Horn Professor of Geosciences and the curator of paleontology at the Museum of Texas Tech University.
“This is bigger than finding any dinosaur. This is what we’ve all searched for – the Holy Grail of science,” Chatterjee said.
(...)
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Sunday, October 27, 2013

What If Earth Was Threatened by An Asteroid Strike? Astronaut Panel Brings Up Ideas To Search, Deflect These Threats

What If Earth Was Threatened by An Asteroid Strike? Astronaut Panel Brings Up Ideas To Search, Deflect These Threats:
Computer generated simulation of an asteroid strike on the Earth. Credit: Don Davis/AFP/Getty Images
What If Earth Was Threatened by An Asteroid Strike? Astronaut Panel Brings Up Ideas To Search, Deflect These Threats
Computer generated simulation of an asteroid strike on the Earth. Credit: Don Davis/AFP/Getty Images
“If we get hit 20 years from now, that’s not bad luck. That’s stupidity.”
That’s what former NASA astronaut Ed Lu has to say about asteroids and our efforts to search for them. He delivered those comments at a panel discussion today at New York’s American Museum of Natural History. He and several other astronauts spoke on behalf of the Association of Space Explorers (which, as the name implies, consists of astronauts, cosmonauts and the like.)
We guess that as astute readers of our publication, you know that a planetary threat from asteroids (and comets) exists. And there’s certainly more we can do; when that 17-meter asteroid blasted Russia earlier this year, Lu said most space agencies learned about it from social media!
So what’s being done about these threats? Here’s a roundup of the panel discussion’s information and some related information.

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ALMA Warms Up the View of the Coldest Place In the Universe

ALMA Warms Up the View of the Coldest Place In the Universe:
boomerang
Where is the coldest place in the Universe? Right now, astronomers consider the “Boomerang Nebula” to have the honors. Located about 5,000 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus, this pre-planetary nebula carries a temperature of about one degree Kelvin – or a brisk, minus 458 degrees Fahrenheit. That makes it even colder than the natural background temperature of space! What makes it more frigid than the elusive afterglow of the Big Bang? Astronomers are employing the powers of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope to tell us more about its chilly properties and unusual shape. (...)
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Jupiter Bound Juno snaps Dazzling Gallery of Planet Earth Portraits

Jupiter Bound Juno snaps Dazzling Gallery of Planet Earth Portraits:
This false color composite shows more than half of Earth’s disk over the coast of Argentina and the South Atlantic Ocean as the Juno probe slingshotted by on Oct. 9, 2013 for a gravity assisted acceleration to Jupiter. The mosaic was assembled from raw images taken by the Junocam imager. Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRI/MSSS/Ken Kremer/Marco Di Lorenzo
Juno Portrait of Earth
This false color composite shows more than half of Earth’s disk over the coast of Argentina and the South Atlantic Ocean as the Juno probe slingshotted by on Oct. 9, 2013 for a gravity assisted acceleration to Jupiter. The mosaic was assembled from raw images taken by the Junocam imager. Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRI/MSSS/Ken Kremer/Marco Di Lorenzo
See below a gallery of Earth from Juno
During a crucial speed boosting slingshot maneuver around Earth on Oct. 9, NASA’s Jupiter-bound Juno probe snapped a dazzling gallery of portraits of our Home Planet over the South American coastline and the Atlantic Ocean. See our mosaics of land, sea and swirling clouds above and below, including several shown in false color.
But an unexpected glitch during the do or die swing-by sent the spacecraft into ‘safe mode’ and delayed the transmission of most of the raw imagery and other science observations while mission controllers worked hastily to analyze the problem and successfully restore Juno to full operation on Oct. 12 – but only temporarily!
Because less than 48 hours later, Juno tripped back into safe mode for a second time. Five days later engineers finally recouped Juno and it’s been smooth sailing ever since, the top scientist told Universe Today.
“Juno is now fully operational and on its way to Jupiter,” Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton told me today. Bolton is from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), San Antonio, Texas. (...)
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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Hubble and NTT Capture Strange Alignment of Planetary Nebulae

Hubble and NTT Capture Strange Alignment of Planetary Nebulae:
Hubble and NTT Capture Strange Alignment of Planetary Nebulae
While taking a look at more than a hundred planetary nebulae in our galaxy’s central bulge, astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ESO’s New Technology Telescope have found something rather incredible. It would appear that butterfly-shaped planetary nebulae – despite their differences – are somehow mysteriously aligned! (...)
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Super-Earth’s Probable Water Atmosphere Revealed In Blue Light

Super-Earth’s Probable Water Atmosphere Revealed In Blue Light:
Artist's conception of GJ 1214 b passing across its host star, as viewed in blue light. Credit: NAOJ
Artist’s conception of GJ 1214 b passing across its host star, as viewed in blue light. Credit: NAOJ
Playing with the filters on a telescope can show us amazing things. In a recent case, Japanese astronomers looked at the star Gilese 1214 in blue light and watched its “super-Earth” planet (Gliese 1214 b, or GJ 1214 b) passing across the surface from the viewpoint of Earth. The result — a probable detection of water in the planet’s atmosphere.
(...)
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How Could We Find Aliens? The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)

How Could We Find Aliens? The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI):

In a previous video, I talked about the Fermi Paradox.
Our Universe is big, and it’s been around for a long time. So why don’t we see any evidence of aliens? If they are out there, why haven’t they contacted us, and how do we contact them? What methods might they use to try and contact us?
Where do we look for signs of alien civilizations?
(...)
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Giveaway: Star Walk: the Stargazing App for the iPad

Giveaway: Star Walk: the Stargazing App for the iPad:
Giveaway: Star Walk: the Stargazing App for the iPadOnce again, we are giving away 10 promo copies of Star Walk by Vito Technology. Whereas we provided 10 free copies for the iPhone, this contest is for 10 free copies for your iPad. What a great teaching tool this app can be: as parents, many of us are looking for interesting and educational activities to do with their kids. What better way to support family learning than by looking at high resolution, beautiful images of the night sky while learning the properties of various celestial objects? Vito Technologies have recently launched Dino Walk and Geo Walk. Look for a promotion in the coming weeks for their other app, Solar Walk.
More information can be found on Vito’s website.
From the developer:
Let’s find out more about our neighbouring planets in the Universe, play around with them determining the speed of circulation, time, choosing a particular planet to become the centre of the Universe, seeing the moons of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Uranus. The 3D model in the Solar Walk app is the scaled reproduction of the real Solar System and the Milky Way galaxy.
Improved high resolution interface and textures of planets make the exploration of the Solar System breathtaking and true to life. Each planet is portrayed in detail including the internal structure.vito
Here is how you enter to win a free copy of Star Walk for the iPad:
In order to be entered into the giveaway drawing, just put your email address into the box at the bottom of this post (where it says “Enter the Giveaway”) before Thursday, September 12, 2013. We’ll send you a confirmation email, so you’ll need to click that to be entered into the drawing.

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This Very Old Cosmic Light Has A Bend To It

This Very Old Cosmic Light Has A Bend To It:
Artist's impression of how huge cosmic structures deflect photons in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration
Artist’s impression of how huge cosmic structures deflect photons in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration
Leftover radiation from the Big Bang — that expansion that kick-started the universe — can be bent by huge cosmic structures, just like other light that we see in the universe. While the finding seems esoteric at first glance, scientists say the discovery could pave the way for finding a similar kind of signal that indicate the presence of gravitational waves in the moments after the universe was born.
(...)
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This Planetary Nebula Comes With a Twist

This Planetary Nebula Comes With a Twist:
This Planetary Nebula Comes With a Twist
Planetary nebulae imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.
From the Cat’s Eye to the Eskimo, planetary nebulae are arguably among the most dazzling objects in the Universe. These misnamed stellar remnants are created when the outer layers of a dying star blows off and expands into space. However, they can look radically different from one another, revealing complicated histories and structures.
But recently, astronomers have argued that some of the most exotic shapes are the result of not one, but two stars at the center. It is the interaction between the progenitor star and a binary companion that shapes the resulting planetary nebula.
(...)
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Keck Spots A Galaxy Fueled With Ancient Gas

Keck Spots A Galaxy Fueled With Ancient Gas:
Image of a galaxy with rendering showing a stream of inflowing gas, as rendered in a supercomputer. Credit: MPIA (G. Stinson / A.V. Maccio)
Image of a galaxy with rendering showing a stream of inflowing gas, as rendered in a supercomputer. Credit: MPIA (G. Stinson / A.V. Maccio)
“Primordial hydrogen” sounds like a great name for a band. It’s also a great thing to find when you’re looking at a galaxy. This ancient gas is a leftover of the Big Bang, and astronomers discovered it in a faraway star-forming galaxy that was created when the universe was young.
(...)
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Double Star Fomalhaut May Actually Be A Triplet!

Double Star Fomalhaut May Actually Be A Triplet!:
This false-color composite image, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, reveals the orbital motion of the planet Fomalhaut b. Credit: NASA, ESA, and P. Kalas (University of California, Berkeley and SETI Institute)
This false-color composite image, taken with the Hubble Space Telescope, reveals the orbital motion of the planet Fomalhaut b. Credit: NASA, ESA, and P. Kalas (University of California, Berkeley and SETI Institute)
Fomalhaut is a really cool place to study. The naked-eye star (the brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus) has a planet, Fomalhaut b, that once appeared dead but rose again in science circles. It is the site of a comet massacre. Now it’s getting even more interesting: Scientists have believed for years that Fomalhaut is a double star, but a new paper proposes that it is actually a triplet.
(...)
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Here’s Your Chance To Help Blend Earth And Mars Rocks

Here’s Your Chance To Help Blend Earth And Mars Rocks:
The official poster of the World Space Week Association 2013 campaign. Credit: World Space Week Association
The official poster of the World Space Week Association 2013 campaign. Credit: World Space Week Association
The organizers of the World Space Week Association are working to create an “Earth Master Sample”, and they want your help. Anyone worldwide can send the association a fist-sized rock from their locale.
Next will come the interplanetary recipe magic: Once the samples arrive, a tiny bit of each rock will be procured and ground into a powder. The powder will be mixed together, with a dash of Mars meteorite added in. Next, a crystal company (Swarovski) will melt down the combination into 100 crystals.
(...)
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LADEE Set to Enter Lunar Orbit on Oct. 3 in Midst of Government Shutdown

LADEE Set to Enter Lunar Orbit on Oct. 3 in Midst of Government Shutdown:
NASA’s LADEE lunar orbiter will firing its main engine on Oct. 6 to enter lunar orbit in the midst of the US government shutdown. Credit: NASA
NASA’s LADEE lunar orbiter will firing its main engine on Oct. 6 to enter lunar orbit in the midst of the US government shutdown. Credit: NASA

NASA’s trailblazing LADEE lunar spacecraft is set to ignite its main engine and enter lunar orbit on Sunday morning, Oct. 3 – if all goes well – following the spectacular Sept. 6 night launch from NASA’s Virginia spaceport.
And in a happenstance no one could have foreseen, the critical engine firing comes smack in the midst of the political chaos reigning in Washington D.C. that has shut down the US government, furloughed 97% of NASA’s employees, and temporarily threatened the upcoming launch of NASA next mission to Mars – the MAVEN orbiter.
However, orbital mechanics waits for no one!
A source indicated that LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) mission operations are continuing.(...)
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Is That Planet Habitable? Look To The Star First, New Study Cautions

Is That Planet Habitable? Look To The Star First, New Study Cautions:
Artist’s impression of the deep blue planet HD 189733b, based on observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/ESA.
Artist’s impression of the deep blue planet HD 189733b, based on observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/ESA.
Finding Earth 2.0, in the words of noted SETI researcher Jill Tarter, is something a lot of exoplanet searchers are hoping for one day. They’re trying not to narrow down their search to Sun-like stars, but also examine stars that are smaller, like red dwarfs.
A new study, however, cautions that the X-ray environment of these dwarfs may give us false positives. They looked at Earth-mass planets in the neighborhood of four stars, such as GJ 667 (which has three planets that could be habitable), and concluded it’s possible for oxygen to reside in these planets even in the absence of life.
(...)
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Higgs Boson Physicists Receive 2013 Nobel Prize

Higgs Boson Physicists Receive 2013 Nobel Prize:
Higgs Boson Physicists Receive 2013 Nobel Prize
That was fast! Just one year after a Higgs Boson-like particle was found at the Large Hadron Collider, the two physicists who first proposed its existence have received the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work. François Englert (of the former Free University of Brussels in Belgium) and Peter W. Higgs (at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom) received the prize officially this morning (Oct. 8.)
(...)
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‘Diamond’ Super-Earth’s Makeup Called Into Question In New Study

‘Diamond’ Super-Earth’s Makeup Called Into Question In New Study:
Illustration of 55 Cancri e, a super-Earth that’s thought to have a thick layer of diamond Credit: Yale News/Haven Giguere
Illustration of 55 Cancri e, a super-Earth that’s thought to have a thick layer of diamond Credit: Yale News/Haven Giguere
A precious planet? Don’t think so fast, a new study says. The so-called “diamond super-Earth“, 55 Cancri e, may actually have a different composition than initially expected.
(...)
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A Tale of a Lost Moon: New Hubble Observations of Neptune’s Moons and Its Rings

A Tale of a Lost Moon: New Hubble Observations of Neptune’s Moons and Its Rings:
A Tale of a Lost Moon: New Hubble Observations of Neptune’s Moons and Its Rings
The innermost moons of Neptune, including the newly recovered Naiad and the as of yet unnamed S/2004 N1. A recent image of Neptune, which is behind an occulting disk in the original images, has been added. (Credit: M. Showalter/SETI Institute).
“That’s no moon…”
-B. Kenobi
But in this case, it is… a lost moon of Neptune not seen since its discovery in the late 1980′s.
A new announcement from the 45th Meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society being held this week in Denver, Colorado revealed the recovery of a moon of Neptune that was only briefly glimpsed during the 1989 flyby of Voyager 2.(...)
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Detecting the Magnetic Fields of Exoplanets May Help Determine Habitability

Detecting the Magnetic Fields of Exoplanets May Help Determine Habitability:
An artist's conception of two magnetic fields interacting in a bow shock. Image credit: NASA
An artist’s conception of a planet’s magnetosphere interacting with a stellar wind. The result is a clear blow shock, seen as the dark blue bubble. Image credit: NASA
Astronomers may soon be able to observe the shockwaves between the magnetic fields of exoplanets and the flow of particles from the stars they orbit.
Magnetic fields are crucial to a planet’s (and as it turns out a moon’s) habitability. They act as protective bubbles, preventing harmful space radiation from stripping away the object’s atmosphere entirely and even reaching the surface.
(...)
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Baby Free-Floating Planet Found Alone, Away From A Star

Baby Free-Floating Planet Found Alone, Away From A Star:
Artist's conception of PSO J318.5-22. Credit: MPIA/V. Ch. Quetz
Artist’s conception of PSO J318.5-22. Credit: MPIA/V. Ch. Quetz
The planetary world keeps getting stranger. Scientists have found free-floating planets — drifting alone, away from stars — before. But the “newborn” PSO J318.5-22 (only 12 million years old) shows properties similar to other young planets around young stars, even though there is no star nearby the planet.
(...)
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