Wednesday, January 15, 2014

New Findings from NuSTAR: A New X-Ray View of the “Hand of God” and More

New Findings from NuSTAR: A New X-Ray View of the “Hand of God” and More:
The "Hand ( or Fist?) of God" nebula enshrouding pulsar PSR B1509-58. The upper red cloud structure is RCW 89. The image is a composite of Chandra observations (red & green), while NuSTAR observations are denoted in blue.
New Findings from NuSTAR: A New X-Ray View of the “Hand of God” and More
The “Hand ( or Fist?) of God” nebula enshrouding pulsar PSR B1509-58. The upper red cloud structure is RCW 89. The image is a composite of Chandra observations (red & green), while NuSTAR observations are denoted in blue. (Credit-NASA/JPL-Caltech/McGill).
One star player in this week’s findings out of the 223rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society has been the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array Mission, also known as NuSTAR. On Thursday, researchers revealed some exciting new results and images from the mission, as well as what we can expect from NuSTAR down the road.(...)
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© David Dickinson for Universe Today, 2014. |
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What a Star About to Go Supernova Looks Like

What a Star About to Go Supernova Looks Like:
SBW2007 is a nebula with a giant star at its center. All indications are that it could explode as a supernova at any time. Credit: ESA/NASA, acknowledgement: Nick Rose.
What a Star About to Go Supernova Looks Like
SBW2007 is a nebula with a giant star at its center. All indications are that it could explode as a supernova at any time. Credit: ESA/NASA, acknowledgement: Nick Rose.
No, this isn’t a distant view of the London Eye. This nebula with a giant star at its center is known as SBW2007. Astronomers say it has striking similarities to a star that went supernova back in 1987, SN 1987A. Both stars had identical rings of the same size and age, which were travelling at similar speeds; both were located in similar HII regions; and they had the same brightness. We didn’t have the telescopic firepower back before 1987 like we do now, so we don’t have a closeup view of how SN 1987A looked before it exploded, but astonomers think SBW2007 is a snapshot of SN1987a’s appearance, pre-supernova.

(...)
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One Percent Measure of the Universe

One Percent Measure of the Universe:
An artist's concept of the latest, highly accurate measurement of the Universe from BOSS. The spheres show the current size of the
One Percent Measure of the Universe
An artist’s concept of the latest, highly accurate measurement of the Universe from BOSS. The spheres show the current size of the “baryon acoustic oscillations” (BAOs) from the early universe, which have helped to set the distribution of galaxies that we see in the universe today. Galaxies have a slight tendency to align along the edges of the spheres — the alignment has been greatly exaggerated in this illustration. BAOs can be used as a “standard ruler” (white line) to measure the distances to all the galaxies in the universe. Credit: Zosia Rostomian, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
When it comes to accuracy, everyone strives for a hundred percent, but measuring cosmic distances leaves a bit more to chance. Just days ago, researchers from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) announced to the world that they have been able to measure the distance to galaxies located more than six billion light-years away to a confidence level of just one percent. If this announcement doesn’t seem exciting, then think on what it means to other studies. These new measurements give a parameter to the properties of the ubiquitous “dark energy” – the source of universal expansion.(...)
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A Distant View of Janus, One of Saturn’s ‘Dancing Moons’

A Distant View of Janus, One of Saturn’s ‘Dancing Moons’:
Cassini narrow-angle camera image of Janus from Sept. 10, 2013 (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI)
A Distant View of Janus, One of Saturn’s ‘Dancing Moons’
Cassini narrow-angle camera image of Janus from Sept. 10, 2013 (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI)
One of 62 moons discovered thus far orbiting giant Saturn, Janus is a 111-mile (179-km) -wide pockmarked potato composed of rock and ice rubble. The image above shows Janus as seen with Cassini’s narrow-angle camera on September 10, 2013, from a distance of 621,000 miles (1 million km), floating against the blackness of space.
Despite its apparent isolation in the image above, though, Janus isn’t alone. It shares its orbit around Saturn with its slightly smaller sister moon Epimetheus, and they regularly catch up to each other — and even switch places.
(...)
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Astrophotos: Venus at Inferior Conjunction

Astrophotos: Venus at Inferior Conjunction:
Venus, 0.4% illuminated and 5.1 degrees from the Sun, as seen about 12:30 pm local noon time from Sri Damansara, Malaysia (0430 UTC) on January 11, 2014, about about 8 hours before inferior conjunction. Credit and copyright: Shahrin Ahmad.
Astrophotos: Venus at Inferior Conjunction
Venus, 0.4% illuminated and 5.1 degrees from the Sun, as seen about 12:30 pm local noon time from Sri Damansara, Malaysia (0430 UTC) on January 11, 2014, about about 8 hours before inferior conjunction. Credit and copyright: Shahrin Ahmad.
Venus has now gone from being that bright “star” you’ve been seeing around sunset to later this month being the bright object you’ll see in the early morning pre-dawn hours. On January 11, Venus passed between Earth and the Sun in what is known as inferior conjunction. We challenged our readers to try and capture it, and Shahrin Ahmad in Malaysia nabbed the tiny crescent Venus about 8 hours before inferior conjunction, in what he said was a personal record!
Around 12.30 p.m. local noon time, there was a brief of good seeing, and probably the best one so far,” Shahrin said via email. “Suits nicely as a parting shot. After that the sky seeing began to deteriorate really fast!”
Venus was about 0.4% illuminated and 5.1 deg from the Sun.
“Even without stretching the original photo, we can easily see how the crescent has reach beyond 180 degrees around Venus,” he said. “This is the closest Venus I’ve ever imaged.”
But take a look at this: here’s a great series of images from Paul Stewart:
Venus inferior conjunction timeline from January 7 to 13th, missing January 12 due to clouds. Credit and copyright: Paul Stewart.
Venus inferior conjunction timeline from January 7 to 13th, missing January 12 due to clouds. Credit and copyright: Paul Stewart.
Wow! That’s exceptional work!
Thanks to both Shah and Paul for sharing their photos!
Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.
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See the Smallest Full Moon of 2014: It’s the “Return of the Mini-Moon”

See the Smallest Full Moon of 2014: It’s the “Return of the Mini-Moon”:
Last month's rising
See the Smallest Full Moon of 2014: It’s the “Return of the Mini-Moon”
Last month’s rising “Mini-Moon” of 2013. (Photo by Author)
 Last month, (and last year) we wrote about the visually smallest Full Moon of 2013. Now, in a followup  act, our natural satellite gives  us an even more dramatic lesson in celestial mechanics with an encore performance just one lunation later with the smallest Full Moon of 2014.(...)
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A Possible Meteor Shower from Comet ISON?

A Possible Meteor Shower from Comet ISON?:
A Possible Meteor Shower from Comet ISON?
A Possible Meteor Shower from Comet ISON?
The position of the radiant for any possible “ISON-ids” in Leo. Note the nearby Full Moon the night of January 15th. Credit-Stellarium
Hey, remember Comet C/2012 S1 ISON? Who can forget the roller-coaster ride that the touted “Comet of the Century” took us on last year. Well, ISON could have one more trick up its cosmic sleeve –although it’s a big maybe — in the form of a meteor shower or (more likely) a brief uptick in meteor activity this week.(...)
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Astrophoto: Space Station on the Moon

Astrophoto: Space Station on the Moon:
The International Space Station captured as it passed in front of the Moon on Dec. 6, 2013, as seen from Puerto Rico. Credit and copyright: Juan Gonzalez-Alicea.
Astrophoto: Space Station on the Moon
The International Space Station captured as it passed in front of the Moon on Dec. 6, 2013, as seen from Puerto Rico. Credit and copyright: Juan Gonzalez-Alicea.
We can dream, right? … because we’d all love to have a space station on the Moon. But this is as close as we’re going to get for the foreseeable future, anyway. Juan Gonzalez-Alicea of Sociedad de Astronomia del Caribe in Puerto Rico captured this great image of the International Space Station crossing in front of the crescent Moon on Dec. 6, 2013. He used a Canon 7D with a 300 mm lens, and actually got a fair amount of detail. A shot like this is tricky, as from our vantage point on Earth, it takes just a half second for the International Space Station to fly across the face of the Moon, so timing is everything!

(...)
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Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Venus Slip-Slides Away – Catch it While You Can!

Venus Slip-Slides Away – Catch it While You Can!:
Venus reflected in the Pacific Ocean late this fall seen from the island of Maui, Hawaii. The planet is now quickly dropping toward the sun. Credit: Bob King
Venus Slip-Slides Away – Catch it While You Can!
Venus reflected in the Pacific Ocean late this fall from the island of Maui in Hawaii. The planet is now quickly dropping toward the sun. Credit: Bob King
I put down down the snow shovel to give my back a rest yesterday evening and couldn’t believe what I saw. Or didn’t see. Where was Venus? (...)
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Videopalooza Shows Off Phobos Flyby As Moon’s Mysterious Origins Probed

Videopalooza Shows Off Phobos Flyby As Moon’s Mysterious Origins Probed:

There won’t be any pictures out of this close encounter, but the animations sure were spectacular. The European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft skimmed just 45 kilometers (28 miles) above the surface of the moon Phobos yesterday, and through these various videos you can see what the orbital trajectory would have looked like during that time.
(...)
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Jan. 16 May Be Last Best Chance to Search for Comet ISON’s Remains

Jan. 16 May Be Last Best Chance to Search for Comet ISON’s Remains:
Comet ISON revolves around the sun in steeply inclined orbit. Earth will pass through the plane of that orbit on Jan. 16. As we look
Jan. 16 May Be Last Best Chance to Search for Comet ISON’s Remains
Comet ISON revolves around the sun in steeply inclined orbit. Earth will pass through the plane of that orbit on Jan. 16. As we look “up” toward the comet, ISON’s dust stacks up along our line of sight and could appear temporarily brighter. Credit: solarsystemscope.com with annotations and additions by Bob King
Is there any hope of detecting what’s left of Comet ISON after the sun proved too much for its delicate constitution? German amateur astronomer Uwe Pilz suggest there remains a possibility that a photographic search might turn up a vestige of the comet when Earth crosses its orbital plane on January 16, 2014. (...)
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See the Youngest Moon of Your Life Tonight

See the Youngest Moon of Your Life Tonight:
A 24-hour-old moon photographed from Duluth, Minn. U.S. on in May 2010. Credit: Bob King
See the Youngest Moon of Your Life Tonight
A 24-hour-old moon photographed from Duluth, Minn. U.S. on in May 2010. Credit: Bob King
The new year starts out with a bang, offering the chance to spy an exceptionally thin crescent moon shortly after sunset. Here’s how to find it. (...)
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Astrophoto: Crecent Venus in the Afternoon

Astrophoto: Crecent Venus in the Afternoon:
Venus visible in the daytime skies over Kuala Lumpur on January 2, 2014. Credit and copyright: Shahrin Ahmad.
Astrophoto: Crecent Venus in the Afternoon
Venus visible in the daytime skies over Kuala Lumpur on January 2, 2014. Credit and copyright: Shahrin Ahmad.
In December, we challenged our readers to try and see Venus during the daytime. Sharin Ahmad from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia started off the new year by nailing this awesome picture of a crescent Venus at just after noon local time today (January 2, 2014). “The usual cloudy Kuala Lumpur sky is teasing me again, giving me crystal blue sky today!” Shahrin said via email.
Based on SkySafari, Venus was about 3.2% illuminated, and about 15 degrees from Sun.
Equipment: Skywatcher 120ED (F=1800mm), and IMG132E video camera.
Here are other recent images of Venus submitted to our Flickr page by our readers:
(...)
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Comets Prospects for 2014: A Look Into the Crystal Ball

Comets Prospects for 2014: A Look Into the Crystal Ball:
Comet C/2013 R1 Lovejoy starts the new year as the brightest comet in the sky at around magnitude 6. In this photo taken on Dec. 31, two tails are visible. The longer one is the ion or gas tail; the broader fan is the dust tail. Credit: Damian Peach
Comets Prospects for 2014: A Look Into the Crystal Ball
Comet C/2013 R1 Lovejoy starts the new year as the brightest comet in the sky at around magnitude 6. In this photo taken on Dec. 31, two tails are visible. The longer one is the ion or gas tail; the broader pale yellow fan is the dust tail. Credit: Damian Peach
As 2014 opens, most of the half dozen comets traversing the morning and evening sky are faint and require detailed charts and a good-sized telescope to see and appreciate. Except for Comet Lovejoy. This gift to beginner and amateur astronomers alike keeps on giving. But wait, there’s more. Three additional binocular-bright comets will keep us busy starting this spring.(...)
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© Bob King for Universe Today, 2014. |
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Three-Meter Asteroid Hits Earth’s Atmosphere

Three-Meter Asteroid Hits Earth’s Atmosphere:
Projected path of 2014 AA south of the Cape Verde islands. (Credit: Asteroid Initiatives, LLC)
Three-Meter Asteroid Hits Earth’s Atmosphere
One projected path of 2014 AA south and west of the Cape Verde islands. (Credit: Asteroid Initiatives, LLC)
This was very likely the last trip around the Sun for the Earth-crossing asteroid 2014 AA, according to calculations by several teams of astronomers and published online earlier today on the IAU’s Minor Planet Center. Discovered just yesterday by the Catalina Sky Survey, the estimated 3-meter-wide Apollo asteroid was supposed to clear Earth today with the razor-thin margin of about 611 km (380 miles)… but it’s now looking like it didn’t quite make it.

(...)
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Gorgeous Astrophoto: Twin Crescents of the Moon and Venus at Sunset

Gorgeous Astrophoto: Twin Crescents of the Moon and Venus at Sunset:
The Moon and Venus, both in crescent phase, as seen from Sulmona, Abruzzo, Italy on January 2, 2014. Credit and copyright: Giuseppe Petricca.
Gorgeous Astrophoto: Twin Crescents of the Moon and Venus at Sunset
The Moon and Venus, both in crescent phase, as seen from Sulmona, Abruzzo, Italy on January 2, 2014. Credit and copyright: Giuseppe Petricca.
2014 starts out with sunset view of a new Moon and a fading look at Venus, both captured together in this gorgeous image from astrophotographer Giuseppe Petricca.
“A wonderful sunset conjunction this evening from Central Italy,” Giuseppe wrote via email. “The Moon and Venus were both crescent, in an awesome sight! Some clouds entered the scene, and helped me filter the bright light of the ‘evening star’, revealing the little arch of the planet, from our point of view.” He added that this is “the youngest Moon I’ve ever captured, about 2% lit.”
Below is an image with an inset of Venus enlarged for a better view:
(...)
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This Town Celebrates Every New Year with a Falling Meteor

This Town Celebrates Every New Year with a Falling Meteor:

Video from YouTube User Pam Bergmann
The popular jazz tune “Stars Fell on Alabama” was inspired in part by the Leonid meteor shower in November of 1833, sometimes referred to as “the night the stars fell.” But the central region of Alabama region has a history of meteor impacts, including a massive impact over 84 million years ago. The town of Wetumpka, Alabama sits in the middle of an ancient 8-kilometer-wide impact crater that was blasted into the bedrock, creating the unique geology of what is now Elmore County.
To celebrate this “striking” heritage, Wetumpka celebrates every New Year’s Eve with a spectacular recreation of a falling, exploding meteor.

(...)
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Spirit Retrospective: Top Shots on 10th Year Since Mars Touchdown

Spirit Retrospective: Top Shots on 10th Year Since Mars Touchdown:
A Moment Frozen in Time On May 19th, 2005, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this stunning view as the Sun sank below the rim of Gusev crater on Mars. This Panoramic Camera (Pancam) mosaic was taken around 6:07 in the evening of Sol 489. The terrain in the foreground is the rock outcrop
Spirit Retrospective: Top Shots on 10th Year Since Mars Touchdown
A Moment Frozen in Time

On May 19th, 2005, NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured this stunning view as the Sun sank below the rim of Gusev crater on Mars. This Panoramic Camera (Pancam) mosaic was taken around 6:07 in the evening of Sol 489. The terrain in the foreground is the rock outcrop “Jibsheet,” a feature that Spirit has been investigating for several weeks (rover tracks are dimly visible leading up to “Jibsheet”). The floor of Gusev crater is visible in the distance, and the Sun is setting behind the wall of Gusev some 80 km (50 miles) in the distance. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Texas A&M/Cornell
Today it’s hard to imagine a Mars without Spirit.
But a decade ago, NASA’s six wheeled Spirit rover was but a promise of great things to come. And her rich Martian scientific heritage we know today was but a dream yet to ensue
Jan. 3 marks the 10th anniversary since her touchdown on Mars on Jan. 3, 2004. Her twin sister Opportunity soft landed 3 weeks later on Jan. 24, 2004.
So here’s a collection of some of Spirit’s greatest hits on the Red Planet for all to enjoy and remember her fabulous exploits.
Read my detailed new overview marking ‘Spirits 10 Years on Mars’ – here – with even more spectacular Red Planet imagery! (...)
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Virtual Star Party – January 5, 2014

Virtual Star Party – January 5, 2014:

(...)
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Will The Sun Explode?

Will The Sun Explode?:

All stars die, some more violently than others.
Once our own Sun has consumed all the hydrogen fuel in its core, it too will reach the end of its life. Astronomers estimate this to be a short 7 billion years from now. For a few million years, it will expand into a red giant, puffing away its outer layers. Then it’ll collapse down into a white dwarf and slowly cool down to the background temperature of the Universe.

(...)
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Internet Search Yields No Evidence of Time Travelers

Internet Search Yields No Evidence of Time Travelers:
Comet ISON was used in a search for time travelers. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope provides a close-up look of Comet ISON (C/2012 S1), as photographed on April 10. Credit: NASA, ESA, J.-Y. Li (Planetary Science Institute), and the Hubble Comet ISON Imaging Science Team.
Internet Search Yields No Evidence of Time Travelers
Comet ISON was used in a search for time travelers. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope provides a close-up look of Comet ISON (C/2012 S1), as photographed on April 10. Credit: NASA, ESA, J.-Y. Li (Planetary Science Institute), and the Hubble Comet ISON Imaging Science Team.
You can find anything on the internet, right? A new study reveals, however, that you can’t find evidence of time travelers on the internet. Credible time travelers, that is.
The study was conducted by astrophysicist Robert Nemiroff who is part of the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) team, along with some of his students from Michigan Technological University.

(...)
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Kepler Finds an Earth-Sized “Gas Giant”

Kepler Finds an Earth-Sized “Gas Giant”:
Artist's impression of KOI-314c
Kepler Finds an Earth-Sized “Gas Giant”
Artist’s impression of KOI-314c, a gas-covered planet with the same mass as Earth. Credit: C. Pulliam & D. Aguilar (CfA)
Gas planets aren’t always bloated, monstrous worlds the size of Jupiter or Saturn —  or larger — they can also apparently be just barely bigger than Earth. This was the discovery announced earlier today during the 223rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, DC, when findings regarding the gassy (but surprisingly small) exoplanet KOI-314c were presented.
“This planet might have the same mass as Earth, but it is certainly not Earth-like,” said David Kipping of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), lead author of the discovery. “It proves that there is no clear dividing line between rocky worlds like Earth and fluffier planets like water worlds or gas giants.”
(...)
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Monday, January 6, 2014

Picasa Happy New Year HD Wallpaper Auto Awesome


From Google Images & Google Pictures

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014 - HD THEME
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Picasa Siberian Husky HD Wallpaper

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Siberian Husky - Dog Breed
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The Siberian Husky is a medium to large, dense-coat working dog breed that originated in north-eastern Siberia. The breed belongs to the Spitz genetic family. Wikipedia
Hypoallergenic: No
Lifespan: 12 – 15 y
Higher classification: Dog
Temperament: Outgoing, Alert, Gentle, Friendly, Intelligent
Height: 53 – 60 cm (Male, Adult), 51 – 56 cm (Adult, Female)
Mass: 16 – 23 kg (Female, Adult), 20 – 27 kg (Male, Adult)


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Picasa Horse Wallpaper HD

From Google Images & Google Pictures


Google Images & Google Pictures
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