Thursday, September 4, 2014

NASA's Spitzer Telescope Witnesses Asteroid Smashup

NASA's Spitzer Telescope Witnesses Asteroid Smashup:

Building Planets Through Collisions
This artist's concept shows the immediate aftermath of a large asteroid impact around NGC 2547-ID8, a 35-million-year-old sun-like star thought to be forming rocky planets. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
› Full image and caption


August 28, 2014

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has spotted an eruption of dust around a young star, possibly the result of a smashup between large asteroids. This type of collision can eventually lead to the formation of planets.


Scientists had been regularly tracking the star, called NGC 2547-ID8, when it surged with a huge amount of fresh dust between August 2012 and January 2013.


"We think two big asteroids crashed into each other, creating a huge cloud of grains the size of very fine sand, which are now smashing themselves into smithereens and slowly leaking away from the star," said lead author and graduate student Huan Meng of the University of Arizona, Tucson.


While dusty aftermaths of suspected asteroid collisions have been observed by Spitzer before, this is the first time scientists have collected data before and after a planetary system smashup. The viewing offers a glimpse into the violent process of making rocky planets like ours.


Rocky planets begin life as dusty material circling around young stars. The material clumps together to form asteroids that ram into each other. Although the asteroids often are destroyed, some grow over time and transform into proto-planets. After about 100 million years, the objects mature into full-grown, terrestrial planets. Our moon is thought to have formed from a giant impact between proto-Earth and a Mars-size object.


In the new study, Spitzer set its heat-seeking infrared eyes on the dusty star NGC 2547-ID8, which is about 35 million years old and lies 1,200 light-years away in the Vela constellation. Previous observations had already recorded variations in the amount of dust around the star, hinting at possible ongoing asteroid collisions. In hope of witnessing an even larger impact, which is a key step in the birth of a terrestrial planet, the astronomers turned to Spitzer to observe the star regularly. Beginning in May 2012, the telescope began watching the star, sometimes daily.


A dramatic change in the star came during a time when Spitzer had to point away from NGC 2547-ID8 because our sun was in the way. When Spitzer started observing the star again five months later, the team was shocked by the data they received.


"We not only witnessed what appears to be the wreckage of a huge smashup, but have been able to track how it is changing -- the signal is fading as the cloud destroys itself by grinding its grains down so they escape from the star," said Kate Su of the University of Arizona and co-author on the study. "Spitzer is the best telescope for monitoring stars regularly and precisely for small changes in infrared light over months and even years."


A very thick cloud of dusty debris now orbits the star in the zone where rocky planets form. As the scientists observe the star system, the infrared signal from this cloud varies based on what is visible from Earth. For example, when the elongated cloud is facing us, more of its surface area is exposed and the signal is greater. When the head or the tail of the cloud is in view, less infrared light is observed. By studying the infrared oscillations, the team is gathering first-of-its-kind data on the detailed process and outcome of collisions that create rocky planets like Earth.


"We are watching rocky planet formation happen right in front of us," said George Rieke, a University of Arizona co-author of the new study. "This is a unique chance to study this process in near real-time."


The team is continuing to keep an eye on the star with Spitzer. They will see how long the elevated dust levels persist, which will help them calculate how often such events happen around this and other stars. And they might see another smashup while Spitzer looks on.


The results of this study are posted online Thursday in the journal Science.


NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.


For more information about Spitzer, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer



Whitney Clavin

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-354-4673

whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov


Felicia Chou

NASA Headquarters, Washington

202-358-0257

felicia.chou@nasa.gov


2014-291
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 1:14 PM 0 comments

Icy Aquifers on Titan Transform Methane Rainfall

Icy Aquifers on Titan Transform Methane Rainfall:

Titan's Subsurface Reservoirs
Hundreds of lakes and seas are spread across the surface of Saturn's moon Titan -- its northern polar region in particular. Image credit: ESA/ATG medialab
› Full image and caption


September 03, 2014

The NASA and European Space Agency Cassini mission has revealed hundreds of lakes and seas spread across the north polar region of Saturn's moon Titan. These lakes are filled not with water but with hydrocarbons, a form of organic compound that is also found naturally on Earth and includes methane. The vast majority of liquid in Titan's lakes is thought to be replenished by rainfall from clouds in the moon's atmosphere. But how liquids move and cycle through Titan's crust and atmosphere is still relatively unknown.

A recent study led by Olivier Mousis, a Cassini research associate at the University of Franche-Comté, France, examined how Titan's methane rainfall would interact with icy materials within underground reservoirs. They found that the formation of materials called clathrates changes the chemical composition of the rainfall runoff that charges these hydrocarbon "aquifers." This process leads to the formation of reservoirs of propane and ethane that may feed into some rivers and lakes.

"We knew that a significant fraction of the lakes on Titan's surface might possibly be connected with hidden bodies of liquid beneath Titan's crust, but we just didn't know how they would interact," said Mousis. "Now, we have a better idea of what these hidden lakes or oceans could be like."

Mousis and colleagues at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, modeled how a subsurface reservoir of liquid hydrocarbons would diffuse, or spread, through Titan's porous, icy crust. They found that, at the bottom of the original reservoir, which contains methane from rainfall, a second reservoir would slowly form. This secondary reservoir would be composed of clathrates.

Clathrates are compounds in which water forms a crystal structure with small cages that trap other substances like methane and ethane. Clathrates that contain methane are found on Earth in some polar and ocean sediments. On Titan, the surface pressure and temperature should allow clathrates to form when liquid hydrocarbons come into contact with water ice, which is a major component of the moon's crust. These clathrate layers could remain stable as far down as several miles below Titan's surface.

One of the peculiar properties of clathrates is that they trap and split molecules into a mix of liquid and solid phases, in a process called fractionation. Titan's subsurface clathrate reservoirs would interact with and fractionate the liquid methane from the original underground hydrocarbon lake, slowly changing its composition. Eventually the original methane aquifer would be turned into a propane or ethane aquifer.

"Our study shows that the composition of Titan's underground liquid reservoirs can change significantly through their interaction with the icy subsurface, provided the reservoirs are cut off from the atmosphere for some period of time," said Mathieu Choukroun of JPL, one of three co-authors of the study with Mousis.

Importantly, the chemical transformations taking place underground would affect Titan's surface. Lakes and rivers fed by springs from propane or ethane subsurface reservoirs would show the same kind of composition, whereas those fed by rainfall would be different and contain a significant fraction of methane. This means researchers could examine the composition of Titan's surface lakes to learn something about what is happening deep underground, said Mousis.

The results are published in the Sept. 1, 2014, printed issue of the journal Icarus. The research was funded by the French Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and NASA.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The California Institute of Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

More information on Cassini can be found at:

http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

Preston Dyches

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-354-7013

preston.dyches@jpl.nasa.gov


Olivier Mousis

University of Franche-Comté, Besançon, France

+33-381-666-921

olivier@obs-besancon.fr


Nicolas Altobelli

European Space Agency, Madrid, Spain

+34-91-813-1201

nicolas.altobelli@sciops.esa.int


2014-294
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 1:14 PM 0 comments

Small Asteroid to Safely Pass Close to Earth Sunday

Small Asteroid to Safely Pass Close to Earth Sunday:

Asteroid 2014 Earth Flyby
This graphic depicts the passage of asteroid 2014 RC past Earth on September 7, 2014. At time of closest approach, the space rock will be about one-tenth the distance from Earth to the moon. Times indicated on the graphic are Universal Time. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

› Larger image


September 03, 2014

A small asteroid, designated 2014 RC, will safely pass very close to Earth on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014. At the time of closest approach, based on current calculations to be about 2:18 p.m. EDT (11:18 a.m. PDT / 18:18 UTC), the asteroid will be roughly over New Zealand. From its reflected brightness, astronomers estimate that the asteroid is about 60 feet (20 meters) in size.

Asteroid 2014 RC was initially discovered on the night of August 31 by the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona, and independently detected the next night by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope, located on the summit of Haleakal? on Maui, Hawaii. Both reported their observations to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Additional follow-up observations by the Catalina Sky Survey and the University of Hawaii 88-inch (2.2-meter) telescope on Mauna Kea confirmed the orbit of 2014 RC.

At the time of closest approach, 2014 RC will be approximately one-tenth the distance from the center of Earth to the moon, or about 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometers). The asteroid's apparent magnitude at that time will be about 11.5, rendering it unobservable to the unaided eye. However, amateur astronomers with small telescopes might glimpse the fast-moving appearance of this near-Earth asteroid.

The asteroid will pass below Earth and the geosynchronous ring of communications and weather satellites orbiting about 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) above our planet's surface. While this celestial object does not appear to pose any threat to Earth or satellites, its close approach creates a unique opportunity for researchers to observe and learn more about asteroids.

While 2014 RC will not impact Earth, its orbit will bring it back to our planet's neighborhood in the future. The asteroid's future motion will be closely monitored, but no future threatening Earth encounters have been identified.

For a heliocentric view of the orbit of asteroid 2014 RC with respect to Earth and other planets, visit:

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2014+RC&orb=1

DC Agle

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-393-9011

agle@jpl.nasa.gov


Dwayne Brown

NASA Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1726

dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov


2014-295
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 1:13 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

NASA Telescopes Uncover Early Construction of Giant Galaxy

NASA Telescopes Uncover Early Construction of Giant Galaxy:

A Cauldron of Star Birth in the Center of a Young Galaxy
Artist's impression of a firestorm of star birth deep inside core of young, growing elliptical galaxy. Credit: NASA, Space Telescope Science Institute

› Full image and caption


August 27, 2014

Astronomers have for the first time caught a glimpse of the earliest stages of massive galaxy construction. The building site, dubbed "Sparky," is a dense galactic core blazing with the light of millions of newborn stars that are forming at a ferocious rate.

The discovery was made possible through combined observations from NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, the W.M. Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and the European Space Agency's Herschel space observatory, in which NASA plays an important role.

A fully developed elliptical galaxy is a gas-deficient gathering of ancient stars theorized to develop from the inside out, with a compact core marking its beginnings. Because the galactic core is so far away, the light of the forming galaxy that is observable from Earth was actually created 11 billion years ago, just 3 billion years after the Big Bang.

Although only a fraction of the size of the Milky Way, the tiny powerhouse galactic core already contains about twice as many stars as our own galaxy, all crammed into a region only 6,000 light-years across. The Milky Way is about 100,000 light-years across.

"We really hadn't seen a formation process that could create things that are this dense," explained Erica Nelson of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, lead author of the study. "We suspect that this core-formation process is a phenomenon unique to the early universe because the early universe, as a whole, was more compact. Today, the universe is so diffuse that it cannot create such objects anymore."

In addition to determining the galaxy's size from the Hubble images, the team dug into archival far-infrared images from Spitzer and Herschel. This allowed them to see how fast the galaxy core is creating stars. Sparky produced roughly 300 stars per year, compared to the 10 stars per year produced by our Milky Way.

"They're very extreme environments," Nelson said. "It's like a medieval cauldron forging stars. There's a lot of turbulence, and it's bubbling. If you were in there, the night sky would be bright with young stars, and there would be a lot of dust, gas, and remnants of exploding stars. To actually see this happening is fascinating."

Astronomers theorize that this frenzied star birth was sparked by a torrent of gas flowing into the galaxy's core while it formed deep inside a gravitational well of dark matter, invisible cosmic material that acts as the scaffolding of the universe for galaxy construction.

Observations indicate that the galaxy had been furiously making stars for more than a billion years. It is likely that this frenzy eventually will slow to a stop, and that over the next 10 billion years other smaller galaxies may merge with Sparky, causing it to expand and become a mammoth, sedate elliptical galaxy.

"I think our discovery settles the question of whether this mode of building galaxies actually happened or not," said team member Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University. "The question now is, how often did this occur? We suspect there are other galaxies like this that are even fainter in near-infrared wavelengths. We think they'll be brighter at longer wavelengths, and so it will really be up to future infrared telescopes such as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to find more of these objects."

The paper appears in the Aug. 27 issue of the journal Nature.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Spacecraft operations are based at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Littleton, Colorado. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about Spitzer, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer

For images and more information about Hubble, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

Whitney Clavin

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-354-4673

whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov


Felicia Chou

NASA Headquarters, Washington

202-358-0257

felicia.chou@nasa.gov


Donna Weaver / Ray Villard

Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.

410-338-4493 / 410-338-4514

villard@stsci.edu


2014-290
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 1:38 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

India’s Maiden Mars Mission One Month out from Red Planet Arrival

India’s Maiden Mars Mission One Month out from Red Planet Arrival:



ISRO's Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft is just 9 million km away from Mars as of Aug. 22, 2014. Credit: ISRO

ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft is just 9 million km away from Mars as of Aug. 22, 2014. Credit: ISRO
India’s maiden foray to Mars is now just one month out from the Red Planet and closing in fast on the final stages of the history making rendezvous culminating on September 24, 2014.

As of Aug. 22, 2014, the Mars Orbiter Mission, or MOM, was just 9 million kilometers away from Mars and the crucial Mars Orbital Insertion (MOI) engine firing that places India’s first interplanetary voyager into orbit around the 4th planet from the Sun.

MOM was designed and developed by the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) at a cost of $69 Million and marks India’s maiden foray into interplanetary flight.

So far it has traveled a total distance of 602 million km in its heliocentric arc towards Mars, says ISRO. It is currently 189 million km away from Earth. Round trip radio signals communicating with MOM take 20 minutes and 47 seconds.

After streaking through space for some ten and a half months, the 1,350 kilogram (2,980 pound) MOM probe will fire its 440 Newton liquid fueled main engine to brake into orbit around the Red Planet on September 24, 2014 – where she will study the atmosphere and sniff for signals of methane.

The do or die MOI burn on September 24, 2014 places MOM into an 377 km x 80,000 km elliptical orbit around Mars.

ISRO space engineers are taking care to precisely navigate MOM to keep it on course during its long heliocentric trajectory from Earth to Mars through a series of in flight Trajectory Correction Maneuvers (TMSs).

The last TCM was successfully performed on June 11 by firing the spacecraft’s 22 Newton thrusters for a duration of 16 seconds. TCM-1 was conducted on December 11, 2013 by firing the 22 Newton Thrusters for 40.5 seconds.

Engineers determined that a TCM planned for August was not needed.

The final TCM firing is planned in September 2014.

MOM’s trajectory to Mars. Credit: ISRO

MOM’s trajectory to Mars. Credit: ISRO
The probe is being continuously monitored by the Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) and NASA JPL’s Deep Space Network (DSN) to maintain it on course.

MOM was launched on Nov. 5, 2013 from India’s spaceport at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, atop the nations indigenous four stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) which placed the probe into its initial Earth parking orbit.

Six subsequent orbit raising maneuvers raised it orbit and culminated with a liquid fueled main engine firing on Dec. 1, 2013. The Trans Mars Injection(TMI) maneuver that successfully placed MOM on its heliocentric trajectory to the Red Planet.

First ever image of Earth Taken by Mars Color Camera aboard India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft while orbiting Earth and before the Trans Mars Insertion firing on Dec. 1, 2013. Image is focused on the Indian subcontinent. Credit: ISRO

First ever image of Earth Taken by Mars Color Camera aboard India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft while orbiting Earth and before the Trans Mars Insertion firing on Dec. 1, 2013. Image is focused on the Indian subcontinent. Credit: ISRO


MOM is streaking to Mars along with NASA’s MAVEN orbiter, which arrives at Mars about two days earlier.


MOM and MAVEN will join Earth’s fleet of 3 current orbiters from NASA and ESA as well as NASA’s pair of sister surface rovers Curiosity and Opportunity.

If all goes well, India will join an elite club of only four who have launched probes that successfully investigated the Red Planet from orbit or the surface – following the Soviet Union, the United States and the European Space Agency (ESA).

MOM’s main objective is a demonstration of technological capabilities and it will also study the planet’s atmosphere and surface.

The probe is equipped with five indigenous instruments to conduct meaningful science – including a multi color imager and a methane gas sniffer to study the Red Planet’s atmosphere, morphology, mineralogy and surface features. Methane on Earth originates from both geological and biological sources – and could be a potential marker for the existence of Martian microbes.

Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing MOM, MAVEN, Opportunity, Curiosity, Mars rover and more planetary and human spaceflight news.

Ken Kremer

MOM's first Trajectory Correction Manoeuver in Baiju Raj's imagination.

MOM’s first Trajectory Correction Manoeuver in Baiju Raj’s imagination.

Tagged as:
India Mars mission,
ISRO,
Mars,
Mars MAVEN,
Mars Orbiter Mission,
methane on Mars,
MOM,
PSLV,
red planet,
Search for Life
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 8:51 AM 0 comments

ESO’s Latest Dramatic Landscape

ESO’s Latest Dramatic Landscape:



This mosaic of images from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile shows two dramatic star formation regions in the southern Milky Way. The first of these, on the left, is dominated by the star cluster NGC 3603, located about 20 000 light-years away, in the Carina–Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. The second object, on the right, is a collection of glowing gas clouds known as NGC 3576 that lies only about half as far from Earth. Credit: ESO / G. Beccari

This mosaic of images from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile shows two dramatic star formation regions in the southern Milky Way. Credit: ESO / G. Beccari
The universe is stunning. Images from even the most modest telescopes can unveil its brilliant beauty. But couple that with a profound reason — our ability to question and understand the physical laws that dominate that brilliant beauty — and the image transforms into something much more spectacular.

Take ESO’s latest image of two dramatic star formation regions in the southern Milky Way. John Herschel first observed the cluster on the left in 1834, during his three-year expedition to systematically survey the southern skies near Cape Town. He described it as a remarkable object and thought it might be a globular cluster. But future studies (and not to mention more dramatic images from larger telescopes) enriched our understanding, demonstrating that it was not an old globular but a young open cluster.

This chart shows the constellation of Carina (The Keel) and includes all the stars that can be seen with the unaided eye on a clear and dark night. This region of the sky includes some of the brightest star formation regions in the Milky Way. The location of the distant, but very bright and compact, open star cluster NGC 3603 is marked. This object is not spectacular in small telescopes, appearing as just a tight clump of stars surrounded by faint nebulosity. Credit: ESO

This chart shows the constellation of Carina and includes all the stars that can be seen with the unaided eye on a clear and dark night. The location of the open star cluster NGC 3603 is marked. This object is not spectacular in small telescopes, appearing as just a tight clump of stars surrounded by faint nebulosity. Credit: ESO
The Wide Field Imager at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile recently captured the image again. The bright region on the left is the star cluster NGC 3603, located 20,000 light-years away in the Carina-Sagittarius spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. The bright region on the right is a collection of glowing gas clouds known as NGC 3576, located only 10,000 light-years away.

Stars are born in enormous clouds of gas and dust, largely hidden from view. But as small pockets in these clouds collapse under the pull of gravity, they become so hot they ignite nuclear fusion, and their light clears away — and brightens — the surrounding gas and dust.

Nearby regions of hydrogen gas are heated, and therefore partially ionized, by the ultraviolet radiation given off by the brilliant hot young stars. These regions, better known as HII regions, can measure several hundred light-years in diameter, and the one surrounding NGC 3603 has the distinction of being the most massive known in our galaxy.

Not only is NGC 3603 known for having the most massive HII region, it’s known for having the highest concentration of massive stars that have been discovered in our galaxy so far. At the center lies a Wolf-Rayet star system. These stars begin their lives at 20 times the mass of the Sun, but evolve quickly while shedding a considerable amount of their matter. Intense stellar winds blast the star’s surface into space at  several million kilometers per hour.

Where NGC 3603 is notable for its extremes, NGC 3576 is notable for its extremities — the two huge curved objects in the outreaches of the cluster. Often described as the curled horns of a ram, these odd filaments are the result of stellar winds from the hot, young stars within the central regions of the nebula. The stars have blown the dust and gas outwards across a hundred light-years.

Additionally, the two dark silhouetted areas near the top of the nebula are known as Bok globules, dusty regions found near star formation sights. These dark clouds absorb nearby light and offer potential sites for the future formation of stars. They may further sculpt the dramatic landscape above, which is the smallest slice of our stunning universe

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Tagged as:
Bok Globules,
HII Regions,
star formation
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 8:49 AM 0 comments

Watch Live: New Horizons Crosses Neptune’s Orbit En Route To Pluto

Watch Live: New Horizons Crosses Neptune’s Orbit En Route To Pluto:



Another milestone for the Pluto-bound New Horizons mission — it’s crossing the orbit of Neptune today, as it prepares to fly by Pluto next August. In celebration, NASA is holding two live events at headquarters in Washington, D.C. starting at 1 p.m. EDT (5 p.m. UTC) today, and livestreamed above. More details below the jump.

The panel at 1 p.m. EDT will include:

  • Jim Green, director, NASA Planetary Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington
  • Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
  • Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado
Between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. EDT, New Horizons team members will recall what happened when Voyager 2 passed by Neptune 25 years ago, and also talk about where they are working today on the Pluto mission. The members will include:

  • Moderator: David Grinspoon, Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona
  • Fran Bagenal, University of Colorado, Boulder
  • Bonnie Buratti, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
  • Jeffrey Moore, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California
  • John Spencer, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado
New Horizons

New Horizons spacecraft. Image Credit: NASA
Tagged as:
New Horizons
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 8:48 AM 0 comments

Kapow! Moderate Solar Flare Erupts From The Sun, But Likely Won’t Affect Earth

Kapow! Moderate Solar Flare Erupts From The Sun, But Likely Won’t Affect Earth:



Hot material shines brightly in this close-up of a moderate flare erupting on the sun Aug. 24, 2014. Credit: NASA/SDO

Hot material shines brightly in this close-up of a moderate flare erupting on the sun Aug. 24, 2014. Credit: NASA/SDO
While this solar peak has been weaker than usual, from time to time we get a moderate punch from the Sun. Here’s an example — what NASA calls a “mid-level” solar flare blasting off the Sun at 8:16 a.m. EDT (1:16 p.m. UTC) yesterday (Aug. 26).

While the related coronal mass ejection can cause auroras high in Earth’s atmosphere and (in more severe cases) cause telecommunications disruptions, in this case the U.S. government isn’t expecting much.

“Given the location of this event,  the associated coronal mass ejection is well off the Sun-Earth line and no significant geomagnetic storming is anticipated as a result,” wrote the National Weather Service’s Space Weather Prediction Center in an update today.

NASA says the flare, which was captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, is an M5 flare. X-class flares are about 10 times more powerful than M-class ones.

An unrelated solar event recently caused auroras that astronauts spotted from the International Space Station.

Tagged as:
M5,
Solar Dynamics Observatory,
solar flare
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 8:47 AM 0 comments

Low On Fuel, Rainfall Satellite Slowly Spirals To Its Death In 2016

Low On Fuel, Rainfall Satellite Slowly Spirals To Its Death In 2016:



Artist's conception of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite in space over a cyclone. Credit: NASA

Artist’s conception of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite in space over a cyclone. Credit: NASA
After 17 years of faithful service, the end is in sight for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). The joint NASA-Japanese mission is out of fuel (except for a small reserve amount for emergencies) and beginning its slow descent back to Earth.

From that fall, the satellite is not going to recover. It’s expected to re-enter the atmosphere and be destroyed around November 2016. The satellite will be shut down around February 2016, depending on how much solar activity pumps up the atmosphere.

“TRMM has met and exceeded its original goal of advancing our understanding of the distribution of tropical rainfall and its relation to the global water and energy cycles,” stated Scott Braun, the mission’s project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

The satellite was designed to operate at about 250 miles (400 kilometers), and will slowly fall untl it gets to around 75-93 miles (120-150 kilometers), where it will break up.

While there’s no longer enough fuel to keep it at its normal operating altitude, NASA emphasized the satellite will still function well enough to estimate rains, floods and cyclones during the descent. However, its microwave imager will be affected because the field of view changes as the satellite descends.

GPM lifts off on Feb. 27, EST (Feb. 28 JST) to begin its Earth-observing mission. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

GPM lifts off on Feb. 27, EST (Feb. 28 JST) to begin its Earth-observing mission. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
NASA also pointed out that the successor satellite, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, is performing well since its launch on Feb. 27 this year.

“The GPM Core Observatory’s area of coverage extends beyond TRMM’s, covering the area from the Arctic Circle to the Antarctic Circle. While this means fewer observations of the tropics, it also means that GPM will be able to observe hurricanes, like Sandy in 2012, that travel north (or south) farther into the mid-latitudes,” NASA wrote.

“GPM will also be able to detect light rain and snowfall, a major source of available fresh water in some regions. The joint NASA/JAXA mission will study rain and snow around the world, joining with an international network of partner satellites to provide global precipitation datasets on half hourly and longer time scales.”

Source: NASA

Tagged as:
Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory,
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 8:46 AM 0 comments

Extreme Weather is Linked to Global Warming, a New Study Suggests

Extreme Weather is Linked to Global Warming, a New Study Suggests:



In 2013, a blocking pattern over Alaska caused a record-breaking heat wave. Credit: Photo by Jesse Allen and Jeff Schmatltz, using data from theLand Processes Distributed Active Archive Center(LPDAAC) and theLANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response

In 2013, a blocking pattern over Alaska caused a record-breaking heat wave. Credit: Earth Observatory
Extreme weather is becoming much more common. Heat waves and heavy rains are escalating, food crops are being damaged, human beings are being displaced due to flooding and animals are migrating toward the poles or going extinct.

Although it has been postulated that these extreme weather events may be due to climate change, a new study has found much better evidence.

The research shows blocking patterns — high-pressure systems that become immobile for days or even weeks, causing extreme heat waves and torrential rain — may have doubled in summers over the last decade.

“Since 2000, we have seen a cluster of these events,” lead author Dim Doumou told The Gaurdian earlier this month. “When these high-altitude waves become quasi-stationary, then we see more extreme weather at the surface. It is especially noticeable for heat extremes.”

It was a blocking pattern that led to the heat wave in Alaska in 2013, and to the devastating floods in Colorado last summer.

These blocking patterns are associated with the jet stream, the fast flowing winds high in Earth’s atmosphere at latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees. Sometimes the flow weakens, and the winds can dip down into more southern latitudes. These excursions lead to blocking patterns.



And the jet stream is becoming “wavier,” with steeper troughs and higher ridges.

The climatologists analyzed 35 years of wind data amassed from satellites, ships, weather stations, and meteorological balloons. They found that a warming Arctic creates and amplifies the conditions that lead to jet stream excursions, therefore raising the chances for long-duration extreme events, like droughts, floods, and heat waves.

That said the climatologists were unable to see a direct causal link between climate change and extreme weather. Ordinarily we think about “cause” in a simple sense in which one thing fully brings about another. But the Colorado floods, for example, were partially caused by moisture from the tropics, a blocking pattern, and past wildfires that increased the risk of runoff.

So there is a difference between “direct causation” and “systematic causation.” The latter is not direct, but it is no less real. In this study, the team noticed that the rise in blocking patterns correlates closely with the extra heating being delivered to the Arctic by climate change. Statistically speaking, the two seem to go hand in hand.

But the team does hypothesize a direct causal link. The jet streams are driven by the difference in temperature between the poles and the equator. So because the Arctic is warming more quickly than lower latitudes, the temperature difference is declining, providing less energy for the jet stream and causing it to meander.

Although the study shows a correlation — not causation — between more frequent blocking patterns (and therefore extreme weather) and Arctic warming, it is a solid step forward in understanding how the two are related.

The article has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Science (PNAS).

To see why Universe Today writes about climate change, please read a past article on the subject.

Tagged as:
Climate Change,
global warming,
weather
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 8:45 AM 0 comments

NEWS NASA Pluto-Bound Spacecraft Crosses Neptune's Orbit

NASA Pluto-Bound Spacecraft Crosses Neptune's Orbit:

Neptune Full Disk
During August 16 and 17, 1989, the Voyager 2 narrow-angle camera was used to photograph Neptune almost continuously, recording approximately two and one-half rotations of the planet. Image credit:
NASA/JPL

› Full image and caption


August 25, 2014

NASA's Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft has traversed the orbit of Neptune. This is its last major crossing en route to becoming the first probe to make a close encounter with distant Pluto on July 14, 2015.

The sophisticated piano-sized spacecraft, which launched in January 2006, reached Neptune's orbit -- nearly 2.75 billion miles (4.4. billion kilometers) from Earth -- in a record eight years and eight months. New Horizons' milestone matches precisely the 25th anniversary of the historic encounter of NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft with Neptune on Aug. 25, 1989.

"It's a cosmic coincidence that connects one of NASA's iconic past outer solar system explorers, with our next outer solar system explorer," said Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Exactly 25 years ago at Neptune, Voyager 2 delivered our 'first' look at an unexplored planet. Now it will be New Horizons' turn to reveal the unexplored Pluto and its moons in stunning detail next summer on its way into the vast outer reaches of the solar system."

New Horizons now is about 2.48 billion miles (nearly 4 billion kilometers) from Neptune -- nearly 27 times the distance between Earth and our sun -- as it crosses the giant planet's orbit at 7:04 p.m. PDT (10:04 p.m. EDT) Monday. Although the spacecraft will be much farther from the planet than Voyager 2's closest approach, New Horizons' telescopic camera was able to obtain several long-distance "approach" shots of Neptune on July 10.

"NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 explored the entire middle zone of the solar system where the giant planets orbit," said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. "Now we stand on Voyager's broad shoulders to explore the even more distant and mysterious Pluto system."

Several senior members of the New Horizons science team were young members of Voyager's science team in 1989. Many remember how Voyager 2's approach images of Neptune and its planet-sized moon Triton fueled anticipation of the discoveries to come. They share a similar, growing excitement as New Horizons begins its approach to Pluto.

"The feeling 25 years ago was that this was really cool, because we're going to see Neptune and Triton up-close for the first time," said Ralph McNutt of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, who leads the New Horizons energetic-particle investigation and served on the Voyager plasma-analysis team. "The same is happening for New Horizons. Even this summer, when we're still a year out and our cameras can only spot Pluto and its largest moon as dots, we know we're in for something incredible ahead."

Voyager's visit to the Neptune system revealed previously unseen features of Neptune itself, such as the Great Dark Spot, a massive storm similar to, but not as long-lived, as Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Voyager also, for the first time, captured clear images of the ice giant's ring system, too faint to be clearly viewed from Earth. "There were surprises at Neptune and there were surprises at Triton," said Ed Stone, Voyager's long-standing project scientist from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "I'm sure that will continue at Pluto."

Many researchers feel the 1989 Neptune flyby -- Voyager's final planetary encounter -- might have offered a preview of what's to come next summer. Scientists suggest that Triton, with its icy surface, bright poles, varied terrain and cryovolcanoes, is a Pluto-like object that Neptune pulled into orbit. Scientists recently restored Voyager's footage of Triton and used it to construct the best global color map of that strange moon yet -- further whetting appetites for a Pluto close-up.

"There is a lot of speculation over whether Pluto will look like Triton, and how well they'll match up," McNutt said. "That's the great thing about first-time encounters like this -- we don't know exactly what we'll see, but we know from decades of experience in first-time exploration of new planets that we will be very surprised."

Similar to Voyager 1 and 2's historic observations, New Horizons also is on a path toward potential discoveries in the Kuiper Belt, which is a disc-shaped region of icy objects past the orbit of Neptune, and other unexplored realms of the outer solar system and beyond.

"No country except the United States has the demonstrated capability to explore so far away," said Stern. "The U.S. has led the exploration of the planets and space to a degree no other nation has, and continues to do so with New Horizons. We're incredibly proud that New Horizons represents the nation again as NASA breaks records with its newest, farthest and very capable planetary exploration spacecraft."

Voyager 1 and 2 were launched 16 days apart in 1977, and one of the spacecraft visited Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 1 now is the most distant human-made object, about 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) away from the sun. In 2012, it became the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space. Voyager 2, the longest continuously operated spacecraft, is about 9 billion miles (15 billion kilometers) away from our sun.

New Horizons is the first mission in NASA's New Frontiers program. APL manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. APL also built and operates the New Horizons spacecraft.

The Voyager spacecraft were built and continue to be operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The Voyager missions are part of NASA's Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate.

To view the Neptune images taken by New Horizons and learn more about the mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/newhorizons

For more information about the Voyager spacecraft, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/voyager

Preston Dyches

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-354-5011

preston.dyches@jpl.nasa.gov


Dwayne Brown

NASA Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1726

dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov


Michael Buckley

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.

240-228-7536

michael.buckley@jhuapl.edu


2014-287
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 8:42 AM 0 comments

Friday, August 22, 2014

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Posted by Nelio Inacio at 6:53 PM 0 comments
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Bumble Bee Summer Clover | Flowers| Free Nature Pictures Nature Photography

Bumble Bee Summer Clover | Flowers| Free Nature Pictures by ForestWander Nature Photography

A large bumble bee gathering the abundant nectar from a summer clover flower. In the background a small blue field flower brightens the aspect of this picture. Picture Height: 2770 pixels | Picture Width: 3706 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/8 | Image Exposure Time: 1/180 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 105 mm | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com | Key Terms: abundant, Bumble Bee, clover, field flower, Flower, nectar, summer,
Bumble Bee Summer Clover | Flowers| Free Nature Pictures Nature Photography
A large bumble bee gathering the abundant nectar from a summer clover flower. In the background a small blue field flower brightens the aspect of this picture. Picture Height: 2770 pixels | Picture Width: 3706 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/8 | Image Exposure Time: 1/180 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 105 mm | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com | Key Terms: abundant, Bumble Bee, clover, field flower, Flower, nectar, summer

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 6:32 PM 0 comments
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WALLPAPER Field of Sonflowers Bumble Bees

Field of Sonflowers Bumble Bees:

Field of SonFlowers found near Yellow Springs, Ohio on our way to visit and hike Clifton Gorge. Notice the busy bumble bees. This is an HDR composite image taken with separate depth of field or focus. One for the background and the other for the sonflower in the front. Isn’t the Lord and amazing artist, He loves flowers and decorates the earth with them allowing us to see and experience such beauty. Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/9.5 | Image Exposure Time: 1/20 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 47 mm | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |
WALLPAPER Field of Sonflowers Bumble Bees
Field of SonFlowers found near Yellow Springs, Ohio on our way to visit and hike Clifton Gorge. Notice the busy bumble bees. This is an HDR composite image taken with separate depth of field or focus. One for the background and the other for the sonflower in the front. Isn’t the Lord and amazing artist, He loves flowers and decorates the earth with them allowing us to see and experience such beauty.
    Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/9.5 | Image Exposure Time: 1/20 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 47 mm | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 6:24 PM 0 comments
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WALLPAPER Fallsville Waterfalls

Fallsville Waterfalls:

Fallsville Waterfalls in the Fallsville Wildlife Area. These are beautiful waterfalls that are secluded in a remote area of southern Ohio. Everything has been washed clean from a recent thunderstorm. Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/16 | Image Exposure Time: 2 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |
WALLPAPER Fallsville Waterfalls
Fallsville Waterfalls in the Fallsville Wildlife Area. These are beautiful waterfalls that are secluded in a remote area of southern Ohio. Everything has been washed clean from a recent thunderstorm.
    Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/16 | Image Exposure Time: 2 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 6:23 PM 0 comments
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WALLPAPER Fallsville Ohio Waterfalls

Fallsville Ohio Waterfalls:

Fallsville Ohio Waterfalls. Beautiful waterfalls found in the Fallsville Wildlife Management area. There were many rain storms this day some which were significant. Pretty tough to take a decent picture in the pouring rain, but thankfully the Lord gave us a break in order to get some nice pictures of this waterfall. Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/11.3 | Image Exposure Time: 6 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Photo Exposure Value: -0.5 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |
WALLPAPER Fallsville Ohio Waterfalls


Fallsville Ohio Waterfalls. Beautiful waterfalls found in the Fallsville Wildlife Management area. There were many rain storms this day some which were significant. Pretty tough to take a decent picture in the pouring rain, but thankfully the Lord gave us a break in order to get some nice pictures of this waterfall. Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/11.3 | Image Exposure Time: 6 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Photo Exposure Value: -0.5 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |
WALLPAPER Fallsville Ohio Waterfalls
Fallsville Ohio Waterfalls. Beautiful waterfalls found in the Fallsville Wildlife Management area. There were many rain storms this day some which were significant. Pretty tough to take a decent picture in the pouring rain, but thankfully the Lord gave us a break in order to get some nice pictures of this waterfall.
    Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/11.3 | Image Exposure Time: 6 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Photo Exposure Value: -0.5 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 6:22 PM 0 comments
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WALLPAPER Clifton Gorge Steamboat Rock

Clifton Gorge Steamboat Rock:

Steamboat Rock at Clifton Gorge Ohio. The water is very high this day from all of the thundershowers. This provided a great opportunity for capturing the water with a slow exposure. Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/22.6 | Image Exposure Time: 20 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |
WALLPAPER Clifton Gorge Steamboat Rock
Steamboat Rock at Clifton Gorge Ohio. The water is very high this day from all of the thundershowers. This provided a great opportunity for capturing the water with a slow exposure.
    Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/22.6 | Image Exposure Time: 20 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 24 mm | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 6:20 PM 0 comments
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WALLPAPER Autumn Country Cabin

Autumn Country Cabin:

An authentic country cabin in the woods during the fall foliage season. Notice the family dog laying in the grass on the left of the cabin. Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/13.5 | Image Exposure Time: 3/10 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 67 mm | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |
WALLPAPER Autumn Country Cabin
An authentic country cabin in the woods during the fall foliage season. Notice the family dog laying in the grass on the left of the cabin.
    Picture Height: 3744 pixels | Picture Width: 5616 pixels | Lens Aperture: f/13.5 | Image Exposure Time: 3/10 sec | Lens Focal Length mm: 67 mm | Photo Exposure Value: 0 EV | Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II | Photo White Balance: 0 | Color Space: sRGB | ForestWander Nature Photography: ForestWander Nature Photography | ForestWander: ForestWander.com |
Posted by Nelio Inacio at 6:19 PM 0 comments
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