Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Rumors of Comet ISON ‘Fizzling’ May be Greatly Exaggerated

Rumors of Comet ISON ‘Fizzling’ May be Greatly Exaggerated :

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope provides a close-up look of Comet ISON (C/2012 S1), as photographed on April 10, when the comet was slightly closer than Jupiter’s orbit at a distance of 386 million miles from the sun. Credit:NASA, ESA, J.-Y. Li (Planetary Science Institute), and the Hubble Comet ISON Imaging Science Team.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope provides a close-up look of Comet ISON (C/2012 S1), as photographed on April 10, when the comet was slightly closer than Jupiter’s orbit at a distance of 386 million miles from the sun. Credit:NASA, ESA, J.-Y. Li (Planetary Science Institute), and the Hubble Comet ISON Imaging Science Team.
A press release out yesterday about a recent paper on Comet ISON has caused a mild uproar across the astronomy-minded social media outlets and some websites. The article issued from the Physics & Astrophysics Computation Group (FACOM) at the University of Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia is titled “Comet Of The Century? Not Yet! Comet C/2012 S1 ISON Has Fizzled Completely And May Disintegrate At Or Before Reaching Perihelion.”
The article had professional astronomers and comet enthusiasts alike shaking their heads in disbelief.
For one, any current determination of ISON’s ultimate fate when it gets close to the Sun later this year is speculation at best, (as is the case with almost any other sun-grazing comet) and since no one on planet Earth has seen ISON since it entered the Sun’s glare in June, there is absolutely no way to determine the comet’s current state. The almost unanimous shout from the astronomy internets was “we just have to wait and see what happens with ISON.”
But the press release also had this journalist (and others) wondering if Ferrin’s views were taken out of context for the sake of a dramatic press release.
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Watch Live Webcast: Oldest Light in the Universe from Planck

Watch Live Webcast: Oldest Light in the Universe from Planck :

This image, the best map ever of the Universe, shows the oldest light in the universe. This glow, left over from the beginning of the cosmos called the cosmic microwave background, shows tiny changes in temperature represented by color. Credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration.
This image, the best map ever of the Universe, shows the oldest light in the universe. This glow, left over from the beginning of the cosmos called the cosmic microwave background, shows tiny changes in temperature represented by color. Credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration.
Earlier this year, a new map of the Cosmic Microwave Background from the Planck spacecraft revealed our Universe was a bit older and is expanding a tad more slowly that previously thought. Additionally, there are certain large scale features that cosmologists cannot readily explain. In fact, because of this finding — possible because of the Planck satellite — we may need to modify, amend or even fundamentally change our description of the Universe’s first moments.
Today, July 31, at 19:00 UTC (12:00 p.m. PDT, 3:00 pm EDT) the Kavli Foundation is hosting a live Google+ Hangout: “A New Baby Picture of the Universe.” You can watch in the player embedded below. You’ll have the chance to ask your questions to Planck scientists by posting on Twitter with the hashtag #KavliAstro, or by email to info@kavlifoundation.org. Questions can be sent prior and during the live webcast. If you miss it live, you can watch the replay here, as well.
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Geysers on Enceladus are Powered in Part by Saturn’s Gravity

Geysers on Enceladus are Powered in Part by Saturn’s Gravity :

Dramatic plumes, both large and small, spray water ice out from many locations along the famed
Dramatic plumes, both large and small, spray water ice out from many locations along the famed “tiger stripes” near the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI.
The geyser jets of Enceladus don’t shoot out in a continuous stream, but are more like an adjustable garden hose nozzle, says Cassini scientist Matt Hedman, author of a new paper about the workings of this fascinating tiger-striped moon. Observations from Cassini found that the bright plume emanating from Enceladus’ south pole varies predictably. The fluctuating factor appears to the how far or close Enceladus is to its home planet, Saturn.
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Gorgeous Astrophoto: The Blue Milky Way

Gorgeous Astrophoto: The Blue Milky Way :

Fishing Boats Meet the Milky Way on the Isle of Wight (south of England) on May 16, 2013. Credit and copyright: Chad Powell/Chad Powell Design and Photography.
Fishing Boats Meet the Milky Way on the Isle of Wight (south of England) on May 16, 2013. Credit and copyright: Chad Powell/Chad Powell Design and Photography.
We’ve shared featured many images of the Milky Way in our featured photos from astrophotographers, but this might be one of the most vibrant I’ve seen! The blue of the sky and sea is incredible and almost pulsates with its stunning azure color. Photographer Chad Powell explained on Flickr: “Where I live on the Isle of Wight (south of England) is known to have minimal light pollution but I only ever shot the milkyway from my back garden. I decided to finally trek it down to my local beach. The Milky Way was so bright in the sky, it was breathtaking! The lights on the left are from fishing boats tens of miles out to sea.”
Simply beautiful, especially if you are a blue-o-file like I am!
Check out more of Chad’s work on Flickr or his website, IsleOfWightMilkyWay.com
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How Many People Have Walked on the Moon?

How Many People Have Walked on the Moon? :

Astronaut Charles Duke collecting samples during Apollo 16. Credit: NASA.
Astronaut Charles Duke collecting samples during Apollo 16. Credit: NASA.
Ask someone if they know the names of the astronauts who have walked on the Moon, and most people would be able to list Neil Armstrong, and maybe even Buzz Aldrin. But can you name the rest of the Apollo astronauts who made it down to the lunar surface? In total twelve people have walked on the Moon. Besides Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin – who were the first two astronauts to leave their bootprints on the Moon — there were also Pete Conrad, Alan Bean, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, David Scott, James Irwin, John Young, Charles Duke, Eugene Cernan, and Harrison Schmitt.
Interestingly, none of those who walked on the Moon ever did it more than once.
Here’s some additional information about the men who walked on the Moon and their missions:
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Comets Could Arise Closer To Earth, Study Suggests

Comets Could Arise Closer To Earth, Study Suggests :

Comet 'Bites the Dust' Around Dead Star
Artist’s conception of a comet breaking up. Credit: NASA
There’s a potential “cometary graveyard” of inactive comets in our solar system wandering between Mars and Jupiter, a new Colombian research paper says. This contradicts a long-standing view that comets originate on the fringes of the solar system, in the Oort Cloud.
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The 2013 Perseid Meteor Shower: An Observer’s Guide

The 2013 Perseid Meteor Shower: An Observer’s Guide :

The radiant for the Persieds, looking to the NE from latitide ~30N at around 2AM local. Created by the Author in Starry Night).
The radiant for the Perseids, looking to the NE from latitude ~30N at around 2AM local. Created by the Author in Starry Night).
Get set for the meteoritic grand finale of summer.
Northern hemisphere summer that is. As we head into August, our gaze turns towards that “Old Faithful” of meteor showers, the Perseids. Though summer is mostly behind us now, “meteor shower season” is about to get underway in earnest.(...)
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What’s A Kilonova? You’re Looking At It!

What’s A Kilonova? You’re Looking At It! :

Remnants of a gamma-ray burst (called GRB 130603B) are visible in these Hubble Space Telescope pictures. Credit: NASA, ESA, and Z. Levay (STScI/AURA)
Remnants of a gamma-ray burst (called GRB 130603B) are visible in these Hubble Space Telescope pictures. Credit: NASA, ESA, and Z. Levay (STScI/AURA)
As astute readers of Universe Today, you likely know what a supernova is: a stellar explosion that signals the end game for certain kinds of stars. Above, however, is a picture of a kilonova, which happens when two really dense objects come together.
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Stunning Photo from Space: Moon Rising Amid Noctilucent Clouds

Stunning Photo from Space: Moon Rising Amid Noctilucent Clouds :

The Moon rises surrounded by noctilucent clouds, as seen from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/ASI/ESA. Via Luca Parmitano on Twitter.
The Moon rises surrounded by noctilucent clouds, as seen from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/ASI/ESA. Via Luca Parmitano on Twitter.
Recently, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano spent a “night flight” in the Cupola of the International Space Station in hopes of capturing night-time images of his home country from space. But he saw so much more, including this incredible image of the crescent Moon rising among bright blue noctilucent clouds. These wispy and mysterious clouds appear in Earth’s mesosphere — a region extending from 30 to 53 miles (48-85 km) high in the atmosphere — at twilight, usually in early summer. They can be seen from Earth’s northern hemisphere, and, obviously are visible from space too.
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What Will Happen When the Sun’s Magnetic Poles Reverse?

What Will Happen When the Sun’s Magnetic Poles Reverse?:


The Sun’s magnetic field will likely reverse sometime in the next three to four months. No, this is not the next doomsday prediction scenario. It really will happen. But there’s nothing to fear because in reality the Sun’s magnetic field changes regularly about every 11 years.
The flip-flopping of the Sun’s magnetic field takes place at the peak of each solar activity cycle when the Sun’s internal magnetic dynamo reorients itself. When the field reversal happens, the magnetic field weakens, then dies down to zero before emerging again with a reversed polarity.
While this is not a catastrophic event, the reversal will have effects, said solar physicist Todd Hoeksema, the director of Stanford University’s Wilcox Solar Observatory, who monitors the Sun’s polar magnetic fields. “This change will have ripple effects throughout the Solar System,” he said.
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Astronauts Wax Poetic About Seeing Earth from Space

Astronauts Wax Poetic About Seeing Earth from Space:

An aurora seen from the International Space Station on September 26, 2011. Credit: NASA.
An aurora seen from the International Space Station on September 26, 2011. Credit: NASA.
Astronauts have tried to explain the view of Earth from space, with many saying that there just aren’t the words to describe how beautiful it is. In the latest episode of the “Science Garage,” recent ISS astronauts Tom Marshburn and Chris Hadfield might do the best job so far of relating not only the “incredible and unwrapping perspective of looking at the Earth,” but how it changed their perspective of humanity. Hadfield compares coming into the cupola of the International Space Station as being like “entering the Sistine Chapel.”
Watch below:
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GRB Lights Up Ancient Hidden Galaxy

GRB Lights Up Ancient Hidden Galaxy:

This artist's illustration depicts a gamma-ray burst illuminating clouds of interstellar gas in its host galaxy. By analyzing a recent gamma-ray burst, astronomers were able to learn about the chemistry of a galaxy 12.7 billion light-years from Earth. They discovered it contains only one-tenth of the heavy elements (metals) found in our solar system. Credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA, artwork by Lynette Cook
This artist’s illustration depicts a gamma-ray burst illuminating clouds of interstellar gas in its host galaxy. By analyzing a recent gamma-ray burst, astronomers were able to learn about the chemistry of a galaxy 12.7 billion light-years from Earth. They discovered it contains only one-tenth of the heavy elements (metals) found in our solar system. Credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA, artwork by Lynette Cook
Once upon a time, more than 12.7 billion years ago, a star was poised on the edge of extinction. It made its home in a galaxy too small, too faint and too far away to even be spotted by the Hubble Space Telescope. Not that it would matter, because this star was going to end its life before the Earth formed. As it blew itself apart, it expelled its materials in twin jets which ripped through space at close to the speed of light – yet the light of its death throes outshone its parent galaxy by a million times. (...)
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New 3-D Map Shows Large Scale Structures in the Universe 9 Billion Years Ago

New 3-D Map Shows Large Scale Structures in the Universe 9 Billion Years Ago:

The FastSound project's 3D map of the large-scale structure of a region in the Universe about 4.7 billion years after the Big Bang. This area covers 2.5 times 3 degrees of the sky, with a radial distance spanning 12-14.5 billion light years in co-moving distance or 8-9.6 billion light years in light travel distance. Credit: NAOJ, SDSS, CFHT.
The FastSound project’s 3D map of the large-scale structure of a region in the Universe about 4.7 billion years after the Big Bang. This area covers 2.5 times 3 degrees of the sky, with a radial distance spanning 12-14.5 billion light years in co-moving distance or 8-9.6 billion light years in light travel distance. Credit: NAOJ, SDSS, CFHT.
I remember seeing the Hubble 3-D IMAX movie in 2010 and literally gasping when the view pulled back from zooming into distant stars and galaxies to show clusters and superclusters of galaxies interwoven like a web, creating the large scale structure of the Universe. In 3-D, the structure looks much like the DNA double helix or a backbone.
Now, looking back in time, a new project to map the Universe’s structure has created a 3-D map showing a portion of the Universe as it looked nine billion years ago. It shows numerous galaxies and interestingly, already-developed large-scale structure of filaments and voids made from galaxy groups.
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A Challenging Series of Occultations of Spica by the Moon Coming to a Sky Near You

A Challenging Series of Occultations of Spica by the Moon Coming to a Sky Near You :

An occultation of the star Mu Geminorum (to the upper right off the dark limb of the Moon) Photo by author.
An occultation of the star Mu Geminorum (to the upper right off  of the dark limb of the Moon) Photo by author.
The first in a cycle of challenging occultations of the bright star Spica for northern hemisphere observers begins this coming Monday on August 12th.
Watching a bright star or planet wink out on the dark limb of the Moon can be an amazing event to witness. It’s an abrupt “now you see it, now you don’t” event in a universe which often seems to move at an otherwise glacial pace. And if the event grazes the limb of the Moon, an observer may see a series of winks as the starlight streams through the lunar valleys.(...)
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Deep and Wide: Stunning Amateur View of the Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae

Deep and Wide: Stunning Amateur View of the Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae :

The Lagoon Nebula M8 (NGC 6523) , The Trifid Nebula M20 (NGC 6514), Star cluster M21 and star forming region NGC6559. Credit and copyright: Terry Hancock/Down Under Observatory.
The Lagoon Nebula M8 (NGC 6523) , The Trifid Nebula M20 (NGC 6514), Star cluster M21 and star forming region NGC6559. Credit and copyright: Terry Hancock/Down Under Observatory.
Here’s a beautiful deep look at a wide-field view of the Lagoon Nebula (M8, NGC 6523) and the Trifid Nebula (M20, NGC 6514) along with star cluster M21 and star forming region NGC6559. Amateur astronomer and astrophotographer Terry Hancock from Michigan says this is one of his favorite fields of view to observe. However right now its very low in my southern sky and therefore limited to a couple of hours each night. Just wait until next month, and this region will be higher in the sky for better northern hemisphere viewing.
Terry captured this view in H-Alpha plus RGB over 4 nights.
I’ll let him explain the view:
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Persied Meteor Shower 2013: Images from Around the World

Persied Meteor Shower 2013: Images from Around the World :

A composite of stacked images of the Perseid Meteor Shower on August 11, 2013 seen from Lindisfarne (Holy Island) off the northeast coast of England. Credit and copyright: Peter Greig.
A composite of stacked images of the Perseid Meteor Shower on August 11, 2013 seen from Lindisfarne (Holy Island) off the northeast coast of England. Credit and copyright: Peter Greig.
The Perseid Meteor Shower peaks tonight, but already astrophotographers have been out, enjoying the view of a little cosmic rain. This weekend provided good views for many, as these images and videos will attest. We’ll keep adding more images as they come in, but enjoy these wonderful images we’ve received so far. Our lead image is a wowza from Peter Greig from the UK. He traveled to an island off the coast of England and found exactly what he was looking for.
“This is the exact image that I imagined and planned to come home with from that trip,” Peter said via Flickr. “It is a composite of stacked images (or pieces of images). I chose the clearest background image to use for the starry sky then chose the best light painted foreground and layered it over my background. I then went through all of my images and gathered all the shots that contained a meteor, cut them out and layered them on top of my background image to demonstrate the radiant point to which the Perseid Meteors originate.”
Just gorgeous! If you’re looking to get out tonight and see the Perseids for yourself, here our “explainer” from David Dickenson of how to best see this meteor shower!
See more from our astrophotographer friends below:
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Giveaway: Star Walk: Stargazing App for the iPhone

Giveaway: Star Walk: Stargazing App for the iPhone :

Star Walk AppWe have another great app giveaway for you, our valued readers. Star Walk is an app that allows you to point your iPhone at the night sky to provide names and descriptions of all the objects you are seeing. Furthermore, you can click on any individual star, satellite, planet or constellation and an in depth description will conveniently pop up on your screen. Whether you live in the city with lots of light pollution or in the country where there are more stars than black, this app will fill you in on all of the celestial objects you can (or can’t) see.
From the developer:
Star Walk is an award-winning Education app that allows users to easily locate and identify 20,000+ objects in the night sky. The 360-degree, touch control star map displays constellations, stars, planets, satellites, and galaxies currently overhead from anywhere on Earth. Highly praised and the winner of a 2010 Apple Design Award, the latest update allows users to enjoy unprecedented eye candy and interactivity of the star map, achieved with the new camera and high resolution of the new device.
Enter to win one of 10 free copies of this app for your iPhone. How?
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 Monday, August 19, 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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Is the Sun More Active Than it Looks? An Innovative Method to Characterize the Solar Cycle

Is the Sun More Active Than it Looks? An Innovative Method to Characterize the Solar Cycle :

A solar cycle montage from August 1991 to September 2001 in X-rays courtesy of the Yohkoh Solar Observatory. (Credit: David Chenette, Joseph B. Gurman, Loren W. Acton, image in the public Domain).
A solar cycle montage from August 1991 to September 2001 in X-rays courtesy of the Yohkoh Solar Observatory. (Credit: David Chenette, Joseph B. Gurman, Loren W. Acton, image in the public domain).
The Sun has provided no shortage of mysteries thus far during solar cycle #24.
And perhaps the biggest news story that the Sun has generated recently is what it isn’t doing. As Universe Today recently reported, this cycle has been an especially weak one in terms of performance. The magnetic polarity flip signifying the peak of the solar maximum is just now upon us, as the current solar cycle #24 got off to a late start after a profound minimum in 2009…
Or is it?(...)
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How Do Black Holes Get Super Massive?

How Do Black Holes Get Super Massive? :

A binary black hole pair with an accretion disk inclined 45 degrees. Source: Nixon et al.
A binary black hole pair with an accretion disk inclined 45 degrees. One can see the concentric rings before they are accreted onto the black holes. Source: Nixon et al.
Since their discovery, supermassive black holes – the giants lurking in the center of every galaxy – have been mysterious in origin. Astronomers remain baffled as to how these supermassive black holes became so massive.
New research explains how a supermassive black hole might begin as a normal black hole, tens to hundreds of solar masses, and slowly accrete more matter, becoming more massive over time. The trick is in looking at a binary black hole system.  When two galaxies collide the two supermassive black holes sink to the center of the merged galaxy and form a binary pair.  The accretion disk surrounding the two black holes becomes misaligned with respect to the orbit of the binary pair. It tears and falls onto the black hole pair, allowing it to become more massive.
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These 12 Asteroids Are The Easiest Ones To Bring Back To Earth

These 12 Asteroids Are The Easiest Ones To Bring Back To Earth:

In February 2013, asteroid DA 2014 safely passed by the Earth. There are several proposals abounding about bringing asteroids closer to our planet to better examine their structure. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
In February 2013, asteroid DA 2014 safely passed by the Earth. There are several proposals abounding about bringing asteroids closer to our planet to better examine their structure. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
As NASA works through proposals for an asteroid retrieval mission, a new paper shows that there are other research groups considering which asteroids to pick first.
One scientific team has identified 12 “Easily Retrievable Objects” in our solar system that are circling the sun and would not cost too much to retrieve (in relative terms, of course!)
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An Occult Occurrence: Saturn’s Moon Iapetus Blocks a Background Star

An Occult Occurrence: Saturn’s Moon Iapetus Blocks a Background Star :

Animation of Iapetus briefly blocking a distant bright object. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI. Assembled by Jason Major.)
Just passing by: an animation of Iapetus briefly blocking a distant bright object. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI. Assembled by Jason Major.)
It’s a cosmic cover-up! No, don’t put your tinfoil* hats on, this isn’t a conspiracy — it’s just Saturn’s moon Iapetus drifting in front of a background star, captured on Cassini’s narrow-angle camera on August 10, 2013.
Such an event is called an occultation, a term used in astronomy whenever light from one object is blocked by another — specifically when something visually larger moves in front of something apparently smaller. (The word occult means to hide or conceal… nothing mystical implied!)
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Satellite Watches Dust from Chelyabinsk Meteor Spread Around the Northern Hemisphere

Satellite Watches Dust from Chelyabinsk Meteor Spread Around the Northern Hemisphere :

Model and satellite data show that four days after the bolide explosion, the faster, higher portion of the plume (red) had snaked its way entirely around the northern hemisphere and back to Chelyabinsk, Russia. Image Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization
Model and satellite data show that four days after the bolide explosion, the faster, higher portion of the plume (red) had snaked its way entirely around the northern hemisphere and back to Chelyabinsk, Russia.
Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization
When a meteor weighing 10,000 metric tons exploded 22.5 km (14 miles) above Chelyabinsk, Russia on Feb. 15, 2013, the news of the event spread quickly around the world. But that’s not all that circulated around the world. The explosion also deposited hundreds of tons of dust in Earth’s stratosphere, and NASA’s Suomi NPP satellite was in the right place to be able to track the meteor plume for several months. What it saw was that the plume from the explosion spread out and wound its way entirely around the northern hemisphere within four days.
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Bright New Nova In Delphinus — You can See it Tonight With Binoculars

Bright New Nova In Delphinus — You can See it Tonight With Binoculars:

The new possible nova is located in Delphinus alongside the familiar Summer Triangle outlined by Deneb, Vega and Altair. This may shows the sky looking high in the south for mid-northern latitudes around 10 p.m. local time in mid-August. The new object is ideally placed for viewing. Stellarium
The possible new nova is located in Delphinus alongside the familiar Summer Triangle outlined by Deneb, Vega and Altair. This may shows the sky looking high in the south for mid-northern latitudes around 10 p.m. local time in mid-August. The new object is ideally placed for viewing. Stellarium
Looking around for something new to see in your binoculars or telescope tonight? How about an object whose name literally means “new”. Japanese amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki of Yamagata discovered an apparent nova or “new star” in the constellation Delphinus the Dolphin just today, August 14. He used a small 7-inch (.18-m) reflecting telescope and CCD camera to nab it. Let’s hope its mouthful of a temporary designation, PNVJ20233073+2046041, is soon changed to Nova Delphini 2013!
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IAU Revises Their Stance on Public Involvement in Naming of Exoplanets and Moons »

IAU Revises Their Stance on Public Involvement in Naming of Exoplanets and Moons :

Artistic representations of the only known planets around other stars (exoplanets) with any possibility to support life as we know it. Credit: Planetary Habitability Laboratory, University of Puerto Rico, Arecibo.
Artistic representations of the only known planets around other stars (exoplanets) with any possibility to support life as we know it. Credit: Planetary Habitability Laboratory, University of Puerto Rico, Arecibo.
The International Astronomical Union issued a statement on August 14, 2013 that they have changed their official stance on two things: 1. assigning popular names to the numerous extrasolar planets being discovered, and 2. allowing the public to be involved in that naming process.
“It is therefore in line with a long-established global tradition and experience that the IAU fully supports the involvement of the general public, whether directly or through an independent organised vote, in the naming of planetary satellites, newly discovered planets and their host stars,” the online statement said.
This new stance came as a surprise to many.
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Newly Discovered Fast Radio Bursts May be Colliding Neutron Stars

Newly Discovered Fast Radio Bursts May be Colliding Neutron Stars :

An artist's conception of two neutron stars, moments before they collide. Image Credit: NASA
An artist’s conception of two neutron stars, moments before they collide. Image Credit: NASA
The Universe is sizzling with undiscovered phenomena. Only last month astronomers heard four unexpected bumps in the night. These Fast Radio Bursts released torrents of energy, each occurred only once, and lasted a few thousandths of a second. Their origin has since mystified astronomers.
Dismissing my first guess, which includes a feverish Jodie Foster verifying the existence of extraterrestrial life, astronomers have found a more likely answer. Two neutron stars collide, but before doing so produce a quick burst of radio emission, which we later observe as a Fast Radio Burst.
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