Friday, November 15, 2013

How Astronauts Can Explore The Martian Moon Phobos

How Astronauts Can Explore The Martian Moon Phobos:
Projected timeline of the MARS-X project. Credit: MARS-X
How Astronauts Can Explore The Martian Moon Phobos
Projected timeline of the MARS-X project. Credit: MARS-X
OTTAWA, CANADA – Humans would spend more than a year orbiting and bouncing on the Martian moon Phobos under a mission concept developed by students at the International Space University.
(...)
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Astrophotos: Aurora Reflections from Iceland

Astrophotos: Aurora Reflections from Iceland:
Aurora Borealis, beach reflection, and Orion, in Iceland on the beach Jökulsarlon. Image was taken on November 7, 2013. Credit and copyright Cory Schmitz
Astrophotos: Aurora Reflections from Iceland
Aurora Borealis, beach reflection, and Orion, in Iceland on the beach Jökulsarlon. Image was taken on November 7, 2013. Credit and copyright Cory Schmitz
Our friend Cory Schmitz planned the perfect time to go on a Iceland Aurora photo tour. With the recent activity from the Sun, there have been some great views of the aurora borealis in Iceland. “These images are very close to what the sky actually looked like to the naked eye,” Cory said on G+. “Motion, color, everything. Right above our heads. Insane — what an experience!”
Thanks for sharing the experience, Cory…. but next time, bring us with you, huh?
(...)
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Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Sgr A* Could Be a Relic of a Powerful AGN

Sgr A* Could Be a Relic of a Powerful AGN:
The Magellanic Stream
Sgr A* Could Be a Relic of a Powerful AGN
The Magellanic Stream as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. Note the red color. Image Credit: NASA.
The early universe was sizzling with active galactic nuclei (AGN) — intensely luminous cores powered by supermassive black holes — most of which could outshine their entire host galaxies and be seen across the observable universe.
While our central supermassive black hole Sgr A* lies rather dormant at the moment, new evidence suggests that it too was once a powerful AGN.
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Moon’s Blotchy Near Side Has Bigger Craters Than Expected

Moon’s Blotchy Near Side Has Bigger Craters Than Expected:
The thickness of the moon's crust as calculated by NASA's GRAIL mission. The near side is on the left-hand side of the picture, and the far side on the right. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Miljkovic
Moon’s Blotchy Near Side Has Bigger Craters Than Expected
The thickness of the moon’s crust as calculated by NASA’s GRAIL mission. The near side is on the left-hand side of the picture, and the far side on the right. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Miljkovic
The familiar blotches that make up “the man in the moon”, from the vantage point of Earth, happened because the moon’s crust is thinner on the near side than the far side to our planet, new research reveals.
(...)
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Astronomy Cast 321: Solar Flares

Astronomy Cast 321: Solar Flares:

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Track Comet ISON’s Journey Around the Sun with this Paper Model

Track Comet ISON’s Journey Around the Sun with this Paper Model:
Comet ISON is making its way through the inner solar system. Visualize its unusual orbit and track its journey around the sun with this paper model. The background image shows comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT). Credit: NASA and T. A. Rector (Univ. of Alaska Anchorage), Z. Levay and L. Frattare (STScI) and WIYN/NOAO/AURA/NSF
Track Comet ISON’s Journey Around the Sun with this Paper Model
As Comet ISON loops around the sun and back, you can visualize its unusual orbit and track its progress with this paper model. The background image shows comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT). Credit: NASA and T. A. Rector, Z. Levay and L. Frattare and WIYN/NOAO/AURA/NSF
Planet orbits are so easy to picture – eight nearly concentric hula hoops centered on the sun. Comets are weirder. Their orbits vary from tapered ellipses shaped like cigars to completely open-ended parabolas and even hyperbolas. Comet ISON’s highly-elongated (stretched out) orbit is best described as hyperbolic, although that’s subject to change if Jupiter gets into the act and gives the comet a gravitational nudge during its outbound journey. As the largest planet, it has a special knack for this kind of trick, having tamed many a wayward comet’s orbit into a neat ellipse.
(...)
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Space Internet? Rocket Flight Aims To Test Earth-To-Space Communications

Space Internet? Rocket Flight Aims To Test Earth-To-Space Communications:
The cameras mounted in the ISS's cupola could serve as the platform for the first-ever quantum optics experiment in space.
Space Internet? Rocket Flight Aims To Test Earth-To-Space Communications
Earth from the International Space Station’s Cupola window. Credit: NASA
Imagine you’re a space tourist wanting to blog about your experience. Too impatient to wait for the ride back to solid ground, you open up your laptop on the way home and post pictures and video of the experience just minutes after you were zooming through suborbital space.
That would only be possible if there was some sort of infrastructure available to send messages over the Internet or on text protocols, and according to Brian Barnett, there’s plenty of demand from the private sector, NASA and universities to do so. That’s why this morning, his company (Satwest) will put a temporary wi-fi hotspot in space aboard a rocket from Denver’s UP Aerospace Inc.
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Supersonic Starbirth Bubble Glows In Image From Two Telescopes

Supersonic Starbirth Bubble Glows In Image From Two Telescopes:
Stellar birth is visible in this image of HH 46/47 taken with the Spitzer Space Telescope and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ALMA
Supersonic Starbirth Bubble Glows In Image From Two Telescopes
Stellar birth is visible in this image of HH 46/47 taken with the Spitzer Space Telescope and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ALMA
Talk about birth in the fast lane. Fresh observations of HH 46/47 — an area well-known for hosting a baby star — demonstrate material from the star pushing against the surrounding gas at supersonic speeds.
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The Day the Earth Smiled: Saturn Shines in this Amazing Image from the Cassini Team

The Day the Earth Smiled: Saturn Shines in this Amazing Image from the Cassini Team:
The "pale blue dot" of Earth as seen from Cassini on July 19, 2013.
The Day the Earth Smiled: Saturn Shines in this Amazing Image from the Cassini Team
The “pale blue dot” of Earth as seen from Cassini on July 19, 2013.
This summer, for the first time ever, the world was informed that its picture was going to be taken from nearly a billion miles away as the Cassini spacecraft captured images of Saturn in eclipse on July 19. On that day we were asked to take a moment and smile and wave at Saturn, from wherever we were, because the faint light from our planet would be captured by Cassini’s camera, shielded by Saturn from the harsh glare of the Sun.
A few preliminary images were released just a few days later showing the “pale blue dot” of Earth nestled within the glowing bands of Saturn’s rings. It was an amazing perspective of our planet, and we were promised that the full mosaic of Cassini images was being worked on and would be revealed in the fall.
Well, it’s fall, and here it is:
(...)
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Sunday, November 10, 2013

Super-Typhoon Haiyan Causes Catastrophic Death & Destruction – Space Images from NASA, ISRO, Roscosmos & ISS

Super-Typhoon Haiyan Causes Catastrophic Death & Destruction – Space Images from NASA, ISRO, Roscosmos & ISS:
Super Typhoon Haiyan over the Philippines on November 9, 2013 as imaged from Earth orbit by NASA Astronaut Karen Nyberg aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Karen Nyberg
Super-Typhoon Haiyan Causes Catastrophic Death & Destruction – Space Images from NASA, ISRO, Roscosmos & ISS
Super Typhoon Haiyan over the Philippines on November 9, 2013 as imaged from Earth orbit by NASA Astronaut Karen Nyberg aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Karen Nyberg
See more Super Typhoon Haiyan imagery and video below
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland – Super Typhoon Haiyan smashed into the island nation of the Philippines, Friday, Nov. 8, with maximum sustained winds estimated at exceeding 195 MPH (315 kilometer per hour) by the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center – leaving an enormous region of catastrophic death and destruction in its terrible wake.
The Red Cross estimates over 1200 deaths so far. The final toll could be significantly higher. Local media reports today say bodies of men, women and children are now washing on shore.
The enormous scale of Super Typhoon Haiyan can be vividly seen in space imagery captured by NASA, ISRO and Russian satellites – as well as astronauts flying overhead on board the International Space Station (ISS); collected here.(...)
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Saturday, November 9, 2013

Solar Activity Ramps Up as Giant Sunspot Group Turns to Face Earth

Solar Activity Ramps Up as Giant Sunspot Group Turns to Face Earth:
Monster sunspot group 1890 now faces Earth. Taken on Nov. 8, 2013. Credit and copyright: Ron Cottrell.
Solar Activity Ramps Up as Giant Sunspot Group Turns to Face Earth
Monster sunspot group 1890 now faces Earth. Taken on Nov. 8, 2013. Credit and copyright: Ron Cottrell.
The Sun is finally acting like it’s in solar maximum. Our Sun has emitted dozens of solar flares in since Oct. 23, 2013, with at least six big X-class flares. Just today it blasted out a X1.1 flare at 04:32 UT (11:32 p.m. EST on Nov. 7, 2013). While old Sol had been fairly quiet for the time where it was supposed to be active in its normal 11-year cycle, only recently has activity ramped up with increased flares and sunspots. During 2013, there has been intermittent strong activity (like this and this in May, the activity since mid-October is really the first extended period of activity.
Speaking of sunspots, a huge group called designated as AR 1890 has turned to face Earth. Thanks to astrophotographer Ron Cottrell for capturing the group today, above. Spaceweather.com reports that this sunspot has a trend of producing very brief flares. The X1-flare today was no exception as it lasted barely a minute. NOAA is forecasting a 60% chance of M-class solar flares and a 20% chance of X-flares on Nov. 8th from this sunspot group.
You can see an image from the Solar Dynamics Observatory below, as it recorded a flash of extreme UV radiation from the blast site:(...)
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GOCE Spacecraft Will Likely Make Uncontrolled Re-entry This Weekend

GOCE Spacecraft Will Likely Make Uncontrolled Re-entry This Weekend:
Artist rendition of the GOCE Satellite in orbit. Credit: ESA
GOCE Spacecraft Will Likely Make Uncontrolled Re-entry This Weekend
Artist rendition of the GOCE Satellite in orbit. Credit: ESA
The Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite has been orbiting Earth in super-low orbits since 2009, mapping out variations in Earth’s gravity in extreme detail. But its fuel ran out in mid-October and the satellite began its slow descent towards Earth, being brought lower and lower by the effects of the atmosphere. Engineers predict it will re-enter completely and fall back to Earth sometime this weekend.
But no one can say for sure when or where the 1-ton satellite will fall.
(...)
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Thursday, November 7, 2013

Comet ISON Heats Up, Grows New Tail

Comet ISON Heats Up, Grows New Tail:
Two new tail streamers are visible between Comet ISON's green coma and bright star near center. in this photo taken on Nov. 6. They're possibly the beginning of an ion tail. Click to enlarge. Credit: Damian Peach
Comet ISON Heats Up, Grows New Tail
Two faint tail streamers are visible between Comet ISON’s green coma and bright star near center. in this photo taken on Nov. 6. They’re possibly the beginning of an ion tail. Click to enlarge. Credit: Damian Peach
I’m starting to get the chills about Comet ISON. I can’t help it. With practically every telescope turned the comet’s way fewer than three short weeks before perihelion, every week brings new images and developments. The latest pictures show a brand new tail feature emerging from the comet’s bulbous coma. For months, amateur and professional astronomers alike have watched ISON’s slowly growing dust tail that now stretches nearly half a degree or a full moon’s diameter. In the past two days, photos taken by amateur astronomers reveal what appears to be a nascent ion or gas tail. Damian Peach’s Nov. 6 image clearly shows two spindly streamers.
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‘Freakish’ Asteroid Has Six Tails, Sheds Stuff Into Space

‘Freakish’ Asteroid Has Six Tails, Sheds Stuff Into Space:
Pictures of asteroid P/2013 P5 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA)
‘Freakish’ Asteroid Has Six Tails, Sheds Stuff Into Space
Pictures of asteroid P/2013 P5 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA)
A lawn sprinkler in space. That’s one of the descriptions NASA has for the curious P/2013 P5, which is spewing not one, not two, but six comet-like tails at the same time.
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‘Stairways to Mars’ Concept Proposes Truck Stops Near The Red Planet

‘Stairways to Mars’ Concept Proposes Truck Stops Near The Red Planet:
Robotic construction of the proposed "Stairway to Mars", a concept for fuelling spacecraft on their way to other destinations. Credit: Anna Nesterova art
‘Stairways to Mars’ Concept Proposes Truck Stops Near The Red Planet
Robotic construction of the proposed “Stairway to Mars”, a concept for fuelling spacecraft on their way to other destinations. Credit: Anna Nesterova art
Any road trip requires rest stops to refuel and rest. That’s especially true of planetary exploration, as it would take months between destinations. In that spirit, here is a new concept for “Mars truck stops” from the Space Development Steering Committee, which they call “Stairways to Mars.”
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The Stars of Orion Seen Blazing From Orbit

The Stars of Orion Seen Blazing From Orbit:
The constellation Orion photographed from orbit by Karen Nyberg (NASA)
The Stars of Orion Seen Blazing From Orbit
The constellation Orion photographed from orbit by Karen Nyberg in August 2013 (NASA)
The mighty hunter soars above the atmosphere in this photo, taken by NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg currently living and working in space aboard the ISS. One of the most recognizable constellations in night skies all across the Earth, Orion also puts on an impressive display for those well above the Earth!
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Bright Venus Takes Center Stage in November

Bright Venus Takes Center Stage in November:
(Credit: Brian McGaffney/Nutwood Observatory).
Bright Venus Takes Center Stage in November
Venus plus its reflection and the Milky Way off of the Gulf of Mexico. (Credit: Brian McGaffney/Nutwood Observatory).
“What’s that bright object to the southwest at dusk?” We’ve already fielded more than a few such questions as Earth’s sister world shines in the dusk sky.  Venus just passed its maximum elongation 47 degrees east of the Sun on November 1st, and currently shines at a brilliant magnitude -4.46. This is almost 16 times brighter than the brightest star in the sky, -1.46th magnitude Sirius.
(...)
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Lovely Green Olivine On Vesta Paints A Different Formation History

Lovely Green Olivine On Vesta Paints A Different Formation History:
The mineral olivine on Vesta, as seen from hyperspectral data received during the Dawn mission. Credit: Image generated by Alessandro Frigeri and Eleonora Ammannito using VIR data and Framing Camera images.
Lovely Green Olivine On Vesta Paints A Different Formation History
The mineral olivine on Vesta, as seen from hyperspectral data received during the Dawn mission. Credit: Image generated by Alessandro Frigeri and Eleonora Ammannito using VIR data and Framing Camera images.
That ghoul-like sheen on the asteroid Vesta, as seen in the image above, is not some leftover of Hallowe’en. It’s evidence of the mineral olivine. Scientists have seen it before in “differentiated” bodies — those that have a crust and an inner core — but in this case, it’s turning up in an unexpected location.
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Early Supermassive Black Holes First Formed as Twins

Early Supermassive Black Holes First Formed as Twins:
Two nascent black holes formed by the collapse of an early supergiant star. From a visualization by by Christian Reisswig (Caltech).
Early Supermassive Black Holes First Formed as Twins
Two nascent black holes formed by the collapse of a single supergiant star. From a simulation by by Christian Reisswig (Caltech).
It’s one of the puzzles of cosmology and stellar evolution: how did supermassive black holes get so… well, supermassive… in the early Universe, when seemingly not enough time had yet passed for them to accumulate their mass through steady accretion processes alone? It takes a while to eat up a billion solar masses’ worth of matter, even with a healthy appetite and lots within gravitational reach. But yet there they are: monster black holes are common within some of the most distant galaxies, flaunting their precocious growth even as the Universe was just celebrating its one billionth birthday.
Now, recent findings by researchers at Caltech suggest that these ancient SMBs were formed by the death of certain types of primordial giant stars, exotic stellar dinosaurs that grew large and died young. During their violent collapse not just one but two black holes are formed, each gathering its own mass before eventually combining together into a single supermassive monster.
Watch a simulation and find out more about how this happens below:
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Spectacular Halo Around the Sun Seen in Africa

Spectacular Halo Around the Sun Seen in Africa:
A solar halo seen over Klerksdorp, South Africa on Nov. 6, 2013. Credit: Daniël Engelbrecht
Spectacular Halo Around the Sun Seen in Africa
A solar halo seen over Klerksdorp, South Africa on Nov. 6, 2013. Credit:
Daniël Engelbrecht
Fresh off seeing a solar eclipse on Sunday, people across the southern parts of Africa witnessed another solar spectacle today, a sun halo. “It was so beautiful, everyone was taking pictures and sharing them on Facebook,” said Daniël Engelbrecht from Klerksdorp, South Africa, sending in his picture to Universe Today via email.
These halos are quite the sight to see, but unlike an eclipse, they can’t be predicted. Conditions in the atmosphere have to be just right, with moisture or ice crystals creating a “rainbow” effect around the Sun. Sometimes the halos surround the Sun completely, other times, they appear as arcs around the Sun creating what is known as sundogs. Basically, sunlight is reflecting off moisture in the atmosphere.
Ice crystals in Earth’s atmosphere can also cause rings around the Moon, and moondogs(as well as sundogs) and even Venus pillars. News reports indicate sun halos were seen just a few days ago in Africa as well, on Nov. 1, 2013.
A few other people sent in images from their phones, too of today’s sun halo:
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Crew Launches to Space Station with Olympic Torch

Crew Launches to Space Station with Olympic Torch:
The Soyuz TMA-11M rocket is launched with Expedition 38/39. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.
Crew Launches to Space Station with Olympic Torch
The Soyuz TMA-11M rocket is launched with Expedition 38/39. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.
Three new crew members are on their way to the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata and Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos launched on a Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:14 p.m. EST (04:14:00 UTC, 10:14 a.m. Thursday, Kazakh time). They’ll use the accelerated “fast-track” trajectory and arrive at the station in just a few hours, at 10:31 UTC (5:31 a.m. EST Thursday.)
In an usual situation, when the new crew arrives, there will be nine crew members and three Soyuz vehicles at the ISS. The timing of crew exchange works to enable a complicated “relay race” of a special Olympic torch from the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. (...)
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India’s Mars Orbiter Mission Rising to Red Planet – Glorious Launch Gallery

India’s Mars Orbiter Mission Rising to Red Planet – Glorious Launch Gallery:
Clouds on the ground ! The sky seems inverted for a moment ! Blastoff of India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) on Nov. 5, 2013 from the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. Credit: ISRO
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission Rising to Red Planet – Glorious Launch Gallery
Clouds on the ground !
The sky seems inverted for a moment ! Blastoff of India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) on Nov. 5, 2013 from the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. Credit: ISRO
With India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) safely and flawlessly injected into her initial elliptical Earth parking orbit following Tuesday’s (Nov. 5) spectacular launch, the flight has quickly transitioned to the next stage – the crucial series of thruster firings to raise MOM’s orbit around Earth dubbed “Midnight Maneuvers” and achieve escape velocity.
Barely a day after blastoff, ISRO engineers successfully completed the first of six orbit raising “Midnight Maneuver” burns at 01:17 hrs IST today (Nov. 6) with MOM’s liquid fueled thruster – see graphic below.(...)
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Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Astronomy Cast 320: Layers of the Sun

Astronomy Cast 320: Layers of the Sun:

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22% of Sun-like Stars have Earth-sized Planets in the Habitable Zone

22% of Sun-like Stars have Earth-sized Planets in the Habitable Zone:
The "Goldilocks" zone around a star is where a planet is neither too hot nor too cold to support liquid water. Illustration by Petigura/UC Berkeley, Howard/UH-Manoa, Marcy/UC Berkeley.
22% of Sun-like Stars have Earth-sized Planets in the Habitable Zone
The “Goldilocks” zone around a star is where a planet is neither too hot nor too cold to support liquid water. Illustration by Petigura/UC Berkeley, Howard/UH-Manoa, Marcy/UC Berkeley.
How common are planets like Earth? That’s been a question astronomers and dreamers have pondered for decades, and now, thanks to the Kepler spacecraft, they have an answer. One in five Sun-like stars in our galaxy have Earth-sized planets that could host life, according to a recent study of Kepler data.
“What this means is, when you look up at the thousands of stars in the night sky, the nearest sun-like star with an Earth-size planet in its habitable zone is probably only 12 light years away and can be seen with the naked eye. That is amazing,” said UC Berkeley graduate student Erik Petigura, who led the analysis of the Kepler and Keck Observatory data.
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