Saturday, May 3, 2014

Gas Cloud or Star? Mystery Object Heading Towards Our Galaxy’s Supermassive Black Hole is Doomed

Gas Cloud or Star? Mystery Object Heading Towards Our Galaxy’s Supermassive Black Hole is Doomed:

This simulation shows the G2 gas cloud/star during its close approach to the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Image by ESO/MPE/Marc Schartmann.

This simulation shows the G2 gas cloud/star during its close approach to the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Image by ESO/MPE/Marc Schartmann.
Observatories around the world and in space have been honed-in on the center of our galaxy, looking for possible fireworks to erupt as a mystery object heads towards our galaxy’s supermassive black hole. The object – called G2 – is being watched in an intense observing campaign across all wavelengths with multiple observatories. This is the first time astronomers have been able to watch an encounter with a black hole like this in real time, and the hope is that watching G2’s demise will reveal not only what this object actually is, but also provide more information on how matter behaves near black holes and how supermassive black holes “eat” and evolve.

“We’re indeed working on new observation of G2 right now,” astronomer Leo Meyer from UCLA told Universe Today, “and we’re in a position to make a significant new statement about it very soon.”

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Spin! Exoplanet’s Day Finishes Blazing Fast Compared To Earth

Spin! Exoplanet’s Day Finishes Blazing Fast Compared To Earth:

Artist's impression of Beta Pictoris b. Credit: ESO L. Calçada/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)

Artist’s impression of Beta Pictoris b. Credit: ESO L. Calçada/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org)
Between the time you got to work this morning and the time you leave today — assuming an eight-hour work cycle — an entire day will have passed on Beta Pictoris b, according to new measurements of the exoplanet.

This daily cycle, mapped for the first time on a planet outside of the solar system, may reveal a link between how big a planet is and how fast it rotates, astronomers stated. That said, caution is needed because there are only a handful of planets where the rotation is known: the eight planets of our Solar System and Beta Pictoris b.

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‘Runaway’ Star Cluster Breaks Free from Distant Galaxy

‘Runaway’ Star Cluster Breaks Free from Distant Galaxy:

This artist's illustration shows the hypervelocity star cluster HVGC-1 escaping from the supergiant elliptical galaxy M87. HVGC-1 is the first runaway star cluster discovered by astronomers. It is fated to drift through intergalactic space. David A. Aguilar (CfA)

This artist’s illustration shows the hypervelocity star cluster HVGC-1 escaping from the supergiant elliptical galaxy M87. HVGC-1 is the first runaway star cluster discovered by astronomers. It is fated to drift through intergalactic space.
Image Credit: David A. Aguilar (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
There are a few single stars we’ve discovered that break the stellar speed limit, and they are known as hypervelocity stars. But today astronomers multiplied the number of these ‘runaway’ stars by hundreds of thousands. The Virgo Cluster galaxy, M87, has ejected an entire star cluster, throwing it toward us at more than two million miles per hour.

“Astronomers have found runaway stars before, but this is the first time we’ve found a runaway star cluster,” said lead author Nelson Caldwell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in a press release.

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Astrophoto: Awesome Views of a Sombrero in Space

Astrophoto: Awesome Views of a Sombrero in Space:

A lovely view of the Sombrero Galaxy in Virgo. Taken remotely from Siding Spring Observatory, Australia during several nights in April. Credit and copyright: Ian Sharp.

A lovely view of the Sombrero Galaxy in Virgo. Taken remotely from Siding Spring Observatory, Australia during several nights in April. Credit and copyright: Ian Sharp.
Here’s a wonderful view of the Sombrero Galaxy (M104, NGC 4594) in Virgo. This multi-hour, deep exposure was taken remotely by astrophotographer Ian Sharp from the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia over the past few weeks, with 12 hours of Luminance and 5 hours each on R, G and B channels.

The Sombrero Galaxy is a spiral galaxy that we see edge-on from Earth. Its outer dust lanes and bright central bulge aare visible in this wonderful image. There’s a zoomed out version, below, and you can see more of Ian Sharp’s great imagery at his website.

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Object “G2″ Still Intact at Closest Approach to Galactic Center, Astronomers Report

Object “G2″ Still Intact at Closest Approach to Galactic Center, Astronomers Report:

This simulation shows the future behaviour of a gas cloud that has been observed approaching the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Graphic by ESO/MPE/Marc Schartmann.

This simulation shows the future behaviour of a gas cloud that has been observed approaching the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Graphic by ESO/MPE/Marc Schartmann.
The latest observations by the Keck Observatory in Hawaii show that the gas cloud called “G2” was surprisingly still intact, even during its closest approach to the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Astronomers from the UCLA Galactic Center Group reported today that observations obtained on March 19 and 20, 2014 show the object’s density was still “robust” enough to be detected. This means G2 is not just a gas cloud, but likely has a star inside.

“We conclude that G2, which is currently experiencing its closest approach, is still intact,” said the group in an Astronomer’s Telegram, “in contrast to predictions for a simple gas cloud hypothesis and therefore most likely hosts a central star. Keck LGSAO observations of G2 will continue in the coming months to monitor how this unusual object evolves as it emerges from periapse passage.”

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Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Snail Turns Flower Into An Umbrella, And Proves He's The Thriftiest Mollusk Out There (PHOTO)

Snail Turns Flower Into An Umbrella, And Proves He's The Thriftiest Mollusk Out There (PHOTO): Nobody likes to get rained on. This includes humans, this tree frog and especially this snail, even though some snails come out of their shells when it rains.

Vyacheslav Mischenko, a photographer from Ukraine, captured this stunning image in a forest near his home. This thrifty snail turned a flower into an umbrella, and sheltered there to protect himself from the rain. Snails aren't known for being the prettiest animals, but this photo definitely sheds light on how unique these creatures really are.

Mischenko said that the image's colors and setting reminded him of Monet's 1886 painting "Woman With A Parasol".



snail umbrella
Snail Turns Flower Into An Umbrella, And Proves He's The Thriftiest Mollusk Out There (PHOTO)



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If You Didn't Catch The 'Blood Moon,' These Unbelievable Photos Show Exactly What You Missed

If You Didn't Catch The 'Blood Moon,' These Unbelievable Photos Show Exactly What You Missed: On Tuesday, April 15, skywatchers around the world were treated to 2014's first total lunar eclipse -- and the resulting "blood moon" was quite a thriller. Why "blood?" During the eclipse, the moon's hue ranges from bright orange to blood red, thanks to sunlight that seeps through the Earth's atmosphere onto the moon's face.

The eclipse, which peaked at 3 a.m. EDT, was visible from most of North and South America. It was the first of four consecutive total lunar eclipses, called a 'tetrad,' between April 2014 and September 2015.

If you missed the sky's show, find a stunning recap below:



Here's a time-lapse of the whole event.



Stabilized blood moon eclipse




This is the view of the blood moon from University of Arizona's Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter.







A shot of the moon through trees, via Joe Sheller on Flickr.



Blood Moon 4-15-14




The moon coming out of eclipse, via Leonardo Ezequiel Marques on Flickr.



Blood Moon




Three stages of the eclipse, via Shane422 on Flickr.



Lunar-Eclipse



Halfway through the eclipse, a view from Coffs Harbour, Australia via Frank on Flickr.



Lunar Eclipse




A close-up of the lunar eclipse, shot at an informal "star party" near the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium at Science City, in Kansas City, Missouri by John Sleezer/Kansas City Star/MCT via Getty Images.

blood moon




A striking portrait by photographer Enrique Tubio.

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Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Universe News : Rocky Alien Planet Leftovers ‘Polluted’ White Dwarf Stars With Metal

Rocky Alien Planet Leftovers ‘Polluted’ White Dwarf Stars With Metal:

Artist’s impression of a massive asteroid belt in orbit around a star. Credit: NASA-JPL / Caltech / T. Pyle (SSC)
Universe News : Rocky Alien Planet Leftovers ‘Polluted’ White Dwarf Stars With Metal
Artist’s impression of a massive asteroid belt in orbit around a star. Credit: NASA-JPL / Caltech / T. Pyle (SSC)
What’s with all the metals in the atmosphere of white dwarfs, those things that are corpses of stars like our own Sun? While before scientists had theories about levitating star layers that “polluted” the white dwarfs, new research shows it’s more likely due to rocky material. More specifically, material left over from planet formation.

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Universe News : Discovery! Possible Dwarf Planet Found Far Beyond Pluto’s Orbit

Discovery! Possible Dwarf Planet Found Far Beyond Pluto’s Orbit:



Artist's conception of Sedna, a dwarf planet in the solar system that only gets within 76 astronomical units (Earth-sun distances) of our sun. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Universe News : Discovery! Possible Dwarf Planet Found Far Beyond Pluto’s Orbit
Artist’s conception of Sedna, a dwarf planet in the solar system that only gets within 76 astronomical units (Earth-sun distances) of our sun. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
What is a dwarf planet? Some astronomers have been asking that question after Pluto was demoted from planethood almost a decade ago, partly due to discoveries of other worlds of similar proportions.

Today, astronomers announced the discovery of 2012 VP113, a world that, assuming its reflectivity is moderate, is 280 miles (450 kilometers) in size and orbiting even further away from the sun than Pluto or even the more distant Sedna (announced in 2004). If 2012 VP113 is made up mostly of ice, this would make it large (and round) enough to be a dwarf planet, the astronomers said.

Peering further into 2012 VP113′s discovery, however, brings up several questions. What are the boundaries of the Oort Cloud, the region of icy bodies where the co-discoverers say it resides? Was it placed there due to a sort of Planet X? And what is the definition of a dwarf planet anyway?

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Aurora Borealis : Eye-Popping Aurora in Alaska

Eye-Popping Aurora in Alaska:



Aurora Borealis coronal display near Fairbanks Alaska, on March 25, 2014. Credit and copyright: John Chumack.
Aurora Borealis : Eye-Popping Aurora in Alaska
Aurora Borealis coronal display near Fairbanks Alaska, on March 25, 2014. Credit and copyright: John Chumack.
For the past several years, astrophotographer John Chumack has lead a tour to Alaska on how to photograph the northern lights and the night sky, and this year was a great success. “We experienced perfect weather this year: 10 clear nights in a row, with an aurora display every night,” John said via email. Last week, we featured some of images from this year’s trip, but here are some additional images that are really amazing, plus John has put together a stunning timelapse from images he took on March 26, see below:

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Tranquil-Looking Galaxy Bears ‘Battle Scars’ From Ancient Struggles

Tranquil-Looking Galaxy Bears ‘Battle Scars’ From Ancient Struggles:



NGC 1316 (left) and its smaller companion galaxy NGC 1317. Image taken with the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. Credit: ESO
Tranquil-Looking Galaxy Bears ‘Battle Scars’ From Ancient Struggles
NGC 1316 (left) and its smaller companion galaxy NGC 1317. Image taken with the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. Credit: ESO
Shining 60 million light-years away all serene-looking is NGC 1316 (left) and a smaller galaxy NGC 1317. This new picture from the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, however, reveals “battle scars” of ancient fights, the observatory stated.

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Universe News : The Moon Is Just 95 Million Years Younger Than The Solar System: Study

The Moon Is Just 95 Million Years Younger Than The Solar System: Study:



An airplane at about 2,400 meters above the ground passes in front of the Moon on its way to landing at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France. Taken from about 70 km from Paris. Credit and copyright: Sebastien Lebrigand.
Universe News : The Moon Is Just 95 Million Years Younger Than The Solar System: Study
An airplane at about 2,400 meters above the ground passes in front of the Moon on its way to landing at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France. Taken from about 70 km from Paris. Credit and copyright: Sebastien Lebrigand.
Stuff from Earth’s interior, combined with simulations, have one research team pinning down the Moon’s age to only 95 million years after the Solar System formed (which would make our closest satellite about 4.4 billion years old.)

The simulation involved replicating how the Earth and the other terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus and Mars) grew from a protoplanetary disc surrounding the young Sun. After 259 simulations, the researchers uncovered a link between when a Mars-sized object smacked Earth (eventually forming the Moon) and how much material Earth gained after the crash.

“This correlation just jumped out of the simulations and held in each set of old simulations we looked at,” stated Seth Jacobson of the Observatory of Cote d’Azur in France, who led the study.

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Three NASA Telescopes Begin Hunt For Earliest Galaxies

Three NASA Telescopes Begin Hunt For Earliest Galaxies:



A grouping of galaxies, known as J0717 (center) is visible in this Spitzer Space Telescope image. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/P. Capak (Caltech)
Three NASA Telescopes Begin Hunt For Earliest Galaxies
A grouping of galaxies, known as J0717 (center) is visible in this Spitzer Space Telescope image. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/P. Capak (Caltech)
Talk about turning back time. Three NASA observatories — the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope — are all working together to look for the universe’s first galaxies. The project is called “Frontier Fields” and aims to examine these galaxies through a technique called gravitational lensing, which allows astronomers to peer at more distant objects when massive objects in front bend their light.

“Our overall science goal with the Frontier Fields is to understand how the first galaxies in the universe assembled,” stated Peter Capak, a research scientist with the NASA/JPL Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology and the Spitzer lead for the Frontier Fields.

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Cassini Spacecraft Confirms Subsurface Ocean on Enceladus

Cassini Spacecraft Confirms Subsurface Ocean on Enceladus:



Jets of icy particles bursting from Saturn's moon Enceladus are shown in this Cassini image taken on November 2005. Credit: NASA/ESA/ASI.
Cassini Spacecraft Confirms Subsurface Ocean on Enceladus
Jets of icy particles bursting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus are shown in this Cassini image taken on November 2005. Credit: NASA/ESA/ASI.
Ever since the Cassini spacecraft first spied water vapor and ice spewing from fractures in Enceladus’ frozen surface in 2005, scientists have hypothesized that a large reservoir of water lies beneath that icy surface, possibly fueling the plumes. Now, gravity measurements gathered by Cassini have confirmed that this enticing moon of Saturn does in fact harbor a large subsurface ocean near its south pole.

“For the first time, we have used a geophysical method to determine the internal structure of Enceladus, and the data suggest that indeed there is a large, possibly regional ocean about 50 kilometers below the surface of the south pole,” says David Stevenson from Caltech, a coauthor on a paper on the finding, published in the current issue of the journal Science. “This then provides one possible story to explain why water is gushing out of these fractures we see at the south pole.”

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The Universe News : El Gordo Galaxy Cluster Even Bigger Than Thought

El Gordo Galaxy Cluster Even Bigger Than Thought:



Hubble Space Telescope image of the El Gordo galaxy cluster. Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Jee (University of California, Davis)
The Universe News : El Gordo Galaxy Cluster Even Bigger Than Thought
Hubble Space Telescope image of the El Gordo galaxy cluster. Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Jee (University of California, Davis)
The Hubble Space Telescope has a new calculation for the huge El Gordo galaxy cluster: 3 million billion times the mass of the Sun. This is even 43 per cent more massive than past estimates that examined the complex in X-rays, NASA stated.

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AURORA BOREALIS : Stunning Aurora at Mount Kirkjufell in Iceland

Stunning Aurora at Mount Kirkjufell in Iceland:



Aurora and starry skies at Mount Kirkjufell, Iceland on April 2, 2014. Credit and copyright: Nanut Bovorn.
AURORA BOREALIS : Stunning Aurora at Mount Kirkjufell in Iceland
Aurora and starry skies at Mount Kirkjufell, Iceland on April 2, 2014. Credit and copyright: Nanut Bovorn.
Wow! Mount Kirkjufell is a well-known and often-photographed landmark, and there are many who say it is the most beautiful mountain in Iceland. Photographer Nanut Bovorn captured Kirkjufell in all its glory on April 2, 2014, surrounded by starry skies and an incredible aurora. Simply stunning.

Below is another image taken the same night which also shows the beautiful landscape that surrounds Kirkjufell, with a stream and waterfalls, all under the beautiful nights skies in Iceland.

Mount Kirkjufell sits on a little peninsula and is 463 meters high.

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Universe News : Quasars Tell The Story Of How Fast The Young Universe Expanded

Quasars Tell The Story Of How Fast The Young Universe Expanded:



Artist's conception of how the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey uses quasars to make measurements. The light these objects sends out gets absorbed by gas in between the receiver and the source. The gas is then
Universe News : Quasars Tell The Story Of How Fast The Young Universe Expanded
Artist’s conception of how the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey uses quasars to make measurements. The light these objects sends out gets absorbed by gas in between the receiver and the source. The gas is then “imprinted with a subtle ring-like pattern of known physical scale”, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey stated. Credit: Zosia Rostomian (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) and Andreu Font-Ribera (BOSS Lyman-alpha team, Berkeley Lab.)
For those who saw the Cosmos episode on William Herschel describing telescopes as time machines, here is a clear example of that. By examining 140,000 objects called quasars (galaxies with an active black hole at their centers), astronomers have charted the expansion rate of the universe — not now, but 10.8 billion years ago.

This is the most precise measurement ever of the universe’s expansion rate at any point in time, the science teams said, with the calculation showing the universe was expanding by 1% every 44 million years at that time. (That figure is to 2% precision, the researchers added.)

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Universe News : Comet Jacques Brightens Rapidly, Heads North

Comet Jacques Brightens Rapidly, Heads North:



On April 4, Comet C/2014 E2 Jacques had developed an ion or gas tail (extending to the right) in addition to its dust tail. The coma also glows a faint green from fluorescing carbon compounds. Credit: Damian Peach
Universe News : Comet Jacques Brightens Rapidly, Heads North
On April 4, Comet C/2014 E2 Jacques had developed an ion or gas tail (extending to the lower right of the hazy coma) in addition to its dust tail. The coma also glows a faint green from fluorescing carbon compounds – all good signs that’s it’s becoming more active on its journey toward the sun. Credit: Damian Peach
We’ve got a hot comet on our hands. Comet Jacques barely cracked magnitude +11 at the time of its March 13 discovery, but just three weeks later, amateur astronomers have already spotted it in large binoculars at magnitude +9.5. Expert comet observer Michael Mattiazzo, who maintains the Southern Comets Homepage, predicts that if Comet Jacques continues its rapid rise in brightness, it might become faintly visible with the naked eye by July. (...)
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Planet News : Mercury Had Quite The Explosive Past, Spacecraft Analysis Shows

Mercury Had Quite The Explosive Past, Spacecraft Analysis Shows:



The different colors in this MESSENGER image of Mercury indicate the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up the planet’s surface. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Planet News : Mercury Had Quite The Explosive Past, Spacecraft Analysis Shows
The different colors in this MESSENGER image of Mercury indicate the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up the planet’s surface. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Mercury — a planet once thought to have no volcanism at all — likely had a very active past, a new analysis of images from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft shows. After looking at 51 vents across Mercury, the team concluded that they show different amounts of erosion — hinting that the explosions happened at different times in the planet’s history.

“If [the explosions] happened over a brief period and then stopped, you’d expect all the vents to be degraded by approximately the same amount,” stated Goudge, a graduate geology student at Brown University who led the research.

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Universe News : Two Observing Challenges: Catch Venus Passing Neptune And Occulting a Bright Star

Two Observing Challenges: Catch Venus Passing Neptune And Occulting a Bright Star:



The Milky Way, The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, Zodiacal Light, and Venus as seen from the Karoo Desert in South Africa early this month. Credit: Cory Schmitz.
Universe News : Two Observing Challenges: Catch Venus Passing Neptune And Occulting a Bright Star
The Milky Way, The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, Zodiacal Light, and Venus as seen from the Karoo Desert in South Africa early this month. Credit: Cory Schmitz.
 Have you been following the planet Venus this season? 2014 sees the brightest planet in our Earthly skies spend a majority of its time in the dawn. Shining at magnitude -3.8, it’s hard to miss in the morning twilight. But dazzling Venus is visiting two unique celestial objects over the next week, and both present unique observing challenges for the seasoned observer.(...)
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How CERN’s Discovery of Exotic Particles May Affect Astrophysics

How CERN’s Discovery of Exotic Particles May Affect Astrophysics:



The difference between a neutron star and a quark star (Chandra)
How CERN’s Discovery of Exotic Particles May Affect Astrophysics
The difference between a neutron star and a quark star (Chandra)
You may have heard that CERN announced the discovery of a strange particle known as Z(4430).  A paper summarizing the results has been published on the physics arxiv, which is a repository for preprint (not yet peer reviewed) physics papers.  The new particle is about 4 times more massive than a proton, has a negative charge, and appears to be a theoretical particle known as a tetraquark.  The results are still young, but if this discovery holds up it could have implications for our understanding of neutron stars.(...)
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Universe News : Supernova Sweeps Away Rubbish In New Composite Image

Supernova Sweeps Away Rubbish In New Composite Image:



The supernova remnant G352.7-0.1 in a composite image with X-rays from the Chandra X-Ray Telescope (blue), radio waves from the Very Large Array (pink), infrared information from the Spitzer Space Telescope (orange) and optical data from the Digital Sky Survey (white). Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Morehead State Univ/T.Pannuti et al.; Optical: DSS; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Radio: NRAO/VLA/Argentinian Institute of Radioastronomy/G.Dubner
Universe News : Supernova Sweeps Away Rubbish In New Composite Image
The supernova remnant G352.7-0.1 in a composite image with X-rays from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (blue), radio waves from the Very Large Array (pink), infrared information from the Spitzer Space Telescope (orange) and optical data from the Digital Sky Survey (white). Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Morehead State Univ/T.Pannuti et al.; Optical: DSS; Infrared: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Radio: NRAO/VLA/Argentinian Institute of Radioastronomy/G.Dubner
Shining 24,000 light-years from Earth is an expanding leftover of a supernova that is doing a great cleanup job in its neighborhood. As this new composite image from NASA reveals, G352.7-0.1 (G352 for short) is more efficient than expected, picking up debris equivalent to about 45 times the mass of the Sun.

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Backup Computer Glitches On Space Station But Crew Safe, NASA Says

Backup Computer Glitches On Space Station But Crew Safe, NASA Says:



The International Space Station. Credit: NASA
Backup Computer Glitches On Space Station But Crew Safe, NASA Says
The International Space Station. Credit: NASA
A backup computer that controls “some systems associated with robotics” on the International Space Station is not “responding to commands”, NASA said in a late-night statement Eastern time Friday (April 11).

The crew is safe, there’s no “immediate” change to space station operations, and because the primary computer is working, there’s also no alteration to the SpaceX Dragon launch to the station on Monday – which requires the robotic Canadarm2 for berthing. NASA added, however, that there are “further evaluations” going on, meaning the date could change depending on what controllers figure out.

If the computer does need to be replaced, crew members of Expedition 39 will need to do at least one spacewalk, the agency added. NASA is allowing contingency spacewalks in American spacesuits to go forward as the agency addresses problems raised in a report about a life-threatening spacesuit leak in July.

Below the jump is the statement NASA put out tonight concerning the situation.

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Posted by Nelio Inacio at 5:42 AM 0 comments
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