Universe Today » Nancy Atkinson

One Strange Mars Rock

Nancy Atkinson — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:37:48 +0000

Opportunity has come upon another big rock on Mars. But what is it? Another meteorite? A big clump of ejecta from an old impact? There's lots of other debris scattered around this area as well. The rock has been named "Marquette Island," staying with the island theme for the other meteorites Oppy has come across, and the rover may take the "opportunity" to get closer to this rock and check it out, given the sand dunes surrounding it don't provide too much of an obstacle. So maybe next week we'll find out what it is. But in the meantime, enjoy these color and 3-D images (see more below) of the rock via Stu Atkinson from Unmannedspaceflight.com. Check out more great looks at Marquette Island at Stu's blog about Oppy's travels, Road to Endeavour.

Oh, and rumor has it that the extrication process may have begun to free the Spirit rover. Latest images show she has moved every so slightly. More as it becomes available….
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Mars, Mars Rovers, Opportunity

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Early Galaxy Pinpoints Reionization Era

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:17:46 +0000

Astronomers looking to pinpoint when the reionozation of the Universe took place have found some of the earliest galaxies about 800 million years after the Big Bang. 22 early galaxies were found using a method that looks for far-away redshifting sources that disappear or "drop-out" at a specific wavelength. The age of one galaxy was confirmed by a characteristic neutral hydrogen signature at 787 million years after the Big Bang. The finding is the first age-confirmation of a so-called dropout galaxy at that distant time and pinpoints when the reionization epoch likely began.
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Space Junk May Force Crew from ISS

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:54:37 +0000

Update #2, 5:30 pm: NASA has now said that after further analysis, the space debris they have been tracking no longer poses any concern or threat to the ISS. Everyone can rest easy tonight! The piece of debris was only 5 cm long, and will not pass within the "pizza box" zone around the station (0.75 x 25 x 25 kilometers) that calls for an alert.

A hard-to-track piece of space junk may come within a half a kilometer of the International Space Station later today, and NASA managers are considering asking the crew to board the docked Soyuz capsules as a precaution. The time of closest approach is at 10:48 p.m. EST, and the object was detected too late for the station to do an evasive maneuver. Depending on the outcome of additional tracking data analysis, the crew may be awakened later and directed to go into the Soyuz vehicles around 10:30 pm or given the option to sleep in Soyuz tonight. NASA says they don't believe the crew is at risk, but precautions are prudent in dealing with space debris.
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Podcast: Planet X

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:20:16 +0000

Astronomers have been searching for the mysterious Planet X for hundreds of years. It was the search for a theoretical planet beyond Uranus that turned up Neptune, and then again for Pluto. And even now there are some astronomers who think there's a more distant planet out there. Oh, and there are a bunch of pseudoscience cranks trying to freak people out about the end of the world. Don't worry, we'll make time for them too, but first let's start with some real science.

Click here to download the episode.

Or subscribe to: astronomycast.com/podcast.xml with your podcatching software.

Planet X show notes and transcript.

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Podcast: Pulsars

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:17:52 +0000

Imagine an object with the mass of the Sun, crushed down to the size of Manhattan. Now set that object spinning hundreds of times a second, blasting out powerful beams of radiation like a lighthouse. That's a pulsar, one of the most exotic objects in the Universe.

Click here to download the episode.

Or subscribe to: astronomycast.com/podcast.xml with your podcatching software.

Pulsars show notes and transcript.

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Answer for This Week's WITU Challenge Now Available

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:07:19 +0000

If you are still wondering what this weird object is, find out back at this week's Where In the Universe Challenge. The answer has now been posted. Thanks for playing, and check back next week for another test of your visual knowledge of the cosmos.

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Bread Dropped By Bird Causes Problems for LHC

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:52:44 +0000

Yes, this headline appears to be true. A bird dropping a piece of bread onto outdoor machinery has been blamed for a technical fault at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) this week which saw significant overheating on parts of the accelerator. The LHC was not operational at the time of the incident, but the spike produced so much heat that had the beam been on, automatic safety detectors would have shut down the machine. This would put the LHC out of action for a few days while it was restarted, but there would be no repeat of the catastrophic damage suffered last September. That's when an electrical connection in the circuit itself failed violently, causing a massive liquid-helium leak and subsequent damage along hundreds of meters of magnets.

Hmm. The idea of a time-traveling Higgs boson coming back to prevent its own discovery is seeming less and less far fetched!
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3-D Virtual Moon Browser from Kaguya Data

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:57:08 +0000

JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has released all the data from the Kaguya mission to the public. One of the ways to view the data is through a very nifty 3-D virtual brower. It only is available in Japanese for now (English version by the end of November, they say) so it is a little difficult to navigate, but once you figure it out, prepare yourself for loads of fun. First, you need Java. Then…
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Found: Theoretical Supernova Actually Exists

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:16:26 +0000

A new kind of supernova. Credit: Tony Piro

Astronomers have identified a type of supernova that appears to be a type predicted in theory but never actually observed before. Two years ago Lars Bildsten from UC Santa Barbara and his colleagues predicted a new type of supernova in distant galaxies which they dubbed the “.Ia” (point one a) mechanism, involving a helium detonation on a white dwarf, ejecting a small envelope of material. This theoretical explosion would be fainter than most other supernovae and its brightness would rise and fall in only a few weeks. Dovi Poznanski from Berkeley went back and looked at seven-year-old observations and found this unusual kind of supernova. Poznanski and colleagues say supernova 2002bj belongs in its own category, as its spectra suggest that it evolved extremely fast and produced an unusual combination of elements.
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High School Students Get Published in Astrophysics Journal

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:16:18 +0000

From the left: Klaus Beuermann (group leader), Jens Diese (back,teacher), and the high-school students Joshua Zachmann (front), Alexander-Maria Ploch (back), Sang Paik (front). JD, JZ, and AMP are from the Max-Planck-Gymnasium, SP is from the Felix-Klein-Gymnasium.

High school students from Germany have now done what many scientists strive for: had their research work published by a science journal. The Astronomy & Astrophysics science journal published a paper co-authored by three students who observed the light variations of the faint (19th magnitude) cataclysmic variable EK Ursae Majoris (EK UMa) over two months. Led by astronomer Klaus Beuermann from the University of Göttingen, and the students' high school physics teacher, the team made use of a remotely-controlled 1.2-meter telescope in Texas. Astronomy & Astrophysics says the team "presents an accurate, long-term ephemeris," and that "they participated in all the steps of a real research program, from initial observations to the publication process, and the result they obtained bears scientific significance."
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Astronomy, astrophysics, Variable Stars

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STS-129 Behind the Scenes: How to Put on the "Pumpkin Suit"

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:43:22 +0000

NASA has been creating some behind-the-scenes videos as the STS-129 crew prepares for their upcoming mission to the International Space Station. Astronaut Mike Massimino, of the HST servicing mission fame, hosts and records the videos, and this one is pretty interesting: what it takes to put on the orange launch and entry suits, also known as the Pumpkin Suits. It's not just the suit itself, but several layers of necessary garments underneath that make suiting up a chore, especially in the microgravity environment of space. Here, commander of STS-129, Charlie Hobaugh (a.k.a. "Scorch") practices putting on the Pumpkin Suit. You'll also get to see how the astronauts make their drinks on the space shuttle. Check out the other "behind-the-scenes" videos on the NASATelevision You Tube site; they'll be adding more as preparations for the flight continues. Launch is currently scheduled for Nov. 16 at 2:28 p.m. EST.

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Hubble Unveils Stunning Star Birth in M83

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:10:39 +0000

It appears Hubble's new Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) is working. And how! The new camera installed during Servicing Mission 4 in May has delivered the most detailed view of star birth in the graceful, curving arms of the nearby spiral galaxy M83. Nicknamed the Southern Pinwheel, M83 is undergoing more rapid star formation than our own Milky Way galaxy, especially in its nucleus. The sharp "eye" of WFC3 has captured hundreds of young star clusters, ancient swarms of globular star clusters, and hundreds of thousands of individual stars, mostly blue supergiants and red supergiants.
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NASA May Drop Ares I-Y Test Flight

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:09:19 +0000

Artist concept of Ares I. Image Credit: NASA

Just one week after the first test flight test of the Ares I-X rocket, NASA says it may decide to cancel a follow-up launch called Ares 1-Y, which wasn't scheduled until 2014. Reportedly, program managers recommended dropping the flight because, currently, there isn't the funding to get an upper stage engine ready in time. The test flight may be replaced with a new, still undefined test flight in 2012 or 2013. “It simply does not fit where we are headed,” said Jeff Hanley, Constellation Program manager was quoted in NASA's Constellation Blog. “The test vehicle was intended to meet evolving needs but the current configuration is too different from what the program requires to certify the Ares/Orion vehicle systems.”
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This Week's WITU Challenge

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:36:40 +0000

Here's this week's image for the WITU Challenge, to test your visual knowledge of the cosmos. You know what to do: take a look at this image and see if you can determine where in the universe this image is from; give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft responsible for the image. We’ll provide the image today, but won’t reveal the answer until tomorrow. This gives you a chance to mull over the image and provide your answer/guess in the comment section. Please, no links or extensive explanations of what you think this is — give everyone the chance to guess.

UPDATE: The answer has been posted below.

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LRO's Closer Look at the Apollo 12 Landing Site

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:18:43 +0000

Close-up view of Apollo 12 landing site from LRO. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

Wow! Just look at the detail visible in this image of the Apollo 12 landing site taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter from its lower mapping orbit of 50 km above the surface. Compared to earlier images taken in September when LRO was in a higher orbit, the Lunar Module descent stage really stands out, as well as the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package (ALSEP). Also visible are the trails left by spacewalking astronauts. From this and other LROC landing site images, it is clear that astronaut activity lowers the albedo, or reflectivity of the surface. Areas of heaviest activity have the lowest albedo, especially around the LM. NASA says this effect is most likely due to compaction of a very loose surface powder by the astronauts just walking around.

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© nancy for Universe Today, 2009. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Apollo landing sites, LRO, Moon

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Multi-Planet System is Chaotic, Dusty

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:27:36 +0000

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured this infrared image of a giant halo of very fine dust around the young star HR 8799. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Ariz.

Just what is going on over at the star HR 8799? The place is a mess! But we can just blame it on the kids. Young, hyperactive planets circling the star are thought to be disturbing smaller comet-like bodies, causing them to collide and kick up a huge halo of dust. HR 8799 was in the news in November 2008, for being one of the first with imaged planets. Now, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has taken a closer look at this planetary system and found it to be a very active, chaotic and dusty system. Ah, youth: our solar system was likely in a similar mess before our planets found their way to the stable orbits they circle in today.
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Extrasolar Planets, Spitzer Space Telescope

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Neutron Star at Core of Cas A Has Carbon Atmosphere

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:35:15 +0000

A Chandra X-ray Observatory image of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. Credit: NASA/CXC

Supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) has always been an enigma. While the explosion that created this supernova was obviously a powerful event, the visual brightness of the outburst that occurred over 300 years ago was much less than a normal supernova, — and in fact, was overlooked in the 1600's — and astronomers don't know why. Another mystery is whether the explosion that produced Cas A left behind a neutron star, black hole, or nothing at all. But in 1999, astronomers discovered an unknown bright object at the core of Cas A. Now, new observations with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory show this object is a neutron star. But the enigmas don't end there: this neutron star has a carbon atmosphere. This is the first time this type of atmosphere has been detected around such a small, dense object.
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2009. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cassiopeia A, Neutron Stars, supernova

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Hints of More Extra-Galactic Planets

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:23:36 +0000

M 51. Credit: NOAO

We regularly report on the discovery of extrasolar planets in our galaxy, but earlier this year came news of possibly the first planet discovered outside of the Milky Way. Now comes news of the potential discovery of dozens of extragalactic planetary systems. Erin Mentuch and her colleagues at the University of Toronto in Canada have analyzed 88 remote galaxies and found a broad continuum excess in the near-infrared. They conclude the most likely explanation for the 2-5 micron excess is the light from circumstellar disks, or young solar systems, forming around massive young stars. "[This] presents us with an exciting opportunity to measure the formation rate of planetary systems at cosmic epochs before our own Solar System formed," the team writes in their paper.
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Space Junk Threatens Future Missions

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:45:06 +0000

The U.S. Air Force began upgrading its ability to predict possible collisions in space after two satellites collided in February 2009, and has now done a collision analysis on over 800 maneuverable satellites. They hope to be able to track 500 more non-maneuvering satellites by year's end. But maneuverable satellites aren't the problem. The amount of space debris has risen by 40 per cent in the past four years alone. The Air Force Space Command now tracks 21,000 orbiting objects that are 10 centimeters or more across – including the 800 working satellites – and estimates that there are 500,000 smaller fragments in orbit.
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Mercury Gives Up More Secrets to MESSENGER

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:31:19 +0000

Even though the MESSENGER spacecraft experienced a "hiccup" during its third and final flyby of Mercury on Sept. 29, scientists are still pleased and surprised by the data garnered. The spacecraft went into safe mode, shutting down temporarily because of a power system switchover during a solar eclipse as it approached the planet and only half of the expected observations were carried out. But the new data – combined with observations from the two previous flybys — provide an almost complete view of Mercury's surface and offer new, unexpected scientific findings. "Although the area viewed for the first time by spacecraft was less than 350 miles across at the equator, the new images reminded us that Mercury continues to hold surprises," said principal investigator Sean Solomon.
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Chase Plane Footage of Ares I-X Flight

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:11:21 +0000

Here's some great additional footage from the Ares I-X flight taken from a chase plane, which shows the entire flight, including booster separation and parachute deploy — and the problems that happened with the parachutes. The video was taken from a Cessna Skymaster aircraft positioned approx. 10 nautical miles away from the vehicle at an altitude of 12,000 feet. The videographer used a gyro-stabilized high-definition camera system mounted to the outside of the aircraft to capture this spectacular footage which provides extremely valuable engineering data, and imagery of the recovery sequence in rarely-seen detail. This provides NASA with additional critical data from vehicle ascent, booster deceleration and parachute deploy.
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Do "Skeleton" Filaments Give Structure to the Universe?

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:46:37 +0000

This 3D illustration shows the position of the galaxies and reveals the extent of this gigantic structure. The galaxies located in the newly discovered structure are shown in red. Galaxies that are either in front or behind the structure are shown in blue. Credit: ESO

Are there "skeletons" out in the Universe –structures that form the framework of how galaxies are distributed? Astronomers have tracked down a gigantic, previously unknown assembly of galaxies located almost seven billion light-years away from us, which seems to point to a prominent galaxy structure in the distant Universe, providing further insight into the cosmic web and how it formed. “Matter is not distributed uniformly in the Universe,” says Masayuki Tanaka from ESO, who led the new study. “In our cosmic vicinity, stars form in galaxies and galaxies usually form groups and clusters of galaxies. The most widely accepted cosmological theories predict that matter also clumps on a larger scale in the so-called ‘cosmic web’, in which galaxies, embedded in filaments stretching between voids, create a gigantic wispy structure.”
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Fabulous! Enceladus Raw Flyby Images

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:37:39 +0000

Carolyn Porco, the lead for Cassini's imaging team, warned on Twitter that the flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus performed by the spacecraft on Nov. 2 wasn't really an "imaging" flyby, and that we might have to wait until the Nov. 21 flyby for really good images. But just take a look the images returned so far, with stunning looks at the jets shooting from the moon! Another image takes a close look at the surface. These are raw, unprocessed images, but what images they are! This is the second image from today's flyby returned by the spacecraft. See below for more.
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Bolden Revamps NASA Advisory Council

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:53 +0000

Miles O'Brien

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has restructured the NASA Advisory Council (NAC), adding several new committees in key areas of importance to the agency's future, including Education and Public Outreach, led by former CNN anchor Miles O'Brien and a Commercial Space, Information Technology Infrastructure committee led by Brett Alexander, the executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. "I consider the NASA Advisory Council to be an extremely important external advisory group, one that is uniquely capable to advise me and the entire NASA senior leadership team on some of the important decisions our agency will face in the coming months and years," Bolden said. "I am confident that this new structure will serve as an effective forum to stimulate meaningful advice to me and the rest of NASA's leadership."
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Solving the Mystery of Cosmic Rays' Origins

Nancy Atkinson — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:02:37 +0000

What accelerates cosmic rays to nearly the speed of light? Astronomer have pondered that question for nearly 100 years, and now new evidence supports a theory held for two decades that cosmic rays likely are powered by exploding stars and stellar winds. "This discovery has been predicted for almost 20 years, but until now no instrument was sensitive enough to see it," said Wystan Benbow, an astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory who coordinated this project for the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) collaboration.
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