Holiday Glitter With Omega Centauri

Omega Centauri. Credit: ESO

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A new image of Omega Centauri shows the globular cluster glittering away as one of the finest jewels of the southern hemisphere night sky. It contains millions of stars and is located about 17,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus, and sparkles at magnitude 3.7, appearing nearly as large as the full moon on the southern night sky. Visible with the unaided eye from a clear, dark observing site, when seen through even a modest amateur telescope, the Omega Centauri can be seen as incredible, densely packed sphere of glittering stars. But when astronomers use a professional telescopes, they are able to uncover amazing secrets of this beautiful globular cluster.

This new image is based on data collected with the Wide Field Imager (WFI), mounted on the 2.2-metre diameter Max-Planck/ESO telescope, located at ESO’s La Silla observatory, high up in the arid mountains of the southern Atacama Desert in Chile. Omega Centauri is about 150 light-years across and is the most massive of all the Milky Way’s globular clusters. It is thought to contain some ten million stars!

Recent research into this intriguing celestial giant suggests that there is a medium sized black hole sitting at its center. Observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini Observatory showed that stars at the cluster’s center were moving around at an unusual rate — the cause, astronomers concluded, was the gravitational effect of a massive black hole with a mass of roughly 40,000 times that of the Sun.

The presence of this black hole is just one of the reasons why some astronomers suspect Omega Centauri to be an imposter. Some believe that it is in fact the heart of a dwarf galaxy that was largely destroyed in an encounter with the Milky Way. Other evidence (see here and here) points to the several generations of stars present in the cluster — something unexpected in a typical globular cluster, which is thought to contain only stars formed at one time. Whatever the truth, this dazzling celestial object provides professional and amateur astronomers alike with an incredible view on clear dark nights.

Source: ESO

Conjunction Images From Dec. 1, ’08

Conjuction of Moon, Venus & Jupiter (w/moons). Photo courtesy of Tavi Greiner

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I was really looking forward to viewing last night’s triple conjunction of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter, but unfortunately we were socked in with clouds at my location. Fortunately, however there were lots of other people out there who had clear skies, as well as some great equipment to capture the event. Amateur astronomer Tavi Greiner took this spectacular image (link to larger image) at about 6:00 pm local time from the coastal region of North Carolina in the US, and even managed to capture two of Jupiter’s moons. Interestingly, she used just a Canon 400 D camera and telephoto zoom (no telecope) with an exposure of 1.3 seconds, (F/5.6 at ISO 400). Tavi has just recently started doing astrophotography, and was thrilled with this image. “That was such luck for me!” she said. ” We’ve had rain for days and days, and last night it cleared up. But now it’s raining again this (Tuesday) morning. So I feel so fortunate.”

Here’s a list of other places to see more images:

Spaceweather.com has a big list of submitted photos, including some great images taken from Europe of the lunar occultation of Venus. Cosmos4U has an even bigger list, the Discovery Blog will be posting images all week, and Phil Plait even tried his hand at astrophotography.

If you’re new to astrophotography or thinking about trying it, you can take heart from Tavi Greiner’s excellent results. She said she has been doing regular astronomy with telescopes and binoculars for quite some time, but got a camera a few months ago.

“I wanted to try astrophotography, but without a telescope,” she said. “I’ve been trying to teach myself, and I’m not very good at it yet, but I wanted to be able to show my children what’s all out there that we’re not seeing with our eyes. So I was really tickled with this particular picture, because it proves my point that we’re looking at this beautiful moon and the planets, and look at what our eyes aren’t seeing, but its right there: these little moons! It’s just thrilling. Just look at the things that can be revealed in just a few seconds.”

Here’s a link to Tavi’s image with out the notations.

Who Listens For Phoenix?

Phoenix. Credit: NASA/JPL/UA

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Phoenix isn’t merely dead; it’s really most sincerely dead. NASA has now stopped listening for any residual beeps sent by the Phoenix lander with the spacecraft orbiting Mars. After nearly a month of daily checks to listen for any last communications from the lander, the Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have ended their efforts to listen for Phoenix. The final communication from Phoenix remains a brief signal received via Odyssey on Nov. 2. “The variability of the Martian weather was a contributing factor to our loss of communications, and we were hoping that another variation in weather might give us an opportunity to contact the lander again,” said Phoenix Mission Manager Chris Lewicki of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The last attempt to listen for a signal from Phoenix was when Odyssey passed overhead at 3:49 p.m. PST Saturday, Nov. 29 (4:26 p.m. local Mars solar time on the 182nd Martian day, or sol, since Phoenix landed).

And now, a moment of silence…

The Phoenix lander operated for two overtime months after achieving its science goals during its original three-month mission. It landed on a Martian arctic plain on back on May 25.

As expected, reduced daily sunshine eventually left the solar-powered Phoenix craft without enough energy to keep its batteries charged.

The end of efforts to listen for Phoenix with Odyssey and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter had been planned for the start of solar conjunction, when the sun is almost directly between the Earth and Mars. This makes communications between Earth and Mars-orbiting spacecraft difficult, and so they are therefore minimized from now until mid-December.

Nov. 29 was selected weeks ago as the final date for relay monitoring of Phoenix because it provided several weeks to confirm the lander was really most sincerely dead, and it coincided with the beginning of solar conjunction. When they come out of the conjunction period, weather on far-northern Mars will be far colder, and the declining sunshine will have ruled out any chance of hearing from Phoenix.

Source: JPL

Made in Korea: Lunar Lander Unveiled

The "homemade" Korean Lunar Lander. Credit: Korean Times

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Everybody wants to go to the moon! Scientists from Korea recently unveiled a spacecraft developed completely in-house that could potentially be used for robotic exploration of the Moon. The mini-sized lander, shown above is about 40 centimeters tall (15.5 inches) and weighs 25 kilograms (55lbs). Scientists say it carry an additional 20 kilograms in payloads to the surface. Every part of the rocket engine was “homemade,” said Kwon Se-jin, a professor of aerospace engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). The lander, the result of a six year long effort, represents an advancement in technology, and an important step for Korea’s nascent space program.

The rocket’s propulsion includes a state-of-the-art propulsion and the engine’s design allows it to be powered by environmentally friendly fuel. Also, the Korean team was proud of the low costs associated with their new lander.

According to Kwon, lunar modules between the 100 and 200 kilogram range, developed by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) under the International Lunar Network (ILN) project costs around $100 million. The rocket engine created by his team could cut development costs to about half that, Kwon claimed.

“We have approached NASA over the possibilities of using our engine,” Kwon said, adding that his team is collaborating with other local scientists with the goal of landing a spacecraft on the moon by 2013.

“Lunar-landers are critical in developing lunar spacecraft, but advanced nations have been careful to protect their core technologies, so I think this is a big deal for us,” he said.

South Korea has been pushing an aggressive space program over the past decade, and objectives include having a man on the moon by 2020.

Korea’s current plans are to launch an Earth-orbiting satellite in early 2009 from a newly built spaceport. If successfully, Korea would become the ninth country to launch a satellite from its own soil.

But the Koreans also want to become part of an international space research project, the ILN, a project aiming to gradually place six to eight fixed or mobile science stations on the lunar surface. The stations will form a robotic network to replace the hardware left by the Apollo program to continue studies of the moon’s surface and interior.

Source: Korea Times

Wood Plank Found on Mars?

Panoramic image with "plank"-like rock. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

Over the long holiday weekend, Universe Today was flooded with emails from readers who asked us to comment on an image taken by the Opportunity rover that appears to show a plank of wood laying on the surface of Mars. The image, above, (here’s the full resolution image) was taken in May of 2004, about four and a half years ago, in the early part of the Mars Exploration Rover mission. Since the image appears to have caused a bit of excitement across the internet recently, I decided to contact Dr. Jim Bell from Cornell University, who is also the lead scientist for the Panoramic cameras on the rovers. Bell was surprised to hear from me about the image, but happy to offer some insight. “My first reaction,” he said, “is that it’s delightful that there is such public interest in images from Mars.” Bell agreed that, indeed, it does look like a wooden plank. But does that mean it is a piece of wood on Mars? Sadly, no, says Bell.

"Plank" crop image.

“What you’re seeing is a piece of flat, platy, layered sulfur-rich outcrop rock like we’ve seen almost everywhere the Opportunity rover has been in Meridiani Planum,” said Bell. “Sometimes, like in this case, those flat, platy rocks have been tilted or dislodged, this one probably from the forces associated with the huge impact crater that formed nearby.”

See this image of several rocks in the area that have been tilted:

More tilted rocks.  Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
More tilted rocks. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

“And this one’s being viewed edge-on,” Bell said, of the rock in question. “That edge-on view, combined with the layered nature of these rocks in general gives the surface a sort of grainy texture. So, indeed, it looks like a wooden plank on Mars.”

So, could it maybe be wood? “No, sadly,” said Bell. “I say ‘sadly’ because personally I think it would be incredible and spectacular to find a wooden plank on Mars! However, in this case, it’s just a trick of the lighting and the viewing angle.”

This image, as other Mars images that have created hubbub and speculation, is another example of our human tendency to see familiar shapes in random patterns. (Phil Plait talks about this pareidolia here.)

In fact, I spent most of the morning scanning through MER images from May 15-29, 2004 to see if I could find more images of this “wooden plank.” There’s plenty, as all of the MER images from all five cameras for both rovers are freely available on the rover website. I believe I found an image of the same rock, taken from the “backside” or opposite view: (see below)

Opportunity rover image from Sol 111.  Credit: NASA/JPL
Opportunity rover image from Sol 111. Credit: NASA/JPL

Here, it appears to be a rock, a tilted rock, but it doesn’t stand out because from this view, the lighting doesn’t make the rock appear as dark as the original view. Again, I’m not sure this is the same rock, but there are several images of tilted rocks in this region, and if this isn’t the same one, it’s one very much like it.

Here’s another image of rocks that have a similar “grainy” look to them:

Rocks with grainy surface.  Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
Rocks with grainy surface. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

For those of you who remain convinced that NASA is covering up some sort of “major” finding here, just remember a few things:

1. This image was released back in May of 2004, just a couple of days after it was taken by Opportunity. MER Principal Investigator Steve Squyres made the decision before the mission started to release all the images taken by the rovers and make them freely available to anyone. If NASA was hiding something, they wouldn’t have posted this image, as well as all the other images of the area that are available. Please, go look at them all if you have any doubt.

2. The best planetary geologists on Earth have looked at this image, and have all concluded this is just a rock. It’s an interesting rock, but a rock nonetheless. Think again if you believe some internet sleuths out there have a better understanding of this object than highly trained and experienced planetary scientists.

3. If this object really was a piece of wood, NASA and all the scientists on the MER mission would probably be shouting from the rooftops. As Jim Bell said, it would be incredible and spectacular, and don’t think for a minute these scientists wouldn’t be jumping for joy if they found something as amazing as log on Mars.

And in case you’re wondering about the other interesting feature in the image, the shiny object in the background is Opportunity’s heat shield.

Shuttle Landing: Beautiful; Progress Docking: Last-Minute Excitement

Endeavour landing in CA. Credit: NASA

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Sunday was a busy day for human spaceflight, as space shuttle Endeavour landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and a Progress re-supply ship docked at the International Space Station. While the shuttle landing went off without a hitch, problems developed with an automated docking system for the Progress ship, forcing a last-minute switch to a manual docking, performed by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov. A series of problems including the loss of frequency information and unexpected toggling of the automatic system’s tracking displays occurred, Russian news agencies reported. But Lonchakov, who was already at the manual controls as a precaution, took over from the automated system when the Progress was about 30 meters (98 feet) from the station and guided it flawlessly to the docking port within a few minutes.

ISS Commander Mike Fincke and Yuri Lonchakov give thumbs up after a successful manual docking of the Progress vehicle. Credit: NASA TV
ISS Commander Mike Fincke and Yuri Lonchakov give thumbs up after a successful manual docking of the Progress vehicle. Credit: NASA TV


The decision to land in California was made early Sunday morning, as thunderstorms and strong winds prevented Endeavour from attempting either of the two landing opportunities at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the primary landing site.

The clear blue skies in southern California made for a picturesque landing, with a great view of the shuttle as it quickly dropped through the sky.

Endeavour touched down at 3:25 p.m Central time.

Endeavour arrived at the station Nov. 16, delivering equipment that will help allow the station to double its crew size to six. The new gear includes a water recovery system, which will allow urine and other condensate to be purified and converted into water for the crew’s use. Endeavour returned with samples of the processed water for experts in Houston to analyze before it is approved for use by the crew.

Endeavour’s astronauts also repaired and serviced crucial rotating joints for the station’s giant solar arrays. During four spacewalks, the astronauts lubricated and cleaned the joints that allow the arrays to automatically track the sun.

In addition, Expedition 18 Flight Engineer Sandy Magnus replaced Greg Chamitoff as part of the ISS crew. Chamitoff returned to Earth aboard Endeavour.

STS-126 is the 124th shuttle mission and 27th shuttle flight to visit the space station.

Progress vehicle as it approached the ISS. Credit: NASA TV
Progress vehicle as it approached the ISS. Credit: NASA TV

The Progress vehicle, which blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on November 26, was carrying water, scientific equipment as well as personal items and holiday gifts for the ISS crew.

Sources: NASA, AFP

Pictures of Canadian Meteorite Fragments

University of Calgary graduate student Ellen Milley poses with a fragment of a meteorite in a small pond. AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Geoff Howe

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On Nov. 27, planetary scientist Dr. Alan Hildebrand from the University of Calgary and graduate student Ellen Milley brought reporters to a site where they have found numerous meteorite fragments from the bolide that streaked across the sky in Western Canada on Nov. 20. The area where the meteroite fragments were found is called Buzzard Coulee, about 40 kilometers from the town of Lloydminster, on the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. There, around a frozen pond, numerous small rocks and pebbles could be seen that the scientists said were from the meteorite. No large chunks were spotted, however, reporters said.

Fragments of a meteorite were found in a small pond at Buzzard Coulee, Sask. on Friday. (Geoff Howe/CP)
Fragments of a meteorite were found in a small pond at Buzzard Coulee, Sask. on Friday. (Geoff Howe/CP)

The fireball that streaked across western Canadian skies was witnessed by thousands, and Hildebrand believes it was a 10-ton fragment from an asteroid. Videos from surveillance and police cameras showed the meteor exploding before it hit the ground. Reporters were told those observations, combined with the physical evidence, give scientists a treasure trove of data that could give them a better understanding of the solar system. The reports don’t offer any indications of the type of meteorite the fragments are, but from the images they appear to possibly be iron. We’ll add more images and information as they become available.

Sources: CBC.com,
, Washington Post, Phys.Org

Wilkins Ice Shelf in Danger

Wilkins Ice Shelf, Credits: A. Humbert, Münster University, Germany (based on ESA Envisat images)

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Recent satellite images show new rifts have developed on the Wilkins Ice Shelf which could possibly lead to the opening of the ice bridge that has been preventing the shelf from disintegrating and breaking away from the Antarctic Peninsula. The ice bridge connects the Wilkins Ice Shelf to two islands, Charcot and Latady. As seen in the image above acquired Envisat on November 26, 2008, new rifts (denoted by different colored lines and dates of the events) have formed to the east of Latady Island and appear to be moving in a northerly direction. “These new rifts, which have joined previously existing rifts on the ice shelf (blue dotted line), threaten to break up the chunk of ice located beneath the 21 July date, which would cause the bridge to lose its stabilization and collapse,” said Dr. Angelika Humbert from the Institute of Geophysics at Münster University.

The Wilkins Ice Shelf, a broad plate of floating ice south of South America on the Antarctic Peninsula, had been stable for most of the last century before it began retreating in the 1990s. The peninsula has been experiencing extraordinary warming in the past 50 years of 2.5°C.

In the past 20 years, seven ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula have retreated or disintegrated, including the most spectacular break-up of the Larsen B Ice Shelf in 2002, which Envisat captured within days of its launch.

Map showing break-up events of Larsen-B and Wilkins ice shelves, as observed by Envisat, in Antarctica.   Credits: ESA
Map showing break-up events of Larsen-B and Wilkins ice shelves, as observed by Envisat, in Antarctica. Credits: ESA

In February 2008 an area of about 400 km² broke off from the Wilkins Ice Shelf, narrowing the ice bridge down to a 6 km strip. At the end of May 2008 an area of about 160 km² broke off, reducing the ice bridge to just 2.7 km. Between 30 May and 9 July 2008, the ice shelf experienced further disintegration and lost about 1,350 km².

If the ice shelf breaks away from the peninsula, it will not cause a rise in sea level since it is already floating. However, ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula are sandwiched by extraordinarily raising surface air temperatures and a warming ocean, making them important indicators for on-going climate change.

Source: ESA

Fragments of Canadian Fireball Found


Fragments of the big meteorite that lit up the Canadian skies across the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan last week have been found, according to a report in CBC online. University of Calgary scientists said they located several meteorite fragments late Thursday afternoon, and they were planning to take reporters to the site Friday. Planetary scientist Dr. Alan Hildebrand and graduate student Ellen Milley believe thousands of meteorite bits from the 10-ton bolide are strewn over a 20-square-kilometre area. The video above of the fireball was taken by a video camera in a police car in Edmonton, Alberta.
Continue reading “Fragments of Canadian Fireball Found”

Chandrayaan-1 Feeling the Heat

Moon imagery from two different cameras on Chandrayaan-1. Credit: ISRO

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India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has successfully sent back some of its first science data and images from the moon, but the spacecraft is also experiencing rising temperatures, and mission managers have decided to use the instruments sparingly to avoid overheating. Chandrayaan-1 is currently orbiting over the sunlit side of the moon, and a rise in temperatures inside the spacecraft was expected, but still is a cause for concern. “This rise and fall in temperature inside a satellite is a normal cyclical process,” Mylswamy Annadurai, project director of Chandrayaan-I, told a newspaper in India, The Indian Express. “There is nothing unusual about it. But since this is the first cycle being faced by Chandrayaan, we are being extra cautious. We have decided to wait till the temperatures dip to bring the mission into the operational phase.” As of now, all but two of the instruments onboard have been switched on and tested. But only one instrument at a time is being used, and the two inactive instruments won’t be turned on until engineers know spacecraft is cool enough.

But scientists released a very nice video from the Terrain Mapping Camera…

Here’s a link to the movie of images stitched together for a view of flying over the Moon. The videos at ISRO only works in Internet Explorer. Find the science images at ISRO’s site here.

During the current orbital phase the spacecraft is almost continually in the sun and experiencing ‘summer.’ The Moon also radiates heat as it receives energy from the sun. The spacecraft’s temperature is expected to stabilize by the end of December. Until then, scientists will use one instrument at a time, but hope to operate all instruments simultaneously by mid-January.

Chandrayaan-1 has a heater, which is capable of increasing the temperature during the ‘winter’ but there is no cooling mechanism. If temperatures start reaching the upper limit, there would be no option but to switch off all the instruments.

Image from the TMC of the Moon's polar region. Credit: ISRO
Image from the TMC of the Moon's polar region. Credit: ISRO

The two instruments that haven’t been turned on yet are not only more sensitive to heat but also to high voltage. One is the Swedish sub-atomic reflecting analyzer (SARA), which will image the Moon’s permanently shadowed polar regions. The other is the Indian X-ray spectrometer, HEX, which will study radioactive emissions from the lunar surface.

“We thought it would be wise to wait for the temperature to go down before testing them,” Annadurai said. The extra-cautiousness on the part of mission scientists is only because this is Chandrayaan’s first experience with such phenomenon. “We are well within the upper limit of the spacecraft’s temperature bracket. But we want to remain in this comfort zone as it is our first experience,” Annadurai added.

Chandrayaan-1 carries 11 payloads, including a Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC), Hyper Spectral Imager (HySI), Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI), High Energy X-ray Spectrometer (HEX), Moon Impact Probe (MIP), Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS), Smart Near-IR Spectrometer (SIR-2), Radiation Dose Monitor Experiment (RADOM), Sub Kev Atom reflecting Analyser (SARA), Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (MiniSAR) and Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3).

Source: Indian Express, ISRO