Universe Today

Hayabusa May Come Home After All

Nicholos Wethington — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:26:36 +0000

Artist concept of the Hayabusa spacecraft. Credit: JAXA

As we reported last week, it seemed as if the Hayabusa asteroid explorer mission was dealt a fatal blow when the third of its four ion engines failed. But the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced yesterday that it may have come up with a solution to that problem to get Hayabusa back home by using components from two different inoperable thrusters in combination.(...)
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Astronaut Glove Challenge Winners Announced

Nicholos Wethington — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:23:20 +0000

NASA's Astronaut Glove Centennial Challenge contest was held yesterday at the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, Florida, and two contestants walked away with a total of $350,000 in prize money for their improved designs of space suit gloves. Peter Homer of Southwest Harbor, Maine, won $250,000 for his glove, and Ted Southern of Brooklyn, New York won $100,000. Both contestants had participated in the 2007 event, and Peter Homer qualified for a prize last time.(...)
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Find the Answer to this Week's WITU Challenge

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:34:23 +0000

If you're still wondering what this very strange image is, find out by going to the original WITU challenge post for this week. Have a great weekend, and check back next week for another Where In The Universe Challenge!

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Video of Utah Fireball

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:20:31 +0000

Early Nov. 18th, eyewitnesses reported an explosion in the atmosphere above Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Idaho in the western United States. Some said the fireball "turned night into day" and produced shock waves that shook the ground when it exploded just after midnight Mountain Standard Time. Infrasound recordings of the blast suggest a small asteroid hitting Earth's atmosphere and exploding with an energy of 0.5 to 1 kiloton of TNT. As the sun rose in the morning, remnants of the explosion were visible as noctilucent clouds over the region. The best video of the extremely bright event was just recently released, from the University of Utah's Eccles Observatory.
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Cassini/IBEX Data Changes View of Heliosphere Shape

Nicholos Wethington — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:22:48 +0000

Though the Cassini mission has focused intently on scientific exploration of Saturn and it's moons, data taken by the spacecraft has significantly changed the way astronomers think about the shape of our Solar System. As the Sun and planets travel through space, the bubble in which they reside has been thought to resemble a comet, with a long tail and blunt nose. Recent data from Cassini combined with that of other instruments, shows that the local intertstellar magnetic field shapes the heliosphere differently.(...)
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What If Earth Had Rings?

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:10:26 +0000

While we're on the subject of Saturn…. I came across this video, and it poses — and answers — the interesting question, what would Earth look like if it had rings like Saturn? This animation was done by Roy Prol, and it shows not only how the rings would look from space, but also the view Earthlings would have of the rings. Prol says the ring views from Earth's surface were created according to the location's latitude and the viewer's orientation, and that the size of the rings was calculated respecting the Roche limit for the Earth. A very intriguing concept, and the video is very well done. The only bad thing about Earth having rings is that we probably wouldn't have our Moon, and we wouldn't have just found water on it!

You can read a very old discussion in the BAUT forum on the prospect of Earth having rings.

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More Cassini Eye Candy: Infrared Saturn, Peek-a-boo Moons

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:55:44 +0000

The "wow" factor from the Cassini mission never quits. Here's the latest image, released just today of Saturn, viewed in near-infrared. This image was taken with Cassini's wide-angle camera on Oct. 23, 2009 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light, centered at 890 nanometers. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 2.6 million kilometers (1.6 million miles) from Saturn. The large shadow south of the equator is from the moon Tethys (1062 kilometers, 660 miles across). The small shadow near the limb of the planet, north of the equator, is the shadow of the moon Mimas (396 kilometers, 246 miles across). Absolutely stunning.

See below for more Cassini goodness of moons playing peek-a-boo with the rings and each other.
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Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast – November 20 -22, 2009

Tammy Plotner — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:04:13 +0000

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Yep. The Moon is back, but this weekend can still present some great opportunities for enjoying astronomy. If you're up early or out late? Well, hey… The Leonid meteor shower is still producing activity! Why not take a few minutes to learn about a great variable star you can follow without optical aid or study a new lunar feature? There's plenty to do for binoculars and small telescopes – and perhaps even a clever new study you haven't looked at yet! Whenever you're ready, I'll see you in the dark… (...)
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Want to be a Martian?

Nicholos Wethington — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:16:47 +0000

If you've ever dreamed of exploring Mars, but are worried about all that pesky radiation exposure and being cramped in a capsule for the two-year flight – or about never coming back – then your dream may be realized with NASA's "Be a Martian" web site. In the spirit of other citizen scientist collaborations such as Galazy Zoo and Stardust@Home, NASA has created a site that allows you to view and categorize images to help map the Martian surface from the safety of your own home here on Earth.

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Spirit Rover Makes Progress

Nancy Atkinson — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:23:26 +0000

A little good news for Spirit! The rover successfully moved; not very much, but it's the first step of a planned two-step motion to try and get Spirit free from a sand trap on Mars. On Sol 2090 (Nov. 19), the rover spun its wheels for the equivalent of 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) in the forward direction, and the center of the rover moved approximately 12 millimeters (0.5 inch) forward, 7 millimeters (0.3 inch) to the left and about 4 millimeters (0.2 inch) down. Again, not much, but it's the first good news and good movement the rover has had in months.
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit Rover

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Large Hadron Collider Could Re-Start This Weekend

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:24:42 +0000

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) could be re-started on this Saturday morning CERN officials said. Engineers are preparing to send a beam of sub-atomic particles around the 27km-long circular tunnel, which has been shut down since an accident in September 2008. Scientists hope to create conditions similar to those present moments after the Big Bang in search of the elusive Higgs particle to shed light on fundamental questions about the universe.
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Plasma Rocket Could Help Pick Up Space Trash

Nancy Atkinson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:36:20 +0000

Artist concept of a VASIMR. Credit: Ad Astra

Franklin Chang Diaz's proposed VASIMR rocket engine could create very versatile spacecraft. Not only does the plasma-fueled rocket have the potential to make a trip to Mars in just over a month, it could also help clean up space trash in Earth orbit. “Our goal is to be able to have a garbage truck that will be picking up all of these objects at various orbits,” astronaut Chang Diaz said in an article in the Global Post. The debris could put into an “orbital graveyard,” he added, “or we could actually launch them to the sun and drive them to the sun, which is kind of the ultimate, cosmic dump.”
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Black Hole Drive Could Power Future Starships

Ryan Anderson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:10:03 +0000

Image credit: NASA

What would happen if humans could deliberately create a black hole? Well, for starters we might just unlock the ultimate energy source to create the ultimate spacecraft engine — a potential "black hole-drive" – to propel ships to the stars.

It turns out black holes are not black at all; they give off "Hawking radiation" that causes them to lose energy (and therefore mass) over time. For large black holes, the amount of radiation produced is miniscule, but very small black holes rapidly turn their mass into a huge amount of energy.
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Lightcraft – Flight Handbook LTI-20

Mark Mortimer — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:43:05 +0000

Lightcraft

The major shortcoming of current chemical powered rockets lies in the ratio of payload to fuel. The dream of rocketeers would have a spacecraft almost all payload. Leik Myrabo and John Lewis have an idea for this and they present it in the book "Lightcraft – Flight Handbook LTI-20 ". Within the book lies great detail on a special flying craft and some of its essential subsystems.
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Spectacular Shuttle Belly Flip As Atlantis Docks to ISS (Video)

Ken Kremer — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:07:38 +0000

(Editor's note: Ken Kremer is in Florida covering the STS-129 mission for Universe Today)
The astronaut crews for the International Space Station and Space Shuttle Atlantis united as one team in space on Wednesday when Atlantis successfully docked with the ISS at 11:51PM EST. Preluded by some of the most spectacular footage ever of the shuttle "belly flip" or the Rendezvous Pitch Manuaever (RPM), docking occurred in orbital darkness about 220 miles high above earth and directly between Australia and Tasmania. The shuttle astronauts were welcomed aboard the ISS and the jubilant crews exchanged bear hugs, handshakes and high fives inside the Harmony module.

Thursday morning at 9:24 a.m. EST, STS-129 spacewalkers Mike Foreman and Robert Satcher headed outside for the first spacewalk of the mission.
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Get a $36 Million World Map for Free

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:12:20 +0000

When the first Landsat Earth-observing satellite launched in 1972, virtually every piece of technology that we think of as essential for viewing, sharing, or analyzing digital images — like the internet or DVD's — either hadn’t been invented or commercialized, like the microprocessors that run desktop computers. “It cost about $4,000 for a single Landsat image, and it takes about 9,000 of them to map the land area of the globe,” said Jeff Masek, from NASA. "To make a global image for just one time period would have cost $36 million." But now, in this age where everything is digital and it's easy to exchange information, anyone can download Landsat images for free. Recently, NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey put the finishing touches on a new collection of mapped images covering the entire land surface of the Earth. However, if you want the entire full-size version, it would be as big as the Hoover Dam.
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Where In The Universe #80

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:44:39 +0000

Ready for another Where In The Universe Challenge? Here's #80! Take a look and see if you can name where in the Universe this image is from. Give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft responsible for the image. As usual, 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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Anti-Gravity Treadmill Developed from NASA Technology

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:09:20 +0000

Ever wonder what it would be like to walk on the Moon or run on Mars? A treadmill developed using NASA technology can provide users the feeling of moving about in less than 1 G. Anti-gravity treadmills, sold under the name of Alter-G, are becoming common in hospitals, rehab centers, and sports facilities, and just about every professional sports team in North America has one. They are a bit pricey for individuals to afford, but athletes and physical therapists say the device is a fantastic addition to their exercise repertoire.
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"X" Marks Puzzling Galactic Bulge

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:48:20 +0000

Looking at a galaxy edge-on provides astronomers the opportunity to study different aspects of galaxies than a face-on view offers. This Hubble image of NGC 4710 is part of a survey conducted to provide more information about the puzzling bulges that form around the middle of some galaxies. Have these galaxies been "eating" too much, or is it just part of a "middle-age spread" similar to what humans experience? Astronomers aren't sure why bulges evolve and become a substantial component of most spiral galaxies.
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2009. | Permalink | 39 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: galaxies, Hubble Space Telescope

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The 'Camera That Saved Hubble' Goes to Smithsonian Museum

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:18:41 +0000

The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, along with the "contact lens" that corrected the defect in the Hubble Space Telescope's primary mirror will have a new home. Recently returned to Earth after more than 15 years in space, the two instruments will have a new home in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Astronauts on the Hubble servicing mission in May 2009 replaced WFPC-2 with a new and improved version, bringing the well-used camera back to Earth. "This was the camera that saved Hubble," said Ed Weiler, from NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "I have looked forward for a long time to stand in front of this very instrument while on display to the public."
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A Day in the Life on Board the ISS

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:46:53 +0000

In this video, International Space Station commander Frank De Winne explains what a typical day on board the ISS is like. Today, however, De Winne and his crew of Robert Thirsk, Roman Romanenko, Nicole Stott, Maxim Suraev and Jeffrey Williams are busy getting ready for the arrival of the STS-129 space shuttle crew. They need to set up to take pictures of the incoming shuttle to document the condition of the shuttle’s heat shield as it makes a "back flip" or a rendezvous pitch maneuver during its approach to the station. Plus, if the crew is anything like me, they probably have some last minute tidying to do before company arrives. Docking is scheduled for 11:53 a.m. EST. Watch it live on NASA TV.

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ALMA Telescope Makes First Observations

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:05:02 +0000

The ALMA telescope located high in the Chilean Andes made its first measurements on Tuesday using just two of the eventual 66 antennas that will comprise the array. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array took interferometric measurements of radio signals, or "fringes," from a distant quasar (3C454.3) at sub-millimeter wavelengths. Astronomers said the data from the two 12-meter antennas provided unprecedented sensitivity and resolution, and observations at a wavelength of less than 1mm showed ALMA was now truly a "submillimeter" as well as millimeter-wave telescope.
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Spirit Extrication, Day 1: Drive Stopped After 1 Second

Nancy Atkinson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:18:55 +0000

Mission managers sent the drive commands to the Spirit rover at 4 a.m. EST (0900 GMT) today, — Nov. 17, 2009 and Sol 2088 for the rover — but the data back from the rover indicates the rover stopped less than one second after it began moving its wheels when the rover automatically sensed more lateral tilt than permitted. A tight limit on vehicle roll and pitch of less than 1 degree change was set for this first drive, and as the rover began its first move, it sensed that its roll was outside the allowed limit and safely stopped the drive. Those driving the rover say they are starting cautiously, setting initial parameters with very tight limits with the knowledge that these hair triggers may stop the rover frequently. As the project gains confidence with extrication, these limits may be relaxed. From this limited drive the team now has a more accurate measurement of vehicle roll and pitch that will be used for subsequent drive planning. Analysis is continuing. The team hopes to completion their planning of the next drive on Wednesday, Nov. 18, with possible wheel movement again on the 19th (Sol 2090)
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Mars, Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit Rover

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US, China Agree to Discuss Cooperation in Space

Nancy Atkinson — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:05:39 +0000

The United States and China have agreed to discuss expanded cooperation in space exploration and science. According to a joint statement released in Beijing on Tuesday, the two counties will start a "dialogue" on human space flight and exploration, and both nations looked forward to reciprocal visits by the NASA administrator and appropriate Chinese space leaders in 2010. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, currently in Japan, said cooperation on the high frontier could pay dividends for both countries.
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Kid's Astronomy: Celestial Birds Migrate West?

Tammy Plotner — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:43:47 +0000

Hello, Cosmic Kids! As the seasons change, not only do the Earthly birds migrate, but so do the celestial ones. In the Northern Hemisphere, it's not unusual to see large flocks of our feathered friends moving on to warmer climes, but did you know that there are bird constellations that are migrating, too? Instead of flying south for the Winter, these ancient avians are headed west… (...)
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