Universe Today - November 8, 2000 |
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the U N I V E R S E T O D A Y Space Exploration News From Around the Internet, Updated Every Weekday. November 8, 2000 - Issue #338 http://www.universetoday.com info@universetoday.com An HTML version of this newsletter including pictures is available at: http://www.universetoday.com/html/misc/today.html ************************************** A note from the publisher I suspect I'm going to catch some heat with this issue, so I'll just nip this one in the bud: There's a group that believes that the Mars Sample Mission presents too great a risk of contamination of the Earth, and that NASA should just cancel the mission. This is news. I report the news. If you think they're justified, send them an email. If you think they're idiots, send them an email. If you send an email to ME, you're likely to just get a regurgitation of the previous paragraphs. Consider yourself warned. :-) Fraser Cain Publisher Universe Today ************************************** -- UNIVERSE TODAY STORY SUMMARY -- * Space Station Crew Overworked Already * Galactic Black Hole Creates a Sphere of Gas * Returning Rocks from Mars Could Present a Microbial Risk to Earth SPACE STATION CREW OVERWORKED ALREADY ------------------------- It's only been a week in orbit, and crew of the International Space Station is already feeling overworked. Projects, such as setting up the station's treadmill, are only scheduled for 2 hours, but end up taking the better part of a day. Station commander William Shepherd has been attempting to negotiate with ground controllers to relax the schedule, but no luck so far. Internet Coverage: http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20001108/sp_station.html http://www.floridatoday.com/journal/tm31.htm Similar Stories: http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/spacestation.html Related Sites: http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/nasa.html Related Books: http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/spacestations.html GALACTIC BLACK HOLE CREATES A SPHERE OF GAS ------------------------- New images taken by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory show how an enormous black hole at the centre of galaxy Cygnus A has created a football-shaped cavity inside a globe of gas that surrounds the galaxy. Hot gas constantly streams from the area around the black hole (creating the cavity), but then it bunches up at a distance of 300,000 light years (creating the sphere of gas). Original Source: http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/news/photos/2000/photos00-310.htm Internet Coverage: http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20001107/sp_chandra.html http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0011/08chandra/ Similar Stories: http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/chandra.html Related Sites: http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/x-rayastronomy.html Related Books: http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/xrayastronomy.html RETURNING ROCKS FROM MARS COULD PRESENT A MICROBIAL RISK TO EARTH ------------------------- A group called the International Committee Against Mars Sample Return (ICAMSR) is concerned that a proposed NASA mission could infect the Earth with a Martian plague. Planned for launch later this decade, the Mars Sample Return Mission would pick up Martian rocks and return them back to Earth for analysis for remnants of life. Although NASA plans to take some of the strictest possible precautions, ICAMSR believes that this could release microbes into the ecosystem that Earth-life has no defenses against. Original Source: http://www.icamsr.org Internet Coverage: http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/11/07/mars.sample/index.html Similar Stories: http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/mars.html Related Sites: http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/mars.html Related Books: http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/mars.html ************************************************ Space-related sites... Hansen Planetarium - http://www.utah.edu/planetarium Salt Lake City's only public planetarium: schedules, teacher/student resources, etc. Spaceguard UK - http://ds.dial.pipex.com/spaceguard/ One of the largest and most active national Spaceguard organisations. Lake County (IL) Astronomical Society - http://www.lcas-astronomy.org Astronomy club for northeastern Illinois G.A.S. - Goi's Astronomie Seiten - http://gas.goi-online.de Amateur astronomical contents with a very informative and clearly arranged constellation catalogue Astronomy Resources on the NET - http://www.spacebox.org/space/links_e.phtml Comprehensive lists of astronomy related material, including programs, web and ftp sites, jokes, mailing lists, and more. Starbirth Music - http://www.starbirthmusic.com Music for and of interest to astronomers. Sky Optics - http://www.skyoptics.net Sky Optics carries a full line of quality New and Used Telescopes, Binoculars, Eyepieces,CCD's, Accessories, Books, Software and more. Fernlea Meteorites UK - http://fernlea.tripod.com/forsale.html Meteorites for sale Astronomy Today - http://www.astronomytoday.com articles on astronomy, cosmology and space exploration, with a regularly updated sky guide plus the latest space news. PDG ART Gallery - http://www.pdgart.com A series of paintings on canvas that depict cosmic and celestial topics ------------------------- To unsubscribe from this newsletter, just reply with only the subject line "UNSUBSCRIBE !*EMAIL*!". All contents copyright (c) 2000 Universe Today |