Universe Today - July 10, 2001 |
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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. July 10, 2001 - Issue #452 http://www.universetoday.com info@universetoday.com An HTML version including pictures is available at: http://www.universetoday.com/html/misc/today.html For information on unsubscribing or changing your email address, check the bottom of this newsletter. ************************************** A note from Fraser... As I mentioned in a previous edition, the Mars Society and NASA have begun their summer season in the Canadian Arctic learning what it's like to live on Mars. (I'm a member of the Mars Society, so take my enthusiasm with a grain of salt.) The team (and SpaceRef) is doing a great job of keeping us Earthlings posted about all the details of the mission at: http://www.mars.tv/ I highly recommend you check out the site. If you're interested in the Mars Society, check out: http://www.marssociety.org The annual conference is coming up in August at Stanford University in California. I'll be there. Fraser Cain P.S. After our ultrasound today, our doctor is 80% sure we're going to have a girl. The ultrasound has got to be the coolest thing I've ever seen. ************************************** -- UNIVERSE TODAY STORY SUMMARY -- * Most Distant Objects Spotted * Hubble Gets Picture of Double Cluster * Bad Weather Threatens Shuttle Launch * Dust Storm Obscures Mars MOST DISTANT OBJECTS SPOTTED ------------------------- Astronomers with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) have discovered the two most distant objects ever observed. The objects are quasars, and they are thought to have emitted the light we're seeing more than 10 billion years ago. One of the objectives of SDSS is to discover 100,000 quasars, and they've already found 13,000, including 26 of the 30 most distant. Original Source: http://www.sdss.org/">SDSS Homepage Internet Coverage: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1432000/1432321.stm Similar Stories: http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/astronomy.html Related Sites: http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/astronomy.html Related Books: http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/astronomy.html HUBBLE GETS PICTURE OF DOUBLE CLUSTER ------------------------- A new photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope shows two clusters of stars, known as NGC 1850, which is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The photo clearly shows the main globular star cluster, and then a smaller cluster nearby. The clusters are surrounded by nebulous gas which astronomers believe was caused by exploding stars. Original Source: http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/PR/2001/25/index.html Internet Coverage: http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/07/10/hubble.cluster/index.html http://www.cosmiverse.com/space07100105.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/598450.asp Similar Stories: http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/astronomy.html Related Sites: http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/astronomy.html Related Books: http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/astronomy.html BAD WEATHER THREATENS SHUTTLE LAUNCH ------------------------- Weather forecasts for Florida aren't looking so good, and it's possible that the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis with a new airlock for the International Space Station might be pushed back to Friday, or even the weekend. A storm is approaching Florida's space coast that might delay fueling the shuttle on Wednesday night, and currently has a 40% chance of forcing controllers to scrub Thursday's launch. NASA has only a week to launch the shuttle, until July 18, after that, the angle of the sun will overhead Atlantis while it's in orbit - launch would be pushed back weeks or even months. Original Source: http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/status/stsstat/2001/jul/7-10-01s.htm Internet Coverage: http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/07/10/space.friday13th.ap/index.html http://www.cosmiverse.com/space07100102.html http://www.msnbc.com/news/598045.asp Similar Stories: http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/shuttle.html Related Sites: http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/nasa.html Related Books: http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/spaceshuttle.html DUST STORM OBSCURES MARS ------------------------- A huge dust storm is currently gobbling up Mars, and the Mars Global Surveyor was on location to watch the storm's formation day by day. The storm is the largest seen on Mars since the Global Surveyor went into orbit around Mars in 1997 and it has already covered half of the Red Planet's surface. A series of animations taken with Surveyor's Thermal Emission Spectrometer shows the formation of the storm up to its current state. Original Source: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2001/duststorm_010709.html Internet Coverage: http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/07/10/mars.storm.ap/index.html http://www.cosmiverse.com/space07100101.html http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/mars_dust_010710.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 ------------------------- To unsubscribe from this newsletter, just reply with only the subject line "UNSUBSCRIBE !*EMAIL*!". If you just want to change your address, just reply to this email with a quick note on what your old and new email addresses are. It's actually a bit of a manual process. :-) All contents copyright (c) 2001 Universe Today |