Space News for February 7, 2002
Fraser's News
Io's Curse Plagues Me Again
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| Image credit: ESO |
As many of noticed, I misidentified Io as Saturn's moon in the last issue of Universe Today. Of course it's Jupiter's moon, and yes, I should have known better, but if you look back at a few of the mistakes I've made in the last few weeks, you'll see an unnerving trend.
In a previous newsletter I said that Io was Jupiter's closest moon. It's not, that's Metis. I also said that after making a final pass of Io, the Galileo spacecraft would be plunged into Jupiter later in January. Uh, no, Fraser, that's going to happen in September 2003.
Sure, mistakes happen - I make my share. But they've all been Io-related. Coincidence? I think not! So, watch my words carefully when I mention Io; believe only half of what I say.
I leave it up to you to figure out which half.
Fraser Cain, Publisher
Universe Today
Feb 7, 2002, 2:20pm
Space Flight
Odyssey Deploys Communications Antenna
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| Image credit: NASA |
NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft deployed its high-gain antenna on Tuesday night, establishing a high-speed connection between the spacecraft and controllers back on Earth. Flight controllers tested the boom to ensure it can communicate with different locations on Earth and then pronounced the deployment "successful". Science instruments on the spacecraft are expected to begin collecting data later this month.
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Feb 7, 2002, 2:11pm
Astronomy
Hubble Reveals Backwards Galaxy
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| Image credit: Hubble |
The latest image released from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a spiral galaxy that seems to be rotating in the wrong direction. Astronomers expected that galaxy NGC 4622, located 111 million light-years away in the constellation Centaurus, should rotate counter-clockwise but it actually goes clockwise. It's believed that the galaxy consumed a smaller companion galaxy recently which helped reverse its spin.
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Feb 7, 2002, 1:58pm
Astronomy
Entire Earth Imaged
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| Image credit: NASA |
NASA has released a new set of photographs which form the most detailed true-colour image of the entire Earth ever created. The photographs are taken at a resolution of 1km and include the land, seas and even clouds and sea ice. Much of the data for this image was gathered by NASA's Terra satellite, from an altitude of 700km. An additional image shows actual city lights superimposed over a darkened version of the photograph.
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Feb 7, 2002, 8:21am
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