Space News for April 23, 2002
Astronomy
Survey Confirms Dark Energy Theories
 |
| Image credit: Hubble |
Recent evidence seems to indicate that the expansion of the Universe is actually accelerating - some kind of "dark energy" is pushing it apart. And a new redshift survey of galactic clusters seems to support this. Astronomers using data gathered by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory have determined that there is insufficient matter (both regular and dark matter) in various galactic clusters to account for their shape and position, so something else must be having an effect.
[ Visit News Source ]
Apr 23, 2002, 3:10pm
Astronomy
Star Formation Exposed
 |
| Image credit: Chandra |
A new photograph taken by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory shows a close up view of the dynamics of star formation in the Tarantula Nebula (aka 30 Doradus). This region, located 160,000 light years away is one of the most active star forming regions in our local group of galaxies and provides a lot of clues to astronomers. In this region, astronomers have identified at least 11 extremely massive stars with ages of only 2 million years with many more young stars packed together so tightly individual stars can't be resolved.
[ Visit News Source ]
Apr 23, 2002, 2:59pm
Space Flight
Second Space Tourist Ready to Go
 |
| Image credit: Africainspace.com |
South African Mark Shuttleworth is all set to blast off in a Russian Soyuz rocket on Thursday. If all goes well, the Soyuz will lift off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and carry Shuttleworth, cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko and Italian Roberto Vittori up to the International Space Station, where they will spend the next 10 days performing a series of experiments. It's rumoured that the space tourist paid $20 million US for the flight.
[ Visit News Source ]
Apr 23, 2002, 2:39pm
Astronomy
Older Quasars a Source of Cosmic Rays
 |
| Image credit: NASA |
NASA astronomers believe that retired quasars may be a source of rare, high-energy cosmic rays. They've identified four elliptical galaxies relatively nearby that contain massive black holes. If these black holes are spinning, they could be a source of ultra high-energy cosmic rays. The source of cosmic rays is a mystery, but astronomers have calculated that they must come from objects within 200 million light years from the Earth - these "retired quasars" could be the source.
[ Visit News Source ]
Apr 22, 2002, 7:51pm
Space Flight
Atlantis Returns to Florida
 |
| Image credit: NASA |
The space shuttle Atlantis touched down at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Friday completing an 11-day mission to upgrade the International Space Station. During their time in orbit, the seven shuttle astronauts completed 4 spacewalks and installed over $1 billion in equipment, including a 13.5 ton metal beam which will serve as the backbone for future modules on the station. Astronaut Jerry Ross made history with this flight, becoming the first person to go into space seven times.
[ Visit News Source ]
Apr 19, 2002, 6:07pm
|