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| Image credit: ESA |
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| Integral Uncovers Hidden Black Holes |
| Oct 20, 2003 - The European Space Agency’s Integral gamma-ray observatory has discovered what seems to be a new classification of astronomical objects; black holes shrouded within a cloud of cold gas. Integral spotted the first one of these objects earlier this year, and deduced that it’s a black hole or neutron star orbiting a massive star – but why hadn’t it been discovered before? This mystery led ESA astronomers to suspect that the black hole had whipped up a shell of obscuring gas, which blocked all but the most energetic radiation. |
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| Image credit: Caltech |
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| 30-Metre Telescope in the Works |
| Oct 20, 2003 - The possibility of a 30-metre telescope moved closer to reality this week when the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation awarded $17.5 million to fund the detailed design study. Planned for completion in 2012, the Thirty-Metre Telescope will have nine times the light-gathering power of the 10-metre Keck observatory; the largest in the world. With its adaptive optics capacity, it should be able to produce images which are 12 times sharper than the Hubble Space Telescope. The building site hasn’t been chosen yet, but it will probably be in Mexico, Hawaii or Chile. |
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| Image credit: NASA |
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| Soyuz Docks with Station |
| Oct 20, 2003 - Two days after launching from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Soyuz TMA-3 spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station. Astronauts Michael Foale, Alexander Kaleri, and visiting European Agency Astronaut Pedro Duque will briefly join the crew of Expedition 7: Ed Lu and Yuri Malenchenko on the station. Malenchenko, Lu and Duque will leave the station on October 27 so that Expedition 8 can begin their six month mission. |
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| Image credit: Lockheed Martin |
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| Titan 2 Finally Launches Weather Satellite |
| Oct 18, 2003 - A Titan II rocket successfully placed a US military weather satellite into orbit on Friday after suffering three years of delays. When the US Airforce decommissioned 14 Titan ICBMs, it contracted Lockheed Martin to refurbish them to launch satellites into orbit –this was the last of them. The DMSP F16 weather satellite has eight instruments to track clouds, storm systems and hurricanes around the world for weather forecasting. |
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| Image credit: ESA |
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| Soyuz Launches to the International Space Station |
| Oct 18, 2003 - A Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Saturday, carrying three astronauts bound for the International Space Station. On board are the crew of Expedition 8: Michael Foale and Alexander Kaleri, as well as European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque, who will only stay on the station for 10 days. The Soyuz TMA-3 lifted off at 0538 GMT (1:38 am EDT) and entered orbit 9 minutes later – it will reach ISS early Monday morning. |
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