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| Astrophoto: North America Nebula by Lorenzo Comolli |
Jul 27, 2005 - Lorenzo Comolli took this beautiful picture of North America Nebula on the 16th of May 2002 in Capanne di Cosola, Italy. Lorenzo used a Pentax 75 apochromatic refractor with an exposure time of 45 minutes.
Do you have photos you'd like to share? Post them to the Universe Today astrophotography forum or email them to me directly, and I might feature one in Universe Today. |
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| Saturn's splendid rings made visible by sunlight. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI. Click to enlarge |
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| On Saturn's Darkside |
| Jul 27, 2005 - Cassini took this beautiful photograph of Saturn's unlit side, with its rings deep in shadow. Reflected light from the sunlit portion of the rings casts an eerie glow across the portion in shadow. This image was taken on June 8, when the spacecraft was approximately 477,000 km (296,000 miles) away from the planet. (Full Story) |
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| Collimation testbed of the Dobson telescope. Image credit: Tom Segert. Click to enlarge |
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| Space Telescope Could Unfold in Space |
| Jul 27, 2005 - A clever new telescope design could allow engineers to pack larger folding space telescopes into smaller spaces on rockets, dramatically reducing their weight and launch costs. Inspired by amateur telescopes which can be disassembled for transport, this design could allow fleets of low cost space telescopes with bigger mirrors than Hubble. They could be used for detailed Earth observation, astronomical observations, or even be sent to other planets and moons to examine their surfaces in extreme detail. (Full Story) |
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| Frosted southern plains in early spring. Image credit: MSSS/JPL/ NASA Click to enlarge |
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| What's Making Martian Methane? |
| Jul 27, 2005 - With the discovery of methane in Mars' atmosphere, scientists are trying to find out what the source is. Since methane is destroyed by sunlight, there has to be an active source constantly producing it. Here on Earth, methane is largely produced by living bacteria, called methanogens, which convert carbon and hydrogen into methane. The problem is that Earth bacteria go into a dormant state when exposed to the low pressure Martian atmosphere. So they're probably deep underground, and the methane they produce slowly moves to the surface. (Full Story) |
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| Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off Launch Pad. Image credit: NASA/KSC Click to enlarge |
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| Shuttle Mission is Safe So Far |
| Jul 27, 2005 - NASA has confirmed that the space shuttle Discovery launched safely into orbit yesterday. During their 12-day mission to the International Space Station, Commander Eileen Collins and 6 other astronauts will test a series of techniques and equipment designed to make the shuttles safer. The crew of Discovery will spend seven hours today examining every inch of the shuttle with a camera attached to its robotic arm to look for any damage. The shuttle is expected to dock with the space station on Thursday. (Full Story) |
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