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| Astrophoto: Lunar Surface by John Kalantzis |
Aug 4, 2005 - John Kalantzis took this picture of the Moon surface from Volos, Greece. John used Meade SC8" lxd 55 and LPI (Meade Lunar Planetary Imager camera).
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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| Book Review: Cold Dark Matter |
| Aug 4, 2005 - Ahhh, summer time and the livin' is light and easy. Per chance there's an opportunity to escape the textbooks, computer screens and chores to engage in a more leisurely pursuit. Alex Brett offers a busy little mystery in her book, Cold Dark Matter. In it, a private investigator takes on the puzzle of an apparent murder at the FrancoCanadian telescope in Hawaii. A quick pace and twisting plot make this a fine read for those astronomy buffs who care to branch out a bit. (Full Story) |
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| Hubble Sees a Field of Galaxies |
| Aug 4, 2005 - The Hubble Space Telescope spent 40 hours gazing at the same spot in the sky to produce a photograph filled with galaxies. The field shown in this image is a fraction of the size of the full moon in the sky, but it shows a rich diversity of galaxies. Some are big; some small; a few close; and most far away. The photograph was actually a bonus, taken in September 2003 while Hubble was using its other instruments for research in the same area. (Full Story) |
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| Cassini's Zips Past the Death Star |
| Aug 4, 2005 - NASA's Cassini spacecraft made a relatively close flyby of Saturn's moon Mimas on August 2nd, 2005. The 130 km (80 mile) crater Herschel makes the moon look amazingly similar to the Death Star from the Star Wars series of movies. Cassini passed only 62,700 km (38,800 miles) above Mimas; the closest it's ever been to the moon. (Full Story) |
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| Astronaut Successfully Plucks Out Filler From Shuttle's Belly |
| Aug 4, 2005 - Astronaut Steve Robinson successfully pulled out the protruding gap fillers from between the shuttle's thermal protection tiles during his 7 hour spacewalk yesterday. The gap fillers came out with a simple tug; Robinson didn't need the makeshift hacksaw he'd brought with him. NASA officials were worried that the Nextel fabric could lead to overheating in the area during Discovery's re-entry. The filler material keeps the shuttle's heat tiles from bumping into each other during launch, but aren't necessary during landing. (Full Story) |
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| A distant galaxy (yellow) that houses a quasar. Image credit: NASA Click to enlarge |
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| Spitzer Sees Hidden Black Holes |
| Aug 4, 2005 - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has peered through walls of galactic dust to spot supermassive black holes called quasars. Some quasars are visible to telescopes, but others are behind so much gas and dust they can only be seen in the infrared spectrum, which is good for viewing through dust. Based on background X-ray radiation, astronomers had an estimate for how many quasars are out there, but they could never see them with telescopes. Now Spitzer has shown that those quasars are there, just hidden. (Full Story) |
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| Artist's conception of the 25-million-year-old protoplanetary disk. Credit: David A, Aguilar (CfA). Click to enlarge |
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| Audio: Planetary Disk That Refuses to Grow Up |
| Aug 3, 2005 - With new instruments, astronomers are filling in all the pieces that help to explain how planets form out of extended disks of gas and dust around newborn stars. This process seems to happen quickly, often just a few million years is all it takes to go from dust to planets. But astronomers have found one proto-planetary disk that refuses to grow up. It's 25 million years old, and still hasn't made the transition to form planets. Lee Hartmann is with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the lead author on the paper announcing the find. (Full Story) |
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