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| Ariane 5 Lofts Record Payload into Orbit |
| Nov 17, 2005 - An Ariane 5 rocket blasted off Thursday from Kourou, French Guiana carrying two satellites: Spaceway 2 broadcast satellite for DIRECTV, and the Telcom 2 communications satellite for PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk. The combined weight of the two satellites was more than 8,000 kg (17,500 pounds), making this the heaviest double payload ever launched. (Full Story) |
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| An artist's concept of twisted space-time around Earth. Image credit: NASA. Click to enlarge |
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| Gravity Probe B Will Tell Us If Einstein Was Right |
| Nov 17, 2005 - NASA/Stanford's Gravity Probe B spacecraft recently wrapped up a year of gathering data about the Earth's gravity field. If Einstein was correct, the Earth's rotation should twist up our planet's gravity field like a vortex. Scientists at NASA and Stanford are now analyzing the mountains of data sent back by the spacecraft to detect any shift in its orientation, which would indicate this vortex of gravity. (Full Story) |
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| A slice through a 3-D simulation of a turbulent clump of molecular hydrogen. Image credit: Mark Krumholz. Click to enlarge |
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| Simulation Casts Doubts on One Theory of Star Formation |
| Nov 17, 2005 - Astrophysicists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have developed a computer simulation that fails to support one of two major theories of star formation: the competitive accretion model. In this model, clumps form in hydrogen clouds which then collapse to form stars which compete with surrounding stars for material. The simulation showed that turbulence around the newborn star would prevent additional material from falling into the star. (Full Story) |
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| Spirit Sees a Martian Lunar Eclipse |
| Nov 17, 2005 - NASA's Spirit Mars rover recently observed the Martian moon Phobos pass through Mars' shadow. When this event happens here on Earth, it's called a lunar eclipse, as the Moon darkens and then brightens again as it passes through our shadow. This "Phobal eclipse" lasted about 26 minutes, but Spirit was only able to capture images from the first 15 minutes. (Full Story) |
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| Cassini's best close-up view of Pandora. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI Click to enlarge |
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| Close-Up on Pandora |
| Nov 17, 2005 - This is the best photograph ever taken of Saturn's F ring shepherd moon Pandora, taken by the spacecraft on September 5, 2005. This tiny moon is only 84 kilometers (52 miles) across, and covered in grooves and small ridges. This indicates that it's probably coated in dust-sized material, which then fractures in places. Cassini was 52,000 kilometers (32,000 miles) from Pandora when it took this picture. (Full Story) |
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| Artist's impression of a 'supergiant fast X-ray transient'. Image credit: ESA Click to enlarge |
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| New Class of Supergiant Binary Stars Discovered |
| Nov 17, 2005 - ESA's Integral gamma-ray observatory has discovered a new class of X-ray fast transient binary stars, which had gone undiscovered in previous observations. This new class of double stars systems always has a bright supergiant star with some kind of compact companion - like a black hole, neutron star or pulsar. It gives off energetic busts of X-rays which flare up quickly and then fade away. It's possible that the compact companion tangles up the supergiant's powerful solar wind with its gravity, and then feeds on it in bits and pieces. (Full Story) |
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| Podcast: Best Space and Astronomy Books of 2005 |
| Nov 16, 2005 - The year is coming to a close. And in case you haven't been counting, we've reviewed more than 50 space and astronomy books on Universe Today since January. That's a lot of books, and book fiend Mark Mortimer did most of the reading and reviewing. He joins me today for a special podcast where we chat about his favorites for the year. (Full Story) |
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