Astronomy Archives

February 6, 2010April 13, 2022 by Ken Kremer

Orion can Launch Safely in 2013 says Lockheed

President Obama has proposed to completely cancel NASA’s Project Constellation to send humans to the Moon, Mars and Beyond, thus calling into question whether US Leadership in Space will continue. Artists concept of NASA’s cancelled Orion crew exploration vehicle shown here in on a science mission in lunar orbit. Credit: NASA

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(Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is in Florida for Universe Today covering the upcoming Endeavour launch attempt.)

“We can fly Orion in 2013”, says John Karas, the VP and General Manager of Human Space Flight for Lockheed Martin. Lockheed is the prime contractor for NASA’s Orion capsule.

“There is no doubt in my mind we can do this. And Orion is very safe”. He strenuously repeated this statement to me several times with absolutely no doubt in his mind during a wide ranging interview. I spoke at length with Karas today (Feb. 6) at the NASA Press Center shortly before the scheduled Feb. 7 launch of shuttle Endeavour on the STS 130 mission to the ISS.

Lockheed Martin has issued an official statement saying, “We are keenly disappointed in the Administration’s budget proposal for NASA that would cancel Project Orion as part of an elimination of NASA’s Constellation Program. Orion’s maturity is evident in its readiness for a first test flight in a matter of weeks. In fact, Orion can be ready for crewed flights to low Earth orbit and other exploration missions as early as 2013, thus narrowing the gap in U.S. human space flight capability when the shuttle is retired later this year”.

Karas questioned the complete lack of vision and realism by the Obama Administration and NASA in deciding to terminate Project Constellation, which includes the new Orion Capsule, the Ares 1 booster rocket for Orion and the Ares 5 Heavy Lift booster required to reach the Moon, Mars and beyond. “I was very surprised by the cancellation. We expected and felt that a middle ground with some changes to Constellation was reasonable. We did not expect to be left with nothing”.

“Where is the US Leadership in space if we don’t have a heavy lifter soon ? or a deep space crewed capablity ?

“Russia, China, Japan and India will all have boosters equal to or better than the US expendable fleet. Why would anyone have an incentive to work with us if they already have their own boosters and crew vehicles for LEO. The nations of the world will look elsewhere, not to the US”, Karas told me emphatically. “Its not international cooperation, its international dependency !”

“We will not maintain Space leadership if the US will only be spending money on commercial LEO technology development under the new proposals by the Obama Administration, and not on an actual rocket program that builds, tests and launches flight hardware. Other countries have vehicles and technology programs too.”

“For now, I told the team that Job 1 is to stay calm and keep focused. We are not terminated yet. We are continuing the Constellation program according to our contracts with NASA. By law, the Congress must still have its say. The program cannot be terminated without congressional approval. We have some hope there and are working with NASA and Congress.”

“We have numerous Orion related tests upcoming including the LAS or Launch Abort System test in 60 days. And we have test hardware at Michoud and other sites in Louisiana, Texas and Florida. We have successfully completed the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) on Orion last year. We are headed for the critical design review (CDR) beginning in the August 2010 time frame and running into next year. Orion is the most mass efficient ever built. And its full of innovations”.

Karas was confident about the early readiness of Orion and vehemently disagrees with the conclusions of the blue ribbon Augustine commission which evaluated Project Constellation and stated in their final report that the Orion capsule could not launch prior to 2015 to 2017. Karas stated, “We can have an Orion capsule built and ready to fly by 2013. It would likely utilize a 5 segment Ares 1 rocket and probably be capable of launching with 4 astronauts aboard. To acccomplish that, we first need to complete several high altitude abort tests with the capsule. This would be followed by an unmanned orbital test in 2012.

There are some alternatives to using Ares 1 as the booster rocket if Lockheed decides to bid on NASA’s commercial route to human spaceflight. There has been speculation about launching with a 4 segment Ares 1 first stage which might also work, but with certain modifications to reduce the weight of Orion. Some systems or components would have to be simplified, reduced or pulled off such as the Service module size, avionics and unspecified life support hardware resulting in less redundancy and robustness in case of failures,” Karas said.

The Delta 4 Heavy and Atlas 5 are among other booster possibilities. Along with this of course is the fact that some capabilitities would also have to be sacrificed. For example making Orion only LEO capable and thus giving up on the Moon, Mars and other Deep Space targets such as Asteroids. But, he cautioned me by saying that much work remains yet to be done to define these alternative options. “Focusing on LEO is not space leadership. The nation should have a balanced approach” says Karas. Capabilities sacrificed today could potentially be added back in later.

Money could also obviously be saved by designing and constructing a capsule with less built in safety capability. Fear of that happening has been expressed by many.

Let me be completely clear, Karas was NOT advocating any option to curtail on crew safety. Just stating that compromises to crew safety would be a direct consequence to cutting development costs by cutting operational systems from the Orion capsule to meet a commercial competition.

Indeed, Karas is extremely concerned that by going the commercial taxi route, astronaut safety is exactly what will be sacrificed. “I am very concerned that safety and safety standards are at risk. There is a lot of rhetoric about commercial providers”.

In fact, no one has built any manned capsule yet and many comentators think their fast timelines are unrealistic. Some commercials providers have claimed they will have a manned capsule ready in about two years. But they have not even flight tested the unmanned cargo carriers yet.

“What happens if the commercial providers fail to deliver ? and the market for manned capsules fails to materialize ? Then the US will be left with no capability to launch its own astronauts into space for perhaps a decade or more.” The looming “Gap” will thus grow even longer, further threatening US Space Leadership”, stated Karas.

Orion (now cancelled) approaches the International Space Station in Earth orbit. Artist Concept Credit: NASA

“Significant investment has already been made by the nation and private industry in Orion, which is human rated to provide a level of safety unmatched by any previous or currently proposed crewed vehicles”, according to Lockheed.

“Over 4000 people are working on Orion and those jobs are at risk. Lockheed and its partners have spent $300 million of its planned $500 million investment in Orion,” Karas told me.

Over 7000 jobs at the Kennedy Space Center are now at risk as well as thousands more across the US as a result of the retirement of the Space Shuttle at the end of 2010. The cancellation of Project Constellation adds even more uncertainty and the probable loss of another 500 jobs at the Cape.

On Feb 1, NASA awarded $50 million to commercial firms to begin development of concepts and technology demonstrations for commercial human spaceflight.

“Its just prudent for the tax-payers to have a backup plan.”

“We have done all the analysis, and others have verified it independently, making Orion inherently more safe than the alternatives,” Karas concluded.

Earlier STS 130/ISS articles by Ken Kremer

Russian Cargo Freighter Docks at ISS; 1 Day to Endeavour launch

Endeavour astronauts arrive at Cape for launch of Tranquility

ISS Crew Twitpics from Orbit; Live Streaming Video Soon !

Path clear for STS 130 to attach Tranquility module

Endeavour aiming for on time launch with coolant hose fix ahead of schedule

STS 130 flight pressing forward to launch as NASA resolves coolant hose leak

STS-130 Shuttle flight facing delay due to Payload technical glitch

Shuttle Endeavour Rolled to Pad; Countdown to the Final Five Begins

Tranquility Module Formally Handed over to NASA from ESA

February 6, 2010December 24, 2015 by Steve Nerlich

Astronomy Without A Telescope – Let’s Go Around The Room

My dog keeps me in touch with the universe. There are important reasons why he has to go out into the backyard about 9pm and then again around 5.00am – and at both times there are stars out. He has this very particular sound, the canine equivalent of ahem, to let me know it’s time.

Around February is great because on the night shift you see Orion and on the morning shift you see Scorpio. These are two of three constellations, I can easily identify without a book – the other one being the Southern Cross. And this is the only time of the year when I get to see all three, since by the time Scorpio is up in the evenings around August, Orion is already lost to the glare of daytime.

This reminds me of a plan I have to once and for all explain to people how the night sky works. You wallpaper a room with your equatorial and/or ecliptic constellations and on the roof put your circumpolar constellations, which would include the Southern Cross down here or Ursa Minor for your northern folk. Then in the middle of the room you put a big and glaringly bright light.

So around February, you are in that part of the room where when you face away from the light you can see Orion. Then spinning on the spot, you’ll be able to spy Scorpio just before you come around to face the bright light, which prevents you from seeing what’s on the other side of the room. Keep spinning and you come back to night time and admire Orion again – and so on.

Cool wallpaper - the Pleiades, Hyades and Orion as seen from the southern hemisphere

To progress through the year you have to start walking around the room, that is orbiting the bright light – and you can keep spinning on the spot for the day night effect if you like. Once you are around on the other side of the room – you get a much better night-long view of Scorpio, while Orion is lost behind the bright light. Your circumpolar constellations are still visible on the ceiling – but kind of upside down now.

It’s taken a few nights out with the dog to figure out which way you are supposed to spin – not to mention which way to put the wallpaper since if your at my latitude in the north, you’ll need to hang it upside down. For me, if I’m standing in front of Orion, Scorpio is going to be around to my right (but left for you) – and I’m going to orbit to my right (but left for you) – and I’m going to spin clockwise (but anti-clockwise for you).

I almost have it all visualized when there’s certain ahem as dog realizes master is staring vacantly at the sky again. Oh yeah sorry, good dog – and we go back inside.

February 5, 2010December 24, 2015 by Jean Tate

What is Schrodinger’s Cat?

Schrodinger’s cat is named after Erwin Schrödinger, a physicist from Austria who made substantial contributions to the development of quantum mechanics in the 1930s (he won a Nobel Prize for some of this work, in 1933). Apart from the poor cat (more later), his name is forever associated with quantum mechanics via the Schrödinger equation, which every physics student has to grapple with.

Schrodinger’s cat is actually a thought experiment (Gedankenexperiment) – and the cat may not have been Erwin’s, but his wife’s, or one of his lovers’ (Erwin had an unconventional lifestyle) – designed to test a really weird implication of the physics he and other physicists was developing at the time. It was motivated by a 1935 paper by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen; this paper is the source of the famous EPR paradox.

In the thought experiment, Schrodinger’s cat is placed inside a box containing a piece of radioactive material, and a Geiger counter wired to a flask of poison in such a way that if the Geiger counter detects a decay, then the flask is smashed, the poison gas released, and the cat dies (fun piece of trivia: an animal rights group accused physicists of cruelty to animals, based on a distorted version of this thought experiment! though maybe that’s just an urban legend). The half-life of the radioactive material is an hour, so after an hour, there is a 50% probability that the cat is dead, and an equal probability that it is alive. In quantum mechanics, these two states are superposed (a technical term), and the cat is neither dead nor alive, or half-dead and half-alive, or … which is really, really weird.

Now the theory – quantum mechanics – has been tested perhaps more thoroughly than any other theory in physics, and it seems to describe how the universe behaves with extraordinary accuracy. And the theory says that when the box is opened – to see if the cat is dead, alive, half-dead and half-alive, or anything else – the wavefunction (describing the cat, Geiger counter, etc) collapses, or decoheres, or that the states are no longer entangled (all technical terms), and we see only a dead cat or cat very much alive.

There are several ways to get your mind around what’s going on – or several interpretations (you guessed it, yet another technical term!) – with names like Copenhagen interpretation, many worlds interpretation, etc, but the key thing is that the theory is mute on the interpretations … it simply says you can calculate stuff using the equations, and what your calculations show is what you’ll see, in any experiment.

Fast forward to some time after Schrödinger – and Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen – had died, and we find that tests of the EPR paradox were proposed, then conducted, and the universe does indeed seem to behave just like schrodinger’s cat! In fact, the results from these experimental tests are used for a kind of uncrackable cryptography, and the basis for a revolutionary kind of computer.

Keen to learn more? Try these: Schrödinger’s Rainbow is a slideshow review of the general topic (California Institute of Technology; caution, 3MB PDF file!); Schrodinger’s cat comes into view, a news story on a macroscopic demonstration; and Schrödinger’s Cat (University of Houston).

Schrodinger’s cat is indirectly referenced in several Astronomy Cast episodes, among them Quantum Mechanics, and Entanglement; check them out!

Sources: Cornell University, Wikipedia

February 4, 2010December 24, 2015 by Tammy Plotner

Weekend SkyWatcher’s Forecast: February 5-7, 2010

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! If you’re not about to get buried under a blanket of snow, then why not spend some time out under blanket of stars with this weekend’s stellar project? This four star adventure is sure to warm you up. Need more? Then I’ll show you were to look for a comet and a “snow ball” of stars! Of course, we’ve got plenty to learn about the history and mystery of what we’re looking at, so whenever you’re ready? I’ll see you in the backyard…

Friday, February 5, 2010 – On this date in 1963, Maarten Schmidt measured the first quasar redshift, and in 1974, Mariner 10 took the first close-up images of Venus. This date in 1971 was also important for two men named Shepard and Mitchell, whose Apollo 14 module had just touched down in the Fra Mauro highlands. At 14:54 UTC, Alan Shepard stepped onto the surface and said, ‘‘It’s been a long way, but we’re here.’’

If you think these two Apollo astronauts traveled a long way, then let’s take a look at some stars that have been at if for a couple of million years! Near the heart of the Orion Nebula, two massive binary stars were involved in a head-on collision, exchanging stars. Iota Orionis became a new binary system, but two ‘‘runaways’’ left the scene of the accident at a speed of 200 kilometers per second. Tonight we’ll look at these two challenging stars – one to the north and one to the south.

North is AE Aurigae (RA 05 16 18 Dec +34 18 44). Its two-letter designation shows AE is a variable star, and it flirts with unaided visibility between magnitudes 5 and 6. On a dark night, you can usually spot AE hanging out on the northwestern perimeter of a spangle of stars about two finger-widths east of Iota Aurigae. With a distance of 1,450 light-years, it’s not surprising that its faint, but AE would be a full magnitude brighter if it wasn’t in a dust cloud! AE Aurigae is a hot star, and its simple spectrum and rapid movement against the interstellar medium make it ideal for studying these primal gases. Examined with a telescope at low magnification, you can enjoy the illumination created by the ‘‘Flaming Star’’!

To the south is our runaway collision victim Mu Columbae. Draw an imaginary line due south from the Orion Nebula past Lepus, and you’ll encounter dim Mu (RA 05 45 59 Dec -32 18 23) just northeast of Alpha Columbae. Cruising along at 117 kilometers per second, this white-hot star sheds about one-tenth of a millionth of its mass every year. Holding a steady magnitude 5, and now 1,300 light-years distant, Mu is one of the very few of its type easily seen by the unaided eye. What can’t be seen, however, is the signature left by the star in the warm interstellar medium. Like footprints in the sand, high-resolution spectrographs show the moving star left a trail in its wake!

Are you ready to take on a more challenging traveler? Then why not seek out 11.8 magnitude Comet Tritton! Now cruising through the constellation of Aries (RA 1h 53.5m Dec 17° 39′), this faint fuzzy won’t be the easiest of targets to spot – but then it wouldn’t be a challenge, would it? Comet 157P Tritton was discovered by Keith Tritton (U. K. Schmidt Telescope Unit, Coonabarabran) on a deep IIIa-J exposure made with the 122-cm Schmidt telescope on February 11, 1978. Now, almost 32 years later to the date, it’s back again on its every 6.33 year journey around our Sun. Although it won’t reach perihelion until February 20, its original estimated return brightness was only expected to reach magnitude 16 and now it is far exceeding expectations. Don’t expect to see a flaming ball exhibiting a tail because that’s not going to happen… but congratulate yourself if you spot a diffuse, round area about the size of a small planetary nebula!

Saturday, February 6, 2010 – This date marks the 1991 fiery return of the Soviet space station Salyut 7. Launched in 1982, electrical and maneuvering problems plagued the mission, but cosmonauts were able to stay onboard for as long as 8 months before returning. Abandoned in 1986, equipment and supplies were transferred to the orbiting Mir. If you’d like to spot a space station, why not use a great tool like Heavens Above to let you know when and where to look for the ISS!

Tonight, our traveling project concludes at the tip of Orion’s sword – Iota Orionis – the third player in our ‘‘runaway’’ drama (RA 05 35 25 Dec -05 54 35).

Hatsya (Bright One of the Sword) is a spectroscopic binary resulting from the collision we studied yesterday. Iota consists of two powerful, white hot suns, orbiting less than one Astronomical Unit (AU) apart and nearly touching at one point during their monthly orbit – a powerful X-ray source! In binoculars, Hatsya appears in a charming collection of stars, while small telescopes reveal a colorful red/blue triple system. Surrounding Iota is a faint stardust nebula, NGC 1980, often mistaken as part of M42.

Now hop down to Lepus for a faint, round, fuzzy object that’s achievable in a small telescope or binoculars – Messier Object 79 (RA 05 24 10 Dec +24 31 27).

In small binoculars this small cluster is nothing more than a faint stellar snowball, but the true beauty of this object is revealed in large telescopes. Behold a globular cluster, one of many densely packed balls of stars that mainly congregate near our galactic center. Discovered by Pierre Mechain and cataloged by Messier in 1780, M79 is on the opposite side of our galaxy, and about 4,200 light-years away. Spanning 118 light-years, this starry sphere may not be an original member of our galaxy at all but an import. Although we can’t see it happening, the Canis Major Dwarf galaxy is slowly being incorporated into our own system, and M79 might very well be a product of this union! Thanks to Mechain and Messier’s careful notes, William Herschel later recovered M79 and resolved its stars. Although the practice of maintaining an astronomy diary isn’t for everyone, keeping simple records is very rewarding. Make note of the object’s appearance, equipment used, and sky conditions. Observing diaries just like those of Messier and Me´chain have led countless astronomers along the road of discovery to all the deep-sky objects we know today!

Sunday, February 7, 2010 – On this date in 1889, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific was born. In 1926 celebrated cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov, who flew Voskhod 1 and helped design Salyut and Mir, was born. Yet most noteworthy today is the 1824 birth of amateur astronomer William Huggins. By age 30, he’d built his own private observatory and through his studies made important contributions to astronomy. According to scientists Kirchoff and Bunsen, the chemical composition of minerals could be determined from their spectral signatures. The inquisitive Huggins began comparing mineral samples to the spectra of celestial objects. Although his experimental methods were crude by today’s standards, his calculations were perfect. Huggins proved the spectrum of the Orion Nebula was like that of a pure gaseous emission, while the spectrum of the Andromeda Nebula was similar to that of starlight – and this long before confirmation of its galactic nature!

Huggins was also the first amateur to measure the radial velocities of stars from their spectral shifts. Although most people assume only professional scientists can make such measurements, many of today’s amateurs (unpaid, but not unskilled!) have measured spectra. Tonight let’s look at a star whose radial velocity has been studied both professionally and personally – Kappa Orionis (RA 05 47 45 Dec -09 40 10).

Named Saiph, it’s the often-overlooked eastern ‘‘foot’’ of Orion. According to spectral analysis, this 722 light-year distant blue supergiant star is moving away from us at 21 kilometers per second. Roughly the same type, size, and distance as Rigel, it looks far fainter. But why? Oddly enough, Saiph has an extremely high temperature, burning more than 1,500 K hotter. Near the point where helium fusion replaces hydrogen fusion, the majority of its variable light output is in the ultraviolet band. And as Huggins once said: ‘‘It is remarkable that the elements diffused through the host of stars are some of the most closely connected with the living organisms of our globe.’’

Until next week? Dodge the snow flakes and dance in the starlight!

This week’s awesome image are (in order of appearance): AE Aurigae and Mu Columbae – Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caltech, Comet Tritton rough finder chart courtesy of Heavens Above, Salyut 7 as seen from orbiting Soyuz courtesy of NASA, Iota Orionis and Messier 79 – Palomar Observatory courtesy of Caltech, William Huggins historical image and Kappa Orionis – Palomar Observatory, courtesy of Caletch. We thank you so much!

February 4, 2010December 24, 2015 by Jean Tate

GRB Central Engines Observed in Nearby Supernovae?

SN 2009bb (Image Credit: NASA, Swift, Stefan Immler)

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Are the relativistic jets of long gamma ray bursts (GRBs) produced by brand new black holes? Do some core-collapse supernovae result in black holes and relativistic jets?

The answer to both questions is ‘very likely, yes’! And what recent research points to those answers? Study of an Ic supernova (SN 2007gr), and an Ibc one (SN 2009bb), by two different teams, using archived Gamma-Ray Burst Coordination Network data, and trans-continental Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) radio observations.

“In every respect, these objects look like gamma-ray bursts – except that they produced no gamma rays,” said Alicia Soderberg at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.

Soderberg led a team that studied SN 2009bb, a supernova discovered in March 2009. It exploded in the spiral galaxy NGC 3278, located about 130 million light-years away.

The other object is SN 2007gr, which was first detected in August 2007 in the spiral galaxy NGC 1058, some 35 million light-years away (it’s one of the closest Ic supernovae detected in the radio waveband). The team which studied this supernova using VLBI was led by Zsolt Paragi at the Netherlands-based Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry in Europe, and included Chryssa Kouveliotou, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

The researchers searched for gamma-rays associated with the supernovae using archived records in the Gamma-Ray Burst Coordination Network located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. This project distributes and archives observations of gamma-ray bursts by NASA’s SWIFT spacecraft, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and many others. However, no bursts coincided with the supernovae.

“The explosion dynamics in typical supernovae limit the speed of the expanding matter to about three percent the speed of light,” explained Kouveliotou, co-author of one of the new studies. “Yet, in these new objects, we’re tracking gas moving some 20 times faster than this.”

Unlike typical core-collapse supernovae, the stars that produce long gamma-ray bursts possess a “central engine” – likely a nascent black hole – that drives particle jets clocked at more than 99 percent the speed of light (short GRBs are likely produced by the collision/merger of two neutron stars, or a neutron star and a stellar mass black hole).

By contrast, the fastest outflows detected from SN 2009bb reached 85 percent of the speed of light and SN 2007gr reached more than 60 percent of light speed; this is “mildly relativistic”.

“These observations are the first to show some supernovae are powered by a central engine,” Soderberg said. “These new radio techniques now give us a way to find explosions that resemble gamma-ray bursts without relying on detections from gamma-ray satellites.”

The VLBI radio observations showcase how the new electronic capabilities of the European VLBI Network empower astronomers to react quickly when transient events occur. The team led by Paragi included 14 members from 12 institutions spread over seven countries, the United States, the Netherlands, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and South Africa.

“Using the electronic VLBI technique eliminates some of the major issues,” said Huib Jan van Langevelde, the director of JIVE “Moreover it allows us to produce immediate results necessary for the planning of additional measurements.”

Perhaps as few as one out of every 10,000 supernovae produce gamma rays that we detect as a long gamma-ray burst. In some cases, the star’s jets may not be angled in a way to produce a detectable burst; in others, the energy of the jets may not be enough to allow them to blast through the overlying bulk of the dying star.

“We’ve now found evidence for the unsung crowd of supernovae – those with relatively dim and mildly relativistic jets that only can be detected nearby,” Kouveliotou said. “These likely represent most of the population.”

The 28 January, 2010 issue of Nature contains two papers reporting these discoveries: A relativistic type Ibc supernova without a detected γ-ray burst (arXiv:0908.2817 is the preprint), and A mildly relativistic radio jet from the otherwise normal type Ic supernova 2007gr (arXiv:1001.5060 is the preprint).

Sources: Newborn Black Holes May Add Power to Many Exploding Stars, Newborn Black Holes Boost Explosive Power of Supernovae

February 3, 2010December 24, 2015 by Nancy Atkinson

Pretty Picture of the Week: NGC 3603

The stellar nursery, NGC 3603. Credit: ESO. Click for access to larger versions.

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This magnificent image of the giant stellar nursery surrounding NGC 3603 was taken by the Very Large Telescope at Cerro Paranal, Chile. This nebula is a starburst region, a huge star-making factory where stars form frantically from the nebula’s billowing clouds of gas and dust. It is located 22,000 light-years away from the Sun, and is the closest region of this kind known in our galaxy. Thousands of stars inhabit this region, with most having masses similar to that of our sun. But other stars are some of the most spectacular and massive stars around. In fact, one star, NGC 3603 A1, is the most massive star ever “weighed.” Several blue supergiant stars crowd into a volume of less than a cubic light-year, along with three so-called Wolf-Rayet stars — extremely bright and massive stars that will do the supernova gig relatively soon. The Bad Astronomer tells it way better than I, so go check out his gigantisized blog post.

Source: ESO

February 3, 2010December 24, 2015 by Fraser Cain

Beautiful Pics

Here are some beautiful pics of space and astronomy.

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This is a picture of NASA Mission Specialist Bruce McCandless floating free above the Earth. He was testing out a new backpack that let astronauts perform spacewalks without the need for a cumbersome tether.

This is a very oblique angle view of craters on the Moon taken by the crew of Apollo 10 as they circled around the Moon. This was the last mission before astronauts actually landed onto the Moon.

This is a picture of the Sun captured from the surface of Mars. This picture was taken by NASA’s Spirit rover just as the Sun was setting.

Here’s a montage of Neptune and its largest moon Triton. These pictures were taken separately by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft when it made its flyby of the planet in 1989. The pictures were then merged together into this mosaic.

This is a photo of the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. Well, it’s actually the region around the black hole, known as Sagittarius A*.

We’ve written many articles for Universe Today with beautiful pics. Here’s an image of the Veil Nebula complex from Johannes Schedler, and here’s a picture of NGC 2903 from Warren Keller.

If you’d like more amazing photographs, the best place to look is NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. I also recommend you check out the website for the Hubble Space Telescope.

We’ve recorded many episodes of Astronomy Cast, including one about Hubble. Check it out, Episode 88: The Hubble Space Telescope.

February 3, 2010December 24, 2015 by Tammy Plotner

Journey Around A Black Hole – Epsilon Aurigae

Now that the Moon is absent from the early evening picture, are you ready to journey around a black hole? It’s not an easy observation, but it is one that doesn’t require highly specialized equipment and its not difficult to find. Can you identify Capella? Then let’s rock…

Using the map below to help you identify the constellation of Auriga, you won’t have any problem picking out the sixth brightest star in the northern hemisphere night – bright, yellowish-white Capella. While Alpa Aurigae is an interested spectroscopic binary star, it’s not our target. If your skies are fairly dark, look a few fingerwidths southwest for much dimmer Epsilon (the backward 3 on our map). Epsilon Aurigae is an eclipsing binary star, but one that has an extraordinarily long period -27.1 years. While it only drops .8 of a magnitude, it’s dark companion is a 10-12 solar mass black hole. According to studies done by Wilson and Cameron a ring of obscuring material surrounds the black hole and accounts for the magnitude drop. And it’s dropping now!

According to AAVSO Special Notice #192 prepared by Aaron Price: “Epsilon Aurigae continues to progress through its first eclipse since 1982-84. Visual and photometric observation means place it at around magnitude 3.7-3.8. Totality was likely reached sometime in January, but it will take some time to analyze the data to establish a specific date. Totality is expected to last about 15 months, but the system is not expected to remain quiet during this time. Small amplitude modulations are being detected which are likely not associated with the eclipse itself. However, their exact source is still debated. The amplitude of these modulations are at the limit of the average observer’s ability to detect visually. Therefore this may make a nice, challenging system to test your eyes. Right now, Epsilon Aurigae is well placed for observing high in the sky right after dusk.

In addition to these modulations, a mid-eclipse brightening of a few tenths of a magnitude have been reported in past eclipses. If confirmed, it would contribute significantly to our understanding of the structure of the eclipsing disk of material. The problem is this will happen next summer when epsilon Aurigae is near solar conjunction. So observations very early in the morning later this season will be very important. It may be a good idea to begin practicing twilight observations right now.”

What will it look like? Just a barely perceptible change in brightness, but observers interested in DSLR or photoelectric photometers may want to use this project as an entry point. A team of observers is working on a series of tutorials on the Citizen Sky web site. General information regarding the Epsilon Aurigae campaign and a series of online discussion forums can be found at the Citizen Sky web site. Information is also available to submit your observations to the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), too!

Journey around a black hole… If you dare!

Epsilon Aurigae illustration is courtesy of Nico Camargo.

February 3, 2010April 13, 2022 by Ken Kremer

Endeavour astronauts arrive at Cape for launch of Tranquility

STS-130 astronaut crew arrived at 10:10 PM on Feb. 2 at the Kennedy Space Center aboard the Shuttle Training Aircraft, in the background. Commander George Zamka briefs the media from the shuttle landing strip. From left are Mission Specialists Robert Behnken, Nicholas Patrick, Stephen Robinson and Kathryn Hire; Commander Zamka, at microphone; and Pilot Terry Virts. Credit: Ken Kremer

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(Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is in Florida for Universe Today covering the upcoming Endeavour launch attempt.)

The six person crew for the STS 130 flight of shuttle Endeavour arrived at the Kennedy Space Center late this evening, Tuesday Feb. 2. The astronauts flew here from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston aboard the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA). They landed at the Cape at approximately 10:10 PM EST at the shuttle landing facility strip which is where the shuttles return from space after completing their orbital mission. The STA is a modified Gulfstream II jet.

A crowd of NASA officials and reporters including myself were on hand to greet the crew. After they emerged from the STA (see photo), Shuttle Commander George Zamka offered some brief comments on behalf of the entire crew. “Welcome to the STS-130 night shift! It is the only shift we got. If you are working STS-130, it is going to be dark outside,”

“It’s great to be here at the Cape. We’ve got Tranquility and Cupola loaded up in the space shuttle Endeavour at Launch Pad 39A and this is the place for us to be. We just did our final ascent sim last night and final preparations for our mission”.

Caption: Overhead view of Tranquility & Cupola modules inside the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center on Jan 8, 2010. Tranquility will be attached to ISS by STS 130 astronaut crew. Credit: Ken Kremer

“Everything with Endeavour is going very, very well. We got a great team here. We’re going to be reviewing our procedures and will be looking at our late stowage items before loading onto Endeavour and other flight equipment. We’ll also be doing some final landing practice here at the Cape”.

“We talked to the space station crew last night, Jeff Williams and company. They’re doing great. We’re all very excited about meeting up with them, rendezvousing with the space station and getting started on this great project of bringing the Tranquility module to life and putting the cupola in its final position, opening up those shutters and taking a look at the Earth. Go Endeavour !”

The astronauts then posed for a photo op and quickly departed by bus for more astronaut training overnight as they shift their sleep and work cycles according to NASA officials at the media event.

Early Wednesday morning at 530 AM the astronauts will travel to the Space Station Processing Facility to inspect late delivered items. Foremost among these are the newly fabricated and redesigned ammonia jumper hoses which replace the original hoses that ruptured during pre-flight testing in early January (see my earlier story). These lines carry the coolent which is critical to maintaining temperature control inside the Tranquility module and are required to fully activate the module after it is attached to the International Space Station (ISS). The new hoses were rapidly pieced together from shorter sections and thoroughly tested at high pressure to insure their utility and safety.

The countdown begins at 2 AM on Thursday, Feb. 4. The launch of Endeavour is slated for 4:39 AM on Sunday, Feb. 7 from Pad 39 A.

Earlier STS 130 article by Ken Kremer

ISS Crew Twitpics from Orbit; Live Streaming Video Soon !

Path clear for STS 130 to attach Tranquility module

Endeavour aiming for on time launch with coolant hose fix ahead of schedule

STS 130 flight pressing forward to launch as NASA resolves coolant hose leak

STS-130 Shuttle flight facing delay due to Payload technical glitch

Shuttle Endeavour Rolled to Pad; Countdown to the Final Five Begins

Tranquility Module Formally Handed over to NASA from ESA

February 3, 2010December 24, 2015 by Tammy Plotner

Mars Rover? Nah… Southern Spirit!

While this desolate looking red landscape looks like it might be part of the Martian surface, it’s actually a bit closer to home. The Great Southern Rail, which launched a luxury train crossing Australia from Darwin to Adelaide, has christened one of its lines the “Ghan” after the original ships of the desert – camels – and its other line the Southern Spirit. The Southern Spirit joins the Ghan, which runs south to north, and the Indian Pacific, which runs east to west, as a grand rail adventure of world standard. The remarkable difference about the Southern Spirit is that it will traverse the country both east to west and north to south and offer an adventure you might never associate with a rail trip… Astronomy!

Astronomer Dave Reneke from Australasian Science magazine was invited by Great Southern Railways to take part in the inaugural rail journey of Spirit across Australia as a “stellar” guest speaker on this astronomy themed journey. He and partner Robin were part of the initial journey, following a route from Uluru and Alice Springs, down into South Australia then across to Melbourne and into southern NSW. But these trips are more than just a ride, the exclusive tours are designed so you can pause and savor the essence of Australia as The Southern Spirit winds its way through a rich tapestry of landscapes. “It’s an amazing country and the outback skies are so clear,” David said. “The passengers loved it, and we did too!”

David gave a series of lectures each time on-board the train and organized a night at the ‘Dish’ – the famous Parkes Radio telescope. The Parkes telescope was built about the same time as the Green Bank 140 foot telescope, but it has an excellent alt-az design and is still in active use, with multibeam receivers making HI and pulsar surveys of the southern sky. However, its claim to international fame is because Parkes is where the first Moon landing images were received in 1969. A feature of the “Spirit” adventure is an opportunity to attend a short talk by their resident lecturer, Mikalya, about what really did and didn’t happen on that day, as portrayed in the movie. Needless to say, the information was enthusiastically received and astronomy went back on the rails again. “Onboard the train you couldn’t ask for better service.” David said. “This is one of the great rail journeys of the world and I look forward to going again next year.”

Since becoming a radio correspondent, writer, lecturer and media personality, David has carved out a solid international profile and astronomical reputation. Not only is there a lot of space out there, but it’s a big year ahead and Reneke is set to continue his popular Astronomy Outreach program for Aussie schools, expand his writing portfolio and taking part in other exotic astronomy tours.

Maybe his next stop really will be Mars?