Hey, kids! Are you ready to spend another warm, northern summer evening out under the stars? Then perhaps you’d like to introduce yourself to the Celestial Farmer and his family. Before the Moon comes back and steals away our dark skies, begin when night falls and watch overhead for the appearance of a bright, orange-looking star. Congratulations! You’ve just found Arcturus and you’re on your way to learning our next constellation lesson. Now, sit back and listen to the voice of the wind and the night as it tells you a story…
“Some say that Bootes is the most ancient constellation in the sky, yet no one is quite sure where his legend came from. The set of stars that marks the ancient herdsman has played a role in many cultures and one of its first written histories belongs to “The Odyssey” – an epic poem by Homer written almost three hundred years ago. As a herdsman, he is accompanied by his working dogs, Asterion and Chara, who form the northern constellation of Canes Venatici. They are accompanied by the bright orange star called Arcturus, whose ancient name “Arktos” meant watcher of the bear. One legend says that egend says that Bootes was the son of Zeus and Callisto. Hera changed Callisto into a bear who was almost killed by Bootes when he was out hunting. Luckily, she was rescued by Zeus and he took her into the sky where she is now Ursa Major, the Great Bear.”
Another myth says Bootes was the son of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. Supposedly he was placed among the stars for inventing the plow. It is also said that Bootes was a grandfather of Virgo, the goddess of the wheat or corn. Not far from the beautiful, bright, blue-white star that marks her crown is one of the most famous galaxies of all – the Sombrero. Perhaps it was Bootes who rescued the beautiful hair of Queen Berenices and placed it in the sky? After all, she gave up her long and lovely locks to see the safe return of her husband from war.”
“The Romans called Bootes the Herdsman of the Septemtriones, that is, of the seven oxen represented by the seven stars of the Big Dipper, yet he is also associated with the constellation of Hercules, too. The ancient Greeks saw Hercules as a shepherd of great strength and a son to Bootes. He is most often pictured with a lion skin slung about his shoulders and holding an upraised club as he guards his flocks.”
We hope you had a wonderful time identifying these new constellations, but don’t go too far away… Because you’re about to learn some more!
Our awesome images are: Bootes map courtesy of Windows to the Universe, constellation chart courtesy History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries, Bootes Uranometria, Virgo Image by Johfra Bosschart and Hercules Uranometria. We thank you!
And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry to [email protected], and the next host will link to it. It will help get awareness out there about your writing, help you meet others in the space community – and community is what blogging is all about. And if you really want to help out, let Fraser know if you can be a host, and he’ll schedule you into the calendar.
Finally, if you run a space-related blog, please post a link to the Carnival of Space. Help us get the word out.
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The second mission of Project Gemini was Gemini IV. The mission launched on June 3, 1965 at 10:15 am local time, from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The two astronauts on board were James A. McDivit, Commander and Edward H. White II, Pilot.
A Titan rocket boosted the Gemini capsule to an altitude of 296.1 km. McDivit and White made 62 orbits, and the duration of their flight was 4 Days, 1 hour, 56 min, 12 seconds. The Gemini spacecraft weighed 3574kg.
Ed White during his EVA. Credit: NASA
The highlight of the mission was an EVA (extra vehicular activity) by Ed White, where he climbed out of the spacecraft and while tethered, floated for 23 minutes, not nearly long enough for White. He later said the spacewalk was the most comfortable part of the mission, and said the order to end it was the “saddest moment” of his life.
White was attached to the capsule by a 25 foot umbilical cord. He initially used a gas powered gun held in his hand to maneuver. After the first three minutes the fuel ran out and White moved around by twisting his body and pulling on the cord.
The other main objectives of the mission were to evaluate the effects of prolonged space flight which included checking out the performance of a spacecraft during a four-day mission, and evaluating the procedures for crew rest and work cycles, eating schedules, and realtime flight planning.
Secondary objectives included attempting to stationkeep and rendezvous with second stage of Gemini Launch Vehicle and perform 11 experiments.
All the primary objectives were achieved except one: computer controlled reentry was not able to be used because of inadvertent alteration of computer memory. All secondary objectives were met except that due to excess fuel consumption, all the stationkeeping and rendezvous maneuvers were not able to be done.
Gemini IV splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean on June 7, 1965 27 degrees 44 minutes North and 74 degrees 11minutes West, about 81.4km from attempted landing zone.
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For centuries, men have pondered the possibility of life on other planets and tried to prove its existence. Even before the first shuttle or probe was launched, stories of life on other planets and life invading our own planet, were published prolifically. Whether it’s a desire to connect with others or a burning curiosity to know whether we are truly alone, the question of life on other planets fascinates people from every walk of life.
An article on extraterrestrial life would not be complete without discussing Mars. Mars has been the biggest focus of the ongoing search for life on other planets for decades. This is not just a wild assumption or fancy; there are several reasons why scientists consider Mars the best place to look for extraterrestrial life. One reason why many people, including scientists, look to Mars as a possible source of life is because they believe there may be water on the planet. Since the telescope was first invented, astronomers have been able to see the channels in the terrain that look like canals or canyons. Finding water on a planet is vitally important to proving that life exists there because it acts as a solvent in chemical reactions for carbon-based life.
Another reason astronomers consider Mars as a likely location for life is because there is a good possibility that Mars is in the habitable zone. The habitable zone is a theoretical band of space a certain distance from the Sun in which conditions are optimal for the existence of carbon-based life. Unsurprisingly, Earth is in the middle of the habitable zone. Although astronomers do not know how far this zone could extend, some think that Mars could be in it.
Most astronomers are looking for life that is carbon-based and similar to life on Earth. For instance, the habitable zone only applies to favorable conditions for supporting carbon-based life, and it is definitely possible for forms of life that do not need water to exist.
Astronomers do not limit themselves to our Solar System either, suggesting that we should look at different solar systems. Scientists are planning to use interferometry–an investigative technique that implements lasers, which is used in astronomy as well as other fields– to find planets in the habitable zones of other solar systems. Astronomers believe that there are hundreds of solar systems and thousands of planets, which means that statistically the odds are favorable for finding another planet that supports life. While NASA develops better probes, the search for life continues.
There are a number of sites with more information including life on other planets from Groninger Kapteyn Institute astronomy students and NASA predicts non-green plants on other planets from NASA.
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On Tuesday morning, the LCROSS spacecraft will fly by the Moon only 9,000 km above the lunar surface and send back live streaming video for about an hour. This relatively close encounter with the Moon, will help put LCROSS in the correct position to impact the lunar surface in October. LCROSS will never actually be lunar orbit, but is working its way to an elongated Earth orbit which will eventually bring it to the correct orientation for meeting up with the south pole of the Moon later this year. LCROSS will search for water ice on the moon by sending the spent upper-stage Centaur rocket to impact part of a polar crater in permanent shadows. The LCROSS spacecraft will fly into the plume of dust left by the impact and measure the properties before also colliding with the lunar surface. Live video streaming of the flyby begins at approximately 12:20 GMT (8:20 EDT) on Tuesday, June 23, 2009. Click here to watch.
The LCROSS instrumentation will send back data to Earth for approximately one hour. The first 30 minutes will contain a view of the lunar surface from an altitude of approximately 9,000 km. The video feed is set to display one frame per second. During the latter 30 minutes, the spacecraft will perform multiple scans of the moon’s horizon to calibrate its sensors. During this latter half hour, the video image will update only occasionally. The 3D visualization stream will show the spacecraft position and attitude throughout the swingby.
Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan flip in float as they say their 'I Do's' in weightlessness with ZERO-G. Credit: Reuters
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A couple flew like Superman and floated upside down to say their wedding vows on Saturday, as Zero Gravity Corporation hosted the world’s first-ever weightless wedding. Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan were married on June 20 among family and friends who were all on board ZERO-G’s G-FORCE One, a specially modified Boeing 727. Officiating the wedding was Richard Garriott, the sixth private explorer in history to go to space, and the first second-generation U.S. astronaut. “I am honored to be taking part in Erin and Noah’s wedding. I know firsthand the added thrill microgravity will play in their already joyous event,” said Garriott. “The excitement from these first ever microgravity nuptials will not soon fade in the minds of all the members of the wedding party.”
The plane flies in parabolas to provide 20-30 seconds of zero g at a time. Over the span of nearly eight minutes, the vows and rings were exchanged in a microgravity environment. The aircraft’s interior has padded floors and walls and video cameras to record the the experience. Fulmor and Finnegan by G-FORCE ONE. Credit: Reuters Virgin Galactic and Rocketplane Global have announced they plan on offering space weddings when their respective spaceplanes head to suborbital space, (Virgin Galactic hopes to begin their public flights to space in 2010) but for now, ZERO-G is the only way to experience true weightlessness without going to space.
Before starting a parabola, G-FORCE ONE flies level to the horizon at an altitude of 24,000 feet. The pilots then begins to pull up, gradually increasing the angle of the aircraft to about 45° to the horizon reaching an altitude of 34,000 feet. During this pull-up, passengers will feel the pull of 1.8 Gs. Next the plane is “pushed over” to create the zero gravity segment of the parabola. For the next 20-30 seconds everything in the plane is weightless. Next a gentle pull-out is started which allows the flyers to stabilize on the aircraft floor. This maneuver is repeated 12-15 times, each taking about ten miles of airspace to perform.
Fulmor and Finnegan are both space enthusiasts, and both wanted to be astronauts as children. Erin attended space camp in Michigan, while Noah volunteered at his local planetarium. Although they are currently living relatively earth-bound lives, the idea of space came up again following their engagement in 2008.
“When we started talking about marriage, Noah joked that we should have our wedding ‘in space,'” Erin said. “Although most girls would take this to mean Noah didn’t want to get married, I knew he was sincere, and that this was a serious request.” ZeroG_Wedding. Credit: ZERO-G
The wedding took place in the skies above Florida. ZERO-G has flights that depart from Bristow Air Center in Titusville, Florida, the Shuttle Landing Facility at Cape Canaveral in Florida and from the Signature Air Terminal at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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The “science book” by National Geographic shows just how ‘incredibly, unbelievably, immeasurably cool’ science is. With a format little changed from countless encyclopaedias, this book provides the reader with a huge expanse of our accumulated knowledge. From star shine to number systems and from behavioural patterns to fracture tectonics, it’s all science and it’s in this book.
This book is perfect as a scholastic reference. It’s clearly sectioned, topics are usually confined to individual pages and a plethora of coloured pictures and diagrams greatly aid a reader’s understanding. The book aims at covering a lot of content, so it has to sacrifice a bit on depth. Nevertheless, the page given to a topic provides current relevance, historical progress and issues for the future. Hence, the reader can easily discover the impact of science upon our forebearers and upon our lives today.
Perhaps surprisingly, the book stands on its own. It has no bibliography, suggested readings or recommendations for web sites. As well, the book is missing any references. So, we have to trust the source which is National Geographic. Given its pedigree, the content is likely accurate and current.
Yet, why would anyone want a book when the Internet is readily available to most schools? The best reason is that this book maintains the same level of detail throughout. Doing a search on the Internet can yield post graduate research papers as well as unreferenced blogs. However, with this book as a reference, there’s the same level of detail for every science topic it presents.
And science is a wonderful topic. With our continual advances, we’re able to fly higher, move faster and dig deeper than ever before. We can understand and better coexist with the life forms surrounding us on this planet and explore for life elsewhere. All this knowledge can easily be at your fingertips with National Geographic’s “the science book – everything you need to know about the world and how it works“.
Almost everyone who is familiar with space images has seen this beautiful and color emission and reflection nebula – but take a really close look. This isn’t a Hubble image. It was done with a ground based camera!
When looking at M20 through a telescope, what you will see won’t match the photo above, while what is normally presented in science journals is colorful. Why? Well, when it comes to photographs, exposure times and wavelengths causes the different colors you see. Photographically, the red emission nebula contained within Messier 20 has a bright blue star cluster in it central portion. It glows red because the ultraviolet light of the stars ionizes the hydrogen gas, which then recombines and emits the characteristic red hydrogen-alpha light captured on film. Further away, the radiation from these hot, young stars becomes too weak to ionize the hydrogen. Now the gas and dust glows blue by reflection!
Of course, there are other ways of looking at Messier objects, too. It was my great fortune on Saturday night to have an opportunity to study M20 through an image intensifier – a highly complex piece of equipment which uses x-rays and produces a ‘live’ image feed which is displayed on a binocular like eyepiece screen. I cannot even begin to describe to you what this does to observing, except to say that it opens a dimension to to eyes never before experienced. No matter how it is observed, the Trifid – or “three lobed” nebula has a distinctive set of dark dust lanes which divide it. These also have a classification of their own and were cataloged by E.E. Barnard as dark nebula Barnard 85 (B 85).
In 1999 the Hubble Space Telescope took this photograph – a look deep into the Trifid nebula at some of its star forming regions and found a stellar jet poking its way into the cloud, like a fabulous twisted antenna. Inside the exhaust column is a new star waiting to be born, yet sometime over the next 10,000 years the central massive star will probably erode away all of its material before it can fully form. Nearby a stalk stands waiting… Like the jet, it is also a stellar nursery – one with an EGG (evaporating gaseous globule) at its tip – a condensed cloud of gas able to survive so far. “If our interpretation is correct, the microjet may be the last gasp from a star that was cut off from its supply lines 100,000 years ago.” says Jeff Hester of the Department of Physics & Astronomy, “The vast majority of stars like our sun form not in isolation, but in the neighborhood of massive, powerful stars. HST observations of the Trifid Nebula provide a window on the nature of star formation in the vicinity of massive stars, as well as a spectacular snapshot of the “ecology” from which stars like our sun emerge.”
But, is it possible for those of us here on the ground to perform our own deep studies of regions of space like the Trifid Nebula? The answer is yes. Take a look at this small frame clipped from the full sized image you see above. While the colors haven’t been processed the same, those EGGs are there!
Trimarchi M20 EGGs
It’s a cinch that those of us that don’t have a multitude of titles behind our names are ever going to be allowed Hubble time… even at this late stage of the game. You know our findings will never be placed in the hallowed journals of science. But, why should the scientists be allowed to have all the fun? While images like Eddie’s might be considered “amateur”, it is anything but. While he’s chosen to reveal it in an artistic format, you must stop to think about how much information has been collected inside of his raw data. Unlike a simple film photograph, CCD imaging gathers huge amounts of information that’s processed out by what data is desired. “Velocity maps of the inner regions of the bright H II regions NGC 6514 were made with unprecedented spatial and spectral resolution in the 5007 A line of forbidden O III. In addition to the advantages of an instrumental full width at half-maximum intensity of only 5.4 km/s, the small thermal width of the heavy oxygen ion also allows determination of accurate line widths and velocities.” says C.R. O’Dell (et al), “The CCD spectra were numerically fitted to Gaussian line profiles and revealed two separate velocity systems in NGC 6523. The data sets of radial velocities were used to derive the dependence of the most probable turbulent velocities upon the sample sizes, and the spatial dependence of the structure function. These relationships are the basic functions for comparison with the predictions of the models for turbulence in H II regions.”
To me, one of the most fascinating aspects of Mr. Trimarchi’s picture wasn’t so much the huge revelation of all the Herbig-Haro objects – but a tiny, fine detail that you probably took for granted when you looked at it. Dust extinction… There’s a lot of very exiting things in that photograph, but there’s a detail he left in there that most other photographers filter out! The studies of C.R. O’Dell taught me to take a much closer look a certain properties in astrophotos, because I might see something that others missed, and in this case its a huge amount of dust extinction which he proved to exist around M20 many, many years ago. (Like back when my telescopes still had training wheels.)
Why are things like that important? In this circumstance, knowing there was more dust there than should have been lead to further investigations – and those in turn led to a discovery: “We report the discovery of a new candidate barrel-shaped supernova remnant (SNR) lying adjacent to M20 and two shell-type features to the north and east of SNR W28.” says F. Yusef-Zadeh (et al), ” Future observations should clarify whether the nonthermal shell fragment is either part of W20 or yet another previously unidentified shell-type SNR.”
Keep those cameras rolling… Who knows what we may find tomorrow?
Many thanks to Eddie Trimarchi of Southern Galactic for sharing this wonderul image with us!
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Hawaii beckons the weary winter resident who’s searching for some relaxing moments on soft beaches while gentle sounds drift across with the breeze. The Big Island, with its high peaks and occasional dustings of snow, seldom attracts the Honolulu-bound pleasure seekers. But Jean-Charles Cuillandre has made a cinematic symphony that has another Hawaii based way of connecting a person to the ethereal pleasures of our existence.
Entitled “Hawaiian Starlight –Exploring the Universe from Mauna Kea”, this DVD shares views and vantages from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Spectacular stills exhibit galaxies, star trails, asterisms and the occasional portion of the lunar surface. Simple transformations, whether rotating, enlarging or shrinking, give impressions of dynamism. Bright, almost startling, colours capture the attention and the viewer’s wonder. With views that continually change and a soundtrack that steadily supports and subtly thrills, the main feature of this DVD easily keeps viewers in awe.
The DVD makes the connection to Mauna Kea by including many clips created through judicious use of time-lapse cinematography. Great telescopes open and close their shutters in a blink of an eye. People dance along the periphery of roads while the trace of car lights fall from the top of the mountain like colourful red and yellow ribbons. And, if you like roiling, bubbling cloud tops, you’ll be entranced by the many such clips from the vantage of the top of the great volcano. Then, should you want more, a special feature slide show of ‘Hawaii’s natural beauty’ will take you well away from the stars and drop you amidst the vibrant flora and fauna that grace Hawaii.
Though so much of this DVD entertains as a vibrant visual treat, a few other special features add some science to the mix. Included amongst these are explanations of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, other nearby telescopes, the Mauna Kea volcano, and time-lapse cinematography. Yet, it’s difficult to draw oneself away from the shear beauty of the views so as to allow the technical details to slip in.
By dancing the views between twilight, night skies, deep star formation and mountain tops, this DVD keeps a viewer’s intrigue. The pace is good, though the chapter titles don’t seem to be particularly relevant. The same music plays throughout. It’s wonderfully appropriate but can feel repetitive by the end. And, there’s no annotation of what’s being looked at. Hence, enjoyment takes precedence over instruction. But, for pure enjoyment, this “Hawaiian Starlight –Exploring the Universe from Mauna Kea” DVD by Jean-Charles Cuillandre will expand your senses to vistas well beyond the surface of our wonderful world.
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Some of the best tourist discoveries occur off the beaten track. Plan to go somewhere, choose a fortuitous route and voila, a petite patch of paradise opens up in front of you. The same can be true for planning a night of star hunting. Dial coordinates into a ‘go-to’ satellite and you will immediately see your target, if all works well, but, you won’t see anything else. However, take “The Cambridge Double Star Atlas” by James Mullaney and Wil Tirion, then star-hop to your destination, and who knows what you will find.
By using this atlas, you should still easily find some choice targets. It’s a book aimed at the amateur astronomer and it well hits its mark. For starters, it’s in a very large format. Central to the book are 30 maps, each shown across two pages. These wonderfully laid out guideposts show the glow from the Milky Way equator, constellation boundaries, significant stars and, of course, the double stars themselves. And to ease the viewer along the way, many clusters, nebulae and galaxies also grace the pages. The typical but necessary coordinates surround the pages’ edges; right acension across the top and declanation along the sides. With this, and a red flashlight, star hopping should be a breeze.
The book also has a sampling of 133 of what the authors consider showpiece double and multiple stars. Hence with this, the reader can start by choosing a target, learning about its discovery, determine where it is shown in the atlas and then setup the hops to get the wonder into the eyepiece. And with descriptions like the “Easter Egg” double, seen as strking yellow and ruddy-purple or garnet jewels, the reader will quickly fall into the joy of viewing the variety and splendor of the night time spectacle.
Two final sections round out this great atlas. The first is a brief introductory section that shares the particular pleasures of viewing multiple star systems. Then, in Appendix C, there’s a listing of the Cambridge Double Start Atlas target list. These presumably include all the nearly 2,400 double and multpile stars of the nearly 25,000 stars plotted on the 30 maps. Most of these are purported to be viewable with typical “backyard” telescopes in the 2-inch to 4-inch range, so there’s no need to worry about not being able to see most of them.
So whether you’re on a star-finding challenge or a personal quest for striking images, “The Cambridge Double Star Atlas” by James Mullaney and Wil Tirion is a fabulous resource. Well laid out, fully detailed and insightfully described, it has the details to get you where you want to go and perhaps place you beside many other fabulous, fortuitous views.
“Some say that Bootes is the most ancient constellation in the sky, yet no one is quite sure where his legend came from. The set of stars that marks the ancient herdsman has played a role in many cultures and one of its first written histories belongs to “The Odyssey” – an epic poem by Homer written almost three hundred years ago. As a herdsman, he is accompanied by his working dogs, Asterion and Chara, who form the northern constellation of Canes Venatici. They are accompanied by the bright orange star called Arcturus, whose ancient name “Arktos” meant watcher of the bear. One legend says that egend says that Bootes was the son of Zeus and Callisto. Hera changed Callisto into a bear who was almost killed by Bootes when he was out hunting. Luckily, she was rescued by Zeus and he took her into the sky where she is now Ursa Major, the Great Bear.”
Another myth says Bootes was the son of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture. Supposedly he was placed among the stars for inventing the plow. It is also said that Bootes was a grandfather of Virgo, the goddess of the wheat or corn. Not far from the beautiful, bright, blue-white star that marks her crown is one of the most famous galaxies of all – the Sombrero. Perhaps it was Bootes who rescued the beautiful hair of Queen Berenices and placed it in the sky? After all, she gave up her long and lovely locks to see the safe return of her husband from war.”
“The Romans called Bootes the Herdsman of the Septemtriones, that is, of the seven oxen represented by the seven stars of the Big Dipper, yet he is also associated with the constellation of Hercules, too. The ancient Greeks saw Hercules as a shepherd of great strength and a son to Bootes. He is most often pictured with a lion skin slung about his shoulders and holding an upraised club as he guards his flocks.”
