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September 14, 2016October 5, 2016 by Matt Williams

Get That Geologist A Flight Suit!

Future missions to Mars and other locations in the Solar System may depend heavily on the skills of planetary geologists. Credit: NASA Ames Research Center

In the coming decades, the world’s largest space agencies all have some rather big plans. Between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), Roscosmos, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), or the China National Space Administration (CNSA), there are plans to return to the Moon, crewed missions to Mars, and crewed missions to Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).

In all cases, geological studies are going to be a major aspect of the mission. For this reason, the ESA recently unveiled a new training program known as the Pangaea course, a study program which focuses on identifying planetary geological features. This program showcases just how important planetary geologists will be to future missions.

Pangaea takes its name from the super-continent that that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras (300 to 175 million years ago). Due to convection in Earth’s mantle, this continent eventually broke up, giving rise to the seven continents that we are familiar with today.

The super-continent Pangea during the Permian period (300 - 250 million years ago). Credit: NAU Geology/Ron Blakey — *The super-continent Pangea during the Permian period (300 – 250 million years ago). Credit: NAU Geology/Ron Blakey*

Francesco Sauro – a field geologist, explorer and the designer of the course – explained the purpose of Pangaea in an ESA press release:

“This Pangaea course – named after the ancient supercontinent – will help astronauts to find interesting rock samples as well as to assess the most likely places to find traces of life on other planets. We created a course that enables astronauts on future missions to other planetary bodies to spot the best areas for exploration and the most scientifically interesting rocks to take samples for further analysis by the scientists back on Earth.”

This first part of the course will take place this week, where astronaut trainer Matthias Maurer and astronauts Luca Parmitano and Pedro Duque will be learning from a panel of planetary geology experts. These lessons will include how to recognize certain types of rock, how to draw landscapes, and the exploration of a canyon that has sedimentary features similar to the ones observed in the Murray Buttes region, which was recently imaged by the Curiosity rover.

The geology panel will include such luminaries as Matteo Messironi (a geologist working on the Rosetta and ExoMars missions), Harald Hiesinger (an expert in lunar geology), Anna Maria Fioretti (a meteorite expert), and Nicolas Mangold (a Mars expert currently working with NASA’s Curiosity team).

Rock samples on display at ESA's Pangaea training for astronauts in identifying planetary geological features for future missions to the Moon, Mars and asteroids. Credit: ESA/L. Bessone — Rock samples on display at ESA’s Pangaea training course, which is intended to help astronauts in identify planetary geological features for future missions to the Moon, Mars and asteroids. Credit: ESA/L. Bessone

Once this phase of the course is complete, a series of field trips will follow to locations that were chosen because their geological features resemble those of other planets. This will include the town of Bressanone in northeastern Italy, which lies a few kilometers outside of the Brenner Pass (the part of the Alps that lies between Italy and Austria).

In many ways, the Pangaea course picks up where the Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising Human Behaviour and Performance Skills (CAVES) program left off. For several years now, the ESA has been conducting training missions in underground caverns in order to teach astronauts about working in challenging environments.

This past summer, the latest program involved a team of six international astronauts spending two weeks in a cave network in Sardinia, Italy. In this environment, 800-meters (2625 ft) beneath the surface, the team carried out a series of research and exploration activities designed to recreate aspects of a space expedition.

As the teams explore the caves of Sardinia, they encountered caverns, underground lakes and examples of strange microscopic life – all things they could encounter in extra-terrestrial environments. While doing this, they also get the change to test out new technologies and methods for research and experiments.

*Sedimentary outcroppings in the Bressanoe region (left), compared to sedimentary deposits in the Murray Buttes region on Mars (right). Credit: ESA/I. Drozdovsky (left); NASA (right)*

In a way that is similar to expeditions aboard the ISS, the program was designed to teach an international team of astronauts how to address the challenges of living and working in confined spaces. These include limited privacy, less equipment for hygiene and comfort, difficult conditions, variable temperatures and humidity, and extremely difficult emergency evacuation procedures.

Above all, the program attempts to foster teamwork, communication skills, decision-making, problem-solving, and leadership. This program is now an integral part of the ESA’s astronaut training and is conducted once a year. And as project leader Loredana Bessone explained, the Pangaea course fits with the aims of the CAVES program quite well.

“Pangaea complements our CAVES underground training,” she said. “CAVES focuses on team behaviour and operational aspects of a space mission, whereas Pangaea focuses on developing knowledge and skills for planetary geology and astrobiology.”

From all of these efforts, it is clear that the ESA, NASA and other space agencies want to make sure that future generations of astronauts are trained to conduct field geology and will be able to identify targets for scientific research. But of course, understanding the importance planetary geology in space exploration is not exactly a new phenomenon.

The six-member CAVES team in Sardinia, Italy, observing an underground pool. Credit: ESA/V.Crobu — *The six-member CAVES team in Sardinia, Italy, observing an underground pool. Credit: ESA/V. Crobu*

In fact, the study of planetary geology is rooted in the Apollo era, when it became a field separate from other fields of geological research. And geology experts played a very pivotal role when it came to selecting the landing sites of the Apollo missions. As Emily Lakdawalla, the Senior Editor of The Planetary Society (and a geologist herself), told Universe Today in a phone interview:

“The Apollo astronauts received training in field geology before they went to the Moon. Jim Head at Brown University, who was my advisor, was one person who provided that training. Before there were missions, the Lunar Orbiter program returned photos that geologists used to map the surface of the Moon and find good landing sites.”

This tradition is being carried on today with instruments like the Mars Global Surveyor. Before the Spirit and Opportunity rovers were deployed to the Martian surface, NASA scientists studied images taken by this orbiter to determine which potential landing sites would prove to be the valuable for conducting research.

And thanks to the experience gained by the Apollo missions and improvements made in both technology and instrumentation, the process has become much more sophisticated. Compared to the Apollo-era, today’s NASA mission planners have much more detailed information to go on.

*Moon rocks from the Apollo 11 mission. Credit: NASA*

“These days, the orbiter photos have such high resolutions that its just like having aerial photographs, which is something Earth geologists have always used as a tool to scope out an area before going to study it,” Lakdawalla said. “With these photos, we can map out an area in detail before we send a rover, and determine where the most high-value samples will be.”

Looking ahead, everything that’s learned from sending astronauts to the Moon – and from the study of the lunar rocks they brought back – is going to play a vital role when it comes time to explore Mars, go back to the Moon, and investigate NEOs. As Lakdawalla explained, in each case, the purpose of the geological studies will be a bit different.

“The goal in obtaining samples from the Moon was about understanding the chronology of the Moon. The timescale we have developed for the Moon are anchored in the Apollo samples. But we think that the samples have been sampling one major impact – the Imbrium impact. The next Moon samples will attempt to sample other time periods so we can determine if our time scales are correct.”

“On Mars, the questions is, ‘what are the history of water on Mars’. You try to find rocks from orbit that will answer that questions – rocks that have either been altered by water or formed in water. And that is how you select your landing zone.”

And with future missions to NEOs, astronauts will be tasked with examining geological samples which date back to the formation of the Solar System. From this, we are likely to get a better understanding of how our Solar System formed and evolved over the many billion years it has existed.

Clearly, it is a good time to be a geologist, as their expertise will be called upon for future missions to space. Hope they like tang!

Further Reading: ESA, CSA

September 13, 2016October 5, 2016 by Evan Gough

Hubble Images Three Debris Disks Around G-type Stars

An image of the circum-stellar disk around HD 207129. The three circled objects are background objects and part of the disk. Image: Hubble Space Telescope, Glenn Schneider et al 2016. — An image of the circum-stellar disk around HD 207129. The three circled objects are background objects and are not part of the disk. Image: Hubble Space Telescope, Glenn Schneider et al 2016.

A team using the Hubble Space Telescope has imaged circumstellar disk structures (CDSs) around three stars similar to our Sun. The stars are all G-type solar analogs, and the disks themselves share similarities with our Solar System’s own Kuiper Belt. Studying these CDSs will help us better understand their ring-like structure, and the formation of solar systems.

The team behind the study was led by Glenn Schneider of the Seward Observatory at the University of Arizona. They used the Hubble’s Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph to capture the images. The stars in the study are HD 207917, HD 207129, and HD 202628.

Theoretical models of circumstellar disk dynamics suggest the presence of CDSs. Direct observation confirms their presence, though not many of these disks are within observational range. These new deep images of three solar analog CDSs are important. Studying the structure of these rings should lead to a better understanding of the formation of solar systems themselves.

A is the observed image of HD 207917. B is the best-fit debris ring model of the same star. Image: Hubble, G. Schneider et. al. 2016.

Debris disks like these are separate from protoplanetary disks. Protoplanetary disks are a mixture of both gas and dust which exist around younger stars. They are the source material out of which planetesimals form. Those planetesimals then become planets.

Protoplanetary disks are much shorter-lived than CDSs. Whatever material is left over after planet formation is typically expelled from the host solar system by the star’s radiation pressure.

In circumstellar debris disks like the ones imaged in this study, the solar system is older, and the planets have already formed. CDSs like these have lasted this long by replenishing themselves. Collisions between larger bodies in the solar system create more debris. The resulting debris is continually ground down to smaller sizes by repeated collisions.

This process requires gravitational perturbation, either from planets in the system, or by binary stars. In fact, the presence of a CDSs is a strong hint that the solar system contains terrestrial planets.

A circumstellar disk of debris around a mature stellar system could indicate the presence of Earth-like planets. Credit: NASA/JPL

The three disks in this study were viewed at intermediate inclinations. They scatter starlight, and are more easily observed than edge-on disks. Each of the three circumstellar disk structures possess “ring-like components that are more massive analogs of our solar system’s Edgeworth–Kuiper Belt,” according to the study.

The study authors expect that the images of these three disk structures will be studied in more detail, both by themselves and by others in future research. They also say that the James Webb Space Telescope will be a powerful tool for examining CDSs.

September 13, 2016February 22, 2017 by Fraser Cain

What are the Parts of the Sun?

The interior structure of the Sun. Credit: Wikipedia Commons/kelvinsong

From here on Earth, the Sun like a smooth ball of light. And prior to Galileo’s discovery of sunposts, astronomers even thought it was a perfect orb with no imperfections. However, thanks to improved instruments and many centuries of study, we know that the Sun is much like the planets of our Solar System.

In addition to imperfections on its surface, the Sun is also made up of several layers, each of which serves its own purpose. It’s this structure of the Sun that powers this massive engine that provides the planets with all the light and heat they receive. And here on Earth, it is what provides all life forms with the energy they need to thrive and survive.

Composition:

If you could take the Sun apart, and stack up its various elements, you would find that the Sun is made of hydrogen (74%) and helium (about 24%). Astronomers consider anything heavier than helium to be a metal. The remaining amount of the Sun is made of iron, nickel, oxygen, silicon, sulfur, magnesium, carbon, neon, calcium and chromium. In fact, the Sun is 1% oxygen; and everything else comes out of that last 1%.

Where did these elements come from? The hydrogen and helium came from the Big Bang. In the early moments of the Universe, the first element, hydrogen, formed from the soup of elementary particles. The pressure and temperatures were still so intense that the entire Universe had the same conditions as the core of a star.

Hydrogen was fused into helium until the Universe cooled down enough that this reaction couldn’t happen any more. The ratios of hydrogen and helium that we see in the Universe today were created in those first few moments after the Big Bang. The other elements were created in other stars. Stars are constantly fusing hydrogen into helium in their cores.

Once the hydrogen in the core runs out, they switch to fusing heavier and heavier elements, like helium, lithium, oxygen. Most of the heavier metals we see in the Sun were formed in other stars at the end of their lives. The heaviest elements, like gold and uranium, were formed when stars many times more massive that our Sun detonated in supernova explosions.

In a fraction of a second, as a black hole was forming, elements were crushed together in the intense heat and pressure to form the heaviest elements. The explosion scattered these elements across the region, where they could contribute to the formation of new stars.

Our Sun is made up of elements left over from the Big Bang, elements formed from dying stars, and elements created in supernovae. That’s pretty amazing.

Structure:

Although the Sun is mostly just a ball of hydrogen and helium, it’s actually broken up into distinct layers. The layers of the Sun are created because the temperatures and pressures increase as you move towards the center of the Sun. The hydrogen and helium behave differently under the changing conditions.

The Core: Let’s start at the innermost layer of the Sun, the core of the Sun. This is the very center of the Sun, where temperatures and pressures are so high that fusion can happen. The Sun is combining hydrogen into helium atoms, and this reaction gives off the light and heat that we see here on Earth. The density of the core is 150 times the density of water, and the temperatures are thought to be 13,600,000 degrees Kelvin.

Astronomers believe that the core of the Sun extends from the center out to about 0.2 solar radius. And within this region, temperatures and pressures are so high that hydrogen atoms are torn apart to form separate protons, neutrons and electrons. With all of these free floating particles, the Sun is able to reform them into atoms of helium.

This reaction is exothermic. That means that the reaction gives off a tremendous amount of heat – 3.89 x 10³³ ergs of energy every second. The light pressure of all this energy streaming from the core of the Sun is what stops it from collapsing inward on itself.

Radiative Zone: The radiative zone of the Sun starts at the edge of the core of the Sun (0.2 solar radii), and extends up to about 0.7 radii. Within the radiative zone, the solar material is hot and dense enough that thermal radiation transfers the heat of the core outward through the Sun.

The core of the Sun is where nuclear fusion reactions are happening – protons are merged together to create atoms of helium. This reaction produces a tremendous amount of gamma radiation. These photons of energy are emitted, absorbed, and then emitted again by various particles in the radiative zone.

The path that photons take is called the “random walk”. Instead of going in a straight beam of light, they travel in a zigzag direction, eventually reaching the surface of the Sun. In fact, it can take a single photon upwards of 200,000 years to make the journey through the radiative zone of the Sun.

As they transfer from particle to particle, the photons lose energy. That’s a good thing, since we wouldn’t want only gamma radiation streaming from the Sun. Once these photons reach space, they take a mere 8 minutes to get to Earth.

Most stars will have radiative zones, but their size depends on the star’s size. Small stars will have much smaller radiative zones, and the convective zone will take up a larger portion of the star’s interior. The smallest stars might not have a radiative zone at all, with the convective zone reaching all the way down to the core. The largest stars would have the opposite situation, where the radiative zone reaches all the way up to the surface.

Convective Zone: Outside the radiative zone is another layer, called the convective zone, where heat from inside the Sun is carried up by columns of hot gas. Most stars have a convective zone. In the case of the Sun, it starts at around 70% of the Sun’s radius and goes to the outer surface (the photosphere).

Gas deeper inside the star is heated up so that it rises, like globs of wax in a lava lamp. As it gets to the surface, the gas loses some of its heat, cools down, and sinks back towards the center to pick up more heat. Another example would be a pot of boiling water on the stove.

The surface of the Sun looks granulated. These granules are the columns of hot gas that carry heat to the surface. They can be more than 1,000 km across, and typically last about 8 to 20 minutes before dissipating. Astronomers think that low mass stars, like red dwarfs, have a convective zone that goes all the way down to the core. Unlike the Sun, they don’t have a radiative zone at all.

Photosphere: The layer of the Sun that we can see from Earth is called the photosphere. Below the photosphere, the Sun becomes opaque to visible light, and astronomers have to use other methods to probe its interior. The temperature of the photosphere is about 6,000 Kelvin, and gives off the yellow-white light that we see.

Above the photosphere is the atmosphere of the Sun. Perhaps the most dramatic of these is the corona, which is visible during a total solar eclipse.

This graphic shows a model of the layers of the Sun, with approximate mileage ranges for each layer: for the inner layers, the mileage is from the sun's core; for the outer layers, the mileage is from the sun's surface. The inner layers are the Core, Radiative Zone and Convection Zone. The outer layers are the Photosphere, the Chromosphere, the Transition Region and the Corona. Credit: NASA — *Graphic showing a model of the layers of the Sun, with approximate mileage ranges for each layer. Credit: NASA*

Diagram:

Below is a diagram of the Sun, originally developed by NASA for educational purposes.

Visible, IR and UV radiation – The light that we see coming from the Sun is visible, but if you close your eyes and just feel the warmth, that’s IR, or infrared radiation. And the light that gives you a sunburn is ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The Sun produces all of these wavelengths at the same time.
Photosphere 6000 K – The photosphere is the surface of the Sun. This is the region where light from the interior finally reaches space. The temperature is 6000 K, which is the same as 5,700 degrees C.
Photosphere 6000 K – The photosphere is the surface of the Sun. This is the region where light from the interior finally reaches space. The temperature is 6000 K, which is the same as 5,700 degrees C.
Radio emissions – In addition to visible, IR and UV, the Sun also gives off radio emissions, which can be detected by a radio telescope. These emissions rise and fall depending on the number of sunspots on the surface of the Sun.
Coronal Hole – These are regions on the Sun where the corona is cooler, darker and has less dense plasma.
2100000 – This is the temperature of the Sun’s radiative zone.
Convective zone/Turbulent convection – This is the region of the Sun where heat from the core is transferred through convection. Warm columns of plasma rise to the surface in columns, release their heat and then fall back down to heat up again.
Coronal loops – These are loops of plasma in the Sun’s atmosphere that follows magnetic flux lines. They look like big arches, stretching up from the surface of the Sun for hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
Core – The is the heart of the Sun, where the temperatures and pressures are so high that nuclear fusion reactions can happen. All of the energy coming from the Sun originates from the core.
14500000 K – The temperature of the core of the Sun.
Radiative Zone – The region of the Sun where energy can only be transferred through radiation. It can take a single photon 200,000 years to get from the core, through the radiative zone, out to the surface and into space.
Neutrinos – Neutrinos are nearly mass-less particles blasted out from the Sun as part of the fusion reactions. There are millions of neutrinos passing through your body every second, but they don’t interact, so you can’t feel them.
Chromospheric Flare – The Sun’s magnetic field can get twisted up and then snap into a different configuration. When this happens, there can be powerful X-ray flares emanating from the surface of the Sun.
Magnetic Field Loop – The Sun’s magnetic field extends out above its surface, and can be seen because hot plasma in the atmosphere follows the field lines.
Spot – A sunspot. These are areas on the Sun’s surface where the magnetic field lines pierce the surface of the Sun, and they’re relatively cooler than the surrounding areas.
Prominence – A bright feature that extends above the surface of the Sun, often in the shape of a loop.
Energetic particles – There can be energetic particles blasting off the surface of the Sun to create the solar wind. In solar storms, energetic protons can be accelerated to nearly the speed of light.
X-rays – In addition to the wavelengths we can see, there are invisible X-rays coming from the Sun, especially during flares. The Earth’s atmosphere protects us from this radiation.
Bright spots and short-lived magnetic regions – The surface of the Sun has many brighter and dimmer spots caused by changing temperature. The temperature changes from the constantly shifting magnetic field.

Yes, the Sun is like an onion. Peel back one layer and you’ll find many more. But in this case, each layers is responsible for a different function. And what they add to is a giant furnace and light source that keeps us living beings here on Earth warm and illuminated!

And be sure to enjoy this video from the NASA Goddard Center, titled “Snapshots from the Edge of the Sun”:

We have written many interesting articles about the Sun here at Universe Today. Here’s Ten Interesting Facts About the Sun, What Color is the Sun?, What is the Life Cycle of the Sun?, What Kind of Star is the Sun?, How Far is the Earth from the Sun?, and Could We Terraform the Sun?

For more information, check out NASA’s page on the Sun, and Sun Facts at Eight Planets.

Astronomy Cast also has an episode on the subject: Episode 320: The Layers of the Sun

Sources:

September 12, 2016September 16, 2016 by Ken Kremer

Bound for Bennu, OSIRIS-REx Begins Trailblazing Asteroid Sampling Sortie for Life’s Origins – Sunset Launch Gallery

United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on the first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid, retrieve at least two ounces of surface material and return it to Earth for study. Liftoff was at 7:05 p.m. EDT on September 8, 2016 in this remote camera view taken from inside the launch pad perimeter. Note the newly install crew access arm and white room for astronaut flights atop Atlas starting in early 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – Bound for Bennu, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx robotic explorer began a trailblazing 7 year round trip sampling sortie on Sept. 8 in search of the origin of life with a spectacular sky show – thrilling spectators ringing the Florida Space Coast.

Hordes of space enthusiasts from all across the globe descended on the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral region for the chance of a lifetime to witness a once in a lifetime liftoff to the carbon rich asteroid – which could potentially bring back samples infused with the organic chemicals like amino acids that are the building blocks of life as we know it.

NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security – Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft departed Earth with an on time engine ignition of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket under crystal clear skies on Thursday, September 8 at 7:05 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Blastoff of NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex asteroid sampling spacecraft on September 8, 2016 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL as seen from Playalinda Beach. Credit: Jillian Laudick

Everything went exactly according to plan for the daring mission bolding seeking to gather rocks and soil from Bennu – using an ingenious robotic arm named TAGSAM – and bring at least a 60-gram (2.1-ounce) sample back to Earth in 2023 for study by scientists using the world’s most advanced research instruments.

“We got everything just exactly perfect,” said Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona, at the post launch briefing at the Kennedy Space Center. “We hit all our milestone within seconds of predicts.

The space rock measures about the size of a small mountain at about a third of a mile in diameter.

And the picture perfect near sunset launch rewarded photographers from near and far with a spectacular series of richly hued photo and video recordings.

So I’ve gathered here a variety of launch imagery from multiple vantage points shot by friends, colleagues and myself – for the enjoyment of readers of Universe Today and Beyond!

Liftoff of NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex asteroid sampling spacecraft on September 8, 2016 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. Credit: Julian Leek

As you’ll see and hear the ULA Atlas V rocket integrated with OSIRIS-Rex on top thundered off the Cape’s pad 41 and shot skyward straight up along an equatorial path into Florida’s sun.

From every vantage point the rocket and its ever expanding vapor trail were visible for some 4 or 5 minutes or more. From my location on the roof of NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) the rocket finally arched over nearly straight above us and the sun produced a magnificent thin and nearly straight shadow of the vapor trail on the ground running out to the Atlantic Ocean towards Africa.

It was truly an unforgettable sight to behold. And folks at Playalinda Beach, the best public viewing spot just a few miles north of pad 40 had an uninhibited view of the rocket to the base of the pad – while they waded and swam in the oceans waters with waves crashing on shore as the Atlas rocket blasted to space.

OSIRIS-REx separated as planned from the Atlas V rockets liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fueled second stage rocket to fly free at 8:04 p.m. on Sept. 8 – 55 minutes after launch.

The pair of solar arrays deployed as planned to provide the probes life giving power.

The spacecraft was built by prime contractor Lockheed.

“The spacecraft is healthy and functioning properly,” Richard Kuhns, Lockheed Martin OSIRIS-REx program manager, told me in an interview at the post-launch briefing.

Members of the OSIRIS-REx mission team celebrate the successful spacecraft launch on Sept. 8, 2016 atop ULA Atlas V at the post-launch briefing at the Kennedy Space Center, FL. Principal Investigator Dante Lauretta is 4th from right, NASA Planetary Science Director Jim Green is center, 5th from left. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com — Members of the OSIRIS-REx mission team celebrate the successful spacecraft launch on Sept. 8, 2016 atop ULA Atlas V at the post-launch briefing at the Kennedy Space Center, FL. Principal Investigator Dante Lauretta is 4th from right, NASA Planetary Science Director Jim Green is center, 5th from left. Richard Kuhns, Lockheed Martin OSIRIS-REx program manager, 2nd from right. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

“The primary objective of the OSIRIS-Rex mission is to bring back pristine material from the surface of the carbonaceous asteroid Bennu, OSIRIS-Rex Principal Investigator Dante Lauretta told Universe Today in a prelaunch interview in the KSC cleanroom with the spacecraft as the probe was undergoing final preparations for shipment to the launch pad.

“We are interested in that material because it is a time capsule from the earliest stages of solar system formation.”

“It records the very first material that formed from the earliest stages of solar system formation. And we are really interested in the evolution of carbon during that phase. Particularly the key prebiotic molecules like amino acids, nucleic acids, phosphates and sugars that build up. These are basically the biomolecules for all of life.”

The asteroid is 1,614-foot (500 m) in diameter and crosses Earth’s orbit around the sun every six years.

After a two year flight through space, including an Earth swing by for a gravity assisted speed boost in 2017, OSIRIS-REx will reach Bennu in Fall 2018 to begin about 2 years of study in orbit to determine the physical and chemical properties of the asteroid in extremely high resolution.

While orbiting Bennu starting in 2018 it will move in close to explore the asteroid for about two years with its suite of science instruments, scanning in visible and infrared light. After a thorough site selection, it will move carefully towards the surface and extend the 11 foot long TAGSAM robotic arm and snatch pristine soil samples containing organic materials from the surface using the TAGSAM collection dish over just 3 to 5 seconds.

Once a good sample collection is confirmed, the dish will then be placed inside the Earth return canister and be brought back to Earth for study by researchers using all of the most sophisticated science instruments available to humankind.

Using the 11 foot long TAGSAM robotic arm that functions somewhat like a pogo stick, OSIRIS-REx will gather rocks and soil and bring at least a 60-gram (2.1-ounce) sample back to Earth on Sept 24, 2023. It has the capacity to scoop up to about 2 kg or more.

ULA Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sampling spacecraft on September 8, 2016 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL, in this remote camera view taken from inside the launch pad perimeter. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com — ULA Atlas V rocket lifts off on September 8, 2016 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sampling spacecraft, in this remote camera view taken from inside the launch pad perimeter. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

The two stage ULA Atlas V performed flawlessly and delivered OSIRIS-Rex into a hyperbolic trajectory away from Earth.

The 189 foot tall ULA Atlas V rocket launched in the rare 411 configuration for only the 3rd time on this mission – which is the 65th for the Atlas V.

The Atlas 411 vehicle includes a 4-meter diameter large Payload Fairing (PLF) and one solid rocket booster that augments the first stage. The Atlas booster for this mission is powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 engine and the Centaur upper stage was powered by the Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10A.

The RD-180 burns RP-1 (Rocket Propellant-1 or highly purified kerosene) and liquid oxygen and delivers 860,200 lb of thrust at sea level.

The strap on solid delivers approximately 348,500 pounds of thrust.

The Centaur delivers 22, 230 lbf of thrust and burns liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.

The solid was jettisoned at 139 seconds after liftoff.

Launch of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx on September 8, 2016 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL as seen from LC-39 Gantry. Credit: Jen Saxby

This is ULA’s eighth launch in 2016 and the 111th successful launch since the company was formed in December 2006.

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx blasts off to asteroid Bennu on ULA Atlas V rocket prior on Sept. 8, 2016 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL, as seen from the VAB roof. Credit: Lane Hermann/SpaceHeadNews

OSIRIS-REx will return the largest sample from space since the American and Soviet Union’s moon landing missions of the 1970s.

Watch these pair of up close videos (from myself and Jeff Seibert) captured directly at the pad with the sights and sounds of the fury of launch:

Video Caption: ULA Atlas V rocket lifts off on September 8, 2016 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sampling spacecraft, in this remote camera view taken from inside the launch pad perimeter. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

Video Caption: Compilation of my launch videos from the ULA Atlas 5 launch in support of the NASA OSIRIS_REx asteroid sample return mission to the asteroid Bennu (#101955). It was launched on September 8th, 2016 from Pad 41 of CCAFS. It is scheduled to land in UTAH with asteroid samples on September 24, 2023. Credit: Jeff Seibert

OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program, following New Horizons to Pluto and Juno to Jupiter, which also launched on Atlas V rockets.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is responsible for overall mission management.

OSIRIS-REx complements NASA’s Asteroid Initiative – including the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) which is a robotic spacecraft mission aimed at capturing a surface boulder from a different near-Earth asteroid and moving it into a stable lunar orbit for eventual up close sample collection by astronauts launched in NASA’s new Orion spacecraft. Orion will launch atop NASA’s new SLS heavy lift booster concurrently under development.

Launch of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx on September 8, 2016 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL as seen from VAB roof. Credit: J.Sekora/SEKORAPHOTO

Watch for Ken’s continuing OSIRIS-REx mission and launch reporting from on site at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.

Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Earth and planetary science and human spaceflight news.

Ken Kremer

NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex asteroid sampling spacecraft streaks to orbit on September 8, 2016 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL as seen from Playalinda Beach. Credit: Jillian Laudick

Liftoff of NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-Rex asteroid sampling spacecraft on September 8, 2016 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on the first U.S. mission to sample an asteroid, retrieve at least two ounces of surface material and return it to Earth for study. Liftoff was at 7:05 p.m. EDT on September 8, 2016. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

View of science instrument suite and TAGSAM robotic sample return arm on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sampling spacecraft inside the Payloads Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Probe is slated for Sep. 8, 2016 launch to asteroid Bennu from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com — View of science instrument suite and TAGSAM robotic sample return arm on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid sampling spacecraft inside the Payloads Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Probe is slated for Sep. 8, 2016 launch to asteroid Bennu from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

September 12, 2016November 21, 2016 by Tammy Plotner

Messier 23 – The NGC 6494 Open Star Cluster

Messier 23, Messier 21, Trifid Nebula (M20) and Omega Nebula (M17). Credit: Wikisky

Welcome back to Messier Monday! In our ongoing tribute to the great Tammy Plotner, we take a look at the Messier 23 open star cluster. Enjoy!

Back in the 18th century, famed French astronomer Charles Messier noted the presence of several “nebulous objects” in the night sky. Having originally mistaken them for comets, he began compiling a list of these objects so that other astronomers wouldn’t make the same mistake. Consisting of 100 objects, the Messier Catalog has come to be viewed as a major milestone in the study of Deep Space Objects.

One of these objects is Messier 23 (aka. NGC 6494), a large open star cluster that is located in the constellation Sagittarius. Given its luminosity, it can be found quite easily in the rich star fields of the summer Milky Way using small telescopes and even binoculars.

Description:

Located some 2,150 light years (659 Parsecs) away from Earth, this vast cloud of 176 confirmed stars stretches across 15 to 20 light years of space. At an estimated 220 to 300 million years old, Messier 23 is on the “senior citizen” list of galactic open clusters in our galaxy. At this age, its hottest stars reach spectral type B9, and it even contains a few blue straggler candidates.

Messier 23. Atlas Image mosaic obtained as part of the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation. — *Mosaic image obtained as part of the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Credit: UofM/IPAC/Caltech/NASA/NSF*

Given that M23 has spent many centuries sweeping through the interstellar medium, astronomers have wondered how this would affect its metal content. Using UBV photometry, astronauts examined the metallicity of M23, and determined that it had no discernible effect. As W.L. Sanders wrote of the cluster in 1990:

“UBV photometric observations of 176 stars in the galactic cluster NGC 6494 are presented and analyzed. The effect of a gas poor environment on the metal abundance of NGC 6494 is studied. It is determined that the metallicity of NGC 6494, which has a delta(U – B) value = + 0.02, is not affected by the interarm region in which it dwelled.”

At the same time, astronomers have discovered that some of M23’s older stars – the red giants – are suffering mass loss. As G. Barbaro (et al.) of the Istituto di Fisica dell’Universita put it in 1969:

“A statistical research on evolved stars beyond hydrogen exhaustion is performed by comparing the H-R diagrams of about 60 open clusters with a set of isochronous curves without mass loss derived from Iben’s evolutionary tracks and time scales for Population I stars. Interpreting the difference in magnitude between the theoretical positions thus calculated and the observed ones as due to mass loss, when negative, the results indicate that this loss may be conspicuous only for very massive and red stars. However, a comparison with an analogous work of Lindoff reveals that the uncertainties connected with the bolometric and color corrections may invalidate by a large amount the conclusions which might be drawn from such research.”

Close-up image of the core of M23, showing some of its brightest member stars. Credit: Sharp/NOAO/AURA/NSF — *Close-up of the core of M23, showing some of its brightest member stars. Credit: Sharp/NOAO/AURA/NSF*

However, the most recent studies show that we have to determine radial velocities before we can really associate red giants as being cluster members. J.C. Mermilliod of Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de l’Ecole wrote in his 2008 study, “Red giants in open clusters“:

“The present material, combined with recent absolute proper motions, will permit various investigation of the galactic distribution and space motions of a large sample of open clusters. However, the distance estimates still remain the weakest part of the necessary data. This paper is the last one in this series devoted to the study of red giants in open clusters based on radial velocities obtained with the CORAVEL instruments.”

History of Observation:

This neat and tidy galactic star cluster was one of the original discoveries of Charles Messier. As he recorded of the cluster when first viewing it, which occurred on June 20th, 1764:

“In the night of June 20 to 21, 1764, I determined the position of a cluster of small stars which is situated between the northern extremity of the bow of Sagittarius and the right foot of Ophiuchus, very close to the star of sixth magnitude, the sixty-fifth of the latter constellation [Oph], after the catalog of Flamsteed: These stars are very close to each other; there is none which one can see easily with an ordinary refractor of 3 feet and a half, and which was taken for these small stars. The diameter of all is about 15 minutes of arc. I have determined its position by comparing the middle with the star Mu Sagittarii: I have found its right ascension of 265d 42′ 50″, and its declination of 18d 45′ 55″, south.”

The M23 open star cluster, as it appears in the night sky, flanked by M8 (Lagoon), M16 (Eagle), M17 (Omega), M20 (Trifid) and other deep sky objects. Credit & Copyright: Fernando Cabrerizo/NASA — The M23 open star cluster, as it appears in the night sky (a patch of red), flanked by M8 (Lagoon), M16 (Eagle), M17 (Omega), M20 (Trifid) and other deep sky objects. Credit & Copyright: Fernando Cabrerizo/NASA

While William Herschel did not publish his observations of Messier’s objects, he was still an avid observer. So of course, he had to look at this cluster, and wrote the following observations in his personal notes:

“A cluster of beautiful scattered, large stars, nearly of equal magnitudes (visible in my finder), it extends much farther than the field of the telescope will take in, and in the finder seems to be a nebula of a lengthened form extending to about half a degree.”

In July of 1835, Admiral Smyth would make an observation of Messier 23 and once again add his colorful remarks to the timeline:

“A loose cluster in the space between Ophiuchus’s left leg and the bow of Sagittarius. This is an elegant sprinkling of telescopic stars over the whole field, under a moderate magnifying power; the most clustering portion is oblique, in the direction sp to nf [south preceding to north following, SW to NE], with a 7th-magnitude star in the latter portion. The place registered it that of a neat pair, of the 9th and 10th magnitudes, of a lilac hue, and about 12″ apart. This object was discovered by Messier 1764, and it precedes a rich out-cropping of the Milky Way. The place is gained by differentiating the cluster with Mu Sagittarii, from which it bears north-west, distant about 5 deg, the spot being directed to by a line from Sigma on the shoulder, through Mu at the tip of the bow.”

Remember when observing Messier 23 that it won’t slap you in the face like many objects. Basically, it looks like a stellar scattering of freckles across the face of the sky when fully-resolved. It’s actually one of those objects that’s better to view with binoculars and low power telescopes.

Locating Messier 23:

M23 can be easily found with binoculars about a finger’s width north and two finger widths west of Mu Sagittarii. Or, simply draw a mental line between the top star in the teapot lid (Lambda) and Xi Serpentis. You’ll find a slight compression in the star field about halfway between these two stars that shows up as an open cluster with binoculars.

Using a finderscope, the object will appear nicely as a hazy spot. And for those using telescopes of any size, you’ll need to use fairly low magnification to help set this cluster apart from the surrounding star field, and it will resolve well to almost all instruments.

And here are the quick facts on this object to help you get started:

Object Name: Messier 23
Alternative Designations: M23, NGC 6494
Object Type: Open Star Cluster
Constellation: Sagittarius
Right Ascension: 17 : 56.8 (h:m)
Declination: -19 : 01 (deg:m)
Distance: 2.15 (kly)
Visual Brightness: 6.9 (mag)
Apparent Dimension: 27.0 (arc min)

We have written many interesting articles about Messier Objects here at Universe Today. Here’s Tammy Plotner’s Introduction to the Messier Objects, , M1 – The Crab Nebula, M8 – The Lagoon Nebula, and David Dickison’s articles on the 2013 and 2014 Messier Marathons.

Be to sure to check out our complete Messier Catalog. And for more information, check out the SEDS Messier Database.

Sources:

September 12, 2016October 5, 2016 by Matt Williams

Blue Origin Goes Big With New Glenn Rocket

Size comparison between the New Glenn and all other rockets currently in operations (with the Saturn V for comparison). Credit: Blue Origin

Space exploration is becoming a lucrative domain for private aerospace companies (aka. the NewSpace industry). With opportunities for launch and resupply services growing, costs dwindling, and the cancellation of the Space Shuttle Program, private companies have been stepping up in recent years to provide their own launch vehicles and services to fill the gap.

Take Jeff Bezos, for example. Back in 2000, the founder of Amazon.com created Blue Origin to fulfill his lifelong dream of colonizing space. For years, Bezos and the company he founded have been working to produce their own fleet of reusable rockets. And as of the morning of Monday, Sept. 12th, he unveiled their newest and heaviest rocket – the New Glenn.

Much like SpaceX, Blue Origin has been committed to the creation of reusable rocket technology. This was made clear with the development of the New Shepard suborbital rocket, which was unveiled in 2006. Named in honor of the first American astronaut to go into space (Alan Shepard), this rocket made its first flight in April of 2015 and has had an impressive record, nailing four out of five soft landings in the space of just over a year.

New Shepard comes in for a landing with drag brakes and landing gear deployed. Image: Blue Origin. — *New Shepard comes in for a landing with drag brakes and landing gear deployed. Credit: Blue Origin.*

With the New Glenn – named in honor of astronaut John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth – the company now intends to take the next step, offering launch services beyond Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) and for crewed missions. As Bezos said during the press conference:

“New Glenn is designed to launch commercial satellites and to fly humans into space. The three-stage variant-with its high specific impulse hydrogen upper stage—is capable of flying demanding beyond-LEO missions.”

According to Bezos, Blue Origin will have both a two-stage and three-stage variant of the rocket. Whereas the two-stage will provide heavier lift capacity to LEO, the three-stage will be able to reach further, and will the company’s go-to when sending crewed missions into space. Work on the rocket began back in 2012, and the company hopes to make their first launch prior to 2020.

As Bezos said during the unveiling, this rocket carries on in the same tradition that inspired the creation of the New Shepard:

“Building, flying, landing, and re-flying New Shepard has taught us so much about how to design for practical, operable reusability. And New Glenn incorporates all of those learnings. Named in honor of John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, New Glenn is 23 feet in diameter and lifts off with 3.85 million pounds of thrust from seven BE-4 engines. Burning liquefied natural gas and liquid oxygen, these are the same BE-4 engines that will power United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan rocket.”

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV rocket carrying the WGS-7 mission for the U.S. Air Force launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl, on July 23, 2015. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com — *A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV rocket launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl, on July 23rd, 2015. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com*

The rocket will have a sea-level thrust of 1.746 million kg (3.85 million lbs), placing it ahead of the Delta IV Heavy – which has a sea-level thrust of about 900,000 kg (2 million lbs) – but behind the 2.268 million kg (5 million lbs) of the Falcon Heavy. Both variants will be powered by BE-4 engines, which are also manufactured by Blue Origin. The third-stage also employs a single vacuum-optimized BE-3 engine that burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

However, the most interesting facet of the New Glenn is the fact that it will be reusable, with its first stage providing braking thrust and deployable legs (similar to the Falcon 9). In creating a heavy lift rocket that employs a retrievable first-stage, Blue Origin has signaled its intent to give SpaceX a run for its money when it comes to the development of reusable rocket technology.

It is also likely to raise the company’s profile, which has so far been limited to conducting sub-orbital research for NASA and dabbling in the space-tourism industry. But once the New Glenn is up and running, it is likely to begin securing contracts to provide resupply services the ISS, as well as contracts with companies and research institutions to place satellites in orbit.

The Falcon Heavy, once operational, will be the most powerful rocket in the world. Credit: spacex.com

According to The Verge, Bezos also hinted that his company has another project in mind – called the New Armstrong. While no details have been given just yet, the name of this rocket is a clear allusion to the Moon Landing, and hints that the company may have designs on possible moon missions in the coming decades.

This is an exciting time for the NewSpace industry. In the coming months, SpaceX is expected to conduct the first launch of the Falcon Heavy, which will be the most powerful rocket built in the US since the retirement of the Apollo program’s Saturn V launcher. And if they keep to their current schedule, Blue Origin will be following this in a few years time with the launch of the largest rocket of the post-Apollo era.

Big rockets and big lift capacities can mean only thing: big things lie ahead of us!

Further Reading: ArsTechnica, The Verge, Blue Origin

September 12, 2016October 5, 2016 by Matt Williams

Stunning New Images Of Mars From The Curiosity Rover

Murray formation: rocks laid down by water and sculpted by wind — Finely layered rocks within the "Murray formation" layer of lower Mount Sharp on Mars. Credit: NASA

Since its deployment in 2012 to the surface of Mars, the Curiosity rover has sent back many breathtaking images of the Red Planet. In addition to snapping photos of the comet Siding Spring and Earth from the surface, not to mention some wonderful panoramic selfies, the rover has also taken countless images that show the geology and surface features of Mars’ in stunning detail.

And with the latest photos to be released by NASA, the Curiosity rover has provided us with a wonderful look at the “Murray Buttes” region, which is in the lower part of Mount Sharp. These images were taken by the Curiosity Mast Camera (Mastcam) on Sept. 8th, and provide some lovely insight into the geological history of the region.

Using these images, the Curiosity team hopes to assemble another impressive color mosaic that will give a detailed look at the region’s rocky, desert-like landscape. As you can see from the images provided, the region is characterized by mesas and buttes, which are the eroded remnants of ancient sandstone. Much like other spots around Mount Sharp, the area is of particular interest to the Curiosity team.

Sloping buttes and layered outcrops within the "Murray formation" layer of lower Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA — *Sloping buttes and layered outcrops within the “Murray formation” layer of lower Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA*

For years, scientists have understood that the rock layers that form the base of Mount Sharp accumulated as a result of sediment being deposited within the ancient lake bed billions of years ago. In this respect, the geological formations are similar to those found in the desert regions of the southwestern United States.

Ashwin Vasavada, the Curiosity Project Scientist of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Universe Today via email:

” The Murray Buttes region of Mars is reminiscent of parts of the American southwest because of its butte and mesa landscape. In both areas, thick layers of sediment were deposited by wind and water, eventually resulting in a “layer cake” of bedrock that then began to erode away as conditions changed. In both places, more resistant sandstone layers cap the mesas and buttes because they protect the more easily eroded, fine-grained rock underneath.

“Like at Monument Valley near the Utah-Arizona border, at Murray Buttes there are just small remnants of these layers that once covered the surface more completely. There were wind-driven sand dunes at both places, too, that now appear as cross-bedded sandstone layers. There are of course many differences between Mars and the American Southwest. For example, there were large inland seas in the Southwest, while at Gale crater there were lakes.”

These sediment layers are believed to have been laid down over the course of 2 billion years, and may have completely filled the crater at one time. Since it is widely believed that lakes and streams existed in the Gale Crater 3.3 – 3.8 billion years ago, some of the lower sediment layers may have originally been deposited on a lake bed.

A hillside outcrop with finely layered rocks within the "Murray formation" layer of lower Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA — *A hillside outcrop with finely layered rocks within the “Murray formation” layer of lower Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA*

For this reason, the Curiosity team also took drill samples from the Murray Buttes area for analysis. This began on Sept. 9th, after the rover was finished taking pictures of the area. As Vasavada explained:

“The Curiosity team is drilling regularly as the rover ascends Mount Sharp. We are drilling into the fine-grained rock that was deposited within lakes in order to see how the lake chemistry, and therefore the environment, changed over time. Curiosity drilled into the coarser sandstone that forms the upper layers of the buttes when the rover crossed the Naukluft Plateau earlier in 2016.”

After the drilling is completed, Curiosity will continue farther south and higher up Mount Sharp, leaving behind these spectacular formations. These pictures represent Curiosity‘s last stop in the Murray Buttes, where the rover has been spending the past month.

And as of this past September 11th, 2016, Curiosity has been on the planet Mars for a total of 4 years and 36 days (or 1497 Earth days; 1458 sols) since it landed on August 6th, 2012.

One has to wonder how the pareidolia folks are going to interpret these ones. After “seeing” a rat, a lizard, a doughnut, a coffin, and so forth, what’s left? Might I suggest that the top image kind of looks like a statue-column?

Further Reading: NASA – Solar System Exploration

September 12, 2016September 17, 2016 by Bob King

The Big Dipper in the Year 92,000

Stellar motions distort the future sky. Map: Bob King, Source: Stellarium

If we could transport Ptolemy, a famous astronomer who lived circa 90 – 168 A.D. in Alexandria, Egypt, he would have noticed the shift in position of Arcturus, Sirius and Aldebaran since his time. Everything else would appear virtually unchanged. — If we could transport **Ptolemy**, a famous astronomer who lived circa 90 – 168 A.D. in Alexandria, Egypt, he would have noticed the shift in position of Arcturus, Sirius and Aldebaran since his time. Everything else would appear virtually unchanged.

You go out and look at the stars year after year and never see any of them get up and walk away from their constellations. Take a time machine back to the days of Plato and Socrates and only careful viewing would reveal that just three of the sky’s naked eye stars had budged: Arcturus, Sirius and Aldebaran. And then only a little. Their motion was discovered by Edmund Halley in 1718 when he compared the stars’ positions then to their positions noted by the ancient Greek astronomers. In all three cases, the stars had moved “above a half a degree more Southerly at this time than the Antients reckoned them.”

NGC 4414 is a spiral galaxy that resembles our own Milky Way. I've drawn in the orbits of several stars. Both disk and halo stars orbit about the center but halo stars describe long elliptical orbits. When they plunge through the disk, if they happen to be relatively nearby as is Arcturus, they'll appear to move relatively quickly across the sky. Credit: NASA/ESA — NGC 4414 is a spiral galaxy that resembles our own Milky Way. I’ve drawn in the orbits of several stars. Both disk and halo stars orbit about the center, but halo stars describe long elliptical orbits that take them well beyond the disk. When a star plunges through the disk, if it happens to be relatively nearby as in the case of Arcturus, the star will appear to move relatively quickly across the sky. Both distance and the type of orbit a star has can affect how fast it moves from our perspective. Credit: NASA/ESA with orbits by the author

Stars are incredibly far away. I could throw light years around like I often do here, but the fact is, you can get a real feel for their distance by noting that during your lifetime, none will appear to move individually. The gems of the night and our sun alike revolve around the center of the galaxy. At our solar system’s distance from the center — 26,000 light years or about halfway from center to edge — it takes the sun about 225 million years to make one revolution around the Milky Way.

That’s a LONG time. The other stars we see on a September night take a similar length of time to orbit. Now divide the average lifetime of some 85 years into that number, and you’ll discover that an average star moves something like .00000038% of its orbit around the galactic center every generation. Phew, that ain’t much! No wonder most stars don’t budge in our lifetime.

This graphic, compiled using SkyMap software created by Chris Marriott, shows the motion of Arcturus over — This graphic, made using SkyMap software created by Chris Marriott, shows the motion of Arcturus over a span of 8,000 years.

Sirius, Aldebaran and Arcturus and several other telescopic stars are close enough that their motion across the sky becomes apparent within the span of recorded history. More powerful telescopes, which expand the scale of the sky, can see a great many stars amble within a human lifetime. Sadly, our eyes alone only work at low power!

Precession of Earth's axis maintains it usual 23.5 degree tilt, but this causes the axis to describe a circle in the sky like a wobbling top. Credit: Wikimedia Commons — Precession of Earth’s axis maintains its usual 23.5 degree tilt, but this causes the axis to describe a circle in the sky like a wobbling top. The photo is an animation that repeats 10 seconds, so hang in there. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

But we needn’t invest billions in building a time machine to zing to the future or past to see how the constellation outlines become distorted by the individual motions of the stars that compose them. We already have one! Just fire up a free sky charting software program like Stellarium and advance the clock. Like most such programs, it defaults to the present, but let’s look ahead. Far ahead.

If we advance 90,000 years into the future, many of the constellations would be unrecognizable. Not only that, but more locally, the precession of Earth’s axis causes the polestar to shift. In 2016, Polaris in the Little Dipper stands at the northernmost point in the sky, but in 90,000 years the brilliant star Vega will occupy the spot. Tugs from the sun and moon on Earth’s equatorial bulge cause its axis to gyrate in a circle over a period of about 26,000 years. Wherever the axis points defines the polestar.

I advanced Stellarium far enough into the future to see how radically the Big Dipper changes shape over time. Notice too that Vega will be the polestar in that distant era. Map: Bob King, Source: Stellarium

Take a look at the Big Dipper. Wow! It’s totally bent out of shape yet still recognizable. The Pointer Stars no longer quite point to Polaris, but with some fudging we might make it work. Vega stands near the pole, and being much closer to us than the rest of Lyra’s stars, has moved considerably farther north, stretching the outline of the constellation as if taffy.

Now let's head backwards in time 92,000 years to 90,000 B.C. The Dipper then was fairly unrecognizable, with both Vega and Arcturus near the pole. Map: Bob King , Source: Stellarium — Now let’s head backwards in time 92,000 years to 90,000 B.C. The Dipper then was fairly unrecognizable, with both Vega and Arcturus near the pole. Map: Bob King , Source: Stellarium

Time goes on. We look up at the night sky in the present moment, but so much came before us and much will come after. Constellations were unrecognizable in the past and will be again in the future. In a fascinating discussion with Michael Kauper of the Minnesota Astronomical Society at a recent star party, he described the amount of space in and between galaxies as so enormous that “we’re almost not here” in comparison. I would add that time is so vast we’re likewise almost not present. Make the most of the moment.

September 11, 2016September 11, 2016 by Ken Kremer

SpaceX Falcon 9 Failure Investigation ‘Most Difficult’ Ever: Musk

Mangled SpaceX Falcon 9 strongback with dangling cables (at right) as seen on Sept. 7 after prelaunch explosion destroyed the rocket and AMOS-6 payload at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL on Sept. 1, 2016 . Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

Mangled SpaceX Falcon 9 strongback with dangling cables as seen on Sept. 7 after prelaunch explosion destroyed the rocket and AMOS-6 payload at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL on Sept. 1, 2016 . Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com — Mangled SpaceX Falcon 9 strongback with dangling cables (at right) as seen on Sept. 7 after prelaunch explosion destroyed the rocket and AMOS-6 payload at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL on Sept. 1, 2016 . Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL – More than a week after the catastrophic launch pad explosion that eviscerated a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket during a fueling test, the bold and burgeoning aerospace firm is still confounded by the “most difficult and complex failure” in its history, and is asking the public for help in nailing down the elusive cause – says SpaceX CEO and Founder Elon Musk in a new series of tweets, that also seeks the public’s help in the complex investigation.

“Turning out to be the most difficult and complex failure we have ever had in 14 years,” Musk tweeted on Friday, Sept. 9 about the disaster that took place without warning on Space Launch Complex-40 at approximately 9:07 a.m. EDT on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl. on Sept. 1, 2016.

Both the $60 million SpaceX rocket and the $200 million AMOS-6 Israeli commercial communications satellite payload were completely destroyed in a massive fireball that erupted suddenly during a routine and planned pre-launch fueling and engine ignition test at pad 40 on Wednesday morning Sep. 1.

“Still working on the Falcon fireball investigation,” Musk stated.

Check out my new up close photos of launch pad 40 herein – showing dandling cables and pad damage – taken over the past few days during NASA’s OSIRIS-REx launch campaign which successfully soared to space on Sept 8. from the adjacent pad at Space Launch Complex-41.

The rocket failure originated somewhere in the upper stage during fueling test operations at the launch pad for what is known as a hot fire engine ignition test of all nine first stage Merlin 1D engines, said Musk.

However, the countdown dress rehearsal had not yet reached the point of ignition and the Merlin engines were still several minutes away from typically firing for a few seconds as the rocket was to be held down during the pre-planned hot fire test.

“Important to note that this happened during a routine filling operation. Engines were not on and there was no apparent heat source,” Musk elaborated.

Engineers were in the final stages of loading the liquid oxygen (LOX) and RP-1 kerosene propellants that power the Falcon 9 first stage for the static fire test which is a full launch dress rehearsal.

The explosion mystery and its root causes are apparently so deep that SpaceX is asking the public for help by sending in “any recordings of the event” which may exist, beyond what is already known.

“If you have audio, photos or videos of our anomaly last week, please send to [email protected]. Material may be useful for investigation,” Musk requested by twitter.

Indications of an initial “bang” moments before the calamity are also bewildering investigators.

“Particularly trying to understand the quieter bang sound a few seconds before the fireball goes off. May come from rocket or something else.”

The explosion is also being jointly investigated by multiple US Federal agency’s.

“Support & advice from @NASA, @FAA, @AFPAA & others much appreciated. Please email any recordings of the event to [email protected].”

The incident took place less than two days before the scheduled Falcon 9 launch on Sept. 3.

It also caused extensive damage to the rockets transporter erector, or strongback, that holds the rocket in place until minutes before liftoff, and ground support equipment (GSE) around the pad – as seen in my new photos of the pad taken a week after the explosion.

Dangling cables and gear such as pulley’s and more can clearly be seen to still be present as the strongback remains raised at pad 40. The strongback raises the rocket at the pad and also houses multiple umbilical line for electrical power, purge gases, computer communications and more.

One of the four lightning masts is also visibly burnt and blackened – much like what occurred after the catastrophic Orbital ATK Antares rocket exploded moments after liftoff from a NASA Wallops launch pad on Oct 28, 2014 and witnessed by this author.

Black soot also appears to cover some area of the pads ground support equipment in the new photos.

US Air Force personnel immediately jumped into action to assess the situation, set up roadblocks and look for signs of blast debris and “detect, dispose and render safe any possible explosive threats.”

However SpaceX has not released a full description of the damage to the pad and GSE. It cost approximately $15 Million to repair the Antares pad and flights have not yet resumed – nearly 2 years after that disaster.

Up close view of top of mangled SpaceX Falcon 9 strongback with dangling cables (at right) as seen on Sept. 7 after prelaunch explosion destroyed the rocket and AMOS-6 payload at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL on Sept. 1, 2016 . Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

The rocket disaster was coincidentally captured as it unfolded in stunning detail in a spectacular up close video recorded by my space journalist colleague at USLaunchReport – shown below.

Here is the full video from my space journalist friend and colleague Mike Wagner of USLaunchReport:

Video Caption: SpaceX – Static Fire Anomaly – AMOS-6 – 09-01-2016. Credit: USLaunchReport

The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) SpaceX Falcon 9 had been slated for an overnight blastoff on Saturday, September 3 at 3 a.m. from pad 40 with the 6 ton AMOS-6 telecommunications satellite valued at some $200 million.

Mangled SpaceX Falcon 9 strongback after prelaunch explosion destroyed the rocket and AMOS-6 payload. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

The Falcon rocket and AMOS-6 satellite were swiftly consumed in a huge fireball and thunderous blasts accompanied by a vast plume of smoke rising from the wreckage that was visible for many miles around the Florida Space Coast.

“Loss of Falcon vehicle today during propellant fill operation,” Musk tweeted several hours after the launch pad explosion.

“Originated around upper stage oxygen tank. Cause still unknown. More soon.”

Aerial view of pad and strongback damage at SpaceX Launch Complex-40 as seen from the VAB roof on Sept. 8, 2016 after fueling test explosion destroyed the Falcon 9 rocket and AMOS-6 payload at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL on Sept. 1, 2016. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

Thankfully there were no injuries to anyone – because the pad is always cleared of all personnel during these types of extremely hazardous launch complex operations.

“The anomaly originated around the upper stage oxygen tank and occurred during propellant loading of the vehicle. Per standard operating procedure, all personnel were clear of the pad and there were no injuries,” SpaceX reported in a statement.

“We are continuing to review the data to identify the root cause. Additional updates will be provided as they become available.”

This also marks the second time a Falcon 9 has exploded in 15 months and will call into question the rocket’s reliability. The first failure involved a catastrophic mid air explosion about two and a half minutes after liftoff, during the Dragon CRS-9 cargo resupply launch for NASA to the International Space Station on June 28, 2015 – and witnessed by this author.

All SpaceX launches are on hold until a thorough investigation is conducted, the root cause is determined, and effective fixes and remedies are identified and instituted.

After the last failure, it took nearly six months before Falcon 9 launches were resumed.

Any announcement of a ‘Return to Flight’ following this latest launch failure is likely to be some time off given the thus far inscrutable nature of the anomaly.

The planned engine test was being conducted as part of routine preparations for the scheduled liftoff of the Falcon 9 on Saturday, September 3, with an Israeli telecommunications satellite that would have also been used by Facebook.

The AMOS-6 communications satellite was built by Israel Aerospace Industries for Space Communication Ltd. It was planned to provide communication services including direct satellite home internet for Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

SpaceX is simultaneously renovating and refurbishing NASA’s former shuttle launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center at Pad 39A – from which the firm hopes to launch the new Falcon Heavy booster as well as human rated launches of the Falcon 9.

SpaceX is renovating Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center for launches of the Falcon Heavy and human rated Falcon 9. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

Ongoing work at Pad 39A was clearly visible to this author and other media this past week during NASA’s OSIRIS-REx launch campaign.

SpaceX has indicated they hope to have the pad upgrades complete by November, but a lot of work remains to be done. For example the shuttle era Rotating Service Structure (RSS) is still standing. The timing for its demolishment has not been announced.

Damage at SpaceX Launch Complex-40 following Sept. 1, 2016 launch pad explosion. Credit: Lane Hermann

Stay tuned here for Ken’s continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news.

Ken Kremer

Up close view of mangled SpaceX Falcon 9 strongback with dangling cables as seen on Sept. 7 after prelaunch explosion destroyed the rocket and AMOS-6 payload at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL on Sept. 1, 2016 . Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket moments after catastrophic explosion destroys the rocket and Amos-6 Israeli satellite payload at launch pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL, on Sept. 1, 2016. A static hot fire test was planned ahead of scheduled launch on Sept. 3, 2016. Credit: USLaunchReport

September 10, 2016October 5, 2016 by Matt Williams

Turns Out There Is No Actual Looking Up

Is there an up out there? New research says no. Out there in the universe, one direction is much like another. Credit: NASA; ESA; Z. Levay and R. van der Marel, STScI; T. Hallas; and A. Mellinger

Direction is something we humans are pretty accustomed to. Living in our friendly terrestrial environment, we are used to seeing things in term of up and down, left and right, forwards or backwards. And to us, our frame of reference is fixed and doesn’t change, unless we move or are in the process of moving. But when it comes to cosmology, things get a little more complicated.

For a long time now, cosmologists have held the belief that the universe is homogeneous and isotropic – i.e. fundamentally the same in all directions. In this sense, there is no such thing as “up” or “down” when it comes to space, only points of reference that are entirely relative. And thanks to a new study by researchers from the University College London, that view has been shown to be correct.

For the sake of their study, titled “How isotropic is the Universe?“, the research team used survey data of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) – the thermal radiation left over from the Big Bang. This data was obtained by the ESA’s Planck spacecraft between 2009 and 2013.

*The cosmic microwave background radiation, enhanced to show the anomalies. Credit: ESA and the Planck Collaboration*

The team then analyzed it using a supercomputer to determine if there were any polarization patterns that would indicate if space has a “preferred direction” of expansion. The purpose of this test was to see if one of the basic assumptions that underlies the most widely-accepted cosmological model is in fact correct.

The first of these assumptions is that the Universe was created by the Big Bang, which is based on the discovery that the Universe is in a state of expansion, and the discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The second assumption is that space is homogenous and istropic, meaning that there are no major differences in the distribution of matter over large scales.

This belief, which is also known as the Cosmological Principle, is based partly on the Copernican Principle (which states that Earth has no special place in the Universe) and Einstein’s Theory of Relativity – which demonstrated that the measurement of inertia in any system is relative to the observer.

This theory has always had its limitations, as matter is clearly not evenly distributed at smaller scales (i.e. star systems, galaxies, galaxy clusters, etc.). However, cosmologists have argued around this by saying that fluctuation on the small scale are due to quantum fluctuations that occurred in the early Universe, and that the large-scale structure is one of homogeneity.

*Timeline of the Big Bang and the expansion of the Universe. Credit: NASA*

By looking for fluctuations in the oldest light in the Universe, scientists have been attempting to determine if this is in fact correct. In the past thirty years, these kinds of measurements have been performed by multiple missions, such as the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) mission, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), and the Planck spacecraft.

For the sake of their study, the UCL research team – led by Daniela Saadeh and Stephen Feeney – looked at things a little differently. Instead of searching for imbalances in the microwave background, they looked for signs that space could have a preferred direction of expansion, and how these might imprint themselves on the CMB.

As Daniela Saadeh – a PhD student at UCL and the lead author on the paper – told Universe Today via email:

“We analyzed the temperature and polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), a relic radiation from the Big Bang, using data from the Planck mission. We compared the real CMB against our predictions for what it would look like in an anisotropic universe. After this search, we concluded that there is no evidence for these patterns and that the assumption that the Universe is isotropic on large scales is a good one.”

Basically, their results showed that there is only a 1 in 121 000 chance that the Universe is anisotropic. In other words, the evidence indicates that the Universe has been expanding in all directions uniformly, thus removing any doubts about their being any actual sense of direction on the large-scale.

Now and Then. This single all-sky image simultaneously captured two snapshots that straddle virtually the entire 13.7 billion year history of the universe. One of them is ‘now’ – our galaxy and its structures seen as they are over the most recent tens of thousands of years (the thin strip extending across the image is the edge-on plane of our galaxy – the Milky Way). The other is ‘then’ – the red afterglow of the Big Bang seen as it was just 380,000 years after the Big Bang (top and bottom of image). The time between these two snapshots therefore covers about 99.997% of the 13.7 billion year age of the universe. The image was obtained by the Planck spacecraft. Credit: ESA — A “now and then” all-sky image captured by the Planck spacecraft, simultaneously showing our galaxy and its structures seen as in recent history; and ‘then’ – the red afterglow of the Big Bang seen as it was just 380,000 years later. Credit: ESA

And in a way, this is a bit disappointing, since a Universe that is not homogenous and the same in all directions would lead to a set of solutions to Einstein’s field equations. By themselves, these equations do not impose any symmetries on space time, but the Standard Model (of which they are part) does accept homogeneity as a sort of given.

These solutions are known as the Bianchi models, which were proposed by Italian mathematician Luigi Bianchi in the late 19th century. These algebraic theories, which can be applied to three-dimensional spacetime, are obtained by being less restrictive, and thus allow for a Universe that is anisotropic.

On the other hand, the study performed by Saadeh, Feeney, and their colleagues has shown that one of the main assumptions that our current cosmological models rest on is indeed correct. In so doing, they have also provided a much-needed sense of closer to a long-term debate.

“In the last ten years there has been considerable discussion around whether there were signs of large-scale anisotropy lurking in the CMB,” said Saadeh. “If the Universe were anisotropic, we would need to revise many of our calculations about its history and content. Planck high-quality data came with a golden opportunity to perform this health check on the standard model of cosmology and the good news is that it is safe.”

So the next time you find yourself looking up at the night sky, remember… that’s a luxury you have only while you’re standing on Earth. Out there, its a whole ‘nother ballgame! So enjoy this thing we call “direction” when and where you can.

And be sure to check out this animation produced by the UCL team, which illustrates the Planck mission’s CMB data:

Further Reading: arXiv, Science