Hello, astro-nuts!

I mentioned the other day that the Cassini spacecraft will be making a close pass by Saturn's moon, Enceladus today, so I'll have a bit more on that. Quite awhile back I talked about the plans for building a thirty-meter telescope; astronomers have used techniques to give something of a preview of the resolution we can expect once the telescope is completed.

Check This Out!

Two asteroids are making their closest approach to Earth today; Asteroid 1991 Darwin will pass within 1.025 Astronomical Units, or 95,279,702 miles. Asteroid 1225 Ariane will pass within 1.248 AU, or 116,008,847 miles. Even closer approaches will be made by asteroid 2008 TZ, which will pass within 0.01346 AU, or 1,251,185 miles. Asteroid 2008 TA4 will pass within 0.018 AU, or 1,673,204 miles.

Just to give everyone a heads up, the Orionid Meteor Shower is expected to peak the morning of October 21; however, the last-quarter moon will be rising about an hour after Orion so it will likely cut down on the numbers of meteors you will see. If you keep your gaze away from the Moon, you have the chance to see up to about 15 meteors per hour.

Those of you in the western areas of North America will have a chance to see the Moon occult the Pleiades on the 17th; the show those of us in the East got to view last month. Look near the meridian between 3 and 4am local time as the Moon clips the northwestern edge of the Pleiades and blocks out the 3.8-magnitude star Maia. Those of you in western Canada may get to see Electra (mag 3.7) get blocked, too.

Astronews!

NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which as been exploring Saturn and some of its moons since 2004, will pass within 16 miles of Enceladus today, in order to examine various particles and molecules in its environment. Specifically, Cassini will be looking at the ions (a charged particle or a version of elements that have lost or gained negatively charged electrons), as well as isotopes, which are a version of an element bearing an abnormal number of neutrons, which changes its atomic weight. These particles come from areas of the moon that haven't changed much since it was formed, so they may give scientists clues as to how they end up becoming charged within Saturn's magnetosphere. Cassini can identify these isotopes and it will help to figure out the temperatures during various stages of Enceladus' formation. In March, organic molecules were discovered , which could suggest that there was, or still is, some sort of life on Enceladus. This will be the fifth and closest flyby of Enceladus for Cassini; the sixth is scheduled for October 31st, when it will pass within 122 miles of the 313-mile wide moon.

I have mentioned the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) before; its angular resolution is expected to be three times better than Keck Telescope, and 12 times better than the Hubble Telescope. It will be able to study internal properties of smaller distant galaxies, in order for astronomers to catch a glimpse of them as they were when the Universe was much younger. TMT has not yet been completed, this is expected towards the end of the next decade. In th emean time, Caltech astronomers have used two techniques to show a younger, star-forming galaxy as it appeared two billion years after the Big Bang. The first technique is called gravitational lensing, in which the gravitation field of large objects bends light from objects located a distance behind them, which magnifies the appearance of these more distant objects. The second technique was using laser-assisted guide star adaptive optics (AO-corrects blurring effects of the atmosphere by monitoring the signal from a guide star) on the 10-meter Keck Telescope in Hawaii. The young galaxy far, far away is showing signs of early rotation, which suggests that it is in early stages of creating a spiral disk with a central nucleus. It may one day turn out much like our own Milky Way, and once TMT is completed, studies like this will be conducted on a regular basis. An interferometer, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) is being built in Chile, which will be able to detect and map the emission of cold hydrogen gas, a component of young, distant galaxies.

Keep your eyes to the sky and enjoy the view!
~Lisa C.

Share this:

Hello, astro-nuts!

I will talk more about the small asteroid that entered the atmosphere over Sudan last night, and then there are some neat news stories about MESSENGER and ISIS that I will share with you.

Check This Out!

Asteroid 2008 TC3 was discovered on October 6th by astronomers at the Mt. Lemmon telescope observatory near Tucson, Arizona as part of the Catalina Sky Survey funded by NASA. 2008 TC3 is roughly 10 feet across, so not very big by any means; asteroids this size plummet into our upper atmosphere every couple of months, but up until now have not been spotted prior to atmospheric entry. General Aviation meteorologist Jacob Kuiper from the Netherlands Weather Service informed an official at Amsterdam Airport that any airliners in the general direction of where the asteroid would enter the atmosphere had the chance to see a fireball. Sure enough, shortly before the predicted entry time, many observations of a bright flash came in. A video of the asteroid's movement a few hours before it entered the atmosphere was taken over Italy; not surprisingly, this video is also on YouTube. Many people have also taken pre-impact photographs. Unfortunately, there was a limited area from which the actual event could be seen. The asteroid itself would have broken apart as it entered the upper atmosphere; however a few small pieces may have made it to the ground as meteorites.

Speaking of asteroids, those of you who enjoy chasing them across the sky with big scopes can be on the look out for Asteroid 2005 TQ45, which will pass within 0.044 AU, or 4,090,055 miles of Earth today. On the 10th, if you can catch it because of its very fast movement, 2008 TZ will pass within 0.01348 AU, or 1,253,044 miles. I keep forgetting to mention this, but in case you were not sure, An AU, or Astronomical Unit, is a measurement of distance based upon the distance of Earth to the Sun; approximately 93 million miles.

Astronews!

The NASA spacecraft MESSENGER made another pass by Mercury yesterday, coming within 125 miles of the nearest planet to the Sun while zooming around at nearly 15,000 miles per hour. This was the second of three planned flybys. The first was back on January 14th of this year, and the final pass will be in September, 2009. Monday's pass allowed MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging) to check out the far side of the planet than the one viewed on the first pass in order to give perhaps a better glimpse into the planet's past, the physical processes of its atmosphere, and information about its magnetic field. The pass also allowed for more pictures to be taken; I believe the total number of pictures now exceeds 1,200! Prior to MESSENGER, Mariner 10 had been the only craft to take a look at Mercury, back in 1974 and 1975.

The group known as ISIS--Innovative Solutions In Space has been awarded a research contract to start developing a star tracker for nanosatellite applications. Over the past few years, nanosatellites have been used mostly for various experiements and demonstrations, and are starting to be used for things like remote sensing and certain telecommunications. Until recently, nanosatellites had limited use because they had a tough time determining altitude, among other issues, so instrumentation for them was difficult. ISIS will begin developing a prototype for a nanosatellite star tracker which will provide accuracy better than 30 arcseconds thanks to a much more compact sensor with several aperatures. This will mean that a spacecraft's altitude will be more succesfully determined, even if a few of the sensor apertures are blinded by sunlight or blocked by Earth; all this from a small piece of machinery only millimeters in size. ISIS has been working with nanosatellites for a few years now and has worked on nanosatellite technology for a variety of groups.

The Cassini spacecraft continues to sniff around the planet Saturn and its many moons, and coming up on the 9th will be its closest encounter yet. Cassini will fly within 16 miles of the surface of the moon Enceladus, and then within 122 miles on October 31st. There has been evidence to support the existence of liquid water or even an ocean, along with trace amounts of organics, which has scientists quite intrigued. Cassini will dive deeper into the ice geysers that were discovered a few years ago and directly sample particles and gases within them. One of the big questions scientists are trying to answer is what happens to these particles when they are released from Enceladus, and how some end up being changed to ionized plasma and merging with Saturn's magnetosphere. On the October 31st flyby, the focus will be on the fractures across the southern polar region of Enceladus, in order to study some alleged temperature changes. Over the next two years, four more Enceladus flybys are planned during Cassini's extended mission. Enceladus' diameter is about 310 miles wide, about that of the state of Arizona, so another question being asked is how such a small moon can power those giant jets of ice and gas.

Keep your eyes to the sky and enjoy the view!
~Lisa C.

Share this:

Hi, astro-nuts!

I will be writing a full blog entry on Tuesday; however I just saw this story and thought some of you might be interested...

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/resources/proamcollab/30527289.html

It is about a small asteroid, about 10 feet across, that is expected to move into the atmosphere over Sudan at 2:46 GMT or about 10:46PM Eastern Daylight Time. The asteroid is not expected to contact the ground but instead explode over the region as a bolide (exploding fireball), which could cause some to make incorrect speculation as to what the object is. Asteroid 2008 TC3 was photographed by scientists at Mt. Lemmon in Tucson, AZ.

~Lisa C.

Share this:

Hello, astro-nuts!

There is a lot to talk about today! Despite Hubble's internal troubles, the Heritage Project lives on! Meanwhile, it turns out that our sun is not the perfect sphere we thought it was, and the world's first Institute of Space Commerce is about to open!

Check This Out!

Those of us living in the northern hemisphere are now welcoming Autumn and of course the start of October. If you are lucky enough to be living in the northeastern U.S., you are no doubt starting to notice the leaves on the trees starting to change to an array of pretty colors. This coming weekend, not only will there be scenic fall foliage to see in the region, but a few observatories and astronomy clubs will be holding events and observing sessions. The Rockland Astronomy Club in Suffern, New York will be holding the 2008 Children's Space and Astronomy Fair at the Lower Hudson Valley Challenger Center Friday and Saturday. Meanwhile, in North Scituate, Rhode Island, you can check out AstroAssembly, which will be held at the Seagrave Observatory. There will be observing and talks and lots of other activities. Here in PA you can check out Wagman Observatory, located in Allegheny County; they are having a public star party Saturday night.

Here are some pretty pictures that were recently uploaded to our photo gallery from John Schaser and Ben "Lunar-tic" Waranowitz. I invite anyone who enjoys snapping astro pictures to register for the photo gallery and upload your pictures, its free and quite easy, and a great way to put your work "out there". If you have a picture or two of yours from the gallery you'd like posted in the blog, just send me an email.
John Schaser:

Astronews!

The Hubble Space Telescope has been out of commission for several days now; however, the Hubble Heritage Project is still in full swing. If you are not familiar with the project, it was started back in October, 1998 and involved the team involved with the project choosing "visually interesting" pictures or mosaics of objects taken by Hubble that were never chosen to be studied, in order to let the public know about them. New pictures are posted the first Thursday of every month; I invite you to check them out, along with the others in the gallery, and read more about the Heritage Project. There is even a black and white image gallery; a favorite of mine, seeing as how I'm partial to black and white photography. Enjoy!

Anyone who has used a Coronado or sun filter to view the Sun may assume that it is completely round and spherical. However, the truth is, our star is just short of claiming that description. NASA's RHESSI spacecraft discovered glowing, rough, white, magnetized plasma ridges, known as "canteloupe ridges" that become more prominent during high solar activity. These ridges increase the difference between the polar and equatorial diameters (oblateness) and can be twice the width of Earth. Although small in the grand scheme of things, the changes in oblateness can theoretically effect the gravitational pull on Mercury.

On Saturday, October 4th, the International Institute of Space Commerce will officially open its doors. The Institute is housed at the International Business School on the Isle of Man, UK. IISC is a joint venture between the International Space University and the Isle of Man government. Two other institutes are in the works; an International Institute of Space Law, and an International Institute of Space Tourism. The goal of these institutes is to "encourage space innovation" and find the commercial possibilities outer space may offer in the future. It shouldn't be hard to be encouraged, with "a pro-space government, a professional infrastructure, access to orbital slots, and a zero percent tax on space and satellite business."

Share this:

Hello, astro-nuts!

Today is an exciting day in space history! 50 years ago to the day, October 1, 1958, NASA went into operation. The last 50 years has brought plenty of successes, some disappointments, even some heartache and loss. Through it all, mankind has literally soared to new heights and learned things that were only imagined in previous generations. Meanwhile, some snow "virga" has been seen on Mars, and there's some trouble with Hubble.

In 1958, NASA went into operation, and immediately got to work over the 15 years that followed on getting humans into space. Through Alan Shephard's short trip to space, the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions, the first walk on the Moon, and the creation of our first space laboratory, continuous improvements and new developments were made. Then in 1972, President Nixon ordered NASA to begin working on plans for developing the space shuttle; that program began in 1984 at the direction of President Reagan. The majority of these projects were led by the teams at the Johnson Space Center. Now, with the retirement of the shuttles looming, the question remains as to what the next 50 years will bring for NASA.

Many scientists, NASA employees and astronauts, even ordinary citizens alike have their own ideas of what things will be like come 2058, but we all know that predicting things that far into the future is pretty tough, if not impossible. However, some have come up with their own predictions: We will still not have have spaceships that can defy the speed of light (sorry, trekkies!); NASA will have put people on Mars and there will be a colony on the Moon. A radio telescope will be being constructed on the Moon's far side, where fusion and alternative energy research centers have been established; commercial space travel will be much cheaper and therefore more popular, with people taking orbital trips around the Moon and maybe even staying at lunar hotels!

Astronews!

Phoenix has done it again, it would seem. A laser aboard the Martian lander detected what was known as "snow virga"--snow that falls from the clouds but does not reach the ground (we have seen rain do the same thing here on Earth)--at least two miles up. This is the next big discovery for Phoenix since the confirmation of water ice on Mars. Clues from the Martian soil indicate calcium carbonate and particles that could be clay; these typically form here on Earth in the presence of liquid water. The hunt continues for hard proof that life exists, or did exist, on Mars, and in the mean time, Phoenix will be on the look out for snow that DOES reach the ground. Phoenix is heading into its fifth month, but time is definitely running out; the area in which Phoenix rests is losing more sunlight daily, and therefore the output from the solar panels is dropping. By the end of this month, there will not be enough energy for the robotic arm to function properly.

The aging Hubble Telescope has had some problems recently which resulted in causing a delay in the shuttle launch dedicated to its repair. Late Saturday, Hubble's Side A Science Data Formatter failed, likely for good. This will prevent Hubble from sending data and observations back to Earth; it had held up for the 18 years since its launch. The backup, Side B is going to be used, but first, flight controllers need to make the very complicated switch, which will allow Hubble to function properly, but if it then fails, there is no other backup formatter. This makes the repair shuttle mission even more important than it already was. There is a spare unit, but it will take months of testing to ensure that it still works after sitting on a shelf for 18 years at Goddard Space Flight Center. At any rate, the October 14th launch date is out of the question; the launch will likely not take place until early 2009 so that testing may be done on the replacement formatter unit. It is possible that if the new unit is ready, a late November launch may be possible, but nothing has been set in stone just yet.

Last but not least, two Earth-like planets some 300 light years away that were orbiting a star much like our sun have collided. UCLA Professor Benjamin Zuckerman said "It's as if Earth and Venus collided with each other....major catastrophic collisions can take place in a fully mature planetary system." Zuckerman and others were studying a star named BD+20 307, which is located in the constellation Aries, and found that the star was not only binary, but the system was several billion years old. The collision was inferred based upon the vast quantity of warm dust particles orbiting the binary star system and must have taken place in the past few hundred thousand years, or even more recently. Questions have been raised such as whether or not a collision like this could occur in our own solar system, and how planetary orbits could become so destabilized in a mature system.

Keep your eyes to the sky and enjoy the view!
~Lisa C.

Share this: