Hello, astro-nuts!

I hope you all enjoyed your Halloween weekend and that some of you were able to catch a glimpse of all the Halloween treats in the sky! It is of course now November, and the night sky will not cease to amaze this month with performances by Jupiter's Galilean moons, not to mention a fabulous meteor shower. Today's news features stories about the VERITAS and Fermi telescopes, and some information about the parachute problems from the Ares I-X test launch.

Check This Out!

For observers from the southern U.S. on south, the Moon will pass by the southeastern edge of the Pleiades star cluster starting around 10pm EST tonight (Nov. 3). The Taurid meteor shower peaks this week, too. Although this shower, which is at its maximum from the 5th-12th, only averages about 5 meteors per hour, most are usually fireballs, so in this case its about quality, not quantity. Many of the night sky events this month involve the Moon, including close encounters with Mars, Saturn and Venus. Then of course we have the Leonid Meteor shower, which peaks the morning of the 17th, and this year's show is expected to be half-decent. Jupiter fans should keep an eye on the Galilean moons this month; Sky & Telescope has a schedule of the transits, eclipses and occultations that involve the moons throughout the month. Io and Ganymede are performing tonight, while Io and Europa put on a show Wednesday night. Enjoy November!

The winners of the NASA/X Prize lunar lander challenge have been announced! 1.65 million dollars will be given to two aerospace companies that were successful in simulating lunar landings and take-offs. Masten Space Systems of Mojave, California will receive 1 million dollars, while $500,000 will be awarded to Armadillo Aerospace of Rockwall, Texas. An official aweard ceremony is being held November 5th in Washington DC. The lunar challenge involved building a rocket powered vehicle and simulating its flight on the Moon. The lander needs to take off and then travel horizontally before being able to land at another spot. The vehicle must then take off again and travel horizontally back to its original takeoff point and land again. This process must fall within a two-hour-and-fifteen-minute time period. It must demonstrate control and navigation ability. First and second prizes are awarded at levels 1 and 2. At the first level, the vehicle must fly for at least 90 seconds for each flight. The second level involves flight of at least 180 seconds, and one of the attempts must be made on simulated lunar terrain.

The shuttle flight readiness review was held on October 29th for the upcoming launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. November 16th was chosen as a possible date for the launch of the STS-129 mission, which focuses on storing hardware outside of the International Space Station. Three spacewalks are planned during the mission and will involve delivery and installation of platforms on the station's truss. These platforms will hold the additional hardware that may be required to maintain the station after the shuttle fleet is retired next fall. STS-129 will be commanded by Charlie Hobaugh; joining him will be Pilot Barry Wilmore, astronauts Leland Melvin, Randy Bresnik, Mike Foreman and Bobby Satcher. Also during the mission, Nicole Stott, who is currently living aboard the station, will return home with the Atlantis crew after a two-month stay. It will be the last time a shuttle is used to rotate space station crew members. Wow.

Astronews!

About a century ago, scientists first detected hints of cosmic rays, which are essentially protons that travel through space close to the speed of light. Although very small, these particles slam into things with the same force as a well-thrown fastball. The question has been what force in space has been accelerating them? Thanks to the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) telescope array, evidence has been found that suggests the cosmic rays get a boost of acceleration from exploding stars and stellar winds. Up until recently, there hasn't been an instrument sensitive enough to actually detect these particles. The particles that hit our atmosphere of course can be detected, but the problem has been picking up traces of those that are actually at a distance out in space. VERITAS has detected evidence of cosmic rays in Messier 82 (Cigar Galaxy), approximately 12 million light-years from Earth in Ursa Major. The observations seem to uphold the idea of what accelerates the cosmic rays. Galaxies with areas of star birth, such as M82, are thought to contain many supernovae and huge stars. If that is the case, similar galaxies (starburst galaxies) should contain many more cosmic rays than your average galaxy. VERITAS has in fact confirmed that the cosmic ray density in M82 is about 500 times that of our own galaxy. One of the biggest clues as to the presence of cosmic rays is in fact the presence of gamma rays, which are much more powerful than x-rays or ultraviolet light. The same type of project is being undertaken using the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope; Fermi actually captured an image of a huge star-forming region called 30 Doradus in the southern hemisphere's Large Magellanic Cloud. Much like M82, 30 Doradus has a high level of gamma ray emissions, and contains several huge stars which of course explode into supernovae.

NASA on Monday released footage of the Ares I-X test launch taken by an aircraft near the splashdown point. This footage shows the liftoff, separation and splashdown of the rocket. However, it also shows the parachute problem which occurred as the spent booster headed for the Atlantic Ocean. During the parachute deployment, it looks as if all the chutes deployed, however, two of the three chutes seemed to fail at that point. Some suspension lines for one of the chutes seemed to have snapped, causing the chute to act more like a streamer. A second chute seemed to partially deflate shortly thereafter. Not surprisingly, diver teams discovered damage along the booster casing and a partially opened joint between rocket segments that was caused as the rocket slammed into the surface of the water instead of touching down vertically as it would have done were the chutes functioning properly. High speed cameras and data recorders have been recovered from the rocket and hopefully by studying this footage, more information about the parachute failure may be discovered.

Keep your eyes to the sky and enjoy the view!
~Lisa C.
AccuWeather.com Astronomy Center

Posted by Lisa Beightol on Tuesday, November 03, 2009 9:31 AM
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