tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63503942575490774132024-03-05T12:51:49.138+05:30Across the Universe From Nuwan DiwakaraSkyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-21019957244440647432010-10-28T10:14:00.002+05:302010-10-28T10:38:30.305+05:30Dead Spacecraft WalkingA pair of NASA spacecraft that were supposed to be dead a year ago are instead flying to the Moon for a breakthrough mission in lunar orbit. <p> "Their real names are THEMIS P1 and P2, but I call them 'dead spacecraft walking,'" says Vassilis Angelopoulos of UCLA, principal investigator of the THEMIS mission. "Not so long ago, we thought they were goners. Now they are beginning a whole new adventure." </p><div class="mediafile width_558 center"><a href="http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/10/27/lunarthemis.jpg"><img alt="Artemis (artemis, 550px)" src="http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/10/27/artemis_strip.jpg" /></a><div class="description"> An artist's concept of THEMIS-P1 and P2 (since renamed ARTEMIS-P1 and P2) in lunar orbit. [<a href="http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/10/27/lunarthemis.jpg">larger image</a>] </div></div><p> The story begins in 2007 when NASA launched a fleet of five spacecraft into Earth's magnetosphere to study the physics of geomagnetic storms. Collectively, they were called THEMIS, short for "Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms." P1 and P2 were the outermost members of the quintet. </p><p> Working together, the probes quickly discovered a cornucopia of previously unknown phenomena such as <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/17dec_whenaurorascollide/">colliding auroras</a>, <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/27jul_spacequakes/">magnetic spacequakes</a>, and <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/24jul_plasmabullets/">plasma bullets</a> shooting up and down Earth’s magnetic tail. These findings allowed researchers to solve several longstanding mysteries of the Northern Lights. </p><span class="fullpost"><div class="mediafile width_200 right"><a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/24jul_plasmabullets/"><img alt="Artemis (Northern Lights, 200px)" src="http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/10/27/asi_med.jpg" /></a><div class="description"> In their previous life, THEMIS-P1 and P2 were on a mission to study Northern Lights. [<a href="http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/24jul_plasmabullets/">more</a>] </div></div><p> The mission was going splendidly, except for one thing: Occasionally, P1 and P2 would pass through the shadow of Earth. The solar powered spacecraft were designed to go without sunlight for as much as three hours at a time, so a small amount of shadowing was no problem. But as the mission wore on, their orbits evolved and by 2009 the pair was spending as much as 8 hours a day in the dark. </p><p> "The two spacecraft were running out of power and freezing to death," says Angelopoulos. "We had to do something to save them." </p><p> The team brainstormed a solution. Because the mission had gone so well, the spacecraft still had an ample supply of fuel--enough to go to the Moon. "We could do some great science from lunar orbit," he says. NASA approved the trip and in late 2009, P1 and P2 headed away from the shadows of Earth. </p><p> With a new destination, the mission needed a new name. The team selected ARTEMIS, the Greek goddess of the Moon. It also stands for "Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun." </p><p> The first big events of the ARTEMIS mission are underway now. On August 25, 2010, ARTEMIS-P1 reached the L2 Lagrange point on the far side of the Moon. Following close behind, ARTEMIS-P2 entered the opposite L1 Lagrange point on Oct. 22nd. Lagrange points are places where the gravity of Earth and Moon balance, creating a sort of gravitational parking spot for spacecraft. </p><div class="mediafile width_558 center"><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/news/artemis-orbit.html"><img alt="Artemis (Lagrange Points, 550px)" src="http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/10/27/lagrangepoints_strip.gif" /></a><div class="description"> The ARTEMIS spacecraft are currently located at the L1 and L2 Earth-Moon Lagrange points. [<a class="external" href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/news/artemis-orbit.html">more</a>] </div></div><p> "We're exploring the Earth-Moon Lagrange points for the first time," says Manfred Bester, Mission Operations Manager from the University of California at Berkeley, where the mission is operated. "No other spacecraft have orbited there." </p><p> Because they lie just outside Earth's magnetosphere, Lagrange points are excellent places to study the solar wind. Sensors onboard the ARTEMIS probes will have <em>in situ</em> access to solar wind streams and storm clouds as they approach our planet—a possible boon to space weather forecasters. Moreover, working from opposite Lagrange points, the two spacecraft will be able to measure solar wind turbulence on scales never sampled by previous missions. </p><p> "ARTEMIS is going to give us a fundamental new understanding of the solar wind," predicts David Sibeck, ARTEMIS project scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center. "And that's just for starters." </p><p> ARTEMIS will also explore the Moon's plasma wake—a turbulent cavity carved out of the solar wind by the Moon itself, akin to the wake just behind a speedboat. Sibeck says "this is a giant natural laboratory filled with a whole zoo of plasma waves waiting to be discovered and studied." </p><div class="mediafile width_200 right"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcKRk3WdhT0"><img alt="Artemis (orbits, 200px)" src="http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2010/10/27/orbits_med.jpg" /></a><div class="description"> A <a class="external" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcKRk3WdhT0">Youtube video</a> describes the complex orbits of the two Artemis spacecraft. </div></div><p> Another target of the ARTEMIS mission is Earth's magnetotail. Like a wind sock at a breezy airport, Earth's magnetic field is elongated by the action of the solar wind, forming a tail that stretches to the orbit of the Moon and beyond. Once a month around the time of the full Moon, the ARTEMIS probes will follow the Moon through the magnetotail for <em>in situ</em> observations. </p><p> "We are particularly hoping to catch some magnetic reconnection events," says Sibeck. "These are explosions in Earth's magnetotail that mimic solar flares--albeit on a much smaller scale." ARTEMIS might even see giant 'plasmoids' accelerated by the explosions hitting the Moon during magnetic storms. </p><p> These far-out explorations may have down-to-Earth applications. Plasma waves and reconnection events pop up on Earth, <em>e.g.</em>, in experimental fusion chambers. Fundamental discoveries by ARTEMIS could help advance research in the area of clean renewable energy. </p><p> After six months at the Lagrange points, ARTEMIS will move in closer to the Moon—at first only 100 km from the surface and eventually even less than that. From point-blank range, the spacecraft will look to see what the solar wind does to a rocky world when there's no magnetic field to protect it. </p><p> "Earth is protected from solar wind by the planetary magnetic field," explains Angelopolous. "The Moon, on the other hand, is utterly exposed. It has no global magnetism." </p><p> Studying how the solar wind electrifies, alters and erodes the Moon's surface could reveal valuable information for future explorers and give planetary scientists a hint of what's happening on other unmagnetized worlds around the solar system. </p><p> Orbiting the Moon is notoriously tricky, however, because of irregularities in the lunar gravitational field. Enormous concentrations of mass (mascons) hiding just below the surface tug on spacecraft in unexpected ways, causing them over time to veer out of orbit. ARTEMIS will mitigate this problem using highly elongated orbits ranging from tens of km to 18,000 km. </p><p> "We'll only be near the lunar surface for a brief time each orbit (accumulating a sizable dataset over the years)," explains Angelopoulos. "Most of the time we'll linger 18,000 km away where we can continue our studies of the solar wind at a safe distance." </p><p> The Dead Spacecraft Walking may have a long life, after all. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /> Author: <a href="mailto:dr.tony.phillips@earthlink.net?subject=feedback%20on%20Artemis">Dr. Tony Phillips</a> | Credit: Science@NASA </p></span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-71200874316206287852010-01-17T15:56:00.002+05:302010-01-17T16:08:00.491+05:30IYA 2009 Comes to a Close<p>An unprecedented yearlong celestial celebration —the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009) — officially came to a close on January 9th and 10th in Padua, Italy. The recurring theme of the event, however, was that the groundbreaking year was just a beginning of increased outreach and education activities. </p> <p> The brainchild of astronomer and former IAU President Franco Pacini, IYA2009 marked the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s historic observations of the heavens, which took place near to the closing ceremony’s venue at the University of Padua. Galileo himself was watching the recent proceedings from a ceiling fresco in the great hall where he taught mathematics for 17 years, a venue that had the speakers and audience in awe. Even one of Galileo’s telescopes was on hand on its first-ever return to Padua, along with a piece of one of Galileo’s first observational targets — the Moon — brought to Earth by Apollo astronauts. </p> <p> <!-- begin Media --> </p><div style="padding: 5px 0px 5px 5px; width: 341px;" class="floatImageRight"> <div class="cMainImg" style="width: 341px;"> <img src="http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/IYA2009_close_1.jpg" alt="" title="" border="0" width="341" height="396" /> <div class="caption">The historic hall where Galileo taught mathematics for 18 years was the venue for the IYA2009 closing ceremony.</div> <div class="caption"><i>Lee Pullen / IYA2009 / IAU</i></div> </div> </div> <!-- end Media -->The IAU president who shepherded the worldwide effort from the beginning through its culmination, Catherine Cesarsky, said no one was sure just what to expect at the earliest meetings where ideas for the year were first considered. But every one of those early ideas had become a reality by year’s end, along with many more innovative ideas from around the world. Cesarsky added that all of the goals set for IYA2009 were reached except one — for every person on Earth to hear or see something about astronomy during 2009. That goal may yet be reached belatedly in the year’s wake as all but one of IYA2009’s own Cornerstone Projects will carry on in some form, along with many Special Projects and countless other programs inspired by the year. <span class="fullpost"> <p> Newly-installed IAU president Robert Williams made the observation that the need for astronomy to reach out to others is nothing new. “Education and outreach has been an important part of this since the beginning”, he said, noting that Galileo himself had to explain his work to the patrons he depended on for funding. From the beginning, IYA2009 was considered to be just the beginning of new education and outreach programs. </p> <p> Tomasso Maccarno of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics said that the ceremony was not just the end of the year but the beginning of an “International Century of Astronomy.” He further predicted that celebrants at closing ceremony for the century-long festivities in 2110 would declare it the beginning of the “International Millennium of Astronomy”, and promptly declare an end to any more closing ceremonies. Playing on IYA2009’s motto, “The Universe, yours to discover”, Maccarno proclaimed the coming centuries’ motto to be “Countless suns, many worlds, one universe, ours to discover.” </p> <p> <!-- begin Media --> </p><div style="padding: 5px 0px 5px 5px; width: 341px;" class="floatImageRight"> <div class="cMainImg" style="width: 341px;"> <img src="http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/IYA2009_close_3.jpg" alt="" title="" border="0" width="341" height="265" /> <div class="caption">Pedro Russo (presenting results of the year), Catherine Cesarsky, and Lars Lindberg Christensen</div> <div class="caption"><i>Lee Pullen / IYA2009 / IAU</i></div> </div> </div> <!-- end Media -->There were data to back up the lofty claims of the astronomy community’s leaders, presented by Pedro Russo, IYA2009 Coordinator, and Lars Lindberg Christensen, IYA2009 Secretariat Manager, and the numbers would impress any skeptic. But the most convincing evidence came in the form of presentations by the leaders of the effort in six diverse countries — Mozambique, Egypt, Honduras, Vietnam, Ukraine and India — who described innovative programs based on local culture and astronomical heritage in addition to featuring the findings of the most recent scientific discoveries. <p> Ukraine highlighted its many historic observatories, while its government minted two new coins featuring astronomy. Embedded in one of the coins was a 0.2-carat topaz representing the Earth in a diagram of the solar system. India focused on reaching all of its diverse cultures with a national radio channel broadcasting 52 programs on astronomy in 19 languages, mobile planetariums and astro-vans reaching hundreds of remote villages to teach and combat superstition, and a float in the country’s 60th Republic Day celebration parade being seen by one billion of its citizens! But these few examples barely scratched the surface of all that took place during the year in these countries and the rest of the 148 nations that officially participated. </p> <p> Noting that the increased cooperation of professional and amateur astronomers was one of the greatest accomplishments of the year, IAU president Williams said, "The legacy of the IYA will almost certainly be outreach and education.” Much of the credit for the year’s successes was given to the thousands of amateur astronomers around the world whose participation was an important factor in the year’s success. </p> <p> The biggest public outreach efforts, such as 100 Hours of Astronomy in April and Galilean Nights in October, were opportunities for amateur astronomy to shine, and millions were given a first look through amateur-owned telescopes in countries worldwide. The worldwide amateur community is energized, in some countries for the first time, and there is a lot more to come as everyone works to maintain the momentum of the year. Along with other continuing and expanding programs, Astronomers Without Borders is organizing a follow-up to the historic 100 Hours of Astronomy with a month-long celebration in April 2010 — Global Astronomy Month — giving amateurs another opportunity to share the sky. </p> <p> Perhaps Cesarsky will yet see the realization of her goal, albeit belatedly, that every person on Earth hear or see something about astronomy. </p></span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-88762560459299982702009-07-29T11:46:00.001+05:302009-07-29T11:49:00.841+05:30Return of the Mars Hoax<span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Just when you thought it was safe to check your email... </span> <p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">For the sixth year in a row, a message about the Red Planet is popping up in email boxes around the world. It instructs readers to go outside after dark on August 27th and behold the sky. "Mars will look as large as the full moon," it says. "No one alive today will ever see this again."</span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><a href="http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/marshoax/labins.jpg"><img src="http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/marshoax/labins_med.jpg" alt="see caption" align="right" border="1" width="270" height="252" hspace="10" /></a>Don't believe it.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Here's what will really happen if you go outside after dark on August 27th. Nothing. Mars won't be there. On that date, the red planet will be nearly 250 million km away from Earth and completely absent from the evening sky.</span></p> <p class="detailImageDesc"><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><strong>Right:</strong> Only in Photoshop does Mars appear as large as a full Moon.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">The Mars Hoax got its start in 2003 when Earth and Mars really did have a close encounter. On Aug. 27th of that year, Mars was only 56 million km away, a 60,000-year record for martian close approaches to Earth. Someone sent an email alerting friends to the event. The message contained some misunderstandings and omissions—but what email doesn't? A piece of advanced technology called the "forward button" did the rest.</span></p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Tolerant readers may say that the Mars Hoax is not really a hoax, because it is not an intentional trick. The composer probably believed everything he or she wrote in the message. If that's true, a better name might be the "Mars Misunderstanding" or maybe the "Confusing-Email-About-Mars-You-Should-Delete-and-Not-Forward-to-Anyone-Except-Your-In-Laws."</span> <p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Another aspect of the Mars Hoax: It says Mars will look as large as the full Moon <em>if you magnify it 75x using a backyard telescope</em>. The italicized text is usually omitted from verbal and written summaries of the Hoax. (For example, see the beginning of this story.) Does this fine print make the Mars Hoax true? After all, if you magnify the tiny disk of Mars 75x, it <em>does</em> subtend an angle about the same as the Moon.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">No. Even with magnification, Mars does not look the same as a full Moon.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">This has more to do with the mysterious inner workings of the human brain than cold, hard physics. Looking at Mars magnified 75x through a slender black tube (the eyepiece of a telescope) and looking at the full Moon shining unfettered in the open sky are two very different experiences. </span></p> <p align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><img src="http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/marshoax/nemy1.jpg" alt="see caption" width="480" height="322" /></span></p> <p class="detailImageDesc"><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><strong>Above:</strong> Mars in August 2003 during a 60,000-year record close approach. Even then, the planet resembled a bright star, not a full Moon. Photo credit: John Nemy & Carol Legate of Whistler, B.C.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">A good reference is the Moon Illusion. Moons on the horizon look huge; Moons directly overhead look smaller. In both cases, it is the same Moon, but the human mind perceives the size of the Moon differently depending on its surroundings. </span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Likewise, your perception of Mars is affected by the planet's surroundings. Locate the planet at the end of a little dark tunnel, and it is going to look tiny regardless of magnification.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Bummer!</span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">To see Mars as big as a full Moon, you'll need <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/CxEMM_SITE/index.html">a rocketship</a>, and that may take some time. Meanwhile, beware the Mars Hoax.</span></p>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-74761809853903036522009-07-26T19:19:00.002+05:302009-07-26T19:28:28.186+05:30The 10-year-old who helped Apollo 11, 40 years later<p> <b>(CNN)</b> -- On July 23, 1969, as Apollo 11 hurtled back towards Earth, there was a problem -- a problem only a kid could solve.</p> <!--startclickprintexclude--> <div id="imageChanger1"> <div class="cnnStoryPhotoBox"><div id="cnnImgChngr" class="cnnImgChngr"> <div id="cnnImgChngrNested"> <img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/TECH/space/07/20/apollo11.irpt/art.apollo11.irpt.jpg" alt="At age 10, Greg Force reaches his arm into a tiny hole to fix an antenna crucial to Apollo 11." height="219" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="292" /> <div class="cnnStoryPhotoCaptionBox"> <div class="cnn3pxTB9pxLRPad"> <p> At age 10, Greg Force reaches his arm into a tiny hole to fix an antenna crucial to Apollo 11. </p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="cnnStoryPhotoBoxNavigation"> <div id="cnnImgChngrPrvsLbl"> It sounds like something out of a movie, but that's what it came down to as Apollo 11 sped back towards Earth after landing on the moon in 1969.</div></div></div></div></div><p> It was around 10:00 at night on July 23, and 10-year-old Greg Force was at home with his mom and three brothers. His father, Charles Force, was at work. Charles Force was the director of the NASA tracking station in Guam, where the family was living.</p><p> The Guam tracking station was to play a critical role in the return of Apollo 11 to Earth. A powerful antenna there connected NASA communications with Apollo 11, and the antenna was the only way for NASA to make its last communications with the astronauts before splashdown. But at the last minute on that night, a bearing in the antenna failed, rendering it nearly useless.<br /></p><br /><span class="fullpost"><p> To properly replace the bearing would have required dismantling the entire antenna, and there was simply no time. So Charles Force thought of a creative solution: If he could get more grease around the failed bearing, it would probably be fine. The only problem was, nobody at the station had an arm small enough to actually reach in through the two-and-a-half inch opening and pack grease around the bearing.</p><p> And that's when Greg was called in to save the day. Charles Force sent someone out to his home to pick up Greg. Once at the tracking station, Greg reached into the tiny hole and packed grease around the failed bearing. It worked, and the station was able to successfully complete its communications role in the mission. Apollo 11 splashed down safely the next day.</p><p> At the time, Greg didn't think what he was doing was a big deal, and 40 years later, he's still modest about his role in the mission. </p><p> "That's all I did, was put my hand in and put grease on it," he says. If he hadn't been there, NASA would not have been able to make its last communications with the mission before splashdown, but Greg says "it wasn't life or death, [from] my understanding."</p> <p> "My dad explained to me why it was important," he says, "but it kind of caught me by surprise afterwards, all the attention." <a href="http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-298938"></a></p><p> That attention came from the media and even the astronauts themselves. Greg's small but important part in Apollo 11 was a story told by news outlets around the world. He even got a nice thank-you note from Neil Armstrong, whom he met when Armstrong went on a tour of NASA stations with the other astronauts to thank the staff after the mission. "To Greg," reads the note, which Armstrong wrote on a newspaper clipping of Greg's story, "with thanks for your help on Apollo 11. Neil Armstrong."</p><p> Perhaps not surprisingly, like many other kids who grew up during the Apollo era, Greg dreamed of becoming an astronaut. He says he remembers visiting his dad's office to listen to astronauts communicating with NASA officials on the ground.</p><p> "We could sit and listen to the actual communication with the astronauts as it was happening, and it was hard to understand, but I loved to do that," he says. "On Guam we didn't have good television coverage, so I think I listened to the [moon] landing on the radio. To me it was a huge thing."</p><p> Greg pursued his dreams of space exploration all the way through college, where he majored in physics. Unfortunately, he was unable to pass the vision test for the space program because of his colorblindness, but even that couldn't squelch his interest. Greg went on to get his pilot's license, and even though his career now as a gymnastics school owner isn't exactly space-related, he says that "ever since then, I've followed the space program."</p><p> And as a lover of space exploration, Greg hopes to see more missions to the moon.</p><p> "I think it would be an important step as far as going further, like to Mars," he says. "I would love to see us go back to the moon."</p> <p> But for now, on the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, he can remember the small but crucial role he played in bringing Apollo 11 home safely.</p> "It kind of caught me by surprise," he says, "but I'm real proud to have been even a little tiny part of it."<br /></span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-22677073120183825872009-05-13T15:50:00.002+05:302009-07-26T19:25:07.969+05:30Space shuttle suffered 'minor' damage at launchA survey of space shuttle Atlantis' outer body has revealed that four tiles on the right side have "some dings" in them, the flight director said Tuesday. <!--startclickprintexclude--> <div class="cnnStoryPhotoBox"><div id="cnnImgChngr" class="cnnImgChngr"><!----><!--===========IMAGE============--><img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/TECH/space/05/12/space.shuttle.damage/art.atlantis.launch.nasa.jpg" alt="Space shuttle Atlantis launched from Florida Monday on its way to the Hubble telescope." border="0" height="219" width="292" /><!--===========/IMAGE===========--><div class="cnnStoryPhotoCaptionBox"><div class="cnn3pxTB9pxLRPad"><p><!--===========CAPTION==========-->Space shuttle Atlantis launched from Florida Monday on its way to the Hubble telescope.<!--===========/CAPTION=========--></p></div></div><div class="cnnWireBoxFooter"><img src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/base_skins/baseplate/corner_wire_BL.gif" alt="" height="4" width="4" /> </div></div></div> <!--endclickprintexclude--><p> "As we were going through the surveys we did see probably about 21 inches in all ... four tiles with some dings in them," Tony Ceccacci told reporters. </p><p> "To me, I'm not the tile expert, but they looked very minor."</p><p> He said tile experts will examine the dings, which are on the wing.</p><p> Ceccacci said an "event" occurred around 103 seconds into Monday's launch. </p><p> He said NASA is looking into what may have caused the nicks. Debris that fell off the external fuel tank during liftoff has been the culprit on previous flights. <span class="cnnEmbeddedMosLnk"></span></p><p> Atlantis launched Monday afternoon for NASA's fifth and final repair visit to the Hubble Space Telescope, with which it is scheduled to rendezvous on Wednesday. </p><p> It has been seven years since NASA's last mission to service the Hubble, which was designed to go only about three years between fixes.</p> <!--startclickprintexclude--> <div class="cnnStoryElementBox">NASA canceled an Atlantis mission to extend Hubble's operational life in January 2004 because the trip was considered too risky in the wake of the 2003 Columbia tragedy, which killed seven astronauts. </div> <!--endclickprintexclude--><p> That disaster was blamed on a hole punched in the front of the wing by debris during liftoff.</p><div class="cnnStoryElementBox"><div class="cnnStoryElementBoxAd"><div id="cnnDefault180Space"> </div> </div> </div> <!--endclickprintexclude--><p> But public pressure and steps taken to increase shuttle safety led the U.S. space agency to reconsider.</p> Space shuttle Endeavour is on standby at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the unlikely event that NASA will need to rescue the Atlantis crew members during their 11-day mission.Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-26369059711325526972009-01-24T16:07:00.002+05:302009-01-24T16:11:54.397+05:30Big Developments in Chinese Astronomy<p>Last October 16th was a big day for the Chinese astronomical community. Nearly 200 kilometers northeast of Beijing, at the Xinglong Observing Station of the <a href="http://www.bao.ac.cn/english/home.asp" target="new_window">National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC)</a>, leaders of the Chinese Academy of Sciences held a ceremony to celebrate the founding of something new and unique: <a href="http://www.lamost.org/en/" target="new_window">LAMOST</a>, the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope. </p> <p> <!-- begin Media --> </p><div style="padding: 5px 0px 5px 5px; width: 555px;" class="floatImageRight"> <div class="cMainImg" style="width: 555px;"> <img src="http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/LAMOST-observatory_555px.jpg" alt="LAMOST observatory" title="LAMOST observatory" width="555" border="0" height="430" /> <div class="caption">The LAMOST observatory buildings, aligned on the meridian.</div> <div class="caption"><i>Renjiang Xie</i></div> </div> </div> <!-- end Media --><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /> <p> LAMOST is a survey instrument like no other. It was designed for maximum efficiency for one vital purpose: taking spectra of many millions of individually selected, very faint objects. Its designers had to find the best balance for this purpose between aperture, field of view, and many other factors. </p> <p> <!-- begin Media --> </p><div style="padding: 5px 0px 5px 5px; width: 555px;" class="floatImageRight"> <div class="cMainImg" style="width: 555px;"> <img src="http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/LAMOST-mirror_555px.jpg" alt="LAMOST's primary mirror" title="LAMOST's primary mirror" width="555" border="0" height="388" /> <div class="caption">The surface shape of LAMOST's 4-meter segmented primary mirror will be actively controlled, allowing the segments to be thin and light.</div> <div class="caption"><i>Renjiang Xie</i></div> </div> </div> <!-- end Media --> <p> The instrument's segmented thin mirror, seen above, has an aperture of 4 meters (160 inches), with the segments controlled by active-optics techniques. This aperture will enable LAMOST to obtain spectra of objects as faint as magnitude 20.5 magnitude in a 1.5-hour exposure. </p> <p> <!-- begin Media --> </p><div style="padding: 5px 0px 5px 5px; width: 380px;" class="floatImageRight"> <div class="cMainImg" style="width: 380px;"> <img src="http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/LAMOST-detector-view_3802.jpg" alt="" title="" width="380" border="0" height="543" /> <div class="caption">LAMOST's fiber-optic image detector, seen from behind.</div> <div class="caption"><i>Renjiang Xie</i></div> </div> </div> <!-- end Media --> <p> That's not remarkable by today's standards — LAMOST's real power comes from its extraordinary field of view. The working focal plane is an immense 1.75 meters in diameter, corresponding to a 5° field on the sky. </p> <p> As many as 4,000 optical fibers can be automatically positioned onto selected objects in the field, with each fiber feeding light to a spectral analyzer. As a result, the telescope has the highest spectrum-acquiring rate of any in the world. </p> <p> Being a survey telescope, LAMOST needs to look only near the sky's north-south meridian to catch, in time, a large fraction of the celestial sphere passing across. As a result the telescope occupies special domes that look less like a traditional observatory than like some spaceport from a sci-fi movie. </p> <p> “LAMOST’s equipment was completely installed by the end of August after four years’ of building," says Yongheng Zhao, the general manager of the project. "We are now in the stage of doing test observations and refining performance, which may take two years.” </p> <p> <!-- begin Media --> </p><div style="padding: 5px 0px 5px 5px; width: 341px;" class="floatImageRight"> <div class="cMainImg" style="width: 341px;"> <a target="_blank" href="http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/FAST+cross-section.jpg"><img src="http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/FAST+artwork.jpg" alt="FAST radio telescope" title="FAST radio telescope" width="341" border="0" height="238" /></a> <div class="caption">With a diameter of some 500 meters (1,600 feet), FAST will be the world's largest radio dish. Click image for cross-section diagram.</div> <div class="caption"><i>NAOC / Chinese Academy of Sciences</i></div> </div> </div> <!-- end Media --><b>FAST Radio Dish</b> <p> Meanwhile, the ambitious <a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/36861944.html" target="new_window">Five hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST)</a> has been allocated government funds of nearly 700 million RMB yuan (nearly US$100 million). FAST will be built in a limestone karst valley in a sparsely populated mountanous area of Guizhou province about 1,800 kilometers southwest of Beijing. </p> FAST's dish will be composed of about 2,000 active panels, each 15 meters square, that can reshape into a paraboloidal surface for pointing in any direction as much as 40° from the zenith. Construction has begun and should be finished in 2014. FAST is expected to be 10 times as sensitive as the 300-meter dish radio telescope near Arecibo, Puerto Rico, currently the world's largest.<br /></span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-50482070126566665892009-01-20T08:49:00.003+05:302009-01-20T08:56:36.282+05:30Giant Rockets Could Revolutionize Astronomy<p><span style=";font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:85%;" ><strong></strong> <span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the game of astronomy, size matters. To get crisp, clear images of things billions of light years away, a telescope needs to be big.</span></span></span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style=";font-size:100%;" >"The bigger the better," says astronomer Harley Thronson, who leads advanced concept studies in astronomy at the Goddard Space Flight Center. And he thinks "NASA's new Ares V rocket is going to completely change the rules of the game."<br /> <br /> <img src="http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/rocketastronomy/bus%20iso_med.jpg" align="right" width="225" height="446" hspace="10" />Ares V is the rocket that will deliver NASA's next manned lunar lander to the moon as well as all the cargo needed for a lunar base. Its roomy shroud could hold about eight school buses, and the rocket will pack enough power to boost almost 180,000 kg (396,000 lbs -- about 16 or 17 school buses) into low Earth orbit. Ares V can haul six times more mass and three times the volume the space shuttle can. </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style=";font-size:100%;" >"Imagine the kind of telescope a rocket like that could launch," says Thronson. "It could revolutionize astronomy."</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="detailImageDesc"><span style=";font-size:100%;" ><strong>Right:</strong> The roomy shroud of the Ares V could hold about eight school buses. Credit: NASA</span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style=";font-size:100%;" >Optical engineer Phil Stahl of the Marshall Space Flight Center offers this example: "Ares V could carry an 8-meter diameter monolithic telescope, something that we already have the technology to build. The risk would be relatively low, and there are some big cost advantages in not having to cram a large telescope into a smaller launcher." </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style=";font-size:100%;" >For comparison, he points out that Hubble is only 2.4 meters wide. </span></p> <p style="font-family: arial;"><span style=";font-size:100%;" >An 8-meter monolithic telescope would see things more than three times as sharply as Hubble can. More importantly, in the same amount of observing time, the larger mirror would see objects that are about 11 times fainter than Hubble sees because the 8-meter telescope has 11 times the light collecting area.</span></p><br /><span class="fullpost">But Ares V can go yet bigger. It could transport a huge segmented telescope – one with several separate mirror panels that are folded up for transport like the James Webb Space Telescope--but three times the size!<br /><br />The Space Telescope Science Institute's Marc Postman has been planning a 16-meter segmented optical/ultraviolet telescope called ATLAST, short for Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope. The science from an aperture its size would be spectacular.<br /><br />"ATLAST would be nearly 2000 times more sensitive than the Hubble Telescope and would provide images about seven times sharper than either Hubble or James Webb," says Postman. "It could help us find the long sought answer to a very compelling question -- 'Is there life elsewhere in the galaxy?'"<br /><br />ATLAST's superior sensitivity would allow astronomers to hugely increase their sample size of stars for observation. Then, discovery of planets hospitable to life could be just around the corner!<br /><br />"With our space-based telescope, we could obtain the spectrum of Earth-mass planets orbiting a huge number of nearby [60 - 70 light years from Earth] stars," says Postman. "We could detect any oxygen and water in the planets' spectral signatures. ATLAST could also precisely determine the birth dates of stars in nearby galaxies, giving us an accurate description of how galaxies assemble their stars."<br /><br />This telescope could also probe the link between galaxies and black holes. Scientists know that almost all modern galaxies have supermassive black holes in their centers. "There must be a fundamental relationship between the formation of supermassive black holes and the formation of galaxies," explains Postman, "but we don't understand the nature of that relationship. Do black holes form first and act as seeds for the growth of galaxies around them? Or do galaxies form first and serve as incubators for supermassive black holes? A large UV/optical telescope could answer this question: If our telescope finds ancient galaxies that do not have supermassive black holes in their centers, it will mean galaxies can exist without them."<br /><br />Dan Lester of the University of Texas at Austin envisions another 16-meter telescope, this one for detecting far-infrared wavelengths.<br /><br />"The far-infrared telescope is quite different from, and quite complementary to, the optical telescopes of Stahl and Postman," says Lester. "In the far-infrared part of the spectrum, we generally aren't looking at starlight itself, but at the glow of warm dust and gas that surrounds the stars. In the very early stages of star formation, the proto-star is surrounded by layers of dust that visible light can't penetrate. Our telescope will allow us to see down into the innards of these giant dense clouds that are forming stars deep inside."<br /><br />Observations in the far-infrared are especially challenging. These long wavelengths are hundreds of times larger than visible light, so it's hard to get a clear picture. "A very big telescope is necessary for good clarity at IR wavelengths," notes Lester.<br /><br /><br />Like the telescopes of Stahl and Postman, Lester's Single Aperture Far-Infrared Telescope ('SAFIR' for short), comes in two flavors for the Ares V: an 8-meter monolithic version and a 16-meter segmented version. Lester realized that, with an Ares V, he could launch an 8-meter telescope that didn't need complicated folding and unfolding. "But on the other hand, if we don't mind adding the complexity and cost of folding and still use an Ares V, we could launch a really mammoth telescope," says Lester.<br /><br />In addition to all the above telescopes, Ares V could boost an 8-meter-class X-ray telescope into space. NASA's highly-successful Chandra X-ray Observatory has a 1 meter diameter mirror, so just imagine what an 8-meter Chandra might reveal!<br /><br />Roger Brissenden of the Chandra X-ray Center is excited about the possibility of a future 8-meter-class X-ray telescope called Gen-X.<br /><br />"Gen-X would be an extraordinarily powerful X-ray observatory that could open up new frontiers in astrophysics," he says. "This telescope will observe the very first black holes, stars and galaxies, born just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, and help us determine how these evolve with time. Right now, the study of the young universe is almost purely in the realm of theory, but with Gen-X's extreme sensitivity (more than 1000 times that of Chandra) these early objects would be revealed."<br /><br />Indeed, Ares V flings shutters open wide on our view of the cosmos. It shakes off the shackles of mass and volume constraints from science missions and sweeps us into deep space to view "...a hundred things/ You have not dreamed of."<br /><br />"We could get incredible astronomy from this big rocket," says Thronson, a professional dreamer. "I can't wait."</span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-44151260022766372302009-01-19T13:13:00.002+05:302009-01-19T13:15:27.961+05:30International Year of Astronomy 2009<div class="smHeader"> <h1>International Year of Astronomy 2009</h1>by the Editors of <i>Sky & Telescope</i> </div> <hr /> <p><!-- begin Media --> </p><div style="padding: 5px 0px 5px 5px; width: 159px;" class="floatImageRight"> <div class="cMainImg" style="width: 159px;"> <img src="http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/iya_logo_v.jpg" alt="IYA 2009" title="IYA 2009" border="0" width="159" height="300" /> <div class="caption"><i>IAU</i></div> </div> </div> <!-- end Media -->New Year's Day marks the beginning of what will undoubtedly be more than 12 months of celebrating astronomy. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has designated 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first celestial observations using a telescope. <a href="http://www.astronomy2009.org/" target="new_window">IYA2009</a> has been endorsed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the U.N. General Assembly. <p> Much of IYA2009's activities revolve around 11 Cornerstone Projects. While some initiatives are already underway, others still remain under development. The links to their individual sites are listed below. You'll find even more information at <a href="http://www.astronomy2009.us/" target="new_window">U.S. National Node</a>. If you don't live in the U.S., see <a href="http://www.astronomy2009.org/" target="new_window">IYA2009</a>'s main site for a link to your country's node. </p> <p> </p><ul><a href="http://100hoursofastronomy.org/" target="new_window">100 Hours of Astronomy</a>: 400 Years in the Making<br /><a href="http://www.galileoscope.org/" target="new_window">The Galileoscope</a>: Millions of People Looking at the Sky<br /><a href="http://www.cosmicdiary.org/" target="new_window">Cosmic Diary</a>: The Life of an Astronomer<br /><a href="http://www.portaltotheuniverse.org/" target="new_window">Portal to the Universe</a>: A One-stop Universe of News<br /><a href="http://www.sheisanastronomer.org/" target="new_window">She Is an Astronomer</a>: Breaking Down Misconceptions<br /><a href="http://www.astronomy2009.org/globalprojects/cornerstones/darkskiesawareness/" target="new_window">Dark Skies Awareness</a>: Seeing in the Dark<br /><a href="http://www.astronomy2009.org/globalprojects/cornerstones/astroworldheritage/" target="new_window">Astronomy and World Heritage</a>: Universal Treasures<br /><a href="http://www.galileoteachers.org/" target="new_window">Galileo Teacher Training Program</a>: Teaching the Teachers<br /><a href="http://www.unawe.org/" target="new_window">Universe Awareness</a>: One Place in the Cosmos<br /><a href="http://www.fromearthtotheuniverse.org/" target="new_window">From Earth to the Universe</a>: The Beauty of Science<br /><a href="http://www.developingastronomy.org/" target="new_window">Developing Astronomy Globally</a>: Astronomy for All<br /></ul> <p> </p> <p> And while it's not an official Cornerstone Project, the amateur-led <a href="http://www.twanight.org/" target="new_window">The Earth at Night</a> project is another important element for IYA2009. </p> <p> Make room on your iPod for the <a href="http://365daysofastronomy.org/" target="new_window">365 Days of Astronomy Podcast</a>. There's a fact-filled, fun episode every day. </p> <p> We're happy to provide the article "The Year to Celebrate Astronomy" by organizers Catherine Cesarsky, Pedro Russo, and Lars Lindberg Christensen from the January 2009 issue of <i>Sky & Telescope</i> as a free download in <a href="http://media.skytonight.com/documents/200901082086.pdf" target="new_window">PDF format</a>. (To display PDF files, download and install the free <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html" target="new_window"><i>Adobe Reader</i></a>.) </p> <p> Be sure to check out the official movie of IYA2009: <a href="http://www.eyesontheskies.org/movie.php" target="new_window"><i>Eyes on the Skies</i></a> produced by the European Space Agency and European Southern Observatory. </p>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-59612764463695371032008-11-30T19:17:00.002+05:302008-11-30T19:24:35.988+05:30Nations Around the World Mark 10th Anniversary of International Space Station<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvd22c53wyOeyfgmladEEIucb4ljiB-LVLLgxfx918KiU-s8W9F0q2YyldOvFbqh2rnfg7UVVZY0v1yp6TtxxOVMsINvMBj78h7TpNZDZUhCwdHwKpgHjJ5tQpDDEA9dx_ZUFSKBNgdqdX/s1600-h/international-space-station.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvd22c53wyOeyfgmladEEIucb4ljiB-LVLLgxfx918KiU-s8W9F0q2YyldOvFbqh2rnfg7UVVZY0v1yp6TtxxOVMsINvMBj78h7TpNZDZUhCwdHwKpgHjJ5tQpDDEA9dx_ZUFSKBNgdqdX/s320/international-space-station.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274447910128800082" border="0" /></a><br /><span class="bold"><br /></span><div class="space_div"> </div><div class="space_div"> </div><!-- Body starts -->HOUSTON -- Nations around the world will join together to mark a milestone in space exploration this week, celebrating the 10th birthday of a unique research laboratory, the International Space Station.<br /><br />Now the largest spacecraft ever built, the orbital assembly of the space station began with the launch from Kazakhstan of its first bus-sized component, Zarya, on Nov. 20, 1998. The launch began an international construction project of unprecedented complexity and sophistication.<br /><br />The station is a venture of international cooperation among NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, and 11 members of the European Space Agency, or ESA: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. More than 100,000 people in space agencies and contractor facilities in 37 U.S. states and throughout the world are involved in this endeavor.<br /><span class="fullpost">"The station's capability and sheer size today are truly amazing," said International Space Station Program Manager Mike Suffredini. "The tremendous technological achievement in orbit is matched only by the cooperation and perseverance of its partners on the ground. We have overcome differences in language, geography and engineering philosophies to succeed."<br /><br />Only a few weeks after the U.S.-funded, Russian-built, Zarya module was launched from Kazakhstan, the space shuttle carried aloft the Unity connector module in December 1998. Constructed on opposite sides of Earth, Unity and Zarya met for the first time in space and were joined to begin the orbital station's assembly and a decade of peaceful cooperation.<br /><br />Ten years later, the station's mass has expanded to more than 627,000 pounds, and its interior volume is more than 25,000 cubic feet, comparable to the size of a five-bedroom house. Since Zarya's launch as the early command, control and power module, there have been 29 additional construction flights to the station: 27 aboard the space shuttle and two additional Russian launches.<br /><br />One hundred sixty seven individual representing 14 countries have visited the complex. Crews have eaten some 19,000 meals aboard the station since the first crew took up residence in 2000. Through the course of 114 spacewalks and unmatched robotic construction in space, the station's truss structure has grown to 291 feet long so far. Its solar arrays now span to 28,800 square feet, large enough to cover six basketball courts.<br /><br />The International Space Station hosts 19 research facilities, including nine sponsored by NASA, eight by ESA and two by JAXA. Cooperation among international teams of humans and robots is expected to become a mainstay of space exploration throughout our solar system. The 2005 NASA Authorization Act recognized the U.S. orbital segment as the first national laboratory beyond Earth, opening it for additional research by other government agencies, academia and the private sector.<br /><br />"With the International Space Station, we have learned so many things -- and we're going to take that knowledge and apply it to flying to the moon and Mars," said Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke, now aboard the station. "Everything we're learning so close to home, only 240 miles away from the planet, we can apply to the moon 240,000 miles away."<br /><br />To take a virtual tour of the International Space Station and learn more about the current mission, visit: <br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov/station<br /><br /> <br />To find out how to see the station from your own backyard, visit: <br /><br />http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings <br /> </span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-75666644484661663262008-11-10T08:53:00.001+05:302008-11-10T08:56:43.925+05:30Amazing Close-ups of EnceladusAre you ready for a just-in spacecraft result that will blow your mind?<br /><br /><!-- begin Media --> <div style="padding: 5px 0px 5px 5px; width: 250px;" class="floatImageRight"> <div class="cMainImg" style="width: 250px;"> <img src="http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/Enceladus+PIA11134+crop+250.jpg" alt="Enceladus close-up" title="Enceladus close-up" border="0" width="250" height="250" /> <div class="caption">The Cassini spacecraft recorded the jumbled icescape near Enceladus's south pole with a resolution of just 40 feet (12 m) per pixel. This portion of a <a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA11134" target="new_window">much larger mosaic</a> is about 2 miles (3 km) wide.</div> <div class="caption"><i>NASA / JPL / Space Science Inst.</i></div> </div> </div> <!-- end Media -->Have a close look at this image. It's one of many ultra-high-resolution images of Saturn's moon Enceladus (near its south pole, to be precise) taken by the Cassini spacecraft a few days ago, on October 31st.<br /><br />This is just a small snippet (about 1%) of the full image mosaic, which measures 2,531 by 2,376 pixels. What's shown here is a swatch of icy terrain about 2 miles (3 km) on a side. The smallest details are just 40 feet (12 m) across — about the size of a house. It's the eyeball view you'd get from an altitude of about 12 miles (20 km).<br /><span class="fullpost">If I were to track down Saturn in the predawn sky from my light-polluted backyard, glimpsing 12th-magnitude Enceladus would be a real challenge. But, thanks to Cassini's Imaging Science System ("cameras" for short), with a few mouse clicks I can achieve a virtual magnification of 75,000,000× — and no Barlow is needed!<br /><br />The spacecraft took this view and others just after passing within 107 miles (171 km) of Enceladus. That's close — too close in some respects. We've all had the problem of trying to photograph the scenery from a fast-moving car, and Cassini's images would likewise have been badly smeared were it not for a "skeet-shoot" technique first tried last August. Essentially, the spacecraft slews its cameras as fast as it can to track the icy moonscape whizzing by. As you can see, it worked really, really well.<br /><br />So kudos to the Cassini flight team for providing this Halloween treat. You can get the encounter's play-by-play at ciclops.org, the website maintained by ISS principal investigator Carolyn Porco and her team.<br /><br />Cassini's next brush with Enceladus won't occur until this time next year. And by then, as Porco notes in her NASA blog, the Sun will be slowly setting on the south polar terrain. "So take your fill of this fabulous place now," she writes, "because it will be a very, very long time before you see it like this again."<br /><br />By the way, Cassini had another brush with Enceladus back on October 9th. That one was incredibly close — just 15 miles (25 km) from the surface! — and it carried the spacecraft right through the icy plumes rising from the eight geysers concentrated near the moon's south pole. Some instruments should have determined what's in those plumes, but for now their science teams are keeping mum on what they've learned. Stay tuned!<br /><br />Posted by Kelly Beatty, http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/33840874.html</span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-83992826354488878242008-11-10T08:49:00.002+05:302008-11-10T08:57:33.010+05:30Chandrayaan-1 Successfully Enters Lunar Orbit<p align="justify"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;" >Chandrayaan-1, India’s first unmanned spacecraft mission to moon, entered lunar orbit today (November 8, 2008). <img src="http://www.isro.org/pslv-c11/images/Chandrayaan-1.jpg" alt="?" align="right" border="0" height="100" />This is the first time that an Indian built spacecraft has broken away from the Earth’s gravitational field and reached the moon. This historic event occurred following the firing of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft’s liquid engine at 16:51 IST for a duration of 817 seconds. The highly complex ‘lunar orbit insertion manoeuvre’ was performed from Chandrayaan-1 Spacecraft Control Centre of ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network at Bangalore.<br /> </span></p><br /><br /><span class="fullpost">Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu supported the crucial task of transmitting commands and continuously monitoring this vital event with two dish antennas, one measuring 18 m and the other 32 m.<br /><br />Chandrayaan-1’s liquid engine was fired when the spacecraft passed at a distance of about 500 km from the moon to reduce its velocity to enable lunar gravity to capture it into an orbit around the moon. The spacecraft is now orbiting the moon in an elliptical orbit that passes over the polar regions of the moon. The nearest point of this orbit (periselene) lies at a distance of about 504 km from the moon’s surface while the farthest point (aposelene) lies at about 7502 km. Chandrayaan-1 takes about 11 hours to go round the moon once in this orbit.<br /><br />The performance of all the systems onboard Chandrayaan-1 is normal. In the coming days, the height of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft’s orbit around the moon will be carefully reduced in steps to achieve a final polar orbit of about 100 km height from the moon’s surface. Following this, the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) of the spacecraft will be released to hit the lunar surface. Later, the other scientific instruments will be turned ON sequentially leading to the normal phase of the mission.<br /><br />It may be recalled that Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was launched on October 22, 2008 by PSLV-C11 from India’s spaceport at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. As intended, PSLV placed the spacecraft in a highly oval shaped orbit with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 255 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 22,860 km. In the past two weeks, the liquid engine of Chandrayaan-1 has been successfully fired five times at opportune moments to increase the apogee height, first to 37,900 km, then to 74,715 km, later to 164,600 km, after that to 267,000 km and finally to 380,000km, as planned. During this period, the Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC), one of the eleven payloads (scientific instruments) of the spacecraft, was successfully operated twice to take the pictures, first of the Earth, and then moon.<br /><br />With today’s successful manoeuvre, India becomes the fifth country to send a spacecraft to Moon. The other countries, which have sent spacecraft to Moon, are the United States, former Soviet Union, Japan and China. Besides, the European Space Agency (ESA), a consortium of 17 countries, has also sent a spacecraft to moon. </span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-91907978435098449422008-11-04T10:47:00.002+05:302008-11-04T11:01:33.554+05:30Space station junk burns up over ocean<h1>Space station junk burns up over ocean</h1><h2><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27480035/displaymode/1176/rstry/27479972/" id="linkImgRelatedPhotos"><img src="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo/_new/081031-spaceStation-hmed-507p.hmedium.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" title="Image: Tank discarded" alt="Image: Tank discarded" border="0" vspace="0" hspace="0" /></a></h2><div class="caption" style="padding: 25px 10px 0pt 15px;">NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson, an Expedition 15 flight engineer, tosses a hefty unneeded ammonia tank the size of a refrigerator overboard from the international space station during a spacewalk on July 23, 2007. NASA said the tank broke up Sunday during atmospheric re-entry.</div><br />A piece of space trash the size of a refrigerator plunged into Earth's atmosphere late Sunday to burn up over the southern Pacific Ocean, more than a year after an astronaut tossed it off the international space station, NASA officials said Monday. <p class="textBodyBlack"><span id="byLine"></span>Space station program manager Mike Suffredini told reporters that <a href="http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/070723_exp15_eva3_wrap.html">the orbital trash</a>, a 1,400-pound (635-kilogram) <a href="http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=070723_exp15_eva3eas_02.jpg&cap=NASA+astronaut+Clayton+Anderson%2C+an+Expedition+15+flight+engineer%2C+tosses+a+hefty+unneeded+ammonia+tank+the+size+of+a+refrigerator+overboard+from+the+I">tank of toxic ammonia</a> coolant, slammed into Earth's atmosphere and broke up at an altitude of about 50 miles (80 kilometers) as it flew above the ocean just south of Tasmania. </p><p class="textBodyBlack"><span id="byLine"></span>"What debris may have been still together after re-entry, it fell into the ocean between Australia and New Zealand," Suffredini said during a NASA briefing. "I know a lot of folks were wondering what the end result of that was." </p><br /><span class="fullpost">NASA expected up to 15 pieces of the tank to survive the fiery plunge, ranging in size from about 1.4 ounces (40 grams) to nearly 40 pounds (17.5 kilograms). The largest pieces, if they survived, may have hit the ocean at speeds of up to 100 mph (164 kilometers per hour).<br /><br />The U.S. Space Surveillance Network kept a close watch on the ammonia tank for NASA as part of its effort to monitor the thousands of pieces of orbital debris circling Earth.<br /><br />Known as an Early Ammonia Servicer, the coolant tank was the largest piece of trash ever disposed of by hand from the space station. NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson junked the tank while wearing a spacesuit and standing at the tip of the station's Canadian-built robotic arm during a July 23, 2007, spacewalk.<br /><br />"We're really fortunate to be able to track objects to a fairly small size," Suffredini told Space.com before the ammonia tank re-entered, adding that the ammonia tank was rather large and easy to track.<br /><br />NASA takes great care to ensure that any trash tossed overboard from the space station does not endanger other spacecraft or people on Earth, he added.<br /><br />The obsolete tank had served as a spare reservoir of ammonia coolant for the space station in case of leaks since 2001, but was no longer required after astronauts activated the outpost's main cooling system in early 2007. Because the tank was so old, engineers were worried that its structural integrity wouldn't hold during a return to Earth aboard a NASA shuttle.<br /><br />Instead they asked Anderson to toss it during a spacewalk dedicated to discarding old equipment. He also jettisoned a 212-pound (96-kilogram) video camera stand. That item burned up in Earth's atmosphere earlier this year.<br /><br />"I just like it when they've re-entered and it's not a problem," Suffredini said. "One of the big concerns for any orbiting pressurized spacecraft is orbital debris."</span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-69405971847508465762008-10-29T06:06:00.001+05:302008-10-29T06:10:32.567+05:30Hawking to Retire, But Not Quit<h2><a href="http://www.universetoday.com/2008/10/27/hawking-to-retire-but-not-quit/" title="Hawking to Retire, But Not Quit"><br /></a></h2> <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/hawking.jpg"><img src="http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/hawking.jpg" alt="" title="hawking" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-20165" width="380" height="353" /></a><p>Cosmologist Stephen Hawking plans to retire next year. The 66-year-old author of the popular science bestseller <em>A Brief History of Time </em>became famous for his theories about gravity, black holes, the big bang, and the nature of time.</p> <p>Hawking, the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University (a position once held by Isaac Newton), plans to step down at the end of the academic year, in accordance with a University policy of retirement at the end of the academic year in which officeholders turn 67, the Associated Press <a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iO1883BL8MCeJ4rZa-OJoHzQ169gD940SGB80">reports</a>.</p><br /><br /><span class="fullpost">Another 66-year-old scientist at Cambridge, Peter Lawrence, argues against mandatory retirement ages for scientists in the May issue of the science journal Nature, saying that many well-known scientists have done excellent work after traditional retirement age. "Mandatory retirement policies condone and institutionalize discrimination," he writes.<br /><br />But Hawking, who is paralyzed by motor neuron disease, intends to continue his exploration of time and space at Cambridge in a smaller role. He believes that space exploration may be the key to the survival of the human race.<br /><br />Hawking told CNN earlier this month that if humans can survive the next 200 years and learn to live in space, then our future will be bright. "I believe that the long-term future of the human race must be in space," he said. "It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next 100 years, let alone next thousand, or million. The human race shouldn't have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet. Let's hope we can avoid dropping the basket until we have spread the load."</span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-87546559617585274972008-10-29T06:01:00.002+05:302008-10-29T06:05:09.778+05:30Halloween Sky Show<p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><strong>Oct. 28, 2008:</strong> Stop! Take your finger off that doorbell. Something spooky is happening behind your back. Turn around, tip back your mask, and behold the sunset.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">It's a Halloween sky show.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">On <strong>Oct. 31st</strong>, the crescent Moon will sneak up on Venus for a close encounter of startling beauty. The gathering is best seen just after sunset when the twilight is pumpkin-orange and Halloween doorbells are chiming in earnest. Venus hovers just above the southwestern horizon, the brightest light in the sky, while the exquisitely slender Moon approaches just a few degrees below: <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/halloweensky/skymap_31oct08.gif">sky map</a>.</span></p> <p align="center"><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><a href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070718.html"><img src="http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/images/halloweensky/danbush1_strip.jpg" width="450" border="1" height="379" /></a></span></p> <p class="detailImageDesc"><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;"><strong>Above:</strong> Venus and the crescent Moon photographed in July 2007 by Dan Bush of Albany, Missouri. The scene will be much the same on Halloween 2008. [<a href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070718.html">Larger image</a>]</span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:85%;">Okay, stop staring. There's candy to be gathered.</span></p><br /><span class="fullpost">One night later, you can give the sequel your undivided attention. On Nov. 1st, Venus and the Moon emerge from the twilight side-by-side, Venus on the right, the Moon on the left: sky map. Look carefully at the Moon. Can you see a ghostly image of the full Moon inside the bright horns of the crescent? That’s called "Earthshine" or sometimes "the da Vinci glow" because Leonardo da Vinci was the first person to explain it: Sunlight hits Earth and ricochets to the Moon, casting a sheen of light across the dark lunar terrain. A crescent Moon with Earthshine is one of the loveliest sights in the heavens.<br /><br />The show continues on Nov. 2nd with Venus, the still-slender crescent Moon, and Jupiter arrayed in a broad line across the southwestern sky: sky map. This linear arrangement attracts attention almost as much as the luminosity of its points: Venus, the Moon and Jupiter are the brightest objects in the heavens, visible from light-polluted cities even before the twilight sky fades to black.<br /><br />Trace your finger upward along the line—that is where the Moon is going. Nightfall on Nov. 3rd reveals the Moon transported to Jupiter: sky map. The two form a pair so tight and eye-catching, it may take your breath away.<br /><br />As hard as it may be to believe, these nights of dark beauty are just a hint of things to come. The real show begins one month after Halloween when Venus, the Moon, and Jupiter converge on a tiny patch of sky no bigger than the end of your thumb held at arm's length: sky map. Dec. 1st is the best night to look, even better than Halloween.<br /><br />Now that's scary.</span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-42774502233597039742008-10-28T14:58:00.001+05:302008-10-28T16:51:13.784+05:30Chandrayaan-1 enters Deep Space<p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family: arial;" align="justify"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://www.isro.gov.in/pslv-c11/brochure">Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft</a> has entered deep space after crossing the 150,000 km (one and a half lakh km) distance mark from the Earth. <img src="http://www.isro.org/pslv-c11/images/orbitrize3.jpg" alt="?" align="left" border="0" vspace="5" width="300" hspace="10" />This happened after the successful completion of the spacecraft’s third orbit raising manoeuvre today (October 26, 2008) morning. </span></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family: arial;" align="justify"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);font-size:100%;" >During this manoeuvre which was initiated at 07:08 IST, the spacecraft’s 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for about nine and a half minutes. With this, Chandrayaan-1 entered a much higher elliptical orbit around the Earth. The apogee (farthest point to Earth) of this orbit lies at 164,600 km while the perigee (nearest point to Earth) is at 348 km. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1 takes about 73 hours to go round the Earth once. </span></p><p style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family: arial;" align="justify"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);font-size:100%;" >The antennas of the Indian Deep Space Network at Byalalu are playing a crucial role in tracking and communicating with Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft in such a high orbit. The spacecraft performance is normal. More orbit raising manoeuvres are planned in the coming few days to take Chandrayaan-1 towards the Moon. </span> </p>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-65653644439038734932008-10-28T13:36:00.000+05:302008-10-28T13:38:19.879+05:30Amateur Asteroid Discoveries, Panning for Astro-Gold<div class="smHeader"><br /><div class="author">by Sean Walker</div> </div> <hr /> <p><!-- begin Media --> </p><div style="padding: 5px 0px 5px 5px; width: 286px;" class="floatImageRight"> <div class="cMainImg" style="width: 286px;"> <a target="_blank" href="http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/2008UZ-anim1.gif"><img src="http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/UZ-101.jpg" alt="Asteroid K08U00Z" title="Asteroid K08U00Z" border="0" width="286" height="278" /></a> <div class="caption">Asteroid 2008 UZ drifted across the field during an evening imaging run. Click on the image to see an animation of the object's movement.</div> <div class="caption"><i>Paul Mortfield</i></div> </div> </div> <!-- end Media -->Despite the growing number of professional surveys searching for near-Earth asteroids, amateurs still can bag a few new discoveries. <p> Amateur Paul Mortfield spends time with every imaging run he completes blinking each exposure and comparing the results to older survey images to see if something new appeared. </p> <p>The effort has paid off. Mortfield has been credited with the discovery of two new asteroids, officially designated 2008 UY and 2008 UZ. Both objects are roughly 20th magnitude, and barely noticeable above the background signal in his exposures. </p> <p>"Using a 16-inch telescope at f/8.9, I managed to capture these faint objects slowly drifting across my CCD images while taking 15-minute exposures," Mortfield explains. "They were only noticeable when I stretched each frame and blinked the results. I suppose if this stuff was easy, everyone would be doing it!" </p> <p>Mortfield details a few simple steps that any imager can perform to search for asteroids, variable stars, and supernovae, as well as other scientifically useful information, hidden in the images we capture every clear night. Read about his experiences in <i>Sky & Telescope</i>'s <a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/skytel?c=y&issuemonth=12&issueyear=2008&submit=Go" target="new_window">December issue</a>, on newsstands now. </p>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-76668779488522234892008-10-23T10:59:00.002+05:302008-10-23T14:00:30.322+05:30NASA sees no quick fix for broken Hubble telescope<div class="smHeader">Associated Press/AP Online By MARCIA DUNN </div> <hr /> <p> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRkYNHqGGEvN8divk7ZgX2QdwcpzC34rtEaRyVgpLVXBym48zeAxDvhd3wTZdK9q-RGTNR5lGhHvC3RiSI7OdAR865PDwNiqkoTHpfangFGnY0gMul8lmLPOr7_jkSiEcB2b0SYjMZmUrT/s1600-h/hubble.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRkYNHqGGEvN8divk7ZgX2QdwcpzC34rtEaRyVgpLVXBym48zeAxDvhd3wTZdK9q-RGTNR5lGhHvC3RiSI7OdAR865PDwNiqkoTHpfangFGnY0gMul8lmLPOr7_jkSiEcB2b0SYjMZmUrT/s320/hubble.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260263634755845794" border="0" /></a>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's efforts to get the ailing Hubble Space Telescope working again have hit a snag, and engineers are trying to figure out their next step. </p><p> Officials had hoped to have the 18-year-old observatory back in business Friday, after it stopped sending pictures three weeks ago. But a pair of problems cropped up Thursday, and now recovery operations are on hold. </p><p> It's unclear how long the telescope will be prevented from transmitting its stunning photos of the cosmos. </p><p> The soonest it could be operating fully again is late next week, said Art Whipple, a Hubble manager. At worst, the observatory might remain inactive until astronauts arrive with a replacement part next year. </p><br /><span class="fullpost"><br />"We're still optimistic," he told reporters Friday.<br /><br />Flight controllers at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., began the lengthy process of restoring data transmission on Wednesday. Everything was going well, until late Thursday afternoon.<br /><br />First, a low-voltage power supply problem prevented one of Hubble's cameras from being rebooted properly, and then computer trouble struck and all efforts ceased.<br /><br />It's too soon to know whether the two problems are related, said Whipple.<br /><br />"We're in the early stage of going through a mountain of data that has been downloaded over the last 24 hours," he said at a news conference.<br /><br />Hubble's command and data-handling system for science instruments failed late last month and prevented the telescope from capturing and beaming down data used to create the pictures for which Hubble is known.<br /><br />Because of the breakdown, NASA delayed its final Hubble repair mission by shuttle astronauts that was set for October. The mission won't happen until at least February, possibly later.<br /><br />The latest setback is not expected to further delay the shuttle mission, Whipple said.<br /><br />The recovery efforts involved switching to a backup channel for the command and data-handling system that had been dormant since the telescope was launched in 1990. That part, at least, seemed to go well, Whipple said.<br /><br />So far, this isn't the longest that Hubble has been inactive since NASA's 1993 mission to correct its blurred vision. In 1999, science operations were halted about six weeks because of gyroscope failures that were remedied by astronauts whose flight quickly followed the breakdown.<br /><br />---<br /><br />On the Net:<br /><br />NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission-pages/hubble/main/index.html<br /><br />A service of YellowBrix, Inc. </span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-83974985002228250492008-10-22T09:16:00.003+05:302008-10-22T09:26:04.048+05:30Watch out moon......... Indians are coming.........<p> <b>NEW DELHI, India (CNN)</b> -- India launched its first lunar mission on Wednesday, with hopes of achieving high-resolution images of the moon's topography and diving into the international space race. </p> <!--startclickprintexclude--> <div id="imageChanger1"> <!-- PURGE: /2008/TECH/space/10/21/india.space/art.india.afp.gi.jpg --><!-- KEEP --><div class="cnnStoryPhotoBox"><div id="cnnImgChngr" class="cnnImgChngr"> <div style="opacity: 0.999999;" id="cnnImgChngrNested"> <img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/TECH/space/10/21/india.space/art.india.rocket.dn.jpg" alt="For India the $80 million mission puts the country on the inside track of a fast-developing Asian space race." onload="CNN_loadImg(this.parentNode);" vspace="0" width="292" height="219" hspace="0" /> <div class="cnnStoryPhotoCaptionBox"> <div class="cnn3pxTB9pxLRPad"> <p> For India the $80 million mission puts the country on the inside track of a fast-developing Asian space race. </p> </div> </div> </div>The unmanned lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1, or "moon craft" in ancient Sanskrit, came at 6:20 a.m. Wednesday (8:50 p.m. ET) from the Sriharikota space center in southern India.</div></div><!-- /PURGE: /2008/TECH/space/10/21/india.space/art.india.afp.gi.jpg --> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> var CNN_ArticleChanger = new CNN_imageChanger('cnnImgChngr','/2008/TECH/space/10/21/india.space/imgChng/p1-0.init.exclude.html',1,1); //CNN.imageChanger.load('cnnImgChngr','imgChng/p1-0.exclude.html'); </script> <!--endclickprintexclude--><p> The two-year mission seeks high-resolution imaging of the moon's surface, especially the permanently shadowed polar regions, according to the Indian Space Research Organization. It will also search for evidence of water or ice and attempt to identify the chemical breakdown of certain lunar rocks, the group said.</p><p> Despite the numerous missions to the moon over the past 50 years, "we really don't have a good map of the moon," said Miles O'Brien, CNN chief technology and environment correspondent. "The goal is to come up with a very intricate, three-dimensional map of the moon." </p><p> The Chandrayaan-1 is carrying payloads from the United States, the European Union and Bulgaria, and India plans to share the data from the mission with other programs, including <a href="http://topics.cnn.com/topics/NASA" class="cnnInlineTopic">NASA</a>. <span class="cnnEmbeddedMosLnk"><img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/tabs/video.gif" alt="Video" border="0" width="16" height="14" /> <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/10/21/india.space/index.html#cnnSTCVideo" onclick="CNN_changeMosaicTab('cnnVideoCmpnt','videos.html',true,'/video/tech/2008/10/21/obrien.india.space.launch.cnn');">Watch the launch of India's first lunar mission »</a></span> </p><br /><span class="fullpost">SRO said on its Web site that the mission would lay the groundwork for future lunar missions and "probe the physical characteristics of the lunar surface in greater depth than previous missions by other nations."<br /><br />"It will also give us a deeper understanding about the planet Earth itself or its origins," a statement on the Web site said. "Earlier missions did not come out with a full understanding of the moon and that is the reason scientists are still interested. This will lay the foundation for bigger missions and also open up new possibilities of international networking and support for planetary programs."<br /><br />Until now, India's space launches have been more practical, with weather warning satellites and communiations systems, The Associated Press cited former NASA associated administrator Scott Pace as saying.<br /><br />To date, only the U.S. Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China have sent missions to the moon, according to AP.<br /><br />Critics of the mission have questioned its $80 million price tag, saying the money should have been spent by the government to improve education and fight poverty.<br /><br />But, "there are scientists that would argue that there are plenty of things we don't know about the moon ... and India might have the know-how" to find answers, said CNN's Sara Sidner in New Delhi.<br /><br />The United States and the Soviet Union dominated the field of lunar exploration from the late 1950s. The United States is preparing for its own mission slated for next spring -- the first U.S. lunar mission in more than a decade, according to NASA.<br /><br />Soviet spacecraft were the first to fly by, land on and orbit the moon. Luna 1, launched on January 2, 1959, and sped by the moon two days later.<br /><br />Luna 2 was launched on an impact mission on September 12, 1959, striking the surface two days later. Luna 9 launched on January 31, 1966, becoming the first craft to successfully land on the moon and send back data, touching down on the surface on January 31, 1966, and transmitting until February 3, 1967, when its batteries ran out.<br /><br />Luna 10 was launched March 31, 1966, entered lunar orbit on April 3, and operated for 56 days.<br /><br />But the United States' Apollo missions were the first manned missions to reach the moon, culminating with six missions that set down on the surface. The first, Apollo 11, left earth on July 16, 1969, and landed astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin on the lunar surface on July 20 while command module pilot Michael Collins orbited above. The astronauts returned safely to earth on July 24.<br />advertisement<br /><br />Most recently India's fellow Asian nations, China and Japan, put lunar orbiters in place. Japan launched the Kaguya orbiter in October 2007, followed by China's launch of the Chang'e mission a few weeks later. Video Watch what is shaping up to be a new space race »<br /><br />"Each nation is doing its own thing to drive its research technology for the well-being of that nation," AP quoted Charles Vick, a space analyst for the Washington think tank GlobalSecurity.org, as saying.</span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-56622859645868181432008-10-21T17:20:00.003+05:302008-10-21T17:39:17.249+05:30New Comet Discovered By Canadian<span class="inline left"><img src="http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/files/news/images/cardinal_300x200.jpg" alt="Rob Cardinal was looking for an asteroid, but found a comet." title="Rob Cardinal was looking for an asteroid, but found a comet." class="image preview" width="300" height="200" /><span style="width: 298px;" class="caption"> <h6>Rob Cardinal was looking for an asteroid, but found a comet. / Photo by Leanne Yohemas</h6> <p> <em>Watch a short video of the comet<br /> <a href="http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/files/news/Comet.wmv">Comet</a></em><em><a href="http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/files/news/Comet.wmv">.wmv</a> or <a href="http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/files/news/Comet2.mov">Comet2.mov</a></em> </p> </span></span>Rob Cardinal was looking for an asteroid, but ended up finding a comet. It is the first time a comet has been discovered at U of C’s Rothney Astrophysical Observatory, which is located about 35 kilometres southwest of Calgary, and only the second Canadian discovery of a comet, using a Canadian telescope, in nearly a decade. <p> <br /><span class="fullpost">On Oct. 1, Cardinal thought he saw something move while observing a patch of sky near the North Celestial Pole while using the observatory's Baker-Nunn telescope. A subsequent computer analysis of the images taken, showed a moving object that although faint by visual standards, was actually exceptionally bright for what was a suspected asteroid at the time.<br /><br />A few more pictures taken about a week later verified that a never-before-seen member of our solar system had been discovered, and it was confirmed by other observations by astronomers in the U.S. and Japan and the Minor Planet Center, based at Harvard University, that it was a new comet. As per protocol, it was named after Cardinal and is officially designated as C/2008 T2 Cardinal.<br /><br />“I was so excited when I found out,” says the astronomer. “It’s satisfying to see your hard work pay off.”<br /><br />Russ Taylor, the head of the physics and astronomy department, called the find a tribute to the team of scientists and the dark sky quality at the observatory.<br /><br />“Alan Hildebrand, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Planetary Science, and his research team at the Rothney have put together the premier wide-field telescope for space imaging in Canada. The discovery of comet Cardinal is an exciting achievement,” he says.<br /><br />There is not much known yet about the Cardinal comet. U of C scientists are trying to determine more information about its orbit, whether its passing by Earth is periodic or whether it will only come by the sun once, which would mean its orbit is parabolic.<br /><br />“The vast majority of the known comets, and the comets now being discovered, are found near a region of the sky called the ecliptic–that's because their orbits are similar to the orbits of the planets,” says Phil Langill, the observatory’s director.<br /><br />"Comet Cardinal is on a very unusual orbit compared to normal solar system objects–it’s almost 60 degrees out of alignment with all the others. It is currently near the north star. It was brilliant for Alan and Rob to search that part of the sky, because everyone else is looking where the likelihood of asteroid discovery is high."<br /><br />Cardinal says the comet is visible right now only in the northern hemisphere until June and after that, it will be visible, and likely brighter, in the southern hemisphere.<br /><br />Langill says that if you could get hold of cometary material, you would be holding a 4.5 billion year old piece of history, with clues about how things were when the Sun and the solar system came together. Comet Cardinal is made up of bits of debris and ice left over when the solar system was created.<br /><br />Langill adds he credits the local community for remembering to keep their lights off at night. The observatory has been working with the MD of Foothills to educate folks about smart lighting choices, light abatement, and what the astronomers at the U of C’s observatory do.<br /><br />“This discovery can, in part, be attributable to them,” he says. </span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-58062803880306064642008-10-20T11:35:00.006+05:302008-10-20T11:55:04.767+05:30What is Chandrayaan-1<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhybP94BdrZ311ZyeB69-XIdHYJuvdtzFRSo3FoHGNco9dpwV0T1z4vLqhem0tY7Qx2hoTN9jz6hA4lXu5pLeJkFnADqvgedZMU1b2qOQnqfXcTYRmLhEr3ejXzrfUNsUxqClpx5JZD5Ucf/s1600-h/PSLV-C11-at-VAB.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhybP94BdrZ311ZyeB69-XIdHYJuvdtzFRSo3FoHGNco9dpwV0T1z4vLqhem0tY7Qx2hoTN9jz6hA4lXu5pLeJkFnADqvgedZMU1b2qOQnqfXcTYRmLhEr3ejXzrfUNsUxqClpx5JZD5Ucf/s320/PSLV-C11-at-VAB.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259117403031911970" border="0" /></a>On 56th indepence day, August 15 2003, India's Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced. <b>"Our country is now ready to fly high in the field of science. I am pleased to announce that India will send her own spacecraft to the moon by 2008. It is being named Chandrayaan-1".</b> In Sanskrit (language of Ancient India) "Chandrayaan" means "Moon Craft". <span class="normaltext"> <p> Moon has always fascinated Indians from ancient days and now 21st century india is ready to land on moon! Chandrayaan-1 is the first mission towords the dream. </p><p> </p><p>In Chandrayaan-1, the lunar craft would be launched using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (<a href="http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/chandrayaan1/how/launchvehicle.html">PSLV</a>) weighing 1304 kg at launch and 590 kg at lunar orbit. <b>Lunar craft would orbit around moon 100 km from moon surface.</b> </p></span><span class="normaltext">ISRO inviated international space orgnization to particpate in the project by providing suitable scientific payloads(instrument for experiments). ISRO selected<br /> 3 (<a href="http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/chandrayaan1/how/payloads/c1xs.html">C1XS</a>, <a href="http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/chandrayaan1/how/payloads/sir-2.html">SIR-2</a>, <a href="http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/chandrayaan1/how/payloads/sara.html">SARA</a>) payload from <a href="http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/researchorg/esa/esa.html">ESA</a> (European Space Agency) <br />1 (<a href="http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/chandrayaan1/how/payloads/radom.html">RADOM</a>) from <a href="http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/researchorg/bas/bas.html">BSA</a> (Bulgarian Academy of Science), <br /> 2 (<a href="http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/chandrayaan1/how/payloads/minisar.html">MiniSAR</a>, <a href="http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/chandrayaan1/how/payloads/m3.html">M3</a>) from <a href="http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/researchorg/nasa/nasa.html">NASA</a> (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) <br /><br />http://www.chandrayaan-i.com/chandrayaan1/index1.html<br /></span><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglXeIU4XkiyRsEhhsV4F0X1lIskdUVjLjLV3iuyrVb6L1yfsECf5IOfsCiPxDHwt6_vm5bROxBGJv0rM5p7DV7mUbAbbYTX-Cy08lJUGPG-4_9K12XBHbZdgpmypJnoJ-1i0axR5GrBG02/s1600-h/chandrayaan-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglXeIU4XkiyRsEhhsV4F0X1lIskdUVjLjLV3iuyrVb6L1yfsECf5IOfsCiPxDHwt6_vm5bROxBGJv0rM5p7DV7mUbAbbYTX-Cy08lJUGPG-4_9K12XBHbZdgpmypJnoJ-1i0axR5GrBG02/s320/chandrayaan-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259114881696763250" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbZc7H8BtCgFE8do-8SgZCdP6fzUGLn91t0My9toUTFa2wCo8_Z6Cxufu6HAJ7OcbWRdPJd_HAiWrIbmbnMB4uUkjT2CvhLArFpyAl0CjhDutD4zjrDkenZ_uB3Q6JJ14r2tZc0KRDwjCQ/s1600-h/chandrayaan-04.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbZc7H8BtCgFE8do-8SgZCdP6fzUGLn91t0My9toUTFa2wCo8_Z6Cxufu6HAJ7OcbWRdPJd_HAiWrIbmbnMB4uUkjT2CvhLArFpyAl0CjhDutD4zjrDkenZ_uB3Q6JJ14r2tZc0KRDwjCQ/s320/chandrayaan-04.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259114884598710098" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrsutgQupsXr9RiFvPzDvtc_GGV4AY6hsQDdgD27ejUA3ojyjF0cGYSsseuWHWnW0_BzICZWXq6sBQQoZ-abzFUQIpuVYl4a6FNx5rg-hCe3AMWHZAQgZZJTJY4uSMh-NHNEExBHndjTa7/s1600-h/PSLV-amkes-a-debu-from-VABt.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrsutgQupsXr9RiFvPzDvtc_GGV4AY6hsQDdgD27ejUA3ojyjF0cGYSsseuWHWnW0_BzICZWXq6sBQQoZ-abzFUQIpuVYl4a6FNx5rg-hCe3AMWHZAQgZZJTJY4uSMh-NHNEExBHndjTa7/s320/PSLV-amkes-a-debu-from-VABt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259114883935449026" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXeyUt80mSxajLshlkHraaIEuMOhlda-l6Si_M6_vM_0XSl7z9Rn53RiI7aDxIDjl1vWpAj8xjM3nvnS7NUK2AAvanREGXo-A7qE9L4r4K_9BRWgAOu0R09lJM1VPWg041Ty_7hFP0Kyj6/s1600-h/PSLVc11-on-launch-pad.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXeyUt80mSxajLshlkHraaIEuMOhlda-l6Si_M6_vM_0XSl7z9Rn53RiI7aDxIDjl1vWpAj8xjM3nvnS7NUK2AAvanREGXo-A7qE9L4r4K_9BRWgAOu0R09lJM1VPWg041Ty_7hFP0Kyj6/s320/PSLVc11-on-launch-pad.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259114893983185170" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe3HGRtWsPTOGao0HCJF9bQ4EOovHEP_IK99V6tN26ieIPyGhi3EUHdLTOOMvG_lq2XaeBd02QcxhvogZ3Tz8-IG7kOGm-hleHg3sIgso-00S_wkPvYy0yVO22yz97mQPIi2hliqVvvHiq/s1600-h/PSLV-on-its-way-to-launchpad.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe3HGRtWsPTOGao0HCJF9bQ4EOovHEP_IK99V6tN26ieIPyGhi3EUHdLTOOMvG_lq2XaeBd02QcxhvogZ3Tz8-IG7kOGm-hleHg3sIgso-00S_wkPvYy0yVO22yz97mQPIi2hliqVvvHiq/s320/PSLV-on-its-way-to-launchpad.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259117031286452706" border="0" /></a><br /></span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-40636113691188550182008-10-18T16:40:00.008+05:302008-10-21T05:28:29.672+05:30India’s great leap over the moonThe country is about to begin its campaign to conquer the moon, setting the tone for its role in a future global effort to colonise earth’s natural satellite. Nirad Mudur reports from Bangalore<br /><br />On October 22, the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft is expected to blast off from Sriharikota and aim for the moon, making India join an elite club of a handful of nations to have tried sojourning at the earth’s natural satellite.<br /><span class="fullpost"><br />Just days ago, action stations at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) moved<br />Chandrayaan-1 from the Isro Space Applications Centre (Isac) in Bangalore to the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota, about 80km north of Chennai. The spacecraft will orbit the moon for two years at an altitude of 100km before Isro’s scientists will intentionally crash it into the moon’s surface.<br /><br />Some critics have suggested India is merely reinventing the wheel since the Americans and the Soviets have already done substantial work on the moon, not to speak of their numerous manned moon missions: between 1958 and 1976, the two superpowers carried out 69 unmanned and manned moon missions; the six successful US manned missions, starting with Apollo 11, between 1969 and 1972, and the three USSR missions between 1970 and 1976 were applauded the world over. Contrast this with Isro scientists saying that India is still not equipped to send its own ‘vyomanauts’ (‘vyom’ is ‘space’ in Sanskrit) to the moon.<br /><br />India may be late, but it has an agenda. “Till now, moon missions have been in localised spaces,” says M Annadurai, mission director, Chandrayaan-1. “But we are planning to cover the entire moon, both sides of it — the one which faces the earth and the one which faces away.” (You may recall from your school science class that the moon rotates around its axis and revolves around the earth in roughly the same time: 28 days. Therefore, one side of the moon always faces the earth while the other always remains hidden.)</span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-20811583333592841922008-10-17T10:35:00.002+05:302008-10-17T15:34:37.483+05:30A Celestial Landscape in Celebration of 10 Years of Stunning Hubble Heritage Images<table summary="Latest press release from STScI" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="3" width="99%"><tbody><tr><td id="pressimage" rowspan="3"><div style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); margin: 0pt; padding: 3px;"><br /></div></td> <td id="pressreleasetitle" style="padding-left: 10px;"><div style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); margin: 0pt; padding: 3px;"><img style="width: 200px; height: 208px;" src="http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2008/34/images/a/formats/small_web.jpg" /></div></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="vertical-align: top; padding-left: 10px;"> <p id="presstext"> The landmark 10th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope's Hubble Heritage Project is being celebrated with a 'landscape' image from the cosmos. Cutting across a nearby star-forming region, called NGC 3324, are the "hills and valleys" of gas and dust displayed in intricate detail. Set amid a backdrop of soft, glowing blue light are wispy tendrils of gas as well as dark trunks of dust that are light-years in height. NGC 3324 is located in the constellation Carina, about 7,200 light-years away from Earth. This image is a composite of data taken with two of Hubble's science instruments. Data taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in 2006 isolated light emitted by hydrogen. More recent data, taken in 2008 with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), isolated light emitted by sulfur and oxygen gas. To create a color composite, the data from the sulfur filter are represented by red, from the oxygen filter by blue, and from the hydrogen filter by green.<br /></p>http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/34/</td></tr></tbody></table>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-14569688950753093672008-10-15T08:11:00.004+05:302008-10-15T09:17:46.521+05:30Tourist reaches space station<p style="font-family:arial;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><b>(CNN)</b> -- Space tourist Richard Garriott has arrived at the International Space Station for a 10-day stay for which he paid the Russian government an estimated $30 million.</span></p> <!--startclickprintexclude--> <div class="cnnStoryPhotoBox" style="font-family:arial;"><div id="cnnImgChngr" class="cnnImgChngr"><!----><!--===========IMAGE============--><span style="font-size:100%;"><img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/TECH/space/10/14/space.tourist/art.suited.ris.jpg" alt="Richard Garriott gives the "OK" signal before taking off on a Soyuz rocket for the International Space Station." border="0" width="292" height="219" /></span><!--===========/IMAGE===========--><div class="cnnStoryPhotoCaptionBox"><div class="cnn3pxTB9pxLRPad"><p><!--===========CAPTION==========--><span style="font-size:100%;">Richard Garriott gives the "OK" signal before taking off on a Soyuz rocket for the International Space Station.</span><!--===========/CAPTION=========--></p></div></div><div class="cnnWireBoxFooter"><span style="font-size:100%;"><img src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/base_skins/baseplate/corner_wire_BL.gif" alt="" width="4" height="4" /></span> </div></div></div> <!--endclickprintexclude--><p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> A Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which docked with the space station at 4:38 a.m. ET Tuesday, carried Garriott, along with NASA astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov.</span></p><p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> Garriott, a Texan who made a fortune in the video game industry, is the son of former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott.</span></p><p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> The elder Garriott, who watched Tuesday's docking at Russia's mission control, flew in 1973 on Skylab, a U.S. forerunner of the <a href="http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/International_Space_Station" class="cnnInlineTopic">International Space Station</a>.</span></p><p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> While Richard Garriott said the flight was a fulfillment of his dream to follow in his father's footsteps, he said he will also try to make it a commercial success. </span></p> <!--startclickprintexclude--><!--endclickprintexclude--><p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> Garriott said he would use the space trip to conduct protein crystal growth experiments for a biotech company co-founded by his father. He is also being paid to wear a watch as a test of its performance in microgravity. </span><span class="cnnEmbeddedMosLnk" style="font-size:100%;"><img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/tabs/video.gif" alt="Video" border="0" width="16" height="14" /> <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/10/14/space.tourist/index.html#cnnSTCVideo" onclick="CNN_changeMosaicTab('cnnVideoCmpnt','videos.html',true,'/');">Watch Garriott's rocket lift off »</a></span></p><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> Garriott is the sixth private citizen to buy a ticket to the space station from the Russian government.</span><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><br />BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) -- A Soyuz spacecraft with two Americans and a Russian on board lifted off from Kazakhstan on Sunday for the international space station.<br /> <br />The Soyuz TMA-13 capsule carrying American computer game millionaire Richard Garriott soared into a clear sky atop a Russian rocket as the latest paying space traveler's family watched from a viewing platform. Also aboard were U.S. astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov.<br /><br />The rocket lifted off on schedule at 1:01 p.m. (3:01 a.m. EDT), sending an orange flare behind it as it streaked upward. The craft entered orbit about 10 minutes later.<br /><br />"I'm elated, elated," said Richard Garriott's father, Owen, a former U.S. astronaut who is the first American to see his child follow in his footsteps and reach space. "They're in orbit, that's good."<br /><br />Garriott's mother Eve and his girlfriend, Kelly Miller, shed tears of joy and relief at the successful launch.<br /><br />"This is cool, this is cool," Miller said.<br /><br />The Soyuz is to dock Tuesday with the international space station, where Garriott will spend about 10 days conducting experiments -- including some whose sponsors helped fund his trip -- and photographing Earth to measure changes since his father snapped pictures from the U.S. station Skylab in 1973.<br /><br />He is to return to Earth in a Soyuz capsule with cosmonaut Segei Volkov, whose father also traveled to space -- making him the first second-generation space traveler.<br /><br />Garriott, a Texan who made his fortune designing computer fantasy games, dreamed of space as a child but learned as a youth that he could not become a NASA astronaut because of his poor eyesight. He paid a reported US$30 million for his voyage.<br /><br />"I'm really happy for him. It's one of the things he's wanted to do most in his life. I spent a lot of time listening to him about when he goes up in space," Miller said.<br /><br />"He's like a kid in a candy shop," she said. "And I already want him to come back."<br /><br />Garriott, 47, is a board member and investor in Space Adventures Ltd., a U.S.-based company that has organized flights aboard Russian craft for five other millionaires including the first paying space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, in 2001.<br /><br />The most recent paying traveler, billionaire American software engineer Charles Simonyi, also watched the launch and drank champagne with Garriott's family after the craft reached orbit.<br /><br />Also on hand was Yi So-yeon, a bioengineer who became South Korea's first astronaut when she traveled to the space station last spring.<br /><br />Yi and two crew mates had a rough ride back to Earth when their capsule failed to separate on time, sending it into a steep trajectory and subjecting them to powerful gravitational forces in a so-called "ballistic" descent -- the second straight and the third since 2003.<br /><br />The chief of Russia's space agency Roskosmos, Anatoly Perminov, pledged Saturday that a ballistic landing would not be repeated, and Yi played down any concerns.<br /><br />"We already had a lot of training for ballistic re-entry, so it's not a big deal," she said, adding that she felt "lucky" to be one of the few people who have had the experience.<br /><br />"I guess if he also has a ballistic landing, he will feel lucky because he will also be a member of the ballistic landing club," she said.<br /><br />Perminov said Saturday that increasingly strained ties between Moscow and Washington will not stand in the way of further space exploration. Soyuz rockets and capsules will be the only way to put people on the space station after the U.S. space shuttle fleet is retired in 2010.<br /><br />Perminov said recent U.S. congressional decisions on future collaboration and the presence of U.S. astronauts at the launch site in Kazakhstan showed that politics would not block cooperation. Congress earlier this month gave NASA permission to purchase seats on Soyuz capsules after 2010. </span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-49085024225515897122008-10-13T14:33:00.002+05:302008-10-13T14:46:31.966+05:30Venus Express searching for life – on Earth<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td height="22"><div class="link9"> </div><br /></td><td align="right"><a href="http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMUOW4N0MF_index_2.html"><img src="http://www.esa.int/global_imgs/print_it.gif" alt="printer friendly page" border="0" width="34" height="13" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="left" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="215"><tbody><tr><td><div style="border-color: rgb(153, 153, 153);" class="nimgwra" onmouseover="this.style.borderColor='#000000'" onmouseout="this.style.borderColor='#999999'"><a href="http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMUOW4N0MF_index_1.html"><img src="http://www.esa.int/images/vex_composite_2_20081008_M.jpg" alt="" title="" border="0" width="200" height="186" /></a></div></td><td><img src="http://www.esa.int/global_imgs/spacer.gif" alt="" width="11" height="1" /></td></tr><tr><td><div class="mg_cap_fl"><span class="true10px">Earth atmosphere’s molecules detected by Venus Express</span></div></td><td><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Scientists using ESA’s Venus Express are trying to observe whether Earth is habitable. Silly, you might think, when we know that Earth is richly stocked with life. In fact, far from being a pointless exercise, Venus Express is paving the way for an exciting new era in astronomy.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Venus Express took its first image of Earth with its Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) soon after its launch in November 2005. About a year after the spacecraft established itself in Venus’s orbit, David Grinspoon, a Venus Express Interdisciplinary Scientist from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Colorado, suggested a programme of sustained Earth observation.</span></span> <span class="fullpost"><br />“When the Earth is in a good position, we observe it two or three times per month,” says Giuseppe Piccioni, Venus Express VIRTIS Co-Principal Investigator, at IASF-INAF, Rome, Italy. The instrument has now amassed approximately 40 images of Earth over the last two years.<br /><br />The images of Earth cover both visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum and can be split into spectra, in order to search for the signature of molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere. <br /><br />The value of the images lies in the fact that Earth spans less than a pixel in Venus Express’s cameras. In other words, it appears as a single dot with no visible surface details. This situation is something that astronomers expect to soon face in their quest for Earth-sized worlds around other stars.<br /><br />“We want to know what can we discern about the Earth’s habitability based on such observations. Whatever we learn about Earth, we can then apply to the study of other worlds,” says Grinspoon.<br /><br />Since 1995, astronomers have been discovering these extrasolar planets and now know of more than three hundred. As observational techniques have been refined and the data continuously taken, so smaller and smaller planets have been discovered.<br /><br />Now, with CNES–ESA’s COROT and NASA’s Kepler missions, the prospect of discovering Earth-sized worlds in Earth-like orbits around other stars is better than ever. “We are now on the verge of finding Earth-like planets,” says Grinspoon.<br /> <br /> <br />As has been proved with the discovery of gas giant planets, as soon as astronomers know that they are there, they invent all sorts of innovative methods to separate the planet’s feeble light from the overwhelming glare of the star.<br /><br />One thing has become obvious from the study of Earth using Venus Express: determining whether a planet is habitable is not going to be easy. “We see water and molecular oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere, but Venus also shows these signatures. So looking at these molecules is not enough,” says Piccioni.<br /><br />Instead, astronomers are going to have to search for more subtle signals, perhaps the so-called red edge caused by photosynthetic life. “Green plants are bright in the near infrared,” says Grinspoon. The analysis to see whether this red edge is visible is just beginning.<br /><br />The team will also compare spectra of the Earth’s oceans with those taken when the continents are facing Venus Express. “We have initiated the first sustained programme of Earth observation from a distant platform,” says Grinspoon. Although the observations may not tell us anything new about the Earth, they will allow us to unveil far-off worlds, making them seem more real than simply dots of light.<br /> <br /> <br />For more information:<br /> <br />David Grinspoon, Venus Express interdisciplinary scientist, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Colorado, USA<br />Email: David.Grinspoon @ dmns.org<br /><br />Giuseppe Piccioni, VIRTIS co-Principal Investigator, IASF-INAF, Rome, Italy<br />Email: Giuseppe.piccioni @ iasf-roma.inaf.it<br /><br />Pierre Drossart, VIRTIS co-Principal Investigator, Observatoire de Paris-LESIA, France<br />Email: Pierre.Drossart @ obspm.fr<br /><br />Håkan Svedhem, ESA Venus Express Project Scientist<br />Email: Hakan.Svedhem @ esa.int </span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6350394257549077413.post-36052923193952023592008-10-13T08:52:00.003+05:302008-10-13T09:26:46.462+05:30Little Asteroid Makes a Big Splash<img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/boc/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-2.jpg" alt="" /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/boc/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-3.jpg" alt="" /><table border="0"><tbody><tr><td><a class="contentColouredAnkerBox" href="http://www.eumetsat.int/groups/public/documents/image/img_homepage_asteroid_2008.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="imageLeftFloat" src="http://www.eumetsat.int/groups/ops/documents/image/img_homepage_asteroid_2008_s.jpg" border="0" /></a></td> <td><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><h5 class="contentMiddleText" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">On 7 October, asteroid 2008 TC3 hit Earth and exploded in the atmosphere over northern Sudan. Amazingly, the Meteosat-8 Rapid Scanning Service managed to capture the impact.</span></h5><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">There was a spectacular show in the sky early Tuesday morning when a small asteroid entered the earth's atmosphere, releasing a huge amount of light and energy before exploding. This brief flash was captured by Meteosat-8 in Rapid Scan Service, as the image to the left shows. (IR3.9 channel, 7 October 2008 at 02:45:47 UTC).</span></span> <p class="contentMiddleText" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The asteroid 2008 TC3 entered the Earth's atmosphere at a velocity of 12.8 kilometres per second at around 02:46 UTC above northern Sudan, Africa. As it entered the Earth’s atmosphere, it compressed the air in front of it. The compression heated the air, which in turn heated the object to create a spectacular fireball, releasing huge amounts of energy as it disintegrated and exploded in the atmosphere, dozens of kilometres above ground.</span></p> <p class="contentMiddleText" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The asteroid exploded with the energy of around one kiloton, equal to the power of a small nuclear bomb. Infrasound detector arrays in Kenya also detected a sound wave from the direction of the expected impact corresponding to the energy of 1.1-2.1 kilotons of TNT.</span></p><span class="fullpost">2008 TC3 was discovered on 6 October by astronomers using the Mt. Lemmon telescope in Arizona as part of the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey for near-Earth objects. Asteroids the size of 2008 TC3 hit Earth a few times a year, but what is special about this event is that it is the first time one has been discovered before it hit. The estimated time of arrival was also precise. At 01:45 UTC, JPL scientist Paul Chodas announced, "We estimate that this object will enter the Earth's atmosphere at around 2:45:28 UTC and reach maximum deceleration around 2:45:54 UTC at an altitude of about 14 km. These times are uncertain by +/-15 seconds or so." The figure on the left shows the predicted impact point. (Credit: Peter Brown, University of Western Ontario).<br /><br />Half an hour before the predicted impact, Jacob Kuiper, general aviation meteorologist at the Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut (KNMI), the Dutch weather service, informed an official of Air France-KLM at Amsterdam airport about the possibility that crews of its airliners in the vicinity of the impact would have a chance of seeing a fireball. And it was a success! A KLM airliner roughly 1,400 km south-west of the predicted atmospheric impact position observed a short bright flash just before the expected impact time.<br /><br />The images taken by Meteosat-8 confirm that the asteroid entered the atmosphere exactly as estimated.</span>Skyman125http://www.blogger.com/profile/16823308782833694886noreply@blogger.com0