Maak `n knoop iewers!
Donderdagaand om 20:30 is dit die Sterre en Planete uitsending op RSG.
Los bietjie die Televisie en trek die radio nader.
En as jy regtig nie kan luister nie, kan jy gerus die MP3 aflaai en later na die uitsending luister.
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Workers scramble to fix space shuttle leak
by Staff WritersCape Canaveral, Fla. (UPI) Oct 19, 2010
Workers at the Kennedy Space Center are working to stop a leak on the Discovery space shuttle that could affect its scheduled Nov. 1 launch, NASA says. A slight vapor leak in the shuttle's Orbital Maneuvering System tanks and lines was discovered, and technicians attempted to stop it by replacing a flight cap but the effort was unsuccessful, AviationWeek.com reported Tuesday.
On Monday launch managers ordered the tanks and lines drained of toxic fuels so workers could access flange seals in the system for possible replacement.
...further reading
Workers at the Kennedy Space Center are working to stop a leak on the Discovery space shuttle that could affect its scheduled Nov. 1 launch, NASA says. A slight vapor leak in the shuttle's Orbital Maneuvering System tanks and lines was discovered, and technicians attempted to stop it by replacing a flight cap but the effort was unsuccessful, AviationWeek.com reported Tuesday.
On Monday launch managers ordered the tanks and lines drained of toxic fuels so workers could access flange seals in the system for possible replacement.
...further reading
Green Comet Visible This Week
Comet's Green Halo
Photograph courtesy Gregg L. Ruppel
Blurred stars seem to cut through the green halo of comet 103P/Hartley 2 in a five-minute-exposure photograph taken through a backyard telescope in the United States on Saturday. In recent weeks the comet has been drawing closer to Earth, and Hartley 2 will make its closest pass tomorrow, offering prime viewing via binoculars and telescopes. (See comet pictures.)
More information
Local information, from Skytools software with a 8 inch Orion Skyquest
On this night (20/21 October 2010) 103P/Hartley is best visible between 04:12 and 04:32, with the optimum view at 04:13. Look for it in Auriga, fairly high in the northern sky during morning twilight. It is easy visually in the Orion SkyQuest XT8 Dob. Use the Ultima 42mm for optimum visual detection. It is magnitude 6.2 with a diameter of 21.0'.
In the following 30 days this object is easy visually from October 21, and again from October 31 on, with the best view coming on November 3. During this period it will reach peak brightness of magnitude 6.2 on October 22 and rapidly move higher in the sky.
103P/Hartley will next reach perihelion in late October. Also in late October this comet will pass within 0.1 AU of the earth.
At this stage the almost full moon is a big factor in seeing this ball of ice. (Hannes Pieterse)
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Astronomical Handbook for Southern Africa
Hierdie nuttige handleiding is November-maand op die rakke sê Struik-uitgewers. Dit is `n moet-hê publikasie. Dit gee vir jou maand-vir-maand inligting wat bo in die naghemel aangaan. En nog baie meer.
Dit word vir R85.00 adverteer. Die Skyguide sal waarskynlik by die groter boekwinkels te koop wees. Ons sal laat weet as dit op die rakke is.
- Lede van ASSA kry dit gratis.
Om by ASSA aan te sluit kos R100 per jaar en `n aanvanklike R25 aansluitingsfooi. Dit is eintlik baie goedkoop as jy die Skyguide se prys aftrek. So sluit sommer dadelik aan.
- Lidmaatskapinligting
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Local Astronomy News
- South African space portal
- Visit Johannesburg Planetarium
Download maps (Faint) Comet 103P/Hartley in SA skies this month
Get out of town and use binoculars to look for this one, around 4am Oct 17th to 20th, or after 2am early Nov, when the comet will be higher in our skies
- Star charts for the Southern Hemisphere
- Find the Southern Celestial Pole (SCP)
- Pretoria Centre
Karoo Star Party 2011
- Johannesburg Centre
ScopeX 2011
- Star Gazers Deep Space Atlas - Wayne Mitchel
- psychohistorian.org/astronomy
Astronomy , mainly deep sky observing and outreach material, but also photos, news, general astronomy essays, a guide to what's visible in the night sky, stuff on the history of astronomy & ethnoastronomy, and so on.
NASA uses Photoshop! It's a conspiracy!
The beauty of the Orion Nebula can only be seen after some image processing. To the naked eye, the nebula looks very dull. Click to enlarge this image.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/STScI
NASA/JPL-Caltech/STScI
THE GIST
- A media frenzy ensued when some media outlets reported that NASA had Photoshopped an image of Saturn's moons.
- Raw images from space need calibration before being released to the public, not unlike red eye removal from your family photos.
Read the story
Source: DiscoveryNews
Orbital debris from Chinese satelite tops 3,000 pieces
Image: A view of the Chinese orbital debris problem. Only China's space debris plotted
Click to enlarge
Three and a half years after China intentionally blew up a satellite as part of a weapons test, 97 percent of the debris remains in orbit, posing “distinct hazards to hundreds of operational satellites,” writes NASA in its October issue of Orbital Debris Quarterly News.
The number of pieces of debris from the Fengyun-1C spacecraft surpassed the 3,000 mark last month. The tally as of mid-September was 3,037 objects -- roughly 22 percent of all the cataloged objects in low-Earth orbit, reports the Orbital Debris Program Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston
More space debris news:
NASA: Dress rehearsal for Shuttle Discovery's last launch
With mixed feelings, the shuttle Discovery crew and the NASA launch team on Friday wrapped up a dress rehearsal for the planned Nov. 1 liftoff on Discovery's last space voyage, an 11-day mission to delivery a storage pod and spare parts to the International Space Station.
Discovery, which will be making its 39th flight, has been NASA's fleet leader in terms of number of missions and also for making both return-to-flight test runs following the Challenger and Columbia accidents in 1986 and 2003, respectively. Now it's fleet leader into retirement, with sisterships Endeavour and Atlantis expected to make their swan songs in February and June 2011.
Deep space drama: Top 10 views of the southern skies
The birth of stars
This colour composite image of the nebula RCW120 shows an expanding bubble of ionised gas 10 light years across. It causes surrounding material to collapse into dense clumps from which stars are born. The original images taken with the LABOCA camera on the 12-metre Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope.
(Image: ESO/APEX/DSS2/SuperCosmos/Deharveng (LAM)/Zavagno (LAM))
This colour composite image of the nebula RCW120 shows an expanding bubble of ionised gas 10 light years across. It causes surrounding material to collapse into dense clumps from which stars are born. The original images taken with the LABOCA camera on the 12-metre Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope.
(Image: ESO/APEX/DSS2/SuperCosmos/Deharveng (LAM)/Zavagno (LAM))
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) operates some of the world's most advanced ground-based telescopes, including the Very Large Telescope array (VLT) and the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) at Paranal Observatory in the Atacama desert, Chile. They recently posted their top 100 images:
Pyramid of Venus
Click to enlarge
Photograph by Tunc Tezel, TWAN
The path of Venus seems to stitch together the sky over Bolu, Turkey, in a recently released composite picture spanning seven months. The interval between each frame ranges from 4 to 11 days.
Because it orbits closer to the sun, Venus overtakes Earth every 584 days. This means that, over time, the bright planet changes from the "evening star," visible after sunset, to the "morning star," visible before sunrise.
Published October 13, 2010
Source: National Geographic
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