NASA’S KEPLER SPACECRAFT TAKES PULSE OF DISTANT STARS

An international cadre of scientists that used data from NASA's Kepler spacecraft announced Tuesday the detection of stellar oscillations, or "starquakes," that yield new insights about the size, age and evolution of stars.

The results were presented at a news conference at Aarhus University in Denmark by scientists representing the Kepler Asteroseismic Science Consortium (KASC). The team studied thousands of stars observed by Kepler, releasing what amounts to a roster of some of humanity's most well-characterized stars.

Analysis of stellar oscillations is similar to how seismologists study earthquakes to probe the Earth's interior. This branch of science, called asteroseismology, produces measurements of stars the Kepler science team is anxious to have.

"Using the unparalleled data provided by Kepler, KASC scientists are quite literally revolutionizing our understanding of stars and their structures," said Douglas Hudgins, Kepler Program Scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "What's more, they are doing so at no cost to the American taxpayer. All the KASC scientists are supported by research funding from their home countries. It is a perfect illustration of the tremendous value that our international partners bring to NASA missions."

In the results presented Tuesday, one oscillating star took center stage: KIC 11026764 has the most accurately known properties of any star in the Kepler field. In fact, few stars in the universe are known to similar accuracy. At an age of 5.94 billion years, it has grown to a little over twice the diameter of the Sun and will continue to do so as it transforms into a red giant. The oscillations reveal that this star is powered by hydrogen fusion in a thin shell around a helium-rich core.

"We are just about to enter a new area in stellar astrophysics," said Thomas Kallinger, lead author on a study of red giant stars and postdoctoral fellow at the Universities of British Columbia and Vienna. "Kepler provides us with data of such good quality that they will change our view of how stars work in detail."

KASC scientists also reported on the star RR Lyrae. It has been studied for more than 100 years as the first member of an important class of stars used to measure cosmological distances. The brightness, or light wave amplitude, of the star oscillates within a well-known period of about 13.5 hours. Yet during that period, other small cyclic changes in amplitude occur -- behavior known as the Blazhko effect.

The effect has puzzled astronomers for decades, but thanks to Kepler data, scientists may have a clue as to its origin. Kepler observations revealed an additional oscillation period that had never been previously detected. The oscillation occurs with a time scale twice as long as the 13.5-hour period. The Kepler data indicates the doubling is linked to the Blazhko effect.

"Kepler data ultimately will give us a better understanding of the future of our Sun and the evolution of our galaxy as a whole," said Daniel Huber, lead author on one of the KASC studies.

Launched in March 2009, Kepler was designed to discover Earth-size planets orbiting other stars. The spacecraft uses a huge digital camera, known as a photometer, to continuously monitor the brightness of more than 150,000 stars in its field of view as it orbits around the Sun. Kepler searches for distant worlds by looking for "transits," when a planet passes in front of a star, briefly causing it to dim. The amount of dimming reveals the size of the planet compared to the size of the star.

More information about the findings by the KASC scientists: http://astro.phys.au.dk/KASC/

More information about the Kepler mission: http://www.nasa.gov/kepler
http://www.nasa.gov/kepler

Astronomers Discover Most Massive Neutron Star Yet Known

Pulses from neutron star (rear) are slowed as they pass near foreground white dwarf.
This effect allowed astronomers to measure masses of the system.

Source: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Astronomers using the National Science Foundation’s Green Bank Telescope (GBT) have discovered the most massive neutron star yet found, a discovery with strong and wide-ranging impacts across several fields of physics and astrophysics.

“This neutron star is twice as massive as our Sun. This is surprising, and that much mass means that several theoretical models for the internal composition of neutron stars now are ruled out,” said Paul Demorest, of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). “This mass measurement also has implications for our understanding of all matter at extremely high densities and many details of nuclear physics,” he added.

Neutron stars are the superdense “corpses” of massive stars that have exploded as supernovae. With all their mass packed into a sphere the size of a small city, their protons and electrons are crushed together into neutrons. A neutron star can be several times more dense than an atomic nucleus, and a thimbleful of neutron-star material would weigh more than 500 million tons. This tremendous density makes neutron stars an ideal natural “laboratory” for studying the most dense and exotic states of matter known to physics.

The scientists used an effect of Albert Einstein’s theory of General Relativity to measure the mass of the neutron star and its orbiting companion, a white dwarf star. The neutron star is a pulsar, emitting lighthouse-like beams of radio waves that sweep through space as it rotates. This pulsar, called PSR J1614-2230, spins 317 times per second, and the companion completes an orbit in just under nine days.

The pair, some 3,000 light-years distant, are in an orbit seen almost exactly edge-on from Earth. That orientation was the key to making the mass measurement.

As the orbit carries the white dwarf directly in front of the pulsar, the radio waves from the pulsar that reach Earth must travel very close to the white dwarf. This close passage causes them to be delayed in their arrival by the distortion of space-time produced by the white dwarf’s gravitation. This effect, called the Shapiro Delay, allowed the scientists to precisely measure the masses of both stars.

“We got very lucky with this system. The rapidly-rotating pulsar gives us a signal to follow throughout the orbit, and the orbit is almost perfectly edge-on. In addition, the white dwarf is particularly massive for a star of that type. This unique combination made the Shapiro Delay much stronger and thus easier to measure,” said Scott Ransom, also of NRAO.

The astronomers used a newly-built digital instrument called the Green Bank Ultimate Pulsar Processing Instrument (GUPPI), attached to the GBT, to follow the binary stars through one complete orbit earlier this year. Using GUPPI improved the astronomers’ ability to time signals from the pulsar severalfold.

The researchers expected the neutron star to have roughly one and a half times the mass of the Sun. Instead, their observations revealed it to be twice as massive as the Sun. That much mass, they say, changes their understanding of a neutron star’s composition. Some theoretical models postulated that, in addition to neutrons, such stars also would contain certain other exotic subatomic particles called hyperons or condensates of kaons.

“Our results rule out those ideas,” Ransom said.

Demorest and Ransom, along with Tim Pennucci of the University of Virginia, Mallory Roberts of Eureka Scientific, and Jason Hessels of the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy and the University of Amsterdam, reported their results in the October 28 issue of the scientific journal Nature.

Their result has further implications, outlined in a companion paper, scheduled for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. “This measurement tells us that if any quarks are present in a neutron star core, they cannot be ‘free,’ but rather must be strongly interacting with each other as they do in normal atomic nuclei,” said Feryal Ozel of the University of Arizona, lead author of the second paper.

There remain several viable hypotheses for the internal composition of neutron stars, but the new results put limits on those, as well as on the maximum possible density of cold matter.

The scientific impact of the new GBT observations also extends to other fields beyond characterizing matter at extreme densities. A leading explanation for the cause of one type of gamma-ray burst -- the “short-duration” bursts -- is that they are caused by colliding neutron stars. The fact that neutron stars can be as massive as PSR J1614-2230 makes this a viable mechanism for these gamma-ray bursts.

Such neutron-star collisions also are expected to produce gravitational waves that are the targets of a number of observatories operating in the United States and Europe. These waves, the scientists say, will carry additional valuable information about the composition of neutron stars.

“Pulsars in general give us a great opportunity to study exotic physics, and this system is a fantastic laboratory sitting out there, giving us valuable information with wide-ranging implications,” Ransom explained. “It is amazing to me that one simple number -- the mass of this neutron star -- can tell us so much about so many different aspects of physics and astronomy,” he added.

A lot more information, videos and images...

Stunning Spacecraft Photos Show Moon Eclipsing the Sun

Click on image to enlarge

On Oct. 7, 2010, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, observed its first lunar transit when the new moon passed directly between the spacecraft (in its geosynchronous orbit) and the sun. With SDO watching the sun in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light, the dark moon created a partial eclipse of the sun. Credit: NASA

• Read more

NASA Readies Shuttle Discovery for Final Mission

by Staff WritersKSC FL (SPX) Oct 25, 2010

Source: www.space-travel.com

The countdown is on: NASA has only two shuttle launches left. The U.S. space agency is retiring its shuttle fleet next year and encouraging the development of commercial human spaceflight vehicles. Space shuttle Discovery is set to launch November 1
Last week, engineers found that Discovery had developed a fuel leak.
John Shannon, the space shuttle program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston, Texas, says engineers have the situation under control.
"We had a very small leak in the plumbing at a flange fitting, and the team has been working that very hard over the last week," Shannon told reporters Thursday.
"We did some troubleshooting on it, and it looked like the leak stopped."

• Read more

Group 1117, only one of the three big sunspots visible now

Visit Spaceweather.com for more information!

Runway opens at world's first spaceport

Virgin Galactic's VSS Enterprise made a celebratory flight over the runway

Commercial space travel took a step closer with the opening of the runway at the world's first spaceport in the US state of New Mexico.

The event was marked with a flypast of an aircraft carrying SpaceShip Two.

The vehicle has been designed to take fee-paying tourists on trips to the edge of space and back.

British billionaire Sir Richard Branson - whose Virgin group has backed the venture - said the first passenger trip should take place within 18 months.

• Read more and watch the video

Nikon Small World Competition

Image of Distinction, 2010

Dr. Marie Andersson

UCMR/Dep. Molecular Biology
Umeå Universitet
Umeå, Sweden

Drosophila sp. (fruit fly) eye, direct mount (20x)

•  More amzing images

University of Texas Students, Telescopes Help Discover Planets Around Elderly Binary Star

 

 The 2.1-meter (82-inch) Otto Struve Telescope at the University of Texas McDonald Observatory. Photo by Marty Harris/McDonald Observatory.

News Release: McDonald Observatory, The University of Texas, 21 October 2010

An international consortium of astronomers, including undergraduate and graduate
students at The University of Texas at Austin, have discovered a planetary system
consisting of at least two massive Jupiter-like planets orbiting the extremely close
binary star system NN Serpentis. The team used a wide variety of observations
taken over two decades from many telescopes, including two at The University of
Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory in West Texas.
|
The results are published
online in the current edition of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Because of the disturbing effects of a binary star system’s gravity, astronomers
normally do not expect to find planets in such systems, but the research team was
able to use the eclipses of the stars as a precise clock whose irregularities could be
used to detect planets in orbit around the binary.

Publish Post

• Read more

Multi-University Project to Study 'Dark Energy' Receives $8 Million from National Science Foundation

Video to watch
 

News Release: McDonald Observatory, The University of Texas, 20 October 2010

A project to discover the nature of dark energy, a mysterious force causing the expansion of the universe to speed up, has received an $8 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The funds will be split among The University of Texas at Austin ($3.6 million), Texas A&M University ($3.9 million) and Penn State University ($.5 million), to support their respective roles in the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment, or HETDEX. The project will be carried out at The University of Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory in west Texas.

“HETDEX is one of our gems within the university,” said William Powers Jr., president of The University of Texas at Austin. “It’s one of the projects being done here today that will still be talked about in a hundred years, the way we now read about discoveries by Newton and Einstein. This NSF grant is strong confirmation of the project’s importance and our commitment to it.”

• Read more

Feedback after Laser Workshop during ASSA Symposium in Pretoria

Pretoria Centre of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa

Laser Safety

PROPOSED FEEDBACK TO ASSA NATIONAL BODY REGARDING LASER WORKSHOP DURING 2010 ASSA SYMPOSIUM

Background:

Regulation 1302 identifies visible lasers with an output power over 0.30µW as 'dangerous goods' under the HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES ACT NO. 15 OF 1973

1. Importers who import these devices must license the product at the Department of Health.
2. Any person using a laser device with an output power of more than 5 mW has to register as a Laser Safety Officer (LSO) at the Department of Health.
3. There is a general concern that laser pointers are used irresponsibly. This may increase the risk that green laser pointers be 'overregulated' by the Dept. of Health.

Delegates agree to the following:

1. ASSA members are encouraged to register their unregistered laser pointers (It is currently free to do so)
2. The organisers of events such as star parties, ScopeX, viewing evenings, etc, will be liable in accordance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (Act 85 of 1993) for any incident during the event. The organisers therefore have to define the 'laser rules' for the event and act accordingly.
3. The organisers have the right to confiscate (store in safe position) any non-compliant laser pointer used at the event.
4. There is no requirement for anyone (except presenting astronomers) to use a laser pointer with an output of more than 5mW for astronomy purposes.
5. Presenting astronomers (those who do astronomy presentations to groups of people) may justify the use of stronger laser pointers. Suggested laser output ranged from 10mW to 50mW. The delegates agree that 20mW should be suitable for most applications, but foresee applications for up to 50mW.
6. Approved organisations should be identified (eg: ASSA branches; Universities; SAAO; SANParks; etc) These organisations should recommend applications for LSO's.
7. The following 'safe practices' is a good starting point when presentations to groups are done:
   • Lasers should be used by knowledgeable astronomers under controlled circumstances:
   • Do not point at people, aircraft or animals
   • Keep suitable distance from audience
   • Warn the audience
   • Area should be clean of obstacles
   • Avoid pointing to surfaces that can give specular reflections
   • Minimise use (do not play)
   • Keep away from children
   • Do not use mechanisms that keeps the pointer switched on.
8. The outcome should be posted on the website and comments requested.

Additional comments from discussions after the workshop:

1. There was a notion that 'approved organisations' (ASSA; SAAO; Universities; etc) appoint personnel to train users of green laser pointers in the safe practices.
2. Aspiring LSO's has to pass a laser safety test.
3. ASSA should have a LASER safety section (to communicate with the DoH)
   
   

Go to Pretoria Centre for more information about:

• Example of a very comprehensive Laser Safety Manual.
• Give feedback or leave a comment about the Green laser isssue
• Read some of the feedback and comments.

Media release: South Africa's MeerKAT in high demand

22 October 2010

Five years before South Africa's MeerKAT telescope becomes operational, more than 43 000 hours of observing time (adding up to about five years) have already been allocated to radio astronomers from Africa and around the world, who have applied for time to do research with this unique and world-leading instrument. Surveys of radio pulsars and hydrogen gas in the deep universe came out on top in the first round of allocating MeerKAT's observing time. 

MeerKAT is South Africa's precursor telescope to the SKA (Square Kilometre Array) and will consist of 64 Gregorian offset dishes, each 13.5 m in diameter. A MeerKAT engineering test bed of seven dishes (KAT-7) is already complete on site in the Karoo region of South Africa's Northern Cape Province. 

Following an October 2009 invitation to the world's radio astronomers to apply for MeerKAT telescope time to perform large survey projects, 21 proposals, involving more than 500 astronomers from around the world (59 from Africa), were received. A Time Allocation Committee made up of local and international experts rated the proposals on the basis of scientific merit, technical and operational feasibility, the extent to which MeerKAT has a unique role for the proposed observations or is an essential component in a larger campaign, and the resources each group was prepared to bring to the project. 

The science objectives of the most highly rated projects also happen to be the prime science drivers for the first phase of the SKA telescope itself, confirming MeerKAT's designation as an SKA precursor instrument. Observing time has been allocated to:

• Nearly 8 000 hours to a proposal to test Einstein's theory of gravity and investigate the physics of enigmatic neutron stars. This radio pulsar timing survey will be led by Professor Matthew Bailes at the Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing in Australia.
• Another 5 000 hours jointly to two proposals to survey the distant universe with MeerKAT. This ultra-deep survey of neutral hydrogen gas in the early universe will be led by Dr Sarah Blyth and Dr Benne Holwerda, both at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, in partnership with Dr Andrew Baker at Rutgers University in the US. The American team, involving several South African team members, called their proposal "LADUMA!" - an acronym for Looking at the Distant Universe with MeerKAT Array, but also a South African expression of delight when a goal is scored in football).

Eight other proposals were rated highly and have also been allocated time on the MeerKAT. They are:

• MESMER: MeerKAT Search for Molecules in the Epoch of Re-ionisation, led by Dr Ian Heywood, University of Oxford in the UK - 6500 hours.
• MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey, led by Dr Yashwant Gupta and Dr Raghunathan Srianand, both associated with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope in India - 4 000 hours.
• MHONGOOSE: MeerKAT HI Observations of Nearby Galactic Objects: Observing Southern Emitters, led by Professor Erwin de Blok at the University of Cape Town in South Africa - 6 000 hours.
• TRAPUM: Transients and Pulsars with MeerKAT, led jointly by Dr Benjamin Stappers at the Joddrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, UK and Professor Michael Kramer at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, Germany - 3 080 hours.
• A MeerKAT HI Survey of the Fornax Cluster, led by Dr Paolo Serra at ASTRON, an astronomy research institute in The Netherlands - 2 450 hours.
• MeerGAL: A MeerKAT High Frequency Galactic Plane Survey, led jointly by Dr Mark Thompson, University of Hertfordshire in the UK and Dr Sharmilla Goedhart of the South African MeerKAT team - 3 300 hours.
• MIGHTEE: MeerKAT International GigaHertz Tiered Extragalactic Exploration Survey, led by Dr Kurt van der Heyden, University of Cape Town with Dr Matt Jarvis who represents both the University of the Western Cape in South Africa and the University of Hertfordshire in the UK - 1 950 hours.
• ThunderKAT: The Hunt for Dynamic and Explosive Radio Transients with MeerKAT, led by Professor Patrick Woudt, University of Cape Town in South Africa and Professor Rob Fender at the University of Southampton in the UK - 3 000 hours.

"In addition to these ten high priority surveys, there is a strong case for MeerKAT to participate in the world-wide VLBI (very long baseline interferometry) observations, which use telescopes all around the world, working together. "We will ensure that MeerKAT becomes affiliated to international VLBI networks and will commit time to these observations," explains Dr Bernie Fanaroff, Director of the SKA South Africa Project. 

"The Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) in South Africa will lead the VLBI collaboration with all major radio astronomy observatories around the world," adds Professor Roy Booth, Associate Director: Science and Operations at the SKA South Africa Project. "MeerKAT will add considerably to the sensitivity of the global VLBI network." 

"We would also like to explore the potential for SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) and for collaboration with NASA on downloading information from their space probes sent to other planets," Dr Fanaroff adds as another key science objective for MeerKAT.

The teams who have submitted the successful proposals will be invited to work with the MeerKAT team throughout the design phase of the telescope, and to become involved in the project's human capacity building programme. 

• Also read a summary of the TAC report

Newly discovered massive galaxy cluster wins heavyweight title

Astronomers using the South Pole Telescope report that they have discovered the most massive galaxy cluster yet seen at a distance of 7 billion light-years. The cluster (designated SPT-CL J0546-5345) weighs in at around 800 trillion Suns, and holds hundreds of galaxies.

“This galaxy cluster wins the heavyweight title. It’s among the most massive clusters ever found at this distance,” said Mark Brodwin, a Smithsonian astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Brodwin is first author on the paper announcing the discovery, which appeared in the Astrophysical Journal.

Redshift measures how light from a distant object has been stretched by the universe’s expansion. Located in the southern constellation Pictor (the Painter), the cluster has a redshift of z=1.07. This puts it at a distance of about 7 billion light-years, meaning we see it as it appeared 7 billion years ago, when the universe was half as old as now and our solar system didn’t exist yet.

...read more

Space Photos This Week: Cosmic Spiral, Eclipsed Sun, More...

Cosmic Pinwheel

Image courtesy ESA/NASA

In a blending of old and new, images from a camera recently removed from the Hubble Space Telescope were combined with pictures from its replacement camera to create this composite view of the spiral galaxy NGC 3982, released Tuesday.

The pictures, taken between March 2000 and August 2009, come together to reveal colorful details in the star-forming galaxy, which lies 68 million light-years away. The galaxy's dusty arms are lined with young star clusters (blue) and glowing hydrogen clouds (pink) where new stars are being born.

• More pics

(Also see: "Hubble's 'Savior' Camera Now on Display.")

Published October 20, 2010

Galaxy is most distant object yet

The faintest of faint dots - a signal from the edge of the observable Univers. A tiny faint dot in a Hubble picture has been confirmed as the most distant galaxy ever detected in the Universe.

This collection of stars is so far away its light has taken more than 13 billion years to arrive at Earth. 

Astronomers used the Very Large Telescope in Chile to follow up the Hubble observation and make the necessary detailed measurements. 

They tell the journal Nature that we are seeing the galaxy as it was just 600 million years after the Big Bang.

...read more

In pictures: Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010

A stunning silhouette of active leafcutter ants in Costa Rica wins the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award. Earth News

• See the winning images from WPY 2010

Source: BBC News

New International Standard For Spacecraft Docking

The initial IDSS definition document will be released into the public domain on 25 October. It will contain a preliminary description of the physical features and design loads of the standard docking interface.

by Staff Writers Paris, France (ESA) Oct 21, 2010 SpaceTravel.com
Partners in the International Space Station programme have agreed on a new standard for docking systems, which will be capable also of implementing berthing. The agreement allows a range of compatible, but not necessarily identical, mechanisms for spacecraft docking. A first agreed version of the Interface Definition Document will be released on 25 October.

....read more

Donderdagaand is dit Sterre en Planete op RSG

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.

• MP3 Potgooi

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

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 

• Earlier post

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)

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.

• Meer inligting by Struik-uitgewers

• 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
  
  
  
  

  The Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA)
  

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

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:

• China Top of Orbital Garbage Heap, Study Shows
• CubeSails to Drag Space Junk from Orbit
• Laser System to Monitor Space Junk
• Space Junk Tracker to Orbit Earth
• Mexican Meteorite: Was it Russian Space Junk?
  
  
  Source: DiscoveryNews

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.

SLIDE SHOW: For Space Shuttle Atlantis, The End Is Here

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.

• More info

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))

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: 

• Visit the top 10
  
• Visit the Top 100

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

Rover nears 24 km of driving on Mars

 MERB total odometry now reads in excess of 23,991.43 meters (23.99 kilometers, or 14.91 miles).

Source: MarsDaily

by Staff WritersPasadena CA (JPL) Oct 15, 2010 Opportunity drove only once this past week, nearing the 24-kilometer (15-mile) odometry mark.

On Sol 2382 (Oct. 6, 2010), the rover covered over 94 meters (308 feet) on her trek to Endeavour crater. With the use of autonomous navigation, the rover collects many more data products which fill the available flash memory.

More info