New Discoveries - Extraplanetary, deep space, etc.

dicktice · 2003-05-10 09:44:13

*SS crew's "rocky ride" home...the capsule landed on the ground, yipes! Great story:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm....cid=716
--Cindy

Cindy: The whole story of Soyuz TMA-1 is unique and amazing, when you think back. There would be no TM (or Progress) upgrades produced, for lack of funds. Where would the SST be without Russia's and Clinton/NASA's choice of Baikonur-accessible LEO plane of rotation, since our Space Shuttle's grounding? Lost to humanity, that's where ... and we, back to Square One. Even more embarassing, would have been the continuation of their shuttle program which I, having googled "Buran" now realize would have been superior to ours. In space transportation systems engineering, it seems evident, to be second is to be better--that is, if you can afford to wait and see what NOT to do by observing the first poor sucker ... us in this case. Of course, the piggy-back approach is now passe, so we're left with Soyuz launched hard-landing but reliable capsules ... until...? I hope the Russians get funded for a hundred of 'em, if that's what it takes to buy the time necessary to get back on track ... a maglev mountain-launch track, perhaps?.

Palomar · 2003-05-15 21:23:50

*Total lunar eclipse as I type this...9:22 p.m. Lovely! Did anyone else in N. America watch it (if in uncloudy weather)? Clear as a bell here...

--Cindy

Josh Cryer · 2003-05-16 01:40:19

I caught several glimpses of it throughout the stages, but I didn't actually sit and watch. I've seen quite a few of them in my life, it seems like I catch them whenever they happen (weather permitting!).

Next time maybe I'll go out of my way to watch the whole thing. Takes more than an hour to watch a whole thing, while the best total solar eclipses are minutes! I've never seen a total- or even partial for that matter- solar eclipse, BTW. Maybe the one in Nov., pick a date for my galfriend and me.

Palomar · 2003-05-16 18:22:35

*"Something old, something new
Something borrowed, something (formerly deep) blue:"

http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_955_1.asp

Neptune gets a "new do"...(darling, it isn't "you")!

--Cindy

Josh Cryer · 2003-05-22 16:54:06

Oh my god. I loaded Slashdot today, and, man, this is awesome!

What does Earth look like when viewed from Mars? At 13:00 GMT on 8 May 2003, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) had an opportunity to find out. In addition, a fortuitous alignment of Earth and Jupiter---the first planetary conjunction viewed from another planet---permitted the MOC to acquire an image of both of these bodies and their larger satellites. At the time, Mars and the orbiting camera were 139 million kilometers (86 million miles) from Earth and almost 1 billion kilometers (nearly 600 million miles) from Jupiter. The orbit diagram, above, shows the geometry at the time the images were obtained.

Source (Slashdotted): http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2003/05/22/
Mirror (working at time of post): http://aleph.atecgroup.com/~chrisf/mirror/

Palomar · 2003-05-24 08:44:02

Oh my god. I loaded Slashdot today, and, man, this is awesome!
What does Earth look like when viewed from Mars?

*Apparently the folks at Sky & Telescope are in favor of Mars colonization; here is a portion of their commentary regarding the news Josh shared with us:

"VIEWS OF THE PALE BLUE DOT

There aren't any amateur astronomers on Mars (yet), but on Thursday NASA released an image of what will await Mars colonists someday when they look to Earth with small telescopes."

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-05-24 14:58:38

*Now that's a beauty (spiral galaxy):

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-05-26 21:18:11

*Go Europe!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm....eo_dc_3

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-05-26 21:19:49

*Planets in just 3 million years?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm....cid=570

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-05-26 21:23:16

*This definitely needs changing! Children are the future:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0501/p09s01-coop.html

--Cindy

Josh Cryer · 2003-05-27 00:50:38

Hey, way to go for the EU, I'm wth you there on that one, Cindy.

Notice that the Euro is at an all time high against the dollar now? Wonder if that trend can continue. I'm hedging on yes...

Also, Chappell's editorial is basically what I've been lamenting for awhile now. Sure, people may find it overly critical or whatever, but I think the gist of it is undoubtedly true. And it saddens me greately, because I don't think there's much we can do about it. Changing a culture doesn't necessarily happen overnight.

clark · 2003-05-27 09:10:35

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=11610

Clemson Inflatable Fabric Airlock Breezes Through Initial Tests

CLEMSON -- Space just got skinnier: an inflatable fabric airlock could become standard equipment on future space stations after breezing through its prototype testing in April.

Palomar · 2003-05-27 09:35:30

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=11610
Clemson Inflatable Fabric Airlock Breezes Through Initial Tests
CLEMSON -- Space just got skinnier: an inflatable fabric airlock could become standard equipment on future space stations after breezing through its prototype testing in April.

*Kewl.

Now they'll have to prohibit knitting needles in space!

{{{foooooooooooOOOOOOooooooosshhhh!!!}}}

Seriously, though, I wonder how feasible it is/will be.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-05-30 09:56:47

*Check it out and tell me if this isn't one of the most beautiful and stunning photos of a solar eclipse you've ever seen. A dolphin leaping up out of the water in front of it would have been even more perfect:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-06-03 10:48:44

*"The Fogs of Mars"

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030602.html

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-06-06 11:28:51

Renegade Galaxy Buzzes the Milky Way!

*Cool! What will Mother Nature think up next?

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-06-12 10:17:27

Man Convicted in Theft of Moon Rocks (!!)

*Geez, this is the first I've heard of this.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-06-12 10:22:32

Saturn's Winds Decrease

*I'm posting a few new stories from Yahoo! today...so don't overlook the previous post, about the stolen moon rocks.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-06-12 10:26:15

Saturn's Winds Decrease

*The article mentions that the shadowing provided by its rings can cause weather changes ("reducing the amount of energy available"). Wow, that never occurred to me before.

(I'm posting a few new stories from Yahoo! today...so don't overlook the previous post, about the stolen moon rocks)

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-06-14 11:52:46

The Sun "Acts Up" Again

Heliomongers will like this article.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-06-18 12:48:21

Now -that's- an eclipse photo!

*If I stepped outdoors after just waking up and saw that in the sky, I'd probably flip...literally. Stunning.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2003-06-20 10:31:13

Strange star puzzles astronomers

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2003-06-20 20:14:15

Interesting article, Cindy!

In the world of SETI, there have been various suggestions as to how we might recognise alien civilisations. The most obvious is to pick up radio signals.
Other suggestions included looking for evidence of 'stellar engineering'.
As you probably know already, an ad hoc classification system was invented to grade civilisations:-
Type I - Control of an entire planet and all its energy and
resources (presumably no more nation states.)
Type II - Control of an entire star system including the
star.
Type III - Control of an entire galaxy!

Maybe one day we'll see a celestial phenomenon which is unmistakably artificial.

Maybe we just did!!

[P.S. On the above scale, I believe our present civilisation is a Type 0. ]

Free Spirit · 2003-06-21 04:20:14

Can someone give me a quick summary of that article? Everytime I try to visit it my computer locks up and gives me a "system busy" error, which I get frequently now. Why do they think the star is artificially tampered with?

Palomar · 2003-06-21 05:57:28

Can someone give me a quick summary of that article? Everytime I try to visit it my computer locks up and gives me a "system busy" error, which I get frequently now. Why do they think the star is artificially tampered with?

*Free Spirit, I copied and pasted the entire text; hope this helps [you are referring to the "Strange star puzzles astronomers" article - ?]:

--Cindy

Achernar is one of the most distorted stars ever observed by astronomers. It is shaped like a child's spinning top.

Scientists have been able to show the star's equatorial radius is 50% larger than its polar radius.

Distorted stars are known in astronomy. They are generally pulled out of shape by the gravity of a companion.

Achernar, on the other hand, is distorted because it is spinning rapidly - but this does not fully explain its ovoid shape, say researchers.

Achernar, otherwise known as Alpha Eridani, is the 9th brightest star in the sky. It is a hot star, several times more massive than our Sun, and is fairly close to us, being about 145 light-years distant.

Fast spin

It was observed by the European Southern Observatory's interferometer at the Paranal Observatory in Chile.

The interferometer consists of a combination of telescopes that combine their signals to provide more detailed observations than any of individual telescopes can achieve.

When Achernar was observed, it was found to be much flatter than expected.

Analysis of the interferometer data suggests the distinctly ovoid shape of the star is the result of its fast rotation - 225 kilometres per second; a centrifugal effect has caused it to flatten.

However, this high degree of flattening poses a puzzle for theoretical astrophysicists. Their models cannot currently explain the behaviour.

They wonder if the star is spinning faster than their data indicates. Effects such as a "north-south" circulation in the star's atmosphere are also under investigation.

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#339 2003-05-30 09:56:47

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#342 2003-06-12 10:17:27

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#345 2003-06-14 11:52:46

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