New Discoveries *2* - ...Extraplanetary, deep space, CONTINUED

Palomar · 2004-01-21 09:59:24

[=http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=13462]Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

*Get your name on NASA's "Deep Impact Comet Mission"! When its "copper projectile" (which they say is about the size of a domestic garbage can) hits the surface of comet Temple 1, it'll create a crater about the size of a football stadium (another football reference today...things go in 3's, I'll be on the lookout for another football reference [I don't like football, btw -- am NOT a fan]) and the CD bearing names will be totally pulverized.

---

I ordered the DVD set "The Mighty Saturns I & IB" on Saturday, at my local Barnes & Noble (which I first became aware of via Josh's post last week regarding Apollo archives). Can't wait for it to arrive!

Also, my husband and I took my telescope out into the wilds of New Mexico Saturday night (17th). We viewed Mars, Saturn and Venus; the Orion Nebula; an open star cluster in Gemini (at least 100 stars in the cluster). Also did some general scanning. I tried for the Crab Nebula (in Taurus), but it's variable...apparently too faint for my scope's powers and I didn't see it.

--Cindy

::EDIT:: Yet another article about a comet mission (ESA):
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3414509.stm]Read Me

Some troubles resulting in a year-long delay. The Rosetta probe (named after the famed Rosetta stone?) "aims to put a lander on Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko to study primordial ices and gases."

Good luck, hope it succeeds.

Palomar · 2004-01-21 12:11:36

::EDIT:: Yet another article about a comet mission (ESA):
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3414509.stm]Read Me
Some troubles resulting in a year-long delay. The Rosetta probe (named after the famed Rosetta stone?) "aims to put a lander on Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko to study primordial ices and gases."
Good luck, hope it succeeds.

*I should have made this a separate post to begin with!

More information about the Rosetta probe:

"Rosetta's main objective is to rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (already mentioned previously). It will study the nucleus of the comet and its environment in great detail for a period of nearly two years, and land a probe on its surface."

*Wow, nearly 2 years huh? Found the additional info here:

[http://www.esa.int/export/esaSC/120389_index_0_m.html]ESA Space Science

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-01-23 07:49:27

[=http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/image_of_day_040123.html]Beautiful Uranus, rings and moons

*Lovely new image from Hubble, just released yesterday. Check out those 3 red blob-looking areas. Short article beneath.

*An article about Uranus and Neptune (more from Hubble!):

[http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=13483]Not identical blue twins

I remember, before Voyager, when it wasn't known Uranus and Neptune had slender rings. Also, I can't help wondering if other planetary systems "out there" in the vast cosmic reaches vary as much within themselves as our solar system does.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-01-25 09:35:30

[=http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1894&ncid=1894&e=2&u=/ap/20040124/ap_on_re_us/columbia_astronaut_s_diary]Part of Columbia Astronaut's Diary Found

*Interesting. I was recalling the tragedy the other day, particularly a sketch (drawing) of the moon by a young Jewish boy in a concentration camp (he did not survive, but that piece of art did) which Ilan Ramon carried with him on the Columbia.

That drawing is not specified as having survived...but it'd be awesome if it had.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-01-26 13:14:05

With current technology the only things we can discover are gas giants. At this point around 119 extrasolar planets have been found, in 104 planetary systems, mostly gas giants on excentric orbits. But there are a few exceptions !
A good article here (including such an exception) :
[http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/s … 30?s_name=]Discovery raises hopes Earth-like planet exists
Here is a catalog of the extrasolar planets:
[http://www.obspm.fr/encycl/cat1.html]http://www.obspm.fr/encycl/cat1.html
Good candidates for solar system with Earth-like planets: HD 70642 (the one from that article), and maybe 47 Uma and HD 10647. Few indeed.
Of course, rocky planets could still exist in all the other solar systems, but they're usually too far away from the sun (because otherwise they'll get absorbed by the gas giants).

*Hi BGD: Thanks for the links. "Yes" to your statement: "With current technology the only things we can discover are gas giants...but there are a few exceptions" (based on my own reading)

---

*I'm always rooting for the underdog, so "c'mon little star!" Gorgeous photo of the Rosette Nebula with it -- wow, it's the best image of that nebula I've yet seen:

[http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/imag … 40126.html]Star Survives, Barely

---

*A superb, glorious galaxy (and a little companion to the viewer's lower left). The greens, golds, and flecks of blue...::sigh:: --

[http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040125.html]http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040125.html

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-01-27 08:33:54

[=http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_040126.html]Live Long and Prosper!

*Okay, just kidding...Vulcanoids were not named after Star Trek Vulcans.

I mentioned Vulcanoids previously, a few weeks ago. This is a really good article, similar to that which I read in "Astronomy" magazine.

The search for Vulcanoids is intensifying. Mercury's "pock-marked" face (sunward side) indicates the presence of impact with asteroidal-type bodies...at least somewhere in its history.

I'm keeping my eye on this topic.

Partial quote from the article:

"Vulcanoids are named for the Roman god of fire and metalworking. There is good reason to suspect they exist.

A region of space inside Mercury's orbit is gravitationally stable in such a way, theorists say, that space rocks could survive there. All similarly stable areas of the solar system do contain objects. Examples include the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and the Kuiper Belt out beyond Neptune.

Further, the heavily pockmarked surface of Mercury shows it had many run-ins in the past.

'Mercury's craters mean there used to be a lot of Vulcanoids,' Stern explained in a telephone interview. 'We know there can't be very many today, but there could be hundreds still left.'...

Because the rocks would be so near the Sun, conventional telescopes cannot search for them without risking damage to their optics. Past Vulcanoid searches have been conducted from the ground during eclipses and at morning and evening twilight."

The article also discusses VULCAM...the "most far-reaching effort yet" to track down Vulcanoids.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-02-02 11:27:08

[=http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=13557]Star Shows It Has "The Right Stuff"

*This is incredible. What will Mother Nature come up with next?!

"Astronomers have used an observation by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory to make the best case yet that a star can be engulfed by its companion star and survive..."

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2004-02-02 17:43:08

So much stellar violence going on out there!

It makes me appreciate our sedate, steady, calm and reassuring star. Long may it radiate with its usual unflappable consistency!

Palomar · 2004-02-03 10:44:34

[=http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040202/sc_nm/space_hubble_dc_2]Hubble Detects Oxygen & Carbon Around Distant Planet

*" The Hubble Space Telescope (news - web sites) has detected oxygen and carbon in the atmosphere of a distant planet, --->the first time these elements have been found around a world outside our solar system,<--- scientists said on Monday.

They've named this planet already (beyond the usual mix of letters and numbers for extra-solar planets): Osiris. Nice Egyptian mythological name.

A-ha...it belongs to the class of "hot Jupiters"; that occurred to me upon beginning to read the article, prior to seeing that information confirmed toward the bottom of the article. Osiris orbits its sun in less than 4 days, due to its close proximity.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-02-04 08:55:59

::EDIT:: Yet another article about a comet mission (ESA):
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3414509.stm]Read Me
Some troubles resulting in a year-long delay. The Rosetta probe (named after the famed Rosetta stone?) "aims to put a lander on Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko to study primordial ices and gases."
Good luck, hope it succeeds.

[http://www.space.com/businesstechnology … 204-1.html]Update on Rosetta Mission

*Good news, she's ready to go on February 26!

"Altogether, Rosetta is taking 21 scientific instruments to Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which breaks down to 11 on the orbiter and 10 on the lander. Among the instrument suit are cameras to take high-resolution images of the comet's surface and shape, various spectrophotometers to study its chemical composition, as well as instruments to measure the gases and dust that spew from Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it approaches the Sun..."

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-02-04 11:05:49

[http://www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_archive.html]www.apolloarchive.com blew me away.
Check out the videos.

*Josh, thanks again for referring this link! I'm currently checking out all the fabulous photos in the Apollo Image Gallery...YEE-HAAAW! :laugh:

They can be upsized to full-screen as well; another bonus.

Includes photos of most everything, even crew breakfasts!

I'm checking out the Apollo 13 shots right now. I remember, after the accident, praying for the astronauts during bedtime prayers. (I turned 5 in May 1970)

Wow, I love Apollo...wading through all these old b/w and color pics is a ball!

--Cindy

P.S.: Am STILL waiting for Barnes & Noble to get my DVD collection of "The Mighty Saturns" in. B & N is so danged slow, cripes.

Palomar · 2004-02-06 19:25:42

[=http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040205/photos_sc/mdf465392]They can call it whatever they want...

[http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u … ckeye_dc_1]...I think it's indescribably beautiful

*You'll have to click to see! So unique.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-02-11 07:51:52

*Don't eat the snow!! (On Venus??)

I have to copy and paste this, as it's taken from space.com's "Astronotes"...which is updated daily, with older articles pushed down with the archiving process:

---February 10

The Heavy Snows of Venus

New research appears to solve an old question about what sort of metallic snow creates bright spots on Venus.

In 1995, researchers pawing through mountains of data from NASA's Magellan Mission revealed a mysterious brightening effect on some mountain in radar imaging maps. The scientists concluded it was due to a metal-containing "snow" only a few millimeters in thickness frosting the mountains' rugged surfaces.

But the chemical composition of the strange snow was not known.

New calculations provide "plausible evidence that snow is composed of both lead and bismuth sulfides," according to Laura Schaefer and M. Bruce Fegley, Jr. of Washington University in St. Louis.

Venus is much hotter than Earth. But the snow is generated by similar physics.

"Because you have a decrease in temperature with altitude, places like the Maxwell Montes on Venus -- similar to Mauna Loa in Hawaii -- get cold enough that some of these things would start to condense out," Fegley said. He adds that if a proposed sample return mission to Venus were approved by NASA, the lead sulfides, as the material is called, could be used to date the origin of Venus.

The findings are published in the current issue of the journal Icarus.

SPACE.com Staff---

*Whoa. I figured Venus was so hot and hellish there couldn't possibly be snow on it to begin with (anywhere)...learn something new everyday, eh?

A sample return mission? Sounds great...and good luck (all things considered, as Venus goes).

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-02-11 08:50:40

[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s … /mdf465392]They can call it whatever they want...
[http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u … ckeye_dc_1]...I think it's indescribably beautiful
*You'll have to click to see! So unique.
--Cindy

*Okay...Astropix is calling M64 "The Sleeping Beauty Galaxy"...despite the article above (in Quote; Yahoo!) referring to it as "The Evil Eye Galaxy" and "The Blackeye Galaxy."

[http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040211.html]http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040211.html

I do believe this is the first time I've ever seen such a marked discrepancy in the nickname of a celestial object! Usually once a particularly striking object is catalogued it is also given a "nickname" which sticks. For instance, M31 is also called the Andromeda Galaxy and is not referred to as anything but that (in English, of course).

Well, since M64's "nickname" is apparently up for bids, here's my suggestion: The Yin/Yang Galaxy. I had that in mind when I first saw it.

It really is one of the most exquisitely beautiful galaxies I have ever seen.

--Cindy

P.S. Don't miss the post about snow on Venus above this one; really interesting.

Byron · 2004-02-11 09:27:45

Well, since M64's "nickname" is apparently up for bids, here's my suggestion: The Yin/Yang Galaxy. I had that in mind when I first saw it.
It really is one of the most exquisitely beautiful galaxies I have ever seen.

I second that, on both counts

Absolutely amazing...wonders never cease, huh?

B

Palomar · 2004-02-11 20:18:48

[=http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/nebulae/article_319_1.asp]Winter Celestial Treats

*Is that a gorgeous photo of Orion or what? Recently my husband and I took my telescope out into the country where it's nice and dark (fa on light pollution in town!)...the winter Milky Way isn't quite as stunning as the summer MW, but lovely in its own right of course. I viewed the Orion Nebula (M42) that evening (my scope is small...it didn't quite look like the photo on Page 2 of the link, ha ha).

Lots of good stuff in here...even if you don't have a scope you can still enjoy the photos!

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2004-02-12 04:35:45

Don't be fooled by the term 'snow' in relation to the highly reflective highlands on Venus, Cindy.
Although the condensation of these metal compounds at altitude is technically similar to the condensation and freezing of water here on Earth, the temperature at which the venusian 'snow' forms is radically different.
Even though the 'cold' highlands on Venus may be up to 80 deg.C cooler than the hot lowlands, they're still approaching 400 deg.C !!
The 'snow' we're talking about here is nothing like terrestrial snow.

Byron · 2004-02-12 05:33:49

Don't be fooled by the term 'snow' in relation to the highly reflective highlands on Venus, Cindy.
Although the condensation of these metal compounds at altitude is technically similar to the condensation and freezing of water here on Earth, the temperature at which the venusian 'snow' forms is radically different.
Even though the 'cold' highlands on Venus may be up to 80 deg.C cooler than the hot lowlands, they're still approaching 400 deg.C !!
The 'snow' we're talking about here is nothing like terrestrial snow.

In other words, you're talking about some pretty *hot* snow....

B

Palomar · 2004-02-12 06:04:15

Don't be fooled by the term 'snow' in relation to the highly reflective highlands on Venus, Cindy.
Although the condensation of these metal compounds at altitude is technically similar to the condensation and freezing of water here on Earth, the temperature at which the venusian 'snow' forms is radically different.
Even though the 'cold' highlands on Venus may be up to 80 deg.C cooler than the hot lowlands, they're still approaching 400 deg.C !!
The 'snow' we're talking about here is nothing like terrestrial snow.

In other words, you're talking about some pretty *hot* snow....
B

*To be quite honest, I've been a bit confused about that article from the get-go. Especially since they use the word "snow" so freely (word association obviously factors in)...and then in one part of the article they put quotation marks around the word snow, as if indicating they're not quite sure that's the exact, best, or precise word.

::shrugs::

Thanks for chiming in, guys. I watched Venus in the Western sky last night; I don't think I've ever seen her looking so bright.

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2004-02-12 21:48:18

It might have been better if Venus had formed where Mars is and vice versa.
Then we might have had a true 'sister planet' out there.
It always strikes me as tragic that a rocky planet of almost exactly Earth's dimensions, with 0.9g at the surface, and which looks so beautiful in the night sky, has to be such a hell-hole!
With its dense CO2 atmosphere out at Mars' present orbital distance, Venus would have been balmy in its early years and probably would have spawned blue-green algae in its warm seas. The dense CO2 atmosphere may well have been gradually thinned by the same process as Earth's was and today we'd have a colder but liveable world next-door.
Mars just lacked the mass which Venus has and which it could have used to advantage at the proper distance from the Sun.

Ah well ... them's the breaks, I suppose! (I still love Mars.)

Palomar · 2004-02-13 11:27:15

[=https://www.astronomy.com/message/message_large.asp?idDailyMessageGUID=%7B74C6B43A-E77A-440F-A444-41A3901C527D%7D]Humble little Lepus

*Lepus is "The Hare"...a cute little constellation directly beneath Orion.

This short article gives really good info concerning objects for viewing in even smaller telescopes. I tried to locate Hind's Crimson Star again the last time I took my scope out; no luck (it is a variable star, as the article relates, and I also had light pollution issues to contend with). I have been able to spot it before, however:

"...searching for other colorful stars, you may want to capture Hind?s Crimson Star, which is located near Mu Leporis, the bright star at the upper right of Lepus?s form. This glowing red ember is also known as R Leporis, a long period variable. Its color ranges from orange, when it?s near maximum, to a ---> ?pinprick of blood? <--- at its faintest. As luck would have it, it should be quite red for the next couple months. Ideally, telescopes of 8 inches or more are best at bringing its color home, but a 4-inch telescope should reveal some hue at medium power..."

I'm going for h3780 next time as well (multiple star). Lepus is a good area for general telescope "sweeping" as well.

[http://www.starshine.com/frankn/astrono … /Lepus.gif]Nice star map (Lepus and surrounding constellations)...includes Hind's Crimson Star location

*The "way" to M79 (star cluster):

--Cindy

New Mars Forums

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