New Discoveries *4* - ...Solar System, Deep Space, cont'd

Palomar · 2004-11-10 09:41:33

*I think #3 is about to collapse. Continue here please.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2004-11-11 06:48:15

I think you were right about the other thread missing The Jupiter's Daytime Disappearance or occultation.

http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1385_1.asp

Other links for A Late - Night Jupiter Occultation, do not fret if you missed it. A more dramatic repeat is at hand, this time in the deepest dark of night. On the morning of December 7th, the thick waning crescent Moon will rise in the east.
Great chart of time for viewing as indicated by Universal Time.

Palomar · 2004-11-11 07:14:34

Yesterdays]http://www.newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3397]Yesterday's exciting Uranus news... (last 3 posts)

*I'm carrying that information over from the other thread (which initially dealt with celestial objects currently visible in Aquarius), and adding the following additional Uranus news:

Uranus]http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0411/10uranusrings/]Uranus' rings just 1 particle thick

As summer draws to a close in the southern hemisphere of Uranus, storm clouds are brewing in the upper atmosphere, northern hemisphere winds are gusting to 250 miles per hour, and the planet's rings are getting brighter every day...
The team also spotted an inner ring, the 11th, that was seen only once before -- in a single image taken by Voyager. Really a sheet of rocky debris, the ring -- called 1986U2R -- is the innermost of the 11, calculated by the team to be about 3500 kilometers (2,200 miles) wide and centered about 39,600 kilometers (24,600 miles) from the planet core. Though a thousand times dimmer than the brightest ring --the epsilon ring -- the inner ring is now visible because it is nearly edge-on to the sun and Earth, and so reflects more light back to Earth observers. The team also found that the nine main rings of Uranus consist of a single layer of particles, a so-called monolayer, never before seen in other rings.

*Rest of article is repeat of previous information, though a few additional "goodies" in it as well. :band:

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-11-11 08:04:25

*And speaking of Ouranos (aka Uranus) -- see post above this one -- Astropix hosts some fantastic images from the past. I just love the names of Ouranos' moons; playful, youthful names. Was going to post these images the other day, but am glad I waited, considering the news rolling in about Uranus. Enjoy the "tour"!:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030115.html]Family Portrait

-*-

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020216.html]Miranda and surface details

-*-

Titanias]http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000930.html]Titania's Trenches

-*-

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990531.html]Globe, ring system, 18th moon (Awesome blue-green)

-*-

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990227.html]Hamlet of Oberon

-*-

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap981020.html]Uranus in infrared

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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971126.html]Moons, Rings and Clouds

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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960408.html]Oberon

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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960407.html]Umbriel

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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960303.html]Ariel

-*-

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960304.html]Another pic of Titania

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2004-11-11 21:06:32

Empty dust band indicates a planet around starNASA's new Spitzer Space Telescope detected a gap in the dust surrounding a fledgling star. Astronomers tackle Mysterious Baby Planet which is likely smaller than most extra-solar planets discovered thus far;about the size of Neptune.

The data also suggested that this planet is about the same distance from its parent star as our own Neptune is from the Sun.

Palomar · 2004-11-12 10:36:10

*Okay, so it's not a "new discovery" but this really is a good, brief resource on http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap9906 … vitational lensing. Includes 10 images.

"The deeper you peer into the universe, the harder it is to see straight." (Hmmm, what's that? Science imitating life? :;): )

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-11-12 10:46:16

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990603.html]Methane Dwarf

*Only 30 (approximately) light years away, "in" Ophiuchus. Very dim (I'll say...good thing they sandwiched the image between white lines). Brown Dwarfs are warmer, apparently. Thought to be 10 to 70 times as massive as Jupiter.

Unsure if they're rare or common in the galaxy, but article is dated 1999...will check Google for more recent info.

--Cindy

P.S.: All Google results seem dated from 1999. :-\ Apparently not a lot of data out there, which probably explains why my memory about Methane Dwarves is rusty. Maybe more info in that Scientific American special edition, The Secret Lives of Stars which I'm still reading.

Palomar · 2004-11-13 08:48:00

http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=1940]Empty dust band indicates a planet around starNASA's new Spitzer Space Telescope detected a gap in the dust surrounding a fledgling star. Astronomers tackle Mysterious Baby Planet which is likely smaller than most extra-solar planets discovered thus far;about the size of Neptune.
The data also suggested that this planet is about the same distance from its parent star as our own Neptune is from the Sun.

*Hi SpaceNut: I read a similar article at universetoday.com.

In the "core accretion" model, larger and larger chunks of rock smash together for 10 million years until a large planet is formed. In the "gravitational instability" model, a cloud of material pulls together into a planet by its own gravity; this is faster, but still not fast enough to explain how the planet got there.
*--->This possibility of a planet on the order of only 100,000 to half a million years old<---* was met with skepticism by many astronomers because neither of the leading planetary formation models seemed to allow for a planet of this age. Two models represent the leading theories of planetary formation: core accretion and gravitational instability. Core accretion suggests that the dust from which the star and system form begins to clump together into granules, and those granules clump into rocks, asteroids, and planetoids until whole planets are formed. But the theory says it should take about 10 million years for a planet to evolve this way - far too long to account for the half-million-year-old planet found by Watson.
Conversely, the other leading theory of planetary formation, gravitational instability, suggests that whole planets could form essentially in one swoop as the original cloud of gas is pulled together by its own gravity and becomes a planet. But while this model suggests that planetary formation could happen much faster - on the order of centuries - the density of the dust disk surrounding the star seems to be too sparse to support this model either.
"Even though it doesn't fit either model, we've crunched the numbers and shown that yes, in fact, that hole in that dust disk could have been formed by a planet," says Frank. "Now we have to look at our models and figure out how that planet got there. At the end of it all, we hope we have a new model, and a new understanding of how planets come to be."

*I (as if qualified...ha ha) favor the gravitational instability model. Interesting that this planet is about the size of Neptune (it seems most extrasolar planets thus far discovered/detected are of the "Hot Jupiter" class).

Will definitely keep tabs on this (and related) story as it develops.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2004-11-13 21:30:12

The empty bands distance makes it more interesting for all the hot jupiters orbit thus far have been really close to there suns, even closure that the Earths orbit.

Palomar · 2004-11-15 22:00:04

*Thought I'd post http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/ob … _1.asp]The Lunar 100 here, rather than create a separate thread for it. Top 100 Lunar features for your observing pleasure. Speaking of that, I need to purchase a new Lunar filter for my 'scope.

-*-

*A pretty cluster in the constellation Vulpecula, which is currently in the night skies (northern hemisphere of course):

http://www.darkskyimages.com/cthngrlm.htm]Coathanger Cluster (asterism)

Have seen this in my 'scope of course; is also viewable with binoculars.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-11-16 09:59:58

*Sorry if this sounds, erm...negative:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap0201 … nti-Aurora

*Am quite sure that is new to me! What will Mother Nature come up with next? Have seen those gaps in the auroral curtains before; I figured it was simply a natural spacing of the curtains, like spaces between clouds. :-\

-*-

http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/imag … Antimatter in Galactic Center

*Says radius of gamma ray glow is 9500 l/y. Also, astronomers are unsure where the positrons are coming from. Wish I could offer some insights. A bit of speculation is entertained in the caption.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-11-18 08:05:58

http://www.gvarros.com/]*George is a man after my own heart

*He's got pics (and videos -- though none of the vids work for me) of meteors (including a Geminid with jets), aurora phenomenon and http://www.newmars.com/forums/viewtopic … *sprites!*

Other good stuff in his web page as well. Enjoy!

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-11-20 14:51:07

*Mother Nature gives us another treat:

A Comet Turns On
*---->What began as the routine discovery of a near-Earth asteroid on October
10th took on a curious and dramatic twist a month later when the new
find
suddenly developed a narrow tail.<----* Franco Mallia, Gianluca Masi, and
Roger
Wilcox first spotted the pencil-thin appendage in CCD images they'd
taken
on November 11th with a 0.36-meter reflector at Las Campanas
Observatory,
Chile. The tail independently turned up in CCD frames taken less than a
day later by Juan Lacruz in La Canada, Spain. No one yet knows what
caused
the tail to form (two other asteroids-turned-comets,
107P/Wilson-Harrington and 133P/Elst-Pizarro, have been discovered in
recent decades). But observers are certain it wasn't there when Rob
McNaught first recorded the asteroid, designated 2004 TU12, using a
0.5-meter Schmidt telescope at Australia's Siding Spring Observatory. A
preliminary orbit issued by the Minor Planet Center puts Comet Siding
Spring (now bearing the official comet designation P/2004 TU12) between
the orbits of Earth and Mars, near the perihelion of a looping,
5.3-year-long track. At 14th magnitude, it's too faint to be seen
visually
in small telescopes.

*That's from Sky & Telescope's e-bulletin, and was printed in column format. I can't link to the page it appeared on without also linking to my e-mail box (and that's not going to happen, sorry...).

Wow! What a cool story, huh?

--Cindy

P.S.: If you missed the "Anti-Aurora" link in the Nov. 16 post, check it out.

Palomar · 2004-11-21 20:49:00

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001220.html]Now I don't hardly know them...

*...but I think I could love them.

Time-lapse movie in infrared of stars moving over an 8-year time period. :up: I've only previously seen an animation of star movement, never the actual thing until now.

Thank you again, Astropix! Always a treasure to be found.

--Cindy

P.S.: The page must be refreshed -- only automatically "replays" three times.

Shaun Barrett · 2004-11-22 00:36:40

Thus proving the old term "Fixed Stars" was ever a misnomer! Interesting to see. :up:

Palomar · 2004-11-22 07:29:42

Thus proving the old term "Fixed Stars" was ever a misnomer! Interesting to see. :up:

*Hi Shaun: Frankly, I'm a bit amazed such an image could be obtained in the first place; I certainly wouldn't have thought it possible as a kid. Of course all telescopes were ground-based then, there weren't as many -- and resources of course were more limited. And considering our Solar System is moving along with everything else, etc.

Not sure this makes sense, LOL. Hopefully it does. To have seen stars actually moving. It's fulfilling.

-*-

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap041121.html]Galaxies in collision

*I'm running out of adjectives. :;): Such will be the fate of our Milky Way when we "meet" the Andromeda Galaxy some billions of years hence. The constant interplay of creation and destruction, destruction and creation.

The space between stars is so vast that when galaxies collide, the stars in them usually do not collide.

Surprised?

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2004-11-22 08:50:52

No, I wasn't surprised about the stars not colliding when galaxies do; I read that somewhere before.
But what does happen, so I'm led to believe, is a major gravitational upheaval. As most of us here probably realise, it's widely thought by scientists that our Oort cloud can be disturbed by the gravity of stars passing within a certain distance of us, even in a relatively orderly system like ours.
In the chaotic aftermath of a 'galactic mingling', as I prefer to think of it, the frequency of 'close passes' is expected to increase significantly. In our case, that mightn't bother the Sun very much but it would surely create another era of heavy meteoritic bombardment for the planets.
There won't be any life on Earth, of course, in 2 or 3 billion years but increased planetary bombardment throughout our galaxy and Andromeda might make life difficult or impossible in many other star systems - preventing its genesis in some cases or snuffing it out in others.

I know there are people who recoil at the idea of humanity moving asteroids, comets and KBOs around to suit themselves in some technologically advanced future - playing celestial snooker! But, when you look at mother nature carelessly smashing whole galaxies into each other .. !!
It's evidently an uncaring universe out there and planetary real estate isn't really sacred. That's why terraforming and celestial snooker don't bother me that much, I guess. Life is short and the life of a species is short; I think we need to grab our opportunities with both hands.

Palomar · 2004-11-25 07:27:03

http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2004/2 … jpg]Frosty Moonbow

*Not a "new discovery" per se, but didn't want to create a separate thread for this lovely photo. Is currently being hosted by spaceweather.com.

Was taken by Mr. Runar Sandnes of Norway on October 30.

Moonbows are a type of halo formed when bright moonlight shines through ice crystals in the air.

*Have seen complete halos around the Moon quite a few times, but I don't recall seeing a Moonbow like in the pic.

--Cindy

P.S.: November's full moon is called "The Frost Moon" in old lore.

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2004-11-26 15:55:34

It's not really a discovery
but here is a great view of Egypt's Nile Delta in space.

http://www.esa.int/export/images/Cairo_ … 17_L,0.jpg

You can see the large metropolitan area population, 15 million persons, the largest city in Africa.
This is a very good radar image

Radar can be tricky and coming up with an image of this quality from that large a radar map is an incredible feat in itself

Palomar · 2004-11-30 07:39:14

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap0411 … ake-Effect Snow

*I always enjoy photos like these. :up: So long as there's no shoveling involved.

-*-

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010319.html]Pluto in true color

*I hadn't seen that image before, until searching Astropix's archives for "methane."

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-12-01 07:48:34

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n041 … laxy/]News from the Cosmic Stork:

*A baby galaxy has been discovered by Hubble. Named "I Zwicky 18" (bluish stars in the pic -- it's a boy! )

Is perhaps a mere 500 million years old (compared to our galaxy, which is 12 billion years old) and is located 45 million light years away.

The baby galaxy managed to remain in an embryonic state as a cold gas cloud of primeval hydrogen and helium for most of the universe's evolution. As innumerable galaxies blossomed all over space, this late-bloomer did not begin active star formation until some 13 billion years after the Big Bang, and went through a sudden first starburst only about 500 million years ago.
Because it is located 45 million light-years away - much closer than other young galaxies in the nearly 14 billion light-year span of the universe - I Zwicky 18 might represent the only opportunity for astronomers to study in detail the building blocks from which galaxies are formed. It remains a puzzle why the gas in the dwarf galaxy, in contrast to that in other galaxies, took so long - nearly the age of the universe - to collapse under the influence of gravity to form its first stars.
Further evidence for the youth of I Zwicky 18 is the fact that its interstellar gas is "nearly pristine"

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-12-01 09:57:54

*Lots of news about galaxies rolling in (including the post above this one).

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=15585]This article also includes http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/p … .html]this link of snapshots.

Check out the reference to the "Blinking Galaxy" in the first link. :;):

**If you have a photo of a favorite galaxy in mind, please post it in this thread.**

I'm going to be posting a handful of the (IMO) prettiest galaxies (except ones I've previously posted). Need to dig up the links first, etc. More later.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-12-01 16:11:28

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000605.html]In the Heart of the Crab

*Oh my. That's simply divine. Have never seen this closeup of the Crab Nebula before. "Still-evolving center of the explosion" after all these centuries.

Visible is a complex array of gas filaments rushing out at over 5 million kilometers per hour. Even at these tremendous speeds, though, it takes a filament over 600 years to cross the 3 light year wide frame.

As for its remnant neutron star, it rotates once every *33 milliseconds* but is currently slowing down by approximately 1.3 millisecond per century (I read that in Scientific American special).

-*-

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040917.html]Light from the Heart

*Am still thinking that Astropix shuffles images around in its Archives because I can't believe I missed this image just 3 months ago!

-*-

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000703.html]Pelican Nebula Ionization Front

*Weird but pretty.

--Cindy

John Creighton · 2004-12-01 16:13:37

I think I saw a fractal before that kind of looked like that dust galaxy.

Palomar · 2004-12-03 21:53:55

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030127.html]Whoa! What the...

*This is proof positive that Astropix shuffles images around in their Archives. I've been checking the site daily for nearly 2-1/2 years now...and if I skip a day occasionally, I scroll back and catch up.

I have never seen this image before. Not at Astropix, not in a magazine nor elsewhere on the 'net...unless my memory is slipping.

That's an incredible image, isn't it? I would have remembered that, I'm quite sure.

Gorgeous!

--Cindy

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#1 2004-11-10 09:41:33

Re: New Discoveries *4* - ...Solar System, Deep Space, cont'd

#2 2004-11-11 06:48:15

Re: New Discoveries *4* - ...Solar System, Deep Space, cont'd

#3 2004-11-11 07:14:34

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#5 2004-11-11 21:06:32

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#6 2004-11-12 10:36:10

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#11 2004-11-16 09:59:58

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#12 2004-11-18 08:05:58

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#13 2004-11-20 14:51:07

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#14 2004-11-21 20:49:00

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#15 2004-11-22 00:36:40

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#16 2004-11-22 07:29:42

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#17 2004-11-22 08:50:52

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#18 2004-11-25 07:27:03

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#19 2004-11-26 15:55:34

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#20 2004-11-30 07:39:14

Re: New Discoveries *4* - ...Solar System, Deep Space, cont'd

#21 2004-12-01 07:48:34

Re: New Discoveries *4* - ...Solar System, Deep Space, cont'd

#22 2004-12-01 09:57:54

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#23 2004-12-01 16:11:28

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#24 2004-12-01 16:13:37

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#25 2004-12-03 21:53:55

Re: New Discoveries *4* - ...Solar System, Deep Space, cont'd

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