Astronomy

From a stunning image of our marbled earth to city lights from space, it's been a remarkable week for space photography.

Night time Panorama of US East Coast from the ISS
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) captured this stunning nighttime panorama of the major cities along the East Coast of the United States on Jan. 29, 2012. Credit: NASA

Do you live here?

Tens of millions of Earthlings live and work in the bustling and seemingly intertwined American mega-metropolis of the Philadelphia-New York City-Boston corridor (bottom-center splotch) captured in this stunning “Cities at Night” panorama of the East Coast of the United States along the Atlantic seaboard (image above).

Look northward and you’ll see the home to millions more Earthlings inhabiting the brilliantly lit Canadian cities of Toronto (launch site for “Lego Man in Space“) and Montreal to the west of Lake Ontario (dark oval at left-center).
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© Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Canada, Expedition 30, International Space Station (ISS), NASA, united states, US East Coast

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A 3-d view of a well-preserved and unnamed impact crater on Mars, as seen by the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona. Click for high-resolution version.

This is why I always keep a pair of 3-D glasses by my computer. This well-preserved crater on Mars may look like just your average, run-of-the-mill impact crater in 2-D, but in 3-D, the sharply raised rim, the deep, cavernous crater body, and especially the steep crater walls will have you grabbing your armchairs so you don’t fall in. The image is courtesy of the HiRISE camera team from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This unnamed crater is about 6 or 7 kilometers wide from rim to rim. HiRISE took the image on New Year’s Eve 2011.
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), Mars, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), Missions

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NASA's Juno probe is the first solar-powered spacecraft to the outer solar system.

The close pass of the asteroid Eros this week allows astronomy buffs to measure the size of the solar system.

The Rosetta mission will do something never before attempted: land on a comet. The spacecraft is now on its way to intercept comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in January 2014 and land a probe on it for what promises to be an amazing view. But what we know of comets so far comes from a few flyby missions. So, with surface composition and conditions largely a mystery, so how did engineers prepare to land on something that could be either solid ice or rock, or a powdery snow or regolith – or something in between?
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Comets, Missions, rosetta

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See photos of the asteroid Eros taken by NASA's NEAR space probe in 2000, and other observers.

Are you listening to Astronomy.FM? If not, you should join the audience of over 25,000 listeners in 85 countries who are enjoying this amazing free service. Astronomy.FM is billed as “The only all-Astronomy radio station in the Known Universe.” You can listen to this one-of-a-kind radio station on-line anytime, as it is streaming 24 hours a day and it includes both wonderful original astronomy programming and replays of many great astronomy shows and podcasts including Astronomy Cast, 365 Days of Astronomy, Planetary Radio, 60-Second Science and Slacker Astronomy, and also they have just recently added the Weekly Space Hangouts to their lineup. They also have science and astronomy news – the kind of stuff you really want to hear! (As Astronomy.FM announcer Rob Berthiaume said, “Who cares about Snooki? Give me more supernovae!”

What is really awesome about Astronomy.FM (besides their great programming) is that it is an all-volunteer organization. Everyone who you hear on-air does it for their love of astronomy.

Right now, Astronomy.FM is having their annual funding drive. They are trying to raise $6,000 for their annual budget. Can you imagine – running a 24-hour radio station for just $6,000 USD?? All revenue is spent on hardware, software, radio programming, and broadcast bandwidth. And 100% of their operational costs are funded solely by listener donations. They receive no government or commercial support, and none of their team members are paid. But, as you can imagine, the streaming fees alone are significant. In addition, with their growing listenership, they also are in need of a back-up server and advanced digital broadcast technology.
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Astronomy.FM, Podcasts

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Scientists will study diet & nutrition for "astronauts" who spend four months in a mock space capsule.

Not since 1978 have so many people wanted to be a NASA astronaut.

Planets orbiting one star in a stellar pair could get bounced from star to star repeatedly – until they fall into the great beyond

The 21-mile long 'God of Love' space rock made its closest approach to Earth (15 million miles away) since 1975 on January 31st, 2012. NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous - Shoemaker (NEAR) mission landed on the asteroid on February 12, 2001.

This is so cool: NASA’s twin GRAIL spacecraft (now named Ebb and Flow) have cameras on board to take images of the lunar surface, and an animation has been put together of Ebb’s view of the Moon’s far side!

Pretty neat. I love the wide-angle view; the individual images were taken while Ebb was still over a thousand kilometers from the Moon. The huge circular feature you can see on the right 30 seconds into the video is Orientale Basin, an impact so huge it must’ve lit up the solar system a few billion years ago. That basin is nearly 1000 km (600 miles) across! See the LRO image below for a clearer view, and click it for more info.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what will be done with these cameras. As Principal Investigator Maria Zuber explains in the video, they were installed specifically for educational purposes, and kids all over America will get a chance to examine the data. I love this idea, since it means these children will be invested in the project itself, and remember it for their whole lives. It’s a fantastic idea.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

Stuff spewed out of Io's hyperactive volcanoes make the rings of auroral light on Jupiter's poles grow and shrink

NASA's Suomi NPP satellite is snapping amazing views of Earth from space, but there's a secret to the photos.

Powered test flights should occur this summer.

Early plants on Earth may have helped create the rivers and fertile soil which later allowed forests and farmlands to thrive. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

According to conventional thinking, plant life first took hold on Earth after oceans and rivers formed; the soil produced by liquid water breaking down bare rock provided an ideal medium for plants to grow in. It certainly sounds logical, but a new study is challenging that view – the theory is that vascular plants, those containing a transport system for water and nutrients, actually created a cycle of glaciation and melting, conditions which led to the formation of rivers and mud which allowed forests and farmland to later develop. In short, they helped actually create the landscapes we see today.

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© Paul Scott Anderson for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Astrobiology, Earth, Environment, evolution

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Iran launched the satellite "Promise of Science and Industry" satellite using its own Safir 1-B rocket.