Money In Astronomy After All?

There may just be money in astronomy after all. On the lecture circuit. Astronomer Jeremy Perkins apparently is lecturing on "Astronomy 101". Little known facts about galaxies and dark matter. But, Bernie would put this guy to shame!

"A Mount Hopkins astronomer talked Wednesday about the immense size and distances of the universe, and talked about how dark matter apparently holds it together.

Jeremy Perkins of the nearby Smithsonian’s Whipple Observatory talked on “Clusters of galaxies: a very big laboratory.”" The word 'Duh' comes to mind.


Full article is http://www.gvnews.com/articles/2008/01/31/news/news05.txt

Terraforming Mars

As a child, my elementary school provided the sixth graders with a terrific magazine, Time for Kids. This magazine was full of all kinds of exciting articles on scientific discoveries, but the only article that I can truly remember, that really genuinely caught my interest, was a small blurb about the possibility of terraforming Mars. There is evidence that Mars was once a much warmer planet (now it's average temperature is well below zero, although it has extremes of up to 75 degrees Fahrenheit), and the conditions of the atmosphere are remarkably similar to that of Earth just a few billion years ago.

Here is the composition of Mars' atmosphere (courtesy of How Stuff Works.com):

• 95.3 percent carbon dioxide
• 2.7 percent nitrogen
• 1.6 percent argon
• 0.2 percent oxygen

In contrast, Earth's atmosphere consists of 78.1 percent nitrogen, 20.9 percent oxygen, 0.9 percent argon and 0.1 percent carbon dioxide and other gases.

However, humans could, theoretically, introduce forces to heat the planet and change its atmospheric composition, simulating the process that happened on Earth years and years ago. Some of the ideas that have been introduced by astronomers range from hitting mars with giant nitrogen invested asteroids, melting the ice caps with space mirrors, or introducing Oxygen producing factories or bacteria onto the planet's surface. Of course, there are several other theories on how Mars could be terraformed, all of which would take at least a hundred years, if not several hundred millennia.

The reason that I am more pro-Mars than pro-Moon is that a moon colony would be completely dependent on the Earth, a quick fix that would divert valuable resources that could be used to turn Mars into a green, oxygenated, livable planet. Whether or not the Earth is really facing a global catastrophe of overpopulation and environmental destruction is still relatively up for debate, and we don't know what paths nations will take in the next few hundred years. Having an alternative on the way, however, a backup planet that could slowly, eventually be colonized and provide us with a new frontier could only be a good thing, and the possibility of it taking thousands of years would prevent Earthlings from getting the attitude that because there is a spare, they can spoil the Earth. Being a social scientist more so than a natural scientist, I find the social implications of a new frontier to be completely fascinating.

Anyway, I found this simple and clear article to describe the process in greater detail, for anyone who is interested: Terraforming Mars

Europe Almost Set to Launch First Unmanned Cargo Ship

The ESA (European Space Agency) is undergoing final preparations to launch the first unmanned cargo ship to the International Space Station, scheduled sometime between February 22 and March 9. The cargo ship is designed to carry food, water, fuel and other supplies to the space station once every 18 months or so, and will correct the ISS's orbit in the process (as Earth's gravitational pull slowly brings down the ISS's altitude). The full story can be read here.

Rogue Stars: The Miscreants of Our Galaxy

Astronomers have found 10 stars speeding away from the center of the Milky Way galaxy which they have dubbed "hypervelocity rogue stars". These stars are believed to be exile stars from the center of our galaxy, being thrown about by the powerful force of the massive black hole at the center of our galaxy. The full story can be read here.

Mercury is photogenic

NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft (MErcury Surface, Space Environment, GEochemistry and Ranging) passed by Mercury for the first time on Jan. 14th. Over 1,200 images were collected, revealing huge cliffs and impact craters. The images are the first collected since the Mariner 10's third and final flyby on March 16, 1975. This time around many new images were captured, including a unique feature dubbed "The Spider." Found in the middle of a huge impact crater, the Caloris Basin, the Spider consists of more than 100 narrow troughs radiating from a complex central region. Nothing like this has ever been seen before on Mercury or the Moon. There are two more flybys scheduled as well as an intensive orbital mission.

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=6536

Queen Guitarist Blog

Even though our blog is super cool, this blog looks particularly interesting because of its contributors, namely one is the Queen guitarist Brain May. At first I thought it would be the ramblings of a crazed rocker, but seems this guy has some crudentials and his recent post is pretty legit. So check it out!

http://acrosstheuniverse.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/life-is-evolution/

Venus and Jupiter Get It On

Over the next week Jupiter and Venus--apparently they're the two brightest planets in the sky-- will be moving closer together. The article I've posted tells you where to look and although they'll be closest Feb. 1st, they can be seen all week looking like a pair of "headlights". I thought it would be good practice for all of us to get out and find them, try out the binoculars. If you're feeling ambitious you could even duct tape your cell phone to your binoculars and get a pic. for everyone, like Prof. Bates suggested.

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=6496

Cosmis Log: Nailing down dark energy

A survey of thousands of galaxies has provided independent confirmation that the cosmic speed-up factor known as dark energy is for real.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/01/30/623942.aspx

NASA's Messenger Probe Shows Hundred-Mile Cliffs on Mercury

NASA's Messenger probe is the first to capture images of Mercury since the Mariner 10 in 1974 and 1975. Mariner 10 caught only one side of the planet, so researchers are giddy over images taken during Messenger's Jan. 24 flyby, which show the side of Mercury never before seen.

The striking new images released Wednesday show giant, steep cliffs, fault lines and double craters surrounded by starburst patterns, among other surprises.

See images at: Wired News

"Death Star"

According to NASA, a jet from a massive black hole is "blasting" a nearby galaxy. This "galactic violence" could effect planets in the jet's course and also lead to new star formation in its "destructive wake". The system is known as "3C321", containing two galaxies. NASA has observed that both galaxies contain black holes at their centers, but the larger of the galaxies has a black hole with a jet stemming from it. The smaller galaxy seems to have swung into the larger galaxy's pathway. Although jets have been observed in the past, this is the first time that scientists have seen a jet actually "punch into another galaxy". Summary of: http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0712/17blackhole/

New Research into Asteroid Impact Destruction

New supercomputer research has allowed researchers to better estimate the size of the asteroid that hit Siberia a century ago, allowing them to better predict future damage caused by asteroids. This would potentially allow them to evacuate the area in danger of an impact.

Here is the link: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/01/29/asteroid.recalculated.ap/index.html

No Worries

Scientists at NASA have concluded that Asteroid 2007 TU24 will pass within 1.4 lunar distances, or 334,000 miles. They state that there is, in fact, no possibility of an impact with Earth in the foreseeable future. Scientists guarantee that this asteroid will be the closet to pass by earth at least until the next century.

Here is the link to the article.
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=6527

American History

This piece is more concerned with history than astronomy, but today the New York Times released a article about the history of America's entry into the space to commemorate the Explorer's sucessful launch (which happened this week fifty year ago)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/science/space/29space.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

THOR's Emerald Helmet

Yo yo yo.... so some there are some really sweet pictures out there (online) which show things we will likely learn about. One website has a new image everyday and gives a brief history/story about the pic. Its a good site to visit to learn something new and be visually blown away. If you click on "Archives" in the bottom left corner, you can see all the pics for each day. There are some really amazing ones, for example check out "Thor's Emerald Helmet" or "M51: Cosmic Whirlpool." Have fun with that!

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080117.html

-Dusty

Cool Astronomy Software

I know Bates showed us programs similar to these... but this one is really cool! Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ95XT-kh80

-Dusty

Blue Moon: I Saw You Standing Alone..

This is interesting. I thought about posting this because we talked so much about the moon and its cycles today. This article briefly describes the phenomenon of the "Blue Moon," and under what conditions it is likely to occur.

http://www.astronomytoday.com/blog/blue-moon-kind-2/#more-43

NASA allows for even the seeing-impaired to be star-gazers

Apparently NASA has created some book which, through its use of braille, allows those without their sight to experience celestial bodies. The thought still boggles my mind a bit but what is really inspiring is that they are providing copies of the book to schools for the blind across the country at no charge. After all, helping people isn't rocket science...

Taken from: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/15jan_touch.htm

First Image of Approaching Asteroid

I was looking around on Yahoo! Dailynews and I found a story about the asteroid we were discussing in class. It turns out that instead of being 2,000 feet in diameter, it is estimated now to be only about 800 feet after photographs were taken with the Goldstone Solar System Radar Telescope. Here is the full story (taken from http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080128-asteroid-radar.html):

First Image of Approaching Asteroid By Jeanna BrynerStaff Writerposted: 28 January 200809:44 am ET
Astronomers have obtained the first images of an asteroid on course to make its closest approach to Earth on Tuesday, showing the space rock is lopsided.
The new images, taken with the Goldstone Solar System Radar Telescope in California's Mojave Desert, refine estimates of the asteroid's size. Named 2007 TU24, the asteroid was estimated to span up to 2,000 feet (610 meters), but is now thought to have a diameter of about 800 feet (250 meters).
Scientists at NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., have determined that there is no possibility of an impact with Earth in the foreseeable future.
Other radar telescopes will point toward the asteroid as it makes its closest approach to Earth, 334,000 miles (537,500 kilometers), at 3:33 a.m. Eastern time Jan. 29. For comparison, the moon is an average of 239,228 miles (385,000 kilometers) away.
At its nearest, the asteroid will reach an approximate apparent magnitude 10.3, or about 50 times fainter than an object visible to the naked eye in a clear, dark sky. Then, it will quickly get fainter as it moves away.
The combination of these telescopes, including the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, will provide higher resolution images of the asteroid. Measurements from Arecibo's radar telescope will gauge the object's size more precisely, its speed and spin. The Arecibo Observatory is operated by Cornell University on behalf of the National Science Foundation.
Like other asteroids, this one orbits the sun. Most do so in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. NASA pays particular attention to those whose orbits bring them so close to Earth.
TU24, discovered by NASA's Catalina Sky Survey on Oct. 11, 2007, is one of an estimated 7,000 near-Earth objects identified to date (another 7,000 are estimated to exist but are yet to be discovered).
"We have good images of a couple dozen objects like this, and for about one in 10, we see something we've never seen before," said Mike Nolan, head of radar astronomy at the Arecibo Observatory. "We really haven't sampled the population enough to know what's out there."

Will Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Lift Off?

From Wired News: http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/01/will-virgin-gal.html
Virgin Galactic heads Richard Branson and Burt Rutan unveiled SpaceShipTwo earlier this week, the follow-up to their X-Prize-winning SpaceShipOne, the first private vehicle to reach space without government funding. In this video, Michael Belfiore gets behind the scenes to discuss the risks and potential awards of the flight. Plus, he gets to play with the SpaceShipTwo model, and passengers' get orgasmic during space flight simulations.

The Sky is Falling

This is slightly scary, hopefully we will not die. That may be a bit of an overstatement, but honestly you can never know when it comes to things flying in through the Earth's atmosphere.

Defunct Spy Satellite Falling From Orbit
By EILEEN SULLIVAN,
AP
Posted: 2008-01-27 18:11:07
Filed Under: Nation News, Science News
WASHINGTON (Jan. 26) - A large U.S. spy satellite has lost power and could hit the Earth in late February or early March, government officials said Saturday.

The satellite, which no longer can be controlled, could contain hazardous materials, and it is unknown where on the planet it might come down, they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is classified as secret. It was not clear how long ago the satellite lost power, or under what circumstances."Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, when asked about the situation after it was disclosed by other officials. "Numerous satellites over the years have come out of orbit and fallen harmlessly. We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible damage this satellite may cause."He would not comment on whether it is possible for the satellite to be shot down by a missile. He said it would be inappropriate to discuss any specifics at this time.

A senior government official said that lawmakers and other nations are being kept apprised of the situation.The spacecraft contains hydrazine — which is rocket fuel — according to a government official who was not authorized to speak publicly but spoke on condition of anonymity. Hydrazine, a colorless liquid with an ammonia-like odor, is a toxic chemical and can cause harm to anyone who contacts it.Such an uncontrolled re-entry could risk exposure of U.S. secrets, said John Pike, a defense and intelligence expert. Spy satellites typically are disposed of through a controlled re-entry into the ocean so that no one else can access the spacecraft, he said.Pike also said it's not likely the threat from the satellite could be eliminated by shooting it down with a missile, because that would create debris that would then re-enter the atmosphere and burn up or hit the ground.Pike, director of the defense research group GlobalSecurity.org, estimated that the spacecraft weighs about 20,000 pounds and is the size of a small bus. He said the satellite would create 10 times less debris than the Columbia space shuttle crash in 2003. Satellites have natural decay periods, and it's possible this one died as long as a year ago and is just now getting ready to re-enter the atmosphere, he said.Jeffrey Richelson, a senior fellow with the National Security Archive, said the spacecraft likely is a photo reconnaissance satellite. Such eyes in the sky are used to gather visual information from space about adversarial governments and terror groups, including construction at suspected nuclear sites or militant training camps. The satellites also can be used to survey damage from hurricanes, fires and other natural disasters.The largest uncontrolled re-entry by a NASA spacecraft was Skylab, the 78-ton abandoned space station that fell from orbit in 1979. Its debris dropped harmlessly into the Indian Ocean and across a remote section of western Australia.In 2000, NASA engineers successfully directed a safe de-orbit of the 17-ton Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, using rockets aboard the satellite to bring it down in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean.In 2002, officials believe debris from a 7,000-pound science satellite smacked into the Earth's atmosphere and rained down over the Persian Gulf, a few thousand miles from where they first predicted it would plummet.

test of email blogging

This is only a test

Simple Rocketry: Part 1

Hello, everyone. I know rocketry and engineering are only tangentially related to true astronomy, but I wanted to throw it out there as someone else might find it interesting (and it does have relevance to space exploration, most notably NASA's plans to go back to the Moon and out to Mars).

I intend to cover three types of rockets used or considered for use in space propulsion in layman's terms: chemical rockets, nuclear thermal rockets, and the holy-grail-may-not-even-be-possible nuclear salt water rocket.

Part 1: Basic Rocketry and Chemical Rockets

Rockets are, in principle, just about the simplest way of getting around. By now you've at least heard about Newton's 3rd Law of Motion, which states that "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." This is the law of the universe that is responsible for the recoil of a gun, where firing a bullet in one direction causes the gun to fly back in the other.

Well, imagine you're in space. In space, there is no friction, so flapping your arms, rolling around, or trying to walk won't get you anywhere, because there's nothing to push off of. Now imagine that you happen to be holding a reasonably heavy object like a bowling ball. If you throw that bowling ball away from you, you will find that you begin moving in the opposite direction, just like a gun flying back when it fires a bullet. That's because when you push the bowling ball away from you, you're also pushing yourself away from it.

That's all there is to rocketry. Rockets are just a way of pushing very, very hard on a lot of mass (many, many bowling balls in our example) to get going really fast.

Okay, so let's have a look at the first kind of rocket: a chemical rocket (technically a liquid chemical rocket).



There really isn't much to a chemical rocket as long as you don't worry too much about the chemistry. There are only a few simple parts:

1. Fuel Tanks:
The fuel tanks store the fuel for the rocket. In a chemical rocket, this is almost always hydrogen and oxygen. I won't go into the chemistry, but basically hydrogen gives the biggest "bang for your buck" in terms of weight. Because there is no air in space, you also have to bring your own oxygen to burn the hydrogen.

2. Pumps
The pumps are pretty straightforward. They pump fuel from the fuel tanks into the rocket engine so it can be burned just like a water pump pumps water into your house.

3. Valves
The valves in a rocket engine control how much fuel goes into the combustion chamber. The valves act as a "throttle" for the rocket. Less fuel goes in, less power comes out.

4. Combustion Chamber
This is where everything exciting happens. In the combustion chamber, the fuel (hydrogen) is mixed with the "oxidizer" (oxygen), and the whole mixture is lit with a flame or a spark, which creates a huge explosion.

There is a common misconception that explosions are powerful or deadly because of the fire they create. Although you certainly don't want to be in the path of a fireball, the real reason that explosions are powerful is that they create pressure.

When the hydrogen and oxygen explode in the combustion chamber, there is all of a sudden a huge amount of pressure in the chamber that wants to get out in any way that it can. Because the chamber is closed, it has only two ways out: back through the valves and into the fuel tanks, or out the nozzle. Because there is still fuel in the valves going into the tank, all of that pressure is directed out the nozzle.

As the gases leave the nozzle, more fuel is pumped into the combustion chamber by the pumps and let in by the valves, which is then ignited by the fireball, which then expands and leaves the nozzle, so more fuel is pumped in, and so on. This creates the continuous flame you see coming out of the back of the Space Shuttle.

5. Nozzle
The nozzle is where the gases created by the exploding hydrogen-oxygen mixture in the combustion chamber leave the rocket engine. This is where the power of the rocket, called thrust, is produced. Like our bowling ball example, hundreds of pounds of fuel are being forced out of the back of the rocket at more than 4,000 meters per second, which is more than ten times the speed of sound, which pushes against the rocket engine with an equal force, creating acceleration and speed.

That's all there is! Chemical rockets are pretty simple. If you have any questions/clarifications, don't hesitate to leave a comment. In Part 2 I'll talk about nuclear thermal rockets, a new technology that might take us to Mars.

Source: All images from HowStuffWorks.com

Astronomers Prepare To Obtain Close Images Of A Near-Earth Asteroid

ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2008) — The Arecibo Observatory in Arecibo, Puerto Rico will observe a newly discovered asteroid on Jan. 27-28, as the object called 2007 TU24 passes within 1.4 lunar distances, or 334,000 miles, from Earth.

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The asteroid, estimated at between 150 and 600 meters in diameter -- about 500 feet to 1,900 feet, or the size of a football field, at 360 feet, to the size of Chicago's 110-story Sears Tower, at 1,454 feet -- was discovered by the University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey in October 2007. It poses no threat to Earth, but its near approach gives Arecibo astronomers a golden opportunity to learn more about potentially hazardous near-Earth objects.

"We don't yet know anything about this asteroid," said Mike Nolan, head of radar astronomy at the Puerto Rico observatory. Such objects pass near Earth with relative frequency, he said -- approximately one every five years or so -- but it's rare that astronomers have enough advance notice to plan for rigorous observing.

"Because it's coming so close, we'll get our highest quality imaging," said Nolan.

Using Arecibo's powerful radar, which is the most sensitive in the world, researchers will gauge the object's size, observe its speed and measure its spin. Switching then to imaging mode, which will offer resolution to 7.5 meters -- three times more precise than NASA's Goldstone telescope, the only other radar telescope in the world -- the researchers hope to map the object's surface in detail. The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, Green Bank, W.Va., will receive Arecibo's echo from the asteroid and transmit its data back to Arecibo.

TU2 is one of an estimated 7,000 near-Earth objects, its size or larger -- most have never been closely studied.

"We have good images of a couple dozen objects like this, and for about one in 10, we see something we've never seen before," said Nolan. "We really haven't sampled the population enough to know what's out there."

Arecibo's radar is vital for continuing to classify and understand such objects, said Cornell University assistant professor of astronomy Jean-Luc Margot. "Arecibo does a fantastic job at getting images, discovering the shape, spin and reflection properties of such an object . . . all these things that are important to know."

The telescope will be trained on TU24 Jan. 27-28 and again Feb. 1-4. Goldstone's planetary radar observed it Jan. 23-24.

Steven Ostro, astronomer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., is principal investigator for the project; also contributing are Lance Benner and Jon Giorgini at JPL and Greg Black of the University of Virginia. Their research is funded by NASA.

The Arecibo Observatory is part of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, a national research center operated by Cornell for the National Science Foundation. The Green Bank Telescope is operated by National Radio Astronomy Observatory for the National Science Foundation.

Welcome to the spring 2008 Astronomy Blog!

Howdy folks!