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News of Astronomy, Space, Science, & Technology

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Image: A Stellar Nursery in NGC 6188

Shaping NGC 6188

Astronomy Picture of the Day May 2 2008

Dark shapes with bright edges winging their way through dusty NGC 6188 are tens of light-years long.

The emission nebula is found near the edge of an otherwise dark large molecular cloud in the southern constellation Ara, about 4,000 light-years away. Formed in that region only a few million years ago, the massive young stars of the embedded Ara OB1 association sculpt the fantastic shapes and power the nebular glow with stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation. The recent star formation itself was likely triggered by winds and supernova explosions, from previous generations of massive stars, that swept up and compressed the molecular gas.

A false-color Hubble palette was used to create the this gorgeous wide-field image and shows emission from sulfur, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms in red, green, and blue hues.

At the estimated distance of NGC 6188, the picture spans about 300 light-years.

See Astronomy Picture of the Day for links to further info.

The Space Shuttle

Nasa's space shuttle site - For the latest information see NASA human spaceflight page

For info on the Columbia investigation see the STS-107 Investigation Reference page.

The space shuttle in the Wikipedia

The latest news of STS-123 on Space.Com

Hubble Repair Mission Delayed

NASA Delays Shuttle Flight to Hubble Space Telescope

SPACE.com Download time: May 2 2008 7:23 AM ET

NASA has pushed back the planned launch of the final flight to overhaul the Hubble Space Telescope by up to five weeks due to external fuel tank delays, mission managers said Thursday.

Space shuttle program manager John Shannon said that the additional time required to include post-Columbia safety improvements in two shuttle fuel tanks supporting the Hubble servicing mission have delayed the spaceflight to no earlier than late September. A seven-astronaut crew was slated to launch toward Hubble aboard NASA's shuttle Atlantis on Aug. 28.…

Tank problems delay Hubble servicing mission

floridatoday.com - Space Download time: May 2 2008 7:20 AM ET

The late August launch of NASA's fifth and final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission will be pushed back four to five weeks because of shuttle external tank production delays.

Shuttle boss discusses delay to downstream flights

Spaceflight Now May 1 2008

The shuttle Discovery is on track for launch May 31 on a high-priority flight to deliver Japan's huge Kibo lab module to the international space station. But subsequent flights are slipping four to five weeks each because of external tank production issues, and a flight that had been targeted for late this year will slip into early 2009, a senior NASA manager said today.

The International Space Station

Nasa's ISS site

The Wikipedia article on the Space Station

For the latest information see NASA human spaceflight page

What's Happening on the Space Station

NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 1 May 2008

Space Wire Top Stories Download time: May 2 2008 7:23 AM ET

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Russian holiday: Spring & Labor Day. Also: Labor Day in Europe.

Upon wake-up, CDR Volkov terminated his first MBI-12 SONOKARD experiment session, started last night, by taking the recording device from his SONOKARD sports shirt pocket and later copying the measurements to the RSE-MED laptop for subsequent downlink to the ground. [SONOKARD objectives are stated to (1) study the feasibility of obtaining the maximum of data through computer processing of records obtained overnight, (2) systematically record the crewmember's physiological functions during sleep, (3) study the feasibility of obtaining real-time crew health data. Investigators believe that contactless acquisition of cardiorespiratory data over the night period could serve as a basis for developing efficient criteria for evaluating and predicting adaptive capability of human body in long-duration space flight.]…

Watching the Sky

Sky events visible to the casual observer or amateur astronomer

Buying and Using a Telescope

Targets for Your Telescope This Weekend

What's Up - The Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast - May 2-4, 2008

Universe Today Download time: May 2 2008 7:20 AM ET

Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Are you ready for a great dark sky weekend? Then it's time to walk into the galaxy field of dreams as we take a closer look at part of Markarian's Chain. Even smaller telescopes and larger binoculars will be happy with this weekend's globular clusters! Need more or something totally unusual? Then join us as we take a look at a Wolf-Rayet star. Are you ready? Then it's time to head out under dark skies, because… Here's what's up!

Moon to Eclipse Beehive Cluster

Moon to Hide a Beehive

SPACE.com Download time: May 2 2008 7:23 AM ET

If the weather is clear in your area on Saturday, May 10, be sure to check out the fat crescent moon in the southwestern sky with binoculars or a small, low power telescope as darkness falls. On that evening, the moon will be positioned within the dim constellation of Cancer, the Crab.

One of my astronomy mentors, the late Dr. Ken Franklin of New York's Hayden Planetarium, used to refer to Cancer as "the empty space" in the sky. Indeed, it's the least conspicuous of the 12 zodiacal constellations and quite frankly, aside from being in the zodiac, it's probably noteworthy only because it contains one of the brightest star clusters in the sky. It is Praesepe, better known as the Beehive Star Cluster, which contains a myriad of small stars.…

The Global Environment

Global climate change, the ozone layer, and other world environmental issues

Global warming in the Wikipedia

A NASA reference article on global warming

Global Warming FAQs:

US National Climate Data Center
Natural Resources Defense Council
Union of Concerned Scientists
Skepticism About Global Warming from Brian Carnell's Skepticism.net
See Wikipedia for both sides of the debate

Information on abrupt climate change (Could something like the "Day After Tomorrow" scenario happen?)

Science @ NASA
The Weather Underground
Abrupt Climate Change FAQ from the Union of Concerned Scientists
The Wikipedia on abrupt climate change
Abrupt Climate Change: Inevitable Surprises — free online book from the National Academies Press

Ozone Layer FAQs:

Ozone Hole FAQ from The Weather Underground
Ozone Depletion FAQs from faqs.org

Global Warming: Ocean Losing Oxygen

Marine Life Gasping for Breath?

ScienceNOW Download time: May 2 2008 7:22 AM ET

Chalk up another environmental problem that could be stemming from global warming: New research shows that oxygen is vanishing from ever-larger swaths of the oceans. If the trend continues, it could disrupt marine ecosystems.

Warm water can't hold as much oxygen as cold water. So ever since scientists began to worry about the impact of rising ocean temperatures, they have been gathering data on oceanic oxygen levels. Up to now, however, most of the research has focused on colder waters, where much of the world's commercial fishing occurs. Researchers knew very little about the issue in the tropics, which contain some of the world's most diverse marine ecosystems.…

Study: Warming water means less oxygen for sea life

USATODAY.com Science and Space - Top Stories Download time: May 2 2008 7:20 AM ET

Low-oxygen zones where sea life is threatened or cannot survive are growing as the oceans are heated by global warming, a new study warns. Oxygen-depleted zones in the central and eastern equatorial Atlantic and equatorial Pacific oceans appear to have expanded over the last 50 years, researchers report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

Planet Earth

A Virtual Flight Through the Ionosphere

Explore the Ionosphere (from the safety of your own home)

Science @ NASA Download time: May 1 2008 7:58 AM ET

Today, NASA-funded researchers released to the general public a new "4D" live model of Earth's ionosphere. Without leaving home, anyone can fly through the layer of ionized gas that encircles Earth at the edge of space itself. All that's required is a connection to the Internet.

"This is an exciting development," says solar physicist Lika Guhathakurta of NASA headquarters in Washington, DC. "The ionosphere is important to pilots, ham radio operators, earth scientists and even soldiers. Using this new 4D tool, they can monitor and study the ionosphere as if they're actually inside it."…

The Cosmos

Stars, galaxies, nebulae, and cosmology

Also fundamental physics with possible astronomical or cosmological implications

Tutorials:

Big Bang   Inflation   The Cosmic Microwave Background   The Cosmic Dark Ages   Dark Matter   Dark Energy - For a more technical discussion go here.   Ask the Experts: What are dark matter and dark energy, and how are they affecting the universe? Measuring Stellar & Galactic Distances (difficult!)   Supernovas   Supernovas & Pulsars   Black Holes   Pulsars   Cosmology: the Observable Universe (moderately technical)   Cosmology (very difficult!)   

Predicting Neutron Star Explosions

NASA satellite pins down timer in stellar ticking time bomb

EurekAlert! - Space and Planetary Science Download time: May 1 2008 7:59 AM ET

Using observations from NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), an international team of astronomers has discovered a timing mechanism that allows them to predict exactly when a superdense star will unleash incredibly powerful explosions.

"We found a clock that ticks slower and slower, and when it slows down too much, boom! The bomb explodes," says lead author Diego Altamirano of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

The bursts occur on a neutron star, which is the collapsed remnant of a massive star that exploded in a supernova. The neutron star belongs to a binary system that can be described as a ticking time bomb.…

NASA Predicts Huge Cosmic Explosions

SPACE.com Download time: May 1 2008 7:59 AM ET

Astronomers are now able to predict when a certain type of star will let loose a powerful eruption.

The explosions occur on a neutron star, a city-sized remnant of a giant star that exploded in a supernova long ago and collapsed into a hyperdense ember. It now siphons material from a companion star while the two objects orbit each other every 3.8 hours.…

See SPACE.com for links to further info.

New Type of White Dwarf Star Discovered

Astronomers Discover New Type Of Pulsating White Dwarf Star

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News Download time: May 2 2008 7:24 AM ET

University of Texas at Austin astronomers Michael H. Montgomery and Kurtis A. Williams, along with graduate student Steven DeGennaro, have predicted and confirmed the existence of a new type of variable star, with the help of the 2.1-meter Otto Struve Telescope at McDonald Observatory. Called a "pulsating carbon white dwarf," this is the first new class of variable white dwarf star discovered in more than 25 years. Because the overwhelming majority of stars in the universe--including the sun--will end their lives as white dwarfs, studying the pulsations (i.e., variations in light output) of these newly discovered examples gives astronomers a window on an important end point in the lives of most stars.…

Video: Brian Cox Gives a Explanation of the LHC

Brian Cox talks at TED

Bad Astronomy Blog Download time: May 1 2008 7:58 AM ET

I don't mean to make this blog all LHC all the time, but Brian Cox gave a moving and wonderful speech at the TED conference this year.

He's a great speaker, and I'm glad he's on our side.

See Bad Astronomy Blog for links to further info.

Technology

Robots Do Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery

Robot reinvents bypass surgery

USATODAY.com Science and Space - Top Stories Download time: May 1 2008 7:58 AM ET

The surgeon working inside J.C. Bizzle's chest perched at an egg-shaped console a few yards from the operating table. Without laying hands on his patient, he bypassed two clogged arteries supplying Bizzle's heart.

The University of Chicago's Sudhir Srivastava performed the surgery without a big incision, without splitting Bizzle's breastbone and without stopping his heart. The spider-like arms of a robot did most of the work.…

Out of Left Field

News interesting to the editor that doesn't fit into other categories

Weird stuff also goes here

Naming Topographic Features After Women

Where are all the women?

Planetary Society Weblog Download time: May 1 2008 7:58 AM ET

After I posted yesterday's article about the names of features on Mercury, a reader wrote in to point out that although Mercury's craters may be named for "Deceased artists, musicians, painters, and authors who have made outstanding or fundamental contributions to their field and have been recognized as historically significant figures for more than 50 years," there were remarkably few women's names on the list. How could they not acknowledge, he asked me, the cultural contribution of such women as Emily Dickinson and Jane Austen?

The reason that Dickinson and Austen are nowhere to be found on Mercury is because their names have already been used elsewhere.…