Dome News

News of Astronomy, Space, Science, & Technology

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Dome News Updates

Irregular Update #7

Editor Out of Town

This is the seventh of the irregular updates that the editor will provide during his travels.

These two months are going to be a travel period for the editor. It's a summer vacation -- visits to old friends in Minnesota, and a month in New Mexico.

It's hard to keep up with the news on the road. So you can expect some updates — like this one —, but at this point there is no way to say exactly when the next one will be.

We will be back in Texas by about Sept. 1. The regular updates should resume shortly after that.

                                                            --- The Editor

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Image: Colliding Galaxies

The Colliding Spiral Galaxies of Arp 271

Astronomy Picture of the Day Jul 21 2008

What will become of these galaxies?

Spiral galaxies NGC 5426 and NGC 5427 are passing dangerously close to each other, but each is likely to survive this collision. Most frequently when galaxies collide, a large galaxy eats a much smaller galaxy. In this case, however, the two galaxies are quite similar, each being a sprawling spiral with expansive arms and a compact core.

As the galaxies advance over the next tens of millions of years, their component stars are unlikely to collide, although new stars will form in the bunching of gas caused by gravitational tides.

Close inspection of the above image taken by the 8-meter Gemini-South Telescope in Chile shows a bridge of material momentarily connecting the two giants.

Known collectively as Arp 271, the interacting pair spans about 130,000 light years and lies about 90 million light-years away toward the constellation of Virgo.

Quite possibly, our Milky Way Galaxy will undergo a similar collision with the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy in about five billion years.

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

NASA Image of the Day

Image: The Apollo 11 Astronauts

Apollo 11

NASA Image of the Day Download time: Jul 22 2008 9:15 AM ET

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced the goal of sending astronauts to the moon before the end of the decade.

Eight years later at 9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, 1969, that dream became a reality as the swing arms moved away and a plume of flame signaled the liftoff of the Apollo 11 carrying astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A to the moon.

The first of six successful lunar missions, Apollo 11 marked the first time humans set foot on another planetary surface.

This image is of the Apollo 11 crew 'suiting up' for countdown demonstration test.

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-124 on Space.Com

Equipment Begins Arriving for Hubble Repair Mission

Hubble mission: assembly required

floridatoday.com - Space Download time: Jul 22 2008 9:16 AM ET

The delicate equipment to refurbish the 18-year-old Hubble Space Telescope has begun arriving at Kennedy Space Center, presenting payload managers with one of their greatest challenges.

The gear includes spare parts for failing components, two new instruments, six gyroscopes and six, 125-pound batteries. The nearly 2,500 pounds of electronics will fill four pallets, each of which must be provided electrical power and climate control.

"On this particular mission we are carrying more flight hardware to orbit than any other of the previous (Hubble) missions," said Hubble Observatory Manager Thomas Griffin, whose team is responsible for installing the instruments onto the carriers.…

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 21 July 2008

SpaceRef Top Stories Download time: Jul 22 2008 9:15 AM ET

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Underway: Week 14 of Increment 17.

CDR Volkov, FE-1 Kononenko and FE-2 Chamitoff began their workday before breakfast with the periodic session of the Russian biomedical routine assessments PZEh-MO-7/Calf Volume Measurement & PZEh-MO-8/Body Mass Measurement (fifth for CDR & FE-1, third for FE-2), using the IM mass measurement device which Sergey Volkov broke down afterwards for stowage.…

Planet Earth

Improving Short Term Weather Forecasts

NASA Works to Improve Short-term Weather Forecasts

Science @ NASA Download time: Jul 22 2008 9:15 AM ET

Sometimes seconds count. If a furious, tornado-spitting thunderstorm was bearing down on your home town, a few moments might make all the difference in the world.

Will McCarty, a graduate student at the National Space Science and Technology Center, is working with data from NASA's Aqua satellite to improve short-term weather predictions--the kind that could help you dodge that thunderstorm.

Guided by his NASA mentor, Gary Jedlovec, McCarty has already learned how to improve 48-hour forecasts by 3 hours. "That may not sound like a big deal, but tell that to someone who escaped a weather disaster by the skin of their teeth," says McCarty.

They accomplished the improvement by entwining measurements from Aqua's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), into weather models. To understand how AIRS works its magic, let's first take a look at how forecasts are made:…

Mars

Mars and Its Moons

Background information about Mars

NASA's Mars Rover site at JPL

A gallery of Spirit's images and slideshow

A gallery of Opportunity's images and slideshow

Google Mars

Mars Global Surveyor

Mars Odyssey

Mars Express orbiter

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)

Mars Phoenix Lander

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

Phoenix Works Through the Night

Mars Lander Pulls All-Nighter

SPACE.com Download time: Jul 22 2008 9:13 AM ET

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander pulled an all-nighter for the first time Monday.

Mission controllers extended the spacecraft's schedule to keep it awake during the Martian night so the lander could coordinate with observations made by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) as it flew over Phoenix.

Phoenix is using its weather station (which measures temperature, wind speed and wind direction), stereo camera and fork-like thermal and conductivity probe to monitor changes in the lower atmosphere and at the surface of Mars as MRO monitors the atmosphere and ground from above.…

See SPACE.com for links to further info.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Works Through the Night

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory News and Features Download time: Jul 22 2008 9:14 AM ET

To coordinate with observations made by an orbiter flying repeatedly overhead, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is working a schedule Monday that includes staying awake all night for the first time.

Phoenix is using its weather station, stereo camera and conductivity probe to monitor changes in the lower atmosphere and ground surface at the same time NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter studies the atmosphere and ground from above.…

A Second Practice Ice Sample For Phoenix

Mars Lander Prepares for Second Ice Sample

SPACE.com Download time: Jul 22 2008 9:13 AM ET

NASA scientists planned to instruct the Phoenix Mars Lander to test out its method for shaving and collecting ice for a second time Friday.

The test is in preparation for collecting a similar sample of ice to be analyzed in one of Phoenix's instruments in the coming days.

The ice scrapings will be placed into one of the tiny ovens in the lander's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA), which heats up samples of Martian dirt and analyzes the vapors they give off. Mission team members hope that the TEGA analysis of the ice samples will show that they are rich in water ice, as some scientists expect.…

See SPACE.com for links to further info.

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Continues Tests with Rasp

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory News and Features Download time: Jul 22 2008 9:14 AM ET

The team operating NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander plans to tell the lander today to do a second, larger test of using a motorized rasp to produce and gather shavings of frozen ground.

The planned test is a preparation for putting a similar sample into one of Phoenix's laboratory ovens in coming days. The instrument with the oven, the Thermal and Evolved- Gas Analyzer (TEGA), will be used to check whether the hard layer exposed in a shallow trench is indeed rich in water ice, as scientists expect, and to identify some other ingredients in the frozen soil.…

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!)   

Image: Organic-Free Zones in the Pinwheel Galaxy

Spitzer Reveals 'No Organics' Zone Around Pinwheel Galaxy

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News Download time: Jul 22 2008 9:16 AM ET

The Pinwheel galaxy is gussied up in infrared light in a new picture from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

The fluffy-looking galaxy, officially named Messier 101, is dominated by a mishmash of spiral arms. In Spitzer's new view, in which infrared light is color coded, the galaxy sports a swirling blue center and a unique, coral-red outer ring.

A new paper appearing July 20 in the Astrophysical Journal explains why this outer ring stands out. According to the authors, the red color highlights a zone where organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are present throughout most of the galaxy, suddenly disappear.

No Life Possible at Edges of the Pinwheel Galaxy

Universe Today Download time: Jul 22 2008 9:16 AM ET

Another beautiful image from the Spitzer Space Telescope; in this case, it's Messier 101, more commonly known as the Pinwheel Galaxy. But the pretty red highlights at the edges of the galaxy are bad news for anyone looking for evidence of life. "If you were going look for life in Messier 101, you would not want to look at its edges," said Karl Gordon of the Space Telescope Science Institute. "The organics can't survive in these regions, most likely because of high amounts of harsh radiation." The red color highlights a zone where organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are present throughout most of the galaxy, suddenly disappear.…

See Universe Today for links to further info.

No Dark Energy?

Are we living in a giant cosmic void?

New Scientist Space Blogs July 18 2008

Several of us at New Scientist recently came across an interesting paper by Timothy Clifton and colleagues at the University of Oxford entitled "Living in a Void: Testing the Copernican Principle with distant supernovae".

The paper argues that if we are living in a giant void - that is, if our cosmic neighbourhood is significantly less dense than other parts of the universe, then that could account for the fact that the universe's expansion appears to be accelerating. Astronomers discovered this acceleration in the late 1990s when they found that distant supernovae appear dimmer, and thus farther away, than expected.

Most cosmologists believe that a furtive anti-gravity-like force known as dark energy is to blame.…

See New Scientist Space Blogs for links to further info.

Measuring Dark Matter in Distant Galaxies

Hubble Survey of Gravitational Lenses Yields Measure of Dark Matter in Distant Galaxies

Universe Today Download time: Jul 22 2008 9:15 AM ET

An international team of astronomers have compiled the largest-ever single collection of "gravitational lens" galaxies, and their survey yielded information on the masses of galaxies, including an inference of the amount of dark matter. Gravitational lensing occurs when two galaxies happen to aligned with one another along our line of sight in the sky. The gravitational field of the nearer galaxy distorts the image of the more distant galaxy into multiple arc-shaped images. Sometimes this effect even creates a complete ring, known as an "Einstein Ring." The findings of this survey helps settle a long standing debate over the relationship between and mass and luminosity in galaxies.

Using the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope to image galaxies that had been identified as gravitational lens galaxies by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the team was able to measure the distances to both galaxies in each "lensing" set, as well as measure the masses of each galaxy.…

See Universe Today for links to further info.

Technology

Artificial Dragonfly Could Serve as Tiny Spy

Micro Air Vehicle: Three Gram 'Dragonfly' Takes Flight

ScienceDaily: Latest Science News Download time: Jul 22 2008 9:16 AM ET

Engineers have made a new tiny DelFly Micro air vehicle. This successor to the DelFly I and II weighs barely 3 grams, and with its flapping wings is very similar to a dragonfly. Ultra-small, remote-controlled micro aircraft with cameras, such as this DelFly, may well be used in the future for observation flights in difficult-to-reach or dangerous areas.

The DelFly Micro is a 'Micro Air Vehicle' (MAV), an exceptionally small remote-controlled aircraft with camera and image recognition software. The Micro, weighing just 3 grams and measuring 10 cm (wingtip to wingtip) is the considerably smaller successor to the successful DelFly I (2005) and DelFly II (2006). The DelFly Micro, with its minuscule battery weighing just 1 gram, can fly for approximately three minutes and has a maximum speed of 5 m/s.