the UNIVERSE TODAY Space Exploration News From Around the Internet Updated Every Weekday.
http://www.universetoday.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] An HTML version including pictures is available at: http://www.universetoday.com For information on unsubscribing or changing your email address, check the bottom of this newsletter. ************************************** NASA HOPEFUL ABOUT FINDING SCIENCE IN GENESIS WRECKAGE Sep 13, 2004 - NASA operators were so concerned about the safety of the fragile capsule from Genesis and its precious cargo of solar wind samples that they'd arranged an elaborate airborne capture with helicopter stunt pilots. So when the capsule's parachute failed to open, and it slammed into the Utah desert at hundreds of km per hour, you'd think it was a total writeoff. Well, apparently not. NASA scientists have been analyzing the wreckage, and found enough is intact that they should be able to achieve most of their scientific objectives - enough samples of the Sun's solar wind have survived to keep the scientific community busy for a long time. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/nasa_hopeful_genesis.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/nasa_hopeful_genesis.html";>AOL Link</a> STATION'S OXYGEN GENERATOR BREAKS DOWN Sep 10, 2004 - A generator that supplies oxygen to the International Space Station has broken down, and it could cause a delay for the upcoming crew transfer scheduled for next month. The Russian-built Elekton generator uses electrolysis to separate oxygen out of waste water, and without it, the two-man crew of the station will need to get their oxygen from the Progress cargo ship currently docked. They'll attempt repairs to the unit on Friday. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5953450/ <a href="http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5953450/";>AOL Link</a> ASTRONOMERS WATCH A BLACK HOLE EAT A MEAL Sep 10, 2004 - Astronomers from the Institute of Astronomy (IoA) in Cambridge, England have watched a bundle of matter at the heart of a galaxy 100 million light-years away as it orbited a supermassive black hole four times on its way to being destroyed. The material was approximately the same distance as our Earth is from the Sun, but instead of taking a year, it only took a quarter of a day, because of the massive gravity of the black hole. By tracking the matter's doomed orbit, astronomers were then able to calculate the mass of the black hole: between 10 and 50 million solar masses. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/astronomers_watch_black_hole_eat.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/astronomers_watch_black_hole_eat.html";>AOL Link</a> FIRST DIRECT IMAGE OF AN EXOPLANET? Sep 10, 2004 - A team of European and US astronomers think they've taken the first direct image of a planet orbiting another star about 230 light-years away. Until now, planets have been discovered because of the effect they have on their parent star - they haven't been "seen" directly. Using the European Southern Observatory's 8.2-m telescope in Chile, the team found a faint, red object nearby a brown dwarf star called 2M1207. By analyzing the object with various instruments, they believe the object is approximately 5 times the mass of Jupiter. There's still some uncertainty, though, so the team will make regular observations over the next 2 years to see how its position and composition changes. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/first_direct_image_exoplanet.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/first_direct_image_exoplanet.html";>AOL Link</a> CASSINI FINDS A NEW RING AROUND SATURN Sep 9, 2004 - Scientists from the United Kingdom have uncovered a new object and a new ring orbiting Saturn. While Cassini images, scientists at the University of London noticed a tiny object skirt around the outer part of the F-ring - it's probably 4-5 km (3 miles) in diameter. They also discovered a new ring in the same area, which is associated with Saturn's moon Atlas. This ring was only seen as Cassini was approaching Saturn, so scientists aren't sure if it goes all the way around the planet. While attempting to pin down the orbit of the new moon, scientists from the Space Science Institute in Boulder turned up another potential object in a similar orbit. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/cassini_finds_new_ring_saturn.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/cassini_finds_new_ring_saturn.html";>AOL Link</a> HOW ABOUT A GIGAPIXEL DIGITAL CAMERA? Sep 9, 2004 - Bought a digital camera recently? It's probably got anywhere from 3.1 to 6 megapixels of resolution. Well, the European Space Agency is building a 1 gigapixel (a gigapixel is 1024 megapixels) digital camera for its upcoming Gaia space telescope, due for launch in 2010. It's actually not a single camera, but an array of 170. Gaia will be positioned 1.5 million km (930,000 miles) away from Earth, and will be designed to simultaneously photograph 1 billion stars and plenty of other celestial objects like asteroids, comets, galaxies, and nebulae. The goal will be to map the entire Universe down to a resolution one million times fainter than the human eye can see. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/how_about_gigapixel_camera.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/how_about_gigapixel_camera.html";>AOL Link</a> WALLPAPER: CAT'S EYE NEBULA Sep 9, 2004 - Here's a 1024x768 desktop wallpaper of the Cat's Eye Nebula (aka NGC 6543), taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It's classified as a planetary nebula, which means that it was once a Sun-like star that ejected its outer layers into space. Astronomers think that it ejected its mass in 1,500-year pulses, creating a series of dust shells that are layered around the star like an onion. The situation changed about 1,000 years ago, when the nebula we see started forming inside the dusty shells - Hubble has watched it grow during 10 years of observations. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/wallpaper_cats_eye_nebula.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/wallpaper_cats_eye_nebula.html";>AOL Link</a> GENESIS CAPSULE CRASHES Sep 8, 2004 - Helicopters were waiting in Utah to gently catch a capsule from the Genesis probe carrying precious samples of the Sun's solar wind, but the safe recovery didn't happen. It appears that the capsule's parachute failed to open as it entered the Earth atmosphere, and it crashed into the ground at 161 km/h (100 mph). It could take some time to recover the capsule because the charges designed to open the parachute might still be live, and could still explode. The $264 million mission was launched in 2001, and carried delicate wafers of pure silicon, gold, sapphire, and diamond designed to gently catch solar wind particles. It's unknown how much of the experiment can be recovered at this point. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3638926.stm <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3638926.stm";>AOL Link</a> CLEANING UP KENNEDY SPACE CENTER AFTER FRANCES Sep 8, 2004 - NASA workers are continuing to assess the damage that Hurricane Frances wreaked on the Kennedy Space Center when it tore through Cape Canaveral over the weekend. Many buildings suffered wind and rain damage, including the Vehicle Assembly Building, where the space shuttles are attached to the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters - it had 820 panels blown off. The Thermal Protection System Facility, where heat tiles and blankets are manufactured suffered significant damage. It's still unknown if the effects of the hurricane will push back the shuttle's return to flight. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/cleaning_up_kennedy_space_center.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/cleaning_up_kennedy_space_center.html";>AOL Link</a> COLLIDING GALAXIES AWASH WITH STAR FORMATION Sep 8, 2004 - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has taken this image of two galaxies colliding, creating destruction and a wave of new star formation. The image of the Antennae galaxies in infrared shows how they're churning into each other, and throwing off massive streamers of stars and clouds of dust. Spitzer can "see" through the dark dust, and has found large nurseries of young stars in the center of the galaxies, where they overlap. This cloud of buried stars appears red in this image, and the blue indicates older stars which can be seen in visible light. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/colliding_galaxies_awash_star_formation.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/colliding_galaxies_awash_star_formation.html";>AOL Link</a> ----------------------------------------------------- All contents copyright (c) 2004 Universe Today -- To unsubscribe from: Universe Today - Weekly Edition (HTML), just follow this link: http://www.universetoday.com/mojo/mojo.cgi?f=u&l=wk%2dhtml&[EMAIL PROTECTED]&p=4996766 Click this link, or copy and paste the address into your browser. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. 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