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. ************************************** WHAT'S UP THIS WEEK? NOV 1 - 7, 2004 Nov 1, 2004 - Hello fellow stargazers and welcome to this week's edition of what's new and fun to do under the skies. For all of you who took the time to view last week's total lunar eclipse? Congratulations! This week's planetary actions will blow you away. On the 3rd, the real "Lord of the Rings" - Saturn - will accompany the Moon across the night. The solar system excitement continues as before local dawn on November 4th and 5th will be a superb visual pairing of Venus and Jupiter at less than one degree apart. The Southern Taurid meteor stream will be active and it has produced fantastic fireballs seen around the world! For those of you craving a bit of deep sky work? The time is right to do a little "Wild Duck" hunting. Here's what's up! http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/whats_up_nov1_2004.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/whats_up_nov1_2004.html";>AOL Link</a> CHINA ANNOUNCES UPCOMING SPACEFLIGHT PLANS Nov 1, 2004 - China joined Russia and America in putting a human into space over a year ago, and they're getting ready to do it again. Officials from the China Aerospace Science and Technology (Cast) agency announced their upcoming plans to put more people into space next year. If all goes well, they'll launch two astronauts this time, and keep them in space for 5 days. Engineers are working to improve the Shenzhou spacecraft's performance, power generation, and environmental controls to support two astronauts. China is also planning on sending a robotic probe to orbit the Moon within 2 years, and another to land on it by 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3971869.stm <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3971869.stm";>AOL Link</a> WHY TIME MIGHT FLOW IN ONE DIRECTION Nov 1, 2004 - Physicists have puzzled for more than a century about the nature of time. Why does it go in one direction? Time could go backwards, and physics formulas would still work properly. Researchers from the University of Chicago think they might have an answer: we live in a universe of ever increasing entropy. Instead of one Big Bang going off, and then the Universe expands and cools forever, small fluctuations in nearly empty space could set off new Big Bangs - the Universe would never reach equilibrium. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/why_time_flow_one_direction.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/why_time_flow_one_direction.html";>AOL Link</a> NASA ANNOUNCES MAY 2005 FOR SHUTTLE FLIGHT Nov 1, 2004 - Grounded since the Columbia disaster, the space shuttles are tentatively expected to return to flight as early as May 2005, according to NASA officials. The agency updated their launch schedule on Friday, targeted Discovery's launch window to be open from May 12 to June 3, 2005. The shuttles have a lot of work to do; current plans are calling for 28 more flights until 2010 to complete the construction of the International Space Station, after which the shuttles will be retired. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/may_2005_shuttle_rtf.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/may_2005_shuttle_rtf.html";>AOL Link</a> ROVERS HAVE RETURNED 50,000 PICTURES Nov 1, 2004 - This relatively boring picture of Spirit's calibration target, with a bit of rocky ground in the background is the 50,000th photograph sent back by NASA's twin rovers since they arrived on Mars in January, 2004. There are now more than twice as many images returned by the rovers as all three previous landers combined: Viking 1, Viking 2, and Mars Pathfinder. Both rovers have completed their three-month primary missions, and first extensions; they started their second extensions on Oct. 1. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/rovers_50000_pictures.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/rovers_50000_pictures.html";>AOL Link</a> VENUS AND JUPITER'S UPCOMING CONJUNCTION Oct 29, 2004 - As the Earth rushes to the point in its orbit known as the Winter Solstice, those in the Northern hemisphere see the days getting shorter and the nights are getting longer. This is good news for sky watchers, especially those willing to rise before dawn. This November offers a chance to witness a beautiful and somewhat rare sight, a close conjunction between the planets Venus and Jupiter. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/venus_jupiter_upcoming_conjunction.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/venus_jupiter_upcoming_conjunction.html";>AOL Link</a> MORE FINDINGS ABOUT METHANE ON MARS Oct 29, 2004 - Researchers from the University of Michigan have recently published their findings about methane in the Martian atmosphere. The methane was discovered using the planetary Fourier spectrometer, which is one of seven instruments on board the ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, which was launched to Mars in 2003. The spectrometer has detected methane at an average of 10 parts per billion by volume; a very small amount compared to 1700 ppbv found here on Earth. Earth-based methane is created almost entirely by life, so the researchers hope that the same process is happening on Mars. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/methane_discovered_mars_findings.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/methane_discovered_mars_findings.html";>AOL Link</a> HIBERNATE ON A TRIP TO MARS Oct 29, 2004 - Researchers from the European Space Agency are considering ways that astronauts could hibernate on the 6-9 month trip to Mars, consuming significantly less food, air and water. The researchers have been studying mammals which hibernate, and it turns out, they do their tricks in different ways. A dormouse goes into a deep sleep; its temperature drops nearly to zero, and its metabolism is dramatically suppressed. A brown bear hibernates at almost its regular temperature, and slows its heart rate slightly, but it still doesn't need to eat or drink for 3-7 months. A chemical called DADLE has been able to induce a hibernation-like slowdown in rats. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/hibernate_trip_mars.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/hibernate_trip_mars.html";>AOL Link</a> DETAILED IMAGE OF TITAN'S SURFACE Oct 29, 2004 - This image of Titan was taken when Cassini reached the closest point of its flyby on October 26. At this point, it was only 1,600 km (994 miles) above the surface of Titan. The brighter areas are thought to be rougher terrain on the surface, while the darker areas are probably smoother; the interconnected dark spots could be lakes. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/detailed_image_titan_surface.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/detailed_image_titan_surface.html";>AOL Link</a> BOOK REVIEW: SPACE TOURISM - DO YOU WANT TO GO? Oct 28, 2004 - Today is only a short moment from the future. To get there from here, you can follow a preset path that leaves little margin or opportunity for error. Another route is to strike out on your own toward a destination that has few signposts showing the way. John Spencer and Karen Rugg are heading in a very new direction and in their book Space Tourism - Do You Want to Go?, they present a comprehensive, near term space industry focused entirely on space tourism. After all, the future is what you make of it. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/book_review_space_tourism.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/book_review_space_tourism.html";>AOL Link</a> MOST ACTIVE SUN IN 8,000 YEARS Oct 28, 2004 - The Sun is more active today than it has been in 8,000 years, according to new research from the Max Planck Institute. Researchers discovered that a certain isotope of carbon, C-14, depends on the amount of cosmic rays that reach the Earth's surface. When solar activity is high, the Sun's magnetic field provides a shield against these cosmic rays, and when it's low, the Sun lets more cosmic rays reach the Earth. By measuring C-14 levels in dead trees which were buried in the ground, the scientists were able to build up a historic record of solar activity. Scientists have found that solar activity levels only slightly influence the Earth's climate and global temperature. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/most_active_sun_8000_years.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/most_active_sun_8000_years.html";>AOL Link</a> SURVIVOR FOUND FROM TYCHO'S SUPERNOVA Oct 28, 2004 - Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have located what they think is the burned out star at the heart of Tycho's Supernova Remnant, which exploded in 1572. This discovery provides the first direct evidence that these kind of supernovae, called Type 1a, occur when a white dwarf consumes material from a binary companion until it reaches a certain point and explodes. They discovered the star, which is similar to our own Sun, because it's moving away from the explosion three times faster than other objects in the region - it was sling shotted away when its dancing partner vapourized. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/tycho_supernova_survivor.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/tycho_supernova_survivor.html";>AOL Link</a> FALSE COLOUR IMAGE OF TITAN Oct 27, 2004 - This image of Titan was taken yesterday during Cassini's 1,200 km (750 mile) flyby past its surface. It's actually a false colour image of the moon, built by merging together four images taken in different wavelengths of light. The red and green colours show areas revealed in infrared light, and the blue is ultraviolet wavelengths. Full colour visible light images are still in processing, and should be released later this week. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/false_colour_image_titan.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/false_colour_image_titan.html";>AOL Link</a> COSMIC CORKSCREW Oct 27, 2004 - Astrophysicists using the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array (VLA) radio observatory have revealed new details about a puzzling object called SS 433; a microquasar with bizarre corkscrew-shaped jets blasting out. SS 433 is probably a black hole or neutron star that's feeding on material from a normal companion star. Some of this material is consumed, but much of it is blasted back out at a quarter the speed of light. SS 433 wobbles like a child's top every 162 days, which causes the unusual corkscrew shape of the jets. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/cosmic_corkscrew.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/cosmic_corkscrew.html";>AOL Link</a> CASSINI SNAPS TITAN CLOSE UP Oct 27, 2004 - NASA's Cassini spacecraft swept past Titan on Tuesday, and returned the most detailed images ever taken of its surface - from an altitude of only 1,200 km (miles) above its surface. Previous attempts to see the moon's surface have been frustrating because of its thick atmosphere. Scientists still aren't sure what the various light and dark areas are; they could be solid landmasses surrounded by oceans of liquid ethane and methane. The spacecraft took more than 500 images, so they're going to take a while to completely transfer to Earth - better pictures should be revealed in the next few days. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/cassini_snaps_titan_close_up.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/cassini_snaps_titan_close_up.html";>AOL Link</a> DARK MATTER HALO PUZZLES ASTRONOMERS Oct 26, 2004 - Astronomers using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory have discovered a huge halo of dark matter around an isolated elliptical galaxy; an object that shouldn't have such a halo, according to optical observations. The galaxy, NGC 4555, is unusual that it's a large elliptical galaxy which isn't part of a larger cluster of galaxies. It's surrounded by a cloud of gas, twice the size of the galaxy itself, that's been heated to 10-million-degrees Celsius. This gas could only get that hot if it was being constrained by a halo of dark matter ten times the mass of the stars in the galaxy. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/dark_matter_halo_puzzles.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/dark_matter_halo_puzzles.html";>AOL Link</a> CASSINI CLOSES IN ON TITAN Oct 26, 2004 - NASA's Cassini spacecraft will pass only 1,200 km (745 miles) above the surface of Titan today, delivering the most detailed pictures ever taken of the mysterious, methane covered moon. This image was taken on October 24, when the spacecraft was still more than 1.2 million km (745,000 miles) away, so the view is going to get much better. The photo was taken using a special filter that allows Cassini to mostly peer through the enshrouding methane atmosphere and see some of the moon's surface features, such as the bright, continent-sized Xanadu region. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/cassini_closes_in_titan.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/cassini_closes_in_titan.html";>AOL Link</a> ----------------------------------------------------- All contents copyright (c) 2004 Universe Today -- To unsubscribe from: Universe Today - Weekly Edition (Text), just follow this link: http://www.universetoday.com/mojo/mojo.cgi?f=u&l=wk%2dtext&[EMAIL PROTECTED]&p=4996766 Click this link, or copy and paste the address into your browser.
