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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? Oct. 25 - 31, 2004 Oct 25, 2004 - Greetings, fellow sky watchers! As October ends, we have another exciting week in astronomy for you. This week's highlight is a total eclipse of the Moon! On October 27/28 our "nearest astronomical neighbor" will slide quietly into the Earth's dark cone of shadow called the umbra, providing most of us from Europe through North America with an inspiring view - but that's not all. There will also be many other great things to explore this week such as lunar features Tycho, Grimaldi, Langrenus, Mare Crisium and Hercules. We'll locate the 12th brightest star in the sky and do a "double take" as we learn about Albireo. Rich star cluster, M45 is waiting on you to explore with binoculars, telescopes -- or just your eyes and imagination. There's a little history here and a lot of fun. Now it's time to mark your calendars... Because here's what's up! http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/whats_up_oct_25_2004.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/whats_up_oct_25_2004.html";>AOL Link</a> Interview: Dennis Wingo, Author of Moonrush Oct 25, 2004 - Last week, Mark Mortimer reviewed Dennis Wingo's new book, Moonrush - Improving Life on Earth with the Moon's Resources, about the prospects of getting our future materials from space. Well, we had a few more questions for Wingo, about property rights, related projects here on Earth, and the possibility that we could wreck our environment so badly that getting into space is totally out of reach. Read on for this bonus interview with Dennis Wingo. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/interview_dennis_wingo.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/interview_dennis_wingo.html";>AOL Link</a> Cassini's First Titan Flyby Tomorrow Oct 25, 2004 - NASA's Cassini spacecraft will make its first close approach tomorrow to Titan, Saturn's largest moon. The spacecraft will skim within only 1,200 km (745 miles) of the moon's atmosphere, which should allow its radar to penetrate through its thick methane atmosphere and reveal details about its surface. Scientists have theories, but they really have no idea exactly what Cassini is going to discover; whether it's covered in ancient craters, or there are ongoing geologic processes that are reshaping its surface continuously. Cassini will also gather data about Huygens' potential landing site when it arrives at the moon in a couple of months. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/cassini_first_titan_flyby_tomorrow.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/cassini_first_titan_flyby_tomorrow.html";>AOL Link</a> Expedition 9 Lands Safely Oct 24, 2004 - The ninth crew to man the International Space Station safely returned to Earth on Saturday. Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA Science Officer Mike Fincke landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan after being in space for 188 days - Russian test pilot Yuri Shargin was also along for the return trip to Earth (he was only in space for a little more than a week). After a few weeks of medical tests and debriefings, the team will travel to Houston for further post-flight activites. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/expedition_9_lands.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/expedition_9_lands.html";>AOL Link</a> Review: Moonwatch Oct 22, 2004 - Firefly has just published a package, Moonwatch - A Complete Starter Pack for the Lunar Observer that shows they're already into the Christmas season. Three great aids for viewing Earth's moon are within this sharp looking, light cardboard enclosure. These are; a book, a moon map and a sheet of photographs. As written on the package's front, together these make a comprehensive, complete starter pack for lunar observing. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/book_review_moonwatch.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/book_review_moonwatch.html";>AOL Link</a> Spirit Steering Problem Returns Oct 22, 2004 - NASA engineers thought that a steering problem on Spirit had cleared up, since they hadn't seen it in almost two weeks. Well, it's back. The glitch first appeared on Oct. 1, and forced the rover to stay put for 5 days while engineers searched for the cause. It went away after that, and returned again on Oct. 13. Engineers are now considering workarounds that would get the rover driving again, such as disabling the brakes on the steering actuator that keeps the misbehaving wheel pointed properly. This means the freely turning wheel might give the rover some difficulty as it negotiates rough terrain. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/spirit_steering_problem_returns.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/spirit_steering_problem_returns.html";>AOL Link</a> Frame Dragging Confirmed Oct 22, 2004 - When developing his General Theory of Relativity, Albert Einstein predicted that the Earth should drag space and time around with it as it rotates on its axis. NASA's Gravity Probe B spacecraft was launched earlier this year to help confirm this prediction, but an international team of researchers has beaten the spacecraft to a conclusion. By carefully tracking the position of the LAGEOS and LAGEOS 2 satellites - beachball-sized spheres covered in mirrors - they discovered that their orbit is being shifted by about two metres a year by this dragging effect by the Earth's gravity, almost exactly what was predicted by Einstein. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/frame_dragging_confirmed.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/frame_dragging_confirmed.html";>AOL Link</a> The Virgo Galaxy Cluster is Still Being Formed Oct 22, 2004 - At a distance of only 50 million light-years away, the Virgo Cluster is the nearest galaxy cluster to us. It's a giant structure consisting of hundreds of galaxies, both large and small, spiral and elliptical; 16 objects in this cluster are members of the famous Messier list of space objects. Astronomers have located a large number of planetary nebula floating in the "intercluster" space between galaxies, and theorize that they must be a fraction of the free floating stars and other objects which swarm around the cluster. By measuring the path of these objects, astronomers have been able to track how the Virgo Cluster is still in the process of formation. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/virgo_galaxy_cluster_still_forming.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/virgo_galaxy_cluster_still_forming.html";>AOL Link</a> Book Review: Moonrush Oct 21, 2004 - The end of the world will occur. This is certain. Some think that it'll happen within a fairly short time for the human race. Dennis Wingo has his own view of this upcoming doomsday event. But he also provides in Moonrush - Improving Life on Earth with the Moon's Resources a well supported plan to save the human race. Superman, eat your heart out, there are others who are working to prevent the end of the world. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/book_review_moonrush.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/book_review_moonrush.html";>AOL Link</a> Huygens Will Listen For Thunderstorms Oct 21, 2004 - One of the six scientific instruments on board the European Space Agency's Huygens probe is a tiny microphone designed to help scientists listen for lightning strikes as the spacecraft descends through the atmosphere of Saturn's moon, Titan. Huygens is scheduled to arrive at Titan on January 14, 2005, after it's released by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. If Huygens actually passes through a storm, the microphone should actually be able to pick up the sound of liquid methane rain splashing against the spacecraft's casing. If the probe does find thunderstorms, this could indicate that they're part of the process that helps create the organic molecules detected in the moon's atmosphere. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/huygens_listen_thunderstorms.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/huygens_listen_thunderstorms.html";>AOL Link</a> Arizona Telescope Turned Into a Robot Oct 20, 2004 - Engineers have finished converting a telescope in Arizona into a robot. The Peters Automated Infrared Imaging Telescope (PAIRITEL), based at the Fred L. Whipple Observatory at Mt. Hopkins, Arizona will now be used to analyze gamma ray bursts (GRBs) and other short-lived events. PAIRITEL will receive alerts from NASA's Swift spacecraft, which will detect GRBs from any part of the sky. In under 2 minutes, it'll automatically be focused on the region where the GRB happened, and then start watching to see how events unfold after the explosion. This should give astronomers plenty of data to help understand what causes these enormous explosions. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/arizona_telescope_robot.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/arizona_telescope_robot.html";>AOL Link</a> Mystery Object in the Milky Way's Halo Oct 20, 2004 - The Milky Way is a messy eater. When it collides with other galaxies and consumes them, it leaves shredded collections of stars around called dwarf galaxies. Astronomers poring through the data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey have found what they think could be a new dwarf galaxy. This new object, called Willman 1, is dim: 200 times less luminous than any other nearby dwarf galaxy. Further observations could validate the theory that the Milky Way is surrounded by clumps of dark matter, each of which has a dwarf galaxy in their centre. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/mystery_object_milky_way_halo.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/mystery_object_milky_way_halo.html";>AOL Link</a> Some Stars Take an Erratic Journey Oct 20, 2004 - Our Solar System takes a very consistent journey as it completes an orbit around the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, similar to the way our Earth goes around the Sun. But astronomers from the European Space Agency have used the Hipparcos space-based observatory to find stars which don't stay put in the galaxy. Instead, these rogue stars will travel on a more erratic path, perhaps given a kick by the denser leading edge of the Milky Way's spiral arms. These kinds of stars account for 20% of stars within 1000 light-years of the Sun, so it's a very common situation. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/stars_travel_up_and_down_galaxy.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/stars_travel_up_and_down_galaxy.html";>AOL Link</a> Early Solar System Was a Mess Oct 19, 2004 - Brand new planetary systems take much longer to form than previously thought, according to new data gathered by the Spitzer Space Telescope - and it's a nasty, chaotic period. Researchers pointed Spitzer at 71 dusty disks which are new planets in the making, and found that many seem choked with dust, hundreds of millions of years after the host star formed. The only way this could be possible is if mountain range-sized planetesimals were continuously crashing into each other on the long hard road to full sized planethood. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/early_solar_system_was_mess.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/early_solar_system_was_mess.html";>AOL Link</a> Edge of Huygens Crater Oct 19, 2004 - The European Space Agency's Mars Express took this image of the rim of impact crater Huygens, which is 450 km (280 miles) across. By counting craters in the area, researchers have determined that Huygens was blasted out approximately 4 billion years ago, early on in Mars' history when the planet was being heavily bombarded like the rest of the planets in the Solar System. The rim seems to show a tributary system that could have been water runoff in the ancient Martian past. http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/edge_huygens_crater.html <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/edge_huygens_crater.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.
