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| Astrojax! |
Fun on the space station and on the ground! Astrojax flew to the ISS as part of NASA's Toys in Space program. Asked whether Astojax works in space, astronaut Peggy Ann Whitson said: "Astrojax are actually a lot of fun here in space too" and went on demonstrating the toy. And it worked indeed! It kept spinning even after it was let go. Get your own Astrojax from Countdown Creations!
(Advertisement)
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| Image credit: NASA |
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| 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! (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI |
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| 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. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: NASA |
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| 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. (Full Story) |
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| 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. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: NASA/JPL |
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| 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. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: NASA |
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| 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. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: ESO |
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| 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. (Full Story) |
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| 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. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: ESA |
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| 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. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: SDSS |
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| 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. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: NASA/JPL |
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| 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. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: ESA |
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| 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. (Full Story) |
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| What's Happening on the Universe Today Forum? |
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Check out the Universe Today discussion forums and share your thoughts with other space enthusiasts. Here are a few interesting topics recently added:
Lunar Eclipse - What are your plans for the eclipse?
SETI Flawed? - Frisbee is concerned about SETI's chances for finding a signal from another planet.
Buying a Telescope - Tiny is looking to buy a telescope. Any advice?
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Copyright © 1999-2004 Universe Today, All rights reserved.
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