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| Astronaut Backpack |
This backpack features an astronaut design that also pictures space shuttles, rockets and planets. Made from durable nylon fabric, it includes two zippered compartments with interior storage pockets. Measures 15x12x7 inches, it is sized for young students (preschool through 2nd grade). Tough and durable, for many trips to school, grandma's house, or the moon and back! Order now from Countdown Creations!
(Advertisement)
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| Image credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF |
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| What's Up This Week - Nov 22 - 28, 2004 |
Nov 22, 2004 - Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! For those of you who like observing challenges, this week will provide many interesting opportunities to view occultations of bright stars by asteroids as well as three observable comets. We will explore lunar features for both binoculars and telescopes and look into "The Eye of the Bull". Although the Moon goes full this week, we can still have fun by learning to observe satellite passes and even chase the ISS! We will begin an in-depth look at the constellation of Cassiopeia by viewing and discussing some of its bright double stars and a galactic cluster. Just as predictable as the morning planets, there's always something fun to do, a bit of history and things to learn. So open your eyes...
Because here's what's up! (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: Chandra |
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| Supermassive Black Holes Early On |
| Nov 22, 2004 - Astronomers now believe that all large galaxies have a supermassive black hole at their centre, but it was believed that these black holes formed after the galaxy. The evidence is starting to point the other way, that these black holes formed soon after the Big Bang, and then the galaxies built up around them. New observations from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory show a distant quasar that formed less than a billion years after the Big Bang, and was already producing the same amount of energy as twenty trillion Suns. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: NASA/JPL |
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| Rhea Shows Off a Big Impact |
| Nov 22, 2004 - Cassini took this image of Rhea, Saturn's second largest moon, on October 24, 2004 when it was about 1.7 million km (1 million miles) away. The photo clearly shows a bright bright impact crater near its eastern limb. Cassini will get another view of Rhea in January 2005 - but with 10 times better resolution - just after it releases the Huygens probe which will land on Titan. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: Boeing |
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| Swift Launches to Search for Cosmic Explosions |
| Nov 20, 2004 - After several days of delays, NASA's Swift observatory was finally launched Saturday at 1716 UTC (12:16 pm EST) atop a Boeing Delta II rocket. Swift's job will be to scan the heavens for elusive Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs), which astronomers think could be the birth cries of new black holes. GRBs are short-lived, lasting only seconds - a few minutes at most. Swift can locate an explosion, and turn the entire spacecraft in about a minute to focus sensitive instruments on the fading afterglow. If everything works as planned, the spacecraft should be able to find more than 100 of these explosions every year. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: ESA |
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| Atacama Desert From Space |
| Nov 19, 2004 - This is a satellite photograph of one of the driest places on Earth: Chile's Atacama Desert, which only sees rain two to four times a century. The picture was taken by the European Space Agency's Envisat Earth observation satellite, using its Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS). There are even some spots in the desert where rainfall has never been recorded. Plants and animals and even people are forced to harvest water from the air itself, which sometimes forms a light fog. The European Southern Observatory is located in this desert, because of its high altitude and clear, dry air. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: ST&R |
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| Space Elevator? Build it on the Moon First |
| Nov 18, 2004 - Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke famously predicted that we'd see space elevators 50 years after people stopped laughing at the idea. Jerome Pearson has been thinking about space elevators since the early 1970s, and he's been watching the growing enthusiasm (and fading chuckles) with great interest. But he knows there are significant challenges in engineering and materials that still need to be overcome, so he's suggesting NASA build an elevator on the Moon first. And the agency is taking the idea seriously. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: NASA |
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| Life's There, You Just Need to Dig |
| Nov 18, 2004 - Scientists believed they'd finally reached the limits of microbial life with the heart of the Atacama desert in Chile. This desert is so dry, parts of it only receive one rainfall every decade or so, and NASA uses it as a model for the search for life on Mars. But researchers from the University of Arizona have discovered that life's here too. They dug up soil samples from 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12 inches) below ground, and then added completely sterile water and let the samples sit for 10 days. They were then able to grow unusual bacteria from the samples and analyze their DNA. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: ESO |
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| How Did the First Stars Form? |
| Nov 18, 2004 - Early star formation is a bit of a puzzle for astronomers, since all the stars that we can see formed out of molecular gas and dust, which are produced in stars. How did the first ones form without any gas and dust? One class of galaxies, called Blue Dwarf Galaxies may offer some clues. They contain interstellar clouds which are similar to the material that would have been present in the early Universe. And these galaxies can have active regions of furious star formation. New research from the European Southern Observatory has targeted one of these Blue Dwarfs to try and understand the process better. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: MIT |
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| Magnetic Bubble Could Protect Astronauts on Long Trips |
| Nov 17, 2004 - It�s the year 2027 and NASA�s Vision for Space Exploration is progressing right on schedule. The first interplanetary spacecraft with humans aboard is on course for Mars. However, halfway into the trip, a gigantic solar flare erupts, spewing lethal radioactive protons directly at the spacecraft. But, not to worry. Research by former astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman and a group of MIT colleagues back in the year 2004 ensured that this vehicle has a state-of-the-art superconducting magnetic shielding system that protects the human occupants from any deadly solar emissions. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: NASA |
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| NASA Scramjet Hits Mach 9.8 |
| Nov 17, 2004 - The X-43A scramjet broke its own world record for air breathing engines on Tuesday, when it traveled at nearly 10 times the speed of sound. The prototype scramjet aircraft was dropped from a B-52 aircraft, and then boosted to Mach 4 by a Pegasus rocket. The aircraft detached from the rocket and then accelerated up to Mach 9.8 (11,265 kph or 7,000 mph). This flight was the last in a series of three test flights by NASA in the development of its Hyper-X program, which explores alternatives to rocket power for access to space. (Full Story) |
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| Image credit: ESA |
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| SMART-1 Goes Into Lunar Orbit |
| Nov 16, 2004 - The European Space Agency's SMART-1 spacecraft is no longer orbiting the Earth... it's orbiting the Moon! The spacecraft has been slowly raising its orbit using its efficient ion engine, and yesterday it passed within 5,000 km (3,100 miles) of the Moon, using its gravity to shift the spacecraft's trajectory. Its engine will now fire for 4 days straight to complete the orbital maneuver. It will continue lowering its orbit around the Moon until mid-January, when it'll get as close as 300 km (186 miles) and begin a scientific study. (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:
Dobsonian Problem - Menikmati needs some troubleshooting help.
Fiscal Responsibility - What project makes sense next?
First Saturn Shot - messier*man's first photograph of the ringed giant.
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