Posted on Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Posted on Thursday, October 24, 2013
Mission Mars India's Quest For the Red Planet by Ajey Lele
Rating 8/10
November 5th is the date when the first Indian Mars mission Mangalyaan is set to launch after having been rescheduled last week.
"Mission Mars" is a short but good introduction to the mission's architecture, goals and background.
However it is not like any other book about a satellite or spacecraft, as it has a lot of material that is related to the subject, but is of more general interest than maybe the mission itself would be.
So even though one can find out that some of it's scientific objectives include studying the topography, morphology and mineralogy of Mars surface features and the composition of the Martian atmosphere and also what kind of instruments it will be using for doing so, then there are some added gems in this book.
For example if you've never heard about something called the "Asian Space Race" , then this book would illuminate you a little. Did you know that Israel has announced that they would not be aiming at Mars in the near future while Japan, China and India are the three countries in Asia that have shown interest in Mars missions this far.
Japan launched a Mars mission called Nozomi in 1998, but that failed during the Mars insertion phase.
China attempted its first Mars mission with the Yinghuo-1 Mars orbiter, which was launched together with the Russian craft Phobos-Grunt, but the launcher failed and so didn't give the Chinese orbiter a chance to prove itself.
So now it will be ISRO's (Indian Space Research Organization) turn to have a go at Mars.
This brief book is in a way also an overview of why go to Mars at all and also why India decided on a Mars mission after their successful Chandrayaan mission. And for that Lele also describes the conditions on Mars and some of the other future mission to Mars that will be launch either in this launch window or the next one.
So despite being only 125 pages long it's surprisingly detailed and thorough. I found it a really enjoyable book.
Labels: Ajey Lele, Mangalyaan, Mission Mars
Posted on Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Comet C/2012 X1 LINEAR went through an outburst brightening from magnitude +14 to about +8.5 making it a good target for amateur astronomers. Here you can find a finder chart.
It is located in the constellation Coma Berenices and can best seen before sunrise, although if you're near latitude ca 58 degrees north you might also spot it a little after sunset.
Labels: C/2012 X1 LINEAR, comet
Posted on Wednesday, October 23, 2013
This far the largest number of planets known in a star system is eight - in our Solar system. However now the citizen science program Planet Hunters have found a seventh planet candidate in the KOI-351 system. Catching up with the Solar System.
The previous planets found come from a range of sizes, from the size of the Earth all the way up to gas giants.
What's interesting is, that all of these planets orbit the star less than 1 AU from the star, making it a really compact system and there would probably be a really awesome view to the night-sky near these planets.
It has also been shown that the system would be stable for over a 100 million years.
Planet Hunters is a way to contribute to science without being a scientist yourself. You can sign up on the zooniverse.org page and from there continue with a short tutorial where you can get all the necessary knowledge about how to find a possible exoplanet by looking at a stars light-curve.
The previous planets found come from a range of sizes, from the size of the Earth all the way up to gas giants.
What's interesting is, that all of these planets orbit the star less than 1 AU from the star, making it a really compact system and there would probably be a really awesome view to the night-sky near these planets.
It has also been shown that the system would be stable for over a 100 million years.
Planet Hunters is a way to contribute to science without being a scientist yourself. You can sign up on the zooniverse.org page and from there continue with a short tutorial where you can get all the necessary knowledge about how to find a possible exoplanet by looking at a stars light-curve.
Labels: exoplanets, KOI-351, news, Planet Hunters
Posted on Thursday, October 17, 2013
GJ 504 b is a Jovian planet orbiting the star 59 Virginis (or GJ 504) in the constellation Virgo. It was discovered in 2013.
This planet is a lot cooler (temperature-wise) than all previously imaged planets, but the more interesting part is, that now deep methane absorption in it's atmosphere has been detected. It has been rare to discover methane absorption in an exoplanet's atmosphere this far, so that this planet is one of a different kind of atmosphere than most other exoplanets this far.
This planet is a lot cooler (temperature-wise) than all previously imaged planets, but the more interesting part is, that now deep methane absorption in it's atmosphere has been detected. It has been rare to discover methane absorption in an exoplanet's atmosphere this far, so that this planet is one of a different kind of atmosphere than most other exoplanets this far.
Labels: GJ 504 b
Posted on Thursday, October 17, 2013
Yesterday, on October 16th, the largest fragment of the Chelyabinsk meteorite was raised from the bottom of the lake Chebarkul. It weighs 654 kg.
Labels: Chelyabinsk, meteorites
Posted on Sunday, October 13, 2013
Astronomers Anonymous by Steve Ringwood
Rating 7/10
"Astronomers Anonymous" is a book that seems to have all of those problems that one might have to deal with when observing the night sky. It is a compendium of letters, that have sometimes been edited for the readers entertainment and of the answers given as advice that poor amateur astronomers often dearly need. Those are the humorous parts, that mostly read like anecdotes, but then again once in a while there's an Aha-moment and you realize something like that might have happened to you.
For example have you ever had a tree blocking your view to the most exciting object you'd want to observe? Maybe it's growing in your neighbor's garden as in "Astronomers Anonymous" and you need to find a way of eliminating it discreetly?
Or perhaps you have tried to clean a rather expensive piece of astronomical equipment and unintentionally made the situation worse?
And of-course how can one keep on observing with one eye tightly shut?
If you have ever wondered about things like that, then "Astronomers Anonymous" is a great book to turn to, as it is both fun, and might give you ideas on how to solve problems that might creep up in the dark.
However if you need to find something comforting to read after getting hit by your telescope's counterbalance or after dropping an expensive eyepiece on your toe, then there can't be anything better to read, as it shows in black and white how somewhere it has been worse for someone else.
It is not just fun and games to, all of the questions also get a serious and helpful answer later on.
Labels: Astronomers Anonymous, book review, Steve Ringwood
Posted on Saturday, October 12, 2013
Check out this awesome picture taken by Stefan Hendricks during ESA's CryoSat mission in Antarctic. The whole enviornment feels as if, the picture was taken in Europa.
For more pictures from the mission check out ESA's page.
For more pictures from the mission check out ESA's page.
Labels: ESA
Posted on Saturday, October 12, 2013
Galaxy PGC 6240 depicted in the video below is located in the constellation Hydrus. It is an elliptical galaxy which has odd shells around it.
But that's not the most interesting part, as one can find images of galaxies of all sorts of shapes in the Hubble galleries.
The interesting part is that the globular clusters that form a halo around the galaxy, that are normally of the same age, are not all equally old. It is thought that both the shells around the galaxy and the differences in the ages of the globular clusters have been caused by a galactic merger in it's (astronomically) recent past.
During the merger the star systems of the two galaxies don't collide, but they interact with each other gravitationally leading stars to go into different orbits around the center of the galaxy and forming these kinds of structures as can be seen in the video. Because of the merger new globular cluster start to form as well, hence the difference in ages (The first ones started forming a long long time ago in a galaxy far away).
So in a way finding globular clusters of different ages around a galaxy let's the scientist know that something happened at around that time when the clusters started to form.
Credit: NASA & ESA. Music: movetwo. Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt
But that's not the most interesting part, as one can find images of galaxies of all sorts of shapes in the Hubble galleries.
The interesting part is that the globular clusters that form a halo around the galaxy, that are normally of the same age, are not all equally old. It is thought that both the shells around the galaxy and the differences in the ages of the globular clusters have been caused by a galactic merger in it's (astronomically) recent past.
During the merger the star systems of the two galaxies don't collide, but they interact with each other gravitationally leading stars to go into different orbits around the center of the galaxy and forming these kinds of structures as can be seen in the video. Because of the merger new globular cluster start to form as well, hence the difference in ages (The first ones started forming a long long time ago in a galaxy far away).
So in a way finding globular clusters of different ages around a galaxy let's the scientist know that something happened at around that time when the clusters started to form.
Credit: NASA & ESA. Music: movetwo. Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt
Labels: Galactic merger, PGC 6240
Posted on Saturday, October 12, 2013
A comet approaching the Sun is seen in this video. Coming from about the direction of four o'clock.
Such comets that fall into the Sun are not too rare, about a dozen do that in a year. This comet is one of the Kreutz family of comets that just don't seem to be having much fun in the Solar system and keep going for the Sun.
Luckily comet ISON is expected to survive it's approach to the Sun, as its' size (0.5 km wide) gives hope it won't evaporate completely at it's closest to the Sun.
Such comets that fall into the Sun are not too rare, about a dozen do that in a year. This comet is one of the Kreutz family of comets that just don't seem to be having much fun in the Solar system and keep going for the Sun.
Luckily comet ISON is expected to survive it's approach to the Sun, as its' size (0.5 km wide) gives hope it won't evaporate completely at it's closest to the Sun.
Labels: comet
Posted on Tuesday, October 08, 2013
The Juno spacecraft that was launched on August 5, 2011 will make a close flyby of Earth on October 9th in order to boost its speed with the gravitational assist of the Earth. It will come as close as around 560km from the Earth's surface (for comparison the ISS is at an altitude of around 330 - 410km)
After the flyby Juno will we on its way to Jupiter to study the composition, gravity field, magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere, as it will be in a polar orbit.
After the flyby Juno will we on its way to Jupiter to study the composition, gravity field, magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere, as it will be in a polar orbit.
Posted on Tuesday, October 08, 2013
This year's Nobel Prize in Physics went to Francois Englert and Peter Higgs for predicting the existence of the Higgs boson as an explanation to what gives matter its mass.
The Higgs particle was finally discovered in July 2012 at CERN.
You can watch the full announcement here:
Labels: news, nobel prize
Posted on Friday, October 04, 2013
Our Explosive Sun by Pal Brekke
Finished reading on September 25, 2013
Rating 8/10
"Our Explosive Sun" is a well-guided tour to the star that usually doesn't get much attention.
A lot of times there are these certain topics or objects that might seem utterly boring to an amateur astronomer. The Sun can easily happen to be one of them. It isn't easy to make it sound interesting, but this book has done it with the combination of wonderful images and concise but interesting text.
You'll find out about how the Sun looks like in different wavelengths and what features can be seen at those wavelengths. For example one can see the sun spots in visible light even with the naked eye well enough when the Sun is low near the horizon behind a slight haze. But for seeing such things as filaments or protuberances one has to use a filter, a hydrogen alpha filter works nice for that. However if you'd want to see the coronal holes you have to observe it in a totally different way...
But the book is not just about the ways how you can observe it using a telescope, it also tells you about all kinds of phenomena that are associated to solar activity. For example geomagnetic storms that can disrupt electrical systems and make homing pigeons lose their way because they use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation, and also auroras that one can see far up north or south and appear when there are charged particles from the Sun entering Earth's atmosphere.
This book would be a good introduction to our nearest star both for adults and children, as it has a lot of illustrations and texts that aren't too difficult to understand, but they're interesting enough for an adult as well, just as long as you don't know everything about the Sun, as it isn't really an in-depth view.
If you want to find out more about the Sun, then this is the book to turn to!
Finished reading on September 25, 2013
Rating 8/10
"Our Explosive Sun" is a well-guided tour to the star that usually doesn't get much attention.
A lot of times there are these certain topics or objects that might seem utterly boring to an amateur astronomer. The Sun can easily happen to be one of them. It isn't easy to make it sound interesting, but this book has done it with the combination of wonderful images and concise but interesting text.
You'll find out about how the Sun looks like in different wavelengths and what features can be seen at those wavelengths. For example one can see the sun spots in visible light even with the naked eye well enough when the Sun is low near the horizon behind a slight haze. But for seeing such things as filaments or protuberances one has to use a filter, a hydrogen alpha filter works nice for that. However if you'd want to see the coronal holes you have to observe it in a totally different way...
But the book is not just about the ways how you can observe it using a telescope, it also tells you about all kinds of phenomena that are associated to solar activity. For example geomagnetic storms that can disrupt electrical systems and make homing pigeons lose their way because they use the Earth's magnetic field for navigation, and also auroras that one can see far up north or south and appear when there are charged particles from the Sun entering Earth's atmosphere.
This book would be a good introduction to our nearest star both for adults and children, as it has a lot of illustrations and texts that aren't too difficult to understand, but they're interesting enough for an adult as well, just as long as you don't know everything about the Sun, as it isn't really an in-depth view.
If you want to find out more about the Sun, then this is the book to turn to!
Labels: book review, Our Explosive Sun, Pal Brekke, sun
Posted on Wednesday, October 02, 2013
Due to the government shutdown in the US most of NASA's employees will be staying home and the ones who were deemed essential, for example in Mission Control will be working without pay.
So this is the situation after having worked for 55 years. Congratulations! Hopefully NASA will be up and running soon enough as a prolonged shutdown might endanger some missions, the launch of MAVEN for example.
NASA became operational on October 1st 1958.
Labels: nasa
Posted on Wednesday, October 02, 2013
The next launch window to Mars will be occurring in the end of October - beginning of November this year. Because of that there are several Mars missions that are supposed to be launched soon enough.
One of those is the Mangalyaan mission by the Indian Space Reasearch Organisation (ISRO) that is scheduled for liftoff on October 28 form ISRO's launch site in Sriharikota, Andra Pradesh. This would be the first Mars mission for India. This mission is also going to be one of the latest dates for a launch from Sriharikota, as the monsoons makes it possibly dangerous/impossible to launch rockets at that date and later dates as well.
There is another Mars mission scheduled to launch during the same window. NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) is another orbiter mission, that is scheduled for lift-off on November 18. The US government shutdown might affect this mission if it lasts for a longer period.
Both of these missions are orbiter missions with the main aim in finding out more about Mars atmosphere. However Mangalyaan has also an important part in demonstrating the technology in development and available for ISRO.
Here's a nice trailer about the MAVEN mission:
And a news-clip about Mangalyaan:
One of those is the Mangalyaan mission by the Indian Space Reasearch Organisation (ISRO) that is scheduled for liftoff on October 28 form ISRO's launch site in Sriharikota, Andra Pradesh. This would be the first Mars mission for India. This mission is also going to be one of the latest dates for a launch from Sriharikota, as the monsoons makes it possibly dangerous/impossible to launch rockets at that date and later dates as well.
There is another Mars mission scheduled to launch during the same window. NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) is another orbiter mission, that is scheduled for lift-off on November 18. The US government shutdown might affect this mission if it lasts for a longer period.
Both of these missions are orbiter missions with the main aim in finding out more about Mars atmosphere. However Mangalyaan has also an important part in demonstrating the technology in development and available for ISRO.
Here's a nice trailer about the MAVEN mission:
And a news-clip about Mangalyaan:
Labels: isro, Mangalyaan, mars, Mars missions, MAVEN
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Previously...
Book Review: The Pillars of Creation
Book Review: Research on Teaching Astronomy in the...
Book Review: The History And Science of the Manhat...
Welcome to the Ionosphere
NASA's 2018 To Do List
Second Season of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos is H...
Webb Telescope Tested for Space and Ready for Science
Flight Through Orion Nebula in Visible and Infrare...
Book Review: Advancing Women in Science
Book Review: Superconductivity
Book Review: Research on Teaching Astronomy in the...
Book Review: The History And Science of the Manhat...
Welcome to the Ionosphere
NASA's 2018 To Do List
Second Season of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos is H...
Webb Telescope Tested for Space and Ready for Science
Flight Through Orion Nebula in Visible and Infrare...
Book Review: Advancing Women in Science
Book Review: Superconductivity
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