Clipmarks | Astronomy Clips

Saturnian trifecta: The planet, its rings and a moon

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:38:34 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Saturn on it's "side".

On November 8, the Cassini spacecraft snapped this photo of Rhea, Saturn's second largest moon, against a backdrop of the gas giant planet and its famed rings. The spacecraft has returned countless striking images since it arrived at Saturn in 2004, but it continues to carry out exploratory science as well.

Less than a week before this snapshot was taken, Cassini plunged through a misty plume spewing from the south pole of Enceladus, another Saturnian moon. During that November 2 flyby, designed to gather data about the mysterious plume's composition, the spacecraft buzzed Enceladus at a distance of roughly 100 kilometers. For comparison, Cassini was nearly two million kilometers from Rhea when the image above was captured.

Tags: astronomy

3 Telescopes Combine for Stunning Milky Way Photo

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:50:17 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: The "click to view" link takes you to a better pic

Clip Source: www.space.com

A giant composite image of the Milky Way's center has been taken by NASA's three Great Observatories — the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

The image, unveiled by NASA today, was made to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy, 400 years after Galileo first turned his telescope to the heavens.

The pictures of our galaxy's hub combines a near-infrared view from the Hubble Space Telescope, an infrared view from the Spitzer Space Telescope, and an X-ray view from the Chandra X-ray Observatory into one multiwavelength picture.

Experts from all three observatories carefully assembled the final image from large mosaic photo surveys taken by each telescope. This composite image provides one of the most detailed views ever of our galaxy's mysterious core.

More than 150 planetariums, museums, nature centers, libraries, and schools across the country have received a giant 6-foot-by-3-foot print of the stunning image.

Tags: astronomy

Just Missed: Nov. 7th Asteroid 30x Closer Than Moon

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:44:22 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks:

It was the third-closest known (non-impacting) Earth approach on record for a cataloged asteroid.

But before you turn to another Clipmark note: THIS WAS THE SECOND ONE THIS YEAR.

The one in March 2009 was close too. Look at the stats on that one 8 months ago:

Asteroid's Near Miss A Cosmic Close Call
Heavenly Body Buzzes Earth; Comes Within 48,800 Miles

The asteroid named 2009 DD45 was about 48,800 miles from Earth. That is just twice the height of some telecommunications satellites and about a fifth of the distance to the Moon.

CNN video report on that one here.

Real footage Video of 1972 asteroid in Canada here--which actually is seen trailing then "bouncing" off earth's atmosphere.

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Asteroid passes just 8,700miles from Earth - with only 15 hours warning

Although no one noticed at the time, the Earth was almost hit by an asteroid last Friday.

The previously undiscovered asteroid came within 8,700miles of Earth but astronomers noticed it only 15 hours before it made its closest approach.

Its orbit brought it 30 times nearer than the Moon, which is 250,000 miles away.

Astronomers believe the object, called 2009 VA, would have almost completely burned up while entering Earth's atmosphere, causing a brilliant fireball in the sky but no major damage to the surface.

The asteroid was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey on November 6, 2009. It was then identified by the Minor Planet Centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts as a near Earth object.

It was the third-closest known (non-impacting) Earth approach on record for a cataloged asteroid.

Tags: asteroid, space, astronomy, near miss

Vatican looks for alien life.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:00:16 GMT

clipped by: EddieIsSteady

Clip Source: www.metro.co.uk

Vatican looks for alien life

Catholic Church explores astrobiology at conference

The Vatican has hosted a conference to study the possibility of alien life in the universe and its implication for the Catholic Church.

The study was part of events marking the UN-designated International Year of Astronomy.

Clip Source: img.metro.co.uk

Clip Source: www.metro.co.uk

The Rev Jose Gabriel Funes, director of the Vatican Observatory, said "the questions of life's origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe are very suitable and deserve serious consideration".

Funes said the possibility of alien life raises "many philosophical and theological implications" but added that the gathering was mainly focused on the scientific perspective and how different disciplines can be used to explore the issue.

This is not the first time the Vatican has explored the issue of extraterrestrials. In 2005, its observatory brought together top researchers in the field for similar discussions.

He said: "How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere.

Tags: vatican

Get this: Muslims actually contributed to science 800 years ago

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:30:23 GMT

clipped by: willhelm
clipper's remarks: And don't you freakin forget it. Funny how they are Muslim scientist, not Arab scientists.

Clip Source: entertainment.timesonline.co.uk

scientists using the Hubble space telescope reported the first sighting with visible light of a planet circling a star other than our own sun. It orbits 25 light years away around one of the brightest stars in the sky, called Fomalhaut.

Isn't that a curious name for a star? Not obviously mythological, it sounds as if it derives from some forgotten French astronomer. Not so; it is, in fact, from the Arabic fum u'l haut, meaning “mouth of the fish”. And Fomalhaut is not alone in having an Arabic derivation - there are well over 100 others, including Betelgeuse, Aldebaran and Deneb. How did the Arabs get to name stars?

The answer, as these two revealing books make clear, is that they once led the world in astronomy. Muslim scientists were mapping the heavens, and pondering our place in them, while Europeans were still gazing at the night sky with baffled awe.

Custom Essays

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:36:12 GMT

clipped by: papersunlimited
clipper's remarks: Papers Unlimited.com is a reliable paper writing service provider helping millions of students across the world with all their Term Papers, Research Reports, Custom Essays and Homework Assignment needs. If you are facing problem in preparing custom essays then our competent essay writers have the solution for you.

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Image of the Day: A Cosmic Circle of Light

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:53:06 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Unique.

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

The center of the magnificent barred spiral galaxy NGC 1512 reveals a stunning 2,400 light-year-wide circle of infant star clusters. Astronomers generally believe that the giant bar, which is too faint to be seen in this image, funnels the gas to the inner ring, where massive stars are formed within numerous star clusters. NGC 1512 Located 30 million light-years away, is a neighbor of our Milky Way galaxy.

Tags: astronomy

A Spectacular Starburst Galaxy

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:00:38 GMT

clipped by: EddieIsSteady

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

Image of the Day: A Spectacular Starburst Galaxy

N 2403 is a showy face-on spiral starburst galaxy in Camelopardalis- The Giraffe, with numerous many bright emission nebulae which can be seen as bright pink regions in the spiral arms. This galaxy is estimated to be around 12 million light years away.

The galaxy is the home of numerous Wolf-Rayet stars are evolved, massive stars (over 20 solar masses), which are losing mass rapidly by means of a very strong stellar wind, with speeds up to 2000 km/s. Wolf-Rayet stars are very hot, with surface temperatures in the range of 25,000 K to 50,000 K. It is believed that the star in the galaxy NGC 2770 that exploded into a supernova on January 9, 2008 — SN 2008D, the first supernova ever observed in the act of exploding — was a Wolf-Rayet star

Tags: astronomy, science

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Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:14:53 GMT

clipped by: papersunlimited
clipper's remarks: We are a group of writers having at minimum a Master’s Degree in assorted fields, and for over 7 Years we have been providing assistance to Students.

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3,000 images combine for Milky Way portrait.

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:30:00 GMT

clipped by: EddieIsSteady

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

3,000 images combine for Milky Way portrait

Panoramic image shows stars 1,000 times fainter than human eye can see

A new panoramic image of the full night sky — with the Milky Way as its centerpiece — has been made by piecing together 3,000 individual photographs.

The panorama's creator, Axel Mellinger of Central Michigan University, spent 22 months and traveled over 26,000 miles to take digital photographs at dark sky locations in South Africa, Texas and Michigan.

"This panorama image shows stars 1,000 times fainter than the human eye can see, as well as hundreds of galaxies, star clusters and nebulae," Mellinger said.

To combine these images, a simple cutting and pasting job would not suffice. Each photograph is a two-dimensional projection of the celestial sphere.

Mellinger describes the image-making process in the November issue of the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

The result is an image of our home galaxy that no star-gazer could ever see

Tags: astronomy, science

GRB 090423 - the most distant known object in the Universe

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:57:01 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: via chestnut501 http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/B59F45DC-4C41-47C7-8E47-E06B1F83D4EB/

Clip Source: www.star.le.ac.uk

In this week's edition of the science journal Nature, two international teams of astronomers report their observations of the most distant object yet seen in the Universe. Dubbed GRB 090423, the record-breaker is an example of a gamma-ray burst, the brightest and most violent explosions known to exist. The explosion is thought to accompany the catastrophic death of a very massive star as it ended its life, and is triggered by the centre of the star collapsing to form a black hole.

"This observation allows us to begin exploring the last blank space on our map of the Universe", said Professor Nial Tanvir, who led one of the teams.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Nature press notice

GRB 090423 background FAQ

Figures from paper

Tags: astronomy, nature, science, universe

Where Are You Hiding Planet X, Dr. Brown?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:31:46 GMT

clipped by: nuttyriv3r

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Ian O'Neill: Hehe, that's good! I've been writing about the non-existence of an Earth-killing Planet X for the last 2 years, and I still get hate mail because I say the thing doesn't exist!

Mike Brown: I sometimes get hate mail because people are convinced it does exists and I discovered it and therefore the destruction of the Earth is really all my fault. I only WISH I had that much power.

Ian O'Neill: Lol! That's an interesting twist! So you're not hiding the existence of Planet X then? ;) Or should I say "Nibiru".

It is very hard to convince someone who thinks that there is a conspiracy that you are not part of the conspiracy. I really, really wish there were a Planet X and that I had discovered it. That would have been serious fun.

Ian O'Neill: When you discovered Eris, did it cross your mind that it *might* have been the fabled Planet X?

this thing was big -- bigger than Pluto, even -- but it was also clear that it was not the Planet X of legend.

Tags: 2012 hoax, astronomy, dwarf planets, eris, nibiru, planet x, pluto, pop science

Diminishing Returns!

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:09:54 GMT

clipped by: CulturalEngineer
clipper's remarks: An astronomical example of how scale can change encouraging environments to discouraging ones... (what does this have to do with governance or economics?)

Clip Source: www.sciencenews.org

Giant galaxy graveyard grows

Galaxies that group together tend to switch off each others’ star formation, “bringing a flourishing galaxy into a dead one,”

Astronomers think that grouped galaxies speed up, stripping away their neighbors’ hot gas, the raw material for forming stars. When galaxies cluster, “there is always a threshold when groups go from an encouraging environment to a suffocating environment,” Finoguenov says.

Tanaka’s team identified tens of clumps of galaxies surrounding CL0016+16, some of which are up to a thousand times more massive than the Milky Way.

And most of those galaxies are either dead or dying, meaning they’re not making new stars. The tremendous gravitational pull of the central cluster is drawing in other galaxies, which will eventually cease star formation in the growing galactic graveyard.

Tags: economics, politics, science, astronomy

Astronomers See 'Skeleton' of the Universe

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:09:34 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Viewed through the world's most powerful telescopes, the discovery "is the first observation of such a prominent galaxy structure in the distant universe, providing further insight into the cosmic web and how it formed," according to a statement by the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

The assembly of galaxies form filaments "millions of light years long and constitute the skeleton of the universe," it says.

"Galaxies gather around them, and immense galaxy clusters form at their intersections, lurking like giant spiders waiting for more matter to digest," it adds.

The filaments are located about 6.7 billion light-years away and extend over at least 60 million light-years, the scientists say, adding the structure very likely stretches beyond the area they probed, warranting further observations.

"This is the first time that we have observed such a rich and prominent structure in the distant universe," says ESO's Masayuki Tanaka, who led the study.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

(Source: ESO/Subaru/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan/M Tanaka)" />

The galaxies located in the newly discovered structure are shown in red, those in front or behind are shown in blue (Source: ESO/Subaru/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan/M Tanaka)

Tags: astronomy-space, telescopes, the-universe

Strong Leonid Meteor Shower Expected Nov. 17

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:10:34 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Seems to cloud over here every time one of these events comes up.

Clip Source: www.space.com

Circle Nov. 17 on your calendar, for early that morning a moderate to possibly very strong showing of annual Leonid meteor shower is likely.

The very strong display will favor those living across most of central and eastern Asia. In this region, meteor rates might briefly rise to a few hundred per hour (the time frame for the most intense activity is anticipated sometime around 21:40 GMT).

A far more modest, but still potentially enjoyable display of a few dozen Leonid meteors per hour is expected to favor North America. In the United States and Canada, eastern observers will be particularly well-positioned for maximum activity, expected sometime between 3:30 and 5:30 a.m. EST, when the radiant of the Leonid shower will be well up in the dark southeastern sky.

The Leonid radiant is within the so-called "Sickle" of Leo; a backwards question-mark pattern of stars that outlines the head and mane of the constellation Leo, the Lion. Hence the meteors are known as "Leonids."

Tags: astronomy