Aimless In Space
--J.B.S. Haldane--
Rachael - Detroit - WSU
Mad Scientist-in-Training
Clastrophysicist (Classics/Astronomy/Physics)
This is my super spectacular (mostly) space blog!! I also enjoy math, Doctor Who, Supernatural, Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist, jellyfish, Detroit, Futurama, and cats.
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making an OKcupid account
AGREED!
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The continuing saga of the coffee shop panorama!
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Last night I went to Big Horn Canyon
It’s right near the Montana/Wyoming border. I’ve never been there before, but wow, was it beautiful. I watched...
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I officially have a 2.1 degree in Classics :)
New Telescope Strategy Could Resolve Dark-Matter Mystery, Scientists Say
An intriguing hint of a certain type of gamma-ray light at the center of the Milky Way might be a product of elusive dark matter — or it might not be. For the past several years, scientists have debated whether the light is really there, and what it means. Now, researchers are petitioning the management team of NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope, the observatory that saw the light, to change its observing strategy to determine once and for all whether the signal really exists.
Saturn’s moon Epimetheus, photographed by Cassini, 3 December 2007.
Orion Nebula in Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Sulfur
The Great Orion nebula, one of the most well known deep sky objects is seen in a gorgeous new view taken by Cesar Blanco Gonzalez. Orion nebula spans approximately 40 light years, and can be found 1,500 light years away in the Orion-Cygnus Arm of the Milky Way, the same spiral arm which we reside in.
It is a very popular deep sky object for amateur astronomers and can be seen in its glory through a pair of binoculars or small telescope and is easily found just below the left side of Orion’s belt. Included in the nebula in the Horsehead Nebula and can be easily found as it is very distinguishable and resembles a horsehead which will come as no surprise.
Low sodium diet needed for dying stars to create planetary nebula
New observations of a huge star cluster, made using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), have shown that the way in which stars evolve and end their lives depends on the amount of sodium they contain.
Detailed computer models predict that stars of a similar mass to the Sun would have a period towards the ends of their lives, called the asymptotic giant branch (AGB), when they undergo a final burst of nuclear burning and puff off a lot of their mass in the form of gas and dust.
For a short period of time this ejected material is lit up by the strong ultraviolet radiation from the star and creates a planetary nebula, before forming the next generations of stars. This cycle of rebirth is vital to explain the evolving chemistry of the Universe and also provides the material required for the formation of planets, and even the ingredients for organic life.
Now, Australian stellar theory expert Simon Campbell of the Monash University Centre for Astrophysics, Melbourne, has found tantalising suggestions that some stars may not follow the rules and might skip the AGB phase entirely.
Image: The globular star cluster NGC 6752 in the southern constellation of Pavo (The Peacock)
Twisting Solar Eruption
On May 3, 2013, a magnetic “active region” on the Sun erupted in a small solar flare. This triggered a towering prominence, a huge blast of superheated plasma into space. This footage, created from ultraviolet observations by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, shows the event, compressing three hours of real time into 19 seconds.
Video: NASA/SDO/Helioviewer.org
Audio: Kevin MacLeod, “Epic Unease”, incompetech.com
Saturn is Like an Antiques Shop, Cassini Suggests
A new analysis of data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft suggests that Saturn’s moons and rings are gently worn vintage goods from around the time of our solar system’s birth.
Though they are tinted on the surface from recent “pollution,” these bodies date back more than 4 billion years. They are from around the time that the planetary bodies in our neighborhood began to form out of the protoplanetary nebula, the cloud of material still orbiting the sun after its ignition as a star. The paper, led by Gianrico Filacchione, a Cassini participating scientist at Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics, Rome, has just been published online by the Astrophysical Journal.
“Studying the Saturnian system helps us understand the chemical and physical evolution of our entire solar system,” said Filacchione. “We know now that understanding this evolution requires not just studying a single moon or ring, but piecing together the relationships intertwining these bodies.”Though they are tinted on the surface from recent “pollution,” these bodies date back more than 4 billion years. They are from around the time that the planetary bodies in our neighborhood began to form out of the protoplanetary nebula, the cloud of material still orbiting the sun after its ignition as a star. The paper, led by Gianrico Filacchione, a Cassini participating scientist at Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics, Rome, has just been published online by the Astrophysical Journal.
Light from Many Paths
The unlit side of the rings glows with scattered sunlight as two moons circle giant Saturn. The light reaching Cassini in this view has traveled many paths before being captured.
At left, Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) presents its dark side. Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across), on the far side of the rings, is lit by “Saturnshine,” or reflected sunlight coming from the planet. Saturn, in turn, is faintly lit in the south by light reflecting off the rings.
Saturn’s shadow darkens the rings, tapering off toward the left side of this view.
Peering Deep into Jupiter’s Atmosphere
The dark hot spot in this false-color image from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is a window deep into Jupiter’s atmosphere. All around it are layers of higher clouds, with colors indicating which layer of the atmosphere the clouds are in. The bluish clouds to the right are in the upper troposphere, or perhaps higher still, in the stratosphere. The reddish gyre under the hot spot to the right and the large reddish plume at its lower left are in the lower troposphere. In addition, a high, gauzy haze covers part of the frame. An annotated version of this image highlights the hot spot in the middle with an arrow and boxes around the plume and the gyre.
This image was taken on Dec. 13, 2000, by Cassini’s imaging science subsystem.
Mimas Peeks Over Saturn
Saturn and its north polar hexagon dwarf Mimas as the moon peeks over the planet’s limb. Saturn’s A ring also makes an appearance on the far right. Mimas is 246 miles (396 kilometers) across.
This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 21 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Nov. 28, 2012 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometers.
Sunlight scatters through Saturn’s rings, emerging on the unilluminated side. Prometheus (102 kilometers, or 63 miles across, lower right) and Pandora (84 kilometers, or 52 miles across, upper left) are visible here, respectively internal and external to the narrow F ring.
This view looks toward the rings from about 17 degrees above the ringplane. The planet’s shadow darkens the rings near upper left.
