Volcanoes outside the Solar System

Volcanoes are prevalent inside the Solar System - and not just on Earth. Venus has them, so do some of the moons of Jupiter, and Mars had them. But can we detect volcanoes outside our Solar System? According to this study, it is possible. Wow.

The Everbrightening Supernova Remnant

Did you think that the light from explosions decreases with time? That makes sense, right? Think again. Recent optical (Hubble), radio, and X-ray images of SN1987a have found that is getting brighter with time. The reason why is that, as the material ejected in this explosion expands, it sweeps up more and more of the surrounding material, heating them up such that they emit light in these wavelengths. In fact, very recently the ejecta collided with dense gas released by the star about 20-30 years before it exploded, causing it to light up. Go here to read more. Enjoy!

Solar Flares and You

Solar flares are pretty much known to cause aurorae, power outages, satellite problems, etc. But they can change how elements decay? Really? Apparently so. Go here to read more. So weird....

The Age of the Solar System

Maybe a little bit higher than previously thought. Go here to read about the latest measurement.

The End of the Lone Astronomer

At least according to this book. I'm not too sure of this, but it is an interesting argument.

How strong is Gravity?

As explained here, we don't know the answer to this question as much as we would like.

Ouch! The Light!

Please don't shine it at my telescope, it hurts. Go here to read about the latest problem regarding light pollution.

Elliptical Crater

Huh? Go here to see a stunningly weird picture from Mars.

How to make a supermassive black hole

Apparently, the recipe is:
Step 1 - Crash two galaxies together
Step 2 - Wait for the two smaller black holes at the center of these galaxies to merge together, during which time lots of gas falls into them.
Step 3 - Go to Step 1.

Figuring this out was not as simple as it looks. Go here,
here, and here, and here to learn more.

A WISE picture

Well, at least a picture taken by the WISE satellite. Go here to see the very pretty picture. Enjoy!

Poor Jupiter

Hit by another asteroid. Well, I guess that is the downside of being the most massive planet in the Solar System. Go here to read about it and see the damage.

Pulsars and the Solar System

Pulsars are the most common type of neutron stars, objects more massive than the Sun but about the size of your favorite major city. The Solar System is well, our Solar System. How can you use one to study the other? Gravity. Go here to read how.

Asteroids giving birth

To a baby asteroid, of course. Mainly by budding - i.e. spinning so rapidly some rocks shoot off and orbit the parent. So cute! Go here and here and here to learn more.

SOFIA

Well, I posted a link to an editorial essentially blasting NASA's SOFIA project. Here is an article describing all the pretty impressive science it will hopefully accomplish. Enjoy!

The Sun and You

Not surprisingly, activity of the Sun has a large impact on the properties of the Earth. The most prominent example are solar flares, which cause aurorae and can significantly damage satellites. A less prominent, but just as important example, is the uppermost atmosphere, which is ionized by UV radiation from the Sun. Not surprisingly, as UV radiation from the Sun drops, so does the thickness of this layer. To learn more, go here. Enjoy!

Double trouble

Kepler recently discovered not one but two transiting planets orbiting the same star. Now, this isn't that surprising - many stars with multiple planets have long been identified (e.g. our Sun and Solar System), and since transiting planets are a result of favorable geometry (the planets happen to pass between us and their central star) and most planets orbit a star in the plane on the sky (one important reason why Pluto is no longer considering a planet by most astronomers). one would even expect this to happen. It is cool, never the less. Read more about it here and
here and here and here and here, with an audio report (courtesy of NASA) here.

The Sun is really just another star

Now, while that is far from a provocative statement, it is always nice to get confirmation that other stars are truly like the Sun. Go here to read about how this is the case.

U2 and NASA make a video

Go here to look at the final results. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!

7 Little Planets orbitting one star

How like the Solar System you are! (Sort of.) Go here and here to learn more.

How is a black hole like a Volcano?

Go here to find out.

Another possible site...

.. where life could have possibly maybe might have existed on Mars way back when. Go here for more information.

The moon is shrinking!

Well it is. Very slowly. Because it is still cooling from its formation. Go here and here to read why astronomers think this is the case.

Ancient star formation

Go here to read how galaxies in some of the earliest known galaxy clusters in the universe are producing stars at a much higher rate than now. Interesting...

Dawn on an asteroid

Literally. NASA's Dawn satellite will hopefully land on the asteroid Vesta soon. Go here to read more, or listen to it here. Enjoy!

The nature of dark energy

Astronomers have used many different methods to try and figure out the nature of dark energy: the mysterious substance comprising roughly 70% of the total energy in the universe and responsible for accelerating its expansion. These including measuring the distance to Type Ia supernovae, measuring the mass of galaxy clusters, the clumping of galaxies, and not strong lensing of more distant galaxies by nearby galaxy clusters. Read more about it here and here and here. Hopefully all these methods keep on agreeing.

The highest energy cosmic rays...

...might be atomic nuclei, not protons as previously thought, meaning they originate inside the Milky Way as opposed to the other, nearby galaxies. Go here to learn more.

Measuring the mass of a neutron star

Go here to read about a unique opportunity to measure the mass of a neutron star, and hopefully learn most about the state of matter in these incredible dense balls. For more information on this topic, listen to this interview with Tod Strohmayer of NASA, who works on RXTE - the satellite that discovered this system.

Cosmic Waves

When massive stars forms, they generate powerful winds which stream through their surroundings. Just like winds on Earth generate waves as they flow over water, these stellar waves apparently form waves in the surrounding gas which were recently observed. You can read more about it here, watch a video showing it here, and in its full scientific glory here.

How much mass do you need....

... for a star to form a black hole? Well, apparently more than previously thought.
When massive stars run out of fuel, their Iron core collapses under its own gravity and turns into a neutron star. If the energy released in this collapse is enough to expel the outer layers of the star, you are left with a neutron star. If too much more material falls onto the neutron star before the released energy blows away the rest of the star, you have a black hole. Stars with an initial mass more that 40 times that of the Sun were expected to be well above the threshold where you make a black hole. However, nature appears to have other ideas, as you can read about here and here and here. Maybe such stars lose enough mass before they explode that the initial collapse is sufficient. Hopefully we'll find out soon.

Colliding Planets!

Imagine you have two stars in a close orbit around each other. Now, imagine each star has some planets orbiting them. What happens next? Planet fight! A planet's orbit in such a configuration is highly unlikely to be stable, so these planets are likely to collide with each other. When they do, this collision will form a lot of dust, which emits infrared light - similar to what was observed from a double star binary system. Go here and here to read more about it, and here to look at some nice artist renditions. Isn't the universe grand?

The origins of the Earth

Read more about it here. Interesting.

The edge of the Solar System

is a very mysterious place, as further revealed by the IBEX mission. Read more about the latest mysteries here.

New Arrival on Venus

The Japanese satellite Akatsuki will arrive in Venus shortly to study this cloud enshrouded planet. Go here or listen to this NASA report to learn more about it.

One of these galaxies is not like the other...

An elliptical galaxy, which typically have no dust, with a prominent dust lane. Who order that? Read more about it here and here.

Stop that Star!

It is stealing that planet's moon! Go here to read more.

Why did Sun stop making Sun Spots?

Because of changes beneath its surface? Possibly. Go here to read more.

Asteroids trapped by Neptune...

... where the gravitation attraction by Neptune and the Sun balance out to form a "trap" of sorts. Go here to read more.

Gamma-rays from a Nova

Not supernovae, which are the result of either a white dwarf blowing up or the core of a massive star collapsing upon itself, but a nova - a flash of light resulting from Hydrogen fusion beginning on the surface of a white dwarf resulting from material falling onto it from a companion star. The detection of gamma-rays means that particles are accelerated to really high energies in these explosions, just like in supernovae. Go here and here and here to learn more. Enjoy!

Mountains on Titan

Mountains on the Earth form from continental plates colliding with each other. Mountains on Saturn's moon, Titan? Well, it has to be something different because it has no plates. So what is it? Well, this moon appears to be shrinking ever so slightly as it cools, wrinkling the surface and forming mountains. Go here and here to read more.

Digging for Dark Matter

Not because it is concentrated deep underground, but because it can penetrate that far and little else can. Go here to read about a new type of experiment designed to detect these mysterious particles believed to make up 25% of the universe.

One Ring to Surround Them All

GALEX, an ultraviolet satellite, recently discovered rings of ultraviolet light (only produced by young, massive stars) around the core of galaxies which show no sign of ongoing star formation. Go here and here and here to read what is going on!

Awwww... So Cute....

Baby stars. Discovered in a survey of the nearest galaxy to the Milky Way, the Large Magellanic Clouds, as you can read here and here. Enjoy!

The Devil on Mars

Well, a dust devil at least. Enjoy!.

Space dust

Some pieces of genuine space dust were identified in the thousands of particles captured by the Stardust mission. Go here to read more. Neat!

3D view of a Supernova Explosion

Thanks to the Doppler Effect, the wavelength of light observed from an object moving relative to us is shifted depending on its velocity. Using this technique, astronomers were recently able to measure the velocity of the innermost gas ejected in a very nearby supernova explosion SN1987a, probing exactly how this star exploded in the first place. Read more about it here and here. Very exciting stuff!

Please don't twinkle light star

You really ruin the quality of my astronomy image. Ordinarily this would mean getting rid of the atmosphere (in general a bad thing) or building a telescope above it (e.g. Hubble), but people are developing techniques to take the twinkle out using something called "adaptive optics". Go here to read about a recent breakthrough in this technique.

Colliding Galaxies!

See a very pretty picture of such a collision here and here.

The Sun's Dark Heart

Well, at least according to this article. While it is entirely true that the Sun should have gravitational captured some dark matter particles - assuming, of course, that dark matter is truly composed of massive fundamental particles as currently believed but not yet proven - over its lifetime, but to say this is cooling the Sun's core is more than a bit extreme and speculative. Interesting idea though.

Saturn's heartbeat

Just like the Earth, Saturn powers a strong magnetic field. And just like the Earth's particles trapped in this magnetic field both emit radio waves as well as optical light (called aurora) when they enter the atmosphere. Saturn's radio emission as observed from Earth is pulsed due to its rotation, and it now turns out that its aurorae are pulsed with the same period and phase. Read more about it here.

Mimicking the Moon's Surface

on the Earth by smashing ions (charged particles, similar to those that fill the Sun's solar wind) into rocks (like the Moon's surface). You can read more about it here.

As dry as the Moon

Is actually pretty dry, at least below the surface. Go here to read more.

Next Mission to Mars

... is slowing taking shape with the selection of instruments that will ride on aboard. Go here, here, here, and here, and here, to read about what has been chosen.

Brown dwarf orbiting a star

Further adding to the debate if brown dwarfs - objects more massive than planets but don't have enough mass to have Hydrogen fusion in their core and turn into true stars - form like planets or stars. Read more here about this discovery.

Past Life on Mars?

Well, it might have been possible according to this article. There is a region of Mars with rocks similar to those on Earth formed near warm geothermal vents which on Earth are abundant on life. If any life formed at this location, the chemicals it produced (called "biomarkers") should still be detectable. That's it. Interesting, and something to definitely look for.

Spirit Fades

It increasingly looks like NASA's Mars Rover Spirit will not be phoning home any longer. Read more about it here and here. So long and thanks for all the science!

Planets orbiting planets

This is just awesome. Two gas giants orbiting each other as they both orbit the central star. Neat!

The Dunes on Titan

Sand dunes are shaped by wind as they blow across sand. Simple enough. They face the direction of the wind. Again, simple enough. Winds typically flow in the same directly as a planet rotate. Okay, makes sense. Yet the dunes on Titan are facing the direction opposite rotation. Huh? It's all the season's fault. Go here, here and here to read more.

Welcome Solar Dynamics Observatory!

To the suite of satellites studying the Sun. Read more about its capabilities and science goals here.

Hot spot of cosmic rays

Cosmic rays are very energetic charged particles produced in many places out in space which are constantly bombarding the Earth, just like photons - light particles. However, unlike photons, the paths of these particles are bent by the various magnetic fields which surround the Earth, fill our Solar System, stretch between stars, etc. Due to this bending, one expects cosmic rays to come equally from all regions of the sky assuming their original sources are fairly far away. However, there is mounting evidence that this isn't what is observed, as you can read here and here. Why? No one knows, though a nearby supernova remnant may provide some of the answer. Yet another mystery to be solved.

Dating the Solar System...

using the craters of the Moon. Go here to learn more.

Ahhh... SOFIA....

NASA's infrared telescope in a Boeing 747 - so it can go far above the Earth's atmosphere since infrared light is absorbed by water - is over-budget but is finally ready. Nature magazine doesn't approve, as you can read here and here.

The Confusing Spin-Down of Pulsars

Pulsars are believed to rapidly spinning neutron stars whose spin period increases very slowly but regularly - so regularly that there has been talking of using some of them as clock standards, even better than the atomic clocks currently used! However, not all pulsars spin-down so regularly. Read one possibility about why this might be the case here.

Mars's Early Atmosphere

Was apparently much denser, thicker, and richer in carbon dioxide that it is today. Go here to read how studying the chemical composition of rocks on Mars indicates this was the case.

That Flipping Black Holes

No, I'm not using a euphemism for swearing. Black holes can change the direction in which they spin (i.e, flip), and this can have some impressive results. Go here to learn more!

The Moon is Covered in Water!

Really? Well, sort of. Trapped in rocks and ice, not liquid water of course. Go here to learn more.

Curiosity grows

While, NASA's next rover to Mars does at least. Go here to read about the progress on its construction.

The Earth has an Atmosphere!

Well, you already knew that - but astronomers recently detected the absorptions lights associated with it from light reflected off the Earth, to the Moon, during a lunar eclipse. Go here to read why this is actually a very important result for the search of other Earth-like planets in the Milky Way.

The Core of Neptune

This isn't a sci-fi story: scientists are working on replicating the physical conditions of Neptune's core in lab's here on Earth. Go here to read more. It always amazes me how much we don't know about the everyday things around us - like water and ice.

Runaway star

Thanks to a nice little quirk in gravity (which actually NASA and ESA routinely use to send satellites to other planets in the Solar System), a small object orbiting a more massive one can get a big boost to its speed. Well, the most massive object in the Milky Way is the black hole at is center - Sgr A*. And it can accelerate stars to ridiculously high velocities. Well, some of these stars have been found - including one which should have exploded long before it reached its current location in the galaxy even with its high velocity. Go here and here and here to read more about how it survived its trip.

Mapping the Universe

One of the most powerful tools we have in trying to understand the properties of the universe as a whole (e.g how much normal matter is in there, how much dark matter, how much dark energy? - i.e, the entire field of cosmology) are galaxy surveys - figuring out both how many galaxies there are at a particular redshift / time after the Big band and how close they are too each other. Traditionally, this has been done using large optical surveys like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey - which finds galaxies by detecting their star light. Galaxies also contain a lot of hydrogen gas, which when cold emits light at particular wavelength - 21 cm, in the radio band. It is possible to a galaxy survey by detecting this emission, which may be more sensitive to low mass galaxies with few stars than optical surveys. Such radio galaxy surveys are now feasible using telescopes like NRAO's 100m Green Bank Telescope and NAIA's Arecibo Telescope. To read more about these surveys, and how they can help determine the answer to such questions like "the nature of dark energy" read this and this and this article, with the full research articles here and here(Subscription, required).

Quakes in Space

While "earth quake" like events actually occur somewhat regularly on the surface of neutron stars and white dwarfs, something similar - for very different reasons - was also recently observed to occur in the Earth's magnetic field. Go here to read more, or listen to it here. Enjoy!

The end of the world is coming!

Well, maybe. Okay, a 0.1% chance. In 2182. Go here to read more about the next possible killer asteroid.

Pretty picture alert

WARNING! The images contained in this link may cause you to change your desktop background.

New map of Mars

Eight years in the making, courtesy of the the THEMIS camera aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. You can read more about the making of this map here or here, or just go here to look at the stunning results. Enjoy!

Cosmic Soccer Balls!

Not human sized soccer balls, but those of the molecular variety - chains of carbon atoms which arrange themselves into a soccer-ball like shape, also known as buckyballs. These have long been manufactured on Earth and have lots of industrial uses, but it wasn't thought that they would necessarily form through the essentially random processes which govern the formation of molecules in space. Well, until the Spitzer Space Telescope detected their tell-tale infrared glow. Go here and here to read more. Neat!

The Most Massive Star

An important question in star formation is how massive can a star be? This is a very
tricky question, depending strongly on how the infalling material which forms the star interacts with the light emitted by it. Too much light (radiation pressure), it prevents from the material from falling onto the star. How the light interacts with the material depends on many factors: the chemical composition of the infalling material, the (unknown, honest) atomic properties of these atoms, etc. It was thought that the most massive star that could form today was 200 Solar Masses, but astronomers recently found something even more massive. Go here to read more about it.

Rockets to Mars

While its not clear if NASA is still planning on developing spacecraft to go to Mars, but that isn't and shouldn't be stopping people for developing possible rocket fuel. Check it out here. Enjoy!

The hidden properties of electrons

Revealed by studying... ceramic? Read more here. Enjoy!

NASA's Search for Life

Is not confined to the stars, but also to the Earth. The reasoning is that, if life can survive in extreme environments (i.e, very hot, very cold, very dark, high pressure, etc.) on Earth, then maybe they can form in other examples of such environments. Read more about it here.

Planetary Snowball Fight!

Not really, but it does make for a nice title. Saturn's rings are a collection of tiny pieces of ice and rock, and the combined gravitational push and pull of Saturn's moons causes this material to clump into beautiful structures, as you can see here and here and here. This is how small, icy moons are made by the way- which is really cool to observe.

How old is the Milky Way?

Maybe a better answer will be coming soon. Go here to read how particle physics might help.

Mars Touchdown Will be Televised Live

Well, not the American football version, but the landing of NASA's next Mars rover Curiousity. Hopefully, if all works. And not for a while. But read about it here.

The Heart of Darkness

Well, of black holes at least. Go here to learn more.

First results from Herschel Space Telescope

Recently launched to study cold nearby objects and very hot ones far away (isn't redshift grand?), its first results have been published. Read about them here.

Peculiar lens

According to Einstein's theory of General Relativity, mass bends space, causing light not to travel in a straight line by curve. Therefore, massive objects can act like lenses, amplifying the line observed from objects behind them. Lots of these have been seen, most commonly a galaxy lensing a quasar behind it. Well, recently, a quasar was discovered lensing a background galaxy. Neat. Read more about it here.

WISE job done

Well, at least the picture taking part. The data analysis and interpretation will go on for a while, as it should. Read about it here and here.

Bad Weather

It's not just on Earth, but above it as well (for completely different reasons and causes. I'm just trying to be "cute"). Read about it here. As more satellites are launched, it becomes an ever-growning problem.

A new listening post

for NASA space missions. Read about it here. People do interesting science with the Deep Space Network as well.

Messages about Mercury

Courtesy of MESSENGER! (groan)

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Read about it here.

A Stellar Comet

Well, a star producing a comet-like tail. Not because it is losing material from being too close to a star like a comet does, but because of powerful winds at its surface. Read about it here and here.

Titan video

Not the parents of the Greek gods, but Saturn's largest moon. Read about it here and here.

Chicken Little was right

The sky IS falling. In the loosest sense of the word. What am I talking about it? Read about it here or listen here (audio courtesy of NASA, not me).

Brightest GRB ever!

Until the next one, at least. Read more about it here, and learn more about the Swift satellite by listening to this.

What is Dark Energy?

Maybe it's isn't so mysterious after all, or it is. Read the debate here. The sad thing is, the pessimist in me wonders if we can ever find out...

Dawn of a new age

of finding new extrasolar planets of course. Are you as excited as the protagonist in this wonderful xkcd comic below?

The birth of the most massive stars

The current picture of star formation looks like this: small sections of a giant molecular cloud collapse under their own gravitational attraction (or something like that), and the collapsing gas and dust forms a star. This stops once either there is no more gas and dust or the light output of the star (luminosity) is sufficiently strong to blow away the surrounding gas and dust. Massive stars are so luminous that they stop this process before enough material can collapse to form them, a problem for models. As a result, people thought that maybe massive stars from from the merger of lower mass stars. Not so, say recent observations of a massive star forming that has a dusty disk around it and is expelling material - just as observed around single low mass stars as they form as you can read here or here or here or here or in its full detail here (subscription required. Sorry.)

So how do they form, that is still a mystery. But form directly they appear to do.

Spitzer Space Telescope: The Musical

No, I'm not joking. Watch it here, if you dare. Enjoy? Please leave reviews below if you actually watch it...

Pin the tail on the galaxy

That is what these astronomers did here. Enjoy!

No, Mars is not going to appear as large as the Moon

I don't care what that email said, it won't. Read why here or listen to it here.

New Gravitation Wave Detector?

Maybe in Australia. Go here to read more.

Anti-matter in space

It is nowhere as scary as it sounds. There are anti-matter particles constantly bombarding the Earth's atmosphere, where they promptly annihilate and never make it to the surface. Go here to read about a new experiment to be placed on the ISS to detect these and figure out where they come from.

Yet another Solar System Clone

It hasn't gotten old yet, at least for me. Read about it here.

How to mix up a galaxy

Collide it with another one, of course. Go here to learn what exactly I'm talking about.

NASA High School Engineering Competition

Straight from the emails of NASA headquarters:

NASA is challenging high school teams to design software to program small satellites aboard the International Space Station. The competition centers on the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites, or SPHERES. SPHERES are bowling ball-sized spherical satellites used to test maneuvers for spacecraft performing autonomous rendezvous and docking. Three of these satellites fly inside the station's cabin. Each is self-contained with power, propulsion, computing and navigation equipment.

The Zero-Robotics investigation, run by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., is designed to inspire future scientists and engineers. The teams are asked to address challenges of satellite docking, assembly and flight formation. The 2010 Zero-Robotics Challenge expands on a limited pilot program performed in fall 2009. This expanded pilot, called HelioSPHERES, will involve
high schools from across the country during the 2010 - 2011 academic year. This new education program builds critical engineering skills for students, such as problem solving, design thought process, operations training, teamwork and presentation skills. The first 100 high school teams to register by Sept. 10 will be selected for the competition. Their full proposals are due by Sept. 14. More information and registration instructions are available here. Twenty teams selected from the 100 candidates will compete using simulations and ground-based testing at MIT. The software of the top 10 winners will be sent to the station, and an astronaut aboard the orbiting laboratory will program the SPHERES satellites to run the students' tests. For additional information on NASA and MIT's Zero-Robotics program,
visit this webpage.

Neutrinos they are very small.

They have no charge and have no mass
And do not interact at all.

Well, so said John Updike. They don't have no mass, but very very little mass, and it now appears that they have even less mass than people thought as you can read here. And while to them "The earth is just a silly ball," by detecting them deep underground you can learn quite about the Earth, which you can read about here. Enjoy, and my apologies for butchering that quite cute poem.

The Future of Astronomy

Every ten year, the National Academy of Science convenes a panel of astronomers to come up with a plan for what research should be accomplished over the next ten years. It is a nerve wracking process for many, and was recently completed. Go here to read more about it and see the results.

You too can discover a pulsar

as three non-scientists recently did using the Einstein@Home software. Go here and here and here to read more. I personalize also use this software as my laptop screen saver, it does science and looks nice all at the same time!

Underneath the Moon

Thanks to recent missions, we can now get a peek. Go here or listen here (NASA production, not mine), to read about what scientists are learning from these limited views.

What gorgeous spirals you have

Go see them here.

All good things...

... must come to an end, including the WISE satellite whose detectors must be cooled with liquid helium in order to work properly. Go here to read more about what this satellite can still do.

New Earth-Sized Planet Found

Not in an Earth-like orbit around their central star, but impressive nevertheless. Go here to read all about it.

Going to Jupiter?

Bring a lot of protection, as NASA's future spacecraft Juno will. Read more about it here. Enjoy!

What other than light travels at the speed of light?

Rumors.

Messages from MESSENGER

NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft recently completed its third flyby of Mercury and the initial science results are available here, here, and here. Imagine what it will accomplish when it is actually in orbit around Mercury!

Mars. In 3D.

On your computer. Read about it here and here.

Cool.

Poor Neptune

It got hit by a comet only 200 years ago! Go here to read why scientists believe this is the case.

Want to study low-gravity environments?

Well, you are a US citizen and a college undergraduate, NASA has the program just for you! NASA is offering undergraduate students an opportunity to test an experiment in weightless science as part of the agency's Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program. Proposals are due by Oct. 27. The program provides aspiring explorers a chance to propose, design and fabricate a reduced gravity experiment. Selected teams will get to test and evaluate their experiment aboard a microgravity aircraft. The specially modified jet aircraft flies approximately 30 roller-coaster-like climbs and dips to produce periods of micro and hyper-gravity, ranging from weightlessness to three times the force of Earth's gravity. Interested teams also should submit a letter of intent by Sept. 22. This step is optional, but serves as an introductory notice that a team plans to submit a proposal for the competition. All applicants must be U.S. citizens. Full-time students must be at least 18 years old. For more information about the Reduced Gravity Education Flight
Program or to submit a proposal, contact jsc-reducedgravity@nasa.gov or visit
this website.

The Origin of Type Ia supernovae

Type Ia supernovae are believed to be the results of white dwarfs somehow gaining enough mass to push them above the limit where they can support themselves, but nobody knows what these white dwarfs look like before they explode. Until now, possibly. Read more about it here and here.

Why are some galactic nuclei active?

Maybe because they happen to be accreting a large gas cloud from the inter-galactic medium (the space between clouds)? This process is supposed to play an important role in the growth of galaxies. Read about this possibility here.

Yet another way of finding planets around other stars

Instead of just measuring the dip of light from a star by a planet passing between us and it, measure the time of this dip occurs and look for changes around the orbital period resulting from the gravitation tug of a different planet in this system. It is called "Transit Timing Variation," and you can read more about it here.

The Origin of Comets

Most comets are believe to reside in the Oort Cloud, the most distant part of the Solar System, and were though to form from the dust and gas left behind from the formation of our Solar System. Well, this article argues that it was formed from the dust and gas stolen from other Solar Systems. Wow!

Baby Planet Formation

captured inside Saturn's rings. Read about it here and here. It is so reassuring when you actually see the things the computer models tell you should be taking place.

Awesome set of wheels

On the next Mars rover, as you can read here.

A River of Oxygen

From Saturn's moon Enceladus to Titan. Really? Yes, according to this article. Wow.

The Next NASA Solar-System Mission

It is a reality show of sorts, but a more serious one that on your television. Read an update here (subscription required).

Puff, the Magic Dragon

Lived out in space
And frolicked in the molecular cloud called M17 SWex

Confused? See the pretty picture here and read more about the science here and here. Enjoy!

Puff the Small Black Hole...

.. it can make such a big hole. Remember how a couple of days ago I linked to a post stating that astronomer now think that most of the X-ray emission from a black hole is generated by fast-moving material ejected (called "jets") which are from the disk of infalling material? Well, there is now evidence that these jets can clear out large cavities around the black hole, pushing the surrounding medium far away - as you can read here and here or in its full scientific glory here (library access required, sorry). This isn't new necessarily, evidence for such behavior from the supermassive black holes located in the center of galaxies has been around a for a while, but seeing it in a low-mass black hole that is nearby is new and suggests we may be able to study this process a lot better than before. Enjoy!

3D Lunar Exploration Game

Available here courtesy of NASA. Let me know what you think.

Pencils on the Moon?

Well, not pencils, but the same materials that makes up "pencil lead." Go here for more information.

The Coolest Stars

Not cool enough to touch, but pretty darn cold for a star - read more here. Courtesy of the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is still going after all of these years.

First Planck Results

ESA's Planck satellite, designed to detect very tiny fluctuations in the light emitted by the Big Bang (the Cosmic Microwave Background), has just released its first all-sky image here. Got to get rid of that pesky Milky Way before you can study the CMB. For more about the CMB, list to this interview with Dr. Dan Babich, recorded and broadcast all-too-long ago. Enjoy!

X-rays from Black Holes

Huh? Well, yes, black holes are "black" because their gravity is so strong that any light emitted from inside them can't escape. However, light can be emitted from outside black holes, and in fact it often is - it believed that many of the most luminous objects in the universe (quasars) are powered by material falling into a black hole. A recent study by RXTE suggests that the X-ray emitted by these objects is not from material falling into the black hole, but material flowing away from the black hole very rapidly in a narrow cone, called jets (go here for details). Very interesting indeed. To learn more about RXTE, listen to this interview I broadcast a while back.

Quantum Mechanics and You!

In Physics classes, they'll teach you that all of the randomness and weirdness that makes Quantum Mechanics so interesting/fun/confusing/painful only is important for really tiny things (like subatomic particles and atoms) and not for big things like you and me. Well, this might not always be the case. Go here to read more. I know this isn't about astronomy, per se, but still pretty interesting.

The Birth of a Star

Go here to read how lab experiments on Earth are providing important clues, and listen to an interview with Dr. Savin on this very program here. Enjoy!

Cosmic Watercolor

Seriously.

Now you see it...

Now you don't. Kids, don't let you satellites re-enter the Earth's atmosphere unless you WANT it to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere (which JAXA actually did for this mission since it was returning samples to Earth). Watch the re-entry here.

WISE Brown Dwarfs

As is it surveys the entire sky, the small WISE satellite has detected 14 new brown dwarfs - the lowest mass "stars" there are, with a mass so low that it is debatable if they are even stars since they have no fusion in their core. Read more about it here.

Stormy Exoplanets

Not only (with very large optical telescopes and lots of observing time) is it possible to determine the chemical composition of the atmosphere of a planet observing another star, but it is possible to study its weather as well. Wow! Go here to read all about it.

Wow!

Double, double toil and trouble;

Stars burn and gas bubbles

Go here to figure out what I'm trying to talk about, and my apologies to William Shakespeare

Rip van New Horizons

Asleep for half of its trip to Pluto, NASA's New Horizons mission has awoken! Go here to read more.

Galaxy Tails

Most likely created by the gravitational interaction between two merging galaxies, GALEX has captured this beautiful image of a stream of stars trailing their host galaxy. Go here to see and read more. Enjoy!

Martian Ice Spirals

Caused by wind? Maybe so. Pretty impressive if you ask me, especially given how thin Mars's atmosphere is.

Yet another pretty galaxy

As seen here. Enjoy!

Moving Exoplanets

This is just very cool, and very informative as well. Enjoy!

Pretty pictures of Mars

Available here. The title says it all.

The Future of Astronomy in the US

At least according to the National Science Foundation, who funds most of it (and this podcast / blog). Go here to see what is next, at least for now....

Free Mercury Public Lecture TONIGHT!

Sorry for the late notice, but I just found about this: at 7 PM tonight Dr. Sean Solomon, principal investigator of NASA's MESSENGER mission to Mercury, will be talking about initial results from this mission at the LeFrak Theater located in the American Museum of Natural History in NYC (77th St. and Central Park West). For more information, go here and enjoy!

The Awakening Sun

Bad for satellites, as described here.

Titan's Case of Missing Hydrogen

NASA is on it. Read more here to learn about it. Answering questions like this is the key to trying to prove the existence of life elsewhere in the Universe, as I hope to discuss soon.

You can teach an old rover new tricks

Or at least get an old Soviet rover on the Mars to reflect lasers pulses back to Earth, as described here. To learn more on why you want to bounce lasers off the moon, listen to this interview with Dr. James Battat on Lunar Laser Ranging.

Spirit may have passed on...

... but the scientific results from its measurements keep on coming. Go here to read more.

Pelting Jupiter

With asteroids. It's big, it can take it.

Stars ejecting stars

Gravity works in very funny ways when you have thousands of stars in a very tiny volume... Go here to read the details.

Spinning Black Holes

One of the many mysteries surrounding astrophysical black holes is why some are powering powerful jets - narrow beams of relativistic particles, and others don't. An intriguing possibility is that is related to the spin of the black hole and the surrounding disk of material falling into the black hole - if the two are aligned, you don't get jets, and if they are misaligned, you do. Read here for details. This would be very hard to test, and it isn't clear how you might get such a misalignment, but it is in an intriguing possibility.

A Cosmic Zoo

Supernova remnants and globular clusters are not as cuddly as panda bears and penguins, but I think they are just as pretty as you can see here.

The "Quiet" Black Hole

at the center of M31, has its own bursts, as revealed by Chandra. Go here to read more.

Rock Catalog

Available here, courtesy of the WISE satellite.

Poor Phoenix Mars Lander

While NASA's Opportunity rover is still going strong, it appears the Phoenix Mars Lander is down for the count. Go here to read more.

Heart and Soul...

... one will burn. Sorry for the obscure musical reference, but that is what came to mind when I saw this image of the "Heart and Soul" nebula taken by the WISE satellite. Enjoy!

The Birth of Binary Stars

A majority of stars in the Milky Way are not isolated like our Sun but are actually orbiting other stars. How did these binary stars form? There are lots of theories out there, but new images from Spitzer might have determine which is correct. Go here to read more. Enjoy!

Jupiter loses a Stripe

Just as clouds and storms on the Earth come and go, so do the ones on Jupiter. Though no storm on the Earth as big as this has ever disappeared so fast... Go here to read more.

Long Live Opportunity

The NASA rover on Mars, of course, which has made it the longest running human machine on Mars. Go here and here to read more. Congratulations Opportunity!

Pretty picture

Not necessarily that much new science content, but this sure is a pretty picture of nearby spiral galaxy M83. Enjoy!

Ancient Galaxy Cluster

One of the most interesting questions in astronomy today is how have galaxies changed since the beginning of the universe? The current thinking - based on lots of observational evidence - is that at early times galaxies were forming many more stars then they are now, and that the large clusters of galaxies we see in the nearby universe formed rather recently. However, recent analysis of a Spitzer observation of a galaxy cluster when the universe was much younger than it is today found that the properties of its galaxies are very similar to those of nearby galaxt clusters. Very, very, interesting. Go here to read more.

Rosetta’s blind date with asteroid Lutetia

Read about it here. Hopefully it works...

A Hole in Space

Not really a "hole", but Herschel has recently detected a large region of almost no gas or dust created by the expanding outflow from a young star as it forms. Go here for more details. Interesting.

Archaeology from Space

Read this New York Times article how airplane and space imaging revealed massive Mayan cities long lost to the jungles. Enjoy!

What happens when you lock strangers together in a room for 500 days?

ESA is about to find out, since any manned mission to Mars will involve something very similar to this. Go here to read more about this test.

First results from Herschel

The European Space Agency launched the Herschel space telescope, designed to detect mid-infrared light from the universe (dominated by emission from hot dust, e.g. from intensely star-forming galaxies at early times or around hot, young stars in the Milky Way) has released its first science results. Go here to read them. Exciting!

Congratulations Dr. Neil Gehrels!

Dr. Neil Gehrels, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and one of leaders of the Swift mission which has revolutionized the study of Gamma-Ray Bursts (among other fields of Astronomy) has just been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (go here for details) - a very high honor. To learn more about his research, listen to this interview he gave on this program describing his research. Hope you enjoy and, again, congratulations!

Happy 4th of July!

Regardless if you are American or not...

Free NASA DVD for Educators

Sorry for the late notice, but go here for details. Hope they are still available.

They might be called "dwarf planets"

but they are still interesting. NASA is developing a mission called Dawn to travel to and orbit two of the largest bodies in the Asteroid belt, Ceres and Vesta. Go here to read more. Enjoy!

World Science Festival in NY

As many of your probably already know, the World Science Festival is going on now. While there are lots of very interesting (but somewhat expensive for a family) talks and lectures, there are two free events which are interesting and fun:

1. The science fair in Washington Square Park on Sunday July 6th
2. The full scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) currently on display at Battery Park (read about it here). NASA ships this out to various conferences and meetings, and is really impressive (yes, they are going to launch something that big into space on a rocket - not a shuttle.) JWST is one of the biggest projects going on in astronomy today (esp. space-based astronomy). To learn more about it, listen to this interview with Dr. Mark Clampin of NASA.
   

Enjoy, and I really hope to be posting my interviews soon!

Robots. In Space!

Helping the human race! On the International Space Station. Read more here. This article definitely appeals to the Isaac Asimov fan in me.

Watching a blizzard on Saturn

with your help! Go here to read how NASA and amateur astronomers teamed up recently to do exactly that. Quite impressive.

The Exploding Sun

Okay, the Sun is not going to explode itself. But look at these images of violent eruptions on the "surface" of the Sun taken by NASA's new Solar Dynamics Observatory and you might be surprised that it isn't.

Third Annual World Science Festival in NYC

Will be held from June 2 - June 6. It promises to have lots of interesting lectures and events throughout the city (or, at least, throughout Manhattan), go here to keep track of it all. Enjoy!

It's not just a Museum

Scientists at the American Museum of Natural History conduct a lot of research as well. Read below about an instrument they are building for the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA's long-awaited to the Hubble Space Telescope. Enjoy!


A wafer-thin titanium disk, nearly two inches in diameter and punctured with seven perfect holes, will launch into space with the James Webb Space Telescope in 2014. Called a non-redundant mask, this tool filters light coming from very bright objects like stars to dramatically improve a telescope’s resolution for fainter objects. Conceived of on the sixth floor of the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History, this non-redundant mask was described in a white paper submitted to the National Academy of Sciences’ Astronomy & Astrophysics Decadal Survey and will launch in the Canadian Space Agency's Fine Guidance Sensor Tunable Filter Imager on board the James Webb Space Telescope.

“We designed a non-redundant mask for the space telescope late in the Webb project, but it was accepted because it improved resolution by more than a factor of two and is so easy to implement,” says Anand Sivaramakrishnan, chief instrumentation scientist in the Museum’s Department of Astrophysics. “This is not a new technique—it was invented for radio astronomy in the late 1950s and revised for ground-based astronomy in the late 1990s. But this is the first time it will be used in space.”

Sivaramakrishnan and his team designed non-redundant masks for ground-based telescopes like Palomar and Gemini; one such mask is currently assisting the Museum’s Project 1640 to image extrasolar planets on the 200-inch telescope at Palomar.

The new mask for the space telescope was designed using a simple concept. By punching holes in a metal plate, much of the light from a telescope’s primary mirror is obscured. The beams selected by the mask come through to the image, turning an imaging telescope into an interferometer, an instrument that spreads light into a complex fringe pattern that reveals the presence of close faint structure around a bright object.

Non-redundant masks improve a conventional telescope’s resolution by a factor of 2.44 so that objects very close to each other can be resolved in an image. On the ground, the mask enables objects about 100 times fainter than a bright star to be imaged. But in space, a non-redundant mask that is part of an exceptionally stable space telescope should be able to detect objects 10,000 times fainter than the nearby bright object or star. Extrasolar planets can be directly imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope, a large infrared telescope with a 6.5 meter primary mirror, the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.

The mask conceived of at the Museum for the James Webb Space Telescope is 50mm in diameter. Its seven holes are hexagonal in shape to maximize the amount of light passing through, but they are also smaller than their corresponding mirror segments in order to correct for a potential misalignment of the telescope’s mirror and the mask. Finally, the mask was designed so that none of the telescope’s supporting struts arch across holes.

“Our initial observational targets will be proto-planets and Jupiter-like planets in the constellation Taurus and other nearly stellar nurseries,” says Sivaramakrishnan. “But in addition to planets and faint companions, images obtained with the mask can also reveal regions around supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies as well as the host galaxies around quasars to see how these incredibly powerful sources affect their environments.”

The “JAM Team,” or the James Webb Space Telescope Aperture Masking group led by Sivaramakrishnan, includes Peter Tuthill and Michael Ireland of the University of Sydney and James Lloyd of Cornell University. The team also counts David Lafrenière of the University of Montreal, Frantz Martinache of the Subaru Telescope, and Rémi Soummer of the Space Telescope Science Institute as members. Barry McKernan and Saavik Ford, both affiliated with the Museum and at the City University of New York, broaden the scientific goals of this masking project to include black holes and quasars. Sivaramakrishnan’s non-redundant masking study is funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA.

It's not just about the Cosmic Microwave Background

ESA's new satellite Planck will also help astronomer learn how star form, as evidenced here. I like general purpose Astronomy satellite.

One small step...

... for the construction of (one of) the next large optical telescope. Click here to read about where ESO hopes to be the E-ELT, the European Extremely Large Telescope, and why that location was chosen. Now to see if it gets built.

Hubble's 20th Birthday

was last month. Happy Birthday Hubble! Go here to get the info.

My take on the definition a planet

As you know (and if you didn't, read the comments on the post below describing Pluto), but there is a legitimate debate whether or not the definition of a planet should be dynamical (orbital parameters, mass, etc.) or geophysical (essentially, is it spherical and orbit a star?) in origin. Personally, I prefer the dynamical view, and find the geophysical view too inclusive. Sphericity means its mass is above a certain value, or that the mergers that produced the object were at sufficient velocity to melt the product such that is cooled into a spherical shape. The number of spherical objects in the Solar System is large, and as a result personally don't feel that should be the primary definition of what makes a planet. It doesn't bother me that Ceres is not taught in schools because, frankly, it isn't that special. It is simply the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt - it is not even the only spherical asteroid.

I prefer the dynamical view because it better incorporates our current understanding of star and planet formation. A cloud of gas and dust gravitationally collapses into a star. As it does so, a thin disk of gas and dust form around the star. Inside this disk, collision between dust particles result in proto-planets, which then coalesce through collisions into planets. These objects are sufficiently massive that, through gravitational interaction, they most "clear" their surroundings of gas and dust - opening a gap in the disk (which has been observed in several systems). The friction inside this disk is believed to lead to circular orbits, but this doesn't have to be the case - as recent observations of exoplanets indicate (as you point out). This does mean that the objects orbit in the same plane.

If one was to define a planet based on this model for planet formation - which may or may not be the best thing to do - the requirements would be:

(a) "By far" the most massive object in its vicinity, a signature of the object clearing out a gap in the proto-planetary disk in its formation. By this criterion, Ceres would not be a planet because it is located inside the asteroid belt, whose total mass is larger than that of Ceres. The same is true for Pluto. The mass of known objects in orbits similar to that of Pluto is greater than that of Pluto. Note this criterion does not demand sphericity, just that the object is much more massive than the sum of all objects in similar orbits.

(b) The object orbits the same plane as other planets in this system. Now, this is a little tricky formally because it is circular - an object is a planet because it has an orbit like other planets. However, in our Solar System, the orbital plane of Mercury through Neptune varies by only a few degrees. [This is true for objects in the asteroid belt as well, which is the asteroid belt is often called a "failed planet" - it would have merged into a planet if not for its location near Jupiter]. Pluto's orbit, and that of the other massive spherical KBOs, is far off the ecliptic.

This definition is far from perfect, but I personally feel it better represents our current understanding of planet formation. Admittedly this is not the official IAU definition, but the official IAU definition incorporates these two elements. This definition is also general enough that it incorporates many of the "odder" exoplanets you mention - the ones with high eccentricity, the giant planets very close to their star, the planet that orbits its star backwards. As more exoplanets are detected, and these planetary systems and our own Solar System are better studied, the definition will and should change again. The new IAU definition I believe is a step in the right direction, and Dr. Stern's is a step in the wrong one - I feel that too many objects satisfy this criteria for this designation to have any meaning. This view is shared by a vast majority of astronomers I know (including the ones who study exoplanets and Solar System objects), and I believe that of a majority of astronomers - though far from unanimous as you point out.

And yes, dwarf planet is not a great name. Plutoid is better. I do feel that looking for self-consistency in astronomy nomenclature is futile, because frankly there is none.

Lastly, it is not clear that Pluto satisfies the dynamical (Dr. Stern's - quoted in the comments below) definition of a planet being "any non-self-luminous spheroidal body in orbit around a star." The center of mass of the Pluto - Charon system is outside of Pluto. Also, the gas giant planets radiate more light then they receive from the Sun. Therefore, they could be considered self-luminous, and would also not be considered planets under this definition.

[For those reading the comments below - Hydrostatic equilibrium is when, everywhere inside an object, gravity is balanced by an outward force. This is true for all stable objects (essentially by definition) - spherical or not.]

What do you think? What is your opinion? Does this make sense? Let me know, I'm genuinely curious.

The Luminescent Sun

NASA recently launched the Solar Dynamics Observatory to study the ever-changing Sun, and here are some of the first results. Impressive, if you ask me.

The Curious Case of the Missing Methane

While the chemical composition of only a few gas giant planets outside of our Solar System, they all have considerable quantities of methane. Except this one. Interesting.....

The Golden Apples of Venus

In one of my favorite Ray Bradbury's science fiction stories, titled "Golden Apples of the Sun," a spaceship travels to the Sun to take a sample of its outer atmosphere. Nice story. Venus Express recently skimmed the top of Venus's atmosphere to the same effect. Read about it here. Neat!

More pretty pictures of stellar nurseries

Available here courtesy of the VISTA telescope in Chile.

Ahh Pluto...

The story of why Pluto is no longer classified as a planet in pictures available here. Enjoy.

Viewer's Choice Mars Pictures

Go here to look at them.

Interview with Sean Carroll

The cosmologist, not the scientist. Go here to read it.

Cassini's Fate

Go here to read a very interesting New York Times article as to what is required for the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn to observe all of the regions NASA wants it to with the limited amount of propellant it has left. Orbital dynamics is complicated stuff.

Mysterious Pluto

It might not be classified as a "planet" anymore, but that doesn't mean it is isn't still interesting. Go here to read how recent observations of the original "plutoid" suggest some bizarre behavior of its atmosphere.

Saturn's close-up

More pretty pictures assembled by the New York Times here.

Lightning strikes on Saturn

Seriously. Check it out here. Not necessarily that surprising, but impressive nevertheless.

Pictures of three exoplanets

So, yesterday I linked to the discovery of nine new exoplanets. You know what is harder than discovering them? Actually taking pictures of them. Go here to read how this was recently done for three exoplanets around the same star.

Nine New Exoplanets

Not a line in the Astronomer's version of the "12 Days of Christmas" song, but an actual discovery. Go here to read more. I know that they are now over 100 exoplanets known, but I still find it fascinating and amazing that we can detect tiny planets around distant stars.

Nearby High-mass star formation

While astronomers think we have a good understanding of how Sun-like stars form, how more massive stars remain a mystery for various reasons. Go here here and here to read how observations by the new Herschel spacecraft will help reveal what is going on.

Free Astronomy Software

I got an email about this, and thought some of you may be interested. Some I've tried myself, some I haven't. I'd be very interested to know what you think...

Stellarium — Stargazing is relaxing, educational and fun. But you can't do it everywhere. City lights often drown out the stars. Or, maybe it's just a cloudy night. You could visit a planetarium if there's one nearby. Or, you could download this program. It's like having a planetarium on your desk.

Celestia — This program also gives you the planetarium experience. You view the stars as you would from Earth. But this program doesn't keep you there. It lets you leave the ground and travel through the galaxy. You can also add new features. These could be spacecraft, satellites and planets. You can even add fictional items for fun.

WorldWide Telescope — You may have a cool telescope in your closet. But what if you had access to the best telescopes on Earth? This program gives you that access. You'll find some of the best views of deep space. You can even take guided tours of the heavens.

Moon Arounder — Many people dream of traveling to the moon. Only 12 people have set foot on it. They saw the moon as no one else has. You've seen grainy video from those trips. But have you seen these panoramic photos? These 360-degree photos let you feel like you're standing on the moon.

Google Earth — This program is great way to explore our world. But you can also explore the moon and Mars in the same way. You'll get detailed imagery. You can take narrated tours of important sites. You can even aim Google Earth at the stars. To get to these features, simply click View>>Explore.

It's Alive!

Alive! Venus is ALIVE!!!!

Geologically speaking that is. (This blog tries to deal with science fact, not science fiction, though admittedly science fiction has much cooler movies.) While volcanos had previously been identified on the surface of Venus, people had thought they were all dormant. Recent pictures by Venus Express suggest otherwise. Go here for more details. Enjoy!

Triton's Atmosphere

Yes, Triton - the largest moon on Neptune - has an atmosphere. (Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, isn't the only one). Go here to read about a recent ground-based measurement of its properties. The Solar System is an interesting place...

A Planet around a Brown dwarf?

If so, this is very puzzling because Brown Dwarves have masses only a little bit bigger than the most massive planets? Does this mean that, in some scenarios, planets can form like stars? Go here to read more about this puzzling discovery.

The Young and the Restless

stars, that is. Not the soap opera. Even though 2/3 of the instruments on Spitzer no long work since it ran of cryogen to keep them cold, it is still making many important observations, including this one aimed at studying the behavior of young stars. Enjoy!

If a supernova explodes in a galaxy, can you see its echos?

Yes. How? Light bounces off dust, so it is possible that light can be emitted away from us, bounce off dust, changing its direction towards us. Go here to read how detecting and studying such light echos have lead to some very interesting conclusions about the supernova explosion responsible for one of the youngest and brightest supernova remnants in the Milky Way, Cassiopeia A. Enjoy!

The Two-Faced Nebula

Really just a pretty picture of a star-forming region, but it really is a pretty picture. Go here to decide for yourself.

Want to touch the stars?

Now, you can. Well, not literally, but you can touch Hubble images of the stars. Go here for more details. I think this is pretty awesome...

Pacman lives!

On Saturn? Read this for more silly details.

The Dusty Universe

So, yesterday I posted about a new telescope being built to detect and study warm dust (and by dust, I mean molecules surprisingly similar to cigarette smoke) in the universe. Where does this dust come from? No one is really sure, but the best bet is that it forms when the material ejected in supernova cools. Go here to read about the recent discovery of newly formed dust in a supernova remnant, as well as look at a gorgeous picture of a pulsar wind nebula. Enjoy!

Astronomy has reached its APEX?

Okay, this is admittedly an absolutely atrocious pun, but ESO is building a new telescope called APEX in the Atacama desert. Why? Well, the Atacama desert is the driest place on Earth not located in Antarctica, which means that light at wavelengths which are normally absorbed by water in the atmosphere can reach the ground. So? Warm dust, which is a good signpost for star formation and the existence of very massive stars, emit most of their light in this region. Go here for the first results. Enjoy!

Sorry for the lack of recent updates....

... I know I sound like a broken record, but more is coming soon. Seriously. (I hope.)

The WISE asteroid hunter...

.... is being very successful, as detailed here. And better yet, the WISE satellite will discover many other interesting things as well.

History of the Telescope conference in NYC on April 16th.

It's free. Go here for details. Nominal registration deadline is TODAY! Sorry for the late notice.

Yet more evidence for an accelerating universe

This time coming from distortions in the shapes of galaxies observed by the Hubble Space Telescopes. How, you ask? Go here to read the details. And if doesn't make sense, please leave questions below. I like questions. Maybe I can even answer them.

Where have all the galaxies gone?

Maybe they were always there all along? Go here to read what I'm talking about. Very interesting to me, at least - hope you find it interesting too. Enjoy

Opportunity continues to strike

Having spent more than seven years on the surface of Mars, the rover Opportunity continues to do good work, as you can read about here. Enjoy!

400 Years of the Telescope

on PBS in the New York area tonight at 10 PM. Read more about it here. Sounds interesting to me, hope you enjoy it.

A Human Trip to Mars

While the technical challenges of sending people to Mars (and returning them) are certainly formidable, possibly the most difficult aspect is the human one - can a small number of people survive being cooped together in a very small space for more than a year while they travel from Earth to Mars. ESA is trying to find out, as described here. Enjoy the article, though I'm not sure how much the human test subjects will enjoy the simulation...

Distant Star Formation

By using the magnification resulting from gravitational lensing caused by a massive galaxy cluster coincidentally sitting between us and distant galaxy SMM J2135-0102, astronomers were able to map out where stars are forming in this galaxy - which happens to be forming ~250 new stars every year! Go here for more details. Interesting.

Most misleading Astronomy press release...

.... I've seen in a while. Go here to read it. The planet that was discovered is interesting, but all the speculation at the end? Ugh. It just really annoyed me for whatever reason. Feel free to disagree with me below. Of course, I am posting about it, which is probably all they wanted....

Young Supermassive Black Holes?

Astronomers believed that at the center of essentially every galaxy is a supermassive black hole (supermassive = more material than a million Suns. Some are believed to have a mass more than a billion times that of the Sun). Where these black holes come from, no one really knows, but they gain mass by accreting (think swallowing) the surrounding gas. This gas forms a disk as it falls into the black hole, in which gas particles can stick together to form molecules - which astronomers call "dust." The older the disk, the more dust that should be there - or so goes the current thinking. By this logic, using Spitzer astronomers just found a couple supermassive black holes with very young disks. Go here to read more. Not necessarily the most convincing argument, but interesting nevertheless.

The dusty Milky Way

Even though it was launched to study the Cosmic Microwave Background, Planck also detected emission from warm dust since they emit light at the similar wavelengths. Go here to check out an amazing image it has made of "nearby" dust in the Milky Way. Enjoy!

The Glowing Great Red Spot of Jupiter

Temperature maps of literally, the largest planetary storm in the Solar System. Enjoy!.

"I'm ready for my close-up...

... Mars Express"? (Yeah, I know, the jokes are getting lamer by the post. Sorry. There is a very good reason why I'm an astronomer and not a comedian). Well, even if it wasn't, the ESA space craft Mars Express passed within 70 km (!!!) of Mars's moon Phobos, and took these wonderful pictures as a result. Enjoy!

The ring of fire

It's not just a Johnny Cash song. Inside the Sun, very hot, ionized gas (plasma, which is essentially the same thing as fire), circulates deep below the layer that produces most of the optical light we see (called the photosphere). However, we can infer its properties based on its observable effects when it happens to skim the Sun's "surface." Go here to read how it might be responsible for the very few Sun spots being detected over the last few years.

Earthquakes and Earth Spin

When I first saw this headline "Did the Chilean Quake Shift Earth's Axis?", my first response was "Um, no." Turns out, not surprisingly, I was wrong. Go here to read more. Very interesting stuff. Enjoy!

Attack of the killer electrons!!!!

Well, killer to satellites. They make pretty sheets of light when they hit the atmosphere. Go here to read more. Enjoy!, and watch out?

Cool NASA demonstration

of spacecraft communations and navigation for PC and MAC computers, available here. Too bad I primarily use Linux...

The lone giant

In general, it is believed that galaxies form hierarchically: small galaxies formed first, and then these merged into larger ones, which merge into larger ones, etc. As a result, all massive galaxies are expected to be found by lots of smaller ones. This is true for the Milky Way, and M31, and lots of other galaxies - but not ESO 306-17, it is all alone? Did all the small galaxies which would normally be around it merge into this one? Go here to find out. Interesting...

Baby stars!

Aren't they so cute?

Go here to see the pretty pictures and read about the science.

More water on the Moon

Since ice reflects radar (radio light waves) differently than solid rock, mapping the surface of something with radar (essentially shining radio waves at it and measuring the reflection) it is an effective way of finding water ice - and a little less destructive then smashing some big thing into the Moon and looking at the resultant dust plume. NASA built such a radar instrument for India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft called Mini-SAR instrument, which apparently for more than 40 small craters with water ice. Cool! Go here to read a nice summary of all the different pieces of evidence for water on the Moon.

Little Galaxies, Big Science

Read this article to learn how, by studying the smallest galaxies near the Milky Way, astronomers can figure out how stars formed in the early universe. The crux of the star is that the conditions in these galaxies isn't that different from what we believe existed at these early times, but that doesn't mean we understand how stars form in them.

The source of UItra High-Energy Cosmic Rays

While almost certainly astrophysical, where they come from seems to be a little more complicated than previously thought. Go here to learn more. Personally, this is what makes science fun for me at least.

A persistant Spirit...

Though it is now stationary, NASA still plans to put the scientific instruments on Spirit to good use. Go here to read what science it can still accomplish, assuming it doesn't freeze to death during the Martian winter. Keep your fingers crossed...

Not just a gorgeous picture

... but it is that. Go here to see an optical image of one of the most active star forming regions in the Milky Way. Enjoy!

Hubble Movie

A new 3D IMAX Movie is coming out starring Hubble images (given that Hubble only takes 2D images of the sky, I'm more than a little curious how they add the 3D aspect), which sounds pretty cool. Go here for the details. Enjoy!

Saturn's Leaky Moon

One of the Cassini's satellites biggest discoveries that one of Saturn's moons, Enceladus, is ejecting dust and gas into its surroundings - which is possibly responsible for one of Saturn's outer rings. Thanks to a semi-recent flyby of this moon by Cassini, we now know much better where this material is coming from. Go here to read all the details. Enjoy!

Night Sky Show

I know this is a day late, and hopefully tonight will be just as nice, but go here to read about what to look for tonight when the Sun sets. Enjoy!

Hubble: Planet Discoverer

The telescope, that is. Go here for more. Seriously, what was NASA thinking when they talking about shutting Hubble down prematurely?

A modern day astronomical fossil

Astronomers currently believe that when the universe was a billion years old or so (as opposed to the 14 billion years old it is now), it was full of small galaxies which were merging together to form bigger ones - and it was by this process that all of the big galaxies we see today were formed. Wouldn't it be great if we could somehow observe the same thing nearby, so we can study it better? Well, Hubble and GALEX may have discovered such an example. Go here for the details. Enjoy!

A stellar iPhone application

Okay, really more of a Solar one but then the pun doesn't work so well. And the Sun is a star, so I'm not incorrect, per se. Go here to read more about it.

Another really old star

Just like the ESO press release above, another group of astronomers have looked at a dwarf galaxy (this time, Sculptur) and found another star that dates back to around the time the first stars ever formed. Go here to read more about this discovery. Exciting!

The Oldest Stars in the Universe

Believe it or not, but I hope you do, the lifetime of stars with masses less than that of the Sun is similar to that of the current age of the universe. That means that such stars born at early times should still be around today. (This does NOT mean that all stars with mass less than the Sun's were born at these early times.) Do you we expect any such stars in the Milky Way? Yes. Astronomers currently believe that the Milky Way formed from the merger of several smaller galaxies which should have been full of such stars. Is there anyway of identifying them? Yes. Since elements heavier than Lithium or only produced by stars, old stars should have a smaller percentage of such metals than younger ones because the material they were formed out of had fewer such metals. Do we know of many such stars? No. Why am I rambling about this? Well, astronomers might have finally found many of these missing low-metal, low-mass stars. Go here to read more. Enjoy!

Yet another Saturn movie...

... this one courtesy of the Hubble Space Telescope, which observed Saturn when its rings where edge-on as observed from the Earth, during which time one can see both of Saturn's pole at once for the Earth. Go here to watch its images of Saturn's Northern and Southern lights!

A family portrait

Of our Solar System. Courtesy of Voyager. Enjoy.

A Wise comet

Well, the comet itself probably isn't wise (it isn't alive you know), it was discovered by the recently launched Wise satellite. Go here to learn more.

The "Burps" of Baby Stars

As seen in this beautiful image of the Orion Nebula, many of the young stars in this region are ejecting gas of at speeds of several thousands of miles per hour. Why? How? Well, people are still trying to work it out... The pictures are gorgeous though!

NASA's new priorities

As I'm sure many of you have already heard, the proposal 2010 Federal Government budget has major implications of NASA - essentially suggesting that the new Constellation program to replace the space shuttle be scrapped in favor of more basic science satellites. The NY Times has its opinion here, what do you think? I'm curious to know, so please leave your opinion below.

The Spectrum of an Exoplanet

While the first exoplanets (planets orbiting stars other than our own Sun) were first discovered more than a decade ago, the composition of these planets has long remained a mystery - especially since these planets appears to be very different than any planets in our own Solar System. Thanks to the capabilities of the ESO's VLT in Chile, a group of astronomers were able to finally directly measure the spectrum of one of these exoplanets (as opposed to looking at absorption lines which appears with the exoplanet passes between us and its star) - giving vital information on the chemical composition of its atmosphere. Go here for details, and enjoy!

Dancing Moons

In projection, at least. Go here to see what I'm taking about, courtesy of the Cassini team.

The Ever-shifting face of Pluto

Just because it isn't a planet anymore doesn't mean it isn't interesting. Go here to read what some recent Hubble pictures of the founding "plutoid" revealed.

Where did spiral galaxies comes from?

Hubble might have imaged their ancestors, the proto-galaxies which merged together to form spirals like our own Milky Way. And they didn't appear to be spiral-like at all. Go here for more details.