New App Helps NASA Keep Track of Meteoroids. New App Helps NASA Keep Track of Meteoroids Dec. 13, 2011: Surprising but true: Every day, on average, more than 40 tons of meteoroids strike our planet. Most are tiny specks of comet dust that disintegrate harmlessly high up in Earth's atmosphere, producing a slow drizzle of meteors in the night sky. Bigger chunks of asteroid and comet debris yield dozens of nightly fireballs around the globe. Some are large enough to pepper the ground with actual meteorites.
With so much "stuff" zeroing in on our planet, NASA could use some help keeping track of it all. Enter the Meteor Counter--a new iPhone app designed to harness the power of citizen scientists to keep track of meteoroids. "Using our app, people from all walks of life can contribute to authentic NASA research," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, which sponsored the project. Whenever you go outside for a bit of stargazing, take your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch with you, advises Cooke. Author:Dr. Stardust@Home Phase 5. Galaxy Zoo. Andromeda Project. About PHAT The Andromeda galaxy is the closest spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way.
For a hundred years, Andromeda (also known by its Messier Catalog identifier, M31) has played an important role in shaping our view of the Universe. In the early 1920's, Edwin Hubble's observations of Andromeda confirmed for the first time that galaxies lie outside of the Milky Way, and that Andromeda must contain billions of stars. Today, Andromeda is a template for understanding how spiral galaxies form and evolve. The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) survey (public webpage here) opens a new window on Andromeda. The Andromeda galaxy with the PHAT coverage footprint overlaid (top). Hunting for Stellar Clusters Star clusters are collections of hundreds to millions of stars that were born at the same time from the same cloud of gas. Star clusters vary greatly in terms of mass, size, age, and local environment.
Distant Galaxies Peeking Through Andromeda's Stars. Citizens in Space. Lynx Cub Payload Carrier Being Developed at Texas A&M College Station, Texas – A new payload carrier promises to dramatically reduce the cost of access to space for small scientific and education payloads. The Lynx Cub Payload Carrier was announced today by the United States Rocket Academy. The Lynx Cub Carrier will fly on the XCOR Lynx space plane, now under construction at the Mojave Air and Space Port, and carry up to 12 experiments on each flight.
“The Lynx Cub Payload Carrier is a versatile system that installs in the Lynx cabin, behind the pilot’s seat, allowing small experiments to be carried as secondary payloads on any Lynx flight,” said United States Rocket Academy chairman Edward Wright. Citizens in Space, a project of the United States Rocket Academy, will fly the Lynx Cub Carrier on 10 Lynx missions beginning in late 2014 or early 2015. “XCOR is pleased to welcome this new payload carrier to the Lynx family,” said Khaki Rodway, XCOR Director of Payload Sales and Operations. Amateur Research Initiative - Introduction. Welcome to the Lowell Amateur Research Initiative (LARI) home page. The LARI program hopes to engage the ever-growing and technically sophisticated amateur astronomy community in some exciting research projects with Lowell astronomers.
A passionate researcher, Percival Lowell always sought to communicate new ideas and the joy of astronomy research to the public. In that same spirit, LARI brings together professional and amateur astronomers in a way that affords interested amateurs an opportunity to participate in cutting-edge research and potentially make significant contributions to science.
Amateurs can help Lowell astronomers in their work and help create dedicated research teams. Currently, Lowell astronomers are conducting several projects that would benefit from the participation of amateur astronomers. And now, get started by perusing our amateur research options. For more information, please contact LARI Manager Samantha Thompson at sthompson@lowell.edu or 928.233.3233. STEREO.