Expedition 30 | Unbelievable comet pictures from the space station The International Space Station's commander has again seen the grandeur of comet Lovejoy in new pictures taken from the orbiting outpost, this time also capturing the Earth's horizon and background stars in exquisite detail. These shots were snapped Thursday, two nights after NASA astronaut Dan Burbank serendipitously witnessed comet Lovejoy rising from behind the Earth as the station orbited 250 miles above the planet and the following night after producing this pictures. Spaceflight Now+Plus subscribers can download and save the stunning high-definition television video of the comet encounter. Photo credit: NASA
New Scientist - Space Cookies on the New Scientist website close Our website uses cookies, which are small text files that are widely used in order to make websites work more effectively. To continue using our website and consent to the use of cookies, click away from this box or click 'Close' Find out about our cookies and how to change them Space Log in Your login is case sensitive I have forgotten my password close My New Scientist Look for Science Jobs Earth's love handles keep satellites from falling Big bang, no boom: Did Planck pop inflation bubble? Ringed asteroid will make a star blink out over Africa TODAY: 12:19 10 April 2014 The first known asteroid with Saturn-like rings will cross in front of a star this month, perhaps revealing clues to how the thin rings stay in shape NASA 'flying saucer' for Mars to land in Hawaii TODAY: 20:46 09 April 2014 The test flight will use an inflatable system designed to get heavy loads – and perhaps people – safely on the Martian surface TODAY: 19:30 09 April 2014 Where am I?
logy Magazine The Earth wobbles. Like a spinning top touched in mid-spin, its rotational axis fluctuates in relation to space. This is partly caused by gravitation from the sun and the moon. At the same time, the Earth's rotational axis constantly changes relative to the Earth's surface. On the one hand, this is caused by variation in atmospheric pressure, ocean loading and wind. These elements combine in an effect known as the Chandler wobble to create polar motion. Capturing these movements is crucial to create a reliable coordinate system that can feed navigation systems or project trajectory paths in space travel. "Locating a point to the exact centimeter for global positioning is an extremely dynamic process – after all, at our latitude, we are moving at around 350 meters to the east per second," explains Prof. The orientation of the Earth's axis relative to space and its rotational velocity are currently established in a complicated process that involves 30 radio telescopes around the globe.
Astronomy Magazine Rare Sight! See All 7 Planets in the Night Sky This Week | Solar System Planets & Skywatching Tips | How to Spot Planets in Night Sky This week presents a rare opportunity to see all the major planets of the solar system in a single night. Just after sunset tonight (Dec. 21) the two brightest planets will be shining, weather permitting. Venus, the brightest, rides low in the southwest just above the setting sun. If you have a telescope, you can find Uranus and Neptune between Venus and Jupiter. The sky maps of the planets available here show where to look to try to spot them this week. Get up around 6 a.m. local time tomorrow morning, and you can see the rest of the planets. Pay particular attention to Spica because, over the next year, the moon will make numerous close passes near Spica, actually passing in front of the star and occulting it on a few occasions. Tonight's array of the planets is the opposite of a conjunction. What makes this event special is that the planets are almost equally spaced around the ecliptic, the only large gap being between Mars and Jupiter, 135 degrees.
Cosmos Magazine - Space Asteroid surfaces are heavy with bombardment and are being shaped by impacts at even a microscopic level, researchers have found. Credit: JAXA CAMBRIDGE: Tiny particles of space dust bombard asteroids and shape their surface at a microscopic level, scientists have found. A study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science analysed material from the surface of a near-Earth asteroid. “Our findings show the landscape itself of the very surface of an asteroid,” said Eizo Nakamura, who worked on the study with colleagues at Okayama University in Misasa, Japan and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Exploring the surface of an asteroid Asteroids are considered to be intermediate products of processes that formed large solar bodies. Previous information gathered about asteroids has come from remote observations measuring properties such as the reflection of light from the surface. Space weathering Complex asteroidal process
Higgs boson: Have they found it? › News in Science (ABC Science) News in Science Monday, 12 December 2011 ABC/Reuters Zeroing in There are loud rumours that scientists at the CERN physics research centre in Europe have seen the first strong signs of a particle vital to support Einstein's ideas on the working of the universe. While warning there would be no announcement of a full scientific discovery, scientists say even confirmation that something like the long-sought Higgs boson had been spotted would point the way to major advances in knowledge of the cosmos. "I am feeling quite a level of excitement," says Dr Oliver Buchmueller, a senior member of one of the two teams seeking the particle amid vast volumes of data gathered in CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) this year. And science bloggers with close contacts among the tight-lipped front-line research groups, known as ATLAS and CMS, say their understanding was that both had found signals that look very much like the Higgs. Answer possible next year Taylor, who is part of the ATLAS team, agrees.
Two Suns? Twin Stars Could Be Visible From Earth By 2012 By Dean Praetorius | HuffingtonPost.com Earth could be getting a second sun, at least temporarily. Dr. Brad Carter, Senior Lecturer of Physics at the University of Southern Queensland, outlined the scenario to news.com.au. Betelgeuse, one of the night sky’s brightest stars, is losing mass, indicating it is collapsing. When that happens, for at least a few weeks, we’d see a second sun, Carter says. The Star Wars-esque scenario could happen by 2012, Carter says... or it could take longer. But doomsday sayers should be careful about speculation on this one. In fact, a neutrino shower could be beneficial to Earth. UPDATE: To clarify, the news.com.au article does not say a neutrino shower could be beneficial to Earth, but implies a supernova could be beneficial, stating, "Far from being a sign of the apocalypse, according to Dr Carter the supernova will provide Earth with elements necessary for survival and continuity." UPDATE II: In a follow-up piece on news.com.au, Dr. Top Image: Source
Dark alien planet discovered by NASA An alien world blacker than coal, the darkest planet known, has been discovered in the galaxy. The world in question is a giant the size of Jupiter known as TrES-2b. NASA's Kepler spacecraft detected it lurking around the yellow sun-like star GSC 03549-02811 some 750 lightyears away in the direction of the constellation Draco. The researchers found this gas giant reflects less than 1 percent of the sunlight falling on it, making it darker than any planet or moon seen up to now. "It's just ridiculous how dark this planet is, how alien it is compared to anything we have in our solar system," study lead-author David Kipping, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told SPACE.com. "However, it's not completely pitch black," co-author David Spiegel of Princeton University said in a statement. "It's a mystery as to what's causing it to be so dark," Kipping said. These extremely small fluctuations in light proved that TrES-2b is incredibly dark. Related on SPACE.com:
Astronomer discovers 18 giant alien planets the size of Jupiter orbiting massive dying stars outside our own solar system By Michael Zennie Updated: 00:08 GMT, 4 December 2011 A patient astronomer has discovered 18 massive new alien planets orbiting dying giant stars outside our solar system. It is a finding that could help scientists better understand the origins of our own sun and the planets that orbit it. This is the second-largest batch of such planets ever found -- and increases the number of known alien bodies orbiting massive stars by 50 percent. California Institute of Technology Professor John Johnson and his team of astronomers spent nearly 10 years staring at 300 solar systems, searching for a tell-tale wobble caused by the gravitational pull from planets. Gas giants: All 18 planets found by Professor John Johnson and his team are roughly the size of Jupiter 'Looking for a wobble': These alien planets were found by looking for a tell-tale change in the gravity of their stars as they orbited 'I liken it to a garden. 'Then, a decade in, your garden is big and flourishing.
One People, One Sky, One App! Astronomers Without Borders Endorses SkySafari for iOS and Mac OS X San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) November 28, 2011 Southern Stars Group, LLC, makers of the award-winning SkySafari astronomy apps, announced a major endorsement by Astronomers Without Borders, a global non-profit organization promoting better international relations through shared interest in astronomy and space exploration. Coinciding with the endorsement, Southern Stars has launched a two-week promotion of its products, where 40% of the proceeds will be donated to Astronomers Without Borders. AWB founder Mike Simmons writes, "We're very pleased to endorse SkySafari 3 and recommend it to our members. The promotion runs through December 8th, 2011. To download SkySafari 3 for iOS from the iTunes Store, follow this link: To download SkySafari for Mac OS X, follow this link: About Southern Stars Group, LLC About Astronomers Without Borders