NASA scientists detect evidence of parallel universe where time runs backward
In a scenario straight out of “The Twilight Zone,” a group of NASA scientists working on an experiment in Antarctica have detected evidence of a parallel universe — where the rules of physics are the opposite of our own, according to a report.
The concept of a parallel universe has been around since the early 1960s, mostly in the minds of fans of sci-fi TV shows and comics, but now a cosmic ray detection experiment has found particles that could be from a parallel realm that also was born in the Big Bang, the Daily Star reported.
The experts used a giant balloon to carry NASA’s Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, or ANITA, high above Antarctica, where the frigid, dry air provided the perfect environment with little to no radio noise to distort its findings.
Source: ny post
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Discovery launch 'no earlier than' December 3
The final launch of the space shuttle Discovery has been delayed until at least December 3 so that repairs can be carried out on a hydrogen leak, the US space agency said Thursday.
NASA said it would review the required analysis and repairs over the next five days and hoped to hold a decisive meeting on the launch on Monday, November 29.
"The Kennedy Space Center 'Call-to-Stations' to begin the launch countdown will be no earlier than Nov. 30, supporting a first launch attempt no earlier than Dec. 3," it said in a statement.
Inspectors this week found a fourth crack in support beams on the external fuel tanks of the space shuttle.
The latest crack was found when technicians removed foam while inspecting the support beams, which are called stringers, in the aftermath of the hydrogen leak, the space agency said.
Two nine-inch (21-centimeter) cracks were found in an adjacent support beam last Friday, and a three-inch (7.5 centimeter) fissure was uncovered over the weekend.
To get in a flight to the International Space Station this year, Discovery must blast off before December 6. Otherwise it will have to wait until February, the same month that the last-ever shuttle launch is scheduled before the fleet is mothballed for good.
Discovery's 11-day mission with its all-American crew of six is to deliver a pressurized logistics module called Leonardo to the ISS, which will be permanently attached to the space station to provide more storage space.
The shuttle will also bring Robonaut 2, the first human-like robot in space and a permanent addition to the orbiting space station, as well as spare parts.
Two space walks, for maintenance work and component installation, are scheduled.
The Discovery has launched into space 38 times, and NASA aims to retire the shuttle after its final and 39th voyage.
The launch aims to be the fourth and final shuttle flight of the year, and the last scheduled for Discovery, the oldest in the three-shuttle fleet that is being retired next year.
But the mission has been marred by a series of delays brought on by bad weather and equipment problems.
The three US shuttles -- the other two are Atlantis and Endeavour -- are due to be sent off to become museum pieces after a final shuttle mission to the space station in late February.
That means Russian Soyuz spacecraft, a modernized version of which recently dropped off three fresh crew members to the ISS, doubling the crew to six, will for several years be the only vehicle for transporting humans into space.
However, NASA's recently approved 2011 budget has left the door open to an additional shuttle flight in June.
(c) 2010 AFP


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The gorgeous green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) should now be visible to the naked eye under the right dark sky conditions.
The comet is rapidly approaching perigee, its closest point to Earth, which is making it easier to spot in the night sky. The comet, first discovered in March 2022 by astronomers Frank Masci and Bryce Bolin using the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at the Palomar Observatory in California, has been brightening since November, wowing astrophotographers with its brilliant green tail.
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is currently making its way through the northern skies and should reach its brightest magnitude in early February, according to In-The-Sky.org (opens in new tab) as it approaches perigee on Feb. 1. To see the comet for yourself, look to the north just after sunset and look for a faint greenish glow. Under the right dark sky conditions, the comet could be visible to the unaided eye, but binoculars will certainly make the job easier.
Related: Amazing photos of the green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)
More: How to view and photograph comets
Looking for a telescope to see comet C/2022 E3 ZTF? We recommend the Celestron Astro Fi 102 (opens in new tab) as the top pick in our best beginner's telescope guide.
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is available for tracking in most major astronomy and sky tracking apps. Additionally, University of Toronto astrophysicist Hanno Rein has created a free app (opens in new tab) available on the Apple app store dedicated entirely to locating and tracking comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF).
As of Monday (Jan. 23), comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) appears close to the constellation Draco. The images below are courtesy of TheSkyLive.com (opens in new tab).
Related: See '3 days in the life' of green comet as it heads towards Earth (photo)
On Thursday (Jan. 26), the comet will appear just beside Ursa Minor, the "Little Bear" or "Little Dipper."
By Jan. 30, the comet will make its way east toward Camelopardalis, where it will appear when it reaches perigee on Feb. 1.
By Feb. 10, the comet will have moved significantly to the east and will appear close to Mars, which might make it easier to spot.
If conditions aren't right for late night or early morning skywatching in your area, you're still in luck: The Virtual Telescope Project will be hosting a free livestream of comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). The stream begins on Feb. 1 at 11:00 p.m. EST (0400 GMT) and can be watched courtesy of the project's website (opens in new tab) or YouTube channel (opens in new tab).
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) has already put on quite a show for astrophotographers, leading to scores of breathtaking pictures of the gorgeously green comet. In January, strong solar winds caused part of the comet's tail to break off in what astronomers call a disconnection event.
More recently, SpaceWeather.com reported that comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) formed what is known as an "anti-tail," a phenomenon which causes a comet to appear to have a second, forward-facing tail. In reality, an anti-tail is an optical illusion caused when larger dust particles form a disk along the comet's orbit. As Earth passes through the comet's orbital plane, this dusty disk can be seen side-on, appearing as a reversed anti-tail.
Hoping to observe C/2022 E3 (ZTF)? Our guides on the best telescopes and best binoculars can help, as it doesn't take much magnification to see the comet as the month comes to a close. You can also check out our guides on how to view and photograph comets, as well our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography to get started.
Editor's Note: If you get a great photo of comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) and would like to share it with Space.com’s readers, send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to firstname.lastname@example.org.
Follow Brett on Twitter at @bretttingley (opens in new tab). Follow us @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab), or on Facebook (opens in new tab) and Instagram (opens in new tab).
Observed 0200-0330 EST. First Quarter Moon 28-Jan-2023 1519 UT. Easy to locate C/2022 E3 (ZTF) comet this morning. Theskylive.com reports magnitude 5.6 now. Stellarium 1.2 shows C/2022 E3 (ZTF) about 1 degree 51 arcminute angular separation from Edasich in Draco when I started observing. Distinct, bright 10x50 binocular view and simple to locate using Telrad with my 90-mm refractor telescope. I used TeleVue 14-mm Delos eyepiece (71x) for a bit more than 60-arcminute true FOV along with 10x50 binoculars. Draco stars HIP74756 (7.60 magnitude) and TYC4181-1286-1 (8.90 magnitude) are about 8 arcminutes apart from each other, visible in the FOV with the comet. C/2022 E3 (ZTF) distinct coma about same angular size (8 arcminutes), visible with slight fan shape and some tail now, perhaps 15-20 arcminutes faintly visible across the FOV at 71x using. Stellarium 1.2 reports coma diameter about 17 arcminutes or so and gas tail length close to 1.5-degrees. Other fainter stars visible along with C/2022 E3 (ZTF). This was fun comet observing with clear skies, temperature -2C, winds 280/5 knots. I started observing comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) on 24-Dec-2022 when magnitude 8.59 was reported. I did not see unaided eyes because of light pollution towards N and NE sectors, I can see about 5.0 or so magnitude stars in those directions but very easy using 10x50 binoculars now and 90-mm refractor telescope. The woodburning stove was running when I came back inside.
Three nights in a row in dark-sky, using my Celestron Astro Fi 130mm, seeing nothing at the target spot, recalibrating, recalibrating...
After recalibrating again tonight, all I can see is the faintest huge green cloud, had to convince myself I wasn't imagining it. Nothing resembling definition or a tail, much less an anti-tail. Think I had seen this on previous nights, but dismissed it as eyestrain. This was hyped as such a great comet, "naked eye," the whole works.
From what I can tell just reading reports, many in my MS EDGE browser, this comet is linked backed to Neanderthals during the time of mammoths and ice age when commonly promoted to the public :). This site I use to check comet orbital elements published. https://minorplanetcenter.net//
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) eccentricity is slightly larger than 1 so the comet is not in a closed orbit with the Sun.
Observed 2000-2040 EST. I used 10x50 binoculars and viewed C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in Ursa Minor tonight. It was fuzzy and theskylive.com reports 5.6 magnitude. I observed the waxing crescent Moon in Pisces and M42 in Orion. Altocumulus clouds moved in. The sky was partly cloudy and then mostly cloudy, so it was difficult to view. Looking at the comet in NNE sky, at my location only about magnitude 4.5 stars visible due to light pollution in the northern sky. C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is now an evening comet but the location is in an area of sky with more light pollution. For me, it was notable that C/2022 E3 (ZTF), framed by Thuban in Draco, Beta Umi (Kochab), and Pherkad in Ursa Minor. beta UMi b is an exoplanet orbiting Kochab. In the 10x50 binocular view, it was a red giant star clearly as its spectral class K4-III. The exoplanet information can be found at: http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/beta_umi_b/, and the NASA exoplanet archive site, https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/overview/bet%20UMi%20b#planet_bet-UMi-b_collapsible It was interesting to consider when I looked at C/2022 E3 (ZTF), the red giant star about 4.5-degrees angular separation (Kochab in Ursa Minor), had an exoplanet orbiting it. 2250 EST update. Easier to see C/2022 E3 (ZTF) using 10x50 binoculars at this time. Better elevation angle and darker sky. The comet was a large brighter fuzzy with somewhat fan shape appearance. This is now an evening comet to see.
Swept it up at 8:20PM EST tonight, Feb 1, 2023, 13° to the east of Polaris, 19.5° higher. I observed from my front yard in Albany, GA, a city of 70,000 people, with LED streetlights on either side of me, house lights everywhere and a waxing gibbous Moon nearly straight overhead only about 50° from the comet. I had to drape a coat over everything to keep the light out. I used a set of Celestron 25x100 Skymaster binoculars on a Quickset tripod 4-70150 with a 4-72853 head. Steady as a rock and a joy to use.
The comet was a faint smudge, very small, no structure, no tail, no color. I tried star hopping from Polaris, scanned around for about 30 minutes to no avail, finally went inside and checked Heavens Above. It was at elevation 49.5°. I marked a protractor, took it outside and set the angle, guesstimated 13° to the right of Polaris and there it was. Much higher in the sky than I originally thought. Watched it for about 15 minutes until 8:35PM when it started to cloud over and I lost it. Quite a thrill. Thank you Rod for your persistence.
This is comet #4 for me:
1965 - Ikeya Seki
1995 - Hale Bopp
2023 - ZTF
Pretty much my experience tonight. Clear sky, same moon (obviously). It was a spread-out, faint wisp that you could convince yourself was green if you hoped hard enough. Many of the "pretty" photos online of this comet are taken at long exposures, so anybody expecting to see anything that striking with eyeballs is in for a disappointment.
My grandson was disappointed as well, but I used the occasion to show him a nice moon closeup and a fine view of Jupiter with three bright moons, so I salvaged all my grandpa points for today.
Very nice :) Hale Bopp was a great comet to view.


Intricate curlicues and circular patterns of storms swirl through the high latitudes near Saturn's south pole in this image from the Cassini spacecraft.
The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 588,000 kilometers (365,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 140 degrees. At this high phase angle, the sun is illuminating the limb of the planet from almost the opposite side of Saturn from the spacecraft.The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Jan. 5, 2009 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. Image scale is 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute


WASHINGTON — Times are tough for the Universe. No not that universe, NASA’s $1.5 billion-Universe.
When the U.S. space agency reorganized its mission enterprises last year, it combined all of its astronomy programs into a single program dubbed the Universe. Today, the Universe has more than a dozen space astronomy missions on orbit and at least that many in development.
Between paying for the space shuttle program and funding new forward-looking space exploration projects like the Crew Exploration Vehicle, NASA’s budget for the Universe is not getting any bigger. In fact, NASA’s 2006 budget calls for spending slightly less on the Universe than in 2005, even as the Universe is seeing significant cost growth on some of its highest priority projects.
The projected price tag for the James Webb Space Telescope, for example, has swelled by another $1 billion to $4.5 billion. That unpleasant surprise prompted NASA to seek ways to scale back the mission and erode the cost increase without dealing a fatal blow to the program’s science objectives.
Another high priority mission, an extrasolar planet finder called the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), is facing a $500 million overrun. Kepler, a less sophisticated planet finder once scheduled to launch in 2007, is now facing a delay of un determined length.
An airborne telescope called SOFIA and the Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope slated for launch in 2006 are encountering minor setbacks on their way to service, with both requiring more money.
And with NASA leaning toward sending a space shuttle crew to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope, the space agency’s strapped Universe budget is going to have to bear at least part of the cost of the estimated $750 million undertaking.
Rick Howard, NASA’s deputy director of the Universe, acknowledged that budgets are tight and that something is going to have to give to pay for Hubble servicing and astronomy projects that are close to first light, but he said cancellation is unlikely for either the Webb telescope or SIM despite their soaring price tags.
“Given that Hubble [servicing], SOFIA and the Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope are in development, increases in those are going to have impacts on the other programs,” Howard said. “But cancellation? No.”
NASA has already indicated that it is not willing to absorb the full $1 billion cost increase on Webb, so the agency plans to convene a group of senior scientists this summer that will help the agency decide how much to scale back the telescope and what other projects to cut to help pay any remaining overrun.
“Everybody loves [the James Webb Space Telescope] and the science it can do,” Howard said. “On the other hand there is an upper dollar limit at which the science community says it’s not worth doing. So it’s a balance.”
NASA is going through a similar exercise with SIM.
Last year, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., informed NASA that SIM was going to cost about $500 million more than the $900 million the agency had budgeted for the planet-hunting mission.
“We said we cannot afford that,” Howard said. “So we looked at what we thought we could afford.”
Howard said the SIM team was told to plan two versions of the mission: one that could be built for $1 billion and one that could be constructed for $1.2 billion.
The SIM team is due to go back to NASA Headquarters in mid-July with the revised mission. Howard said NASA will then decide how to proceed and establish a new launch date. A revised 2005 spending plan NASA sent to Congress in May indicates that SIM’s launch will be delayed two years to 2013.
Kepler, a cost-capped Discovery-class mission, is in a different situation. Howard said the mission was coming along well, but had to absorb a $35 million budget hit this year to help fund other pressing priorities NASA’s Science Mission Directorate was facing. Howard said NASA has not set a new launch date for the mission, but expects it to slip about a year from its previously planned 2007 date.
Joseph Alexander, director of the National Research Council’s Space Studies Board here, said astronomers are understandably nervous about what the future holds for both big and small space observatory projects at NASA.
“It’s going to be a real challenge for NASA to go forward with the space exploration vision and to do it in a way that preserves a science program that is both robust and broadsided,” Alexander said. “We are probably seeing the most acute situation with the astronomy program where they are seeing big jumps in cost.”
Alexander said that in absolute dollar value, NASA’s astronomy program appears to be seeing the most cost growth of any of NASA’s science programs — a circumstance, he said, due at least partly to the “intrinsic complexity” of the missions now in development.
David Black, president of the Universities Space Research Association in Houston, said the science community is partly to blame for the situation NASA’s astronomy program is in today.
Black said that while most of NASA’s current budget problems can be traced back to the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the cost of getting back to flying again, NASA aided and abetted by the science community have contributed to the Universe’s budget woes, he said, “by trying to do too much with too little.”
“That works if all goes as forecast, but with the incredibly complex missions, requirements creep, and other factors, all of the missions in recent memory have ended up costing substantially more than they were advertised to be,” Black said. “There may be some element of ‘getting the nose under the tent,’ but NASA should be able to calibrate that by now. I think it is more that the technology is hard, and we keep finding ‘desirements’ becoming ‘requirements’.”
Another factor, Black said, is NASA’s move to full-cost accounting, or making programs pay for every man hour they use in completing a project. “My observation is that few, if any, of the [NASA field] centers really got it right when they had to estimate their costs so that we are now seeing the cost of civil service manpower at some centers going through the roof,” Black said. “That was never adequately budgeted.”
Both Black and Alexander said it is not clear how exactly NASA’s astronomy program will find its way through its current predicament.
“The approach when Ed Weiler was associate administrator was very clear,” Alexander said. “Ed held his divisions responsible for solving their own problems internally. If things are done the way they were in the past, Anne Kinney [director of the Universe] will have to look across her programs to solve these problems and she can’t expect [NASA Associate Administrator for Science] Al Diaz to go elsewhere to solve her problems.”
Alexander did not say what projects he thinks Kinney would cut to solve pressing budget demands, but he said he expects she will not tap into the money NASA sets aside to fund scientific research grants.
“She knows she cannot dip into those because then she would be building missions but there would be no astronomers to reap the benefits of the missions. I know she is very conscious of that issue.”
Black, who said he sees a “slim possibility” that Congress will come through with enough extra money to fully fund a Hubble servicing mission even though Congress has made clear it wants NASA to do it, said the space science community “should probably expect a squeeze, or at least our share of the pain” in these tight times.
Black said he expects that NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, himself a scientist, will “do everything he can to keep the science programs healthy.”
“[H]aving an administrator who understands and values science is a good thing as contrasted to someone whose world view is a column of numbers and the bottom line,” Black said.


Just after installing the filters.
The blue-looking one is the red filter, the pink one is the green, and the yellow one is the blue. (They're rejection filters). Clear one is luminance (blocks UV and IR)
I spent Sunday afternoon taking the advice of the good folks on The Astro Imaging Channel and wrapping my cables in some of the 50 feet of flexible cable sock I bought. I had previously put off doing this because I change configurations so often -- this camera on that telescope, with or without dew heaters, multiple rigs at once while at star parties, etc -- but cables are cheap, so I just bought a bunch of duplicates. The cable sock I bought is self-closing, so instead of feeding a cable through, I wrap the sock around the cables, so it's pretty easy to add or remove cables, and it's easy to have them pop out before the end of the sock if I need to run cables farther along. The cable configuration I built for my astro club's memorial scope includes: a USB 3.0 cable for my ZWO camera, a USB 2.0 cable for my new filter wheel, and the power cable (with a couple of extensions) for my ZWO camera. My guide camera gets plugged into my ZWO camera (which has two USB ports on it), and since I have my USB hub attached to the pier, I just have the Celestron mount connection USB cable separate from the bundle. My USB 3.0 hub is velcro'd to the pier, and then a USB 3.0 cable runs to my tablet. Now I only have one thing hanging off the scope! I suppose I could also plug the filter wheel into the camera, since it only draws 100 mA max (part of the reason I picked that particular filter wheel -- no external power, and very low consumption!).
I also made cable configurations for using my DSLR (DSLR USB cable, DSLR power, guide camera, and Celestron serial cable), and then one for either of my Celestron configurations with my ZWO (USB 3.0 cable, Celestron serial cable, filter wheel USB 2.0 cable, and two dew heater straps), and then one specifically for the Texas Star Party, where I'll be using a SBIG ST-8300M I'm borrowing with my manual filter wheel on my 11-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain (USB 2.0 cable for SBIG, SBIG power cable, guide camera cable, my other two dew heaters, and the Celestron serial cable). Yeah cable management! No more snagging on stuff by accident, and fewer things to move around and mess up guiding.
So I got out to the observatory around 8:20 PM, and the clouds were still thick, but I went ahead and set up. First I set up a timelapse, since watching the clouds dissipate is pretty cool. (Sorry I haven't posted last week's timelapse video yet -- I'm having some file naming issues, I think I'm just going to write my own script to do it!). Then I opened up the dome, plugged in my cameras, and connected everything to my cable bundle. It's beautiful!
Still got a bit of a power cable mess, but that part doesn't move, so I'm less concerned...
Buuuuuut the clouds were thick. So I decided to take some flats. I slewed the scope down to a level I could reach, attached a white t-shirt using a stretchy headband to the objective, set my Celestron PowerTank on the slit window ledge thing, and turned on the large white light. I then remembered that I probably wasn't quite in focus with the new filter wheel, but I figured I'd take them anyway. Once that was done, it was still super cloudy, but there were a couple of tiny suckerholes through which I could see Castor and Pollux. So I slewed up there, threw on the Bahtinov mask, and focused as best I could with a fuzzy diffraction pattern image (see more about that here).
Spikes are still centered! Bahtinov masks are great.
While slewing, it sounded like the motors were having a bit of a hard time, so I decided to go ahead and change the balance on the mount, since I'm the main person using it (and anyone using it with just an eyepiece won't miss being balanced as much as I will!). It was pretty decently out of balance in both RA and dec, so I adjusted that, and then went and sat inside to wait for the clouds to clear. I decided I'd wait till 11 PM.
The Astro Imaging Channel broadcast started a little before I came back inside, so I hopped on from my cell phone since the cell signal is better than our wifi here. I haven't gotten that to work in the past, so that was fun! I stayed on after to chat with the another panelists, from whom I always get great info.
Around 10:30, I poked my head out, and it had cleared out pretty significantly! And the stars looked steady, plus I could see a lot of them, so the seeing and transparency were probably pretty decent.
Worry not, I turned off the lights before starting to image.
So I scooted out to the dome to get rolling. I loaded my previous alignment model that I'd saved to the computer, slewed to Arcturus to check focus, and it was nearly in the crosshairs! Goto on the Celestron CGX-L we have out in the memorial dome is pretty excellent. I calibrated guiding there, and then slewed to M82, the Cigar Galaxy, which was my chosen target. I thought about taking more hydrogen alpha imagery, but I wanted to use my new filter wheel! I tested a 3-minute luminance frame and the stars looked solid, and then I tested a 5-minute frame and it still looked good! And the guide plot looked great. Now, imaging that close to the north celestial pole makes an easy job of guiding because the RA axis is moving very little, but maybe my balancing also helped. I'll have to see when I image somewhere farther from the pole.
Flipping across the meridian, which is usually a scary process because of all my cables, was quite painless this time around. M82 ended up a tad high in the frame though, and Sequence Generator Pro is soooooooo slow at downloading even the frame & focus frames that it's hard to get something re-centered. But I didn't want to swap back over to the faster SharpCap because I didn't want to wait for it to re-cool, and getting AstroTortilla to grab the image when it's connected to SGP is dicey, and I haven't figured out how to plate solve and center in SGP yet, so I just did it myself.
All too soon, midnight rolled around, and I did have to work in the morning, so I packed up and headed home. I got through 17x300s subframes on the luminance channel (so didn't really use the automation on the filter wheel, boo), so I'll have to collect the RGB and H-alpha next time I'm out. Here's a single screen-stretched luminance frame:
Single subframe (300s)
Date: 31 March 2019
Object: M82 Cigar Galaxy
Camera: ZWO ASI1600MM Pro
Telescope: Meade 127mm ED apo f/9 (club's)
Accessories: Starlight Xpress 2-inch filter wheel, Astronomik Type 2c LRGB 2-inch filters
Mount: Celestron CGX-L
Guide scope: Celestron 102mm
Guide camera: QHY5
A successful night! And somewhat representative of the month of March as well -- in like a lion, out like a lamb.
Here's the timelapse video:
Previous post: #179 - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - Finally, a little success!
Next post: #181 - Tuesday, April 2, 2019 - Fuzzy Colors


From NASA's Planetary Photojournal
This mosaic of four images -- taken by NEAR Shoemaker on September 21, 2000, from about 100 kilometers (62 miles) above Eros -- covers part of the asteroid's southern hemisphere, southwest of the large, 5.3-kilometer (3.3-mile) diameter crater. The ridge that trends from upper left to lower right is among the older features on Eros, as evidenced by the large number of superimposed impact craters. The whole scene is approximately 11 kilometers (7 miles) from top to bottom.
Image Title: An Ancient Ridge
Catalog #: PIA03110
Photo Target Name: Eros
Image Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Spacecraft/Mission: Near Shoemaker
Back to asteroid index.
Back to index.
Last Modified On: Wednesday, February 28, 2001


What is light?
In physics, light is the smallest quantity of energy that can be transported. A photon, an elementary particle without a real size, cannot be split, only created or destroyed. Light also has a wave-particle duality, being kind of particle and a wave at the same time. However, in ordinary usages, when we say light, we actually mean visible light, which is a very tiny part of the electromagnetic (“EM”) spectrum, that are the range of all types of EM radiation. Radiation is energy that travels and spreads out as it goes. Radio waves that come from a radio station is another type of EM radiation. All types of such electromagnetic radiation travel 299,792,458 meters per second in a vacuum, also known as the speed of light (commonly denoted as “c”).
What is EM radiation?
Electromagnetic radiation includes an enormous range of wavelengths and frequencies and carries different level of energy. The EM spectrum is generally divided into eight regions, in order of decreasing wavelength and increasing energy and frequency, they are commonly named:
- radio waves,
- Terahertz radiation,
- infrared (IR),
- visible light,
- ultraviolet (UV),
- X-rays, and
- Gamma rays.
Gamma rays have the smallest wavelength because they are the highest energy photons; radio wave have the largest wavelength because they are the lowest energy photons. How many energy difference among the ends of the electromagnetic spectrum? Electron-volt, or eV, is a unit of energy in physics, widely used in solid state, atomic, nuclear and particle physics. In astronomy, it is widely used to describe the energy level of light or EM radiations.
Figure 1: Electromagnetic Spectrum
The Planck-Einstein relation (E = hf, where h is known as Planck’s constant) connects the particulate photon energy (E) with its associated wave length (f). As mentioned above, all types of EM wave are at the same speed of c. Therefore, the particulate photon energy has an inversed relationship with its associated wavelength. Now, let us take radio wave and gamma rays as examples. The biggest long wavelength of radio wave can span from 10,000,000m to 100,000,000m. Most gamma rays are under 10 picometers (denoted as “pm”, one picometer is 1 x 10-12, i.e. 1/1000 of nanometer), which is far smaller than a hydrogen atom. By applying the Planck-Einstein relationship, we can depict a huge energy difference between very long wavelength radio waves and gamma rays i.e., of 1020 (hundred million trillion or hundred quintillion) times!
What is visible light?
What makes visible light special? Um…our eyes make them special. Human eyes are also evolved to capture visible light which carries the information around us. However, not all animal eyes were evolved in the same way, for example, bird eyes can recognize ultraviolet rays which is generally invisible by human eyes. Furthermore, bug eyes like bee eyes can recognize ultraviolet rays as well.
Visible light is not white. A beam of white light will be dispersed into a visible light spectrum as below. Rainbow is a natural phenomenon happened after raining.
Figure 2: Dispersion of white light through a prism
Figure 3: Rainbow after a rainy day
Such visible light spectrum are EM radiations of wavelength from 380 to 750 nanometers.
Figure 4: Visible light spectrum
By applying the Planck-Einstein relationship, we know that gamma rays is 100,000 times powerful than the visible lights.
In short, light includes all electromagnetic radiations travelling at the speed of light, c, in vacuum. All those electromagnetic radiations form a continuous electromagnetic spectrum. Light, in our ordinary use, generally refers to visible light, which is just a tiny part of electromagnetic spectrum. As a matter of fact, solar light from the Sun includes not only the visible light but also other electromagnetic spectrum, like ultraviolet rays. Even the artificial light sources emitting electromagnetic radiations other than visible light, for example, tanning lamp emits the ultraviolet rays which make our skin tanning. However, as we explained above, some of the electromagnetic radiations are much more powerful than visible light, and we should avoid exposing in those high energy electromagnetic radiations.


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Revision as of 16:40, 20 September 2015 by Dunkley (→What is the impact of delensing on r, and on nt or BB wiggles?)
Blake Sherwin, Olivier Dore, Chris Sheehy, Josquin Errard, Stephen Feeney, Alex van Engelen, Neelima Sehgal, Hiranya Peiris, Anthony Challinor...
What is the impact of delensing on r, and on nt or BB wiggles?
- Anthony C - let's think about trying to measure the B-mode spectrum shape
- Stephen Feeney/Josquin Errand/Peiris/Jaffe: some forecasts of S4 performance on r:
What sensitivity and resolution do we need for the lensing map?
- Blake: need high sensitivity lensing map.Plot shows residual delensed B-mode noise on large scales vs. noise of the high-res lens-reconstruction-experiment.
- Blake:Improvement from external delensing (e.g. CIB) isn't good enough (lensing reduction is only 2-3, compared to ~5 with internal):
- Blake: High resolution is good but not massive gain below few arcmin:
What are the frequency/foreground-removal requirements for the lensing map?
- I.e. easier to remove foregrounds at small-scales than large
How low a multipole is needed for the lensing-extraction-map?
- I.e. how is delensing degraded if we have l>50/100/500 etc.


After an impact event, the falling debris forms an ejecta blanket surrounding the crater. Approximately half the volume of ejecta falls within 1 crater radius of the rim, or 2 radii from the center of the crater. The ejecta blanket becomes thinner with distance and increasingly discontinuous. Over 90% of the debris falls within approximately 5 radii of the center of the crater. Ejecta which falls within that area is considered proximal ejecta. Beyond 5 radii, the discontinuous debris is considered distal ejecta.
- David Darling. "ejecta blanket". The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spacecraft. Retrieved 2007-08-07.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- French, Bevan M. (1998). "Ch 5: Shock-Metamorphosed Rocks (Impactites) in Impact Structures". Traces of Catastrophe: A Handbook of Shock-Metamorphic Effects in Terrestrial Meteorite Impact Structures. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute. pp. 74–78.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>


By the time of Ptolemy Greek astronomers had proposed adding circles on the circular orbits of the wandering stars (the planets, the moon and the sun) to explain their motion. These circles on circles are called epicycles.
How did ancient Greece contribute to astronomy?
In classical Greece, astronomy was a branch of mathematics; astronomers sought to create geometrical models that could imitate the appearances of celestial motions. This tradition began with the Pythagoreans, who placed astronomy among the four mathematical arts (along with arithmetic, geometry, and music).
Why is Greek astronomy important?
The ancient Greeks were some of the first people to study the sky and understand astronomy. They realized the Earth was a sphere, or a three-dimensional circular object, and tried to measure its size. They also created an idea of a geocentric solar system in which everything orbits around the Earth.
How were planets discovered before telescopes?
Until the development of the telescope in the early 17th Century, all astronomical observations were made with the naked eye. By using measuring instruments, astronomers recorded the positions of the planets against the background of stars.
What are Greek inventions?
Greeks have bestowed the world with many other inventions. According to some sources, the Greeks are responsible for the alarm clock, computer, shower, automatic doors, cartography, the odometer, the stadium, and the arch bridge.
What practical value did astronomy offer?
What practical value did astronomy offer to ancient civilizations? It helped them keep track of time and seasons, and it was used by some cultures for navigation.
What was Aristotle’s contribution to understanding the universe?
Aristotle, who lived from 384 to 322 BC, believed the Earth was round. He thought Earth was the center of the universe and that the Sun, Moon, planets, and all the fixed stars revolved around it. Aristotle’s ideas were widely accepted by the Greeks of his time.
How was astronomy developed?
The Ancient Greeks developed astronomy, which they treated as a branch of mathematics, to a highly sophisticated level. The first geometrical, three-dimensional models to explain the apparent motion of the planets were developed in the 4th century BC by Eudoxus of Cnidus and Callippus of Cyzicus.
Who named Planet Earth?
All of the planets, except for Earth, were named after Greek and Roman gods and godesses. The name Earth is an English/German name which simply means the ground. It comes from the Old English words ‘eor(th)e’ and ‘ertha’. In German it is ‘erde’.
Who discovered Earth?
The exoplanet was identified by the Kepler space telescope, and its discovery was announced by NASA on 23 July 2015. The planet is about 1,400 light-years away from the Solar System.
|Mass||5 ± 2 M Earth|
|Surface gravity||1.9 +1.5−1.0 (est.) g|
|Temperature||Teq: 265 K (−8 °C; 17 °F)|
What is the greatest contribution of ancient Greece to the modern world?
The Theater. If you’ve ever gone to a concert, play or movie, you’ve benefited from one of the ancient Greeks’ most obvious contributions to the modern world: the theater. The word “theater” is derived from the Greek word “theatron,” meaning the seating section of outdoor arenas where people watched plays.
What did the Greeks do for us?
The arts, sports, medicine, law, language, science, mathematics, philosophy, buildings and even some inventions, have all been greatly influenced by the Ancient Greeks. Groups of children could choose one of the areas mentioned in the animation,.


The consideration of whether humankind is alone in the universe or shares it with other creatures has long been part of intellectual inquiry into the nature of the universe. The early Greek philosophers, for instance, speculated about the existence of other inhabited planets. With the recognition that the other planets of the solar system are bodies like Earth came both scientific and popular speculation about life on other planets. Much of the modern effort of exploration in the solar system has been driven implicitly, if not explicitly, by this search for extraterrestrial life. Those who investigate the possibility of extraterrestrial life and the effects of extraterrestrial environments on living organisms from Earth are called exobiologists.
In the late 1800s, the Italian astronomer Schiappareli thought he saw linear features crossing the surface of the planet Mars. (These features are actually just the attempt of the eye and brain to find a pattern in random features seen at the edge of detectability). His “channels” became, in English translation, “canals” and became the inspiration for Percival Lowell to not only found his own observatory for their study, but to also widely lecture to audiences about intelligent life on a dying Mars. Lowell's viewpoint was the inspiration behind H. G. Wells's fictional novel War of the Worlds, which was dramatized in the infamous Orson Wells radio broadcast of October 30, 1938.
The recurrent fascination with Mars was a major factor behind the 1976 NASA Viking mission, which landed a spacecraft on the planet. Part of its task was to test Martian soil for evidence of the chemicals produced by living organisms, an experiment that produced a negative result. With Viking removing doubt about the possibility of major life forms on Mars and Venus proven to be too hot to be habitable, scientific speculation turned to the outer planet, Jupiter, and its moons, as well as the cloud‐enshrouded moon Titan, which orbits Saturn. The outer atmosphere of Jupiter is now known to be too turbulent to support a stable environment for life. Additionally, Jupiter's moons are probably too ice‐enshrouded for life to be found in the oceans lying beneath the ice, and Titan has been shown to be too cold to support life. A 1996 report of the discovery of microscopic bacterial fossils in a meteorite that originated on Mars caused great excitement, but continued study suggests that the structures that were found are likely not organic in nature. Nevertheless, the announcement in early 2000 that high resolution photography of small areas of the Martian surface reveals extensive patterns of erosion features, apparently identical with drainage features on Earth due to water, has rekindled interest in the planet. If water does exist somewhere on the planet, then maybe the evidence for living organisms also is present.
Even if life does not exist elsewhere in the solar system, there are billions of stars and potential solar systems that could provide hospitable environments. With scientific proof yet to be found, nevertheless the most popular modern genre of written fiction, television, and movie entertainment is science fiction, with its worlds ( Star Trek, Star Wars, and so on) populated by a vast variety of other creatures.


- Slides: 24
Solar surface circulation velocities and magnetic fields from cycle 22 to early cycle 24 Supported in part by NSF grant AGS-0958779 and NASA grant NNX 09 AB 12 G. Roger K. Ulrich Division of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California at Los Angeles http: //ulrich. astro. ucla. edu/Solar. Surface. Dynamics. html
Solar surface dynamics Observations of surface velocities from the Mt. Wilson Observatory 150 -foot tower telescope. Use solar rotation to divide into N/S (meridional) flow and E/W (zonal) flow. These slides emphasize the zonal flow as manifested in the Torsional Oscillations.
Torsional Oscillation This figure shows the deviation from the standard rotation curve as a function of latitude and time. The N/S asymmetry in rotation rate confuses the torsional oscillation pattern and is removed by averaging the two hemispheres.
Torsional Oscillations as time trends The zonal velocity is a travelling pulse at low latitudes. Isolate features by fitting maxima and minima of time trends.
Symmetric Torsional Oscillations In this figure the north and south hemispheres have been averaged together and the reflected southern hemisphere is omitted. .
Symmetric T. O. with overlay The overlaid lines and colored bands are derived from a quadratic fit to the maxima and minima on the vzonal versus time trend lines at each latitude.
Systematics of the T. O.
The T. O. and the Solar Cycle
Defining the sense of local rotation eddys A cyclonic eddy adds to the local rotation. An anti-cyclonic opposes the local rotation. Differential rotation is cyclonic. The Torsional Oscillations have a strong zone that is anti-cyclonic. Faster than average Slower than average Opposes rotation across this zone.
Definition of Rotation Shear The strain rate tensor has a non-zero , component due to differential rotation. The Torsional Oscillations are a local time dependent change of this component: , . The total strain rate is the sum of both contributions. By analogy with wind shear we call , the rotation shear.
The T. O. as a rotation shear wave This shows the total rotation shear from vzonal plus the effect of differential rotation. The change , due to the T. O. is large compared to , Itself. The differential rotation is cyclonic while the T. O. pulse is anti-cyclonic.
Rotation Shear Change vs Latitude and time This 2 -D Plot shows the concentrated anti-cyclonic pulse which lasts about 18 months. The decrease in rotation shear is a substantial fraction of the background from differential rotation.
The rotation shear precedes sunspots This figure compares the times and latitudes of sunspots to the propagation of the anticyclonic rotation pulse. All available cycles are combine using time relative to sunspot number minimum. The rotation shear scale is for the darkest parts to have = -0. 6 and the lightest parts to have = 0. 1. The sunspot locations are shown by Hathaway(2011) according to a system separating cycle strength and spot group size.
Meridional flow deviations near minimum The position of the anti-cyclonic pulse is shown by the vertical bars. The curves show the deviation of the meridional circulation velocity from the overall average. Each circulation curve is the average of the N and S hemispheres. Dashed lines show where the deviation is zero. The anti-cyclonic pulse is partly aligned with the location of upwelling as indicated by the meridional circulation.
Some Numbers: Solar minima based on the Torsional Oscillations were at 1976. 4, 1986. 7, 1996. 9 and 2008. 7. The Torsional Oscillation anti-cyclonic pulse drifts at a rate of 4. 2 degrees/year toward the equator. Cycle 24 maximum is projected to occur at 2013. 1± 1. This projection will be updated at the end of 2011 and should have a reduced uncertainty.
Conclusions: Torsional oscillations are predictive of the solar cycle development. The Torsional oscillations are a propagating rotation shear pulse. Rotation shear drops then recovers in a space of 18 months. Activity appears about 18 months after the rotation shear recovers. Meridional flow indicating upwelling is partly aligned with the anti-cyclonic rotation shear pulse. The anti-cyclonic pulse suggests “anti-thermal shadowing”. A numerical representation of the pulse is available on the next slide which is included in the web site posting.
High latitude rotation shear change is small
Meridional Flow The flow pattern migrates from pole toward equator (the flow itself is from equator to pole except near the poles. The polar reverse flow is strongest near sunspot minimum and absent for cycle 23
Time Dependence of the Meridional Flow The flow at all latitudes has dropped to very low levels at the start of cycle 24. The duration of the low flow rate is longer than any previous period.
Latitude Dependence of Meridional Flow The latitudinal dependence of the meridional flow is at record low values throughout the sun except for a band within 10 degrees of the equator.
Magnetic – Sectoral Component The polar field has not yet reversed. The cycle 23 field was half the cycle 21 and 22 fields.


Sky-gazers in Sweden recently had front-row seats to an out-of-this-world light show: The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights.
The video has gotten plenty of attention, with almost 350,000 views so far on YouTube.
From How Stuff Works, a technical explanation for this cool cosmic display:
The auroras, both surrounding the north magnetic pole (aurora borealis) and south magnetic pole (aurora australis) occur when highly charged electrons from the solar wind interact with elements in the earth's atmosphere.
Bing F. Quock, assistant director of the Morrison Planetarium at the California Academy of Sciences, picks it up from there. In an email to Yahoo News, he explains that the charged particles “interact with the atoms of gas in our atmosphere and cause the atoms to give off light, like the gas in a neon sign.”
Quock adds that places where the northern lights can typically be seen include “Scandinavia, Greenland, Iceland, northern Russia, Canada, Alaska, and sometimes from the northern tier of U.S. states.”
Add to that list, the Web. This colorful clip was amassed from 2,464 raw images and is just over three minutes long.


Amazon is authorized to launch its satellite constellation in Earth orbit
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the regulatory body of the United States telecommunications area, approved on Thursday (30) the Amazon project to launch a constellation of more than 3,000 satellites in Earth’s orbit. This is the Kuiper Project , which aims to provide high-speed internet to the entire world, reaching even the most remote areas of the planet.
Satellite constellations hamper astronomical observations, warns the IAU
Another space race is underway,The request had been made on July 4, 2019 , and that said, the entity’s review process took just over a year to complete. The FCC, however, made a series of requests to Jeff Bezos’ company , the main one being that the constellation has half its satellites in space by the year 2026. The constellation as a whole will need to be operating in orbit by the 2029 deadline so that the license is not revoked.
In addition, the agency asked Amazon to come up with a concrete strategy explaining how it intends to deal with space debris, stating that the company did not “provide specific information about certain required elements” in its action plan. After all, it is worth mentioning that the design of the satellites has not yet been finalized by the company, which makes it very difficult to present this information.
Reproduction / Tech Startups
The FCC endorsement does not mean that the launch will be immediate – Amazon guarantees that it needs only 578 initial satellites to get the service up and running, but it has not set a date for this to happen and has not even revealed who will be its commercial partner for launching by rockets. It is important to remember that Jeff Bezos is also the owner of the space company Blue Origin, however.
The company famous for the world’s largest marketplace is not the only one interested in creating satellite constellations to provide high-speed connectivity across the globe. The SpaceX , led by Elon Musk , started the launches of Starlink project in May last year and has just over 500 satellites in orbit and targeting a total of at least 30,000 units. The British OneWeb has a much simpler scope , aiming for the mark of 650 satellites launched.
Source: FCC , The Verge


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Why purchase this 2022 Hubble Space Telescope colorized Titanium half dollar coin?
This 2022 dated titanium coin issued by the Republic of Fiji is part of an exciting continuing series dedicated to space exploration. The coin's design, which is officially approved by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is an homage to the Hubble Space Telescope. The telescope was deployed from the Space Shuttle Discovery's cargo bay on April 25, 1990. Named in honor of revolutionary astronomer Edwin Hubble, the device reached its milestone one-billion seconds of operation on January 1, 2022.
Sensational Hubble Space Telescope Design
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Reverse: The reverse depicts the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit above the earth, with brightly colored galaxies and individual stars encompassing the background. The inscription "HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE" curves above the image, while a circular inset to the left boasts the classic red, white and blue "meatball" logo of NASA.
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This 2022 Fiji Hubble Titanium C50 Coin GEM BU OGP is proudly minted by the Fiji.
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The “The Flash! Having lightning fast movement” Award
Presented by pluttodk to:
|Circle Sky (Bungus)|
Circle sky is a game about space traveler whos machine broke and got stuck on different planet.
We created ray-casting for this game, so the game looks kinda of 3d.
u also need python3 and pygame
Hope u enjoy!


A long-time launch vehicle executive, and son of a famous moonwalker, is leaving United Launch Alliance to become president of one of the leading teams in the Google Lunar X PRIZE competition.
Moon Express announced Tuesday that Andrew Aldrin is the company’s new president. Aldrin will be responsible for day-to-day activities at the company, which […]
Moon Express CEO Bob Richards shows off his company’s MX-1 lander during an event in Las Vegas on December 5. (credit: Moon Express)
On Saturday morning (US time), China’s Chang’e-3 spacecraft successfully landed on the surface of the Moon, making it the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon since Luna 24 in August […]
An illustration of Moon Express’s lunar lander, based on NASA’s Common Spacecraft Bus. The company is working on a smaller version that takes advantage of advances in avionics, propulsion, and other technologies. (credit: Moon Express)
Moon Express, the startup company that is among the leading teams competing for the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP), […]


"On his deathbed in 1601, the Danish nobleman and greatest naked-eye astronomer, Tycho Brahe, begged his young colleague, Johannes Kepler, "Let me not seem to have lived in vain." For more than thirty years - mostly in his native Denmark and then in Prague under the patronage of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II - Tycho had meticulously observed the movements of the planets and the positions of the stars. From these observations he developed his Tychonic system of the universe - a highly original, if incorrect, scheme that attempted to reconcile the ancient belief that the Earth stood still with Nicolaus Copernicus's revolutionary rearrangement of the solar system some fifty years earlier. Tycho knew that Kepler, the brilliant young mathematician he had engaged to interpret his findings, believed in Copernicus's arrangement, in which all the planets circled the Sun; and he was afraid his system - the product of a lifetime of effort to explain how the universe worked - would be abandoned." In point of fact, it was. From his study of Tycho's observations came Kepler's stunning three Laws of Planetary Motion - ever since the cornerstone of cosmology and our understanding of the heavens. Yet, as Kitty Ferguson reveals, neither of these giant figures would have his reputation today without the other. The story of how their lives and talents were fatefully intertwined is one of the most memorable sagas in the long history of science.


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https://intothedeepestdeep.splashthat.com/ Online event
Boston, MA 02110
Lectures & Conferences, Virtual & Streaming
The Fall 2021 New England Aquarium Lecture Series continues in November with Dr. Kathy Sullivan, an acclaimed scientist, astronaut, and explorer. The first American woman to walk in space, Dr. Sullivan is a veteran of three space shuttle missions. In 2020, she made history again by becoming the first woman to visit the deepest known spot in the ocean, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, which is seven miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Dr. Sullivan will share details of her remarkable deep-sea expedition and discuss the challenges of exploring an environment that is in some ways harsher and less known than space.
Dr. Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space during NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger mission in 1984. She completed two additional space flights, helping deploy the Hubble Space Telescope and conducting experiments studying Earth’s atmosphere.
Her esteemed career includes numerous leadership positions across government, academic, and nonprofit sectors, in addition to military service as a U.S. Naval Reserve oceanography officer. From 2014 until 2017, she served as Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the National and Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In September 2021, she was appointed to the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Dr. Sullivan has won numerous awards and honors, including being inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame and elected into the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She holds a bachelor's degree in earth sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz, a doctorate in geology from Dalhousie University in Canada, and numerous honorary degrees.
Dr. Sullivan’s lecture is free to the public through the generosity of the Lowell Institute and presented virtually in partnership with Boston Globe Events.


Within its mind (of the sisumara) is the moon; on its navel, Venus; and on its breasts, the Asvini-kumaras
SB Canto 5
On the upper chin of the śiśumāra is Agasti; on its lower chin, Yamarāja; on its mouth, Mars; on its genitals, Saturn; on the back of its neck, Jupiter; on its chest, the sun; and within the core of its heart, Nārāyaṇa. Within its mind is the moon; on its navel, Venus; and on its breasts, the Aśvinī-kumāras. Within its life air, which is known as prāṇāpāna, is Mercury, on its neck is Rāhu, all over its body are comets, and in its pores are the numerous stars.


I posted this as a comment but decided that your request for Layman's terms means I've made this as an answer:
First off a simple glossary makes life a lot easier, just refer back to this whenever people get stuck
- Apoapsis: Highest Altitude compared to the Parent Body it orbits
- Periapsis: Lowest Altitude compared to the Parent Body it orbits
The below are directions of the orbital line (this is for a Anti-Clockwise Direction which is standard)
- Prograde: Forward or in the direction the orbit already follows, basically speed up
- Retrograde: backwards or against the direction the orbit already follows, bscailly slow down
- Radial In: Left in relation to the direction the orbit already follows
- Radial Out Right in relation to the direction the orbit already follows
- Normal: Up in relation to the direction the orbit already follows
- Anti-Normal: Down in relation to the direction the orbit already follows
The final part is the all important orbital mechanic of the question, if you think of the orbit as a circle around central point. at the Top of the Circle is point A, and the bottom of the Circle is point B, if you slow down at A, this doesn't change the orbital line at A, it reduces the altitude of point B, on the other side of the orbit.
So for your answer
if the Moon and the Planet were both orbiting the Sun and on a collision course due to impact in an more than about 6 months time, then it stands to reason that you and the moon would most likely be somewhere in the region of the Point A, (but only if the moon was not within the sphere of influence of the planets gravity), part of the Orbit whereas the collision would be at Point B of orbit, so that means that any retrograde force applied now, would stop this impact from happening, and can be made to simply capture the moon.
However if the collision is taking place in less than that time, or the moon is already inside the Planets gravity Well or sphere of influence, then a retrograde force would actually only make the collision even more certain, if this is the case you would most likely need to push Radial In or Radial Out the left or right to stop the impact from happening and then once the Moon was at its Periapsis, you would want to slow it down because this would lower its Apoapsis, Again slowly down Point A to reduce the altitude of Point B. and this would bring the moon's orbit entirely into the Planets Gravity Well, , if the moon was travelling too fast then it would fling back out into a Solar Orbit rather than staying Orbiting the Planet.
Aerobraking is a way to reduce the amount of fuel and energy needed to slow an object or craft. if you don't use Aerobraking to do this then you need to burn your engines and fuel constantly to slow down. this is not required for your moon, but it is an option (as you said ignoring the massive ramifications of that happening)
The next and final part is if you have used aerobraking that means your Periapsis is very low, and leaving it there would mean that the moon continued to slow on each orbit and eventually it would crash into the planet, so once you've got the Apoapsis where you want it, the you need to speed up the moon at the Apoapsis to raise the Periapsis, again Speed up Point A to Raise Point B.
Hope this helps. if you wanted to see this in action, then i recommend Kerbal Space Program, (the game in your second link) it has an entire tutorial section on just this


A lunar eclipse occurs when direct sunlight does not reach the Moon because Earth comes in between the other two (say the sun and the Moon). During a total lunar eclipse, Earth completely blocks the sunlight from reaching the Moon. The only light that the lunar surface reflects is in fact the refracted one by Earth’s atmosphere. That is why moon appears red due to its reflected light’s color. Due to this reddish color, a totally eclipsed Moon is also called a ‘blood moon’ by some. Lunar eclipse is also called Chandra Grahan in India and Nepal.
Know the Moon:
The Moon is a cold and have rocky body. It has a diameter of about 2,160 miles (3,476 km). Moon does not have its own light but it shines as it receives sunlight and reflects the same from its surface. The Moon orbits Earth every 29 and a half days approximately. Moon is the natural satellite of the Earth. As it circles our planet Earth, the changing position of the Moon with respect to the Sun causes it to undergo a series of phases.
Mechanism involved in Lunar Eclipse:
An eclipse of the Moon (or lunar eclipse) can only occur at Full Moon, and that too when the Moon passes through some portion of Earth’s shadow. That shadow is actually composed of two cone-shaped components, one posited inside the other. The outer or penumbral shadow is a zone where the Earth blocks part of the Sun’s rays from reaching the Moon. In contrast, the inner or umbral shadow is a region where the Earth blocks all sunlight from reaching the Moon. Based on this happening, astronomers recognize three basic types of lunar eclipses: Penumbral Lunar Eclipse, Partial Lunar Eclipse and total lunar eclipse.
Basic Types of Lunar Eclipse:
1. Penumbral Lunar Eclipse: The moon passes through Earth’s penumbral shadow. These events are very subtle and in fact are hard to observe.
2. Partial Lunar Eclipse: A part the Moon passes through Earth’s umbral/inner shadow.These events are easy to see through the unaided human eyes.
3. Total Lunar Eclipse: The entire Moon passes through Earth’s umbral shadow.These events are quite striking because Moon’s vibrant red color appears on its surface during the total phase (totality) often called ‘Blood Moon’.
How to watch a lunar eclipse:
Lunar eclipses make favorite and easiest ‘sky watching’ events since time immemorial. One does not need anything such as telescope or any other special equipment to see lunar eclipse. However, binoculars or a small telescope add more details in the lunar surface while doing ‘moon-watching’ particularly during an eclipse.


A strange mystery is going down on Mars, as scientists detected traces of methane in the atmosphere of Mars years ago. But now the team collecting data from a satellite currently in orbit around Mars has reported that the orbiter has not found any evidence of methane on Mars.
Please take a moment to support Amazing Stories with a one-time or recurring donation via Patreon. We rely on donations to keep the site going, and we need your financial support to continue quality coverage of the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres as well as supply free stories weekly for your reading pleasure. https://www.patreon.com/amazingstoriesmag


Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following news from Spaceweather.com:
GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G2): A CME launched into space by yesterday’s X5-class solar flare (see below) *does* have an Earth-directed component. According to a NASA model, it should strike our planet on Jan. 2nd. G2-class geomagnetic storms are possible when the CME arrives. CME impact alerts: SMS Text
MAJOR X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: Mere hours after emerging over the sun’s eastern limb on Dec. 31st, big sunspot AR3536 erupted, producing a major X5-class solar flare. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:
This is the strongest flare of Solar Cycle 25 (so far) and the most powerful eruption the sun has produced since the great storms of Sept. 2017.
Radiation from the flare has caused a deep shortwave radio blackout over the Pacific Ocean: blackout map. Mariners and ham radio operators may have noticed loss of signal at all frequencies below 30 MHz for more than 60 minutes after the flare’s peak (2155 UT).


Saturday, December 14, 2013
Kerbal Space Program multiplayer
Kerbal space program is to get offical multiplayer support. So soon you will be able to blow up on the launch pad together.
Kerbal Space Program
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USA squares off versus the Soviet Union
Plot- To prove their advanced technology the countries try to reach space before the other. Each grappling for a firm grip as the worlds most powerful country. All hope seems lost as the Soviets set record after record, first aircraft in space with the satellite Sputnik, followed by Yuri Gagarin as the first human in space. However, the Americans soon shattered these feats and did the unthinkable, landing on the moon. This moment forever proved the United States superior technological intellect. This parallels to our original movie, Cold War, because the two main world powers faced off to prove each other who the dominant force was. Also, during the Cold War, America prevailed, following a series of events, which would originally be seen as failure. Paralleling the Soviet's early accomplishments during the Space Race
John F. Kennedy
President of America, led in space race, until he was killed, then the job was taken by his predecessor Lyndon B. Johnson.
First man to walk on the moon. Gave America the push it needed to prove its seniority.
First man in space, gave the Soviets the initial lead in the space race.


Planetarium Jakarta is an educational touring facility that presents simulations about astronomy and celestial objects. At Planetarium Jakarta you could see Planetarium Show, usually called as Star Theater.
The show takes about 60 minutes time with various themes such as Solar System, Solar Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse, Little Explorer at Solar System, Our Galaxy is Bima Sakti, Earth, the Blue Planet, Multi Star and Variable Star, From Equator to Polar, Biography of the Star, and The Formation of Solar System.
Besides the Star Theater show there’s also a multimedia show that explain the theories about solar as the center of solar system and the theories about the formation of universe.
- Skyrink Skating
One of the largest ice skating rinks in Southeast Asia (1,248m2) and one of the most beautiful in Asia, is no doubt the right choice for you and your family for recreation in an environment that is fun and wholesomely healthy.
- Taman Impian Jaya Ancol
Ancol Dreamland or Taman Impian Jaya Ancol, is Jakarta’s largest and complete multi-themes park. A vast beach resort in the North of Jakarta facing the Java Sea, Ancol Dreamland covers
a wide 80 hectares swathe of shoreline. This is an integrated park that offers everything from beach and water sports to fun rides, swimming pools to Eco-Park and spectacular shows where international stars perform.
- Ragunan Zoo
Located at Pasar Minggu in South Jakarta, the Ragunan Zoo is a favorite attraction for the entire family especially during weekends and school holidays. Covering an area of 140 hectares, the Ragunan Zoo has a collection of 295 species of animals, including Indonesia’s own famous Komodo dragons.


Volume 462, Number 1, January IV 2007
|Page(s)||29 - 41|
|Published online||02 November 2006|
Unveiling the X-ray/TeV engine in Mkn 421
Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet, UMR 7638 CNRS, École Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org
2 Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095 CNRS, Université Pierre & Marie Curie, Paris 6, 98 bis Bd. Arago, 75014 Paris, France
Accepted: 18 September 2006
Aims.Our goal was to find important clues concerning particle acceleration in relativistic jets through the analysis of multi-wavelength observations of TeV blazars.
Methods.Simultaneous observations of Mkn 421 were taken in very high energy γ-rays (>200 GeV, CAT experiment), X-rays (RXTE), and optical (KVA). Multi-day RXTE observations are also presented, allowing for detailed modelling of the spectral variability.
Results.Short timescale (≈30 mn) variations in VHE γ-rays are found, correlated with X-rays, but not with the optical. The X-ray spectrum hardens with flux until the photon indices saturate above a threshold flux ≈10-9erg s-1 cm-2. The fractional variability decreases from X-rays to optical as a power law with . The full spectral energy distribution is well-fitted by synchrotron self-Compton emission from cooling electrons injected with a Maxwellian distribution of characteristic energy . Fluctuations in the injected power with explain the observed variability.
Conclusions.The spectral saturation and the power-law dependence of the fractional variability are novel results that may extend to other TeV blazars. The ability of Maxwellian injections to reproduce the observed features suggest second-order Fermi acceleration or magnetic reconnection may play the dominant role in particle acceleration.
Key words: acceleration of particles / radiation mechanisms: non-thermal / galaxies: active / BL Lacertae objects: individual: Mkn 421 / gamma rays: observations / X-rays: galaxies
© ESO, 2007
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SUMMER SCIENCE PROGRAM (SSP)
Astrophysics, University of Colorado, Boulder Campus, 2022
The Summer Science Program (SSP), founded in 1959, is a research-based program for high school students talented in STEM. The immersive, college-level program pushes students to overcome their limits through collaboration and perseverance. As we taught and learned from one another, tremendous friendships were formed.
My teammates and I studied the orbit of near-Earth asteroid 1994 PC1. We then used our observations to code a 400+ line Python program that utilized the Method of Gauss to determine the orbital elements of this asteroid. We wrote an orbital determination report detailing our results. Working with the Southwest Research Institute, we modeled the stability of our calculated orbit. Turns out there's a ten percent chance of 1994 PC1 hitting the Earth over the next 50 million years!


We are currently in the Eclipse Zone that culminates next week with the Blood Supermoon Leo Lunar Eclipse on January 20-21 at 0°Leo. Eclipses act as major catalysts in life, triggering sudden change and course corrections. We are moving thru an Eclipse portal that opened with the Capricorn Solar Eclipse on January 5-6. During this two week eclipse doorway, many outdated patterns are shifting up to our awareness to be cleared and reset.
The Solar Eclipse opened Zero Point, where matter and anti-matter merge to create new realities. It is the null-zone where physical and spiritual unite. Wherever we use the sacred geometry Infinity Figure-8 to neutralize polarity in our energy field…it establishes zero point at the fulcrum of the Figure-8.
Quantum coherence at the subatomic level enhances the interactive communication between energy waves. With regular meditation we can establish more resonant coherence within our biological systems and between heart and mind. A coherent state increases the amount of energy transferred by the wave and its impact on matter. The more coherent your energy field determines how much and how quickly you can absorb the divine galactic photon waves of higher consciousness into your life.
Since our solar system fully merged into the gamma photon bubble at the galactic center in 2012, there has been increasing solar waves of intense light consciousness. For the past 6 years we have been steadily infused with higher and higher solar light rays and plasma waves that alter the brain and molecular structure. Light is returning to the planet in ever-increasing levels. Our role is to embody the light code and consciousness within our biofield and seed into the planetary field.
The photonic light surge accelerates during specific multi-dimensional events, including eclipses, solstice/equinox, 8-8, 11-11 and 12-12 Ascension alignments. They enter the atmosphere and penetrate the physical particle field. It can feel very intense, overwhelming at times. The powerful photonic light pushes density to the surface for transmutation. Imagine how ‘oil on water’ rises to the surface.
We are experiencing a surge right now! Since the Capricorn Solar Eclipse last week, we have been clearing and releasing lifetimes of trauma from the cellular memory. Old patriarchal patterns of abuse, aggression and control are unwinding from our human psyche and body. We are being prepared to pass thru the next Eclipse doorway on Sunday, January 20th. If you missed our Capricorn Solar Eclipse Global Activations, you can access the replay here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/newearthcentral/2019/01/05/capricorn-solar-eclipse-global-activations
Don’t miss the Leo Lunar Supermoon Eclipse Activations on January 20th. Join other Earth Keepers and Star Beings from all around the world, as we proclaim our global intentions and birth our New Earth. We will join together Sunday, January 20th at 12pm Pacific Time and travel to the Eclipse Stargate at the Galactic Center to seed and anchor a new earthly paradigm.
The show is recorded for replay. If you would like to participate, register here: https://newearthcentral.com/?p=208171
Copyright (c) 2018 Meg Benedicte * All Rights Reserved * You may copy and distribute this material as long as you do not alter it in any way, the content remains complete and you include this copyright notice.


Aurigae in a sentence
1) Epsilon Aurigae is an eclipsing binary variable star .
2) Epsilon Aurigae is the longest-period eclipsing binary currently known.
3) It is Capella (α Aurigae).
4) It has very weak emissions in the infrared spectrum, like Epsilon Aurigae.
Aurigae example sentences5) Zeta Aurigae's maximum magnitude is 3.7 and its minimum magnitude is 4.0.
6) AE Aurigae is a blue-hued main-sequence variable star.
7) Contrary to fact, Beta Aurigae is a white dwarf in this novel.
8) Zeta Aurigae is moving away from Earth at a rate of 8 mi per second.
9) An example of an eclipsing binary is Epsilon Aurigae in the constellation Auriga.
10) The galactic anticenter is located about 3.5° to the east of Beta Aurigae.
11) UU Aurigae is a variable red giant star at a distance of 2,000 light-years.
12) T Aurigae is classified as a slow nova, similar to DQ Herculis.
13) SS Aurigae is a very close binary star with a period of 4 hours and 20 minutes.
14) Eta Aurigae has an absolute magnitude of −1.7 and a luminosity of 450 L☉.
example sentences with Aurigae15) Iota Aurigae has an absolute magnitude of −2.3 and a luminosity of 700 L☉.
16) Besides the particularly bright stars of Alpha and Beta Aurigae, the constellation has many dimmer stars.
17) Theta Aurigae additionally has a second optical companion, discovered by Otto Wilhelm von Struve in 1852.
18) Beta Aurigae has a system of six planets; the third planet Halvmörk is the only habitable one.
19) RW Aurigae's spectrum indicates a turbulent stellar atmosphere, and has prominent emission lines of calcium and hydrogen.
20) In photometric observations of Epsilon, an unusual variable, Lambda Aurigae is commonly used as a comparison star.
21) AE Aurigae, a runaway star, is a bright variable star currently located within the Flaming Star Nebula.
22) RT Aurigae is a Cepheid variable which ranges between magnitudes 5.0 and 5.8 over a period of 3.7 days.
23) Zeta Aurigae and Eta Aurigae were first called the "Kids" by Cleostratus, an ancient Greek astronomer.
24) Zeta Aurigae and Eta Aurigae were first called the "Kids" by Cleostratus, an ancient Greek astronomer.
25) A battle recounted in the story takes place in Alpha Aurigae, in which Preston Cole defeat 12 Covenant warships.
26) Nu Aurigae is a G9.5III (G-type giant) star of magnitude 3.97, 230 light-years from Earth.
27) In addition, it has one prominent nebula, the Flaming Star Nebula, associated with the variable star AE Aurigae.
How to use Aurigae in a sentence28) Eta Aurigae is a part of the "Haedi" or "Kids" asterism, along with Zeta and Epsilon Aurigae.
29) Eta Aurigae is a part of the "Haedi" or "Kids" asterism, along with Zeta and Epsilon Aurigae.
30) An international team of astronomers, led by Dr. Tae-Soo Pyo (Subaru Telescope, NAOJ), has revealed a complicated outflow structure in the binary UY Aur (Aurigae).
31) The star at the tip of this triangle is e (epsilon) Aurigae, a huge star 2,000 light years away which, every 27 years, is eclipsed by something even huger -- eclipsed for two full years.
32) Two years later Stebbins used the photometer and discovered four stars to be eclipsing binary stars: Beta Aurigae, Spica, Alpha Coronae Borealis and Delta Orionis.
33) Another important difference was that the charioteers themselves, the "aurigae", were considered to be the winners, although they were usually also slaves (as in the Greek world).
34) This event is credited with ejecting AE Aurigae, Mu Columbae and 53 Arietis at above 200 km·s−1 and has been traced to the Trapezium cluster in the Orion Nebula some two million years ago.
35) The annual Aurigids have a radiant located about two degrees north of Theta Aurigae, a third-magnitude star in the center of the constellation.
36) The separation of this magnitude 9.2 component was 2.2 arcminutes (130.7 arcseconds) in 2007 with an angle of 350°. 4 Aurigae is a double star at a distance of 159 light-years.
37) The separation was at 52 arcseconds in 1978 and has been increasing since then because of the proper motion of Theta Aurigae, 0.1 arcseconds per year.
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Since the dawn of time, outer space has captivated our imaginations and curiosity. What exactly (or who) is out there? Will we ever reach Mars? Did we even go to the moon? In "Spacing Out," Project Onward artists explore some of these questions and take us to galaxies far away, both real and imagined.


'Nuclear Pasta' Inside Neutron Stars Is Strongest Material in Universe
Near the surface there's gnocchi, which are round bubble-like neutrons. Go a bit deeper, and the pressure forces neutrons into long tubes called spaghetti. Go further down, and you have sheets of neutrons called lasagna.
Some of the Oldest Galaxies in the Universe Orbit the Milky Way
New data from researchers at Durham University in the UK and Harvard in the US suggests ancient galaxies could be in our own backyard.
Astronomers May Finally Know Why Eta Carinae Erupted 170 Years Ago
A team of international astronomers think they've worked out what caused the eruption: an almost unfathomable transfer of mass between stars.
Scientists Say Some Ultrahot Exoplanets Have Star-Like Atmospheres
The so-called "ultrahot Jupiters" have left researcher scratching their heads because they don't seem to have the expected chemical composition. Now, we might know why.
NASA Prepares to Launch Super-Fast Probe to Enter Sun's Corona
The Parker Solar Probe will come as close as possible to touching the sun without being swallowed up by waves of superheated plasma.
Exoplanet Just 11 Light Years Away Could Support Life
Through analysis of the host star, researchers say the exoplanet is small, rocky, and could potentially support life. And it's practically in our backyard, at least on a cosmic scale.
NASA Puts Kepler Spacecraft to Sleep as Mission Winds Down
There's no fuel gauge on the spacecraft, but engineers can calculate how much it has used with a high degree of accuracy. Therefore, the craft is in hibernation mode to conserve what little is left in the tanks.
Astronomers Spot Nearly 80 Exoplanets in Record Time
The team proved they can hunt through the data faster than ever before by spotting almost 80 potential exoplanets. One of them may be the brightest planet Kepler has detected yet.
Astronomers Discover 3 Exoplanets Forming Around Young Star
Two teams have independently discovered three different exoplanets forming in a star's protoplanetary disk.
Scientists Say Alpha Centauri A and B Could Be Ideal for Life
Researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder just released a new analysis that predicts nearby stars could support Earth-like worlds.


Digital Space Art has become a passion of mine. Compositing in Photoshop is fun, but imagining alien worlds makes it a challenge that lets your artistic creativity go wild. If you are bored with the norm, perhaps you might have some fun creating your own solar system or universe. If not, perhaps you’ll be satisfied just looking at mine.
The Art of Digital Space Art (part 1 & 2) will soon be available in eBook format from Amazon and Barnes & Nobel. Not only will you get instructions with some digital space art to contemplate, you’ll get some of my musings, a few even poetic, and it will all be for 99 cents per volume. What a deal. No release date is currently scheduled, but I promise it will be soon.


You've probably heard the following:
"Fusion powers the stars"
Or the "reaction that powers the stars"
Then physicists will talk about the potential energy in a star (it happens ok).
Have you ever Considered....
The reason the fusion happens is the compression caused by masses falling in on each other. The compression is caused by the gravity. The gravity is caused by the mass. Gravity adds energy needed for fusion.
Gravity is what really powers the stars.. the universe
Gravity is caused by mass, mass causes more gravity, which attracts more material that causes more gravity... the recursions never end
Hydrogen fuses into helium, fuses into carbon... all fueled by gravity.
Am I wrong? I would love to have a discussion about this. Anyone out there have any thoughts?


Finding out whether life can exist on other planets has been one of the hopes of scientists since we first sent radio signals into the sky. In the early hours of Monday morning, the world’s most advanced planetary rover will begin work on what is likely to be our best chance yet of answering that question.
I was asked the other day whether Curiosity, the NASA rover rapidly approaching the Red Planet, will finally provide a breakthrough to end the decades-long search for Martian life, but, of course, science doesn’t always work like that. We’re not likely to suddenly find fossils that give us an instant answer. Instead, NASA scientists will use a complex set of technologies to build up a picture of the conditions that existed on Mars millions of years ago and use this to determine whether the planet could have supported life.
Curiosity essentially carries a very advanced chemistry set (hence the mission name Mars Science Laboratory) that will allow it to gather much more detailed evidence than ever before. This includes: an array of cameras and other imaging devices; radiation, atmospheric and environmental sensors; and mass, X-ray and laser spectrometers.
The scientists analysing the data that comes back include two British researchers funded by the UK Space Agency. Dr John Bridges from Leicester University will be among those studying the composition of Martian sediments thought to be clay (and therefore created with water) collected by the rover.
‘Once we know accurately what was there,’ he explained, ‘we can then do a bit of modelling and work out what the temperature was, and was it acid or alkaline, and what the composition of the fluid was – was it poisonous for microbial life or was it just the sort of thing they like to live in?’
The key to doing this will be the instruments on board Curiosity, which are more sophisticated than any previously sent to Mars and can detect much smaller traces of a wider range of compounds. ‘Even on Earth this would be a powerful chemistry lab but we’re sending it to Mars,’ said Bridges.
First are the cameras that can capture high-resolution colour images and video (at 10 frames a second), including monochromatic images for studying light absorption at different wavelengths, all stored and processed by the cameras’ internal electronics systems.
There’s also a sophisticated version of a geologist’s hand lens – the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) – to provide close-up views of the minerals, textures, and structures in Martian rocks. The self-focusing, 4-cm-wide camera can take colour images of features as small as 12.5 micrometers and use UV light to reveal any carbonate minerals or those created by evaporation of water.
To get an even more detailed picture of what’s inside the rocks, a range of spectrometers will bombard the mineral samples with different types of energy and use the pattern of energy returned to work exactly what elements and compounds are present.
The Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) will measure the X-rays produced when materials are hit with radioactive alpha particles produced by a curium source, enabling scientists to measure the abundance of rock-forming elements. A second device, the Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin) works by firing X-rays at a sample and measuring their angle of diffraction to identify the crystalline structure of materials.
ChemCam will use a remote micro-imager to analyse the composition of plasma (ionised gas) formed by vaporising rock samples smaller than 1mm in diameter with a laser. While the APXS works best when touching the rock surface, ChemCam can operate from up to 7m away to identify rapidly identify how the rock was formed, measure the abundance of elements, recognise ice and minerals containing water molecules and measure weathering rinds on rocks.
A final instrument suite, Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM), will make up more than half the science payload of the rover. This will search for elements associated with life, such as carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, by separating soil compounds with a mass spectrometer, by vaporising rocks and analysing the resultant gas using a gas chromograph, and by studying the atmosphere with a laser spectrometer.
All this work should begin relatively quickly once the rover has made its way to a mountain of sediment in the middle of a giant crater. But first it has to land safely and the car-like size of the rover and its 900kg mass mean this isn’t easy. It is too heavy to use giant airbags to cushion its fall as previous rovers have. Instead NASA has developed a novel system know as SkyCrane.
After using small precision landing rockets to guide the landing vehicle to within 20km (12 miles) of its target site, a huge parachute – 10 per cent bigger than any used before – will deploy and start to slow the descent. Once the heatshield has been discarded, reverse rockets at the base of the lander will help slow the vehicle further and stabilise it from horizontal winds.
Then comes the SkyCrane technique – an “umbilical cord of cables will lower the rover away from the landing vehicle towards the ground, enabling it to move off from the landing site as soon as the cord disengages. Once this happens, the lander’s rockets will then direct it away from the rover below, powering away for a crash-landing far from Curiosity.
SkyCrane on its own is a fantastic testament to human engineering and creativity, and it’s hard to imagine how high the tension will be in mission control at 6:00AM (BST) on Monday when Curiosity finally touches down. Due to the time it takes for communications to reach Earth from Mars (14 minutes), the team won’t even know if the landing has begun successfully until well after the rover is either safe on the ground or disaster has struck.
But the rover itself will be embarking on an even more amazing journey. Using some of the most advanced tools science has managed to create, Curiosity will act as the world’s greatest detective in an attempt to piece together a picture that could answer one of humanity’s most fundamental questions.


It’s time for another meteor shower! April’s Lyrids are predicted to peak in the early morning hours on Sunday, although it’s worth going out on Saturday morning as well.
The Lyrid meteor shower is not a major shower, producing maybe 15 – 20 meteors an hour on average, but meteor showers are unpredictable and you never know when a burst will occur. Rates as high as 90 per hour were observed in 1982, as well as an incredible burst of up to 300 over a period of a just few minutes. While it’s not likely that you’ll see rates like that this weekend, you never know what’s going to happen. One thing’s for sure: you won’t see ANY meteors if you don’t get out there and look for them.
The new moon occurs at 3:19 a.m. (EST) on Saturday morning, making the conditions for viewing the Lyrids ideal. Try to find a location far from city lights. The radiant, or point from which the meteors appear to originate, is near the constellation Lyra, between Lyra’s bright star Vega and the constellation Hercules. In the eastern United States, Vega rises above the horizon in the evening hours of Saturday, but you have to wait until until the radiant rises high above the horizon before you can observe most of the meteors that occur. The peak period should be from around 2 a.m. (EST) until dawn. The radiant at that time will be roughly toward the northeast.
Just because the meteors appear to radiate from a certain point, it doesn’t mean that you have to look in that direction to see them. You’ll be able to see them anywhere in the sky. If you look directly toward the radiant, the meteors you see will appear to come at you, while if you look at a right angle to the radiant, the light streak will cover more distance in the sky. One compositional approach for photography is to use a wide-angle lens and compose with the radiant on a thirds placement in the frame. Another idea is to center the radiant in the frame so any recorded meteors appear to radiate from the middle of the photo.
My usual method for photographing meteors is to set up the composition with the camera locked tight on a tripod. Then I do a test to get the exposure in the sky just right. Next, I use a programmable interval timer to shoot continuous exposures until the battery dies, then change batteries and let er rip again. My Nikon D700 will let me shoot continuous exposures up to 30 seconds without having to use a separate interval timer. Only problem is, it will shoot only 100 exposures at a time, so I would have to reset the camera every 50 minutes. This really puts a cramp in my catching-a-wink time, so I like to use the separate interval timer, which will run forever.
Here are a few more tips for photographing meteor showers:
Lenses. Wider focal length lenses include more sky, which increases the chances at capturing a meteor. The drawback is that the meteors appear fainter as the lens gets wider. Telephotos record the meteors brighter and bigger, but the chance of capturing one with a long lens is very low, so it’s a tradeoff. The ideal focal length is probably between 28mm and 50mm, but I often use focal lengths as wide as 14mm.
Composition. Just capturing a bright meteor on your sensor is reason for celebration, but why not make the image special? Try to frame the scene with something interesting in the foreground. Mountain ranges, lighthouses, bridges—most anything that creates a nice silhouette works well. A lighted foreground of some sort can work well as long as the lights are not bright enough to drown out the meteors. Obviously, you’ll want to get as far away from city light pollution as you can. Also, remember that the idea is to include as much sky as you can so you increase your chances of capturing a meteor.
Focusing. If the foreground has a light you can autofocus on that. If all you have is the sky to focus on, try finding a bright star or planet that you can autofocus on. If your camera has a Live View feature, use it to focus on the stars. See Focusing in the Dark for more information on achieving sharp focus.
Exposure. Aperture is king with meteors. The wider the aperture, the fainter the meteors that you are able to record, regardless of the ISO and shutter speed setting. If you want the meteor streaking across a sky of static stars (not star trails), you’ll want to keep the shutter speed to no more than 30 seconds or so with a wide-angle lens, and shorter with longer lenses. Try ISO 1600, f/2.8 and a shutter speed of 30 seconds as a starting point. Make sure you do some test exposures to make sure you aren’t overexposing due to light pollution.
Wishing you clear skies this weekend!Lyrids, meteor showers, meteors, night photography