Dragon takes flight tomorrow! 05.18.12

SpaceX, a commercial spacecraft company, will make history tomorrow if all goes as planned. It will become the first private company to launch a commercially designed and built spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station. Dragon (a wonderful name with an even better logo, we think), should launch tomorrow, May 19, at 4:55 a.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission is primarily a safety test. NASA and SpaceX will both offer live coverage of the launch. http://www.spacex.com/downloads/COTS-2-Press-Kit-5-14-12.pdf
Read more from SpaceX. Read the official Dragon press kit. Read the original story from SPACE.com. Read the Wetherbee Sky Watcher.

Help wanted: Moon Mappers

Have you ever wanted to make a contribution to astronomy, but felt helpless because you did not have any good equipment for deep space observation? Not to fear! Moon Mappers needs your help.

An initiative by Cosmo Quest, the project is to attempt to map out at least 1,000,000 craters on the surface of the moon before May 5th.

Credit: Moon Mappers

Now, it may sound kind of silly to think of going about counting holes in the ground (even if it is on another world), but believe it or not, craters yield a lot of information when studied closely. More and more, scientists are discovering that craters are often sheltering harbors for ice and other frozen chemicals, which would otherwise melt and be evaporated if they were not hidden in shadow. Chemical samples from inside the craters also provide clues as to what sort of things have bombarded the moon in the past.

What’s more, Cosmo Quest has made it easy. They have managed to partner with NASA and obtain some high-resolution photos from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LROC), so all you have to do it properly mark out craters that appear to be about 1 meter in diameter on the photos. Sound simple? “There are literally millions of craters at that size,” says Dr. Pamela Gray, who is leading the Cosmo Quest project. This is so much more than a preschool counting exercise.

So, who’s up for adding some “lunar cartography” volunteer experience to their résumé?

Read more at Universe Today or Cosmo Quest’s Moon Mappers Project.

Discovery headed to the Smithsonian, 04.20.12

Space Shuttle Discovery is on its way to the public eye at the Smithsonian. Earlier this week, the space shuttle was spotted hitching a ride to its new home on the back of a specialized 747 aircraft (pictured below).

Image Credit: NASA/Smithsonian Institution/Harold Dorwin

Yesterday, April 19th, the Discovery "attended" a ceremony (pictured below) where it traded places with space shuttle Endeavour at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. According to NASA, Discovery will soon be on display at the Smithsonian Institution's Air & Space Museum.

Image Credit: NASA/Smithsonian Institution/Carolyn Russo

Good visibility for Lyrids 2012, 04.13.12

Did you ever sit at your window as a child and marvel at “shooting stars” as they streaked across the night sky? Those were actually meteors passing across Earth’s atmosphere. Sometimes, Earth passes through fields of debris in space that cause regular, predicted “showers” of meteors. In April, we have one such shower: the Lyrids.

(NASA/MSFC/Danielle Moser)

Named after the constellation Lyra, the harp (the meteors’ apparent radiant point, or origin), the meteor shower is caused by detritus left in the wake of Comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher. Comets have a nasty habit of leaving trails of dust and ice be­hind them as they course through the sky. When Earth passes through the trails, the debris scrapes across the top of our atmosphere, glowing with the energy from the friction that is generated.

This year, the Lyrids meteor shower will take place next Satur­day evening, on the night of April 21-22. You can expect to see meteors from about 11:00pm until 5:00am. The Lyrids are al­ways very predictable, averaging about 15 meteors per hour. Peak hours could generate as many as 10-100 meteors per hour, though, according to NASA.

The moon will also be cooperating with us this year to offer the best show possible. Luna will be in her new phase around the 21st of April, so the skies will be much darker, making it easier to spot the tiny, brief streaks of light.

Do not be worried about where in the world you are at the time, either. As long as you are not surrounded by bright city lights and light pollution, you should be able to see the shower from anywhere in the world.

Read more at NASA.

Top 11 in 2011, 12.30.11

2011 has been a tremendous year for astronomy. It has been a marvelous year for discoveries, yet we look forward to the future as the space program evolves to continue without the space shuttles. Here at the Wetherbee Planetarium, we would like to take a moment to reflect on some of our favorite stories we covered this past year.


11. Diamonds in the Sky, originally published 08.29.11. A diamond planet companion was found orbiting J1719-1438. How is that for twinkle?


10. De Blob, it glows!, originally published 08.19.11. Lyman-alpha blob 1 (LAB-1), a giant, intergalactic green blob, was discovered. No one knows what it is, but it is big, it glows, and it is green. We think that is pretty awesome.


9. The sky is falling!, originally published 09.14.11. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) took a spiraling descent back to Earth over late September-early October, mostly breaking apart and burning in the atmosphere.


8. A Geriatric Non-Planet, Non-Asteroid…Thing…, originally published 04.04.11. The gargantuan asteroid Vesta was visited by NASA’s Dawn mission in July of this year for a photoshoot rendezvous.


7. “Spinstars” May Have Helped Seed the Universe, originally published 05.02.11. Astronomers working with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) theorized the existence of “spinstars,” possibly the fastest rotating objects in the universe.


6. Gamma Ray Flares in Binary Star are a Mystery, originally published 07.07.11. A binary star system in January and February of this year was found emitting gamma ray flares as a companion pulsar grazed through the Be-class star’s gaseous disc.


5. “It’s Alive!” Zombie Satellite Galaxy 15 Springs Back to Life, originally published 01.04.11. Rebellious satellite-gone-rogue Galaxy 15 came to its senses and rebooted after months of failing to respond to commands and joyriding.


4. Life-Friendly Zones in the Galaxy?, originally published 09.30.11. Astronomers theorized the possibility of a “life zone” or area in galaxies that is most likely to support life as we know it.


3. Hubble Celebrates Millionth Observation, originally published 07.12.11. The Hubble Space Telescope made its historic millionth observation of outer space, a spectroscopic observation of planet HAT-P-7b.


2. The Star of Bethlehem, originally published 12.20.10, reprinted 12.20.11. The staff at the Wetherbee Planetarium delved into possible explanations for one of the most iconic symbols of the Christmas season.


1. Launch Week: Last Flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour Scheduled Friday, originally published 04.25.11. NASA set the launch date for the last flight of space shuttle Endeavour, one of the final missions for the shuttle program.


So, what do we expect for 2012? NASA’s Dawn mission will wrap up its study of Vesta, the Russian Phobos-Grunt mission will make its descent back to Earth after its failed launch, Kepler is confident about the odds of finding an Earth-like planet in the life zone, and the biggest non-event: the supposed “alignment with the core of the galaxy” on December 21. Here’s to 2012!

Scientists re-thinking theories for life on Mars, 11.04.11

New interpretations of data from NASA and European orbiters are beginning to come together, suggesting that the possibility for life on Mars is not so strong on the surface, but much more promising for the subsurface directly underground.

This interpretation comes after researchers have discovered clay and certain types of minerals in the Martian subsurface. Clay can only be formed through the interaction of liquid water with rock, so finding clay under the surface suggests a much more consistent liquid presence than it does for the surface, which usually only has frozen ice in its craters and at its poles.

Image credit: Geology.com.

One of the minerals that they have discovered that supports their new theories is a rather icky-colored stone called prehnite. Prehnite can only form in areas where the temperature is over 400 degrees Fahrenheit, so the presence of prehnite and the abundant clay in the subsurface suggests the likelihood for strong hydrothermal (hot water) activity beneath the Martian surface.

That being the case, it is not so strange to think about the likelihood of finding life on Mars. Based on earth’s own geothermal and hydrothermal activity, scientists know it is possible for various kinds of life (usually bacteria and all manner of simple microbes) to live in their own environments, underground, away from the light of the sun.

So, is it time to chuck the rovers and reach for a shovel instead? Not necessarily. More research still needs to be done. There is also more than enough evidence left on the surface of Mars for astronomers to know there was liquid water there at times, and there is still plenty of ice left in some places, so the possibility for life is still there. The idea of finding bacteria on a planet puts the phrase “finding a needle in a haystack” to shame, though. Knowing where to look that is the hard part.

Credit: NASA.