A Super Discovery, 05.11.12

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has made another monumental discovery: a “super-Earth.”

Twice as big as Earth, the super-Earth is, for now, called 55 Cancri e, and is situated in the constellation Cancer, about 41 light years away. For the first time, scientists were able to actually measure the light emanating (reflected) from the planet itself, instead of measuring how much light it blocks as it transits in front of its star. Because of the low measure­ments that were taken, scientists guess that the planet is probably very dark most of the time. It appears to be tidally locked, though (one side is stuck facing its star), and that side appears to have temperatures in excess of 3,000 Fahrenheit. Just so we’re clear on how hot that is, most kinds of metal will be liquid at that temperature.

Based on their observations, scientists are saying the planet most likely has a rocky core and is covered with water. Be­cause of the extreme heat on the sunny side, however, the water is probably in a “supercritical” state, where it exists as both liquid and gas. NASA claims the atmosphere is covered with steam. Regardless, the atmosphere appears to be very thin, as it is doing such a poor job of blocking its sun’s heat.

Based on all observations made at this point, the planet cannot support life.

Read more from NASA.

Seeing the Invisible, 04.05.12

If you have ever paid a visit to the Wetherbee Planetarium here at Thronateeska Heritage Center, chances are you have heard a good deal about our film, “Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity.” In the film, all manner of evidence is put forward about the existence of a black hole in the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. The film describes research done at the Keck Telescope in Hawai’i, where several stars have been recorded orbiting in a very strange manner around...something...at the center of the Milky Way.

SPACE.com, today (04.05.12), published more information detailing re­cent studies on this supposed supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Telescopes have yet to reveal it. With the technology we have now, we simply cannot see anything there. Plans are in the works for bigger and better detection methods, but for now, the area known as Sagittarius A* (pronounced Sagittarius A-Star) seems to be a great big empty space of nothingness that somehow manages to make some stars orbit around it at mind-blowing speeds of over 3,000 miles a second.

CREDIT: Alain R. | Wikimedia Commons 

Astronomers know that something has to be there. Analysis shows that something packing more than 4 million times the mass of our own sun is there, yet it still cannot be seen. It does emit some radio waves, but aside from that, there is not much else to go on. Much research remains to be done to know for sure about this monster at the center of the Milky Way. One thing is certain: whatever it is, it is proving to be one great big mathematical migraine.

Read more from SPACE.com.

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!

Deep space planet confirmed in "life zone," 12.09.11

A planet roughly 2.4 times the size of Earth has been discovered orbiting its star in the “life zone” or “habitable zone.” Found by NASA’s Kepler mission, the planet is in a solar system approximately 600 light-years away.

Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

The “life zone” is the sort of “sweet spot” around a star that is neither too hot nor too cold for water to exist in its liquid form, and consequently, for life as we know it to thrive on any planets that may be in that region. The star in the system is G-class star, like our own, but a little bit smaller, so the life zone around it is about the same region as the distance between the orbits of Venus through Mars, as illustrated in this diagram here.

The planet, thus far only referred to as Kepler 22b, is almost 2 1/5 times the size of Earth, and orbits its star a bit closer than Earth does, but having passed this first investigatory hurdle, astronomers will be studying it even more closely to try to determine what manner of planet it may be. As of yet, they do not know whether it is terrestrial (made of rock and soil like Mercury through Mars), covered in liquid (like Uranus and Neptune), or composed of gaseous clouds (like Jupiter and Saturn).

Credit: NASA.

Amateur astronomer captures photo of young solar system, 12.02.11

An amateur astronomer in New Zealand has managed to take and clean up a photograph of a new solar system in the works. The stunning part? He was doing it with his own, homemade, 10-inch telescope. That’s some pretty good aim!

The system is Beta Pictoris, 63 light-years away in the southern hemisphere. The system had been photographed a number of years ago by professional astronomers, but the fact that Rolf Olsen managed to first of all find the system, then photograph it and do such a good job that the “circumstellar disc” was visible, is astounding.

The circumstellar disc is the cloud of dust and debris orbiting around the star. Eventually, it should turn into planets and various other satellites. Olsen was able to expose it using a very long, detailed set of instructions that had been published in a study on the system. That he was able to achieve such good results shows again that anyone can make a contribution to astronomy if they wish.

“There certainly could be a lot of interesting things that professional astronomers have missed, that amateur astronomers could clue us in on,” wrote Bryce Croll, an astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in an email to SPACE.com about Olsen’s achievement. So, hang in there, sky watchers! You just might be the next one to have a breakthrough.

Credit: SPACE.com. Image credit: Rolf Wahl Olsen.

Finding the dark with light, 10.21.11

NASA scientists are using the Hubble Space Telescope to detect dark matter using light. This may sound odd, but the researchers found out it is possible.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, M. Postman (STScl), and the CLASH Team.

The principle that allows it to work is something called gravitational lensing, an effect predicted by Einstein in the early part of the 20^th century. The idea is that when a large object with considerable mass passes in front of a light source, it causes the light to focus temporarily as it is literally pulled a little bit towards the object, thus making the light appear a little brighter for a time.

On the galactic scale, we do not see it quite so much as a flare, but rather we see bends or curves in the light. In this image here, you can clearly see some areas of light that are distorted, seeming to bend around nothing. That “nothing,” the researchers have determined, is dark matter, the as of yet enigmatic stuff that is proving very difficult to study. The vast majority of things that researchers have learned about dark matter can only be gleaned from its seeming effect on everything else. It is something they cannot see and cannot reach yet due to the current limitations of our space travel programs. Hopefully with enough studies they can determine what it is. As dark matter makes up the bulk of the universe’s mass, scientists are very eager to figure it out.

For more information please call 229-432-6955. Credit: NASA.gov. 

The sky is falling! 08.15.11

*UPDATE: NASA is now saying that they expect UARS to make impact at some point late tonight or early tomorrow morning. While it is impossible to pinpoint its exact crash site now, they estimate it will be somewhere off the coast of the Philippines. For NASA’s information about the UARS mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/uars/index.html.


The sky is falling! Well, not exactly. Something in the sky is falling, though. A 13,000-pound research satellite, to be precise. The word from NASA is to keep an eye out for falling debris.

UARS. Image credit: SPACE.com.

UARS, or the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, has said its farewells to space and will be returning to Earth. NASA is slightly nervous about the giant research satellite, though, because it will be a true free-fall back to earth. What is more: they have no idea where the pieces that survive re-entry back into earth’s atmosphere will land.


According to NASA, they estimate about 1,000 pounds of the satellite will crash back into Earth, but will probably break up in the atmosphere and descend in a rain of debris that could cover an area about 500 miles in length.


As of right now, they cannot predict where or even when the remains of the satellite should make it back to Earth, but should be able to begin calculating it’s projected landfall about four days before it lands. They estimate it should be “landing” at the end of this month, or in early October. As it becomes closer and closer to Earth, they will attempt to give proper warning about the projected landing area.


According to NASA, no injuries have ever been reported due to re-entering space program equipment, and only minor property damage has ever been reported.


Just the same, we recommend keeping your eyes and ears open just in case UARS decides to land near you.


Credit: SPACE.com.

Diamonds in the sky, 08.29.11

Apparently stars can turn into diamonds—entire planets of diamond. One such planet has just recently been discovered.

*Not an actual photograph, sorry, just in case the orbital track didn't give it away :)
This is just an artist's concept of the system.

According to Matthew Bailes of the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, in 2009 a millisecond pulsar was detected in the constellations Serpens, but its elusive orbiting neighbor had yet to be spotted until recently.

Let us back up for a moment first. We have talked about pulsars a lot in the past, but what is a millisecond pulsar? Like a regular pulsar, it rotates very quickly. Millisecond pulsars leave normal pulsars in the dust, though. This particular millisecond pulsar, designated J1719-1438, completely rotates over 10,000 times in a minute. It is only 12 miles in diameter, but it is still 1.4 times more massive than our own sun.

The entire system is so compact, that the distance for the pulsar at which the diamond planet orbits is still actually within the measure of our own sun’s diameter! The astronomers studying the system believe that the diamond planet used to be a white dwarf star, and that it went through as much fusion as it could until all that was left at its center was diamond. 

So how big is this galactic diamond? Oh, only 37,300 miles in diameter. Yeah, that is five times the size of Earth, people—a solid diamond five times the size of Earth! We can only imagine what other literal treasures the cosmos holds in store.

Credit: NASA. Image credit: Swinburne Astronomy Productions.

Dwarf planets' fifth birthday, 08.25.11

Five years ago yesterday, the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto to its “dwarf planet” classification. Here at the Wetherbee Planetarium, that is the single most-heard question we are asked: why? Was something discovered about Pluto that made astronomers second-guess it? Did something happen to it? Not at all. It is the other things around Pluto that made the IAU change their minds about what they classify as a planet, though.

As of August 24, 2006, the definition of a planet by the IAU is: “A body that circles the sun without being some other object’s satellite, is large enough to be rounded by its own gravity (but not so big that it begins to undergo nuclear fusion, like a star) and has “cleared its neighborhood” of most other orbiting bodies.” On the first point, Pluto does orbit the sun. On the second point, as far as we can tell it is relatively round in shape. When NASA’s New Horizons probe cruises by in 2015 we will have close up images of the cold planet for the first time in history and we will know for sure what it is like. On the last point, however, Pluto is not exactly a space hog. It rubs elbows –figuratively speaking—with several other objects in our solar system in a region designated as the Kuiper (pronounced ky-per) Belt, some of which are about the same size as Pluto. 

Pluto is only about 1,455 miles in diameter and only 0.2% as massive as Earth. It is tiny, that much is certain. But, it does have at least four known moons: Charon, Nix, Hydra, and the recently discovered P4 (a dismally boring name, we know—NASA presumes will probably be renamed Cerberus in the near future). In orbit around the sun with Pluto are several other objects about the same size as or smaller. Eris is one such object, and was the turning point discovery that led the IAU to re-think their definition of a planet. Another is Haumea, the rapidly spinning dwarf planet that astronomers guess may have radioactive elements in its core. Another is Makemake (pronounced mah-kay mah-kay), a dwarf planet about ¾ the size of Pluto.

Dwarf planets are not just limited to the Kuiper Belt, though. Ceres, another such object, is actually orbiting in our asteroid belt, between the planets Mars and Jupiter.

Each of these objects misses the criteria for a planet in some way, usually in clearing its neighborhood of other objects. They are massive enough to form into relatively spherical shapes and they do orbit the sun, they just usually are not really big enough to push their way through the crowd and clear their own path.

Credit: NASA.

De blob, it glows! 08.19.11

Lyman-alpha blob 1 (LAB-1) is a blob. Not only that, but it is a giant, intergalactic green blob—a giant, intergalactic, green blob that can only be studied with extremely large telescopes, like the (aptly named) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in the mountains of Chile. This is what LAB-1 looks like through the VLT:

Very green, isn’t it? Believe it or not, but it is actually glowing green. That is no filter, no infrared exposure, no x-ray…nothing special done to the photograph. The thing is a glowing, green blob. That is only part of what makes it so fascinating, though.

According to the astronomers who have been studying it with the VLT, the LAB-1 is polarized in a very odd way. That polarization indicates something about what is inside of the blob: “We have shown for the first time that the glow of this enigmatic object is scattered light from brilliant galaxies hidden within, rather than the gas throughout the cloud itself shining,” said lead author Matthew Hayes at the University of Toulouse.

So, LAB-1 is full of galaxies. In case you don’t realize just how huge this blob is, astronomers calculate it is at least 300,000 light years across. That is more than 11 times the distance of our solar system from the center of just our own Milky Way galaxy. This blob is a monster… a creepy, glowing, green monster.

Astronomers are also very interested in LAB-1 because it may literally shed some light on how galaxies are formed. “For a long time now, astronomers have watched stars being born in places like the Great Orion Nebula. Now, it looks like we’ll be able to see where galaxies are born, an exciting prospect,” says Jim Friese of Thronateeska Heritage Center.

 Credit and image credit: NASA.

Playing tag with a "trojan," 08.05.11

Astronomers have recently discovered that Earth is not alone. It seems our planet is being followed, or our Earth is following something else, depending on how you look at it. Earth’s orbit is being shared by an object that astronomers refer to as a “trojan” asteroid.

Thanks to data gathered from the NEOWISE project, astronomers have discovered that there is an asteroid roughly 1,000 feet in diameter that shares almost the exact same orbit as Earth as it travels around the sun. While the asteroid, dubbed 2010 TK7, does at times travel above, below, or slightly to the side of Earth’s orbit, for the most part it seems as if Earth and the asteroid are following in each other’s tracks. 2010 TK7 does travel a little farther away from the sun than Earth does at times, as well.

So, why have astronomers not noticed it until now? It seems that 2010 TK7 is usually difficult to spot because from our vantage point on Earth, it would always appear to be close to the sun. For obvious reasons, this makes it very difficult to observe. The NEOWISE project changed the game though. NEOWISE is an aspect of the WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) mission, a telescope in space far removed from Earth’s atmosphere and the glare of our daylight. The “NEO” part of the name is a side-mission of the probe that searches for Near Earth Objects, bodies that pass within 28 million miles of the sun. By observing 2010 TK7 from outside of our atmosphere, astronomers were able to get a pin point on it and then track it down much easier using other observatories here on Earth, namely the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope on mount Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

Is Earth in danger from its stony stalker? No. According to NASA, trojans are fairly common in our solar system. Neptune, Mars, Jupiter, and even two of Saturn’s moons all have trojans. 2010 TK7 also seems to have a stable orbit, as well, so it is not likely to interfere with Earth.

“It’s as though Earth is playing follow the leader,” said Amy Mainzer, the principal NEOWISE investigator.

Let us hope there are no sore losers in space.

Credit: NASA.

Pluto's family grows, 07.29.11

The Hubble Telescope has added another great discovery to its repertoire; a fourth moon for Pluto. Temporarily assigned the name P4, it was discovered just this month orbiting around the dwarf planet with Charon, Nix, and Hydra, Pluto’s other moons.

Estimated to only be 8-21 miles wide, the tiny little rock is the smallest one to have been found orbiting Pluto. All the other moons orbiting Pluto are at least twice as large. Charon, the largest, is 648 miles across.

Astronomers anxiously wait for the day when the New Horizons spacecraft reaches the Pluto system in 2015. Launched in 2006, New Horizons is outfitted with a visible and infrared imager/spectrometer, an ultraviolet imaging spectrometer, a radio science experiment to measure atmospheric temperature and composition, a telescopic camera, a solar wind and plasma spectrometer, an energetic particle spectrometer, and a dust counter to measure how much dust New Horizons on its way to Pluto.

Credit: NASA. Image credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Showalter.

Pin the tail on the pulsar, 07.18.11

The Chandra X-Ray Observatory has seen something very interesting in recent months. In a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal, several astronomers note how they have witnessed a tail of sorts that appears to be spreading out from a pulsar. The pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star, lovingly dubbed PSR J0357+3205.

The blue in this composite image is the Chandra x-ray data, and the yellow is a digitized sky survey. The pulsar is actually at the upper right-hand edge of the “tail,” which is part of the reason why astronomers are left scratching their heads over the situation. If the tail were really originating from the pulsar, the brightest portion should most likely be nearest the star, yet in this case the brightest portion is at the opposite end. This is even more shocking when you do a little math and realize that the tail is somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.2 light years long. This would be a record-setting tail for a rotation-powered pulsar.

There are more reasons than one why this tail should not be originating from the star. We have to keep in mind, too, that astronomers are not 100% certain that this really is PSR J0357’s tail. More observations will need to be made to know for certain if this really is the pulsar’s tail and why it is providing such odd data readings.

Image and story credit: NASA.

Gamma ray flares in binary star are a mystery, 07.07.11

Image credit: NASA.

Something very odd has happened 8,000 light years away in the southern constellation Crux. A binary star system has emitted strange gamma ray flares as the small pulsar star of the pair approached and passed through its closest point in orbit around the large Be-class star.

The Be-class star, designated LS 2883, is surrounded by a disc of gas. As the small neutron star, the pulsar B1259-63, approaches, it emits some gamma rays as it grazes through either side of the disc every 3.4 years.

On January 20 and February 21 of this year, however, when the pulsar approached the larger star, a strange series of powerful gamma ray flares occurred, which was highly out of character. A thorough barrage of scans and studies revealed no anomalies in the stars; no foreign objects, no strange chemical reactions, nothing that would elicit flares like those.

Since the two stars pass by each other that closely only every 3.4 years, it is going to be a while before scientists get another chance to study it again. it is believed that as the pulsar passes thru the disk of gas and dust, that the pulsars powerful magnetic field is accelerating captured electrons to very high energies causing these weird month-long gamma ray displays. It is truly a case where astronomers are finding more and more strange objects or events that can cause a gamma ray burst.

 Credit: NASA.

Party stars and raining glitter, 05.31.11

Astronomers have recently analyzed some rather sparkly data from the Spitzer telescope. It seems HOPS-68, a star in the constellation Orion, is raining glitter. Yes, glitter.

Image credit: NASA/Tom Trower.

The star, it has been found, is actually raining small crystals of olivine, a mineral commonly found in periodots and green sand, particularly from Hawai’i, like these olivine samples pictured here.

The findings are puzzling, though. According to Tom Megeath of the University of Toledo in Ohio, a lead researcher in the case, “you need temperatures as hot as lava to make these crystals.” The problem, though, is that the cloud surrounding the proto-star is approximately 280 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, so it is impossible they could have formed in the star’s atmosphere in its current state. The prevailing theory is that the crystals formed when the star was hot and wild, and were swept out in solar winds and jets through the years. It seems they are still close enough to be affected by the star’s gravity, however. As time wore on and things began to settle down, the crystals began falling back down on the star, creating the glitter rain effect observed by astronomers.

The same theories surround the green haze created by olivine particles in the vicinity of comets because, well, they just might actually be great clumps of the stuff frozen together. According to Charles Poteet, the lead author on the project, it is probable that many of these crystals formed early on and were carried to the outer rim of the solar system as time wore on. Then, they eventually clumped together as they began to freeze, and consequently became the orbiting objects they are now, comets. That is how the theory goes, any way.

In any case, this star may be cold, but it sure knows how to party! Who needs a disco ball when you can have crystal rain?

Credit: NASA/JPL.

Space junkies fed up with all the junk, 05.18.11

According to General William Shelton, commander of the U.S. Air Force Space Command, there are well over 20,000 man-made junk objects floating around earth, collectively referred to as “detritus.” Those pieces of trash are just the ones that have been logged and are being tracked. According to Gen. Shelton, it is possible that at least 10 times that much is out there now; we just cannot detect it.

Image credit: ESA.

So where did all of this space junk come from? It is not just dust and rocks floating around, but actual pieces of satellites, missiles, and space ships floating around planet earth. 50 years in the space program is a lot of time for garbage to build up. Some of the pieces are satellites that served their purpose and either “died” or were deactivated, some are extra parts that fell off or were blown off of spacecraft, and still other pieces came from satellites that collided with other objects or were blown up intentionally by missiles, as in a fairly recent test by China (their anti-satellite or ASAT test) in 2007. The pieces of detritus can vary in size from just a few millimeters to a few meters across, and can be travelling at dangerously high speeds in a geosynchronous orbit around earth. This creates serious headaches for operators of live satellites, space shuttles, and the International Space Station, because all active instruments in space must alter their orbit and stay at least one mile away from every single piece of debris orbiting our planet. This computer generated graphic is meant to illustrate the approximate density of the garbage at this point.

A problem created by the 50 or so individual nations now involved in space exploration, it is impossible to point the finger at any one group for causing the mess. Therein lies the problem in getting cooperation for cleanup. If something is not done soon to either alter practices or make a serious effort to reduce the trash, experts project the amount of detritus to triple by 2030.

 Credit: SPACE.com.

"Spinstars" may have helped seed the universe, 05.02.11

NGC 6522. Image credit: Anglo-Australian Observatory and David Malin. 

Astrophysicists have theorized a new type of star that they claim may have helped seed our galaxy with heavier elements. Called "spinstars," they are thought to have been super-massive stars that spun in excess of one million miles per hour.

Using data recently gathered from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the European Southern Observatory in the mountains of Chile, astrophysicist Cristina Chiappini and her colleagues have gathered data from NGC 6522, a globular cluster, and theorized that the spinstars would explain the rapid and widespread dispersal of heavier elements in the universe. The layers of stars hardly ever mix together, but the extreme rotation speeds of a spinstar would cause the layers to overlap and blend a little, like a stellar emulsion, and spark nuclear reactions that would eventually cause the formation of heavy elements strontium and yttrium, rare elements that have been found at perplexingly high levels in older stars Chiappini studied.

For comparison, SPACE.com reminds us that our own star, the sun, rotates at only about 4,400 miles per hour--fast by any stretch of the imagination, but a snail's pace compared to the proposed spinstars.

It is a pity no spinstars have been found to date, either. They would probably look quite strange. The centrifugal force from rotating so quickly actually causes objects in space to flatten out in the center. Even our own sun is a little chubby in the middle because of its rotation speed.

Altair. Image credit: SPACE.com.

Take this star, Altair, for example, a star that spins a good deal faster than our sun. As fast as Altair spins, an actual spinstar would probably look even more obscured, like a football, or maybe even just a rounded disc with a lump in the center.

Chiappini says she and her team have already reserved more research time to use the VLT, gather more data and, hopefully, evidence to help test their theories.

Credit: SPACE.com.

Secret satellites, 04.18.11

It goes without saying, but the Pacific Ocean is huge. So, it would make an excellent place to "de-orbit" classified government spy satellites, says Ted Molczan of Toronto, an expert satellite tracker and part of a global sky watching effort.


Lacrosse 2, a classified government spy satellite, is one of five extremely large instruments used to take special radar images- even through clouds. Supposed to be a secret, the Lacrosse 2 is covered in "gold-colored kapton insulation blankets," which makes it reflect light with an "orange-red hue." This not only makes it easy to spot with a decent telescope or binoculars, but also plain pretty to look at for sky watchers. Whoopsie. So much for secrets.

So, when reports slowly started coming in from around the world in March that the Lacrosse 2 had gone MIA, the hunt to spot it again began in earnest, but to no avail. While it is possible that the gigantic satellite had been drastically maneuvered to another orbit, that is not probable, said Molczan. According to him, big orbital changes usually are not made by such huge satellites. Molczan theorizes that the satellite was “de-orbited” back to Earth, most likely a remote region of the Pacific Ocean, where any surviving pieces could be recovered by reconnaissance teams.

So why carefully plot and direct their path instead of just dropping them to Earth or leaving them floating about in space? Well, they are spy satellites after all; to just drop it could compromise national security, according to Molczan. It would not be surprising if Lacrosse 2 had been retired, though; it has been in orbit for an astounding 20 years. The model depicted here is probably similar to the Lacrosse 2, according to SPACE.com.

Image credit: National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

Credit: SPACE.com. 

Asteroid Apophis a threat in 2029? 03.14.11

Astronomers have been tracking a 900-foot wide rock that is hurtling towards earth. Will it strike us? Only the math can tell.

Image credit: SPACE.com.

Photographed on January 31, astronomers said on March 9 that this was the first clear shot they have been able to take of the approaching asteroid in at least 3 years. The photo was taken from atop one of Hawai’i’s dormant volcanoes, Mauna Kea, using a telescope. It was originally thought that the rock had a 1-in-37 chance of hitting earth, but new calculations made the number grow substantially; it now has a 1-in-250,000 chance of dashing earth to bits. Oh, joy!


All of the calculations are made by doing some careful comparisons with the “known” distances of stars near the asteroid. As stars move very slowly, they can be fairly reliable space-scale distance markers, but the passage of time still has to be taken into consideration upon each new measurement. 


If it does not smash into earth in 2029, it should pass by again in 2036 and 2068. The pass in 2029 will likely alter its path, too, making it slide ever so much closer to earth. The pass in 2029, in fact, will most definitely be closer to earth than a lot of communications satellites are! You can expect to see Apophis without the aid of a telescope or even binoculars, weather permitting. Until then, all we can do is sit, measure, and crunch some more numbers.


Credit: SPACE.com.

Tempel 1 flyby tonight; what's not to love? 02.14.11

NASA has cooked up the perfect Valentine’s Day treat for sky watchers everywhere: a flyby of comet Tempel 1.  Talk about lonely hearts—Tempel 1 only comes around every 5 ½ years!

Image credit: NASA.

At around 11:56 EST tonight, the Stardust-NExT probe will fly within 124 miles of Tempel 1 in an attempt to snap photographs of the ball of ice and rock as it hurtles through space. Tempel 1 orbits the sun, so directing a probe to get close enough to the comet to take some quality photos without being put in danger is proving to be a great challenge, but scientists at NASA are confident the probe will rendezvous with its fleeting target just in time as a last-minute Valentine’s Day treat.  “Encountering something as small and fast as a comet in the vastness of space is always a challenge, but we are very pleased with how things are setting up for our Valentine’s Day flyby,” said Joe Veverka, Cornell University researcher and principal investigator for the mission.


Tempel 1 was visited last summer by NASA’s Deep Impact mission and had part of the comet blasted off by one of the probe’s components in an effort to get a glimpse of Tempel 1’s inner layers. At less than 5 miles in diameter, Tempel 1 is an extremely small target, barely large enough to create any sort of tail as it travels, so hitting it in the first place was literally a long shot. Out of all the calculations that went into hurling a projectile the size of a refrigerator (that weighed in excess of two tons) at the speeding comet, one was not quite factored in: things that go “boom” usually leave a “pouf!” There was a magnificent dust cloud that resulted from the more than 20,000 miles per hour collision, and it obliterated any chances of catching even one clear photograph of the resulting crater at the time. NASA did have a camera on the projectile it sent crashing into Tempel 1, though, so it was able to snap a few mug shots before the camera was smashed to pieces in the collision. We have included one here, below.

Image credit: NASA.

NASA hopes that this time, now that Tempel 1 has hurried along and cleared away from some of the dust, some good photos can be had of its new crater that will tell the scientists more about comets in general.


In honor of all of the excitement gendered by the mission, NASA has set up a full itinerary of press events, including live coverage of the flyby on NASA television, which can all be accessed on NASA’s main website, http://www.nasa.gov. They have also created a unique way to send a Valentine to that special someone in your life (and show just how awesome you think comets are at the same time!) with their “I <3 Comets” campaign. Visit http://bit.ly/edauDm to join in on all the fun.


You can forget trying to spot Tempel 1 on your own, though. Even the Hubble telescope has a difficult time of it trying to catch a glimpse of this comet, so at the most, all you would ever see with a powerful backyard telescope is a miniscule dot. It would be far better to sit inside and just watch NASA’s coverage on the television or webpage from the comfort of your own home. Who says sky watching always means you have to be outside?


So, snuggle up with that special someone and catch some late-night coverage of the comet. For the person who wants to opt out of the usual flowers and candy, this is certainly no typical way to celebrate! On that note, we at Thronateeska Heritage Center wish you a wonderful Valentine’s Day!


Credit: NASA JPL.