| Universe Today |
| NASA Sun Probe rolled to Pad; 10 hours to Blast off (Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is in Florida for Universe Today covering the launch of SDO and Endeavour.)NASA?s nearly $1 Billion hi tech sun probe, the Solar Dynamics Observatory or SDO, was rolled out today (Feb 9) to Launch Pad 41 on a rainy day here in Florida at 1 day from blast off. [...] |
| Saturn?s Rings Have Gone Plaid Are Saturn’s rings spinning at ludicrous speeds? It appears they have gone plaid! The Cassini spacecraft has actually spied two types of waves in Saturn’s A ring: a spiral density wave on the left of the image and a more pronounced spiral bending wave near the middle. And the “plaid” look comes from [...] |
| Local Interstellar Gas Mapped in 3-D Astronomers have created a new 3D map of the interstellar gas in the local area around our Sun. “Local” is a relative term, as the map extends to an area of 300 parsecs and provides new absorption measurements towards more than 1800 stars. The group of astronomers, from the US and France, [...] |
| Seven-Year WMAP Results: No, They?re NOT Anomalies Since the day the first Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data were released, in 2003, all manner of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anomalies have been reported; there’s been the cold spot that might be a window into a parallel universe, the “Axis of Evil”, pawprints of local interstellar neutral hydrogen, and much, much more.But do [...] |
| Carnival of Space #140 This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Jason Major over at Lights in the Dark. Click here to read the Carnival of Space #140. And if you?re interested in looking back, here?s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you?ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the [...] |
| Answer for Last Week?s WITU Challenge I was late posting last week’s Where In the Universe Challenge, and now am even later in posting the answer. But find it back on the original post. Hopefully I’ll be able to have a new challenge for you in a couple of days! |
| Caught in the Act! Merging Galaxies Create a Binary Quasar Excellent teamwork by astronomers working in two different wavebands ? x-ray and optical – has lead to the discovery of a binary quasar being created by a pair of merging galaxies.“This is really the first case in which you see two separate galaxies, both with quasars, that are clearly interacting,” says Carnegie astronomer John Mulchaey [...] |
| Sky on Fire as Endeavour Blasts to Space (Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is in Florida for Universe Today covering the launch of Endeavour.)Night literally turned to day as shuttle Endeavour roared off the pad early this morning Feb.8 at 4:14 AM beginning a 2 day chase to link up with the International Space Station and commence the STS 130 mission. It was [...] |
| If the Earth is Rare, We May Not Hear from ET If civilization-forming intelligent life is rare in our Milky Way galaxy, chances are we won’t hear from ET before the Sun goes red giant, in about five billion years’ time; however, if we do hear from ET before then, we’ll have lots of nice chats before the Earth is sterilized.That’s the conclusion from a recent [...] |
| Awesome Shot! STA Over the Launchpad During the early morning countdown for the launch of space shuttle Endeavour today, it was back and forth, yes and no, red and green, no and no-go. And all because of weather. As per standard procedure, an astronaut flies the Shuttle Training Aircraft to monitor weather conditions around the launchpad. Today it [...] |
| LAUNCH! I am still shaking and still awestruck! I just witnessed my first rocket launch and my first space shuttle launch which also happens to be the last night launch for the space shuttle program. It was absolutely the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed. When the SRB’s lit, night literally turned [...] |
| Universe to WMAP: ?CDM Rules, OK? The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) science team has finished analyzing seven full years’ of data from the little probe that could, and once again it seems we can sum up the universe in six parameters and a model.Using the seven-year WMAP data, together with recent results on the large-scale distribution of galaxies, and an [...] |
| Satellite View of ?Snowmageddon? Did you live through what has been called ?snowmageddon? or ?snowpocalypse?? Here’s a satellite’s-eye view of the exceptionally severe winter storm in the Eastern US that dropped several feet of snow on Feb. 6 and 7. Reports of crashed and abandoned cars and hundreds of cancelled flights were interspersed with stories of [...] |
| Astronomy For Kids: Orion ? The Star Hunter If you’ve been peeking out the windows at night, or maybe looked up while walking the dog before bedtime or taking out the trash after dinner, perhaps you’ve seen three fairly bright stars in a row. Depending on how early or late you look, you may see them lined up side-by-side above the horizon, [...] |
| Launch Scrub for STS-130 The launch of space shuttle Endeavour was scrubbed about 9 minutes before the scheduled 4:39 am EST (9:49 GMT) liftoff due to low clouds that moved into the area. Mission managers have scheduled space shuttle Endeavour’s next launch attempt for Monday, Feb. 8 at 4:14 a.m. EST (9:14 GMT)The Mission Management Team will meet [...] |
| RSS integration by RSSinclude |