NASA administrator Charles Bolden is off to Saudia Arabia (and elsewhere) and here are some details about the trip.
“Two major insurers have decided to suspend sales of individual policies rather than run the compliance gauntlet in the health-care overhaul bill.”
In a preprint [pdf] posted today on the astro-ph website, astronomers outline the discovery of a star more like a twin of the Sun than any previously discovered. The star is located in the galactic star cluster M67, 3000 light years away. The similarity is so close that the scientists even speculate that the Sun itself might have formed in this same cluster, 4.5 billion years ago. Key quote from paper:
The similarity of the age and overall composition of the Sun with the corresponding data of M67, and in particular the agreement of the detailed chemical composition of the Sun with that of M67-1194, could suggest that the Sun has formed in this very cluster. According to the numerical simulations by Hurley et al. (2005) the cluster has lost more than 80% of its stars by tidal interaction with the Galaxy, in particular when passing the Galactic plane, and the Sun might be one of those. We note that the orbit of the cluster encloses, within its apocentre and pericentre, the solar orbit. However, the cluster has an orbit extending to much higher Galactic latitudes, presently it is close to its vertical apex at z = 0.41 kpc (Davenport & Sandquist 2010), while the Sun does not reach beyond z = 80 pc (Innanen, Patrick & Duley 1978). Thus, in order for this hypothesis of an M67 origin of the Sun to be valid, it must have been dispersed from the cluster into an orbit precisely in the plane of the Galactic disk, which seems improbable.
The last sentences above refer to the different orbital inclinations of the galactic orbits of both the Sun and M67. M67’s orbital inclination is far steeper. While M67 is presently about 1350 light years (410 parsecs) above the galactic plane, the Sun’s orbit never takes it more than 261 light years above the plane.
One more point of interest: M67 is a well known object to amateur astronomers, located in the constellation Cancer.
The scheduled return of three astronauts on a Soyuz spacecraft has been delayed tonight because of a malfunction in the docking port.
Update: The return to Earth has definitely been canceled for tonight. The problem was caused when latches on the Soyuz, designed to secure it safely to ISS, refused to release on command. As of 12:43 am the plan was to recycle and try to land on Friday evening.
An evening pause: Fields of Gold, played by Sungha Jung. Man, can this kid play the guitar!
Using data accumulated over the past four years by Venus Express, scientists have shown that the giant double vortex storm at Venus’s south pole was only a temporary phenomenon. You can download the actual paper here [pdf]. Key quote from the paper:
The polar region of Venus shows a dynamics regime quite different than the rest of the planet, with a separation region delimited by the cold collar zone. Average wind speeds presents an almost solid body rotation, while instantaneous view highlights the complex dynamic structure with air flowing almost toward all directions. The so called dipole shape is not a stable feature and the morphology of the vortex is significantly variable on both short and long timescales.
The “cold collar” is an atmospheric ring of colder temperatures that encircles the planet’s poles.
Florida Today reports the release by the House today of their compromise proposal for NASA’s budget. You can see a side-by-side comparison with the Senate version here [pdf].
Will wonders never cease? The sun actually does influence the climate, the powers-that-be admit at last.
The Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn continues to send back a wealth of data, and some gob-smacking wonderful images. Below are two of the more recent examples. The first is not a computer-generated graphic: it shows the small moon Helene (21 miles across) during a fly-by on March 3, 2010, with Saturn’s atmosphere providing the background. The second captures Saturn’s two largest moons, with the smaller Rhea crossing in front of the larger Titan.
Some encouraging news: A defense of free speech by American and Canadian Muslims.
Pressure seems to be mounting for Rajendra Pachauri to resign as head of the IPCC. Key quote:
“It’s vital that this body is led by someone whose academic and intellectual credentials are unquestioned and I’m afraid that can no longer be said of him.”
Who says space exploration is dead? Sometime in November researchers will conduct the first zero gravity tests of the world’s first beer to be certified for drinking in space. The tests will take place during suborbital flights of what is commonly known as the Vomit Comet. Key quote:
Sampling the beer during weightless parabolas, the flight researcher will record both qualitative data on beverage taste and drinkability and biometric data on body temperature, heart rate, and blood alcohol content.
Check out the first do-it-yourself satellite. It is 60 cubic inches in size and cost only $500 to build.
Houston-area schools brace for impact of NASA layoffs.
SpaceX has delayed the second Falcon 9 test launch, which includes the first test of the Dragon capsule, until November 8, at the soonest.
You think NASA’s going get money this year or next? Or ever? In one graph (see below), this article shows how completely out of control federal spending has become, beginning in 2007, with no end in sight. Key quote:
Until this skyrocketing spending growth is arrested and reversed, we suspect that government spending has become disconnected from the ability of any American household to support it.
An evening pause: Though Gustav Holst entitled the fourth movement of his The Planets suite Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity, its sweeping melody has always invoked for me the open and majestic plains and mountains of the American west. Sir Charles Mackerras conducts the BBC Philharmonic orchestra.
Who da thunk it? Internal combustion engine wins fuel efficiency contest, beating out both hybrids and electric cars.
What does this mean for private space? The European consortium Arianespace is heading toward an unprofitable 2010. Note also that though the company “performed a record seven launches of the Ariane 5 vehicle in 2009, Arianespace reported a loss of 71.2 million euros on sales of 1.03 billion euros” in that year as well.
Too much water on the Moon?
The Japanese effort to rent out their Kibo module on ISS for research has stalled, mainly because private businesses apparently consider the prices too high.
Spring on Titan brings sunshine and patchy clouds.
Profiles in cowardice: Neither the government nor several major journalist organizations seem willing to comment on the story of that cartoonist forced to go into hiding because she made the mistake of proposing “Everybody draw Mohammad Day.”
We’re here to help you! The New York city government, in an effort to control its rat population (the small rodent kind), decided to release opossums in Brooklyn to eat rats. Instead, the opossums have ignored the rats, and now Brooklyn is overrun with both rats and opossums. More here. Key quote:
“Didn’t any of those brain surgeons realize that the opossums were going to multiply?”
It appears that the NASA budget deadlock will remain stalled, at least until lame duck session after the November 2nd election.
The English language is dead. R.I.P.
Check out these newly posted images of lunar cave pits, taken by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The depth estimates range from 100 to 300 plus feet.
[Ed. I should note that some of these images have already been posted on behindtheblack. For example, the center image found here) was first discovered by reader James Fincannon and posted by me on July 15 and July 26, when I discussed the challenges of accessing the bottom of these pits. I also posted an image of the Mare Ingenii pit on July 13.]
Three polls issued today make it very clear that the upcoming November elections are going to be a very different animal than any election anyone has seen in decades.
First, Public Policy Polling (PPP) finds that in the West Virginia race for the Senate seat formerly held by Robert Byrd, long shot Republican John Raese is leading shoe-in Democrat Joe Manchin by 3 points.
Second, Rasmussen finds that not only is Republican Joe Miller leading his opponents in the Alaska Senate race by 15%, the Democrat candidate, Scott McAdams, can only garner 25%. Meanwhile, Lisa Murkowski, who lost to Miller in a primary upset, is doing almost as bad as an independent write-in candidate, with 27%.
Third, a Quinnipiac poll shows Republican Tom Corbett destroying Democrat Dan Onorato by a 54-39 margin in the race for Pennsylvania governor.
Not only do these numbers show a willingness of the public to consider new and unknown candidates and reject incumbents, they also show a surprising hostility to Democrat candidates in regions that have always been considered Democrat strongholds. In West Virginia, the accepted wisdom was that the Democrat Manchin would be nominated and then annointed. Not so. In Alaska, not only did Miller upset the incumbent Murkowski in the Republican primary, voters apparently have little interest in seeing her return to office, or give her Democrat rival the job either. And in Pennsylvania, a swing state that has in recent years been swinging increasingly Democratic, the numbers show instead a complete reversal of that trend and a total rejection of the Democrat candidate.
Yes, November 2nd is going to be an interesting day indeed.
Update: Another poll released today from PPP and commissioned by the leftwing website, Daily Kos, continues these astonishing trends. In the Wisconsin Senate race, Democrat incumbent Russ Feingold now trails Republican Ron Johnson by 11% points. And in Wisconsin governor’s race, the same poll found the Republican leading by 9%.
On August 9, 2010 the camera on Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter took some routine calibration images and captured the Earth from lunar orbit, showing the western hemisphere with relatively little cloud cover. The picture below is a tiny piece from that global image, cropped to show the United States. The details are pretty remarkable, considering the distance. You can explore the full global image in detail here.
