Tag: astronomy
Watch an asteroid a third of a mile across zip past the Earth tonight.
Watch an asteroid a third of a mile across zip past the Earth tonight.
NASA has released more information about the two space telescopes the National Reconnaissance Office has donated to them.
NASA has released more information about the two space telescopes the National Reconnaissance Office has donated to them.
Unless they can find a buyer the United Kingdom will close down its 3.8 meter infrared UKIRT telescope on Mauna Kea in 2013.
Telescope for sale: Unless they can find a buyer the United Kingdom will close down its 3.8 meter infrared UKIRT telescope on Mauna Kea in 2013.
This is a tragedy. A 3.8 meter telescope is no slouch and can do amazing research. The problem is that all the available money in ground-based astronomy is now being eaten up by the construction of giant telescopes in the 20 to 40 meter range.
What astronomy needs are some wealthy philanthropists who would like to buy these mid-sized telescopes, put their names on it, and finance their operation. This is how most big telescopes were made possible before World War II.
Orbital Sciences successfully launched NASA’s NuSTAR X-ray telescope this morning.
After a three month delay so that NASA could correct software issues, Orbital Sciences successfully launched NASA’s NuSTAR X-ray telescope this morning.
Construction of the world’s largest ground-based telescope has been approved by the European Southern Observatory.
Construction of the world’s largest ground-based telescope has been approved by the European Southern Observatory.
No one should get too excited about this announcement. They still need to raise 90% of their funds to build it, and to do so they have to get agreements from the four member countries of the European Southern Observatory. It will be years, probably at least a decade, before this 40-meter truly gigantic telescope sees the light.
Solar Dynamic Observatory successfully imaged Venus’s atmosphere during yesterday’s transit
Solar Dynamic Observatory successfully imaged Venus’s atmosphere during yesterday’s transit. Cool images too.
Watch the Venus transit live
Watch the Venus transit live:
From space, from Solar Dynamics Observatory.
From Universe Today, on Youtube.
Due to cost overruns, NASA has cancelled the GEM X-ray telescope.
Due to cost overruns, NASA has cancelled the GEM X-ray telescope.
Astronomers think they have discovered a distant supermassive black hole that is being ejected from its galaxy at a speed of several million miles per hour.
Astronomers think they have discovered a distant supermassive black hole that is being ejected from its galaxy at a speed of several million miles per hour.
Although the ejection of a supermassive black hole from a galaxy by recoil because more gravitational waves are being emitted in one direction than another is likely to be rare, it nevertheless could mean that there are many giant black holes roaming undetected out in the vast spaces between galaxies. “These black holes would be invisible to us,” said co-author Laura Blecha, also of CfA, “because they have consumed all of the gas surrounding them after being thrown out of their home galaxy.”
This conclusion however is not final. The data could also be explained by the spiraling in of two supermassive black holes.
The military has given NASA two Cold War era spy space telescopes with mirrors comparable to Hubble’s.
Big news: The military has given NASA two Cold War era spy space telescopes with mirrors comparable to Hubble’s.
They have 2.4-meter (7.9 feet) mirrors, just like the Hubble. They also have an additional feature that the civilian space telescopes lack: A maneuverable secondary mirror that makes it possible to obtain more focused images. These telescopes will have 100 times the field of view of the Hubble, according to David Spergel, a Princeton astrophysicist and co-chair of the National Academies advisory panel on astronomy and astrophysics.
Since astronomers have over the past dozen years been remarkably uninterested in launching a replacement for Hubble, they now find themselves in a situation where they might have no optical capabilities at all in space. Hubble is slowing dying from age, and NASA doesn’t have the money to build a new optical space telescope, especially since with any new space telescope proposal the astronomical community has had the annoying habit of demanding more sophistication than NASA can afford.
This announcement however might just save astronomy from becoming blind. Because these spy telescopes are already half built, it will be difficult to add too many bells and whistles. Hire a launch rocket, build the cameras and spectrographs based on the instruments already on Hubble, and get the things in orbit quickly.
The transit of Venus tomorrow.
An overview of the transit of Venus tomorrow.
How a trucking company employee solved the mystery of the missing NASA telescope.
How a trucking company employee solved the mystery of the missing NASA telescope.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have determined that the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are on a collision course, and will meet head on in 4 billion years.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have determined that the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are on a collision course, and will meet head on in 4 billion years.
You can download the science paper describing these results in detail here [pdf].
A truck transporting a NASA balloon telescope worth millions has disappeared in Dallas in route from Minnesota to Texas.
Life imitates a television mystery: A truck transporting a NASA balloon telescope worth millions has disappeared in Dallas in route from Minnesota to Texas.
A failed public works project — from the year 1350 AD
Yesterday my wife Diane and I took my 94-year-old mother on a sightseeing trip to see the Casa Grande ruins southeast of Phoenix, “the largest known structure left of the Ancestral People of the Sonoran Desert.”
This four story high structure was built around 1350 AD from bricks made of concrete-like caliche mud, with the floors and roofs supported by beams of pine, fir, and juniper brought from as far away as fifty miles. (The rooflike structure above the ruins was built by the National Park Service in order to protect it from rain.)
Though impressive, I must admit I’ve seen far more impressive American Indian ruins elsewhere. Casa Grande, which means “Great House” in Spanish, suffered as a tourist attraction from two faults:
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Scientists who published a study last month that said they could find no evidence of dark matter in nearby interstellar space, have re-analyzed their data and found that the dark matter is apparently there.
Never mind! Scientists who published a study last month that said they could find no evidence of dark matter in nearby interstellar space have re-analyzed their data and found that the dark matter is apparently there.
Based on new calculations, an astronomer has proposed the existence of an unseen planet four times the size of Earth lurking in the outer reaches of the solar system.
Based on new calculations, an astronomer has proposed the existence of an unseen planet four times the size of Earth lurking in the outer reaches of the solar system.
A planet turning to dust
A planet turning to dust.
More information on the annular solar eclipse coming to the southwest U.S. this Sunday.
More information on the annular solar eclipse coming to the southwest U.S. this Sunday.
Actually, the second link above provides better information on where and when to view the eclipse. Definitely click on the map showing the national parks where viewing will be best.
