Because It Is There

First Underwater Volcano Eruption Video

2009-12-17T17:24:00.000-08:00

Ares

2009-11-20T22:26:00.000-08:00

As part of the Constellation Program, in a move to make the heavy-lift vehicle more robust (predicting an increased launch thrust requirement) to send four astronauts, a lunar lander plus supplies, NASA has announced the Ares V rocket will be beefed up to cater for our future needs to get man back to the Moon. This huge vehicle is now designed to carry payloads of over 156,600 lb (71,000 kg), some 15,600 lb (or 10%) more than the original concept. Ares V was originally designed to be approximately the same length as the original Saturn V lunar rocket (361 feet or 110 metres long), but to accommodate an extra booster engine and extra payload volume, Ares V will be 381 feet (116 metres) long. This upgrade will be capable of sending far more instrumentation into space, an extra 15,600 lb (7,000 kg, or the equivalent mass of a male African elephant). Ares V had its successful first launch on October 28, 2009.

Photo of Orion

2009-11-12T08:27:00.000-08:00

My first picture of stars taken at the tip of the Baja penninsula. The stars identifiable include:

Meissa is a blue spectral type O giant star and is part of the Collinder 69 star cluster. It has an apparent visible magnitude 3.39. Meissa is actually a binary star system. The fainter star is of magnitude 6 and is 4.4 seconds of arc away from the brighter. It is a hot blue-white dwarf of spectral type B0.5 V.

Betelgeuse, known alternatively by its Bayer designation "Alpha Orionis," is a massive M-type red supergiant star nearing the end of its life. When it explodes it will even be visible during the day.

Rigel, which is also known as "Beta Orionis," is a B-type blue supergiant that is the sixth brightest star in the night sky. Similar to Betelguese, Rigel is fusing heavy elements in its core and will pass its supergiant stage soon (on an astronomical timescale), either collapsing in the case of a supernova or shedding its outer layers and turning into a white dwarf.

Gamma Orionis, is known colloquially as the "Amazon Star" and Bellatrix it is the twenty-second brightest star in the night sky.[7] Bellatrix is considered a B-type blue giant, though it is too small to explode in a supernova. Bellatrix's luminosity is derived from its high temperature rather than its radius,[8] a factor that defines Betelguese.

Mintaka garnered the name "Delta Orionis" from Bayer, even though it is the faintest of the three stars in Orion's Belt. It is a multiple star system, composed of a large B-type blue giant and a more massive O-type white star. The Mintaka system constitutes an eclipsing binary variable star, where the eclipse of one star over the other creates a dip in brightness.

Alnilam was named "Epsilon Orionis," a consequence of Bayer's wish to name the three stars in Orion's Belt (from north to south) in alphabetical order. Alnilam is a B-type blue supergiant, despite being nearly twice as far from the Sun as Mintaka and Alnitak, the other two belt stars, its luminosity makes it nearly equal in magnitude. Alnilam is losing mass quickly, a consequence of its size;[10] approximately four million years old.

Alnitak was designated "Zeta Orionis" by Bayer, and is the easternmost star in Orion's Belt. It is a triple star some 800 light years distant, with the primary star being a hot blue supergiant and the brightest class O star in the night sky.

Cursa, also known as Beta Eridani ) is the second brightest star in the constellation of Eridanus, located in the northeast end of this constellation. It has the traditional names Cursa and Dhalim. Eridani has an apparent visual magnitude which varies between 2.72 and 2.80 and a spectral type of A3III. It is approximately 90 light-years from the Earth.[1][2] It may be a member of the proposed Sirius Supercluster, along with other scattered stars such as Sirius itself, Beta Aurigae, Alpha Coronae Borealis, Zeta Crateris, and Beta Serpentis.

Johann Bayer named many of these stars in his star atlas Uranometria published in 1603

Ocean Exploration

2009-09-06T09:37:00.000-07:00

In contrast to the excitement of moon exploration and the colonization of outer space, there is less interest in a realm closer to home: the ocean. (Seaquest) Our oceans are less well known than the moon.When will ocean exploration be accessible to more people? When will ocean exploration become tourism? There is so much exploration left to be done, so many canyons, geolocgical strucutres (underwater volcanoes, sinkholes, mountains) and so many species left to discover and understand. There are lots of resources like minerals, energy, underwater forests. New species to be found and geological structures to be understood.

MIR submersibles, for example, can dive to a maximum depth of 6,000 metres (19,685 ft). This makes them two of only seven manned submersibles in the world that can dive beyond 3,000 metres (9,843 ft), the others being the US submersibles Alvin, Sea Cliff and Deepstar 20000, the Japanese owned Shinkai and the French owned Nautile. Up to 98% of the world’s oceans are under 6,000 metres deep.

In the mid 1990s and early 2000s, the MIR vehicles were used by American producer James Cameron to film the wreck of the RMS Titanic, resting at a depth of 3,821 metres, for his 1997 film Titanic and documentaries such as Ghosts of the Abyss, and to film the wreck of the Bismarck, resting at a depth of 4,700 metres, for his 2002 documentary film Expedition: Bismarck. In July 2008 both Mirs initiated a two-year expedition to Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater reservoir. The expedition is being led by the Russian Academy of Sciences.[10] During the expedition around 160 descents are planned to the bottom of the lake, which is largely unexplored to this point.

Another interesting research vessel is the RSS James Cook.

John Delaney at the University of Washington: The approach, dubbed the Neptune Project, would string 10 semiautomated geobiological labs across the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate off Washington, 8,000 feet underwater. The approach, dubbed the Neptune Project, would string 10 semiautomated geobiological labs across the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate off Washington, 8,000 feet underwater. Each would have cameras, lights, robots, and sensors, all connected to the surface via optical cable to transmit data on everything from the biomass of microbes to the effects of ocean temperature on weather

Astronomy Applets

2009-08-29T06:37:00.000-07:00

Solar System
Jupiter

Galaxies

2009-06-04T15:47:00.000-07:00

Understanding the motion, shape, structure, density and quantity of galaxies in the universe is the largest scale scientific pursuit of mankind with many questions still remaining.

At the level of the galaxy itself, astronomers have found that stars revolve around the center of galaxies at a constant speed over a wide range of distances from a galaxy's center. This behavior was not expected, assuming a free Newtonian potential. This contradiction has led scientists to speculate on the existence of extra mass called Dark Matter or the need for extra parameters in for Modified Newtonian Dynamics.

Other astronomical models predict that small galaxies in the early Universe evolved into the massive galaxies of today by coalescing. Recent observations by the Hubble Space Telescope have found some of these early galaxies, existing only 100 years after the big bang. Scientists were surprised to see their density so low raising many questions about how the early galaxies must have formed. Three of the galaxies appear to be slightly disrupted – rather than being shaped like rounded blobs, they appear stretched into tadpole-like shapes. This is a sign that they may be interacting and merging with neighbouring galaxies to form larger, cohesive structures. Other observations using wide field telescopes looking back to a time when it was a fifth of its present age have revealed an enormous string of galaxies about 300 million light-years long. This new structure defies current models of how the Universe evolved, which can't explain how a string this big could have formed so early.

Space X Launch

2009-05-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

Space X successfully launched into orbit earlier this year, making it the first private industry to do so. I'm just a little late in reporting this.

Iran's Satellite Completes Mission

2009-03-22T11:46:00.001-07:00

here.

Sout Korea's First Rocket Launch

2009-03-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

here.

Space Elevator

2009-02-24T09:30:00.000-08:00

NASA offers $4M in prizes for bold technology that leads to space elevator.

Steep Terrain Rover

2009-02-06T11:15:00.001-08:00

The Past and Future of NASA

2009-01-02T11:41:00.000-08:00

The transition to a new president marks a new era for NASA and space exploration. While NASA begins to outsource more of its missions to private companies, current NASA projects are threatened due to possibly more urgent matters.

2008-12-03T18:30:00.000-08:00

Ah the sun, giver of light and heat and energy that sustains life on Earth. While the earth-sun system is ideally suited to support life, many other suns are not so fortunate.

What other types of "suns are out there? The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram describes much of the types of stars out there and the probabilities of each type.

A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass (roughly 0.5–10 solar masses) that is in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius immense and the surface temperature low, somewhere from 5,000 K and lower.
A white dwarf, also called a degenerate dwarf, is a small star composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. As white dwarfs have mass comparable to the Sun's and their volume is comparable to the Earth's, they are very dense
Brown dwarfs are sub-stellar objects with a mass below that necessary to maintain hydrogen-burning nuclear fusion reactions in their cores, as do stars on the main sequence, but which have fully convective surfaces and interiors, with no chemical differentiation by depth. Brown dwarfs occupy the mass range between that of large gas giant planets and the lowest mass stars; this upper limit is between 75[1] and 80 Jupiter masses (MJ).
A neutron star is a type of remnant that can result from the gravitational collapse of a massive star during a Type II, Type Ib or Type Ic supernova event. Such stars are composed almost entirely of neutrons, which are subatomic particles with zero electrical charge and roughly the same mass as protons.
A quasar (contraction of QUASi-stellAR radio source) is an extremely bright and distant active galactic nucleus. They were first identified as being high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light that were point-like, similar to stars, rather than extended sources similar to galaxies. While there was initially some controversy over the nature of these objects, there is now a scientific consensus that a quasar is a compact halo of matter surrounding the central supermassive black hole of a young galaxy

Enceladus via Cassini

2008-12-01T11:38:00.000-08:00

Good stuff here.

The Great Observatories

2008-11-24T21:05:00.000-08:00

The Great Observatories Program consists of:

* The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) primarily observes visible light and near-ultraviolet. A 1997 servicing mission added capability in the near-infrared range. It was launched in 1990 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery during mission STS-31.
* The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO) primarily observed gamma rays, though it extended into hard x-rays as well. It was launched in 1991 aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-37. It was deorbited in 2000 after failure of a gyroscope.
* The Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO) was initially named the Advanced X-ray Astronomical Facility (AXAF). It primarily observes soft x-rays. It was launched in 1999 aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-93.
* The Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) was called the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) before launch. It observes the infrared spectrum, and was launched in 2003 aboard a Delta II rocket.

Keck

2008-11-24T21:21:00.001-08:00

Keck Observatory

Back to the Moon!

2007-09-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

Considering the current and planned space missions from nations all over the globe, all indicators are pointing to another race to the moon in the next decade. Following Bush's call for a return to the moon by 2020, NASA has released its plans for a new lunar orbiter to look for landing sites and a launch rocket to transport astronuats on future missions. The People's Republic of China has started the Chang'e space program with a launch set for early this fall. Just last week, Japan launched its own lunar orbiter SELENE in hopes of catching up with its Asian neighbor. To round off the edges, Russia plans a moon base by 2027 and India's Chandrayaan national space program project has its own ambitious goals. The sense of urgency that has overcome citizens across the globe is setting the stage for an astounding display of science, technology and discovery.

Mars Exploration

2007-09-17T20:38:00.000-07:00

In recent times, news headlines of Martian exploration have been frequent. After months of dust storms, the Opportunity Rover has begun its descent into the Victoria Crater. As part of NASA's Mars Scout Program the Pheonix explorer was successfully launched early this April. It is planned to land in the planet's carbon ice-capped northern polar region in May 2008 and use its robotic arm to dig into the Arctic terrain. The second part of the program with intended launch in 2011, has been narrowed down to two finalists that both intend to explore the Martian Atmosphere. For some competition, the European Space Agency (ESA) has been pushing forward with its design for a rover mission to send to Mars by 2013.

Trips to the IIS

2007-10-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

Despite concerns over deteriorating wing panels on NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery, a 14 day space mission with a stop off at the International Space Station is still planned to begin October 23. They will be following Russia's Expedition 16 that also exchanged crew members of the IIS.

Polar Exploration

2007-12-31T09:20:00.000-08:00

As space exploration gains momentum, exploration of the Earth's least habitable environments gains increasing importance as kind of practice ground. For example, an international team of researchers has been sending robotic probes beneath the ice sheets of the Arctic to search for life near geothermal vents. This expedition will help scientists learn about how a robotic, sub surface expedition on Jupiter's moon, Europa might someday be carried out. Another project, using a robot explorer called Endurance, is exploring sub surface lakes in Antarctica. An unmanned aerial vehicle called Meridian is gearing up for several flights across Antarctica and Greenland beginning next year. Due to scarcity of natural resources in other parts of the globe and nations continue to argue over ownership, these exploratory missions on the poles may soon serve more practical purposes as well.

How well do we know our own Solar System?

2008-01-15T23:58:00.000-08:00

Its difficult to appreciate that only for the past few decades have we made any attempt to explore and understand the worlds beyond planet earth that exist in our solar system. This includes planets as well as their moons, comets and asteroids that circle the sun. Most notable early explorations include the Mariner program folloed by the even more succesful Voyager missions. More recently, the Galileo probe and Cassini-Huygens probe. having gained deeper understanding of Jupiter and Saturn. Previous mission to comets such as Deep Impact and future mission such as EPOXI going to Comet Hartley and Rosetta. Future missions to Jupiter include Juno with expected launch in 2011 while other launches are still being considered. Finally, we have New Horizons is a mission headed to Pluto and other Kuiper Belt objects. For a complete list of probes exploring our solar system, please see wikipedia's long list! These studies help us understand our own weather and geological systems as well as how the possibility for the existence of life on other worlds.

Saturn's Moon

2008-02-16T22:25:00.000-08:00

Mimas, a.k.a. "The Death Star".

Earth Satellite Viewer

2008-02-28T10:20:00.001-08:00

This data visualization is really fantastic.

How probable is a planet?

2008-03-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

The question of whether planets are the exception or the rule in the case of each and every star in our universe is fundamental. The Nebular Hyothesis helps explain some recently astonishing discoveries including a five planet system, potential habitable zones and a scaled down version of Jupiter and Saturn. Future research into the existence of planets lies on the shaky ground of TPF, SIM, CoRoT and Darwin. You can follow all of the planet finding activity at this blog.

Two Down, Four More To Go

2008-03-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

The 12 day mission of Endeavor included five spacewalks to install a Japanese laboratory to the ISS, before landing safely back in Florida.