Buick MacColl

The Great Nebula in Orion

2011-09-26T03:59:00.003+01:00

Finally got this thing processed! Again, taken at the OAM with a 12" Meade SCT and SBIG CCD with three waveband filters, calibrated and stacked in MaximDL.

Tried to get the right balance between contrast and brightness and I think it's okay. Either way, my first ever shot of a nebula and of course my favourite nebula :)

I may go over it again with a bluer filter for some funky styles, if I do I'll make sure I post the results.

This is a huge image, so it's best to download to view it properly. Do so by clicking the image to make it big, then right click, save as...

Enjoy!

My very first RGB astro-photo!

2011-09-25T01:59:00.000+01:00

And less importantly, my 100th blog post!

Albireo (β Cyg, β Cygni, Beta Cyg, Beta Cygni) is the fifth brightest star in the constellation Cygnus. Although it has the Bayer designation beta, it is fainter than Gamma Cygni, Delta Cygni, and Epsilon Cygni. Albireo appears to the naked eye to be a single star of magnitude 3 but through a telescope, even low magnification views resolve it into a double star.
Albireo is 380 light-years (120 pc) away from the Earth and the two components provide one of the best contrasting double stars in the sky due to their different colors.

This image was taken last week, by myself of course, during my stay at the OAM (OBSERVATORI ASTRONÒMIC DE MALLORCA) for an OU course called 'Observing the Universe'. Fingers crossed for me that I actually pass!

As well as completing this course I was (quite sneakily) able to take some personal shots of things that interest me. Just lucky then that I was able to complete my projects with time to spare so that I could do this.

This image was the first image of a number of images including various other binaries, clusters and nebulae, of which I shall post up once I've completed calibrating and stacking them.

I had a fantastic time at the observatory and the team were a bunch of great people and I really wish I could have stayed much much longer to learn more about the on-site Pirate project. But of course, University courses being what they are, one week was all that was allowed.

The above image was taken with a 12" Meade SCT, using R, B and Visible filters and stacked with MaximDL.

It may not be of comparable quality as that of many of the other images I've posted, here and at QA, but never-the-less I'm extremely proud of my very first full colour (false colour) astrophotograph!

To boldly sow: Seeding the galaxy with Earthly life

2011-02-13T11:47:00.003Z

Go forth and multiply (Image: L Allen (Harvard-Smithsonian CFA)/D. Padgett (SSC-Caltech/NASA

If there is no life on other planets, let's send it there

EARTH'S first interstellar expedition seems to be a disaster. During the long journey most of the passengers die from radiation sickness. When at last the spacecraft arrives, it crash-lands on the surface of a bleak and barren world. The capsule splits open and the alien air finishes off many of the remaining explorers. Over the ensuing days, some of the few survivors succumb to the extreme temperatures, while others die after drinking from pools of acid.

But one stalwart survives. Soon there is even better news: our explorer divides into two clones. Earth life reproduces for the first time under the light of an alien star. Its offspring mutate and begin to adapt to their new home, eventually spreading across the planet and evolving into new forms of life. That's one small step for a bug, one giant leap for bugkind.
Why would we want to replace Captain Kirk with a bacterium? Because the dream of humans travelling to other stars, while not impossible, may yet turn out to be unfeasible.

If we can't go in person, then instead we could recruit our single-celled cousins as astronauts. "We are at a point now where we almost have the ability to send micro-organisms to other worlds," says Michael Mautner of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. "We can generate a vast amount of life in the universe. It would give our own existence purpose."

The idea that simple life forms could be carried from planet to planet, known as panspermia, is an old one. Ever since the 19th century, scientists have been debating whether life could survive the long journeys between star systems. Mautner thinks the process should not be left to chance.

"I started to become interested in the 1970s, at the height of the cold war and the nuclear arms race, when there were questions about whether we were going to survive," he says. "What if Earth has the only life? Earth will be destroyed eventually, then all life is gone. For me that's a very empty and meaningless universe." The answer, he concluded, is that we should become the agents of panspermia.

He is not alone in advocating directed panspermia, as this idea is known. "Expanding the richness of life in the universe is what we ought to be doing," says Chris McKay, an astrobiologist at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

Mautner outlined his ideas for spreading Earth life across the galaxy in a recent paper (Journal of Cosmology, vol 5, p 982). He envisages sending out colony ships filled with microbes and pulled by solar sails. The first solar-sailing craft was launched by Japan's space agency last year, and by Mautner's calculations such craft could reach speeds of up to 150 kilometres a second by swooping close to the sun before unfurling their sails.

Where should we send the first microvoyagers? The obvious target is a young, temperate rocky planet similar to Earth, the kind of planet we may soon start to find thanks to NASA's Kepler mission, launched in 2009. A seeding mission could aim to put a spacecraft in orbit within the habitable zone around the host star, from where it could disperse millions of seed capsules, some of which should end up on the target planet.

But this would not be easy. Such a distant stellar target would need precise targeting, and more critically, the craft would have to slow down to enter orbit around the target star. It could decelerate by using its solar sail to catch the light of the star, but it is not clear whether this would be possible without an active guidance system, which would have to remain in working order for tens of thousands of years. "I would like to stay away from any far-future technologies if possible," says Mautner.

In that case, a softer target might be a disc of gas and dust around a young star, such as Beta Pictoris, 63 light years away. Here the tactics of the swarm come in: "If you send billions of small vehicles, hopefully some will arrive," says Mautner. Each vessel could hold 100,000 freeze-dried bacteria in a capsule just 40 micrometres across, towed behind a sail less than 4 millimetres across. When these seed pods arrive, drag from the gas in the disc would slow them down. As comets and rocky bodies form in the disc, says Mautner, some seed pods will become incorporated and eventually a few should end up on the surfaces of planets.

The journey will take a long, long time. Even at a speed of 150 kilometres per second, the trip to Beta Pictoris would take more than 120,000 years. Can any living organism survive such an epic voyage in space? "That is the biggest open question," says Mautner.

The toughest passengers may be freeze-dried bacteria, which are often stored for long periods in laboratories. Some bacteria can dry themselves out and produce a hardy dormant form called an endospore. There are controversial claims of endospores being revived after being locked in amber for 40 million years, or after being trapped in salt crystals in a cave in New Mexico for 250 million years. Even if some bacteria really can snooze for a quarter of a billion years, though, they are far less likely to survive in space than in a cave.

Dead on arrival

The big danger is cosmic rays - energetic protons and other charged particles that can smash up DNA. We are shielded from most cosmic rays by Earth's atmosphere and the solar wind, but in interstellar space the microbe passengers of a small seed capsule would face the radiation unprotected.

We know that they could cope for a few years, at least. Bacteria have survived for more than 18 months outside the International Space Station. Much longer-term exposure would be more challenging, but might not be terminal, says Lewis Dartnell of University College London, who studies the potential for microbes to survive on Mars. "The numbers might work out if you can send enough microbial voyagers in each capsule. The vast majority would die on the way from radiation, but a tiny fraction would survive." After a million years with negligible shielding, he calculates, about one in a million freeze-dried bacteria would remain alive. At the solar-sail speeds envisaged by Mautner, a million years is long enough to travel 500 light years.

Then again, maybe it does not matter if the bugs are dead on arrival. Last year, Paul Wesson of the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Canada suggested that even the shattered corpses of microbes, just fragments of DNA and other biomolecules, could help life to emerge. He called the idea "necropanspermia".

Alternatively, shielding a few metres thick on the spacecraft would cut out the bulk of cosmic ray damage. Another solution might be to revive the passengers from time to time so they can repair any DNA damage, before suspending their animation again. These options would require much larger spacecraft, though, which would spoil one of Mautner's aims - to make directed panspermia relatively cheap. After all, a project that may not bear fruit for billions of years, and whose success or failure may never be known, seems unlikely to attract vast funds.

The cost of Mautner's lower-tech approach depends on a lot of factors. How many capsules must land on a young planet, say, to achieve a fair chance of some bug becoming established? Mautner guesses a hundred, although McKay feels that is optimistic. "The chances of any particular organism growing or any particular capsule falling on fertile ground is vanishingly small," says McKay. "The good thing is that it's easy to make billions of them."

Billions, perhaps many billions, will be needed. Even the closest planetary systems are tiny targets, and most capsules will miss altogether. They are also moving targets, and we will need ultraprecise measurements of their motions before an unguided mission could succeed. That should be possible with space-based telescope arrays within a few decades, Mautner says.

Marc Millis of the Tau Zero Foundation, which promotes research into interstellar travel, is sceptical. "It's hard to hit interstellar targets, and it is much harder to hit targets with passive sails than with a vehicle that can correct its course as it goes along."

Aim becomes less of a problem in one of Mautner's grander plans. He hopes to seed entire star-forming regions holding dozens of new stars, such as the Rho Ophiuchi cloud, about 500 light years away. That is a big target, no problem to hit. On the downside, such large-scale carpet-bombing would probably need millions of times as many seed capsules as a single planet or planet-forming accretion disc. And once there, most of the intrepid bugs might have wait millions of years, all the while exposed to the hard rain of cosmic radiation, before anything solid forms.

If fleets of simple spacecraft can't do the job, a more high-tech approach will be needed. Sails propelled not by sunlight but by huge lasers in Earth orbit could theoretically reach speeds of thousands of kilometres per second, slashing travel time and radiation exposure, and they could probably be aimed more precisely than sun-catching sails. Advanced robotics could even guide microbial passengers to the most promising havens on new worlds.

While the challenges are huge, there is no doubt that it will be easier to send bacteria than people. They are only very distant cousins of ours, but as far as Mautner is concerned, kin is kin. "Life is one big family, and the purpose of life is to propagate," he says. "If we manage to seed life on a few hundred planets, we can start many chains of evolution. Hopefully some will evolve into intelligent beings."

McKay agrees. "When we look around the universe we see a lot of different things, but the thing that is most interesting, the only thing that is a source of value, is life," he says. "I like the argument that humans should seek to expand the richness and diversity of life."

Complete annihilation

There is a risk that we would be doing the opposite, however. The presence of Earth colonists might prevent new forms of life evolving from scratch. Worse still, the colonists might kill off native life forms.

Consider the opposite situation. "How would we react if another civilisation sent to Earth a directed panspermia package containing alien microbes, and it affected the Earth's biosphere in a negative way?" asks astrobiologist and writer Barry DiGregorio, affiliated with Cardiff University in the UK. If we cannot be sure that microbes won't harm existing life, then we shouldn't send them, he says. "The only reason I can think of to try it, as a last resort, is if the Earth was facing complete annihilation by an impending solar event, asteroid or comet catastrophe."

Others are less worried. "My feeling is that any natives, adapted to their environment, would be better equipped and so outcompete the new arrivals," says Dartnell, "but that might not always be the case."

Proposed space telescopes such as NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder could check for signs of life on other worlds before capsules are sent. They would not be able to detect the early stages of life, Dartnell says, but they should reveal where a biosphere is well established. If these searches do not find any such signs, it will be evidence that life does not readily get started and needs our helping hand.

If, on the other hand, life is found to be plentiful, there would be no need for directed panspermia. A galaxy teeming with aliens might be a sign that life evolves readily, or spreads rapidly between star systems by natural panspermia, or both. Or maybe, as Carl Sagan suggested in 1966, another civilisation had this idea billions of years ago and successfully spread their seed throughout the galaxy. Was our ancestor the lone survivor of a tiny starship that crash-landed on a bleak and barren planet far from home?

Read more: For a different point of view, see Barry E. DiGregorio's Comment article "Don't send bugs to Mars"

Original Article from New Scientist.

The right stuff?

If we want to seed distant planets with life, what should we send? The first challenge is to survive the journey, which makes Deinococcus radiodurans - aka Conan the Bacterium - a tempting choice. It is not only extraordinarily radiation-resistant, but can also survive extreme cold and dehydration. However, D. radiodurans cannot form long-lasting endospores and it needs oxygen and organic compounds, which won't be available on a barren new world.

What might be available is methane, hydrogen or sulphide compounds, food to microbes like the ones found around deep-sea vents. "As long as they find an ocean, they could probably find a living," says Lewis Dartnell of University College London. Other obvious candidates include photosynthetic organisms such as cyanobacteria, which could make their own food and produce oxygen into the bargain, although it might take billions of years for oxygen to reach the levels that animals need.

Fertile ground should not be hard to find. Michael Mautner of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond has grown algae and even small asparagus plants in pulverised chunks of meteorites (Icarus, vol 158, p 72). "The material is as productive as agricultural soil here on Earth," he says.

Mautner is not planning to sow the galaxy with asparagus, but he does speculate about sending more advanced organisms. It may have taken almost 2 billion years for complex cells to evolve from bacteria, and sending single-celled algae, for example, might bypass an evolutionary bottleneck and speed up the appearance of multicellular organisms. Complex cells would be far less likely to survive an epic trip, though.

To maximise the chances of a few microbes surviving, Mautner suggests sending a diverse mix of simple cells, including extremophiles that thrive in high or low temperatures, fierce acidity and so on. Better still, genetic engineers could create superbugs able to survive extended space travel, exploit many different energy sources and live in a wide range of environments.

Creative Thinking or Daydreaming; What's the difference?

2011-01-31T12:36:00.000Z

Creative thinking differs from daydreaming in one important way. When you daydream, for the most part, you are entertaining yourself. When you use creative thinking, you are working.

Creative people think, a lot. What creative people soon realize is that creative thinking is hard work. You can actually get tired when you think creatively.

People who don't use their imaginations in this way don't understand how thinking, even creative thinking, can be actual work that is as tiring as physical labour. Thinking is just thoughts and don't those run through your brain constantly, with little or no effort anyway?

Thoughts do run through your mind constantly, all sorts of them. That would be what makes staying on track with creative thinking so difficult.

The key is to know when your mind switches from creative thinking to daydreaming

Often it's a fine line between creative thinking and daydreaming. Both, obviously, entail thinking. You can let your mind wander in search of new ideas and be working. And you can let your mind wander and be daydreaming.

The switch can be so subtle that if you are not careful you can slip from creative thinking into daydreaming and not notice. In reality your mind has wandered way off topic and not in search of new ideas. It has given itself some playtime, usually without your permission.

That's where it can get a bit muddy – when are you scoping out new stimulus and when are you slacking?

I'm not talking about deciding what to have for dinner, or wondering how good the movie you plan on seeing is going to be, that fits the daydreaming scenario and can be easily recognized. I'm talking about when you let your mind free range for ideas and it veers off into entertainment, or procrastination instead of working.

One way to be sure you know what your mind is doing is to label your thinking sessions.

If you're going to do some creative thinking, set that thought firmly in your mind before you start. Recognize that you are going into a 'session' with the goal of getting new ideas, solving a problem or whatever is necessary. Concentrating in this way will keep your mind focused on the task at hand.

Set certain limits, like how long you'll let your mind wander. You can use a timer, know that often a loud alarm may jar you out of a deep thought state and you could lose whatever you've gained. Instead, if an alarm is necessary, use one that is set to go off with music or a gentle tone.

I like to make sure I have a large block of time for my sessions. That way I don't have to stop if things are getting interesting, I can chase an idea if it comes to me. When I get restless, I call the session finished.

You may also want to make certain topics off limit. It's easy to give yourself a creative thinking session and then think about how the sun is so nice and warm. While those thoughts can be a nice warm up exercise, you need to move your thoughts into a more active state in order for your session to be productive.

Always keep in mind that daydreaming isn't any form of creative thinking.

Daydreaming is a break from creative thinking. You've shut down the work machine to relax. In this way daydreaming has important merits. It let's us sort out things without realizing we're doing it, much like our sleeping dreams. It's also a mini-vacation or a time-out for our brain. In this way daydreaming is beneficial but it must still be used properly.

The only real rule is that you know when you're doing creative thinking and when you've allowed yourself to start daydreaming. Daydream without any restraint and soon you'll find getting back into the flow of creative thinking is going to be difficult.

Don't try to trick yourself by convincing yourself you're working when you know you're not!

If you're tired, or worn out, maybe frustrated, and want a break, admit it and take one. This can be a lot more productive than pretending you're working when you're clearly not.

People who go to work get breaks during the work day, a creative person working for him/herself should apply the same work ethic. During the work time you've decided on, set aside a few breaks and actually take them. Then when your break is over get back on track.

There are different methods of creative thinking that can be a tremendous help to get new and different ideas flowing. In order for them to be effective you have to know the difference between creative thinking and daydreaming.

Learn to recognize the signs of slipping into a daydream and be persistent in moving your thinking back to the method you're working on. If you do this consistently you'll find your creative thinking sessions will be tremendously improved and consequently more productive.

New inflatable module will attach to ISS

2011-01-29T20:09:00.003Z

NASA is in talks with Bigelow Aerospace to potentially acquire a new inflatable module for the International Space Station. Yes, that's right: they're going to blow up the ISS!

Bigelow Aerospace has been at this inflatable space station thing for quite a while, and it's actually got two prototypes in orbit already, demonstrating that making a space station out of glorified party balloons is provably not completely nuts.
Of course, Bigelow's modules, while they do inflate, are far more complex than a simple balloon. They contain radiation shielding that's as good as or better than the current shielding on the ISS, and their ballistic shielding (which provides protection against micrometeorites and orbital debris) is also more effective than traditional designs.

NASA is interested in getting in on a piece of the inflatable action for several reasons. The first one is cost: using Bigelow modules, NASA could substantially increase the size of the ISS at a fraction of the cost of more traditional station modules. The other reason is that NASA wants to encourage the commercial aerospace market, and there's no better way to do that than to offer a private company some funding to prove the commercial viability of their product while adding a bunch of space to the ISS on the cheap at the same time.

If the proposal goes ahead, it would only take 24 months from final approval to having an inflatable module in orbit, and once all that checks out, Bigelow will be able to start tossing up inflatable modules for private research stations and space hotels.

The BA-330 module;

Occupancy:

Up to six on a long-term basis

Volume:

330m3

Radiation Protection:

Bigelow Aerospace’s shielding is equivalent to or better than the International Space Station and substantially reduces the dangerous impact of secondary radiation.

Ballistic Protection:

BA 330 utilizes an innovative Micrometeorite and Orbital Debris Shield. Hypervelocity tests conducted by Bigelow Aerospace have demonstrated that this shielding structure provides protection superior to that of the traditional “aluminum can” designs.

Propulsion:

BA 330 utilizes two propulsion systems on the fore and aft of the spacecraft. The aft propulsion system can be refueled and reused.

Electrical Power:

Every BA 330 habitat will include an independent power system comprised of solar arrays and batteries.

Avionics:

Each module will contain an independent avionics system to support navigation, re-boost, docking, and other maneuvering activities.

Environment Control and Life Support System:

Each BA330 will contain its own independent ECLS system including lavatory and hygiene facilities.

Windows:

BA 330 will boast four large windows coated with a film for UV protection, providing an unparalleled opportunity for both celestial and terrestrial viewing.

Bigelow Aerospace's founder and president is Robert Bigelow, a Las Vegas-based general contractor, real estate tycoon, hotel businessman and developer.

In 2006 and 2007, the firm launched orbiting prototypes Genesis I and Genesis II.

Using the firm's patented expandable habitats, NASA hoped to greatly exceed the usable space of the International Space Station at a fraction of the usual cost. Lately, the company has focused on ever-larger expandable modules, notably the Sundancer and BA330 modules.

Bigelow Aerospace sits on a 50-acre plot of land, with an expansion of the company factory now under way that doubles the amount of floor space as the business begins the transition from research and development to module production.

The BEAM module that could attach to the International Space Station is sized tobe a larger version of the already-flown Genesis module.

No agreement has been signed yet, said Michael Gold, director of Washington, D.C., operations and business growth for Bigelow Aerospace LLC, based in Chevy Chase, Md. "But we're looking forward to doing so in the near future and we're pleased about the progress."

Gold said Bigelow Aerospace is working with the ISS National Laboratory program, as well as the space agency's Space Operations Mission Directorate, the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and the Office of Chief Technologist. Officials in these offices "have supported and encouraged this initiative," Gold said.

In 2005, Congress designated the station a U.S. National Laboratory with the goal of expanding the U.S. economy in space-based research, applications and operations.

NASA considers the ISS a unique and highly visible national asset with surplus capacity available for a wide spectrum of applications. Moreover, the space agency is anxious to work with other agencies and organizations to pursue applications.

"We're thrilled to work with NASA to ensure that Bigelow Aerospace's unprecedented private sector investment and progress are fully leveraged to create the dynamic future in space that we are all working toward," Gold added.

Still, a NASA agreement on use of BEAM is not a signed deal, Gold emphasized. "Good progress is being made, and we're looking forward to executing an agreement."

The Bigelow demonstration proposal has been received and is being evaluated, said NASA's Jason Crusan, chief technologist for space operations within the Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

If the green light is given, BEAM would be a sub-scale demonstration of the Bigelow Aerospace expandable technology.

"In general we're talking about a project that would take about 24 months from go-ahead to the module being on-orbit. It would be pretty fast-paced," Crusan told SPACE.com. To launch BEAM up to the ISS, he said, NASA would use a private rocket company under a Commercial Resupply Services contract.

NASA has done evaluations of where BEAM would be robotically berthed on ISS – likely onto one of the station's Node 3 interfaces, Crusan said.

First and foremost, use of the private module would be to meet the commercial demonstration needs that Bigelow as a company is looking to address, Crusan said. But at the same time, NASA has a general interest in expandable habitats and "soft-sided" modules, as well as gaining experience on how they perform in orbit.

"That performance data would also be valuable to NASA," Crusan added. The base plan is that crew would be going in and out of the module.

A secondary benefit of the BEAM demonstration on the ISS is that it provides logistics, stowage and experience in on-orbit operations of a non-rigid aluminum structure, Crusan said. "It's an exciting opportunity for both commercial and NASA to work together."

New construction is under way at Bigelow Aerospace in North Las Vegas, a building to crank out expandable habitats.

Credits: Dvice, Space, Bigelow Aerospace

Maser set to predict Milky Way's fate

2011-01-29T00:30:00.000Z

WILL the Milky Way slam into its giant neighbour, Andromeda, in a few billion years?

A laser-like spot of light in the galaxy hints at an answer...

The speed at which Andromeda is moving towards the Milky Way can be determined from the Doppler shift of the light it emits. But the galaxy is too spread out for its subtle sideways motion in the sky to be detected. If it moves fast enough in this direction it may miss the Milky Way altogether.

Now Loránt Sjouwerman of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, New Mexico, and colleagues have glimpsed a bright, laser-like spot of microwave radiation, called a maser, in Andromeda that could help determine its sideways motion. See its location below;

Detected with the newly upgraded Very Large Array of telescopes in New Mexico, the maser appears when interstellar methanol molecules get heated up by nearby stars. Tracking the motion of this bright spot precisely should be easier than the galaxy as a whole, say the team. However, they must first find other masers in Andromeda, to confirm that the maser motion reflects Andromeda's path, overall.

The Very Large Array

"Measuring the proper motion of Andromeda is key to determining the fate of the Milky Way," says Mark Reid of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Such a measurement is best done with a compact, bright source such as a maser, but until now no maser strong enough for current telescopes to measure has been detected."

Journal reference: Astrophysical Journal Letters, DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/724/2/L158
Credits: NewScientist, M. McKee

Will we ever glimpse the universe's first stars?

2011-01-29T00:16:00.000Z

The race to see the universe's most distant objects continues. Astronomers reported a few days ago, the discovery of the farthest galaxy seen to date. Its light, which was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, was emitted when the universe was less than 500 million years old, making it the oldest galaxy yet observed.

If history is any guide, the galaxy, dubbed UDFj-39546284, is unlikely to hold that title for long. So how far back in time, ultimately, can we go?

What is the oldest light that reaches Earth?

The very oldest light we can see comes from the cosmic microwave background, a haze of radiation that was emitted when the universe was less than 400,000 years old. After this light was released, the universe entered the cosmic dark ages. It likely took at least 50 million years before the first stars lit up the night sky, and the first galaxies probably formed roughly 200 million years later.

Why are astronomers interested in these ancient objects?

Studying the first stars and galaxies could help shed light on an era called 're-ionisation', which occurred within the first billion years after the big bang. During that time, neutral hydrogen atoms in the space between stars were broken into protons and electrons, making the universe transparent to ultraviolet light.

Radiation from the first stars and galaxies, and possibly dark matter, is thought to have caused the re-ionisation, but exactly how the process occurred is still unclear.

Studying early galaxies could also reveal how the colossal black holes inside galaxies, which may have grown up faster than the galaxies themselves, reached maturity.

Can we see the first stars and galaxies with current telescopes?

A deep image of a small patch of the night sky, made with the Hubble Space Telescope, was needed to find the new galaxy. But current telescopes are unlikely to probe much farther. That's because the light from ancient stars and galaxies is stretched to longer, and redder, wavelengths by the expansion of space.

To properly see these objects, astronomers need a sensitive telescope that can detect light farther into the infrared part of the spectrum. The best bet for seeing stars and galaxies much beyond the current record-holder is NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which could launch as early as 2015.

Could JWST see the very first stars?

It depends on how big the first stars, dubbed Population III stars, became and how late they formed. The first stars coalesced from a pure mix of hydrogen, helium, and lithium forged in the big bang, but it is not clear how massive they were. Interactions with dark matter may have allowed these first stars to grow into bloated behemoths, dubbed 'dark stars'.

"One thing that really hasn't converged yet is the typical mass of these Population III stars," says Erik Zackrisson of Stockholm University in Sweden. "We don't know whether it's 10 or 100 times the mass of the sun. If the universe can form dark stars, it could be 1000 solar masses."

Since the mass of the star has a strong influence on its brightness and its longevity, "it is an important factor in trying to figure out whether [the first stars] will be observable or not", he says.

Individual Population III stars are likely to be too dim for even JWST to detect, Zackrisson says. He says a better bet would be to look for galaxies that are mostly made of Population III stars or to look for the bright flashes created when those stars explode.

Will JWST see the first galaxies?

Maybe. "JWST has been marketed as the 'first light' machine, but if you look at the predictions in the literature, they are pretty bleak," Zackrisson says. "The earliest galaxies may be too distant and dim to see with JWST."

Galaxies that formed hundreds of millions of years after the first ones, in parts of the universe where the density of matter is relatively low, may offer the best chance of spotting stars like those that formed soon after the big bang. That is because in low-density regions, primordial gas clouds would take longer to collapse into stars, so they could be forming their first stars hundreds of millions of years after the first Population III stars were born.

Zackrisson thinks that clusters of galaxies relatively close to Earth could aid in the search for these late-blooming galaxies, since the clusters' gravity could bend and magnify the distant galaxies' light.

Credit: NewScientist, Rachel Courtland

Windows 7 HomeGroup not working? Try these 10 quick fixes

2011-01-28T13:29:00.002Z

In theory, HomeGroups are supposed to simplify the process of sharing key folders and printers on your network. Sadly, they can be more trouble than they're worth – try these troubleshooting tips.

1. Windows 7 only

Remember, HomeGroups only work on PCs running Windows 7 – if your network includes computers running earlier versions of Windows, Linux or Mac OS, use the standard filesharing options instead.

2. Visit Action Center

Click the flag icon in the Notification area of the Taskbar and click Open Action Center. Select Troubleshooting > Network and Internet, and click HomeGroup to launch a troubleshooter.

3. Check your network type

HomeGroups will only work on networks designated as Home not Public or Work. Verify this on each PC by opening the Network and Sharing Center – if necessary, click the link under the network name and select Home.

4. Workgroup settings

It shouldn't matter, but verify that each PC is on the same workgroup – view and change your workgroup by right-clicking Computer and selecting Properties, then click "Change settings" if necessary.

5. Public Folder sharing options

Click "Change advanced sharing settings" in the Network and Sharing Center – expand "Home or Work", scroll down and verify that both Network Discovery and "Public Folder sharing" are On.

6. Check the Firewall

Networking problems can often be traced to your firewall. If you can connect with the firewall switched off, you'll need to tweak its settings so it doesn't block network traffic – visit the firewall vendor's website for more help and advice if necessary.

7. Fix error 0x80632094

Your PCs need to support IPv6 and have it enabled in order to connect to a HomeGroup: from the Network and Sharing Center click "Change Adapter Settings", right-click your network adapter and choose Properties, then verify the TCP/IPv6 entry is ticked.

8. Check services

Press [Windows] + [R], type "services.msc" and press [Enter]. Check the following services are running:

HomeGroup Listener, HomeGroup Provider, Peer Name Resolution Protocol, Peer Networking Grouping and Peer Networking Identity Manager.

9. Fix error 0x80630801

Leave the HomeGroup, then delete the contents of the c:\ Windows\ServiceProfiles\ LocalService\AppData\Roaming\PeerNetworking folder – you'll need to click "Continue to" when prompted to access the LocalService folder, and AppData is a hidden folder.

10. Forget HomeGroups

Remove the HomeGroup from your main computer, then click "Change advanced sharing settings" and configure your network manually. Once this is done, you can then share any individual folder by right-clicking it and choosing Share with > Specific people.

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Windows 7 Hidden Options and Tools - A Tutorial

2011-01-28T13:19:00.004Z

Microsoft has done a fine job with Windows 7. All you need do is pop in an installation disc and provide the installer with some internet access information, then you can leave the room and make a cup of tea.

When you come back you'll have a fully working PC, complete with features that make working and playing much easier.

Windows 7's Taskbar makes it quicker to find, launch and manage your apps. There are also Libraries, which help you locate related files so you can view your work without spending ages browsing your hard drive.

Get more from your PC by using its advanced features

You get improved security, a host of new and revamped applets, low-level tweaks that improve performance and much more.

However, for PC power users, there's a lingering question: life might never have been easier, but could it be better? With a little effort, some digging and a bit of clever tweaking, could we squeeze more from our machines?

With this in mind, I've gone on the hunt for Windows 7's hidden options and tools, which will enable you to tailor the operating system around your personal style of computing. Take your PC knowledge to a whole new level as you learn how to make Windows work your way!

This is a three stage tutorial, looking at;

1 - Windows remote access, VPN and IIS

2 - Windows 7 optimisation and calibration

3 - Windows Media Center and Windows shortcuts

1 - Windows remote access, VPN and IIS

Unlock your apps

Let's start our quest for hidden power in a familiar and frustrating place – program lockups.
One moment your application is ticking along nicely and the next it's completely unresponsive. In the past there was nothing you could do other than wait an aeon and then close the program manually, often losing valuable data.

If this happens to you, launch Windows 7's Resource Monitor (resmon.exe). When it's running, you'll see a list of processes that are plodding along happily. Look down the list and you'll probably see one process highlighted in red. This is likely to be your troublesome program.

Right-click it, select 'Analyse Wait Chain' and if the program is waiting for something else, you'll see it here. You'll be able to close that process in a few clicks.

If you opt to close a process, be careful. Kill a critical component and you'll bring your PC to its knees. Conversely, if you know the process in question isn't important, shut it down and your locked PC might start working again. There you go – proof that a little digging and taking control of your PC can save time and future hassle.

Windows remote access

Being a Windows 7 power user is generally a very good thing. You understand how everything works, know all the shortcuts and can freely bend Windows to your will. However, with this power comes responsibility.

As news of your guru-like status spreads, friends and family will start expecting you to solve their computer problems. Heading next door to fix your neighbour's PC isn't too much of a hassle, but if the system is much further away then you'll want an easier alternative. That's where Windows Remote Assistance can help.

This tool enables you to see the desktop on a remote computer, run programs, find the problem and make the tweaks needed to fix it, all from the comfort of your PC.

Preparations

The configuration process starts on the remote PC – the one that you're trying to view. First, ask your friend to click 'Start', then right-click 'Computer' or 'My Computer', select 'Properties' and view their Remote Settings. The 'Allow Remote Assistance connections' box must be checked, and if they click 'Advanced', the 'Allow this computer to be controlled remotely' box must also be checked.

Once its core functionality is enabled, your friend can launch Remote Assistance (msra.exe). They should click 'Invite someone you trust to help you' to do this. If both of you have Windows 7 then, in theory, they can click 'Use Easy Connect' to get Remote Assistance working. However, this relies on Windows 7 being able to work with both your routers, and it's prone to being disabled for other reasons.

A more reliable option is to ask them to click 'Use email to send an invitation'. This will launch their email client with an invitation file attached, and they'll need to send this to your email address.

Taking control

Either way, Windows Remote Assistance should open a new window on your friend's PC with a 12-character connection password. They'll have to pass this to you separately, and you'll then have everything you need to log in.

If you've opted for the email approach, wait for the email attachment to arrive, open the file with Windows and Remote Assistance should fire up. Enter the password that your friend is looking at and you'll be connected.

If you're trying Easy Connect, you need to launch Remote Assistance (msra.exe) manually. Click 'Help someone who has invited you' and select 'Use Easy Connect'. If this works, Remote Assistance will then ask for your friend's password. If it doesn't, try the email method instead.

Your copy of Remote Assistance can't simply log in to your friend's PC, even if you have the necessary password – that could be a security issue. Instead they'll receive an alert, warning them that someone is trying to use Remote Assistance. This alert asks whether they're willing to allow you to connect to their PC.

This dialog will display your account username for reassurance that it's you, although if your username is something anonymous like PowerUser then it's best to tell your friend this in advance. They'll need to click 'Yes' to permit this connection. That's the first stage complete.

You should now be able to see the remote desktop. It may not look very pretty – the background will have been removed and colour will be set to 16-bit for bandwidth reasons – but it's adequate. If you simply want to watch and understand what your friend is doing, then you can use the 'Chat' button to tell them so (it's text chat – no microphones required).

Your friend can then fire up whichever application is causing them problems and attempt whatever they're trying to do, while you observe. It's far more effective than relying on descriptions, which they may give you later, and could be enough for you to figure out exactly where they're going wrong.

If you need to take charge, click 'Request Control' on the Remote Assistance toolbar. Your friend will then be asked if they'll allow you to take control, and if they say yes, you'll be able to run programs on their PC yourself. You can browse the Start Menu, launch Control Panel, check their Registry, open the command line and generally apply whatever tweaks are necessary to get their system back into full working order.

How to set up a Virtual Private Network

1. Open the door

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a secure way to connect PCs over the internet.

First, configure a PC to accept incoming connections. Go to the 'Network and Sharing Centre | Change Adaptor Settings', press [Alt] + [F] and select 'New Incoming Connection'.

Choose the user account belonging to the remote person, or add one now. Click 'Next', check 'Through the internet' and click 'Next | Allow Access | Close'.

2. Make the connection

On the other Windows 7 PC, go to 'Network and Sharing Centre | Set up a new connection | Connect to a workplace'. If you're asked if you want to use an existing connection, choose to create a new one.

Click 'Use my internet...', enter the remote computer name or IP address, then click 'Next'. Enter the username and password for your account on the other PC, click 'Connect' and watch the connection dialog.

3. Troubleshooting

Can't connect? Configure your firewalls to open the Point-to-Point Tunnelling Protocol (PPTP) port 1723. If you have a router, turn on 'PPTP' or 'VPN' (or 'VPN pass-through'), and 'Generic Route Encapsulation'.

You may need to create a port forwarding rule to pass port 1723 traffic to your PC's local IP address. Check your firewall/router logs – they may report incoming connections and reveal where any problem lies.

How to share files easily with IIS

1. Getting started

Install Windows 7 and you get a functional copy of Microsoft's internet Information Services (IIS) – a web server that you can use to share files over the internet, or locally on your network. IIS can be enabled in a moment.

Click 'Control Panel | Programs | Turn Windows features on or off', check 'Internet Information Services', then expand and select all the boxes for FTP Server and Web Management Tools.

2. Welcome screen

Click 'OK' and Windows will install IIS and configure its settings. When it's done, confirm that it's working by entering http://localhost in your browser. If all is well then you'll see the IIS welcome page.

The same applies to other PCs on your network. If they can access you normally, they should be able to see the same screen by entering http://, followed by your PC's network name: http://MyPC, for instance.

3. Directory browsing

The default folder for your site is C:\inetpub\wwwroot. You'll see two files there: iisstart.htm and welcome.png. Copy these to a backup folder (or delete them – they're not important), then drag and drop some files into the wwwroot folder.

Click 'Start', type IIS and click 'Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager'. Click 'Default Web Site', double-click 'Directory Browsing' and click 'Enable' in the right-hand Actions pane.

4. Share freely

Return to a network PC, enter http://MyPC (using your host PC's network name) and you'll see an HTTP folder and the files it contains. Click on these to view or download them.

This isn't attractive, but it lets you share files locally with any http-capable device that can connect to your network: Linux systems, Macs, phones and more. To make it look better, you could create an iisstart.html file that provides links to the files.

5. MIME Types

IIS only allows you to share files for which it has a MIME type – a mapping standard that tells the system what it is. Place an MP4 file into your wwwroot folder, for instance, and people will be able to see, but not download it.

To fix this, return to the IIS Manager and double-click 'MIME Type'. To add support for .MP4 files, click 'Add', then type .mp4 in the 'Extension' box and enter video/mpeg as the MIME type.

6. Going global

If you'd like to share your files over the web then IIS must be allowed through your firewall. You'll also have to enable port forwarding in your router, passing http traffic (port 80) through to the internal IP address of your PC. Then anyone can enter your connection's IP address into their browser and view the files.

Opening your PC in this way does constitute a security risk, so launch IIS Help and read the IIS checklists first.

2 - Windows 7 optimisation and calibration

Windows 7 will generally do its best to work fully automatically, managing your PC with no intervention. There are, however, situations where a more hands-on approach pays dividends.

The Fault-Tolerant Heap (FTH), for example, is a smart feature. It looks out for processes that are particularly unstable, detects those that seem to crash due to memory issues and applies several real-time fixes that may help solve the problem. If these work, great; if not, it reverses the changes.

Although it's an excellent tool, FTH can be confusing because it makes application behaviour seem inconsistent. From your point of view, a program will seem horribly unstable, then start working again for no apparent reason. Or, if you've made some tweak yourself, you may think you've fixed the problem when the FTH deserves the credit.

To check for a situation like this, run REGEDIT, go to HKEY_ LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\ Microsoft\FTH and examine the State key. Any executable protected by FTH will be listed there.

To turn off FTH monitoring, set the 'Enabled' value to 0. Your PC will probably be less stable, but if there are crashes you'll be able to spot the program responsible – FTH won't be masking things.

Experimentation is key here – you need to change the FTH monitoring algorithm to suit your needs and computing style. Drop the 'CrashVelocity' value from 3 to 2, for instance, and increase 'CrashWindowsInMinutes' from 60 to 120. FTH will now intervene if an application crashes twice in two hours, rather than three times in one hour. This will make it more likely to detect and fix problems.

The system does have its limits. If the crash isn't heap-related it'll do nothing, but there's no harm in trying and tweaking further. Find out more about FTH by visiting Microsoft's Ask The Performance Team blog.

Windows 7 has many other weapons in its fault-finding arsenal. Chief among these are the management and monitoring tools. These do a great job of monitoring your PC's boot and shutdown processes, and will alert you to any programs that are slowing things down.

Launch the Event Viewer (eventvwr.exe) and browse to Applications and Services Logs\ Microsoft\Windows\Diagnostics – Performance\Operational to take a look. Scroll down the list and you'll see many services, programs and processes that are listed as compromising your computer's performance. Many of these will be essential drivers or Windows components, but if a program you've installed seems to be causing regular system slowdowns, consider uninstalling or updating it.

If you want a more in-depth look at how your PC is being used, the upgraded Windows 7 Resource Monitor is a useful tool. To access, it, click 'Start', type resmon.exe and press [Enter]. You'll find tabs that detail your running processes and their use of CPU, RAM, hard drive and network bandwidth.

Do you want to know which programs are accessing the internet? Click 'Network | TCP Connections' to view them all. Is your hard drive thrashing for no apparent reason? Click 'Disk | Disk Activity' to spot the culprit.

Perhaps a file is locked, making it impossible to move or delete. If this happens, you'll need to know which program is to blame. Click 'CPU | Associated Handles', type the file name in the Search box and press [Enter]. The more you use Resource Monitor, the more you'll grow to love it. It gives you a great handle on what's happening under the hood and is an indispensable tool.

Monitor calibration

1. Launch the wizard

If you use your monitor's default settings, there's no way to be sure it's displaying images accurately. Your photos may look great to you, but appear washed out or with poor colour balance to everyone else. The solution?

Calibrate your display. Use any software that came with your monitor first, otherwise launch the Windows Display Calibration Wizard, either from Control Panel or directly (it's dccw.exe).

2. Gamma

The program is a straightforward wizard, albeit in the slightly odd Windows Vista/7 style (the 'Back' button is top-left on the screen, making it easy to miss). Read the instructions and keep clicking 'Next' until you reach an explanation of the first test: the gamma check.

You need to use the slider on the next page to minimise the visibility of the dots in the centre of each circle. Click 'Next' to give this a try.

3. Brightness

The next test is for brightness. You'll need to access and tweak the brightness control on your monitor so that you can distinguish the man's black shirt from his black jacket, while keeping the 'X' in the background at a point where it's only just visible – it shouldn't stand out, as it does here in the right-hand 'too bright' picture. Click Next and adjust your brightness, clicking 'Back' to remind yourself of the sample images.

4. Compare and contrast

The colour balance test follows. Click 'Next' after this explanatory screen and you'll see a range of grey bars – or at least that's the idea. If your colour balance is incorrect then you may see a slight colour tint to the greys, which will also influence colour images. Use your monitor's colour balance controls to correct this. Click 'Next', and if you're happy with what you've done, click 'Finish' to recalibrate your display.

6. Tune your text

Windows 7 now displays the ClearType Text Tuner, which checks that your PC is displaying text as clearly as it can. A range of text samples is displayed and you need to click the ones that look best. Windows should now display images and text accurately and clearly. Bear in mind that this calibration is affected by variables such as room lighting, and you should calibrate the monitor again if there are any dramatic changes.

3 - Windows Media Center and Windows shortcuts

The Windows 7 incarnation of Media Center is streets ahead of its Vista cousin. The interface has been tweaked to make navigation easier, and there's a Media Center Gadget for simpler control. But the more time you spend in Media Centre, the more you become aware that it's good, but not perfect.

However, with a little power user trickery you can make it a whole lot better. TunerSalad, removes the four-tuner limit. It does this by modifying system files, so although it's well-regarded, you should always save any work and back up your PC before you start.

If you don't have a TV tuner, Media Center won't show you much. Install TunerFree MCE for instant access to live TV. You can stream content from BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4 on Demand and Demand Five at 720p resolution, as well as BBC Radio and BBC HD. Media Center may provide higher image quality than you get on your TV.

Configure your Windows PC as a media server

1. Getting started

You've probably built up a sizeable collection of multimedia files, so why limit them to your PC? Apply a few tweaks and you'll be able to access them from anything connected to your network. However, this will only work if your PC currently accesses your network using the Home or Work Network type. Right-click the network icon in your system tray and select 'Open Network' and 'Sharing Center' to take a look.

2. Sharing the right way

If your main network is labelled 'Public network', but it's only used to connect trusted PCs in your home, click the 'Public network' link and choose 'Home or Work network' instead. Make the same check on any other Windows 7 PCs on your network. This will provide access to shared Media Player music libraries. Open Media Player on one of the network PCs and it will discover the tracks on your main computer.

3. Tuned sharing

To share all your media across the network, launch Media Player and click the 'Stream' button. Then click 'Automatically allow devices to play all my media' to enable full-scale media sharing. If that's not appropriate, you can click 'Stream | More Streaming Options' and decide which devices can access your media files. Remember, this is for secure networks only – don't turn it on unless you trust every system.

4. Make it available

Click 'Stream | Allow remote control of my player | Allow remote control on this network'. If you have any other Windows 7 PCs in your network, repeat this and the previous step on each of them. (They must be in a HomeGroup, too.) Now right-click a song, video, picture or other media, choose 'Play To' and you'll be able to send it to another PC, a DLNA-certified device, or a media extender such as the Xbox 360.

5. Playlists

Windows Media Player will display a 'Play To' window that enables you to add other media, then push it directly to your chosen PC or device. That's good, but there's a better way to share a playlist. Windows Media Player now enables you to share your media collection online, making it accessible from almost anywhere. Click 'Stream | Allow internet access to home media' to start setting this up.

6. Remote access

You can also access your media from a PC not on your network. To do so, click 'Link an Online ID | Link Online ID' and sign in with your Windows Live ID account. Then select 'Allow Internet Access to Home Media'. Remember, business networks may block the necessary ports, or you might have to configure your router manually. See Microsoft's guide (www. bit.ly/bpcMuP) for details on how to do this.

Handy Windows 7 shortcuts

Many of Windows 7's features appear straightforward, yet have considerable hidden depths.

The Taskbar, for instance, is far more powerful than many people realise, and mastering its secrets can make a real difference to your PC. Taskbar icons can launch more than applications. They can also represent folders, drives – anything that you can place in a shortcut.

To try this, create a text file on your desktop, rename it to example.exe, then drag and drop it onto your Taskbar and delete the original file. Right-click the shortcut, right-click its file name and select 'Properties'. Change the 'Target' and 'Start In' boxes to point at the drive or folder of your choice, and click 'Change Icon' to choose an appropriate icon. Click 'OK', and that's it – the drive or folder you've specified is now accessible with a single click.

If you prefer keyboard shortcuts, hold down the [Windows] key and press 1 to launch the first Taskbar icon, 2 the second and so on, up to 0 for the 10th. Alternatively, press [Windows] + [T] to move the focus to the Taskbar, then use the left and right arrows to select an icon and press [Enter] to launch it.

Once an application is running, hold [Shift] and click or middle-click its Taskbar button to launch another instance. Holding down [Ctrl] while you click on a Taskbar button cycles through all instances of that application (an app-specific, faster version of [Alt] + [Tab]).

If this becomes too chaotic, you can hover your cursor over a Taskbar button, then middle-click an Aero thumbnail to close that application.

Libraries

If your hard drive is untidy, try Libraries – another underused feature. Libraries aggregate the contents of several folders and list them in a single view. This enables you to collect related documents, wherever they're stored on your hard drive. Best of all, it lets you search only those folders, so you'll always get results quickly.

To begin your exploration, Click 'Start', type Libraries and click the 'Libraries' link, then double-click the 'Documents' Library. Initially the Library says it includes 'Two locations', but click that link, then 'Add' and you can include any other folders that you like. These stay in the same disk location – the only change is that the contents will be visible in the Documents library.

To create custom locations, right-click in the Libraries folder, select 'New | Library', and add a library for your projects. Next, add folders from across your PC to bring all your work files together.

Libraries take a little getting used to, but when you understand their benefits you'll wonder how you ever lived without them.

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Microsoft Announces Official Support between Kinect And Windows 7

2011-01-28T02:05:00.000Z

Last year only a couple of weeks after Kinect hit the market, a bunch of dubious hackers managed to crack the hardware and get it running on a Windows 7 machine. While the function it performed was fairly basic, it opened the flood gates for the rest of the hackers and developers since acquiring the new hacked drivers.

Initially it didn’t look like Microsoft condoned this practice and didn’t seem too happy about it. But then at CES, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced that the company would announce official PC support for Kinect “in the right time”.

It looks like Microsoft decided to take a leaf out of the hackers book, realising the potential that having the Kinect controller connected to a PC would bring. Microsoft’s gaming division obviously must have been planning to incorporate Kinect into Windows at some stage, but the hackers beat them to it. As per usual.

None the less, they are said to be planning an official release of drivers and a Kinect SDK for Windows machines so that users could have genuine software for using the device with PCs, and not just botched up programs from hackers.

I’m sure having Kinect on Windows would greatly enhance the experience, especially the home media center where you could control everything on your Windows machine without actually having to be at it. There is a lot of possibilities for the Kinect hardware on Windows.

Winrumors have reported that some insiders have let slip that the first drivers will be distributed with a beta tag and incorporated into a “Community Technical Preview” of the company’s XNA Game Studio tools in the coming months.

Leaked Internet Explorer 9 Screenshots Show Some Changes

2011-01-28T01:53:00.002Z

Only a few days from the supposed release of the Release Candidate for Internet Explorer 9 and some screenshots have been released by a Russian website which show changes in the appearance of the browser. The speed and compatibility of the browser is also said to be better in this next release, but i’ll hit the high points of the changes made to the user interface.

It appears that the header and toolbars have been shortened yet again to provide even more real estate for the webpage.
The tabs have also been made to look more modern/metro-like by removing the curved corners of the tabs for a sharper edge.

Changes have also been made to the ‘new tab’ page. There are also a few more links at the bottom of the page.

Many of the UI improvements are small and quite insignificant, but I believe that’s supposed to be the point with IE9. Microsoft has said that they wanted to let the UI get out of the way and let the page content be front and center. To view all of the leaked screenshots, you can follow the link here, but be aware the text is all in Russian.

As for the actual guts and performance of the browser, Ghacks notes the following changes:

Improvements have been made in the HTML5 test where the browser now scores 116 points which is an increase of 20 points from the public beta build. The result of the Acid3 test on the other hand has not changed, it is still 95 of 100.

Hopefully, Microsoft keeps making the browser lighter and faster and stays with the minimalist user interface theme. I personally find it far too similar to Google's Chrome browser (with Chrome being the better more reliable version) and so I think I'm staying with Chrome - Sorry Microsoft.... Too little, too late...

Source: Ghacks.net

Images courtesy of Winreview.ru & Winspark.net

Fake Mars Astronauts Are Approaching Fake Mars!

2011-01-23T09:06:00.000Z

With less than 10,000 miles to go until they reach fake Mars, the fake mission to the Red Planet is going as planned. Which is to say, the space travel simulation project known as Mars-500 project is full of mishaps and surprises, as the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems tests the fake astronauts’ ability to handle anything outer space could throw at them.

The next milestone: the fake arrival in Mars orbit on February 1.

And for being confined to a 1,800-square-foot test module for 520 lonely days, the crew members are doing a stellar job. In their last update, published on the official Mars-500 website on January 14, they give a terse but positive appraisal of their condition:

226th day of the experiment. Scientific equipment is in operable condition. Clarification for implementation of special experiments is carried out. There are no alterations of health state which can interfere with participating in the experiment and realizing of scientific program.

The list of experiments is long, and they’re all meant to test the many difficulties involved in actually traveling to Mars, from astronauts’ overall health to their sleeping patterns, as well as the psychological effects of their confinement and isolation. The crew charts such things as the efficiency of their physical training, the amount of salt they’re consuming, and how they’re functioning as a team. This terrestrial simulation can’t examine certain serious issues that a Mars mission would have to deal with, like astronauts’ increased radiation exposure and the physical effects of prolonged weightlessness.

In December, a “crisis” struck that is probably the nightmare of many an astronaut: the electricity in the module went out. Of course, every mishap is planned by the Russian engineers on the outside, but the astronauts don’t know when and how set-backs will happen.

As one of the astronauts wrote in his diary: "We didn’t know how long it would take for the engineers’ team to solve the problem. So, to save some power on the emergency batteries and to avoid any new issues, we unplugged all the electric devices and we even removed the bulb of some security lamps which weren’t needed." In the end only two lights remained: one in the kitchen and one near the bathroom.

The astronauts pulled together, didn’t panic, and did the only thing they could do in such a situation: trust that the engineers would figure out the problem. By the next morning the power was back, which goes to show that overcoming fake mishaps in a fake mission can lead to real rejoicing.

Image: IBMP

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com

Patrick Morgan

Polar Ring Galaxy NGC 660

2011-01-23T08:52:00.002Z

NGC 660 lies near the center of this intriguing skyscape, swimming in the boundaries of the constellation Pisces. Over 20 million light-years away, its peculiar appearance marks it as a polar ring galaxy.

Click Image for HighRes Version

A rare galaxy type, polar ring galaxies have a substantial population of stars, gas, and dust orbiting in rings nearly perpendicular to the plane of the galactic disk. The bizarre configuration could have been caused by the chance capture of material from a passing galaxy by the disk galaxy, with the captured debris strung out in a rotating ring. The polar ring component can be used to explore the shape of the galaxy's otherwise unseen dark matter halo by calculating the dark matter's gravitational influence on the rotation of the ring and disk. Broader than the disk, NGC 660's ring spans about 40,000 light-years.

Image Credit & Copyright: Stephen Leshin

Podcast: What’s New With Supermassive Black Holes?

2011-01-21T13:26:00.001Z

Podcast desription:

Of all astronomical objects, there are few that inspire the imagination more than black holes. I’ll tell you about a couple of results that have come out recently having to do with supermassive black holes.

(Podcast download at bottom of article.)

Transcript:
What’s New With Supermassive Black Holes

Hello! This is Dr. Rob Knop, Professor of Physical Science at Quest Unviersity Canada. Thank you for listening to 365 Days of Astronomy.

Of all astronomical objects, there are few that inspire the imagination more than black holes. Compact objects so dense that light cannot escape from them. The event horizon, this boundary in space— once you cross it, you can never come back. The effects of clocks slowing down, and light being redshifted, as something moves closer and closer to this fearsome event horizon. As if that weren’t enough, what is it that produces black holes? Supernova. The deaths of massive stars, as their cores collapse even past the unimaginable densities of neutron stars, in a tremendous explosion that can be seen billions of light years away. Gamma ray bursts, signaling a particularly spectacular death of a star and the formation of a black hole, lighthouses that can be seen clear across the observable universe.

Now that the sales pitch is done, what I want to do is tell you about a couple of results that have come out recently having to do with supermassive black holes. But, before that, some background. It is often said that there are two types of astronomers: those that classify all objects into two types, and those that don’t. There is some justification for this stereotype; frequently, especially as we are first learning about objects, we tend to classify them as “Type I” and “Type II”. While this may sound intellectually lazy, in fact it’s a very rational way to proceed. The first step in identifying patterns in a group of objects is recognizing that some are different from others in a consistent way. It’s not just that they’re all sort of the same, or that each one is an individual, but that, hey, it seems that this group has a certain characteristic that this other group does not. Invariably, as we learn more about the objects, we figure out that our simple two-set classification is too simple, and that there’s more subtlety to it. But, it’s a great way to get started.

So, you will probably not be surprised when I tell you that we know of two broad categories of black holes. First, there are the “stellar mass” black holes. These are black holes that range from a few times the mass of the Sun up to something like twenty times the mass of the Sun. They are produced in supernovae, left behind as the collapsed core of a massive star after it explodes. We know of several of these stellar mass black holes in our own galaxy. “How can we see them if light can’t escape from them?”, you may ask. A good question. In fact, we only see them because of their interactions with the material around them. The stellar mass black holes we know in our galaxy are in what we call X-ray binaries. The black hole has a companion star, and is pulling gas off of that companion star. The gas eventually disappears down into the black hole, but before that it builds up in a disk rapidly swirling around the black hole. This “accretion disk” gets so hot that it glows in the X-ray band of the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing us to observe it.

The other class of black hole we know about is composed of what we call supermassive black holes. These are black holes that are between a million and tens of billions times the mass of the Sun. You can see why they’ve acquired the name supermassive! Supermassive black holes are found at the cores of galaxies, and indeed today we believe that nearly every big galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its core.

(As an aside, what about black holes with masses too small to be a supermassive black hole, but too big to be a stellar mass black hole? We call those intermediate mass black holes. At the moment, there are no known examples of these, but of course that doesn’t stop astronomers from looking for them.)

The best known example of a supermassive black hole is the one at the center of our own Galaxy. You are probably familiar with the idea that our galaxy is a spiral galaxy, a broad disk of stars showing a spiral pattern when observed in optical light. In addition to the disk, there are also a couple of structures at the center of the Galaxy, a bar and a bulge. The bar is an elongated structure composed of stars, and the bulge is just an elliptical blob of stars around the center of the bar. At the core of the bulge is a black hole that is four million times the mass of the Sun. It’s a monster! Again, we can’t observe this black hole directly. Rather, we have observed it because of its effects on the stars at the center of the Milky Way’s bulge. Astronomers have watched those stars over the course of the last twenty years, and have seen them orbiting around a much more massive unseen object. From analyzing those orbits, they are able to determine the location and mass of the Galactic center black hole.

One word of caution. We are used to thinking of black holes as objects with immense gravity. The reason that’s true is because they are so compact, because you can get so close to them. At a greater distance away from the black hole, the gravity is no different than it is from any other object. For instance, were our Sun to be suddenly replaced with a black hole of exactly the same mass, the gravity in the rest of the Solar System would not change one bit. Earth would stay in its orbit. As regards this galactic center black hole, it may be 4 million times the mass of the Sun– but that’s less than one percent the mass of the bulge of the Galaxy, and it’s utterly insignificant compared to the mass of the Galaxy as a whole. So, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that the whole Galaxy is orbiting around this black hole, or that the spiral arms represent stars going “down the drain” or any such. The black hole is very important to the orbits of stars right near it, but is insignificant compared to the mass of the Galaxy as a whole.

Looking at other galaxies, astronomers have discovered a strong correlation between the size of a galaxy’s bulge and the mass of the black hole at its core. The largest supermassive black holes are found in giant elliptical galaxies– galaxies that are “all bulge”. What’s more, whereas the black hole at the core of our galaxy is quiescent, in a few galaxies these black holes are the engine powering an active galactic nucleus, or a quasar. This is the phenomenon that results when you feed a supermassive black hole. Just as the accretion disks around black holes in our Galaxy emit X-rays, the accretion disk around a supermassive black hole will also emit radiation, only on a much larger scale.

For the quasar phenomenon to happen, you need to get enough gas down to the center of a galaxy, so that it can gather in a glowing accretion disk around the black hole. For a long time, many astronomers, including myself, have suspected and believed that interactions between galaxies would be a great way to do this. We know that galaxies have a lot of gas. Our galaxy has about 50 billion times the mass of the Sun in stars, and about one tenth that much mass in gas. There’s plenty of gas, but it’s spread out throughout the disk of the galaxy. We’ve observed that when galaxies run into each other, often a fair amount of gas gathers in the inner few hundred or thousand light-years of the resulting merged galaxies. In many of these mergers, we see the result of this in a vigorous burst of star formation near the center of the galaxy. As such, we’ve long suspected that the gas processes associated with a merger would be a great way to funnel gas down to the center of the galaxy to feed a supermassive black hole.

That brings me to the first new result about supermassive black holes. A group of astronomers led by Mauricio Cisternas selected 140 active galactic nuclei from an X-ray survey. They then went and obtained high-resolution images of the host galaxies using the Hubble Space Telescope, and looked for the sorts of disturbed morphologies you see when galaxies interact strongly. The result was that most of the active galaxies did not show the signs of a recent strong interaction! What’s more, when comparing these galaxies to a control sample, active galaxies and quiet galaxies were just as likely to show signs of recent strong interactions. This leaves us with the conclusion that major mergers aren’t responsible for triggering most of the active galaxies we see, at least in the last 8 billion years or so. This was a result that was surprising to me; I had fully expected that we would have come to the opposite conclusion. That’s why you go and do these observations— just because we have good reasons to suspect that something might be true doesn’t mean that we know it’s true until we’ve actually run the test.

The other new result about supermassive black holes was announced at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle at the beginning of this year. A group of astronomers at the University of Virginia and at the National Astronomical Radio Observatory, led by graduate student Amy Reines, discovered a supermassive black hole at the core of a nearby dwarf galaxy. This black hole has a mass a million times the mass of the Sun— and the galaxy is far too small, and of the wrong type, to be harboring it! The dwarf galaxy has been described as a “fluffy” galaxy, and is similar in some ways to the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite of our own galaxy. It does not have a big stellar bulge that you’d suspect of harboring a million solar mass black hole. And, yet, there it is— there’s a black hole, and it’s accreting enough gas that it shows up in X-rays. What does this mean? This doesn’t invalidate the earlier observations that the size of galaxy bulges correlate with the mass of the supermassive black holes at their centers, but it doesn’t fit with it either.

Note that this new black hole is towards the low end of the mass range we’ve traditionally considered to be supermassive black holes. While we have some good ideas about how the growth of black holes will relate to the growth of stellar bulges, thus giving the observed mass correlation, we don’t really know how the “seed” black holes that started the process were formed. This new black hole suggests that you can form black holes and grow them to at least a million solar masses even in dwarf galaxies— and, it may be that at least sometimes, it was dwarf galaxies in the early Universe that were host to the seed black holes that have since grown to the monsters we see in elliptical galaxies today.

Astronomy is always exciting; we’re always learning new things. Black holes are wacky enough by themselves, but the fact that they then give us phenomena like active galactic nuclei only makes them all the more interesting. And, as we struggle to understand how it is that all of these things fit together, new observations are always forcing us to modify and refine our ideas. Stay tuned, for the last word on supermassive black holes has not been written yet!

Download podcast - Dated Jan 18th 2011

Podcaster: Rob Knop of MICA

Credit: 365daysofastronomy

Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka

2011-01-21T08:54:00.001Z

Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka, are the bright bluish stars from east to west (left to right) along the diagonal in this gorgeous cosmic vista.

Click image for HighRes version

Otherwise known as the Belt of Orion, these three blue supergiant stars are hotter and much more massive than our Sun.

They lie about 1,500 light-years away, born of Orion's well-studied interstellar clouds. In fact, clouds of gas and dust adrift in this region have intriguing and some surprisingly familiar shapes, including the dark Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula near Alnitak at the lower left. The famous Orion Nebula itself lies off the bottom of this colorful star field. Recorded last December with a modified digital SLR camera and small telescope, the well-planned, two frame mosaic spans about 4 degrees on the sky.

Image Credit & Copyright: Sergi Verdugo Martínez, APOD

10 Amazing Theories and Discoveries of Modern Astronomy

2011-01-20T22:48:00.002Z

Astronomy has come a long way in the past 100 years, with revelations from Einstein, Bohr, Hubble and other great astronomers, physicists, and scientists. While certainly some of the greatest discoveries in astronomy of all time include the discovery of the other planets of the solar system, the true relation of the Earth to the Sun, and the mathematical calculations for planetary orbits by Kepler and universal gravitation by Newton, more shocking discoveries have been made in modern astronomy than in times past, and shows us just how cool our universe actually is.

Dark Energy

As we’ll discuss later in this article, it has been discovered using the Hubble constant and measurements of supernovae of distant stars that the universe is not contracting, nor is it static (as Einstein thought), but instead, the universe is expanding, and the expansion is speeding up.

To account for this, a hypothetical form of energy known as Dark Energy has been proposed and is being investigated by leading astrophysicists and cosmologists. Whether it is a scalar property of space time itself, as proposed through a cosmological constant, or something dynamic, known as quintessence, is a matter of large debate, but current astrophysics places a full 74% of the energy in the universe as being dark energy.

Dark Matter

Dark matter (different from Dark Energy) is a type of matter that has been proposed to exist to explain gravitational effects within galaxies. When astronomers were able to measure the mass of galaxies and the orbital speed of stars within a galaxy, they noticed discrepancies between the expected results and the calculated results. Thus, a new type of matter was classified as dark matter, which is matter that is simply not detected using current measurement techniques involving electromagnetic radiation.

CMBR

Cosmic microwave background radiation, or CMBR, is a form of electromagnetic radiation that fills the universe and is left over from the Big Bang. Two Bell Telephone employees were working on a radiometer for satellite communication experiments, when they discovered 3.5 K in excess temperature that they could not account for. The CMBR is essentially the remaining radiation left from a previous stage in the universe’s history, currently theorized as the Big Bang.

Exoplanets

After discovering the various planets and non-planetery objects in our solar system, astronomers began looking at other stars in attempts to discover new planets. By analyzing the light spectra coming from distant stars, and also their brightness plotted over time, astronomers have been able to discover a large number of planets, starting in 1992 with the discovery of several planets orbiting a pulsar. And now using various different techniques, over 500 such planets outside of our solar system have now been catalogued.

Black Holes

Black holes, which are largely known due to Stephen Hawking’s work, are a region of space where nothing, not even light, can escape, due to the massive gravitational pull from a single point in space with infinite density, known as a singularity. Beyond the event horizon, nothing can be seen and nothing can escape. Now, astrophysicists believe that black holes form as the result of larger stars collapsing and the electron and neutron degeneracy pressure cannot hold even atoms intact. Astrophysicists now believe that super-massive black holes exist at the center of most spiral galaxies and most galaxies in general.

General Relativity

General relativity is one of the theories presented by Albert Einstein, which proposes a unified description of gravity as a property of space and time (or space-time - one word), and allows for proper explanation of redshift of light and bending of light by massive objects. Largely verified through a variety of tests, one of the most famous proofs of general relativity occurred during a solar eclipse, during which the light from visible stars was mapped and extrapolated to locate the stars, which appeared in a different place than the stars actually were, due to the warping of light.

Redshifting and The Hubble Constant

Hubble’s Law allowed for the calculation of the speed at which galaxies are receding away from Earth, which demonstrates that galaxies are moving away from us, and thus provided the general basis for the Big Bang Theory. This then later contributed to the work by astronomers that demonstrated that galaxies are moving away from us even faster than predicted, based on the redshifts of distant supernovae, as mentioned earlier in this article.

Gamma Ray Bursts

Gamma ray bursts are, quite literally, bursts of gamma rays coming from distant galaxies, that are suspected to come from extremely energetic explosions. GRBs are the most luminous electromagnetic events in the universe, and most astrophysicists believe that GRBs come from supernova explosions and occasionally the merger of binary neutron stars.

The Age of the Universe

Thanks to the use of redshifting measurements, the discovery of cosmic background radiation, and the age of the globular clusters of ancient stars in galaxies, astrophysicists have been able to calculate the age of the universe, which is currently estimated at 13.75 billion years.

The Big Bang and Inflationary Theory

As mentioned previously, the discovery of the CMBR, redshifting, and the faster than expected recession of galaxies led astronomers and astrophysicists to theorize the Big Bang, which is currently accepted as the model for the formation of the universe. The Big Bang was not an explosion within space and time, but instead, the creation of spacetime from nothing. While implications for our role in the universe, the possible existence of other universes, and what, if anything, occurred before, are the subject of speculation, the Big Bang model has survived a variety of tests and scrutiny to become widely accepted. However, with the discovery of the CMBR, it was discovered that the temperature of the universe is widely uniform, which would be impossible through traditional thermal interactions (the concept of the universe being flat, homogeneous and isotropic is known as the cosmological principle). Thus, Inflationary Theory was introduced, which suggests that the universe started with extremely rapid exponential expansion, driven by a negative pressure energy (somewhat reminiscent of Dark Energy), but before inflation, the universe was causally connected and thus had a balanced temperature.

Hubble takes a Clear look at the Lagoon Nebula

2011-01-20T16:40:00.001Z

The Hubble telescope has offered stunning images, such as colliding galaxies and top 10 Hubble images, for over 20 years. One of my favourite Hubble images is the Lagoon Nebula in the Sagittarius constellation. In this amazing picture you can see almost every ripple in the nebula’s murky starscape.

The Lagoon Nebula (catalogued as Messier 8 or M8, and as NGC 6523) is a giant interstellar cloud in the constellation Sagittarius.
It is classified as an emission nebula. The Lagoon Nebula was discovered by Guillaume Le Gentil in 1747 and is one of only two star-forming nebulae faintly visible to the naked eye from mid-northern latitudes.

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by a space shuttle in 1990. Although not the first space telescope, Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well-known as both a vital research tool and a public relations tool for astronomy. The telescope is now expected to function until at least 2014, when its ‘successor’, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is due to be launched. I for one am excited to see what kind of images the JWST is going to produce!

Source [JPL][HomeboyAstronomy]

Ophiuchus, what is it and why? And just how wrong is your horoscope?

2011-01-16T12:29:00.006Z

So you've heard that the astrological charts are changing and that the birth signs are somehow incorrect?

Okay, well it seems that there is now a 13th sign added to the zodiac, which means pushing the others aside to make room for it and some of you will now find yourself with a completely new birth sign - how is this possible? well...

Classical representation of a horoscope, showing the 12 houses

The world of astrology is all abuzz with this news, but in fact it's not news at all. This thirteenth constellation (Ophiuchus, or The Serpent Bearer) has always been there. And astronomers have known for centuries that it's intruding into the zodiac.

To us folk who actually look at the sky, this is ancient history. We're shaking our heads, looking a bit confused and saying "What, you only noticed now?". Heck, we probably knew about it before Newton figured out what gravity was!

So why has the world of Astrology taken so long to notice? Well from what little I know, the entire pseudoscience is based on tradition, and received wisdom from ancient astrologers. When new planets are discovered, astrologers either ignore them or come up with rationalisations for why their influence never mattered before but now it does. The influences ascribed to the various planets and constellations are based on Greek Mythology (Mercury was a messenger, Jupiter was happy, etc), which itself was just a series of loosely connected stories, which changed over the centuries. It's a faith, in other words, with pretensions towards real science.

Astronomers have been announcing this for years, and it's always been ignored. I think this is because people who read horoscopes simply don't want to be told it's false.

Where to find Ophiucus

But enough speculation and lets take in a little science;

What exactly is going on here? Let's review a few basics that you would have learned in school. The Earth spins on its axis every 24 hours, and also moves around the Sun every 365.25 days (roughly). As we spin around, we spend half the day on the same side of Earth as the Sun (daytime) and the other half on the opposite side (night time). Now the stars and constellations are so far away that they're essentially motionless - we can pretty much ignore their movements. At any one date we can only ever see the stars in half the sky, because the Sun is on the other half (and when you can see that half, it's daytime). This is all pretty basic stuff that everybody knows.

But every day, the Earth moves a bit further around the Sun, so that our view of the stars shifts slightly. Today we see one half of them, but six months from now we're on the other side of the Sun, where we can see the rest. Over the course of a year, we get to see the whole sky. Of course, from the ground it looks like we're stationary and the sky is moving, taking a whole year to do a full revolution (This is how the ancients were able to measure the length of a year, incidentally.) And if you mark the Sun's position in the sky every day for a year, you'll find it moves through the same path every year. This path is called The 'Ecliptic'.

Over two thousand years ago, when Astrology was in its infancy, the Greeks noticed that the five planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) never strayed far from the Ecliptic - they were constrained to a narrow strip of the sky. They also noticed patterns in the arrangement of the stars. Using a lot of imagination, they assigned constellations to the various patterns, and gave them names and stories from their own mythology. Twelve of these constellations fitted quite neatly along the ecliptic, and completely covered the space in which the planets travelled. They called this band of constellations the Zodiac (literal translation: Animal Circle. I know, I know, they're not all animals. Astrology is not an exact science), and these constellations were the familiar signs of the zodiac. By charting the position of the Sun on the day of your birth, and the positions of the various planets in each constellation, they could draw conclusions about your personality, your future, and more. Incidentally, the Ecliptic is reasonably well aligned with the plane of the Solar System, which doesn't hurt when it comes to mystical respectability.

Next to understand is something called 'Precession'.

Precession

Unfortunately for astrologers, times have changed. The zodiac no longer lines up nicely with the Ecliptic, thanks to an effect known as Precession.

If you've ever played with a toy gyroscope, or a spinning top, you will have noticed that it wobbles slowly. The more massive the gyroscope, the slower and more ponderous the wobble. This wobble is called Precession, and is caused by the gyroscopic action responding to the uneven gravitational force. The unevenness comes from the fact that the gyroscope is not perfectly upright, and so gravity pulls it more to one side than to the other (It tries to topple over, but can't). The Earth spins quite rapidly (about 1600km/h at the equator) and at six thousand billion BILLION tonnes, it is extremely massive. Although Earth can't topple over (it's in space - where would it topple to?), it is still imperfectly balanced and so the Sun's gravity pulls unevenly, causing Earth to precess at a rate of one wobble every 26,000 years. Of course, this happens slowly over the course and we don't feel any such wobble. Instead, we see the dome of the sky appear to wobble around us - or at least, we would if we didn't have such short lives.

Out of Alignment?

So what effect does precession have on Astrology? There are two effects, actually. First of all, the wheel of the zodiac turns, so that the individual constellations gradually move away from their original position. This doesn't mean that it's actually moving separately from the rest of the stars, but that the position of the Sun on any particular date very slowly moves along to the next sign. Since there are twelve signs, the position of the Sun takes a little over two thousand years to move to the next sign. In other words, the dates neatly printed underneath each star-sign in your horoscope are off by about a month. You've been following the wrong sign.

But it gets worse than that, because the angle of precession is about 23 degrees off from the ecliptic. This means that, not only is the zodiac "turning", it's wobbling as well. The ecliptic no longer passes through the middle of the zodiac at all, but passes in and out of it twice a year. This has ruined the lovely spacing of the original signs, so that the Sun is only in some signs for a week or two, and in others for several months. So those dates in the horoscope are not only out by a few months, they're also not supposed to be so regular either!

Ophiuchus

And the thirteenth sign? Well since the Ecliptic no longer lines up with the zodiac, a new constellation has managed to elbow its way into the Ecliptic so that the Sun now passes through thirteen constellations over the space of one year. Of course, Ophiuchus is not new at all - it's been around just as long as all the others. It was just never in the Zodiac before, and was therefore of no interest to astrologers. Now, though, they're suddenly all aware of it. Their responses are varied - either denying that the constellations have anything to do with star signs (as if the matching names was just a coincidence), or hastily creating a New Zodiac, with the thirteen signs (but not doing anything to correct the date shift, oh dear).

Ophiuchus at Wiki

My favourite part of all - this is the fact that, despite the fact that I'm talking about this as if it happened yesterday, it is seriously old news. The Ecliptic has been moving into Ophiuchus for centuries already. In fact, it's gotten so far that the sun now actually spends more time in the Ophiuchus than it does in Scorpius (or the old-fashioned Scorpio, as they call it. See what I mean about being stuck in tradition?). Astrologers have been blissfully casting their horoscopes and telling us that "Mercury is in the house of whatever" for ages, never once looking up to notice that the universe disagrees with them!

Constellation Dates

Capricornus January 19 to February 15
Aquarius February 16 to March 11
Pisces March 12 to April 18
Aries April 19 to May 13
Taurus May 14 to June 19
Gemini June 20 to July 20
Cancer July 21 to August 9
Leo August 10 to September 15
Virgo September 16 to October 30
Libra October 31 to November 22
Scorpius November 23 to November 29
Ophiuchus November 30 to December 17
Sagittarius December 18 to January 18
The Griffith Observer, July 1988

So believers in horoscopes, please stop telling me that my fortunes are about to change according to whatever planet in relation to whatever constellation - even if you thought you were right whilst using current astrological charts to make your predictoins, you are now more wrong than ever!

Credit to Allen Versfeld of Urban Astronomer

NGC 3521 Close Up - and what a beauty!

2011-01-13T21:23:00.000Z

This was such an awesome picture I had to share it with all, such awe inspiring largeness in a teeny little photo. Click the image to see a HighRes version.

Explanation:
Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years distant, toward the constellation Leo. Spanning some 50,000 light-years, its central region is shown in this dramatic image, constructed from data drawn from the Hubble Legacy Archive. The close-up view highlights this galaxy's characteristic multiple, patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust and clusters of young, blue stars. In constrast, many other spirals exhibit grand, sweeping arms. A relatively bright galaxy in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small telescopes, but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies, like M66 and M65.

Credit: Data - Hubble Legacy Archive, ESA, NASA Processing - Robert Gendler

A Free Course in Introductory Astronomy!

2011-01-13T21:01:00.008Z

If you're just slightly interested in the area of Astronomy and have always had a yearning to understand things a little more, or already a seasoned stargazer wanting to brush up, then you'll not be able to resist this short course.

Designed as a 'work-at-home-for-qualifications' course, the lectures are recorded live in the classroom with the legend Professor Robert Nemiroff, incidentally also the editor and author of NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) Website, as a means for students to 'work from home'.

CLICK ON MARS

to enter the lecture list page

Many, if not all, subjects are covered here in brief yet understandable chunks, in 45 minute lectures at a total of 25 lectures. Registered students are required to take it all over a period of a few months, but of course this course is up here permanently so feel free to BOOKMARK the lecture list page and take your time with it. But most of all, enjoy it!

REMEMBER if you want to receive the qualification for this course you must enrol at MTU and pay the relevant fee's. However most colleges and universities around the world have similar courses that you can do at home, so you may want to check there first. I know that the Open University (OU) in the UK has a wide range of courses to choose from.

All videos presented are with permission.

New Molecule Could Lead to More Efficient Rocket Fuel

2010-12-23T04:04:00.003Z

Trinitramid is the name of the new molecule that may be a component in future rocket fuel. This fuel could be 20 to 30 percent more efficient in comparison with the best rocket fuels available today, according to researchers. The discovery was made at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden.

"A rule of thumb is that for every ten-percent increase in efficiency for rocket fuel, the payload of the rocket can double.

What's more, the molecule consists only of nitrogen and oxygen, which would make the rocket fuel environmentally friendly. This is more than can be said of today's solid rocket fuels, which entail the emission of the equivalent of 550 tons of concentrated hydrochloric acid for each launch of the space shuttle," says Tore Brinck, professor of physical chemistry at KTH.

Working with a research team at KTH, he discovered a new molecule in the nitrogen oxide group, which is not something that happens every day. It was while the scientists were studying the breakdown of another compound, using quantum chemistry computations, that they understood that the new molecule could be stable.

"As mentioned, what is specific to this molecule is that it contains only nitrogen and oxygen. Only eight such compounds were previously known, and most of them were discovered back in the 18th century. This is also clearly the largest of the nitrogen oxides. Its molecular formula is N(NO2)3, and the molecule is similar to a propeller in shape," says Tore Brinck.

The research team, consisting of Martin Rahm and Sergey Dvinshikh as well as Professor Istvan Furó , besides Tore Brinck, has now shown how the molecule can be produced and analyzed. The scientists have also managed to produce enough of the compound in a test tube for it to be detectable.

"It remains to be seen how stable the molecule is in a solid form," says Tore Brinck.

It was during work to find an alternative to today's solid rocket fuel that the researchers found the new molecule. The findings are now being published in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

The above story is (with editorial adaptations) from materials provided by Expertanswer, via AlphaGalileo.

Total Lunar Eclipse, December 21st

2010-12-14T09:14:00.001Z

This night also happens to be the first day of Winter for us in the Northern parts with the Winter solstice occurring 23:38 UT - as well as being a FULL moon!

Starting at 05:29:17 UT (Universal Time) and ending at roughly 11am UT.

The eclipse will be visible throughout most of eastern Asia, Australia, the Pacific Ocean, the Americas, and Europe. The eclipse will be visible after midnight in North and South America. Since the Moon will be almost directly overhead from these locations, this should be an excellent chance to view a rare total lunar eclipse.

A total Lunar eclipse, is basically where the Earth passes between the sun and moon blocking light to the moon. So one should expect a full moon one minute, then a ghostly shadow passing over its face the next

Information about this eclipse from the NASA site;
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2010.html#LE2010Dec21T

Detailed explanation of what the total lunar eclipse is;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_eclipse

Geminids Meteor Shower Peak - December 13th and 14th

2010-12-14T09:10:00.003Z

Every winter around the middle of December one of the most spectacular meteor showers of the year occurs like clockwork. It is known as the Geminids meteor shower and it begins on December 6th and ends around December 19th. In the middle of this duration is when it will reach its peak. This will be on December 13th and the 14th.

This meteor shower is one of the most showy and dazzling of them all in the northern hemisphere...

For over a hundred and fifty years this event has been known to be very active displaying at least one streaking meteor every thirty seconds. In other past occurrences it created sixty meteors per hour. On the average, one hundred meteors per hour radiate throughout the sky. This is known as the Zenith Hourly Rate (ZHR).

The winter December sky will provide an excellent chance to experience the meteor event. Visibility will be enhanced by a new moon ensuring that zenith hour rate is seen. Originating from the Gemini constellation and scattering relatively slowly across the sky provides viewers a chance to see the trails with the unaided eye. These shooting star trails last a number of seconds and be seen in varying colors. In the northern latitudes it can be visible in the not-to-late evenings. This is perfect timing for star parties, astrophotography and even family viewing.

Discovery of the Geminids;

Three astronomers all working independently in 1862 are credited for the discovery of the Geminids meteor shower. The first noted was R. P. Greg (England), secondly B. V. Marsh (United States.) and lastly A.C. Twining (United States). More sightings and reports came during 1863 and 1864.

It wasn’t until 1983 that the origin of the Geminids meteor shower was uncovered. Once again, three astronomers are given the credit. Two for identifying an asteroid and one for researching and associating the orbit to the meteor shower. Simon Green and John Davies identified the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. Fred Whipple noted the asteroid’s orbit and associated it to the meteor shower.

What is still a mystery about the Geminids meteor shower? Even though 3200 Phaethon has been identified as an asteroid, there is a possibility that it could be a dormant comet. The question arose when a photographic density study was conducted and the results proved to be less dense than asteroids.

Asteroid or comet, 3200 Phaethon has been officially linked to be the origin of the Geminids meteor shower. The meteor shower happens every December and this year gives us a great chance to watch.

16th century astronomer exhumed to solve murder mystery

2010-11-24T17:37:00.002Z

PRAGUE: It's a 21st-century high-tech ‘whodunit’ 400 years after death: did renowned Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe really succumb to kidney failure or was he poisoned, in a royal plot over a love affair?

Pinning their hopes on cutting-edge technologies, this week a Czech-Danish team exhumed the nobleman's body from the tomb where he was buried in 1601 inside Our Lady Before Tyn church in Prague's historic Old Town Square.

For four days, they will subject his remains to tests they hope will confirm or deny whether kidney failure will remain the ‘official’ cause of death - or whether something more sinister might have been afoot.

Was Tycho Brahe - the astronomer who constructed this zodiacal armillary instrument for the measurements of altitudes and azimuths of celestial objects - murdered?

Tipped off by the mercury in his beard

"In fact, we are not coming here to investigate and say it was a murder or not, we're going to investigate... the whole life of Tycho Brahe," said Jens Vellev, a professor from Denmark's Aarhus University who heads the 50-member research team.

It was a test in the 1990s that dealt a blow to the 400-year-old story of Brahe's demise when it showed his beard contained a strong dose of mercury.

The discovery led Danish historian Peter Andersen to maintain that Tycho Brahe - who remains a popular figure in both countries - was poisoned by his distant cousin Eric Brahe in a plot ordered by Danish King Christian IV (1577-1648).

No luck for an easy-going maverick

Andersen put forth his theory following the recent discovery of Eric Brahe's diary. He suggests that Christian IV hated Tycho Brahe, an easy-going maverick and bon vivant, because of a love affair he had had with his mother, Queen Sophie.

According to Andersen, Eric Brahe travelled to Prague in April 1601 and quickly won over his cousin's confidence. In October, he supposedly slipped mercury into Tycho's glass, and the astronomer died in agony.

"For the Danish, this is a matter close to their hearts," said Stepan Filipec, pastor at the monumental Gothic church whose two spires dominate the Old Town Square, popular with tourists. Tycho Brahe, born Tyge Ottesen Brahe in Denmark in 1546, moved to Prague in 1599 after a conflict with Christian IV.

Brahe versus Copernicus

At the time, Prague was a flourishing imperial city attracting the best scientists and artists thanks to the generosity of the Hapsburg emperor Rudolph II. The eccentric monarch thought highly of Tycho Brahe, who used the nickname ‘The Man With The Golden Nose’ for a prosthesis he wore after losing his nose in a duel.

The Dane had discovered a supernova in the Cassiopeia constellation in 1572, and pioneered the geo-heliocentric model in which the moon and Sun both revolve around the Earth while the other planets orbit the sun.

Brahe's erroneous theory contradicted that of the Polish-born father of modern astronomy, Nicholas Copernicus, who decades earlier developed the heliocentric theory that puts the Sun, rather than Earth, at the centre of the universe.

But was it an accident?

Even if poisoning is confirmed, Eric Brahe is not the only suspect. After the astronomer's demise, rumour had it that his noted German rival Johannes Kepler was very eager to lay hands on the results of Brahe's observations. Historians, meanwhile, say all may have been Brahe's own fault if he accidentally exposed himself to a harmful substance while conducting experiments.

"History teaches us that mercury was used to treat various diseases," said Jaroslav Podliska, head of the department of archaeology at the National Heritage Institute in Prague. "Personally, I think he took mercury because he had pain and he took too much and then he died," said Vellev.

Martin Solc from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University in Prague, on the team that tested Brahe's beard in the 1990s, said a salve used to embalm the corpse may have contained the liquid metal.

Rewriting the history books

This week's testing will include a computed tomography scan, a radiographic analysis and other sophisticated examinations, and official results are to be announced some time next year.

If poisoning is confirmed, Czechs may have to rethink an oft-heard expression used here. As the story goes, Brahe died after his bladder burst during a banquet at court, because etiquette forbade him from leaving the table before the emperor.

Today, when Czechs need to leave the table to go to the toilet, the polite refrain is: "Excuse me, please. I don't want to end up like Tycho Brahe."

Special thanks to Jan Marchal and cosmologymagazine.com

Gazing tips: Observing Venus Without Staring at the Sun

2010-10-06T17:07:00.001+01:00

Venus is currently a prime observing target and stargazers should be careful aiming telescopes at the brilliant planet because it is appearing close to the sun at dusk.

Venus' orbit is closer to the sun than Earth's, so the planet passes between Earth and sun once every orbit. This is known as inferior conjunction (to distinguish it from when Venus passes on the far side of the sun, known as superior conjunction).

Venus was at its greatest brilliancy Sept. 23, and is now moving swiftly toward inferior conjunction Oct. 28.

Since the orbit of Venus is not in exactly the same plane as that of Earth, it usually passes above or below the sun at inferior conjunction. This year it will be passing below the sun.

In addition, at this time of year the plane of the ecliptic is almost parallel to the horizon at sunset. As a result, Venus will be very low in the western sky at sunset, and hence very hard to observe. [Photos of Venus crossing the sun.]

Skywatcher warning

The trick for observing Venus under these conditions is not to wait until sunset, but to observe the planet while the sun is still above the horizon.

But first, a skywatcher warning: Observing objects while they are close to the sun is very dangerous! This is something only very experienced observers should attempt, and they should take careful precautions to avoid viewing the sun directly.

The trick to use is to position yourself so that the sun is safely behind a nearby building or other obstruction, so that there is no way that you can see the sun itself from your location.

In the above sky map, I've used one of the stones at Stonehenge to block the sun; you can probably do the same with a less glamorous chimney or tower.

Before observing with the naked eye, you may find sweeping with binoculars necessary to initially locate Venus. Use a planetarium program to determine the direction and distance of Venus relative to the sun.

A better technique is to use a telescope equipped with either accurate setting circles or a GoTo computer.

Once located, Venus is readily visible in a clear blue daylight sky.

Venus in October sky

Today (Oct. 6) Venus appears like a miniature crescent moon 14 percent illuminated. It will appear to be 49 arc seconds in diameter, large enough that its crescent can be seen in 10x binoculars.

An arc second is a unit of measurement for objects in the night sky. There are 60 arc seconds in 1 arc minute. The full moon, for example, is about 1,800 arc seconds across.

It is slightly more than 30 degrees away from the sun, and quite safe to observe. For comparison, the width of your fist held at arm's length covers about 10 degrees of the sky.

Over the next few weeks Venus moves south and west so that it is directly under the sun Oct. 28, only 1 percent illuminated and a full arc minute in diameter. Only 6 degrees separate Venus from the sun.

Since this is less than the width of a binocular field, it is unsafe to attempt to observe Venus this close to conjunction.

The question remains, how close to conjunction can you observe Venus safely?

On Oct. 20, Venus will be 15 degrees away from the sun, probably as close as even the most experienced and careful observer would want to get. Don't risk your eyesight by trying to observe Venus any closer to the sun than this.

Instead, wait until the next inferior conjunction of Venus — June 5, 2012, when Venus will actually pass in front of the sun, and can easily and safely be observed with a standard solar filter.

Thanks to Geoff Gaherty of 'Starry Night Education' and space.com