On Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012, Keck Observatory will be hosting a live webcast of an astronomy talk by Dr. Tom Soifer of Caltech, who is the Director of the Spitzer Science Center. The title of the talk is “Seeing the Invisible Universe,” and Soifer will discuss the latest exciting results from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. The webcast begins at 7 pm Hawaiian Time, 9 pm Pacific Time (5 am GMT, Feb 10) and will be streamed from the Kahilu Theatre in Waimea-Kamuela, on the Big Island of Hawaii. Watch in the window above (click the play button) or watch on the Keck website.

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Keck Observatory, Spitzer

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Apollo 14's splashdown in the Pacific on Feb. 9, 1971. (NASA/Ed Hengeveld)

On this day in 1971 Apollo 14 astronauts Alan Shepard, Jr., Stuart Roosa and Edgar Mitchell returned to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at 21:05 UT (4:05 p.m. EST). They were recovered by the USS New Orleans, and returned to the U.S. by way of American Samoa. But the three men weren’t the only living creatures to come back from the Moon on Feb. 9, 1971… in fact, human astronauts were in the minority that day.

Al, Stu and Ed shared their lunar voyage with nearly 500 trees.

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Read the rest of The Moon Trees of Apollo 14 (439 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Apollo 14, lunar, Moon Trees, NASA, Stuart Roosa, trees

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Rover Driver Scott Maxwell with a model of MER. Photo courtesy Scott Maxwell

How often have you wanted to be a fly on the wall during media interviews of top scientists and engineers? Here’s your chance! On Friday, February 10, we’ll be having our first live interview via a Google+ Hangout On Air. We’ve done the weekly Space Hangout for several weeks now and Fraser has done multiple virtual star parties via a Hangout On Air. Now we’ll start the first of what we hope are many live interviews that we’ll share with our readers and fans. We’re excited that Mars rover driver Scott Maxwell, will be joining us, and he will provide insight on the plans for the Opportunity rover’s upcoming winter, a look back at the 8 years and counting for the rovers, a look ahead to the future, and more.

The Hangout On Air will start at 18:00 UTC (1 pm EST,12 noon CST, 10 am PST) or you can check here at the fancy-schmancy time and date announcement Scott put together that shows the time in almost every time zone possible.

How do you find the Hangout? The best way is to join Google+ and “circle” Fraser and the Hangout On Air will show up in his timeline. You can also circle Nancy, who will also provide a link, but within Fraser’s timeline there will also be the opportunity for you to post questions that we can ask Scott during the live interview.

If you can’t watch live, the Hangout will be recorded and we’ll post it later on Friday on Universe Today.

We hope you’ll join us!

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Hangouts, Live broadcasts, Mars, Scott Maxwell

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Supercomputer simulation showing the tangled magnetosphere surrounding Earth. Credit: OLCF

A new computer simulation is showing Earth’s magnetosphere in amazing detail – and it looks a lot like a huge pile of tangled spaghetti (with the Earth as a meatball). Or perhaps a cosmic version of modern art.

The magnetosphere is formed by the Sun’s magnetic field interacting with Earth’s own magnetic field. When charged particles from a solar storm, also known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), impact our magnetic field, the results can be spectacular, from powerful electrical currents in the atmosphere to beautiful aurorae at high altitudes. Space physicists are using the new simulations to better understand the nature of our magnetosphere and what happens when it becomes extremely tangled.

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Read the rest of New Computer Simulations Show Earth’s Spaghetti-Like Magnetosphere (229 words)

© Paul Scott Anderson for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Earth, magnetosphere, sun

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Here was the virtual star party that we held last night on Google+. We’ve actually been holding 1-2 of these star parties every week as we figure out the best way to organize and coordinate all the telescopes streaming into the Hangout. I don’t normally post them all on Universe Today, but last night was particularly special, with amazing views of the Rosette Nebula approximately one hour into the broadcast. A big thanks to Gary Gonella for sharing his telescope view with us.

If you’re interested in watching future livestreamed telescope virtual star parties, make sure you circle me on Google+.

© Fraser for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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What do things sound like out in the cosmos? Of course, sound waves can’t travel through the vacuum of space; however, electromagnetic waves can. These electromagnetic waves can be recorded by devices called spectrographs on many of the world’s most powerful telescopes. Astronomer Paul Francis from the Australian National University has used some of these recordings and converted them into sound by reducing their frequency 1.75 trillion times to make them audible, as the original frequencies are too high to be heard by the human ear.

“This allows us to listen to many parts of the universe for the first time,” Francis wrote on his website. “We can hear the song of a comet, the chimes of stars being born or dying, the choir of a quasar eating the heart of a galaxy, and much more.”
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Read the rest of What Does a Nebula Sound Like? (122 words)

© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cosmos, Nebulae, Sounds

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Giordano Bruno crater on the eastern far side limb of the Moon (35.9° N, 102.8° E) is being revealed in great detail by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera.
Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

The Moon is covered with craters of various shapes and sizes, and in various states of preservation. Scientists have studied these spectacular features for over five decades, yet there are still many things about craters that we just don’t understand. The study of craters is important because we use them to determine the ages of planetary surfaces. Now, very high resolution imagery from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) is allowing us to see lunar craters as never before. Under such scrutiny, one very fresh crater is revealing a host of secrets about the crater-forming process and revealing that it’s not as young as some people may have originally thought.
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Read the rest of Lunar Crater Reveals Many Secrets, Including a Not-So-Young Age (932 words)

© Irene Antonenko for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Moon

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Above are the discovery images for one of Jupiter's newest moons S/2011 J2. This object is faint and doesn't have much visual information, but the moon was discovered using the optical telescope Magellan on Sept. 27, 2011. You can see the motion of the satellite over 40 minutes between the two exposures while the background stars and galaxies do not move. Jupiter is about 0.5 degrees away from the bottom of these images. Images courtesy of Scott Sheppard

Advances in technology have lead to the discovery of new planets outside of our Solar System, and now even new moons in our own backyard.

Last September, two satellites – the smallest ever discovered – were found orbiting Jupiter.

That brings the number of Jovian moons to a whopping 66.  The moons – each about 1 km in size – are very distant from Jupiter. It takes the tiny satellites 580 and 726 days to orbit the gas giant.

The discovery could lead us one step closer to understanding the formation and evolution of our solar system. At least that’s the hope of Scott Sheppard, who works at the the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution of Science in Washington, D.C. (...)
Read the rest of Two New Moons for Jupiter (501 words)

© Lillian Ortiz for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Carnegie Institution of Washington, irregular satellites, Las Campanas, Magellan telescope, moons of jupiter, natural satellite, new moons, Scott Sheppard

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1st Color image of Spirit lander and Bonneville Crater from Mars orbit
Near the lower left corner of this view is the three-petal lander platform that NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit drove off in January 2004. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
See more images of Spirit’s lander from orbit and her Traverse Map below
What did Spirit see from the lander ? - look below

The Lander platform for NASA’s Spirit rover has been photographed in stunning high resolution color for the first time from Mars orbit – just over 8 years after the now legendary robot survived the scorching atmospheric heat of the 6 minute plunge through the Martian atmosphere and bounced to a stop inside Gusev Crater on January 3, 2004.

Spirit’s three petaled landing pad was finally imaged in color by NASA’s powerful Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft just days ago on January 29, 2012 at 3:04 p.m. local Mars time.

The MRO spacecraft was soaring overhead and captured the image of Spirit’s lander (...)
Read the rest of Spirit Lander – 1st Color Image from Mars Orbit (421 words)

© Ken Kremer for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Mars, Mars Rovers, MER, NASA, Opportunity Rover, Spirit Rover

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Orbital Technologies Corporation developed vortex combustion technology representing a new approach to rocket engine design. Orbital’s NASA work led to advancements in fire suppression systems. Image credit: NASA/HMA Fire.

NASA’s latest Spinoff edition features over forty of NASA’s most innovative technologies. The origins of each technology within NASA missions are provided, as well as their “spinoff” to the public as commercial products and/or technologies beneficial to society.

What new technologies have made their way this year from NASA labs and into our homes?
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Read the rest of NASA Showcases ‘Spinoff’ Technologies (408 words)

© Ray Sanders for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: NASA

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