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 Paranormal Radio banner For my fourth appearance on Captain Jack's Paranormal Radio show, I've been invited back to discuss a recent Universe Today article I wrote detailing some of my favourite Solar System mysteries. These mysteries include the coronal heating problem, the "Mars Curse" and Uranus' tilt. I don't have many answers, but there should be some surprises thrown in. Most likely Jack and I will meander into different topics, so it should be fun to listen in! For more information on the show, see tonight's profile. Remember, the show will be airing live over several US cities, satellite radio and the Internet. For more information on where it will be airing, check out the Paranormal Radio homepage. To listen to the live podcast, starting at 6pm (PST), 9pm (EST) or 2am (GMT), download the .pls file to activate your podcast-listening software, or use the popup Media Player (plugin needed). Cheers! Ian
© Ian O'Neill for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to  del.icio.us  digg
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So, what do you do on a holiday? It's Labor Day here in the U.S., and the Phoenix lander on Mars is just watching the clouds go by across the Martian sky. This movie clip consists of 10 frames taken over a 10 minutes period by the Surface Stereo Imager on the lander. The images were actually taken on Sol 94 (August 29 here on Earth) at 2:52 to 3:02 local time at the Phoenix landing site on Mars northern polar region. Scientists say particles of water-ice make up these clouds, like ice-crystal cirrus clouds on Earth. Ice hazes have been common at the Phoenix site in recent days. But, of course, Phoenix is still hard at work on Mars, and recent images downloaded from the lander show the doors have been opened on another tiny oven on the TEGA (Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer), oven #1, to bake another soil sample. Other images of the scoop on the robotic arm shows soil inside on one image, and on a subsequent image, it looks as though the scoop has dumped the sample, perhaps inside the oven, or it may have been a test scoop and dumped out on the ground. (...)
Read the rest of Phoenix Lander Just Watchin' the Clouds Go By (145 words)
© Nancy Atkinson for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 It's time you and I sat down and had us a long and quiet talk about the Meade Backpack Observatory. Astronomer to astronomer, you know? Over the years I've had my fair share of problems with Meade products and I didn't want to be accused of "Meade bashing", so I displayed the patience of a saint with this product. Despite some initial disappointments and frustrations, I was soon to learn a few very valuable lessons…
Don't believe absolutely everything you read and if you can't figure it out, read the instructions. (...)
Read the rest of The Meade ETX80 Backpack Observatory - In A Heartbeat… (1,306 words)
© Tammy Plotner for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 Opportunity looks back at it's climb from Victoria crater. Credit: NASA/JPL NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has successfully climbed out of the Victoria Crater. "The rover is back on flat ground," said an engineer who drives it, Paolo Bellutta of JPL. Opportunity used the same path to exit the crater and was used to enter the crater almost a year ago. "We're headed to the next adventure out on the plains of Meridiani," said JPL's John Callas, project manager for Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit. See more images from Opportunity's climb….
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Read the rest of Mars Rover On the Road Again (Gallery) (288 words)
© Nancy Atkinson for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 Could the Shuttle launch after 2010? (NASA) According to an internal email, NASA staff have been instructed to initiate a study into extending the operational lifetime of the Shuttle to bridge the 5-year gap between planned Shuttle retirement and Constellation commencement. In an apparent U-turn in the US space agency's policy, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has ordered a feasibility study to assess whether the ageing space vehicle fleet, first launched in 1981, can operate until 2015. This news comes at a time when concern is mounting for the US dependence on the Soyuz system after 2010, especially since the recent political chill between the US and Russia… (...)
Read the rest of NASA is Making Preliminary Plans to Extend Shuttle Launches Beyond 2010 (297 words)
© Ian O'Neill for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 20 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 The ATV on approach to the station in April. Mission will end next month (ESA/NASA) The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Jules Verne will undock from the International Space Station (ISS) on September 5th to begin three weeks of autonomous flight, setting it up for a suicidal re-entry on September 29th. The ATV has been loaded with refuse and unwanted equipment from the ISS set to burn up in the Earth's upper atmosphere marking the end of the life of Europe's most advanced space vehicle. To record the event, both NASA and the European Space Agency will be photographing and videoing the descent… (...)
Read the rest of Countdown to the Final Burn: ATV Jules Verne will Undock on September 5th (300 words)
© Ian O'Neill for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary - MROITF Mount Spriggina In the age of global light pollution, one thing both amateur and professional astronomers have in common is the need for clear, dark skies. While almost all of us are aware of the impact of light pollution when it comes to pure observing, the "light factor" plays a far more serious role when it comes to astronomical studies. But, there's far deeper reasons for observatories to become increasingly remote. (...)
Read the rest of How Far Would You Go For Dark Skies? (924 words)
© Tammy Plotner for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 22 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 The arrow shows the Northwest Passage, which is virtually ice free. Credit: ESA Envisat satellite observations from mid-August show that a new record of low polar sea-ice coverage in the Arctic could be reached in sometime in September. This follows last summer's record minimum ice cover in the same area. Current ice coverage in the Arctic has already reached the second absolute minimum since observations from space began 30 years ago. Because the extent of ice cover is usually at its lowest about mid-September, this year's minimum could still fall to set another record low. Click here for an animation of ice coverage from early June to mid-August 2008.
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Read the rest of Satellite Images Show Arctic Ice At Another Low (231 words)
© Nancy Atkinson for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 Dwarf galaxies that are within 500,000 light-years from the Milky Way. Credit: UCI More news on dark matter this week: By analyzing light from dwarf galaxies that orbit the Milky Way, scientists believe they have discovered the minimum mass for galaxies in the universe – 10 million times the mass of the sun. This mass could be the smallest known "building block" of the mysterious, invisible substance called dark matter. Stars that form within these building blocks clump together and turn into galaxies. Scientists know very little about the microscopic properties of dark matter, even though it accounts for approximately five-sixths of all matter in the universe. "By knowing this minimum galaxy mass, we can better understand how dark matter behaves, which is essential to one day learning how our universe and life as we know it came to be," said Louis Strigari, lead author of this study from the University of California, Irvine.
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Read the rest of Minimum Mass for Galaxies Provides Insight on Dark Matter (486 words)
© Nancy Atkinson for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 Crab Nebula. Credit: NASA/ESA Scientists studying the Crab Nebula have discovered high energy gamma rays around the rotation-powered pulsar, the neutron star at the center of this enigmatic nebula. Neutron stars accelerate particles to immense energies, typically one hundred times more than the most powerful accelerators on Earth. Scientists have been uncertain exactly how these systems work and where the particles are accelerated. But by using the gamma-ray telescope on the European Space Agency's INTEGRAL spacecraft orbiting Earth, astronomers have detected polarized gamma-rays emitting from near the pulsar.
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Read the rest of Astronomers Locate High Energy Emissions from the Crab Nebula (355 words)
© Nancy Atkinson for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 ISS. Credit: NASA The International Space Station had to perform an evasive maneuver yesterday to dodge space debris from a Russian satellite that disintegrated earlier this year. ESA's ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) was used to perform the avoidance maneuver, the first time it had been used for such a maneuver. A few things about this maneuver are interesting. First, this is the first time in five years that the ISS has had to perform a debris avoidance maneuver. Second, the maneuver was unusual in that was a retrograde maneuver, which slows the ISS and brings it to a lower orbit instead of higher. The last time a retrograde maneuver was performed was eight years ago. Third, according to Jim Oberg at MSNBC, the Russians deny that the satellite has broken up. Fourth, however, the Mission Control Center in Moscow carried out the maneuver.
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Read the rest of Space Station Evades Space Debris (310 words)
© Nancy Atkinson for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 Artist impression of ions leaking into space. Credit: NASA/ESA Oxygen is constantly leaking out of Earth's atmosphere and into space. Measurements taken by satellites during the 1980s and 1990s showed the escaping ions were traveling faster the higher they were observed. This implied that some sort of acceleration mechanism was involved. Now, new work on data collected by a group of formation-flying satellites called Cluster shows that Earth's own magnetic field is accelerating the oxygen away. But don't worry, compared to the Earth's stock of the life-supporting gas, the amount escaping is negligible. However, in the far future when the Sun begins to heat up in old age, the balance might change and the oxygen escape may become significant.
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Read the rest of Earth's Atmosphere is Leaking into Space (319 words)
© Nancy Atkinson for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 32 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 NASA Security Badge (Identity Stronghold) Of all the things that could possibly go wrong for the US space agency, you wouldn't expect the security ID badge holder of NASA employees to rank very high on the list of "risks." Unfortunately, the new high-tech security badge holders recently issued to NASA employees have been identified as having a fairly problematic health and safety design flaw. Should the badges' metal clasps be installed incorrectly, they could pose a projectile risk, possibly causing serious eye injuries… (...)
Read the rest of NASA Security Badges are a Health and Safety Risk (435 words)
© Ian O'Neill for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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Here's this week's "Where In The Universe?" mystery image. The goal of this challenge is to test your skills and visual knowledge of our universe. Guess where this image is from, and give yourself extra points if you can guess which spacecraft is responsible for the image. As always, don't peek below before you make your guess. Comments on how you did are welcome.
Ready? Proceed… (...)
Read the rest of Where In The Universe #18 (104 words)
© Nancy Atkinson for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 Mythbusters. Credit: CollectSpace On Wednesday August 27th, at 9 p.m. ET/PT in the US, the famed "Mythbusters" on the Discovery Channel will take on one of the biggest myths ever: the belief the Apollo Moon landings were faked. Some folks who lived through the 1960's never believed the moon landings actually happened, and some how this belief persisted. In 2001 the Fox Channel aired a show "Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?" and the belief grew. But now the Mythbusters take on the HB's (hoax believers) who say they have scientific evidence the moon landings were faked. Adam and Jamie will fight bad science with their usual good science. The results? We'll have to wait and see until tonight. But here's a preview:
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Read the rest of TV Alert: Mythbusters and the Moon Hoax Myth (42 words)
© Nancy Atkinson for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 35 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 Kate McAlpine at the LHC. Credit: Telegraph Puzzled about particle physics? Want to know what the inside of the Large Hadron Collider looks like? Like music, fun and science? Want to know for sure the LHC won't create a black hole that will swallow the Earth? Find all of the above in a rap song created by Kate McAlpine, 23, who used to work in the press office of CERN, where on September 10, the LHC will be powered up. The song has been a hit on You Tube, and has been downloaded over 400,000 times. Physicists say the science in the song is "spot on" and provides a rhythmic tour of the mysteries of modern physics and the workings of the LHC, while noting that "the things that it discovers will rock you in the head." Without further ado, here it is:
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Read the rest of Large Hadron Collider Rap Is a Hit (64 words)
© Nancy Atkinson for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 31 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 Credit: X-ray(NASA/CXC/Stanford/S.Allen); Optical/Lensing(NASA/STScI/UC Santa Barbara/M.Bradac) A powerful collision of galaxy clusters captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory provides evidence for dark matter and insight into its properties. Observations of the cluster known as MACS J0025.4-1222 indicate that a titanic collision has separated dark matter from ordinary matter. The images also provide an independent confirmation of a similar effect detected previously in a region called the Bullet Cluster. Like the Bullet Cluster, this newly studied cluster shows a clear separation between dark and ordinary matter.
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Read the rest of Clash of Clusters Separates Dark Matter From Ordinary Matter (235 words)
© Nancy Atkinson for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 37 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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Via Twitter, the Phoenix lander said, "I saw this beautiful sunrise yestersol. Bittersweet, as it means an end to midnight sun in the Martian arctic." At Phoenix's location above Mars arctic circle, the sun doesn't set during the peak of summer in the northern hemisphere. If you recall, Phoenix took a montage of images of the non-setting sun last month. But now, the period of maximum solar energy is past. On Sol 86, or the 86th Martian day after Phoenix landed, the sun set fully behind a slight rise to the north for about a half hour. This red-filter image taken by the lander's Surface Stereo Imager, shows the sun rising on the morning of sol 90, Aug. 25, 2008, the last day of the Phoenix nominal mission.
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Read the rest of A Chilly Sunrise on Mars (114 words)
© Nancy Atkinson for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 The Georgia conflict causes more controversy for the ISS (Telegraph/NASA) During a Russian weather observation campaign, cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko took photographs above the South Ossetia region of Georgia soon after the Russian military action in the area on August 9th. According to NASA's ISS Daily Report, Kononenko was monitoring the "after-effects of border conflict operations in the Caucasus" and his orders from Moscow instructed him to carry out this task for humanitarian reasons. Some sources are suspicious of this possible orbital reconnaissance opportunity, citing that the 1998 ISS international agreement enforces the rule that the space station can only be used for civilian activities. However, NASA has stated that the Russian space agency Roscosmos admitted to the photography request, saying that the images were required to monitor serious water management issues and not intended for military purposes… (...)
Read the rest of Cosmonaut Photographed South Ossetia From ISS Shortly After Russian Invasion (514 words)
© Ian O'Neill for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 21 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 Spirit's Bonestell Panorama. Image: NASA/JPL/Cornell With the Phoenix lander busily working away on Mars and grabbing the recent headlines, we haven't heard much from the other two robots on the Red Planet, the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. Spirit has been hunkered down, trying to survive the harshest weeks of southern Martian winter. She's waiting for the sun's rays to get a little stronger before moving on, but has been taking images of her spot in the Home Plate area of Gusev Crater to create the panorama, shown here. Opportunity is now getting ready to head 'em up and move 'em out of Victoria Crater, where she's been for nearly a year. So, what's coming up for the two Energizer Bunny-like, long-lasting rovers?
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Read the rest of Hey, What Are Spirit and Opportunity Up to These Days? (620 words)
© Nancy Atkinson for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 The Space Station. Not in any software virus peril (NASA) Could this be the first space-borne computer virus ever discovered? It would appear that the International Space Station, orbiting at over 330 km (180 miles) above the planet, is not immune to software problems more commonly associated with computers down here on Earth. Over the last few days, astronauts on board the ISS have been tracking down a fairly benign gaming worm used by hackers to gather personal information. Although this type of virus is not considered a threat to space station operations, it does raise some questions about how the virus got up there and why the station's computers were not protected. (...)
Read the rest of Has the First Extraterrestrial (Computer) Virus Been Discovered on the Space Station? (650 words)
© Ian O'Neill for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 28 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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 First light image reveals bright emission in the plane of the Milky Way (center), bright pulsars and super-massive black holes. Credit: NASA/DOE/International LAT Team With "first light" successfully observed by the Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, as it has been called until now, NASA has christened the space observatory with its new official name: The Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope. Named for Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, the telescope will delve into the mysteries of the high energy end of the electromagnetic spectrum. This new space telescope will try to determine what the mysterious dark matter is composed of, how black holes emit immense jets of material to nearly the speed of light, and help crack the mysteries of solar flares, cosmic rays and the power explosions called gamma ray bursts. At a news conference today to announce the new name and first light observations, Steve Ritz, Project Scientist for the telescope said scientists world-wide are very excited about the telescope's breakthrough capability. "GLAST has great discovery potential. We're expecting surprises," he said.
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Read the rest of GLAST is Now Fermi (378 words)
© Nancy Atkinson for Universe Today, 2008. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us digg
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