Want to launch something into space? You can now do just that for only $8,000 USD. The rocket company Interorbital Services (IOS) is offering their "TubeSat Personal Satellite Kit" that can carry 0.75-kg into orbit. The price includes a launch into low Earth orbit on an IOS NEPTUNE 30 launch vehicle to 310 kilometers (192 miles) above the Earth. TubeSats are designed to be orbit-friendly, and not contribute to orbital debris by being in a self-decaying orbit. Launches are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2010. (...) Read the rest of Launch Your Own Personal Satellite for $8,000 USD (229 words)
It's a little fuzzy, but considering the camera was meant to capture the surface of the Moon from 200 kilometers (124 miles) away rather than Earth at 360,000 km (224,000 miles), it's not bad. This image was taken by NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), on board the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft orbiting the Moon. Australia is visible in the lower center of the image. The image is presented as a false-color composite with oceans a dark blue, clouds white, and vegetation an enhanced green. The image data were acquired on July 22, 2009. (...) Read the rest of Chandrayaan's M3 Looks Back At Earth (84 words)
Astronomers think that there are hundreds of billions galaxies in the universe, however the exact number is not known. But astronomers should know how many galaxies we've actually seen and discovered, right? Well, not necessarily. "We don't know," says Ed Churchwell, professor of astronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "We know it's a very large number." In just one image for example, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, above, there are about 10,000 galaxies visible. (...) Read the rest of How Many Galaxies Have We Discovered? (313 words)
Here's the fourth installment of our new feature, showcasing our readers' prowess with image editing software. This week's Astro Art of the Week is a showdown of cosmic proportions: "Dragon Versus Eagle" was submitted by Wienie van der Oord from Negev Desert in Israel.
The image of the Eagle Nebula was taken by Wienie's friend, Kfir Simon, with a DSI 3 pro, HAlpha filter and a Canon with 200mm lens. You can see more of Kfir's astrophotography here. . Thanks Wienie and Kfir!
Also, we're still contemplating a good title for this feature. We've tried "Astro 'Shop of the Week," (as in 'Photoshop') and now "Astro Art of the Week." If you have any suggestions for a good title, post it in the comment section. Thanks!
And if you're interested in looking back, here's an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you've got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry to carnivalofspace@gmail.com, and the next host will link to it. It will help get awareness out there about your writing, help you meet others in the space community – and community is what blogging is all about. And if you really want to help out, let Fraser know if you can be a host, and he'll schedule you into the calendar.
Finally, if you run a space-related blog, please post a link to the Carnival of Space. Help us get the word out.
The most famous toolbag in the world (and space) will soon be no more. The ISS Toolbag will enter Earth's atmosphere and completely burn up. Current estimates say the toolbag should become a fireball on August 3 around 1316 Universal Time. It should be visible over the Pacific Ocean west of Mexico (12.7° N, 257.1° E). Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper dropped the backpack-sized kit on Nov. 18, 2008, while she was working outside the International Space Station. Since then the toolbag has circled Earth over 4,000 times, and has even been visible from the ground. Keep track of the toolbag at Heaven's Above or on SpaceWeather.com's Satellite Tracker.
Fraser and Pamela recently unleashed their astronomical prowess in a big way with five new episodes of Astronomy Cast. Included are some very thought-provoking topics like astrobiology, space elevators and interstellar travel, not to mention a whole host of other topics covered in a couple of questions shows. So, here's a chance to immerse yourself in Astronomy Cast!
'Block Island,' an odd-shaped, dark rock, which may be a meteorite. Credit: NASA/JPL
The Opportunity rover has come across an odd-shaped, large, dark rock, about 0.6 meters (2 feet) across on the surface of Mars, which may be a meteorite. The rover team spotted the rock called "Block Island," on July 18, 2009, in the opposite direction from which it was driving. The team then had the rover do a hard right (not really, but you know what I mean) and backtrack some 250 meters (820 feet) to study it closer. Oppy has been studying the rock with its alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to get composition measurements and to confirm if indeed it is a meteorite.
Below, see a close-up, colorized version of Block Island and a 3-D version, both created by Photoshopper Extraordinaire Stu Atkinson. (...) Read the rest of Opportunity Spies Unusual Rock — Large Meteorite? (151 words)
Popular Mechanics has a great series of articles today on amateur astronomy, including Affordable Ways to Become an Amateur Astronomer, and How to Computerize Your Telescope. But my favorite is the Top Five Galactic Bodies Anyone Can See With a Cheap Telescope. Number one on the list is the Orion Nebula, above. Granted, with small telescopes, it won't look like this Hubble Space Telescope image, but The Great Nebula is even visible with the naked eye in the northern hemisphere, and looks pretty impressive in small telescope, too. To find it, those in the northern hemisphere will have to wait until cooler weather approaches. But look for Orion's belt, three bright stars in a row. Hanging south from the belt is Orion's sword, composed of three bright dots; the center dot is the great nebula.
Scott Altman, in front of a portait presented to him by the Lakeview Museum in Peoria, IL and painted by artist Bill Hardin. Photo: N. Atkinson
A spacesuit is a complicated conglomeration of switches, dials, hoses, tabs, and multiple layers of high-tech material. It serves various functions and is part miniature spacecraft, part atmospheric re-creation, and part medical necessity — with the number one priority of protecting those who wear it. But that doesn't mean a spacesuit is always comfortable. "The whole suit is like a big bladder and it weighs about 80 lbs," said astronaut Scott Altman, explaining the intricacies of the orange ACES launch and entry space suit to a group of children, "and it's not always easy to move around in it." But, undoubtedly today's suit is more advanced and slightly more comfortable than the spacesuit Altman's STS-125 crewmate, John Grunsfeld assembled as a child, concocted from vacuum cleaner parts and ice cream tins. (...) Read the rest of The Perils of Wearing a Spacesuit (729 words)
Space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of seven astronauts ended their 16-day mission by landing safely at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If you missed seeing it live, watch the picture-perfect landing here. Good weather allowed the crew to come home on the first landing opportunity, after their orbital journey of more than 6.5 million miles. Endeavour touched down at 10:48 a.m. EDT, the 71st shuttle landing at KSC. It was the 23rd flight for Endeavour, the 127th space shuttle mission and 29th shuttle flight to the International Space Station. (...) Read the rest of Endeavour Lands Safely (Video) (159 words)
Heads up for our friends in Southeast Europe, Northeast Africa, South America! In a matter of hours Antares is going to be occulted by the Moon! See the IOTA pages for times and locations and get out and watch! This weekend is a great time to do some lunar explorations and catch up on some double star work, too. Have you been watching for the impact site on Jupiter? Even if you don't have a telescope, I've got another video in here to share with you that's gonna' blow your mind. Are you ready to do some observing? Then I'll see you in the back yard… (...) Read the rest of Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast: July 31 – August 2, 2009 (1,109 words)
If you haven't had enough Apollo yet, this is like a firehose of image goodness. Gigapan and NASA Ames have collaborated to make huge, zoomable, panable images from two of the Apollo missions to the Moon. Apollo 16 and 17 are the only missions where the astronauts took panoramic images, so these are the only landing sites available in Gigapan. And if you really want to blow your socks off, look at these images in Google Moon. Click your icon for Google Earth (you DO have it downloaded already, don't you?? If not go to Google Earth and download it,) choose Moon under the little Saturn-like icon on top, zoom in and find the flags for the Apollo 16 and 17 landing sites. Then look for the "camera" icons and click on one, and then choose the option to "fly" into the images. I'm still gasping from doing this with Apollo 17! Once you recover from flying in, you can then pan around and feel like you are walking alongside Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt on the Moon. It really is amazing!
The answer to this week's Where In The Universe Challenge is now available back on the original post. And come back next week for another test of your visual knowledge of the cosmos!
Astronomers have used the comet record — including 2001 RX14 (Linear) at left, captured in 2002 by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey — to model a new route for incoming comets that sneaks past Jupiter's gravity.
The pathway might even be the dominant one that delivers Oort Could comets on an Earth-bound trajectory, say the authors of a new study in Science this week — but if that's true, comets only rarely cause extinctions on Earth.
(Image credit: Mike Solontoi/University of Washington)
What is small, mysterious, faint, in the process of losing mass, and can dance like crazy? Could it be Marie Osmond? Well, that might be the correct answer in this galaxy, but just on the outskirts of the Milky Way are small, mysterious galaxies called dwarf spheroidal galaxies, and a new study offers an explanation for the origin of these puzzling objects. But can they really dance? Yes, says lead author Elena D'Onghia of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. (...) Read the rest of Galaxies Bring Dancing With the Stars to New Level (343 words)
A new estimate of Saturn's rotation rate reveals days on the gas giant are five minutes shorter than previously believed — and that Saturn's atmosphere has much in common with that of its planetary neighbor, Jupiter.
The new results appear today in the journal Nature.
(Image caption: Saturn as photographed by Cassini-Huygens. Credit: NASA)
Attendees at the AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin were treated with watching Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo take flight. On board the mothership — which will launch space tourism and science customers into space — was none other than Vigin's founder Richard Branson. "This was one of the most incredible experiences of my life," Branson said after the flight. "It's a beautiful aircraft to fly and its incredibly light carbon construction and efficient design points the way to a much brighter future for commercial aviation as well as the industrial revolution in space which I believe our entire space launch system heralds." (...) Read the rest of Watch WhiteKnightTwo Take Flight (Video) (93 words)
With the recent impact on Jupiter, a lot of people out there have asteroids on their mind and wonder if one could possibly hit Earth. Now, NASA and JPL have a new website called "Asteroid Watch" which will keep everyone updated if any object approaches Earth. They've also created an Asteroid Watch Twitter account that Tweet updates on NEOs, plus there's a downloadable widget as well.
"The goal of our Web site is to provide the public with the most up-to-date and accurate information on these intriguing objects," said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL. (...) Read the rest of Keep Track of NEOs with New "Asteroid Watch" Website (103 words)
Have you stayed up late and observed the Jupiter impact site? Then don't be goofing around. Not since July 16-22, 1994 when comet Shoemaker-Levy crashed into Jupiter's southern hemisphere have amateur astronomers had the opportunity to witness history firsthand! What makes me think that you can do it? Because I have… (...) Read the rest of Observe the Jupiter Impact Site! (456 words)
It's time once again for another Where In The Universe Challenge. Test your visual knowledge of the cosmos by naming where in the Universe this image was taken and give yourself extra points if you can name the spacecraft responsible for this picture. Post your guesses in the comments section, and check back later at this same post to find the answer. To make this challenge fun for everyone, please don't include links or extensive explanations with your answer. Good luck!
UPDATE: The answer has now been posted below. (...) Read the rest of Where In The Universe #64 (91 words)
The giant star Betelgeuse churns out gas bubbles that match its own size — and that's how it can shed an entire solar mass in 10,000 years.
That according to the sharpest-ever images of Orion's second-brightest star, released this week by the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO). At left is an artist's impression of the supergiant star Betelgeuse as it was revealed in the new images (courtesy of ESO and L.Calçada). The actual images follow …
ISS as seen from departing space shuttle Endeavour. Credit: NASA TV
A great opportunity tonight (July 28) to see three spaceships cross the sky at once! Endeavour just undocked from the ISS today, so they will be close to each other, plus there's another spaceship lurking nearby: a Progress re-supply ship ready to dock with the ISS. How can you find out when and where to look for the three spacecraft? There are a couple of different websites that provide real-time tracking data and information about the ISS sighting opportunities. See below for more info.
The image above is a screenshot from NASA TV of the ISS as Endeavour undocked. Notice the shadow of the shuttle on the ISS solar arrays! (...) Read the rest of Triple Spaceship Sighting Alert! (188 words)
As space shuttle Endeavour undocks from the International Space Station today (Tuesday), now is a good time to look back at the very successful STS-127 mission. Here's some great images which tell the story of the mission. Above, astronaut Tim Kopra is pictured in the forward port side area of Endeavour's cargo bay during the first of five planned spacewalks performed by the STS-127 crew. Kopra is now part of the ISS crew, and is staying onboard the space station to serve as flight engineer. (...) Read the rest of STS-127: A Mission in Pictures (565 words)
Astronomers have used the comet record — including 2001 RX14 (Linear) at left, captured in 2002 by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey — to model a new route for incoming comets that sneaks past 
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