Cosmic rays – particles that have been accelerated to near the speed of light – stream out from our Sun all of the time, though they are positively sluggish compared to what are called Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs). These types of cosmic rays originate from sources outside of the Solar System, and are much more energetic than those from our Sun, though also much rarer. The merger between a white dwarf and neutron star or black hole may be one source of these rays, and such mergers may occur often enough to be the most significant source of these energetic particles.(...) Read the rest of An Exotic Source for Cosmic Rays: 'Baby' Black Holes (930 words)
What if our universe was just one in an infinite number of parallel universes; a possible outcome from the specific predictions of quantum mechanics. The idea of multiple universes is common in science fiction, but is there any actual science to back this theory up?
You know how a police siren changes sound when it passes by you? That's the doppler effect. It works for sound waves and it works for light waves. Astronomers use the doppler effect to study the motion of objects across the Universe, from nearby extrasolar planets to the expansion of distant galaxies.
In a stunning surprise, Santa's helpers and elves floated into the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday (Dec. 22) bearing a Christmas tree, massive (but weightless) sacks of presents and boundless cheer. They had departed Earth from frigid Baikonur on Dec 20. The supposed cosmonauts and astronauts had apparently been magically transformed just moments before docking at the ISS. Without notice they were summarily pressed into Santa's elite "Good Will" corps for special duty to bring holiday cheer and good tidings to all, especially all of Earth's Children ! (...) Read the rest of Santa's Helpers arrive at ISS bearing Christmas Gifts (388 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 on 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!
If you're celebrating your Christmas Eve with clear skies and new optics, then why not have a little seasonal fun? Let's begin before the Moon sets… (...) Read the rest of Happy Holidays from UT (1,043 words)
Astronaut Sandra Magnus, Expedition 18 flight engineer, prepares to eat a Christmas meal at the galley in the Zvezda Service Module of the ISS. Photo Credit: NASA
Last year at this time, astronaut Sandy Magnus was living on board the International Space Station. When the holidays were approaching in 2008, Magnus decided it was time to spice things up a bit in the culinary department in space. "When you think about it, food is an important part of our lives," Magnus said. "Family gatherings, celebrations and holidays all center around food, and when you invite people over it seems everyone always ends up in the kitchen. The same holds true on the space station, but you have to be able to prepare and eat food in microgravity without making a big mess!"
And now that she's back on terra firma, have her cooking techniques changed because of her experiences in space? "I certainly appreciate gravity a lot more because your food actually wants to stay in the bowl, which is a good thing!" Magnus said. (...) Read the rest of ISS "Iron Chef" Recalls Holiday Cooking in Space (647 words)
Santa pictures made by Sarah Emery Bunn, Matthew Graham, and Roy Williams Image credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Normally, SkyAlert collects and distributes reports of astronomical transients in near-real time, such as supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, cataclysmic variables and blazareruptions. You can even get alerts of these events via Twitter or Facebook. But starting this morning, Dec 24, through Dec 25, Skyalert.org will be distributing Santa Sighting Events via Twitter and Facebook so you can track where in the universe Santa will be. SkyAlert also has some interesting images of where Santa has been — there's evidence of Santa on the Moon; he may have been flying through the Coalsack Nebula (see below) and that even in the early Universe there may have been multiple Santas. (...) Read the rest of Controversial Image from SkyAlert Hints at Multiple Santas in the Early Universe (103 words)
For those know their solar system history, the discovery of Neptune is an especially exciting story. Before it was detected observationally, its gravitational effects on another planet (Uranus) were discovered. From this, astronomers were able to predict the position of the yet unobserved planet and in 1846 they discovered the predicted planet observationally from Berlin Observatory. (For a more complete retelling of the story, see my summary/review of the book The Neptune File). This discovery prompted searches for other planets from orbital discrepancies attributed to gravitational perturbations on Mercury. However, none were ever found and it was eventually that Mercury's orbital irregularities were due to relativistic effects.
Moons dancing around Saturn. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
The Cassini CICLOPS imaging team has released some new movies of several moons orbiting Saturn as if in a cosmic ballet around the ringed planet. In one scene that blends 12 images taken over the span of 19 minutes, Rhea skates in front of Janus, as Mimas and Pandora slide across the screen in the opposite direction.
"As yet another year in Saturn orbit draws to a close, these wondrous movies of an alien place clear across the solar system remind us how fortunate we are to be engaged in this magnificent exploratory expedition," said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader.
Messier 30, from HST's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Credit: NASA, ESA and Francesco Ferraro (University of Bologna
Blue stragglers are stars that stay on the main sequence longer than expected. They even appear to regress from "old age" back to a hotter and brighter "youth," gaining a new lease on life in the process. Astronomers have thought blue stragglers were "vampires" that suck fresh hydrogen from companion stars to heat up and maintain their youthfulness. But now there appears to be two kinds of blue stragglers. In addition to the vampires, there are also the bad-boys: these blue stragglers steal mass from companion stars by crashing into their neighbors, as if they were in a stellar mosh pit. A team of astronomers used data from the Hubble SpaceTelescope to study the blue straggler star content in Messier 30, a swarm of several hundred thousand stars located about 28,000 light-years from Earth. (...) Read the rest of Blue Stragglers Can Be Either Vampires or Stellar Bad-Boys (515 words)
This week's Carnival of Space is hosted by Stu Atkinson over at Cumbrian Sky. And what a festive Carnival it is, with lots of great articles and stunning holiday and planetary visuals a la Stu!
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.
Only one more day left until Christmas Eve, and astronomers have just discovered a unique feature on the lunar surface. Although accepted for many years to be a natural feature of selenography, modern astrophotography coupled with today's high-powered telescopes have discovered an area near the lunar North Pole that's apparently being used as a runway by a man in a red suit piloting an unusual spacecraft… (...) Read the rest of Santa Spied at Lunar North Pole… (265 words)
The classical scenario for creating Type Ia supernovae is a white dwarfstar accreting mass from a nearby star entering the red giant phase. The growing red giant fills its Roche lobe and matter falls onto the white dwarf, pushing it over the Chandrasekhar limit causing a supernova. However, this assumes that the white dwarf is already right at the tipping point. In many cases, the white dwarf is well below the Chandrasekhar limit and matter piles up on the surface. It then ignites as a smaller nova blowing off most (if not all) of the material it worked so hard to collect.
Will the Ares rocket stay or will it go? For now, no one knows, but NASA engineers have developed multiple options for "de-tuning" the Ares I rocket to prevent any problematic thrust oscillations that could potentially expose astronauts to dangerous levels of vibrations as the rocket climbs to orbit with the Orion crew vehicle atop. Even though the Ares I-X test flight showed no problematic thrust oscillation vibrations took place during the flight, engineers believe they have found a solution to preclude it from actually ever happening with any future Ares rocket. Read the details below; and enjoy this video round-up of everything that happened with the Constellation program in 2009. (...) Read the rest of Engineers Find Fixes For Potential Thrust Oscillation Problem on Ares (322 words)
With a combination of alien invasion and British invasion, a new video series provides an amusing way to learn about different aspects of astronomy and space. "Teapots from Space" was created by UK astronomers Edward Gomez, Jon Yardley and Olivia Gomez, and these vodcasts convey lots of science in a short and entertaining package.
"The aim of the series to make astronomy a bit more light hearted but still give a good representation of the science," said Edward Gomez, from Cardiff University. "I took a lot of inspiration from Douglas Adams when I wrote the episodes, and so the Teapots are like a cross between a sci-fi B-movie and Douglas Adams' 'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.'" (...) Read the rest of The Invasion of "Teapots From Space!" (195 words)
Have you enjoyed our lunar studies together this year? We hope you've taken the time to follow the phases and to appreciate what you see. Although it would be wonderful to end our this year's time together viewing the distant cosmos, something very cool is about to happen… (...) Read the rest of It's A Blue Moon New Year's Eve Party! (144 words)
Elements of the ESA-NASA ExoMars program 2016-2018. Credit: ESA
The new joint Mars exploration program of NASA and ESA is quickly pushing forward to implement an agreed upon framework to construct an ambitious new generation of red planet orbiters and landers starting with the 2016 and 2018 launch windows.
The European-led ExoMars Trace Gas Mission Orbiter (TGM) has been selected as the first spacecraft of the joint initiative and is set to launch in January 2016 aboard a NASA supplied Atlas 5 rocket for a 9 month cruise to Mars. The purpose is to study trace gases in the martian atmosphere, in particular the sources and concentration of methane which has significant biological implications. Variable amounts of methane have been detected by a martian orbiter and ground based telescopes on earth. The orbiter will likely be accompanied by a small static lander provided by ESA and dubbed the Entry, Descent and Landing Demonstrator Module (EDM). (...) Read the rest of Mars 2016 Methane Orbiter: Searching for Signs of Life (1,202 words)
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