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 Keyhole 11 satellite, imaged in orbit about 600 km (360 miles) away. Image courtesy Ralf Vandebergh. Amateur astronomer Ralf Vandebergh from the Netherlands is becoming well-known for his ability to capture images of the space shuttle, space station and other satellites in low Earth orbit. Recently, he tried his hand at something a little more distant: The Keyhole 11-4 satellite, which orbits at about 600 km (360 miles) above the Earth. The KH-11 series of satellites was the first American spy satellite to utilize optical digital imaging, and create a real-time optical observation capability for reconnaissance of other countries. There were about 10 of these satellites, launched by the American National Reconnaissance Office between December 1976 and 1990. These satellites are about same shape as the Hubble Space Telescope – a cylinder with solar arrays on each side, but a little bigger: according to Wikipedia, the KH 11's are thought to be about 19.5 meters (63 feet) long, while Hubble is 13.1 meters (43.5 ft) long. Hubble's orbit is similar, at about 353 miles (569 kilometers), but a big difference is that while Hubble is pointed out towards space, the KH 11's are pointed back at Earth, looking at the happenings of humans.
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Read the rest of Spying on a Hubble Telescope Look-Alike (310 words)
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NASA has released, for the first time, video of the final inspection of a space shuttle before launch. The Final Inspection Team, also known as the "Ice Team," performs a walkdown of Kennedy's Launch Pad 39A during space shuttle Atlantis' STS-132 launch countdown on May 14, 2010. The six-member team walks on every level of the pad's fixed service structure, inspecting the shuttle, external fuel tank, solid rocket boosters, pad structure and ground equipment for signs of ice buildup, debris or anything else that might be amiss prior to launch. As part of the inspection, photos are taken and transmitted to the launch team for review. A videographer for NASA was included as a member of the team to capture the first-ever up close, high-definition video of this important and hazardous inspection process.
© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Space Shuttle, STS-132
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 Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! It's a green "Corn Moon" weekend and time to get out of the house and enjoy the night sky! Enjoy sharing "Moon Illusion" with friends or simply spotting bright features with easy optics. In the mood to kick back and stargaze? The learn more about the constellation of Leo and what to look for when skies are bright. If you're ready for a challenge, then try your hand at a few bright galaxies by holiday's end. Whenever you're ready, I'll see you in the backyard…. (...)
Read the rest of Weekend SkyWatcher's Forecast: May 28-30, 2010 (1,096 words)
© tammy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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 X37-B spaceplane captured in orbit by UT reader Brent 'Bozo.' Even since amateur astronomers picked up on the orbit of the Air Force's secret X37-B space plane, others have been trying to capture images of the mini-space shuttle look-alike. So far, images have been just streaks or dots, but Universe Today reader Brent (a.k.a. HelloBozos) was actually able to image the plane in some detail. "This is the first I know of or have seen an actual photo taken of the X37-B Air Force Space Plane in some detail, while in orbit!" Brent said in an email. He tracked the X37-B manually with his telescope's handcontroller, and he used a CanonT1i prime focus on a 2 inch diagonal. "This image was taken on 5-26-2010 at 9:48 pm EST, Orlando, Florida, USA. It crossed from the southwest to the northeast, crossing next to Mars and headed to the handle of the Big Dipper on a 71 degree pass." Below, Brent also captured a flare of the X37-B.
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: amateur astrophotos, X37-B
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 Railway cars carrying the final SRB segments arrived at Kennedy Space Center on May 27. 2010. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today. Another end-of-an-era event heralding the conclusion of the space shuttle program: the final set of space shuttle solid rocket booster segments arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, May 27, 2010. The segments were carried on railway cars from the ATK factory in Utah where the boosters are built. The last part of the trip from Jacksonville, Florida included passenger cars carrying NASA personnel and ATK officials, including astronaut Mike Massimino, shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach, and the "voice" of NASA TV, George Diller. The train stopped across the Indian River from KSC where the tracks lead to the Vehicle Assembly Building. The boosters will be stacked in the VAB for a possible rescue mission, or perhaps, even one last add-on flight for space shuttle Atlantis.
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Read the rest of The Last Train to KSC: Final Set of Solid Rocket Boosters Arrive (490 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: George Diller, Mike Leinbach, Mike Massimino, NASA, Solid Rocket Boosters, Space Shuttle
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 With a NASA F/A-18 flying safety chase nearby, NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy – or SOFIA – flies a test mission over the Mojave Desert with the sliding door over its 17-ton infrared telescope open. Credit: NASA/ Jim Ross Flying SOFIA has opened her eyes! The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a joint program by NASA and the German Aerospace Center made its first observations on May 26. The new observatory uses a modified 747 airplane to carry a German-built 2.5 meter (100 inch) reflecting telescope. "With this flight, SOFIA begins a 20-year journey that will enable a wide variety of astronomical science observations not possible from other Earth and space-borne observatories," said Jon Morse, Astrophysics Division director in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA. "It clearly sets expectations that SOFIA will provide us with "Great Observatory"-class astronomical science."
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Observatories, SOFIA
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 Delta IV rocket launching with the Air Force's Global Positioning System GPS IIF SV-1. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today The first in a series of next-generation GPS satellites launched late Thursday from Cape Canaveral launch Complex 37 on board a Delta IV rocket. The Air Force's Global Positioning System GPS IIF SV-1 satellite blasted off at 11 p.m. EDT on May 27, 2010, after overcoming three different launch aborts over the last week due to weather and technical glitches. Following its three hour, 33 minute flight into orbit, the new satellite has reached its orbit 18,000 km (11,000 miles) above the Earth, joining a constellation of 24 other GPS satellites that aids in military operations and helps civilians navigate the planet. Boeing, who built the satellite for the Air Force, said they acquired the first on-orbit signals from the new satellite early Friday, and all indications are that the spacecraft bus is functioning normally and ready to begin orbital maneuvers and operational testing.
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Delta 4, GPS Satellites, launches
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 Concept drawing of a robotic lunar base. Credit: JAXA These ARE the droids we've been looking for. The Japanese space agency, JAXA, has plans to build a base on the Moon by 2020. Not for humans, but for robots, and built by robots, too. A panel authorized by Japan's prime minister has drawn up preliminary plans of how humanoid and rover robots will begin surveying the moon by 2015, and then begin construction of a base near the south pole of the moon. The robots and the base will run on solar power, with total costs about $2.2 billion USD, according to the panel chaired by Waseda University President Katsuhiko Shirai.
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: CNSA, ISRO, JAXA, lunar base, Moon, NASA, Space Exploration
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 The Andromeda galaxy as seen in optical light, and Chandra's X-ray vision of the changing supermassive black hole in Andromeda's heart. Image Credit: X-Ray NASA/CXC/SAO/Li et al.), Optical (DSS) The Andromeda galaxy, the closest spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way, has a supermassive black hole at the center of it much like other galaxies. Because of its proximity to us, Andromeda – or M31 – is an excellent place to study just how the supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies consume material to grow, and interact gravitationally with the surrounding material. Over the course of the last ten years, NASA's Chandra X-Ray observatory has monitored closely the supermassive black hole at Andromeda's heart. This long-term data set gives astronomers a very nuanced picture of just how these monstrous black holes change over time. Zhiyuan Li of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) presented results of this decade-long observation of the black hole at the 216th American Astronomical Society meeting in Miami, Florida this week.(...)
Read the rest of Andromeda's Unstable Black Hole (329 words)
© nick for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Andromeda, M31, supermassive black holes
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 Hubble Space Telescope Images of M87. At right, a large scale image taken with the Wide-Field/Planetary Camera-2 from 1998. The zoom-in images on the left are of the central portion of M87. HST-1 is a knot in the jet from the SMBH. (NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), J. A. Biretta, W. B. Sparks, F. D. Macchetto, E. S. Perlman) The elliptical galaxy M87 is known for a jet of radiation that is streaming from the supermassive black hole (SMBH) that the galaxy houses. This jet, which is visible through large-aperture telescopes, may have functioned as a black hole 'jetpack', moving the SMBH from the center of mass of the galaxy – where most SMBHs are thought to reside. Observations taken with the Hubble Space Telescope by a collaboration of astronomy researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology, Florida Institute of Technology and University of Sussex in the United Kingdom show the SMBH in M87 to be displaced from the center of the galaxy by as much as 7 parsecs (22.82 light years). This contradicts the long-held theory that supermassive black holes reside at the center of the galaxies they inhabit, and may give astronomers one way to trace the history of galaxies that have grown through merging.(...)
Read the rest of Black Hole in M87 Wanders using Jetpack (481 words)
© nick for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: m87, supermassive black holes
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We've featured many satellite views of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, here on Universe Today, but this time-lapse video puts them all together. The video reveals a space-based view beginning on April 12 before the accident, then after the April 20 explosion, with the burning oil rig. Later, the ensuing oil spill is captured through May 24. Two NASA satellites are constantly capturing images Earth, focusing on particular areas of interest, the Terra and Aqua satellites which both have the MODIS instrument (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer.) The oil slick appears grayish-beige in the image and changes due to changing weather, currents, and use of oil dispersing chemicals. The latest word on the "top kill" effort to stop the gushing oil well is that it has seen initial success.
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Earth Observation
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Here's this week's Where In The Universe Challenge. You know what to do: take a look at this image and see if you can determine where in the universe this image is from; give yourself extra points if you can name the instrument responsible for the image. We'll provide the image today, but won't reveal the answer until tomorrow. This gives you a chance to mull over the image and provide your answer/guess in the comment section. Please, no links or extensive explanations of what you think this is — give everyone the chance to guess. UPDATE: The answer has now been posted below.
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Read the rest of Where In the Universe #106 (130 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 21 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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 2010 KQ - a man-made object spotted orbiting the sun. Credit: Richard Miles, BAA via the Las Cumbres Observatory. My dotAstronomy pal Edward Gomez from the Las Cumbres Observatory is reporting that a man-made object has been spotted orbiting the sun. First noticed in the Catalina Sky Survey on May 16, it was thought to be an asteroid, but then, because of its very circular and low-inclined orbit, Richard Miles, using the Faulkes Telescope North realized it could be man-made. Now dubbed 2010 KQ, it orbits the Sun every 1.04 years, and on May 21 it came within 1.28 lunar-distances of the Earth. Miles captured this image of the object, above, and spectral analysis of 2010 KQ is consistent with UV-aged titanium dioxide paint. What could it be?
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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 ISS astronaut Soichi Noguchi captured Atlantis and her crew streaking through the atmosphere on their return to Earth. Credit: Soichi Noguchi/JAXA/NASA At a post-landing news conference, STS-132 commander Ken Ham described the incredible visual effects the crew of Atlantis witnessed as they returned to Earth today. As the shuttle was engulfed in plasma during the hottest part of their re-entry through Earth's atmosphere, they were in orbital darkness, which highlighted the orange, fiery glow around the shuttle. "We were clearly riding inside of a fireball, and we flew right into the sunrise from inside this fireball, so we could see the blue color of the Earth's horizon coming through the orange. It was amazing and just visually overwhelming." As evidence, ISS astronaut Soichi Noguchi captured Atlantis as that fireball, streaking though atmosphere, just as dawn approached. "Dawn, and Space Shuttle re-entered atmosphere over Pacific Ocean. 32 years of service, 32nd beautiful landing. Forever, Atlantis!" Noguchi wrote on Twitter, posting a link to the image. Amazing.
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© nancy for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Atlantis, Ken Ham, Soichi Noguchi, Space Flight, Space Shuttle, STS-132
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 The Orion Nebula, one of the most brilliant star-forming regions in our galaxy. Other, newly-discovered regions like the Orion Nebula could help astronomers determing the chemical composition of our galaxy. Image Credit: APOD/Hubble Space Telescope Our Milky Way churns out about seven new stars per year on average. More massive stars are formed in what's called H II regions, so-named because the gas present in these stellar nurseries is ionized by the radiation of the young, massive stars forming there. Recently-discovered regions in the Milky Way that are nurseries for massive stars may hold important clues as to the chemical composition and structural makeup of our galaxy.(...)
Read the rest of Newly-Discovered Stellar Nurseries in the Milky Way (466 words)
© nick for Universe Today, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: milky way, star forming regions
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