| Here are the FeedBlitz blog updates for ignoble.experiment@arconati.us
 Scientists think that a giant asteroid, which broke up long ago in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, eventually made its way to Earth and led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. This artist's concept shows a broken-up asteroid. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Once upon a time, about 65 million years ago, scientists hypothesize a sizable asteroid crashed into Earth and contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs. The evidence is a 150-kilometer-wide crater located just off the Yucatan peninsula and legend has it the 10-kilometer-wide asteroid was a fragment of a larger parent – Baptistina. Now, thanks to observations by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), we just might have to re-think that theory. (...)
Read the rest of Did Asteroid Baptistina Kill The Dinosaurs? Think Other WISE… (460 words)
© tammy for Universe Today, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Asteroids, WISE
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh 
 This one? Credit: ESO/G. Lombardi We get this question the time. People want to get into astronomy, and they want to get their first telescope. So, to all you experienced astronomers reading Universe Today, what do you suggest people consider for their first starting telescope? We’ve heard lots of horror stories about bad quality department store telescopes, so where should people go? How much should they expect to spend? Who are some good telescope manufacturers? What should people avoid? My first answer is always to suggest that people use a planisphere and their own eyes in the beginning, learning the constellations. Then graduating to binoculars if they’re still enjoying the hobby before even considering a telescope purchase. What’s your opinion? Feel free to respond in the comments below.
© Fraser for Universe Today, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh 
 An artistic image of the explosion of a star leading to a gamma-ray burst. (Source: FUW/Tentaris/Maciej Fro?ow) Dark energy… We’re still not exactly sure of what it is or where it comes from. Is it possible this mysterious force is what’s driving the expansion of the Universe? A group of astronomers from the universities in Warsaw and Naples, headed by Dr. Ester Piedipalumbo, are taking a closer look at a way to measure this energetic enigma and they’re doing it with one of the most intense sources they can find – gamma-ray bursts. (...)
Read the rest of Dark Energy Ignited By Gamma-Ray Bursts? (698 words)
© tammy for Universe Today, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cosmological Constant, spacetime, Universal Expansion
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh 
 Ottawa Sundog. Credit: Chuck Clark Who wouldn’t envy Chuck Clark of Canada for having a frequent view of the sundog from his window? I surely do! A sundog is an atmospheric phenomenon which appears as bright spots of light beside the Sun. It is caused by the bending of light rays passing through ice crystals in high and cold cirrus clouds. Chuck captured what he said as a “common sight” from his balcony in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada across the street from the Canadian Museum of Nature on January 17, 2004. He used a Sony Mavica CD1000 camera. Check out Clark’s Flickr page for more photos. Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group, post in our Forum or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.
© dcast for Universe Today, 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Astrophotos
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh 
 A daytime Moon over New Zealand in August 2010. Credit: NASA/Phil Davis Did you know that you can see the Moon during the day? Many people only notice our Moon at night, when there is considerably more contrast between the Moon and the night sky. Being the second brightest object in the sky (after the Sun, of course) and with Venus visible during the day to trained eyes, it’s no real surprise that the Moon is visible during the day. Why then, do so many people act surprised when they notice the Moon during the day? What makes it possible for the Moon to be visible during the day?
(...)
Read the rest of How Can You See the Sun and the Moon at the Same Time? (299 words)
© Ray Sanders for Universe Today, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Moon, observations, sun
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh 
This video of the Aurora Australis was created from a sequence of still shots taken by astronauts on board the International Space Station. The images were taken on September 11, 2011 as the ISS orbit pass descended over eastern Australia. Like its northern hemisphere counterpart the Aurora Borealis, the Aurora Australis occurs when ions in the solar wind collide with atoms of oxygen and nitrogen in the upper atmosphere. Atoms excited by these collisions emit light as they return to their original energy level, creating the visible aurora. See more about this video at NASA’s ISS website.
See a similar recent video (without the aurora), which gives a great perspective of what it is like to fly over the Earth in the ISS.
© nancy for Universe Today, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Aurora Australis, Space Station, Vidoes
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh 
 Sadr Region. Credit: Matthew Dieterich Poor sky condition is just one of the challenges astrophotographers encounter when taking a shot of astronomical bodies and events. But this did not stop Matthew Dieterich from coming up with nice photos, such as this image of the Sadr Region. “Sky conditions were very poor, high humidity and poor transparency mixed with severe light pollution caused difficult color, which is still present in this final image.”
The Sadr region, also known as IC 1318, is the diffuse emission nebula surrounding Sadr or Gamma Cygni. Matthew provided us with the camera and equipment specs he used: Image details: 30 x 2 minutes unguided ISO 800
Mount: Astrotroniks performance tuned Atlas EQ-G
Optics: 8″ Powernewt Astrograph at F/2.8
Camera: Modified Canon Xsi
Calibration: Dark and flat frames applied in ImagesPlus
Aligned and combined in ImagesPlus with final processing in Photoshop Check out Matthew’s astrophotos here. Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group, post in our Forum or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.
© dcast for Universe Today, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Astrophotos
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh 
 Russia has again stated that does not approve of SpaceX and NASA's plans to dock the next Dragon Spacecraft with the International Space Station. Image Credit: SpaceX It is looking less likely that Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) will be allowed to dock the next of its Dragon Spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). Instead it is now looking like the Dragon will be allowed to only come close the orbiting outpost to test out many of the spacecraft's key systems.(...)
Read the rest of SpaceX to Dock With ISS on Next Flight: NASA Maybe – Russia Nyet (460 words)
© Jason Rhian for Universe Today, 2011. | Permalink | 24 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh 
| 
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep a civil tongue.