Saturday, November 29, 2008
Key Molecule for Life Found in Habitable Region of the Galaxy
A sugar molecule linked to the origin of life was discovered in a potentially habitable region of our galaxy.
The molecule, called glycolaldehyde, was spotted in a large star-forming area of space around 26,000 light-years from Earth in the less-chaotic outer regions of the Milky Way. This suggests the sugar could be common across the universe, which is good news for extraterrestrial-life seekers.
"This is an important discovery as it is the first time glycolaldehyde, a basic sugar, has been detected towards a star-forming region where planets that could potentially harbor life may exist," Serena Viti of University College London said in a press release. - Wired
Labels: Astronomy, Science
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Virtual Telescopes Tweaked
Just as space telescopes are getting better and better, so are the telescopes you can download onto your computer over the Internet. The software packages are becoming more and more like video games, letting you zoom out from Earth to explore a 3-D universe - while keeping the science rock-solid enough for professional astronomers to use.
Microsoft Research has made a splash in the past couple of weeks with the "Autumnal Equinox Beta" release of its WorldWide Telescope. (Microsoft is a partner in the msnbc.com joint venture.) We reviewed WorldWide Telescope six months ago, and since then, Microsoft has smoothed out some features and added others.
One of the coolest features is a 3-D rendering of the universe that lets you fly away from Earth, out of the solar system and into the stars that surround us. "You understand that the stars aren't just flat spots painted on the dome of the sky," Jonathan Fay, one of the lead developers for the software, told me during a demo this week.
The 3-D views are integrated all the way up from Microsoft's Virtual Earth database to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's map of large-scale structure in the universe. "We just went from looking at Building 99 [the home of Microsoft Research] to a view of about 21 gigaparsecs," Fay said after zooming out to the max. "This basically lets you go anywhere in the universe." - MSNBC
The article goes on to review - and link - to a few other services as well. Pretty cool stuff.
Labels: Astronomy, Science
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Mysterious Dark Blue Material
A couple o'cool space articles...
WASHINGTON - Earth's first nearly full look at Mercury reveals the tiny lifeless planet took a far greater role in shaping itself than was thought, with volcanoes spewing "mysterious dark-blue material." New images from NASA's Messenger space probe should help settle a decades-old debate about what caused parts of Mercury to be somewhat smoother than it should be. NASA released photos Wednesday, from Messenger's flyby this month, that gave the answer: Lots of volcanic activity, far more than signs from an earlier probe revealed. - Seattle Times
Wouldn't that be a cool name for a back up band? "Your name here" and the Mysterious Dark-Blue Material.
WASHINGTON - For the first time, astronomers think that they've found evidence of an alien solar system around a star close enough to Earth to be visible to the naked eye.
They say that at least one and probably three or more planets are orbiting the star Epsilon Eridani, 10.5 light-years - about 63 trillion miles - from Earth. Only eight stars are closer.
The host star, slightly smaller and cooler than our sun, is in the constellation Eridanus - the name of a mythological river - near Orion in the northern sky.
Epsilon Eridani is much younger than the sun, about 850 million years old compared with 4.5 billion years for our system. - Yahoo
I wanna see it.
Labels: Astronomy, Science
Monday, October 27, 2008
WASHINGTON - For the first time, astronomers think that they've found evidence of an alien solar system around a star close enough to Earth to be visible to the naked eye.
They say that at least one and probably three or more planets are orbiting the star Epsilon Eridani, 10.5 light-years - about 63 trillion miles - from Earth. Only eight stars are closer.
The host star, slightly smaller and cooler than our sun, is in the constellation Eridanus — the name of a mythological river - near Orion in the northern sky. - Yahoo
Labels: Astronomy
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Calling OMC
A "most bizarre" strobe light star reported by European astronomers likely belongs to a long-sought family of compact "neutron" stars.
It initially showed up as a gamma-ray burst, leading astronomers to think it was the death of a star in the far-off universe. But after that first gamma-ray pulse, there was a three-day period of activity during which this odd celestial object emitted 40 visible-light flashes before disappearing again. Eleven days later, there was a brief near-infrared flaring episode recorded by ESO's Very Large Telescope. Then the weird object went visibly "silent" again.
"We are dealing with an object that has been hibernating for decades before entering a brief period of activity," said Alberto J. Castro-Tirado, lead author of a paper in this week's issue of Nature. - USA Today
Labels: Astronomy
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Very Cool
NASA scientists said Wednesday they had found liquid on Saturn's moon Titan, only the second body in the solar system after Earth to have fluid on its surface.
The groundbreaking discovery was made after analysis of instruments on the US-European Cassini probe, the spacecraft that has been orbiting Saturn since 2004 following a 3.5 billion-kilometer (2.2 billion miles) voyage. - AFPLabels: Astronomy, Science
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Geminid Meteor Shower
What could be the best meteor display of the year will reach its peak on the night of Dec.13-14.
Here is what astronomers David Levy and Stephen Edberg have written of the annual Geminid Meteor Shower: "If you have not seen a mighty Geminid fireball arcing gracefully across an expanse of sky, then you have not seen a meteor."
The Geminids get their name from the constellation of Gemini, the Twins, because the meteors appear to emanate from a spot in the sky near the bright star Castor in Gemini.
Also in Gemini this month is the planet Mars, nearing a close approach to the Earth later this month, and shining brilliantly with yellow-orange hue. To be sure, Mars is certain to attract the attention of prospective Geminid watchers this upcoming week. - More
Labels: Astronomy
Friday, August 31, 2007
Aurigid Meteor Shower
From the Reno Gazette-Journal
If you were among those disappointed by the relatively tame Perseid meteor shower earlier this month, heads up. The cosmos gets a chance to redeem itself this weekend with the potentially spectacular Aurigid meteor shower. The key word here, though, is "potentially." From 3 to 5 a.m. Saturday, Earth will pass through the debris stream of Comet Keiss, a long-period comet that visits the solar system just once a millennium or so. The buzz among sky watchers is that the show could involve upwards of 500 meteors per hour, emanating from Auriga and blazing an unusual, bright blue-green. Some meteor forecasters, however, disagree. Bill Cooke, of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center explains the discrepancy on the agency's Web site: "We have so little experience with ancient debris from long-period comets. ...Almost anything could happen - from a fizzle to a beautiful meteor shower." The shower, if there is one, is expected to peak at 4:36 a.m., so set those alarm clocks a few hours early to watch the mystery of the Aurigids play out. (Link)
Of course it's overcast here...bummer.
Labels: Astronomy
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
The Dark Side of the Moon
And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon. - Pink Floyd (Brain Damage)
That's no moon... - Han Solo
There are some advantages to living 6500 feet above sea level on the side of a mountain - even more so when that mountain happens to contain Lake Tahoe. For starters, light pollution is minimal. Last night we spent a couple hours sitting on our deck watching the moon slowly get eaten by the earth's shadow, changing from bright white to a cigarette burn in the sky...pretty freaking cool if you ask me.
When we first moved out here a couple weeks ago the Perseid's were in full force. Again another night spent on the deck watching the night sky. The lack of light pollution making a major difference. Love it, love it, love it.
There are downsides to living up here too - for starters the area boasts the highest concentration of rich people anywhere in Nevada. And while I've never been a big fan of rich people, I hate their kids even more. The other day Molliwogg spotted a teenager getting out of a brand new Lexus bearing a bumper sticker reading, "Daddy bought, but I got it."
You'll excuse me while I go vomit.
Still, I did meet one cool rich lady at Clinton's visit a week or so ago. It seems with rich people, the older they get, the cooler they are. On the flip side, the younger they are, the more likely you want to hide their body parts in random locations across the desert.
However the upsides far outweigh the annoyances - the aforementioned celestial slide shows, cat-sized squirrels carrying football-sized pine cones up trees, hawks and chipmunks everywhere (the great circle of life Simba), all kinds of bird life including the Steller's Jay - mascot of my old high school in Alaska. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure I saw a bald eagle a couple weeks ago - it could have been a hawk with the sun hitting it just right. The last time I saw a bald eagle was in Seattle of all places nearly a decade ago. It's funny, growing up in Alaska you kind of took them for granted, in the lower 48, seeing one is an event.
My first week here I met and shook hands with President Clinton; a meeting I'm still giddy about. And I haven't been to Reno going on three weeks now. Life is good.
Haven't seen any bears yet, but I have seen evidence of them - ransacked trash bins, countless newspaper articles, and everyone here seems to have a story about an encounter. It's only a matter of time.
Another upside to living out here is either a) rich people don't bowl, or b) rich people have bowling lanes in their homes. Every time we've gone down to the local alley, it's been empty. More lanes for us. :)
Anyhoo....back to your regularly scheduled de-programming.
Labels: Astronomy, Personal
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
They're Baaack....
One of the best meteor showers of the year - the Perseids - will get washed out by a nearly full Moon this year. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try and enjoy them anyway. The Moon will be 87% full on Friday, August 11, rising after 10:00pm. Head out after it goes dark, and see if you can spot an Earth grazer; a special kind of meteor that can be very bright and slow, leaving a dramatic tail. After 10:00pm, only the brightest meteors will be visible. 2007 will be much better, when it'll be a moonless sky. - Universe TodayLabels: Astronomy
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Fireball Alert
On Sunday morning, Jan. 15th, between 1:56 and 1:59 a.m. PST (0956 - 0959 UT), a brilliant fireball will streak over northern California and Nevada. It's NASA's Stardust capsule, returning to Earth with samples of dust from Comet Wild 2. The best observing sites: near Carlin and Elko, Nevada, where the man-made meteor is expected to shine as much as 60 times brighter than Venus. - Space Weather
Labels: Astronomy
Monday, August 01, 2005
Ice on Mars (3D)
Red/Blue glasses needed. Click on the picture for the article.Labels: Anaglyph, Astronomy
Friday, August 13, 2004
Aliens vs. Siberia
An expedition of Russian researchers claims to have found evidence that an alien spaceship had something to do with a huge explosion over Siberia in 1908. Experts in asteroids and comets have long said the massive blast was caused by a space rock.
The new ET claim is "a rather stupid hoax," one scientist said today. And it's one with a rich history. - Space.com
Pretty good article, and like all stories related to aliens, cryptozoology, etc., it will be interesting to see where it all leads one way or another. Don't forget to click on the link for The Greatest Myths, Hoaxes & Mysteries in Astronomy & Space Science.
Labels: Aliens, Astronomy, Cryptozoology
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