Current Events
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- MESSENGER - MESSENGER's Flyby of Mercury
- Cassini Mission to Saturn - Celebrates 10 Years Since Launch
- 'Death Star' Galaxy - Black Hole Fires at Neighboring Galaxy
- Girl Scout Day - National Air and Space Museum
MESSENGER
MESSENGER Mission News January 17, 2008 NASA Article
Image credit: Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
Just nine minutes after the MESSENGER spacecraft passed 200 kilometers (124 miles) above the surface of Mercury, its closest distance to the planet during the January 14, 2008, flyby, the Wide Angle Camera (WAC) on the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) snapped this image. The WAC is equipped with 11 different narrow-band filters, and this image was taken in filter 7, which is sensitive to light near the red end of the visible spectrum (750 nm). This view, also imaged through the remaining 10 WAC filters, is from the first set of images taken following MESSENGER's closest approach with Mercury.
The image shows Mercury's surface as seen from a low viewing angle, looking over the surface and off the limb of the planet on the right side of the image. The cratered terrain in the image is on the side of Mercury unseen by spacecraft prior to this MESSENGER flyby. This scene was imaged at multiple viewing angles as MESSENGER sped away from Mercury, and these multiple views of the same surface features from different perspectives and in different colors will be used to help understand the properties of Mercury's surface.
MESSENGER Reveals Mercury's Geological History
Shortly following MESSENGER's closest approach to Mercury on January 14, 2008, the spacecraft's Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) on the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) instrument acquired this image as part of a mosaic that covers much of the sunlit portion of the hemisphere not viewed by Mariner 10. Images such as this one can be read in terms of a sequence of geological events and provide insight into the relative timing of processes that have acted on Mercury's surface in the past.
Image Credit: Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
The double-ringed crater pictured in the upper right of this image appears to be filled with smooth plains material, perhaps volcanic in nature. This crater was subsequently disrupted by the formation of a prominent scarp (cliff), the surface expression of a major crustal fault system, that runs alongside part of its southern rim and may have led to the uplift seen across a portion of the crater's floor. A smaller crater in the upper left of the image has also been cut by the scarp, showing that the fault beneath the scarp was active after both of these craters had formed.
The MESSENGER team is working to combine inferences about the timing of events gained from this image with similar information from the hundreds of other images acquired by MESSENGER to extend and refine the geological history of Mercury previously defined on the basis only of Mariner 10 images.
This MESSENGER image was taken from a distance of about 18,000 kilometers (11,000 miles) from the surface of Mercury, at 20:03 UTC, about 58 minutes after the closest approach point of the flyby. The region shown is about 500 kilometers (300 miles) across, and craters as small as 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) can be seen in this image.
Cassini Mission to Saturn Celebrates 10 Years Since Launch
MISSION NEWS-10.11.07 NASA Article
Celebrating the 10th anniversary of its launch from Cape Canaveral, the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn is once again at the center of scientific attention. Its latest discoveries about the ringed planet are a leading topic of conversation among the nearly 1,500 scientists gathered this week at a major astronomy conference in Orlando, Fla.
This picture of the Cassini launch was taken by Ken Sturgill of Marion, Virginia.
Cassini rode into space Oct. 15, 1997, atop a U.S. Air Force Titan IVB. Its mission: to orbit and study the Saturnian system for four years and to put the European Space Agency's Huygens Probe in position to parachute down to the frozen surface of Saturn's Earthlike moon Titan. Since entering orbit around Saturn, Cassini's scientific instruments, powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators, have returned immense amounts of new information via NASA's global Deep Space Network to the international team of scientists working on the mission.
Scientists aren't the only ones to benefit from Cassini's voyage of discovery. Since arriving at Saturn three-and-a-half years ago, Cassini's revelations have captured the public imagination. Its spectacular views of Saturn and its realm have graced the covers of magazines around the world. Millions have followed the mission's progress at NASA's web sites
The Cassini spacecraft snapped this Saturn portrait from the distance of Iapetus, just before beginning its close encounter with the two-toned moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
With Cassini, amazing discoveries have almost become routine," says Cassini project scientist Dennis Matson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., where the international mission is managed. "Orbiting Saturn, Cassini is in the middle of the greatest natural laboratory accessible to us in space," says Matson. "With its rings, dozens of moons and magnetic environment, Saturn is like a mini-solar system, with Saturn as a stand-in for the sun, and the moons and rings like planets in formation. Through Cassini and its instruments, we are making fundamental strides in understanding the physical processes that created and govern this and other solar systems."
Some of the discoveries include ice geysers shooting from Saturn's moon Enceladus and the finding that one of Saturn's rings is created from these ice particles. Recently, scientists found that material from Enceladus is also affecting the rotation of Saturn's magnetic field. An onboard radar instrument, which sees through clouds, has been unveiling the fascinating world of Titan, the large moon with complex chemistry and lakes of hydrocarbons.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.
'Death Star' Galaxy Black Hole Fires at Neighboring Galaxy
MISSION NEWS-12.17.07 NASA Article
A powerful jet from a super massive black hole is blasting a nearby galaxy, according to new findings from NASA observatories. This never-before witnessed galactic violence may have a profound effect on planets in the jet's path and trigger a burst of star formation in its destructive wake.
Known as 3C321, the system contains two galaxies in orbit around each other. Data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory show both galaxies contain super massive black holes at their centers, but the larger galaxy has a jet emanating from the vicinity of its black hole. The smaller galaxy apparently has swung into the path of this jet.
A black hole jet at the center of a galaxy strikes the edge of another galaxy. Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/ CfA/D.Evans et al.; Optical/UV: NASA/ STScI; Radio: NSF/VLA/CfA/D.Evans et al., STFC/JBO/MERLIN
This "death star" galaxy was discovered through the combined efforts of both space and ground-based telescopes. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, and Spitzer Space Telescope were part of the effort. The Very Large Array telescope, Socorro, N.M., and the Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) telescopes in the United Kingdom also were needed for the finding.
"We've seen many jets produced by black holes, but this is the first time we've seen one punch into another galaxy like we're seeing here," said Dan Evans, a scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and leader of the study. "This jet could be causing all sorts of problems for the smaller galaxy it is pummeling."
Jets from super massive black holes produce high amounts of radiation, especially high-energy X-rays and gamma-rays, which can be lethal in large quantities. The combined effects of this radiation and particles traveling at almost the speed of light could severely damage the atmospheres of planets lying in the path of the jet. For example, protective layers of ozone in the upper atmosphere of planets could be destroyed.
Jets produced by super massive black holes transport enormous amounts of energy far from black holes and enable them to affect matter on scales vastly larger than the size of the black hole. Learning more about jets is a key goal for astrophysical research.
"We see jets all over the universe, but we're still struggling to understand some of their basic properties," said co-investigator Martin Hardcastle of the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. "This system of 3C321 gives us a chance to learn how they're affected when they slam into something like a galaxy and what they do after that."
The effect of the jet on the companion galaxy is likely to be substantial, because the galaxies in 3C321 are extremely close at a distance of only about 20,000 light years apart. They lie approximately the same distance as Earth is from the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
A bright spot in the Very Large Array and MERLIN images shows where the jet has struck the side of the galaxy, dissipating some of the jet's energy. The collision disrupted and deflected the jet.
Another unique aspect of the discovery in 3C321 is how relatively short-lived this event is on a cosmic time scale. Features seen in the Very Large Array and Chandra images indicate that the jet began impacting the galaxy about one million years ago, a small fraction of the system's lifetime. This means such an alignment is quite rare in the nearby universe, making 3C321 an important opportunity to study such a phenomenon.
It is possible the event is not all bad news for the galaxy being struck by the jet. The massive influx of energy and radiation from the jet could induce the formation of large numbers of stars and planets after its initial wake of destruction is complete.
The results from Evans and his colleagues will appear in The Astrophysical Journal. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Mass.
GIRL SCOUT DAY
NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM UDVAR-HAZY CENTER March 22, 2008 Article
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Image credit: Wayne Bird
Girl Scouts of the Nations Capitol program at the National Air and Space museum. First est 3125 girl Scout Guests, over 13,000 of the general public. Another wild day of public outreach. First thing was we had to do was spread out our activity tables. We had so many people trying to do/see/observe etc that the Fire Marshall said we were a hazard (never had one of our astronomy programs declared a fire hazard before, first time for everything I guess).
The American Astronomical Society had set up 4 activities and the Westminster Astronomical Society Westminster Astronomical Society had set up 5 activities. The AAS had set up "Guess The Meteorite", "The World of Diffraction", Building a Spectroscope" and "Building a Pluto Model". WASI had; “Seeing through Alien Eyes and Decoding Secret Messages, How our Atmosphere Protects Us (used as a game) including UV beads, How we find Planets around other Stars”, the always a favorite “Pocket Solar System” and looking through my telescope at the moon (OK so it wasn't the real Moon, but it was a really nice picture we stuck to a walk way clear on the other side of the building-NOTE the Air and Space Museum frowns on Sticking things on their property-SORRY).
The people had so much fun that the parents had to make the kids leave our area to see the rest of the museum and other activities.
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Image credit: Wayne Bird
Highlights were:
(AAS Programs) Misty L trying to keep track of the Diffraction Glasses, Susan K making Pluto models, Alycia sitting on the floor making spectrograph's, Mike M trying to fool the GS in the Meteorite game, Ed W explaining the different views of a galaxy to someone who was having trouble understanding what a galaxy was, Cassy-Susana-Margaret-Hashima laughing and having fun with all the kids...
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Image Credit: Wayne Bird
(WASI Programs) Salvi M explaining about our atmosphere in his best Russian to a couple of girls from Russia, Sergi M handing out Litho's, trading cards, to everyone who stopped at one of our activities, Stephen R doing the pocket solar system with a bunch of giggling girls, John B trying to do the same thing with help from his 6 yr old son, Dave L trying to find the moon when the kids moved the scope, and Ian S and Tony G discussing how many planets there were with a VERY smart and stubborn 13 year old girl (she almost had them convinced there were no planets according to the IAU definition).
Between both groups we went through 15 rolls of register paper, 21 Spitzer Calendars, 37 pairs of Diffraction Glasses, 200 good neighbor lighting sheets, 400 secret message sheets, 700 Planet Quest stickers, 800 posters, 1000 JUNO postcards, 2900 lithographs, 5500 book markers, 15 pencils, 12 sodas and a box of chocolate donuts. All in all another great day was had by all.
P.S. If you ever get a chance to do something like this DO IT!
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Image Credit: Wayne Bird
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Image credit: Wayne Bird